What Yang Feng circled was naturally the Pilbara iron ore area. When he thought about every iron ore negotiation in the future, our great motherland would have to clean its own butt, and then wait for Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton to come to the door, this guy couldn't help but think about it.
A piece of mine is leisurely and fascinating.
At this time, he wants to buy this place. In the view of the Prime Minister of Western Australia, it is simply giving free money to the people of Western Australia. The desolation of that place is even worse than that of Kalgoorlie. You must know that the entire Western Australia is now
The population of the free settlement colony is only a few hundred thousand, and 80% of it is concentrated around Swan Lake. The remaining two million square kilometers of land only have a population of tens of thousands. It is conceivable how desolate it is.
Know.
In this case, there was no need for Yang Feng to be polite. The price was still the same as in Kalgoorlie, one pound per square mile. Then he took a check for two hundred thousand pounds just like buying vegetables at the market, and he bought the land directly.
Ownership, such as exploration rights and mining rights, is not as satisfying as buying it directly. From then on, the most valuable land in Western Australia became Yang Feng’s private property.
Of course, the prospecting and development issues will still take some time. Now Boss Yang is waiting with great expectation for the news from distant China. If he doesn't go to Japan to plunder the land, he can say that he will have trouble sleeping and eating.
On the day Yang Feng bought the Pilbara mining area, the Yellow Sea and the waters south of Fengdao.
Lin Guoxiang was on his unprotected cruiser Guangyi, squatting at the bow of the ship with O'Connor, the chief executive of Shanghai Bofors Matheson Company, studying the steam gas torpedoes that had just been installed on his ship. The price of both of them was almost as high as that of his warship.
The expensive torpedoes were just installed a few hours ago. Even O'Connor himself didn't know why Boss Yang sent a telegram asking him to install these two torpedoes on the Guangyi before six o'clock this morning.
.
This inexplicable mission was very difficult for him. He worked hard to hire a ship to rush from Shanghai to Weihai. Only when he arrived did he find out that Guang Yi had already gone north with the Jiyuan to perform escort missions. Fortunately, it was him.
If anyone else came to inquire about Ding Ruchang, he would definitely not pay attention. After learning that it was the mission assigned by Boss Yang himself, Ding Ruchang specially sent the fastest torpedo boat Fulong to Yashan, and rushed him before Guangyi set sail.
These two torpedoes were loaded onto the ship along with their twin launch tubes.
Do you think this kind of torpedo can really hit more than two miles? Lin Guoxiang asked curiously. Although Yang Feng said it before, it still feels unbelievable. You must know that today’s torpedoes, regardless of whether they are white-headed or black-headed, have a range of only
It is difficult to exceed a few hundred meters, even a thousand meters, let alone more than four thousand meters. This is simply unbelievable.
"Your Excellency, Captain, this torpedo is the latest product of Bofors. Even the British and German navies have purchased it in large quantities. The price is as high as 10,000 pounds a piece. Please don't compare it with those cheap low-end products." All the way from Sweden.
Anderson, the Bofors engineer who escorted this batch of torpedoes, said with a haughty expression and in English that was not as proficient as Lin Guoxiang that in his opinion, any doubts about this kind of torpedoes were blasphemy.
Lin Guoxiang smiled, but before he could speak, he heard the observer on the mast shout: "Sir, three smoke pillars were found in the south!"
Everyone on the boat suddenly became nervous. War between China and Japan is about to break out. If a Japanese warship comes, it will be troublesome.
At the same time, the Jiyuan in front also discovered a smoke column in the distance, and then used a semaphore to notify Guangyi to prepare for battle, including completing the task of transporting torpedoes and following the return of the Fulong. The three warships immediately became busy, cleaning up
Various pre-war preparations began in an orderly manner, including gun barrel inspection, ammunition inspection, and watering the wooden deck. Although the two sides had not yet declared war, they were always prepared for war.
Soon three large warships appeared in the distance.
"You are in trouble, Yoshino, Naniwa, and Akitsusu. Your combined total is not even a fraction of their total tonnage. If we really fight, the entire army will be annihilated." O'Connor held up his binoculars and looked at the columns of cars approaching.
The three Japanese warships said somewhat gloatingly.
"O'Connor, if they are wiped out, we will also be unlucky. If there is a fight later, we must help them. The draft of these three warships seems to be five meters. The depth of two meters should be very suitable.
." Anderson said hurriedly, squatting there and starting to determine the depth of the two torpedoes.
Only then did O'Connor react.
"Damn it, I don't want to die here because of this inexplicable mission." The executive, who was pampered in Shanghai, said to himself, and then helplessly squatted on the deck to help Anderson.
Lin Guoxiang was also holding a telescope at this time, staring nervously into the distance. The two newly installed domestic 120 rapid-fire cannons on the bow of his ship were pointing at the three Japanese warships. The torpedo boat Fulong was quietly hiding.
Behind him, this torpedo boat, which can run more than 20 knots at the fastest, has already burned out because of its aging equipment and coal quality problems.
It has no other use.
