Chapter Fifty-Three: Enemy Raid

  One day in late October 1883, at the headquarters of the French Second Far Eastern Expeditionary Corps in Da Nang, Vietnam.

  General Rachid of the French Second Expeditionary Corps said to the senior and middle-ranking officers below:

  Now our army is fully prepared, the main purpose of my invitation to everyone is to discuss the next military action of our army. According to intelligence, the North Vietnamese Hua Xia Zhongyong Army is extremely powerful.

  Their navy has more than 20 ironclad warships, with sufficient logistical supplies, including two main battleships, far surpassing the most advanced ironclad ships of our country.

  The weaponry and equipment of the North Vietnamese Army's ground forces were also more powerful than ours, with extremely high combat effectiveness, making them an enemy that our army could not defeat for the time being.

  My opinion is to take down the Qing's Taiwan and Fujian coastal strongholds, use military force to coerce the Qing government into disbanding the Beiyang Loyal and Brave Army. Judging from historical experience, the Han Chinese of the Qing are relatively loyal and foolish. If we capture the Qing's throat, the Beiyang Loyal and Brave Army will no longer be a threat, they will collapse on their own.

  What do you gentlemen think?

  The Gallic roosters below started a heated discussion, but overall, everyone did not want to face the Viet Bac Trung Vuong army because their undefeated general, Guan Yu, was ambushed and killed by the Trung Vuong army, which is the direct reason they fear the Trung Vuong army.

  After the Battle of Paper Bridge, France urgently ordered General Garnier to come and relieve the siege. General Garnier was a French Navy admiral and an old colonial army general who had commanded in North Africa and Central Asia, leading multiple invasion wars.

  He is rich in modern warfare command experience, and is an important vanguard of the French Navy's prestige in the world. The French have high hopes for General Gao to win.

  But it was such a battle-hardened and self-proclaimed French invincible general, Gongche, who died under the cannon of Zhongyong Army. This fact is something that neither the French army nor its leaders can believe or accept.

  The French Navy was the second in the world, and at that time France already had 38 ironclad ships, 9 coastal defense ironclads, 50 cruisers, gunboats, and 60 torpedo boats, with a total tonnage of 500,000 tons.

  The Gallic Roosters, relying on such a powerful naval force, and the loyal and brave army, are still under the command of their undefeated general, Gaius. In the eyes of the Gallic Roosters, looking at the world's navies today, apart from the traditional naval power Britain, who else can compare with them?

  Even their arch-nemesis, the German Navy, didn't take them seriously, while the Gallic Rooster's naval fleet was defeated in its own strong point, sea battles. No matter what the reason is, it can't erase the fact that the expeditionary force failed.

  It also reflects, from the side, that the Chinese people they used to despise extremely have gained the strength to look down on any naval fleet in the world. This is a problem that the Gallic roosters, including even the number one sea power Britain, must take seriously.

  France this time came with a fierce momentum, but in reality, it is also superficially strong and internally weak, lacking the strength to back it up.

  In the previous clashes with the Black Flag Army, the French fleet in Cochinchina was completely annihilated. For this reason, the new French cabinet also passed a law increasing naval military spending and began to manufacture ironclad ships on a large scale at home to fill the gap in the depleted navy.

  France, in selecting a naval commander at home, had Lieutenant de Romaine du Rais, who volunteered his own plan for an expedition to China. In this plan, he proposed the strategic idea of using the corrupt Qing dynasty to hold back the loyal and brave army.

  He designed two sets of plans in this project;

  The first plan was to take the French expeditionary navy as the main force, and launch attacks on Dalian, Weihai, Nanjing, Wusongkou, Fuzhou and Xiamen at the same time, catching the Qing government off guard and creating a temporal difference for the Qing government.

  The second plan is to lead the expeditionary fleet himself, attacking the weakly defended Keelung and Tamsui in Taiwan under the Qing dynasty, using Taiwan as a foothold, blockading the southeastern coastal areas of the Qing dynasty, and opening up a second front along the southeastern coast of Fujian and Taiwan.

  Force the Qing government to sign a surrender, disband the Loyal and Brave Army, kill the backbone of the Loyal and Brave Army, then the danger in Vietnam can be lifted, and Vietnam, Taiwan, Fujian coastal areas and other places will fall into our hands.

  Although Rachilde was a master of naval theory without actual combat experience, with the precedent of the Kaga's solo voyage, the new French cabinet discussed and passed Rachilde's second plan.

  Moreover, he unusually chose Rachid, a young naval commander without actual combat experience, to lead the French Second Expeditionary Force. Napoleon was not born to be a warrior either, let alone that Rachid's usual performance was flawless!

  The military conference in Da Nang, Vietnam finally unanimously passed Rashid's proposal to first force Taiwan and then proceed with the next plan after occupying Taiwan.

  One morning, in a certain sea area west of Yongxing Island in the Xisha Islands, a small bulge suddenly emerged, its shape somewhat like the back of a large shark. If you have military knowledge, later generations of naval enthusiasts will exclaim that this is not the periscope of a submarine!

