The name of the Fifty Years Airship Field is, of course, taken from the famous song "Fifty Years in the World". Shimazu's idol Oda Nobunaga sang such a song "Five Years in the World" before launching the Okehazama surprise attack. ten years"!
Now that Shimazu Qi Liang is facing the behemoth of Ming Dynasty, he also needs a surprise attack by his own Okehazama!
The only weapon that can carry out surprise attack missions is an airship!
After all, the difference in strength between the Japanese Shogunate Navy and the Ming Dynasty Navy was so great that it was impossible to use a fleet to attack completely by surprise.
Even if the surprise attack is successful, there is a high probability that the flagship of the Beiyang Fleet, the Hanwu Emperor, will not be sunk by something like the "Four Heavenly Kings". Once the airship troops of the Ming Navy's aviation force attack, the shogunate navy will suffer disaster.
So Qi Liang's only chance was the twenty small rigid airships given to him by the British - they were said to be small, but that was compared to the Ming Dynasty's Feilong III large airship. If there were no big monsters like the Flying Dragon III that could carry one or two tons of bombs across the ocean, the rigid airship given by the British called the Armstrong II could be considered a behemoth.
When Shimazu Qi Liang and Komatsu arrived with their swords at the fifty-year-old airship field located in a valley outside Nagasaki City. In the afternoon sunshine, twenty Armstrong II airships were already preparing for takeoff.
The one-eyed dragon Xixiang was holding his arms, standing in front of the row of airships, watching the martyrs who respected the king and the Ming Dynasty pushing the carts, carefully sending bombs and hydrogen-filled cylinders into the cabin of the airship or hanging them on the airship. Bomb racks on both sides of the cabin.
Since the Armstrong II airship is much smaller than the Dragon III, it cannot carry sixteen 100-kilogram bombs. It can only choose to carry two heavy bombs or eight lighter bombs.
Shimazu Qi Liang’s choice was eight 50-kilogram armor-piercing bombs—actually modified from a 6-inch armor-piercing artillery shell. The results of the Battle of Jiyin showed that if a 50-kilogram armor-piercing projectile hits the deck of the Sovereign-class and Indomitable-class ships from top to bottom, it will be enough to cause heavy losses.
So Shimazu Qi Liang simply gambled his life with 160 6-inch armor-piercing bullets!
As long as one hits the Hanwu Emperor, he will win the bet!
"Lord..."
Saigo Yoshihei Takamori saw Shimazu Qi Liang coming in a hurry, and quickly knelt down to salute him. Shimazu Qi Liang nodded heavily at this sturdy man who was rare in Japan and said: "Saigo-kun, are the airship team ready?"
"Ha Yin, the airship team is ready!"
Shimazu Qiliang nodded again: "Yaoxi, then call all the crew members together, I want to give you a lecture."
"Hayin!"
The one-eyed dragon Xixiang responded, immediately stood up and shouted: "Everyone... gather!"
The more than eighty people who were preparing to board the airship were already fully dressed at this time, with swords and ribs stuck in their waists, and were waiting to set off at the airship field!
Hearing Saigo's call, they all came together and crowded into a group in front of Shimazu Qi Liang. Qi Liang looked at them. All of them were wearing samurai uniforms embroidered with family crests, and carried two knives for slashing people. No one was carrying a parachute... The boat is with the people, and the boat dies with the people. No need Skydiving.
Seeing that everyone was ready to become a god, Shimazu Qi Liang nodded very pleased and said: "Gentlemen, the future of Japan depends on your performance today... I have got the exact News, Ming Kou's Hanwu Emperor is now in Jueying Island Harbor! Warships parked in the harbor usually have no power, and boiling the water in the boiler is not a matter of a while, so you are going to The one being bombed is the Hanwu Emperor, which has completely lost its power. Please be sure to blow it up within the port of Jueying Island!"
Everyone responded in unison: "Ha Yin!"
