Chapter 53: The Battle of Pungdo Island

  Yang Feng circled out the Pilbara iron ore region. Thinking that in every iron ore negotiation, our great motherland had to wipe its own butt clean and wait for Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton to come knocking on the door, he couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia for this mine.

  At this time, he wanted to buy the place. In the eyes of the Premier of Western Australia, it was simply giving away money to the people of Western Australia. The desolation of the place was even more severe than Kalgoorlie. To know that the entire free settlement colony of Western Australia had a population of only tens of thousands, and 80% of them were concentrated around Swan Lake, leaving only a few million people on the remaining 2 million square kilometers of land. The desolation can be imagined.

  Since that's the case, Yang Feng didn't need to be polite anymore. He paid the same price as Karl Gully, one pound per square mile, and then he slapped down a check for 200,000 pounds like buying vegetables at a market, directly purchasing the land ownership, no exploration rights or mining rights could compare to the thrill of direct purchase. From then on, all the most valuable lands in Western Australia became Yang Feng's private property.

  Of course, the problem of mining and development still needs to wait for some time. Now, Mr. Yang is eagerly waiting for news from far-off China, and he can't even set foot on Japanese soil without being robbed. He can be said to be unable to eat or sleep well.

  On the same day Yang Feng bought the Pilbara mine area, Huang Hai, south of Funiu Island.

  Lin Guoxiang was on his unprotected cruiser Guangyi, crouched at the bow with Shanghai's Bohai Bay Company's manager O'Connor, eagerly studying the two steam-powered torpedoes that had just been installed on his ship. These two torpedoes, which cost almost as much as the warship itself, had been installed just a few hours ago. Even O'Connor himself did not know why Yang Da, the big boss, had instructed him in a telegram to install these two torpedoes on Guangyi before 6 am that morning.

  This inexplicable task, however, had him running around in circles. After painstakingly hiring a boat from Shanghai to rush to Weihai, he only found out when he arrived that Guangyi had already set sail northwards on the Jiyuan to carry out an escort mission. Fortunately, it was him, otherwise Ding Ruchang would not have paid any attention if someone else had come to ask about it. After learning that it was a task entrusted by Yang himself, Ding Ruchang specially dispatched the fastest Fujiong torpedo boat to send him to Yashan and managed to install the two torpedoes along with the double launcher on board before Guangyi set sail.

  "You say this torpedo can really hit over 4,000 meters?" Lin Guoxiang asked curiously. Although Yang Feng had said so before, he still felt it was hard to believe. After all, the current torpedoes, whether they were white or black, had a range of only a few hundred meters, and it was difficult to exceed even 1,000 meters, let alone over 4,000 meters. This was simply unbelievable.

  "Captain, this torpedo is the latest product of Bofors, even the British and German navies have purchased large quantities, with a price tag of ￡10,000 each. Please do not compare it to those cheap low-end goods." The Bofors engineer Anderson, who had escorted the torpedoes all the way from Sweden, said proudly in English that was not as fluent as Lin Guoxiang's, looking at him as if any doubt about the torpedo was blasphemy.

  Lin Guoxiang smiled and had not yet spoken when he heard the lookout on the mast shouting, "Sir, three columns of smoke have been spotted in the south!"

  Everyone on the ship suddenly became tense, and a war between China and Japan was about to break out at any moment. If it's a Japanese warship, that would be trouble.

  At the same time, a distant smoke column was also spotted on the Ji Yuan ahead, and immediately afterwards, the Guang Yi was notified by flag signals to prepare for battle, including the Fu Long which had completed its torpedo transport mission and was returning. The three warships immediately became busy, clearing gun barrels, checking ammunition, wetting wooden armor plates with water, and various pre-battle preparations began to proceed in an orderly manner. Although both sides had not yet declared war, it is always better to be prepared for battle.

  Soon, three large warships appeared on the horizon.

  "You're in trouble, Yoshino, Naniwa, Akitsushima. Put together, you don't even add up to a fraction of their total tonnage. If it comes down to a fight, you'll be annihilated." O'Connor said with a hint of schadenfreude, holding his binoculars and gazing at the three Japanese warships approaching in line ahead formation.

  "O'Connor, if they go down, we'll be next. If it comes to a fight, we have to help them out. Those three destroyers look like they're all drawing about five meters... setting these at two meters should do the trick." Anderson said hastily, squatting down to set the depth on the two torpedoes.

  O'Connor finally reacted.

  "Damn it, I don't want to die here for this inexplicable mission." The big boss who had been living a life of luxury in Shanghai muttered to himself, then helplessly squatted on the deck to assist Anderson.

  Lin Guoxiang was also holding a telescope, his face tense as he stared at the distance. The two newest domestically-made 120mm quick-firing guns on the bow of his ship were both pointing at the three Japanese warships. The Fulong-class torpedo boat was quietly hiding behind him. This torpedo boat, which could run over twenty knots at its fastest, had become outdated and had coal quality issues, so it could only run eighteen knots before burning out. It was only useful for sneak attacks when the enemy was off guard.

