: Catch Xiamen

When the two warships of Guangyuan and Guangyu entered Zhangzhou Bay, it was almost evening. The lingering afterglow of summer shone a desolate blood in the distance of the sea. The Zhenlan battleship of Xiamen Fleet and the two torpedo boats were about to arrive one step earlier. The Zhenlan, a 1,100-tonnage warship spanned Zhangzhou Bay, steadily intercepting the route of the Guangdong army's crossing the sea. The torpedo boats cruised near the warship to prevent the Guangdong army from suddenly approaching the warships and launching hand-to-hand combat.

The Zhenlan muzzle was aimed at Zhangzhou, but it has not fired yet. Only heavy machine guns on two torpedo boats occasionally ejected flames to drive away the Guangdong fishing boats trying to cross the *** line.

On Baicheng Beach not far away, a battalion of the 9th Regiment of the Guangdong Army, which had successfully landed earlier, was still blocking fire with the Hulishan Fort. It had launched several consecutive strong attacks but failed. The soldiers suffered serious casualties and were unable to organize a charge at this moment.

Ren Guangyu ordered the entire ship to enter the combat state, the shells entered the chamber and aimed directly at the Zhenlan.

The main gun commander was sweating in cold sweat on his forehead, staring at Ren Guangyu, waiting for the captain's order to fire the cannon.

Ren Guangyu picked up the thousand-mile mirror and looked at the Zhenlan through the window of the bridge. He saw that all the muzzle envelopes of the Zhenlan had been taken off and were adjusting the shooting angle to point to this side. The telegram he sent to Zhou Baoshen before has not responded yet, and he had no idea what the situation of the Zhenlan was. He said that the Zhenlan planned to fight, but did not order the Guangdong soldiers crossing the sea to kill; he said that Zhou Baoshen deliberately showed mercy, but the warship was crossing the bay, with an unmovable posture and did not let any fishing boat pass.

"Commander? We can't afford to drag it down. When other enemy ships come over, we will suffer the loss." Fang Wensheng, who was standing aside, reminded. At this time, we can't hesitate anymore. Not only other warships of the Xiamen Fleet will come at any time, but the brothers on Baicheng Beach are also waiting for support.

Ren Guangyu knew that he was responsible for heavy responsibilities and could not act emotionally anymore. However, the Zhenlan did not fire first, and he could not make such a cruel decision. He gritted his teeth and said loudly:

"Take a flag to the Zhenlan and evacuate this sea area for ten minutes, otherwise our ship will fire with all its might."

"Commander, this..."

"If you ask you to go, don't talk nonsense!"

Fang Wensheng sighed, not daring to neglect, and immediately followed the instructions and executed the order.

The Zhenlan sentry received the flag-toning signal from the Guangdong warship and quickly sent the message to the bridge command room.

After Zhou Baoshen set out from the military port, his expression on his face remained solemn and unabated. However, he still had his own bottom line in his heart. He had received a telegram specially sent by Guangyuan before. Although he was a little shaken, he now shouldered an important responsibility. If the Guangdong army cannot stop the Guangdong army from snatching the beach, the entire Xiamen Island will fall and the Xiamen fleet will also be severely hit.

He knew very well that although this war was the first shot in Guangdong, it was not initiated by Guangdong.

Those who have a little sense of democratic revolution will be furious about the new law promulgated by Yuan Shikai. He is one of the angry people. Unfortunately, as the commander of a naval warship, he is loyal to the country and nation on the one hand, and on the other hand, loyal to the responsibilities of a soldier. He is really helpless.

Even if he takes ten thousand steps back, he will be responsible for all his faith and loyalty at the moment. If he ordered fire to block the Guangdong army at the beginning, Guangyuan and Guangyu would definitely fire mercilessly after arriving. With the tonnage and firepower of the Zhenlan, it would never be able to beat Guangyuan and Guangyu. The two warships of Guangyu will not only violate their conscience and fail to fulfill their loyal duties, but also sacrifice their lives in vain.

After the poster reported the flag utterance sent by Guangyuan, Zhou Baoshen was a little moved. As expected, Ren Guangyu was still thinking about the friendship of his navy comrades and gave opportunities again and again.

"Captain, what should we do?" the adjutant looked at Zhou Baoshen worriedly and asked.

Zhou Baoshen was silent for three minutes, and all the officers and soldiers in the command room were concentrated on him. No one asked or discussed it. The air seemed to condense suddenly.

"Forget it," he sighed with difficulty and said word by word, "Let's withdraw. Let's order all gun positions to adjust the muzzle to the southwest thirty degrees southwest, and each fire three shells."

For some reason, after hearing this, everyone in the command room not only did not complain, but was relieved. Officials at all levels immediately executed the order, and the warships were steadily turning, and ship-based guns were turning one after another. The main guns were the first to fire, and the shells exploded in unmanned waters in the southern unmanned waters.

