Master Yuan, start!

On the Fuji, Heihachiro Togo drew his sword, looked up at the red flag on the mast, and waved forward.

Chapter 471: Natuna (Part )

The intensive gunfire sounded one after another, and Xiafei finally woke up.

At this time, Xiafei finally understood why the Chinese warships in the northeast direction first harassed and then fled.

Obviously, this was to create time for the southwest fleet to launch a surprise attack.

Because of the curve of the earth, the human eye can only see about 20,000 meters at most. Beyond this distance, it is somewhat powerless. The French fleet was led by them and moved to the northeast, so that the horizon on the ocean blocked its view.

The French support fleet is surrounded!

However, before the sound of artillery could be heard from the horizon.

"Artillery shells are coming from the southwest!"

The sailors on the Osh began to shout frantically, and shrill alarms sounded from every warship.

The French sailors on the deck were running back and forth, carrying shells, while some infantrymen quickly retreated into the cabin. For a moment, people bumped into each other and the situation was chaotic.

"General, the German fleet seems to be retreating!"

In the command room, the crew members reported the latest intelligence.

"Retreat?" Upon hearing this, Xiafei quickly picked up the telescope and began to observe.

In the German fleet, two warships were seen spewing black smoke and sailing slowly forward, while the rest of the warships were all moving in unison, slowly heading towards the periphery of the battlefield.

Joffre was unaware that the German fleet had no intention of participating in the battle. Looking at the two warships detaching from the fleet with black smoke billowing out, he wondered, "What on earth are the Germans planning?"

No one answered him.

But soon, Xiafei knew the answer.

A few minutes later, when the black smoke gradually faded away, the sailors of the entire French support fleet were all stunned. Some of them rubbed their eyes, some pulled the backs of their hands, as if they could not believe what they saw.

what is that?

Coming from a distance was a ship of over 2 tons, flying a red flag with twelve yellow stars, two 305mm twin-mounted large-caliber guns, a tall pagoda-like bridge, and ten 10mm caliber rapid-fire guns on both sides.

Moreover, there are two of them!

One ship has already surpassed the battleship Osh, and there are two of them!

"That's a Chinese flag. Where did they get these two battleships???"

In Xiafei's sight.

Countless fireballs were bursting out from their gun barrels that seemed to be filled with the decks. The rumbling sound of the cannons was more frequent than the drumbeats. In the blink of an eye, a large number of water columns appeared around the outer warships.

"The enemy ship is traveling at 15 knots and is two degrees to the left!"

On the Fuji, in the bombardment control tower located above the navigation bridge, the observer observed the effects and errors of the first round of bombardment through the rangefinder, while shouting to report these data to the gunner behind him.

In just a few minutes, Kantaro Suzuki, an outstanding graduate of the Etajima Naval Academy, quickly calculated the shooting parameters and quickly passed the data to the gunner.

Although the Japanese navy in this time and space was almost completely sunk in the Hokkaido tsunami, there was no interruption in naval talent.

Historically, Japanese naval officers who performed outstandingly in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I had gradually emerged at this time.

"Five minutes, rapid fire!"

As soon as Captain Heihachiro Togo gave the order to fire, Gunnery Chief Kantaro Suzuki had already pointed his guns at the French support fleet.

They did not give the French warships any chance to react and immediately ordered full-speed bombardment.

Ten 10mm rapid-fire naval guns fired six rounds per minute, four 152mm caliber naval guns fired one round per minute in rapid fire, plus the same firepower bombardment from another ship of the same level, the Yashima.

In one minute, these two 128-ton battleships can easily launch shells!

Almost in the blink of an eye, the distance was reduced to only six kilometers. The French cruiser, which was just turning around, was directly hit by multiple artillery shells.

At such a close distance, even without the radar and fire control of later generations, the hit rate could reach as high as 3% relying solely on the gunners' visual observation.

This means that out of 120 rounds, more than 30 successfully hit the unprotected cruisers at the forefront of the French support fleet.

