Chapter Fifty-two: A Way of Life

  Everyone stared blankly at Thomas, who was crying loudly, and they all stopped firing - at such a close distance, Jinlin's main gun only needed to aim, and Jiyuan's rear main turret would be blown away, none of them could survive! For a moment, along with the sudden silence of Jiyuan's rear main gun, the sea surface suddenly returned to calmness. Shen Shouchang suddenly reacted - "Why did Jinlin also stop firing?!"

  As soon as this thought occurred to Shen Shouchang, he saw that Yoshino was still pursuing at the fastest speed, while the chief engineer, Lun Zongzu, had not received his message and was still maneuvering the Jiyuan at its fastest speed, constantly making various evasive maneuvers on the surface of the sea. The entire Jiyuan ship was like a black-smoking fire dragon, moving in a serpentine motion westward across the sea surface. Its smokestacks had been hit by Yoshino's shells and were now funnel-shaped, with black smoke spewing out of the various large and small holes everywhere. And yet, despite this, Jiyuan's boilers had not been destroyed by the shelling and were still operating at full speed.

  "Kino wants to capture us alive!" Shen Shouchang saw that the Japanese sailors on the Kino had already begun holding machine guns or rifles, standing at the bow in two rows aiming at Jiyuan, as if they were going to come over and take them alive.

  Wang Guo Cheng flung his blood-stained sailor's hat, wiped the blood from his face and shouted: "I'd rather die than be a prisoner of the Japanese pirates! Which of my brothers is willing to load the cannon for me? I'll take some little devils with me to see King Yan even if I'm dying. Let King Yan see that our navy is also made up of good men!"

  Shen Shouchang's face flushed with blood, and he kicked open the crouching Thomas beside him. Lowering his voice, he said: "The Japanese think we're out of ammo! Now is a good opportunity, I'll help you load the cannon, damn it, I don't want to be a prisoner either! We'll sink Japan's Kong Island, and even if they capture us, they won't get any benefits. Either way, it's death, but I'd rather die and fart in their faces!"

  The surviving sailors next to him all threw their hats to the ground and said, "Shen Bangdai, just give the order, brothers will follow you to do this!"

  Just as Shen Shouchang and others were busy loading ammunition under the cover of the main turret armor of Ji yuan, a sailor suddenly said: "Yi nuo has stopped! Look, Yi nuo has stopped!"

  Shen Shouchang and several others had just finished loading the shell into the breech and closing the breechblock when they heard the shouting of the sailors on the side. They were stunned for a moment, then hastily climbed out of the turret to see a strange sight - the Yoshino was stopped at a distance of about 1,000 yards from itself, and as Jiyuan sailed westward at full speed, this distance was still increasing!

  "Shen's fleet is approaching! Liang's ship has sent word that the Kino is stranded! Should we fight or retreat, please make a quick decision!" A sailor struggled to run over to him on the deck littered with corpses and debris, shouting loudly.

  "What?! Kino's been washed ashore?!" Shen Shouchang seemed to have heard the most beautiful sound in this world, and rushed over to grab the sailor's collar, shouting loudly. As a result, he fell onto the sailor due to his leg injury.

  "Li Guang just discussed with two senior officers about this sea area a few minutes ago, saying that this sea area has many shallow shoals and hidden reefs. The Yoshino's draft is deeper than ours, and the ship is too big to maneuver easily. If we're not careful, it'll run aground or get stuck in the shallows..."

  The thunderous cannon fire interrupted the sailor's voice - Yoshino answered Shen Shouchang's question with its main gun, it was stuck and unable to move, naturally it could not capture Jiyuan ship, the only feasible way was to sink Jiyuan and not let it escape!

  Two massive water columns burst open at the stern of the Ji Yuan ship, and the flying shrapnel hit the rear main gun, making a loud noise. Thomas, who was unconscious at this time, heard the sound of the cannon and rushed out without thinking, but before he could run a few steps, he was struck by a 120mm shell fragment that hit the deck less than 20 meters in front of him and was killed instantly.

  "The kingdom is formed? Open fire! Everyone ran to the cabin to hide, telling Liang Guanzuo to turn the rudder full south and head towards the blind spot of Yoshino's main gun and rear main gun. At this time, we must not be sunk by Yoshino!" Shen Shouchang shouted loudly with his waist bent.