On the Guangyuan number, all the officers and soldiers under Ren Guangyu put away their uneasy hearts.

Ren Guangyu ordered the Guangyuan and Guangyu ships to sing the whistle together and greet the Zhenlan.

Amid the long and low whistle "whimper", the Zhenlan went further and further, under the setting sun, it was like an old friend who said goodbye and left, leaving calmly and solemnly. A tragedy of the Chinese Navy was avoided.

In the official hall of the Xinhuamen Army Department of Beijing, a servant rushed here in a hurry. Duan Qirui was arranging Xu Shuzheng's military expenses and supplies in Wuhan. Before he could look up and ask the sudden arrival, the other party could not wait to shout: "General, it's not good. News from Fujian has come from Xiamen, and Xiamen is lost."

Duan Qirui suddenly bounced up from behind the desk, his bone-cut face was shocked, and he quickly asked, "When did it happen? How did it lose it?"

The attendant took the telegram and looked again, then dared to say: "At around 9 o'clock on August 19, the Eighth Regiment of the Second Fujian Army Stationed on Xiamen Island lost the Hulishan Fortress. Within three hours, the Guangdong Army occupied the entire Xiamen Island. Including the Xiamen Fleet Command and the Naval Base, it captured three gunboats, the Zhenlan, the Yangwu and the Yongbao, and the other small torpedo boats that could not be evacuated, and the patrol boats were all killed by the enemy..."

Duan Qirui quickly estimated in his heart that today was August 21, which means that the war in Fujian started two days ago. Because of the distance between the north and the south, the telegrams may be delayed by one or two days. He remembered the latest Fujian military report that he received on August 17. Li Houji had adjusted his combat plan and planned to attack after the navy and subsequent reinforcements were fully prepared. How could he have exchanged fire so quickly?

He took a deep breath, made himself calmer, and immediately asked: "What's going on? The Fujian army was attacking Zhangzhou, so why did he lose Xiamen?"

The attendant swallowed a saliva, prepared mentally, and said carefully: "Fujian reported that on the morning of August 19th, the Guangdong army took the lead without declaring war... and launched a raid. An explosion occurred in the early morning of the Xiamen Naval Base, with serious losses and chaos in the military port, so it was unable to respond in time, so the Guangdong army used warship cover to cross Zhangzhou Bay and attack Baicheng Beach. There was only one regiment of garrisons on Xiamen Island. Two regiments of Tong'an County attempted to constrain the enemy and control the port in Haicang County. Unexpectedly, the Guangdong army had prepared long ago and failed to succeed in the mission."

This telegram was naturally a report sent by the Fujian military government after modification, including the Guangdong warships entering Zhangzhou Bay to cover the Guangdong army's crossing the sea, the two regiments of Haicang County made the 7th regiment of the Guangdong Army fight so hard that they were all avoiding the important and concealing the truth, describing the battle as much as possible as possible.

Duan Qirui is not a fool. Although he knows the vulgarity of the Beiyang Army, he has always falsely reported the military situation and war situation, not bad news, and flattered me if I have any contribution, and made excuses if I have any guilt. But now these are not important. What is important is that Xiamen was lost in just one day after the war in Fujian and Guangdong, and the Guangdong Army captured so many naval ships. What a shame.

He noticed a detail in the report of the attendant, his face became more and more gloomy, his nose gradually twisted, and he squeezed out a sentence like grinding his teeth: "How dare Wu Shaoting starts the war first? What courage does he have? Why should he start the war first? Or a surprise attack, or a surprise attack!"

The attendant looked at Duan Qirui's anger and shrank his neck and did not dare to breathe.

Duan Qirui asked sternly: "Does the President know about this?"

But as soon as he said that, he waved his hand and changed his words: "Forget it, the President will know about this sooner or later, but even if he knows it, it will be useless."

He gradually felt a sense of resentment in his heart. He could understand the president's actions before, but now it seems that the president's layout for Guangdong is still extremely risky. This risk is not only because of the expected mistake, but more importantly, the north and south are too far apart. I really didn't expect that the combat effectiveness of the Guangdong army has been improved to a higher level, and even the navy cannot stop the army!

If there was friction between Guangdong and Guangxi, he would never be so worried now. No matter what, Li Houji, Fujian, is also a member of Beiyang. Fujian Province is still an internal group of Beiyang, and Fujian's losses are also Beiyang's losses.

According to the president's intention, it was to induce Wu Shaoting to fight with the warlords in the south. Beiyang was just fanning the flames and watching the fire from the other side of the river. The telegram sent by Fujian forced him to panic. If the president's plan made a mistake, Wu Shaoting annexed the South in one breath and turned around and confronted the Beiyang government. Wouldn't this be a disaster?
Chapter completed!