炮弹在法一兰西水0兵们身边0炸开，小7小的舰体和6船壳根本9没法承受那么密集的弹雨，很快便燃起了6熊熊大火。

"boom!"

With a loud bang, the 305mm caliber heavy artillery on the Fuji hit the ammunition depot of a French cruiser. The shell directly hit the cabin, causing a violent explosion. This scene immediately made both sides of the war open their eyes wide!

Not far away, another French cruiser was hit by too many 150mm rapid-fire guns. Its bow was blown apart and its hull began to tilt uncontrollably toward the water.

The sailors and officers on the Fuji and Yashima had never expected that the two 2-ton warships under their feet were so violent and ferocious. Just one round of salvos was enough to put an end to the two French cruisers.

Solaohan 6+0-738+04

Amidst the violent explosion, brown and yellow smoke rose into the sky. When the Japanese gunners began to aim all their guns at the battleship Osh based on the latest data, the two unprotected cruisers had already begun to sink.

"Fortunately, we didn't decide to launch a surprise attack on Li Hongzhang's South China Sea Fleet.

If the 305mm shells from the Zhenyuan or Dingyuan were to hit her, even the Yoshino, the most heavily armored ship in the Combined Fleet, would probably not be able to withstand it."

As Heihachiro Togo watched the slowly sinking French warship, he couldn't help but recall an old story.

In 1891, the Qing Dynasty had just split, the north and the south were hostile to each other, and the national navy strength was greatly reduced. Japan had just been defeated in Korea and believed that Yuan Shikai's army in the north was too strong.

As a result, there was a voice within the government that advocated that when a civil war broke out between the north and the south of the Qing Dynasty, they should first attack Li Hongzhang in Guangdong, use the Japanese navy to launch a surprise attack to annihilate Li Hongzhang's South China Sea Fleet, and then dispatch the army to wipe out the Huai Army.

However, later, since no large-scale conflict broke out between the North and the South, and the Jiangnan Navy and Beiyang Fleet were gradually established, Japan abandoned this plan and turned to reconcile with Yuan Shikai to seek a more appropriate solution.

At this moment, Togo Heihachiro, who recalled this incident, looked at the French cruiser being torn apart by the 305mm caliber heavy artillery, and felt a little relieved in his heart.

"Fortunately, there was no fighting. The 305mm caliber heavy artillery on the Zhenyuan and Dingyuan was truly terrifying.

If war breaks out, the Combined Fleet might be completely sunk before it can even fight the Russians.

Chapter 472: Luzon Strategy

The city of Guangzhou was pitch black at night. The street of lights that Li Hongzhang had spent so much effort to build was now dark.

Because of a malfunction at the power plant in Guangzhou City, power supply is temporarily unavailable.

However, the former Lingnan Xinghan Military Governor's Office, now the Guangzhou Governor's Office, was brightly lit.

In the huge room, people's shadows were intertwined under the illumination of seven or eight electric lights. The power for these lights was a small diesel-driven generator originating from the United States that Yuan Xiangcheng brought from the north.

Although it is said to be small, it actually weighs nearly 500 kilograms and requires at least three people to move it.

However, its convenience lies in that you only need to open the lid and fill it with oil, and it can maintain continuous power generation for at least 10 hours.

For China, where large-scale power plants and transmission lines are not yet popular, the main purpose of its use is to be able to generate electricity anytime and anywhere.

The Second Industrial Revolution is in full swing. The most important thing in this revolution is the use of electricity and internal combustion engines.

In terms of internal combustion engines, China's current accumulation in this area is not enough and is far behind Germany and the United States. It is said that the United States has now produced gas turbines that can propel 100-ton ships.

Not to mention Germany, which is far ahead in the research of internal combustion engines. Their gasoline internal combustion engines can already be installed on wheels and run on the road.

However, apart from this, in the newly developed electrical field, China is at the forefront of the times.

Relying on the mature technology of using large steam engines as generators, China has already established thermal power plants in Beijing, Tianjin, Pyongyang, Shenyang, Seoul and other places based on the local rich coal resources, and can now provide stable power supply to cities.