  Yoshino, apart from the two twin-mounted 150mm main guns at the front and rear, had eight 120mm main guns lined up on both sides. In the intense battle just now, Yoshino's main guns were unable to withstand the armor of Jiyuan, let alone the 120mm secondary guns. The consequences of being hit by the main guns were simply too severe; either a large fire would break out or people would die. If it was really hit at the waterline position, Jiyuan's only chance of survival would be gone!

  Wang Guocheng slowly turned the handwheel, aiming the cannon at Yoshino not far away. When there was only one person left on the turret, he suddenly pulled down the lanyard, and with a loud bang, a fireball burst out from the bow of Yoshino. However, this shot also enraged Yoshino. After Wang Guocheng rolled into the cabin, he hadn't stood up yet when he heard the rumbling explosions - Yoshino's main and secondary guns hit Jiyuan's rear main gun one after another. Fortunately, there were no more shells or powder bags on the turret at that time, otherwise, under the chain explosion, the tail of Jiyuan would have been blown to pieces.

  Li Zuquan no longer cared about the shells of various calibers flying through the air, and increased the air pressure to its maximum, desperately turning the rudder, drawing a distorted curve on the sea surface amidst the massive explosions, in less than three minutes, Jiyuan was hit by at least four shells of varying sizes, with a large fire breaking out at the rear main gun, but at this time, Jiyuan was fleeing for its life, not caring about the fire, only seeking to escape from Yoshino as fast as possible.

  At this time, the 70-meter-long Jiyuan ship was covered with flames on almost half of its area. The sailors simply used hammers and other tools to smash the burning places into the sea. The water pumps on the ship were also desperately spraying water. Even the few shells in the rear main gun's ammunition depot were thrown into the sea using a pulley, fearing that the high temperature of the flames would cause the shells to heat up and explode. Anyway, the rear main gun had been destroyed and leaving the shells was useless.

  Liang Zuquan and Shen Shouchang met in the driving cabin, all the high-ranking officers on the entire ship who survived except Fang Boqian whose mind was not very clear, were concentrated here. Everyone's face was covered with blood and oil mud, and their faces became mottled, but they also knew that Yoshino's reckless pursuit had finally been calculated by Jiyuan's several pipes and was stranded behind, unable to move. As long as they could survive this barrage and run out of range, Jiyuan would truly escape from death.

  This temporary meeting just informed everyone of the current situation in the battle. Everyone now knows that Yoshino is aground, and Chiyoda is going all out to try to leave Yoshino's range at the fastest speed possible. Even if Yoshino can find a way to get off the shoal, it's already almost dark, and wanting to pick them up would be completely impossible - of course, on the premise that they must quickly escape Yoshino's main gun range.

  At this time, on the command deck of Yoshino, there were two Japanese naval officers with serious expressions, holding monoculars and watching Jiyuan escape from the main gun range of Yoshino's front, dragging a long flame behind it. They were all sighing in their hearts, but they had no choice. Who would have thought that in a situation where they occupied an absolute advantage, three warships with a total tonnage exceeding Jiyuan by five times and a number of guns several times that of the opponent, the final result was that one main battleship was sunk and another was damaged, while the opponent escaped hastily with scars all over its body? This made the faces of the two high-ranking Japanese naval officers on the command deck turn iron-blue. The two naval officers were Yoshino's captain, Navy Colonel Kawahara Yoichi, and Navy General Tsuboi Kozo, while the captain of Kishima, Navy Colonel Yokoo Michihiro, was killed by a 150mm shell after Jiyuan's torpedo attack.

  As soon as the Chiyoda's main gun range was escaped, the entire crew of the Jiayuan participated in firefighting and rescue operations, until 8 o'clock in the evening when the last fire on the Jiayuan was extinguished. Almost all the structures above the deck were hit by the shells of the Chiyoda and the Yoshino, except for the front main turret and the bridge, which were relatively intact, the rest were reduced to a pile of scrap iron. The rear main gun barrel was even blown up and lay across the stern, the front main turret was hit by two 150mm shells during the escape, the turret base was shaken open and could no longer rotate, even the chimney was repeatedly hit by shells into a beehive.