Although most of them are novices on airships, they are all experienced pirates or navy soldiers. Of course, they know that steam battleships docked in the harbor are quite fragile. Even though the personnel on the ship are still quite vigilant, it is impossible to start the main power system of the battleship. At most, one or two small boilers and small steam engines continue to operate to provide some energy required for lighting and heating.
If the warship is attacked by surprise at this time, I am afraid that one attack will be accurate!
Shimazu shouted loudly: "The rise and fall of Japan, with this battle, the military fortunes of all the kings will be prosperous... Japan, half a year! Emperor, half a year! Board the boat and set off!"
"Half a year!"
Amid cheers, these flying warriors all ran towards their airships. By this time, the hydrogen cylinders and bombs had been installed. All the flying warriors got into the narrow cabin through the small door of the airship pod. The ground service warriors began to untie the cables that tied the airships one by one. Every time they untied the cables of an airship, the airship suddenly jumped up like a wild horse.
Looking at the airships rising into the sky one after another, Shimazu Qi Liang and George Elliot, who had just arrived after hearing the news, took a deep breath and began to pray silently in their hearts.
In the next six to seven hours, they will pray here while waiting for the triumphant return of the airship troops - unlike the Ming Army's Flying Dragon III, these Armstrong airships do not have radios!
After their surprise attack was successful, there was no way to report "tiger, tiger, tiger" to the rear.
Therefore, Shimazu and Yiru, who were waiting at the fifty-year airship field, could only wait and wait... until the airship returned, would they know whether the surprise attack was successful?
But Saigo Yoshihei Takamori didn't have to wait until then, because as a co-pilot, he boarded the first airship to fly into the sky.
Now, the airship has risen to an altitude of 1,300 meters, and then, under the instructions of the compass, it takes the lead and flies north!
The 50-year-old airship field in Nagasaki is located to the north of Nagasaki City, more than 200 kilometers away from Jueying Island. Under calm wind conditions, the airship filled with bombs, fuel and hydrogen cylinders would take about three hours to fly, which would not reach Jueying Island until the evening of the same day.
According to the plan, after arriving at Jueying Island, these flying warriors still have one hour to complete the bombing and then return before the sky turns completely dark. However, when they return to the sky over Kyushu Island, it will definitely be dark... ..By then, it’s hard to say whether they can find the fifty-year airship field and complete the landing at night.
The flight of more than three hours was really a long time. Saigo Yoshihei Takamori, the "co-pilot", actually didn't know how to fly an airship, so he simply said to the airship pilot next to him who was also from the Satsuma Domain: "Yamamoto, I Squint for a while, then wake me up when you are above Jueying Island... let's kill the enemy together!"
"Ha Yin!" The little man Yamamoto responded, but he was a little strange in his heart. How are you, a big guy who can neither fly an airship nor drop bombs, going to fight? Jumping off the battleship with a knife?
Just when he thought of this, the big man Xixiang next to him was already snoring... In the next three hours, the three people in the airship cabin had to endure Xixiang's snoring until they saw The unsuspecting Jueying Island in the distance!
"Successful! The surprise attack was successful!"
"Xixiang-kun, wake up quickly..."
"Xixiang-kun, don't sleep. Do you plan to sleep on the battlefield and fight at the same time?"
It's definitely not possible to fight while sleeping, so when Saigo heard someone yelling in his ear, he woke up immediately. After waking up, he subconsciously wanted to draw his sword. Fortunately, Yamamoto next to him was quick-witted and held him down. "Saigo Jun...the enemy is still far away, you don’t need to draw your sword yet!”
Yes, the cabin of the airship is so narrow. What if the knife is pulled out and hits someone?
Saigo was already awake at this time, and he also knew that it was against the rules to draw a knife in the airship cabin - there was no such rule at first, until the flying samurai with the knife boarded the airship.
Xixiang quickly retracted the knife, then blinked one eye and looked at Jueying Island in front of him. The sky and surroundings of Jueying Island were very quiet. The surprise attack must have been successful! But... in the northern sky, there seems to be an airship of unknown origin, flying slowly towards Jueying Island!
