He lowered his head in surprise, and saw Li Desheng's eyes open. He was trying hard to sit up from the ground. He hurriedly leaned over and hugged him: "Sir, don't move around, be careful to tear the wound!"

"Don't worry about me, I'm no longer able to do it." Li Desheng said with all his last strength: "Crash in, aim at the enemy's flagship and hit it!"

The first mate was stunned and immediately understood what the chief meant. He gritted his teeth and shouted loudly: "Send the order, continue to pump water, speed up, direction, enemy flagship!"

There was already chaos on the flagship bridge of the "Jiyuan" at full speed. Faced with the "Jiyuan" rushing towards him at full speed, the British ships fired guns together, and they shot the other side like a lighted paper lantern. However, this did not slow down the speed of the "Jiyuan" at all. The distance between the two sides had been shortened to only seventy or eighty meters. Several British officials with good eyes could even see the Shun Army sailors busy putting out fires at the tail of the "Jiyuan".

"Bastard, there is no time to turn, come forward!" Colonel Jefferson used his years of experience to accurately judge that his side had no time to avoid it. After all, the "First" had a larger displacement, and there was also a corner for collision at the bow of the ship, so he simply hit it head-on.

With the violent vibration, Jefferson fell from the bridge like a bulky sandbag, and his forehead hit the oak deck hard and fainted.

"Commander, Commander!"

With the violent shaking, Jefferson slowly woke up. While recovering his mind, he also felt a severe pain coming from his arm. He frowned in pain and found that his right forearm was twisted into a strange shape.

"Your Excellency Commander, your right arm is broken. Please hold on and the doctor will come over immediately!" The officer next to him said loudly.

"Damn it!" Jefferson gritted his teeth, pushed his subordinates away with his complete hand, and stood up. The bow of the "First" was already in a mess. A huge hole appeared at the waterline on the right side of the bow. The sea water was rushing into it quickly. Not far from the "First", the Shun Army ship that had just collided with him was rapidly sinking. The sea water was almost level with the other party's ship deck. The Shun Army sailors on the ship were jumping into the sea one after another, looking for an opportunity to escape. Two British gunboats were leaning towards them, and the British sailors on the ship were shooting at the enemy struggling on the water.

"Your Excellency Commander, four enemy warships have escaped. The situation was very chaotic when the enemy ship collided with us just now, so-" The British official said this and his voice became weaker.

"Okay!" Colonel Jefferson interrupted his subordinates impatiently: "It doesn't matter if you escape a few small boats. Anyway, the Chinese have no choice but to take Ryukyu back on the boats in the past few days! Now you immediately stop the game of shooting water birds and rely on the "firm". Also, let old Tom from the damage management department come over, I need to know how bad the situation is!"

"Yes, Commander!"

Two minutes later, a short and fat man with a face full of coal ash and oil stains came to Jefferson. Jefferson interrupted the other party's salute and asked directly: "Old Tom, tell me now, how bad is the 'firm' good situation?"

"Oh no!" Old Tom rubbed his garlic nose and added a stain to his face: "The Chinese people hit a big hole, and the pumping speed is much slower than the inlet. In order to prevent the hull from tilting, I had to choose to fill the water in the watertight compartment opposite, but in this way, the stability of the "Filiability" will be greatly reduced. The waterline may only be more than half a meter away from the deck. A volley will be shot and a big wave will capsize."

"I understand!" Jefferson nodded. After thinking for a moment, he ordered the first lieutenant beside him: "For my order, except for the most necessary personnel, all other sailors and officers retreated to other ships. Also, let the Djibouti lead the "Resolute" out of Keelung Port. After the remaining ships bombarded the military garage at Keelung Port, they would respond to the landing Marines to retreat!"

"Yes, Your Excellency Commander!" The young officer ran away quickly. Jefferson turned around and looked at Old Tom, with a gentle expression on his face: "Old Tom, I'm sorry, you and your people must take the greatest risk and insist on staying on the ship. I must do my best to keep this ship, at least not let it sink in Keelung Harbor, as it may fall into the hands of the Chinese."

"You don't have to explain anything to me, I understand, Colonel!" Old Tom nodded calmly: "The sailor was going to die at sea!" After that, he saluted Jefferson and disappeared on the deck.

The next day, on the evening of August 18, 1891, the "First" armored cruiser sank about 30 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan due to wind and waves. The commander of the "First" was also connected to the "First" sinking Captain Kent Tom and seven sailors.

At around 5 p.m. that day, on the escort of a small group of soldiers, Zao Guoquan boarded the original site of the red brick chapel, which was his residence. Because the chapel was within the range of the British naval guns, he was escorted to a safer place by the soldiers sent by Feng Kaigui.