But just when the two ships were nervously preparing for battle and preparing to face the enemy, the Yoshino three ships, which had been able to see clearly with binoculars, suddenly turned around and sailed eastward. Seeing this, O'Connor couldn't help wiping a cold sweat and said: "It's a false alarm. It seems
The Japanese are not ready to start a war."
"Not necessarily, this sea area is too shallow for them to maneuver." Anderson looked at the Japanese ship going away and said with a frown. It was obvious that Lin Guoxiang had the same view as him, and the Guangyi did not dare to relax at all.
They all stared into the distance and continued to sail southward under the leadership of the Jiyuan. Not long after, the observer suddenly exclaimed: "The Japanese ship turned around."
The three Yoshino ships, which were originally heading east, suddenly turned their bows around, and then accelerated towards them. Soon, Yoshino was in the lead, and the wave speed was in the middle. Akitsusu was behind, with its broadsides spread out from end to end, and across the front of Jiyuan.
"Get ready to fight!" Lin Guoxiang shouted subconsciously. As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the flames on the Yoshino shining brightly and the roar of large-caliber artillery shells across the sky. The Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894 officially kicked off.
"Charge up and get within three thousand meters!" Anderson roared. Lin Guoxiang was stunned for a moment, but then he understood. Guang Yi, who was originally behind Jiyuan, immediately accelerated forward and rushed straight to the Qiujinzhou in the distance.
At that moment, the main gun in front of Jiyuan suddenly roared. Now it was facing Naniwa directly in front of it. Naniwa was hit immediately before he could fire, but unfortunately there was no explosion sound of the shell. The single-barreled 210mm front gun of Jiyuan
The main gun fires solid armor-piercing projectiles.
Immediately afterwards, Japanese artillery shells fell on the Jiyuan. Amidst the huge explosion, yellow smoke and fire rose at the bow of the ship.
"Damn it, it's picric!" Anderson exclaimed.
"Why don't you fight?" Now that the distance between the two sides is already three thousand meters, Lin Guoxiang shouted impatiently in the cockpit. It is no secret that Japanese artillery shells use picric acid in the Beiyang Navy, including the Beiyang Navy itself.
A large number of picric acid shells were donated by Yang Feng. The power of these shells during the experiment shocked the entire Navy. However, they were not available on the Guangyi. Even the 152mm rapid-fire tail cannon replaced by the Jiyuan was brought with it this time.
These were also nitrocellulose shells. Ding Ruchang regarded these shells as treasures and would not take them out until he was forced to do so. Especially the 600 305 shells that had just been delivered, he kept the key to the warehouse himself.
"I'm just a mechanical engineer, not a torpedo launcher. The launch procedure for this thing is very complicated. I need to calculate the angle." Anderson shouted without looking back. By this time, the Akitsusu had discovered their intention and joined the attack on Naniwa.
After Jiyuan concentrated its fire, it immediately aimed at Guangyi.
Dense artillery shells exploded around Guang Yi, and one even hit the middle of the ship. The poor iron-ribbed wooden ship was blown into pieces. More than a dozen sailors were shattered in the fire. What was even more terrifying was that the fire quickly ignited.
, obviously this thing is fundamentally different from gunpowder. Wetting the deck cannot prevent the spread of burning.
Similar to Guangyi, Jiyuan was also scarred by intensive artillery bombardment, and fire was burning at the bow. Although its main gun also posed a considerable threat to Japanese warships, even if the black explosive exploded, it would be difficult to
It really caused harm to the enemy, not to mention the rate of fire of the old-fashioned artillery, which seemed so helpless in front of the Japanese artillery shells falling like raindrops. And because the bow of the ship was facing the enemy, the latest 152 rapid-fire cannons at the rear had no effect at all.
"If we don't fight, we will be finished." Lin Guoxiang looked at the raging fire behind him and roared angrily. As soon as he finished speaking, a shell passed over his head, and then hit something unknown in mid-air, and it actually flew into the air.
There was an explosion, and shrapnel falling from the sky caused a mess on the ship. Even O'Connor screamed and got behind the front main gun, covering his arms.
"Okay, launch!" After Anderson said this, he pulled the firing wrench fiercely. The high-pressure air in the gas tank instantly poured into the launch tube, and then there was a bang, and the one-ton torpedo was immediately blown out from the inside and plunged headlong into the launch tube.
After entering the sea water, an obvious white track line quickly extended towards Akijin Island.
Everyone was staring at the track intently. Even Lin Guoxiang ran out of the cockpit and watched with breathless concentration as it crashed into Akijin Prefecture in the distance. It was obvious that even though the sea was filled with smoke, the Akijin Prefecture was still alive.
The sailors on board still discovered the anomaly on the sea surface. In the chaotic commotion, they turned to avoid while aiming all artillery, including those Hotchkiss rotating cannons with extremely high rates of fire, at the sea surface at the same time. The dense shells
Hitting the torpedo was like boiling a pot, but the torpedo was not disturbed by the impact and still maintained a stable course and quickly approached the target.