  Not bad, this is indeed a submarine using a periscope on the surface. This submarine is Tian Ergou's flagship A1, and recently, Tian Ergou has been patrolling in this sea area most of the time.

  Their main objective was to gather military intelligence on the French Second Expeditionary Corps.

  Since the troops of the Gallic rooster gathered in Jianggang, Tian Ergou's head has been tight, but the order from the Zongyong Military Command clearly stated that it is not allowed to ambush the French mixed fleet.

  Tian Ergou was very perplexed, having finally waited for the opportunity to go into battle, yet he wasn't allowed to launch an attack. Were the Gallic roosters allies of the Zhongyong Army? What a joke! Allies? The two armies faced each other without clashing swords or stabbing each other in the eyes, and that was already something to be thankful for!

  Although they can't ambush the French fleet, it doesn't mean that Tian Ergou will be careless. He is carrying enough fuel and shipborne ammunition, after all, anything can happen! It's still better to be careful!

  The middle section of submarine A1, on the non-pressure-resistant conning tower above the water, Tian Ergou disregarded the fine rain-like seawater brought in by the periscope's up and down movement, wiped his face with his hand, and then stuck his eyes close to the observation window of the periscope to observe.

  After a while, Tian Ergou suddenly discovered that there was a large area of black shadow in the southwest direction. He quickly adjusted the angle and observation focal length of the periscope.

  His heart skipped a beat, because in the periscope's field of view, he clearly saw a large number of warships, although they were not very clear due to height and distance. However, Tian Ergou knew that these were the targets he had been waiting for during this period - the second expeditionary force of the Gaulish Rooster, a mixed fleet.

  Seeing Tian Ergou's expression, the submarine observer next to him was anxious to death. However, Commander Tian was observing and he couldn't go forward to grab a position! Although Commander Tian is easy-going, it doesn't mean that when he's doing serious business, he's also casual. He'd better wait and see for now!

  As the distance between them drew closer, Tian Ergou began to adjust the periscope's height. If someone was observing this area of sea at that time, they could only vaguely see a dark shadow flickering in and out of sight among the waves, which would not be noticed by warships on patrol missions.

  As the two sides drew closer, Tian Ergou carefully counted them; there were a total of 26 mixed warships, nearly 30 transport ships, and several ironclad warships that Tian Ergou estimated exceeded 7,000 tons. All of these warships flew the French flag - a blue, white, and red tricolor banner.

  Tian Ergou concluded through careful observation that the French fleet was heading in the direction of Taiwan.

  He then began to retract the periscope and ordered: Command communication unit to transmit to Taiwan and headquarters, Ghost A1 reporting, discovered Gaulish rooster fleet on Yongxing Island, heading northeast towards Taiwan, with 26 mixed warships and 29 transport ships, average speed around 13 knots, please prepare for combat.

  It is expected that the French warships will arrive in the waters off Taiwan around 10:00 on November 3, 1883. Please follow the instructions of the combat command center.

  Inside the submarine's communication room, a series of Morse code beeps sounded, and when the radio wave reached Taiwan, Liu Mingchuan began to get busy. Doing various pre-war preparations.

  At this time, Liu Ming was full of confidence, and he had been in the Zhongyong Army for some time. He was also very familiar with the weapon configuration of the Zhongyong Army.

  With the current military weapons, Liu Mingzhuan is contemptuous of all incoming enemies in his heart, and it's no longer like being in the Qing army. At that time, his own troops were poorly equipped with weapons, and supplies were often insufficient. When fighting against the enemy, most officers and soldiers were armed with big knives and long spears, and went into battle bare-chested.

  At 11:00 on the 3rd, Keelung, Taiwan discovered the trail of the Gaulish Rooster Fleet. Looking at the approaching fleet of warships, Liu Mingzhuan, who had been prepared early, was excited and finally able to show off his skills.

  Although there was Zhou Yu's order not to damage the enemy ship, using a 40.3 cm caliber giant cannon to fire a few shots is also very satisfying!

  When the enemy ships were about 18,000 meters away from the coastline, Liu Ming ordered the use of 250kg extended-range shells. The first and second echelons measured a distance of 19,000 meters, while the third and fourth echelons measured a distance of 17,000 meters, concentrating their firepower to open fire on the enemy's direction.

  The fleet of fish-shaped vessels is ready for battle, with the main vessel on high alert.

  The gunners who had been ready for a long time were busy, and after adjusting the elevation distance, they eagerly fired at the enemy ship with the long-awaited shells.

  One of the shells, amazingly, fell on the deck of one of the warships in the fleet, destroying one of the enemy's main guns on the spot. Fortunately, it was not an armor-piercing shell, otherwise it would have been very likely to cause the ammunition depot under the main gun turret to explode.

  Paralyzed drop, are you blind? Are you transmitting 19,000 meters or 17,000 meters? Don't you know the content of the order?

  This unfortunate gunner was scolded by the commander and didn't dare to argue, he had clearly adjusted the elevation angle, how could such an unexpected situation occur? It's really damn frustrating! He was silently vomiting blood in his heart.