Zao Guoquan looked at the unrecognizable building in front of him in pain. Under the bombardment of grenades and incendiary bombs, the church was left with only one ruin. The air was filled with all the unique burnt smell of animal leather burning. Several guards could not help but cover their noses with their sleeves. Zao Guoquan suddenly pushed open the door that was only halfway and walked into the ruins. He had just walked a few steps when he was tripped and almost fell to the ground. The guards following behind hurriedly reached out to support him. Before he could speak, he was pushed away by the other party.

Zao Guoquan touched two hands on the ground and grabbed a piece of broken wood. It was the object that had just tripped. After a closer look, it was the cross that was originally hung on the wall, but now it was half-charred. However, you can still clearly see the shape of Jesus crucified. After this unlucky "Son of God" was crucified by his companions two thousand years ago, today he was grenadeed by his devout believers with grenades and incendiary bombs. Zao Guoquan looked at the fragment, stuffed it to the followers behind him in anger, and walked into the ruins.

Twenty minutes later, when Zao Guoquan walked out of the ruins, although his face was still not good-looking, it was not the terrifying and sarcastic color just now. Several confidants exchanged their eyes and knew that it was time to report the situation of the war.

"Master!" Feng Kaigui walked out of the ranks, bowed to Zao Guoquan, and said in a deep voice: "The approximate losses have been counted just now. Among the twelve warships, except for the Beiyang "Yunheng", "Wu Sheng" and "Yuntian" who rushed out of the port, the current situation is unknown, they have all been lost. Among them, the "Chengyuan" took a white flag and was captured by the British, and the rest were either sunk or severely damaged. In the army, the turrets were destroyed, and soldiers were killed and injured 745 soldiers and 17 cannons. The 60,000 stones of food stored in the warehouse, the 4,000 mattresses, 250 tons of cooking oil, and some ammunition were burned by the British..." Feng Kaigui's voice became smaller and smaller, and later it was no different from mosquitoes.

"Where is the cargo ship!"

"Report to the general, fortunately, Li Guandai, 'Jiyuan's Guandai was desperate to hit the enemy flagship with his own ship, and scared away the enemy chief. The freighters and passenger ships parked in another berth did not suffer any losses!"

After hearing that the freighter and passenger ship had no losses, Zao Guoquan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He walked away a few steps and looked at the ocean surface in the distance. In the sunset light, he could clearly see that a small mast was exposed on the top of the water near the port, which was where the "Jiyuan" sank.

"Master!" Feng Kaigui suddenly threw himself to the ground: "The humble position and incompetence have led to the defeat of the King's Army. I hope the commander will be severely punished!" After saying that, he kept kowtowing.

"Come here, remember it!" Zao Guoquan called the secretary and said loudly, "|At around 8 o'clock this morning, the British fleet invaded our Keelung Port. Dozens of armored giant ships, more than a hundred small ships, masts covering the sky, and the bullets were like rain. Thousands of British barbarians were feinted on small boats. Our forts were all broken, and most of the warships were damaged. The guards motivated the soldiers with loyalty and righteousness, fought bloodily, and rushed with the British several times, and the thieves were corpses all over the sea. At about 1 o'clock in the afternoon, Li Desheng, the manager of the "Jiyuan" saw that the battle was critical, and his ships hit the enemy flagship. The British chief was broken and unable to support them, so he escaped in a row. In this battle, more than a thousand British thieves were killed and injured, and the enemy ships were severely damaged, and they were completely destroyed. However, many of our side were killed and injured, and the warships were destroyed, and they were all destroyed by artillery fire. I begged Shangguan to send them quickly to pay the soldiers!"

Feng Kaigui was surprised and happy when he heard this. The dictator dictated by Zao Guoquan completely erased the fact of defeat, turning the British raid on the port into a landing battle, and his side also changed from a crushing defeat to a battle to fight to repel the enemy. His sins were naturally taken away. He couldn't help but feel grateful and ashamed in his heart, and he fell to the ground and shouted: "I am incompetent, thank you for your protection!"

"Master Feng!" Zao Guoquan sighed, walked to the other party and patted his shoulder, and said in a deep voice: "You go to Tamsui Port immediately, and rushed out the three boats, and must go there, and you must be in the same caliber with them, otherwise-" At this point, Zao Guoquan's words stopped.

"I understand, I understand!" Feng Kaigui immediately jumped up from the ground and shouted loudly: "I'll set off right away, sir, please rest assured, there will be no mistake!"

Shanghai, Liu Family Mansion.

Chen Zaixing and Liu Zhiping were sitting at the long table, looking at the newspapers from major newspapers in Shanghai and the imperial court newspapers while using breakfast. The well-trained servants were silently placing exquisite meals on the dining table and removing the plates they had finished.
Chapter completed!