  But just as the two ships were tensely preparing for battle, the three Kongo-class battleships suddenly turned around and headed east. Seeing this scene, O'Connor couldn't help but wipe a cold sweat and said: "What a false alarm, it seems that the Japanese are not yet ready to start a war."

  "Not necessarily, this sea area is too shallow for them to turn around." Anderson said with a frown, looking at the Japanese fleet in the distance. It was clear that Lin Guoxiang shared the same view as him. The Guangyi didn't dare to relax at all, and they kept staring at the Jiyuan leading the way southward. Before long, the observer suddenly shouted: "The Japanese ship is turning around."

  The three ships of the Kiyoshima, which had been heading east, suddenly turned around and accelerated towards them. Soon, with Kiyoshima in the lead, Akatsuki in the middle, and Ikazuchi at the rear, they formed a line abreast, crossing the Tsi-yuan's bow from port to starboard.

  "Prepare for battle!" Lin Guoxiang shouted subconsciously, and as soon as the words fell, he saw flames flashing on the Yoshino, and the whistling of large-caliber shells tore through the sky, marking the official start of the First Sino-Japanese War.

  "Charge ahead, close in to within 3,000 meters!" Anderson roared. Lin Guoxiang was taken aback for a moment, but immediately understood and the Guangyi, which had been behind the Jiyuan, suddenly accelerated forward, charging straight at the Akitsushima. At this moment, the Jiyuan's front main gun let out a loud roar, now directly facing the Naniwa, which hadn't even had time to fire its cannons yet. The Naniwa was immediately hit, but unfortunately there was no explosion sound - the Jiyuan's single-barreled 210mm front main gun had fired an armor-piercing shell.

  Immediately afterwards, Japanese shells landed on the Jiyuan, and in the midst of a huge explosion, yellow smoke accompanied by large fires rose from the bow.

  "Damn it's sour!" Anderson exclaimed.

  "How come you haven't fired yet?" Lin Guoxiang shouted impatiently in the driving cabin, now that both sides were within 3,000 meters of each other. The Japanese shells used picric acid, which was no secret to the Beiyang Fleet, including the fact that they had a large number of picric acid shells donated by Yang Feng. The power of these shells during experiments left the entire fleet speechless. However, there were none on the Guangyuan, and even the 152mm quick-firing rear cannon on the Jiyuan, which had been replaced, was loaded with smokeless powder shells this time. Ding Ruchang treasured these shells and wouldn't bring them out unless absolutely necessary, especially the 600 rounds of 305mm shells that had just arrived, for which he kept the warehouse key himself.

  "I'm just a mechanical engineer, not a torpedo launcher, the launch program is complicated, I need to calculate the angle." Anderson yelled back without turning his head. At this time, Akizuki had already discovered their plan and after joining Nagatsuki's concentrated fire on Ji yuan, it immediately targeted Kōei Maru.

  A hail of shells burst around the Kōtetsu, one hitting the ship's waist, and the poor ironclad was torn to pieces. More than a dozen sailors were blown apart in the flash of flame, and what was even more frightening was that a huge fire started quickly, obviously this thing had an essential difference from **, and wetting the deck could not stop the spread of the fire.

  Similar to Guang Yi, Ji Yuan was also heavily damaged under intense shelling, with a large fire raging at the bow. Although its main guns still posed a threat to Japanese warships, even if the black powder exploded, it would be difficult to cause real harm to the enemy, let alone the old-fashioned cannons' slow firing rate in the face of the Japanese artillery's rain-like bombardment. Moreover, since the ship was facing the enemy with its bow, the newest 152mm quick-firing cannon at the stern had no effect whatsoever.

  "If we don't leave now, we're done for!" Lin Guoxiang yelled frantically as he gazed at the raging fire behind him. No sooner had he spoken than a shell whizzed past his head and exploded in mid-air after colliding with something unknown, sending shrapnel raining down on the ship and causing chaos everywhere. Even O'Connor let out a pained yelp as he clutched his arm and dove for cover behind the forward main gun.

  "Alright, fire!" Anderson said as he jerked down the firing lever. The high-pressure air in the tank instantly flooded into the launch tube, and then there was a loud thud. The more than one-ton torpedo was immediately blown out from inside, and it plunged into the sea with its head submerged, followed by a clear white trail of bubbles rapidly extending towards Akitsushima.

  Everyone stared intently at the trajectory, even Lin Guoxiang ran out of the cockpit, and they all watched in rapt attention as it hurtled towards Akitsushima in the distance. Clearly, despite the smoky sea surface, the sailors on board Akitsushima had discovered the anomaly on the water's surface. In the midst of chaos, while turning to evade, they simultaneously aimed all their cannons, including the high-rate-of-fire Gatling guns, at the sea surface. The dense cannonballs created a beehive-like effect around the torpedo, but it remained unaffected by the shockwaves and continued to maintain its stable trajectory, rapidly closing in on its target.