In the Far East, this is considered to be a level of dominance.

As for some places that cannot use large thermal power plants for the time being, they have also begun to use these small diesel generators. As the country gradually stabilizes and commercial activities become more frequent, the demand for electricity will continue to rise.

There is a diesel generator in front of us. There is one in Guangzhou, and there is also one in Tianjin and Incheon Machinery Bureau. They are placed in the factory for people to disassemble and study.

Yuan Xiangcheng believes that with huge market demand, domestically produced small fuel generators will definitely be launched.

However, at this moment, there is a more important matter to deal with than domestic internal combustion engines.

How to deal with the future of the Philippines.

The lights in the room were bright, and Yuan Xiangcheng fell into deep thought as he looked at the Chinese representatives from Luzon who had come from afar.

The capture of the Philippines by the US fleet was a foregone conclusion. After deciding to lure the Japanese to the southern Philippines, Yuan Shikai also did not want to give up the northern Philippines, commonly known as the Big Island of Luzon.

This is the core area of ​​Spanish colonization in the Philippines. Thanks to Li Hongzhang, there is already a concession in Manila in China.

Yuan Shikai wanted to preserve this benefit, even expand it, and feed it back to the country.

This cannot be achieved without the help of local Chinese in the Philippines.

Yuan Xiangcheng vaguely remembered that after the United States annihilated the Spanish-Philippine fleet in the original time and space, that is, after the end of the Spanish-American War, it fought a protracted US-Philippine War.

The reason is that before the Americans fought with the Spaniards, in order to weaken their power in the Philippines, they instigated the Filipinos to become independent and establish a Philippine Republic.

However, as soon as the Philippine Republic was established, the Spaniards simply admitted defeat and signed a peace agreement with the Americans.

Perhaps the Americans didn't expect the Spaniards to be defeated so quickly.

So when the United States took over the Philippines, it did not take over a colony, but an independent country.

At this time, the Americans naturally chose not to admit it and began to vigorously crack down on the forces of the Republic of the Philippines.

However, due to the alliance of the indigenous people, Chinese and Spanish mixed-race people in the Philippines, the Americans did not gain any advantage.

The Spanish-American War ended in 1898, but it was not until 1902 that the United States gained a firm foothold in the Philippines. It was not until 1906 that the US government announced the official end of the Philippine War.

In other words, the United States dispatched 10 soldiers in the US-Philippine War, fought more than 2800 battles of varying sizes, spent nearly $10 billion, and spent eight years before finally successfully taking control of the Philippines.

Therefore, facing the future chaos in the Philippines, Yuan Xiangcheng naturally wanted his country to have a share of it.

After the Americans realized how "difficult" the Philippines was, they took the initiative to lend a helping hand, relying on the Chinese in the Philippines to divide the local resistance forces.

Of course, if the United States wants to rely on the Chinese in the Philippines, it will inevitably need domestic aid.

In this way, the local Chinese influence in the Philippines can be expanded while also gaining benefits from the United States, killing two birds with one stone.

As for the independence of the Philippines?

Yuan Xiangcheng believes that the first thing to do is to redefine what a Filipino is.

In the Greater Manila area, the local population ratio is roughly 1 white, 3 Chinese, and 6 native Americans.

That is, 1% were white Europeans, 3% were Chinese, and 6% were so-called "natives" as defined by the colonial authorities.

But most of these natives are mixed-race people of Loess, and there are no pure-blooded natives anymore.

In the Philippine independence movement of the original time and space, the mixed-race natives of Chinese and yellow earth shed a lot of blood for the independence movement, but after the founding of the country, the Philippines did not treat them well. Instead, it launched wave after wave of anti-Chinese movements.

The Chinese in the Philippines, are they not Filipinos? Most of the Chinese’s ancestors fled here during the Daoguang and Xianfeng periods.

These Chinese were born in the Philippines, grew up in the Philippines, and died for the independence of the Philippines.