nashuaworldcup Chapter 34 The Arrogant Shouts of the Japanese Fleet
Chapter 34 The Arrogant Shouts of the Japanese Fleet
Wusongkou. Battery No. 2. Underground command room.
Chen Zijun stood in front of the periscope optical rangefinder, his eyes pressed against the eyepiece, motionless.
The system panel was quietly lit up in his mind.
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⚔Wusongkou Yonggu Fortress Complex - Status of Combat Readiness
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
►4 x 280mm Krupp coastal defense cannons [loaded with armor-piercing shells]
►4 Tier A Permanent Fortresses [All in Position]
►4 x 88mm anti-aircraft guns [Anti-aircraft standby]
►Fire control observation post ×2 [Target locked]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Armor-piercing ammunition reserves: 64 rounds (16 rounds per gate as a base load)
High-explosive ammunition reserves: 48 rounds
Ammunition status: plentiful
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Ammunition is plentiful. All four giant cannons are loaded.
He was just waiting for the right opportunity.
Within the circular field of view of the rangefinder, three gray warships were slowly approaching.
Leading the pack was the light cruiser Tenryu. 3500 tons. Four 14cm main guns. The bridge was draped with Rising Sun Flags, even one was strapped to the top of the mast. Flags fluttering in the wind, it looked as arrogant as if it were there for a military parade.
Following behind were two Minekaze-class destroyers—the Isokaze and the Urakaze. Each displaced 1200 tons, they followed closely behind their elder brother like two loyal hounds.
The three warships, totaling nearly 6,000 tons, were moored 200 meters outside the Wusongkou defense red line.
No shots were fired.
A sharp electrical noise came from the river.
Shen Li pricked up his ears. "What's that sound?"
loudspeaker.
A huge bronze megaphone was mounted on the bridge of the Tianlong, and an officer in a white military uniform stood behind it, holding a microphone in his hand.
He spoke.
He spoke extremely poor Chinese.
"Listen up, Chinese soldiers on shore! I am Captain Kinjiro Toba, commander of the advance squadron of the Third Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy!"
The sound was amplified tenfold by the loudspeaker, buzzing and echoing across the river.
"By order of the Imperial Japanese Navy Ministry, you must disarm completely within half an hour, hand over all arsenals and military facilities, and immediately raise a white flag at the Wusongkou Wharf to welcome the surrender ceremony of the Imperial Japanese Navy!"
He paused, a cold smile playing on his lips.
"Otherwise, the Imperial Navy will raze your positions to the ground with its naval guns! Thirty minutes! The countdown begins now!"
The loudspeaker emitted a piercing shutdown sound.
Shen Li's fists clenched so tightly they cracked. "These beasts—"
"Don't rush." Chen Zijun's voice was extremely cold and flat. His eyes never left the eyepiece of the rangefinder.
"Let him shout."
On the river.
The Japanese sailors on the deck of the Tenryu clearly felt confident of victory.
Someone ran to the ship's side, urinated towards the shore, and laughed loudly. His companions joined in, swearing in Japanese.
Colonel Yuan stood on the bridge, scanning both banks of the Wusongkou estuary with binoculars.
What did he see?
Barren mudflats. A few low, drab buildings. They look like the ruins of an old fort.
They didn't even have a decent cannon.
He put down his binoculars and chuckled.
"See that?" he said to his adjutant. "This is the Chinese coastline. It looked the same thirty years ago during the First Sino-Japanese War. A bunch of peasants with homemade guns—what can they possibly use to stop the Empire's warships?"
The adjutant nodded with a smile. "Colonel, they haven't reacted at all. They're probably terrified."
"Hmph." Yuan De glanced at his pocket watch. "Wait another twenty minutes. If they don't surrender, we'll anchor and give them a good thrashing with our broadside guns."
He raised his head, looking at the gray river surface, feeling smug and self-satisfied.
"Order the entire ship to prepare to anchor. Target: Inland river dock area. Prepare for broadside salvo."
Battery No. 2. Underground command room.
Chen Zijun heard every word coming from the loudspeaker.
Half an hour? Surrender? Surrender ceremony?
He didn't move.
He is waiting.
Behind them, in the gun chamber, eight shirtless gunners were working silently. Each 280mm armor-piercing shell weighed 300 kilograms and required four people to lift it, two people to push it onto the ammunition rack, and then a hydraulic loader to feed it into the gun chamber.
Click.
The breechblock is closed.
The heavy blast-proof door blocked out all sound. The command room was so quiet you could hear everyone's heartbeat.
Moranzhi stood in front of the communications station, receiving reports from various artillery positions through her earpiece.
"Gun position number one, loading complete, ready to go."
"Gun position number three, loading complete, standby."
"Gun position number four, loading complete, ready to go."
Four 280mm Krupp coastal defense cannons. All loaded.
Range: 38,000 meters. Armor penetration: 320 millimeters.
The thickest armor on the Tianlong was less than 63 millimeters.
Shen Li walked to Chen Zijun's side and lowered his voice. "Young Marshal, they have fifteen minutes left until the deadline. We—"
"No need to wait for his countdown." Chen Zijun straightened up and left the rangefinder.
He drew his Browning pistol from his waist and slammed it heavily on the command platform.
"I'll only give them three minutes."
He turned around and looked at Shen Li and Mo Lanzhi.
"If they dare to anchor and orient themselves, we'll send them back to their hometowns."
On the river.
The engine noise of the Tianlong began to decrease.
The massive gray hull slowly slowed down and began to veer to left. It prepared to aim its broadside at the river dock and fire a salvo from its four 14-centimeter main guns at the shore.
This is the standard posture for ship-to-shore artillery firing.
This also exposed the most fatal weakness – with the sides fully extended and the hull stationary, it resembled a clumsy beast arrogantly exposing its belly.
Colonel Kinjiro raised his right hand.
"Lower anchor!"
Whoosh!
The massive anchor sank from the side into the river, splashing up a white spray. The anchor chain rattled, and the Tianlong came to a complete stop, its hull shuddering slightly.
The 3,500 tons of steel on the side remained completely still.
A perfect target.
Right in this very second.
A dull, metallic creaking sound came from the tops of those "dull, gray low-rise buildings" on the south bank of the Wusongkou.
The half-meter-thick camouflage steel cover began to slowly slide open.
Kinjiro instinctively grabbed the binoculars.
He saw it.
From the depths of four gray concrete domes, four enormous cannon barrels, as black as ink and as thick as centuries-old trees, are slowly being raised.
That's not a homemade gun. It's not an old cannon from thirty years ago.
That was a 280mm Krupp coastal defense cannon.
The most terrifying weapon in the Far East.
Kinjiro's hands began to tremble. He nearly dropped the binoculars.
"This...this is impossible—"
He hadn't even had a chance to shout "Full speed retreat" yet.
In the underground command room of Battery No. 2, Chen Zijun's cold voice boomed through the communications channel.
"The crosshair is now properly secured."
"Beat the shit out of his head."