  Apart from the severe damage to the Jiyuan itself, the naval officers and men on board also suffered heavy casualties. Half of the officers on the ship were killed in action, and even the captain Fang Boqian was somewhat mentally disordered; more than 200 officers and men were unable to find a single person who was unscathed after several hours of continuous fighting. There were as many as sixty people who died directly in battle, twenty-three people with severe injuries such as severed limbs, and eighteen of these severely injured people bled too much due to their serious injuries and fell asleep forever before dawn the next day! Only one person survived after being taken ashore for treatment.

  It can be said that after this battle, Jiyuan was thoroughly crippled from the inside out, with only one frame remaining intact. The warship and personnel were all destroyed. However, compared to the price paid by Jiyuan, the Japanese fleet paid an even heavier price. The 4,300-ton Ashima was sunk, and the officers and men on board were killed or injured beyond description due to Jiyuan's fire attack. Decades later, released archives showed that only 51 people were rescued under the rescue of the Biwei ship, including Captain Yokotani, nearly 300 people were buried at sea. More importantly, as one of the Sanjing ships, the sinking of Ashima made the Japanese Navy's plan to surround and attack the two giant warships of Dingzhou with the Sanjing ships on the verge of bankruptcy. During the attack, only one 12-inch main gun could be used for attack, and all previous tactical intentions became a bubble due to the unexpected sinking of Ashima.

  Even Yoshino, which beat Jiyuan badly, was not unscathed. Although Jiyuan's 210mm main gun hit Yoshino repeatedly without disabling its main gun, it caused some casualties among the crew of Yoshino, especially that funnel pierced by a 150mm shell on board Yoshino is so eye-catching...

  The tenth day of the tenth month in the twentieth year of Guangxu was the sixtieth birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi. Although there were still several months to go, the old lady had been hinting for a few years that she wanted to make a big fuss about it. Ten years ago, when Cixi turned fifty, she had planned to celebrate in style, but the Sino-French War broke out and not only did she fail to have a good birthday, but she also got angry with the French people, which made her unhappy for many years. Although there was a saying that "the Empress Dowager does not like grand celebrations", this was just private gossip, and on the surface, all matters related to the Empress Dowager's longevity celebration were being carefully planned in secret.

  At this time, Tang Yan came to the capital and deeply felt this atmosphere. When he took a horse-drawn carriage to Weng Tonghe's mansion, he passed by the gate of the celebration venue in charge of the birthday affairs and saw a bustling scene like a temple fair.

  "In the year of Gengwu, I am delighted to encounter the 60th birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi. The universe is vast and open, and I should lead all officials and people in the country to congratulate her with joy. All necessary rituals and ceremonies must be handled carefully by specially appointed ministers to show respect and caution.

  I appoint Prince Gong Shaoyuan, Prince Qing Yihao, Grand Minister E Leshan, Zhang Zhiwan, Fu Kun, Minister of Revenue Xi Jing, Weng Tonghe, Minister of Rites Kun Gang, Li Hongzao, Minister of War Xu Gengshen, Minister of Works...

  This was the edict of Emperor Guangxu that Tan Yankai saw in the government gazette at the end of last year. However, this damned edict was actually the idea of that old classmate Weng Tonghe!"

  Tan Yanqing was of course aware that this was a political deal, and even his father Tan Zhonglin had made a deal with Weng Tonghe last year - in order to avoid Tan Yanqing's fame in the imperial examination, Weng Tonghe specially wrote to Tan Zhonglin, hoping that Tan Yanqing would not participate in this year's Empress Dowager's birthday imperial examination. The reason was that Weng Tonghe's good student Zhang Jian had failed four times in a row, and if Tan Yanqing participated in the imperial examination, no matter who was the chief examiner, he would have to put Tan Yanqing's paper first - the Empress Dowager's birthday must be a good omen, and the best omen is the appearance of a triple champion. Moreover, Tan Yanqing was someone who had been personally praised by the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, and his father was a high-ranking official with a not-so-small background, so as long as the paper was not bad, who would dare to offend Tan Zhonglin and his son?

  Here is the translation:

  It turns out that Zhang Jie was indeed extremely unlucky on his path to imperial examination. From being accepted as a student at 16, he took the Jiangnan provincial examination (also known as the "Southern Examination") five times at the ages of 18, 21, 23, 24, and 27, but failed each time. It wasn't until the 11th year of Guangxu (1885), when Zhang was 33 years old, that he finally passed the Shuntian provincial examination (also known as the "Northern Examination") with the second highest score, earning him the nickname "Southern First" (the first person from the south to be ranked on the northern list). His reputation gradually grew, and he became a target for recruitment by the "Clear Stream" faction. Starting from the 11th year of Guangxu, Weng Tonghe and Pan Zuyin had already shown intentions to promote Zhang Jie, especially with phrases like "expected even more" and "recommended but not selected", several times mistakenly taking someone else's exam paper for Zhang Jie's and selecting him as the top scorer, which further illustrates their eagerness to promote him. This is why Weng Tonghe was so determined to get him during the 1894 examination.

  In the eyes of others, Weng Tonghe and Pan Zuyin, who were considered to be the leaders of the Qing government, had taken a liking to Zhang Zhidong and had given him special promotion. However, it was perhaps fate's prank that because Weng Tonghe openly and secretly helped Zhang Zhidong, even going so far as to cheat on his examination papers, this ultimately led to Zhang Zhidong failing the imperial examinations time and again. At 34 years old, Zhang failed the Ministry of Rites' joint examination; at 37 years old, he went to take the joint examination, but Weng Tonghe mistakenly identified his paper, which was actually that of Sun Shouchang from Wuxi, resulting in Sun passing while Zhang failed; at 38 years old, he took the joint examination again, but this time his paper was mistaken for that of Tao Shifeng, with Tao becoming a "first place winner" while Zhang failed once more; at 40 years old, he went to take the joint examination again, but his paper was again stolen by Liu Kuiyi from Wujiang, resulting in Liu becoming a "first place winner" while Zhang failed yet again.

  Things in the imperial examination are about fate, Zhang Jie is now 41 years old, even if Weng Tonghe continues to support him, if the Qing dynasty really produces a 50-year-old champion, Weng Tonghe's old face will be lost. If you put 18-year-old Tan Yanqing and 41-year-old Zhang Jie together, in terms of academic achievement, one "Exhortation to Learning" surpasses Zhang Jie by far, in terms of demeanor, Tan Yanqing is majestic and imposing, while Zhang Jie is called "mature and steady", but in fact, even if he tries his best, the champion is still a matter for the old lady, Tan Zhonglin is a favorite of the old lady, how can she not choose Tan Yanqing?!

  When Weng Tonghe learned that Tan Yanqing, who was once called "young genius" by himself, unexpectedly passed the Imperial Examination as a top scorer at the age of 17, he felt both proud of his own judgment and worried about his good student Zhang Jian - in any aspect of the examination, Zhang Jian was not inferior to Tan Yanqing. Weng Tonghe could help Zhang Jian cheat to get the title of Huayan, but the title of Nan yuan is one rank lower than that of Jiayuan, and the value is different by a thousand miles. Moreover, Tan Yanqing had been winning continuously in the examination field, so if the two really competed against each other in the Imperial Examination, it would be more practical for Zhang Jian to prepare for next year's exam.

  Zhang Zhidong was too old to wait, and Weng Tonghe couldn't wait either - the good student he had cultivated for nearly ten years was his first student, Guangxu Emperor's regent, and Weng Tonghe's faction needed someone to pass it on. Wen Tingzhi, Zhirui, Sheng Yu and others could also be considered, but they were not yet capable of taking charge of the overall situation, while Zhang Zhidong had this ability, and after becoming a jinshi, he could make him grow up in a short period of time.

  Weng Tonghe had to swallow his pride and write a letter to Tan Zhonglin, asking if Tan Yanke would participate in the Wan Shou En Ke. Tan Zhonglin naturally understood the implication and added that next year was the En Zheng Ke, so it wasn't worth offending Weng Tonghe. He decided to give him face instead. If this time Weng Tonghe still made a mistake with his old eyes, then don't blame the Tan family for not believing him. Tan Yanke had no opinion on participating in the imperial examination one year earlier or later, as he was thinking about how to take the imperial examination for life to avoid the marriage between the two families of Tan Fang.