Chapter 8

Ling Xiao felt the helicopter violently spin. His years of flying experience told him that the tail rotor had been damaged, but he couldn’t understand how this group of people, who had never even seen an airplane, could shoot down his helicopter.

There was no time to think about it further. He struggled to control the helicopter, knowing that it would inevitably crash. All he could do was try to slow its descent. Fortunately, the helicopter’s rotor had inertia, so it wouldn’t fall like a fixed-wing aircraft. Compared to a fixed-wing aircraft, the landing speed would be slower. However, the helicopter did not have equipment for the pilots to parachute to safety. During the development of the Z-20, relevant departments had considered installing ejection seats, but the rotor above the pilot’s head was like a giant meat grinder. If it wasn’t removed before ejection, the pilot would be shredded by the high-speed rotating blades. Therefore, the design team adopted the Russian approach, adding explosive devices to destroy the rotor before the ejection seat was activated. However, due to the technical difficulty, the design team followed the American approach, adding a cushioning device to the bottom of the fuselage to protect the pilots during a crash.

The helicopter soon crashed into the water at an angle. The massive impact knocked Ling Xiao unconscious. In comparison, Wang Rui on the other side was in better shape, remaining conscious as the helicopter hit the water. He quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and, before the seawater filled the cabin, leaned over to Ling Xiao to try to unbuckle his seatbelt and get him out of the cabin.

Wang Rui soon realized that unbuckling Ling Xiao’s seatbelt was not easy. The impact had deformed the seatbelt’s attachment points, making it impossible to unbuckle. He needed a knife to cut the seatbelt, but he didn’t have one! As the seawater rapidly filled the cabin and Ling Xiao remained unconscious, Wang Rui knew that Ling Xiao would die if he didn’t act quickly.

Lin Yuan saw the signal of the helicopter disappear on the command screen. He immediately realized that the helicopter must have crashed! However, neither Lin Yuan nor the advisors present could believe this. In their subconscious, they couldn’t accept that a group of 19th-century Japanese soldiers, who had never seen an airplane, could shoot down a helicopter.

At this moment, the communication device crackled with the voice of the Z-25 rescue helicopter. Captain He Di sounded extremely anxious: "Captain, this is Rescue One. The attacker has crashed, and we are heading for the rescue!"

Lin Yuan suddenly thought of something. He picked up the communication device and calmly asked, "What combat equipment do you have on your aircraft?"

He Di paused for a moment and then said, "The only combat equipment is a 12.7mm machine gun."

Lin Yuan frowned and said firmly, "Do not get too close; that is an order!"

The people present were surprised and didn’t understand why Lin Yuan gave such an order. Lin Yuan then issued an even stranger command, "Launch another rescue helicopter, and equip it with the best sniper!"

The “Beijing” aircraft carrier, to deal with various possible situations, had a marine company composed of elite soldiers selected from the military district. Upon receiving the order, the snipers from the marine company immediately boarded the helicopter and headed for the crash site.

Lin Yuan issued these two orders because he suddenly realized something. From the moment he learned that the aircraft carrier had returned to the past, he had a mistaken belief that they would win the battle no matter what. This feeling arose because he believed that, coming from the future, he possessed the most advanced military technology, leading him to underestimate the enemy. The crash of the Z-20 was like a wake-up call, pulling him out of his baseless confidence. He then realized that the enemy was the best naval officers of their time, who might not have seen airplanes or missiles but were not ignorant of how to attack them.

The reality was not far from what Lin Yuan had thought. After the J-20 missile hit the “Fusang” ship, including the Japanese fleet commander, Rear Admiral Ito Sukenobu, no one believed that the “Fusang” ship had been attacked by the enemy. They believed it was a boiler accident that caused the explosion. However, one person was very clear-headed: Captain Togo Heihachiro of the “Naniwa” ship, a naval captain.

At this time, Togo Heihachiro did not yet have the fame he would later achieve. More than a decade after the Sino-Japanese War, in 1905, as the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Togo Heihachiro led his fleet to defeat the formidable Russian Pacific and Baltic Fleets, earning him the title of “God of War” among future Japanese military officers.

After the “Fusang” ship exploded, the observer on the “Naniwa” reported to Togo Heihachiro: "A flying object approached the ‘Fusang’ ship, and two objects flew out from under it, moving extremely fast and hitting the ‘Fusang’ ship, causing it to explode." Although Togo Heihachiro had never seen an airplane, his long military career gave him a unique ability to think. He was a diligent and eager learner, having studied in Britain for eight years, where he read a large number of military books. Through his studies, he realized that human military technology always advances in seemingly ordinary areas, such as stirrups or the three-shot method of the matchlock gun. So, what advancements in military technology could there be in their era? Togo Heihachiro naturally thought of the sky. If someone could create a flying object, it would be a significant leap in military technology. However, he was just a military officer, not a scientist or engineer, and he couldn’t turn his seemingly impossible idea into reality.

When Togo Heihachiro heard the observer’s report, he had a vague feeling that this leap was about to happen. Therefore, he ordered all observers to not only monitor the Beiyang Fleet but also pay close attention to the sky.

Soon, the Z-20 flew over the “Naniwa” and headed towards the flagship “Matsushima” at the head of the column. Togo Heihachiro immediately ordered the ship’s guns to elevate their angles and switch to timed-fuse shells, preparing for a salvo.

As the Z-20 hovered in the air and launched its torpedoes, Togo Heihachiro ordered the guns to fire a salvo at the helicopter’s airspace. The shells spun out of the barrels, exploded in the air, and the shrapnel rained down around the helicopter. Due to the lack of precision, Togo Heihachiro ordered multiple guns to fire, and finally, a few pieces of shrapnel hit the helicopter’s tail rotor.

Togo Heihachiro then ordered the ship to move towards the crashed helicopter and launch two rescue boats to capture the people inside the flying object at all costs.

As the rescue boats, carrying fully armed Japanese soldiers, approached the crashed helicopter, Wang Rui was still struggling to unbuckle Ling Xiao’s seatbelt. He saw the rescue Z-25 circling in the distance. Although he didn’t understand why it didn’t come closer, he didn’t blame it because he knew that even if the Z-25 came overhead, it couldn’t help him unbuckle the seatbelt.

In a moment of inspiration, Wang Rui pulled out his sidearm, which he hadn’t used since becoming a pilot. He aimed the gun at the seatbelt and fired. The bullet broke the seatbelt and embedded itself in the pilot’s seat cushion. Fortunately, the cushion was soft; otherwise, the bullet, ricocheting off a hard surface at such close range, could have been fatal.

At this moment, the “Naniwa” was slowly approaching the crashed helicopter. Lin Yuan had ordered the rescue helicopter not to get too close to avoid being hit by the enemy ship. The second rescue helicopter, equipped with a sniper, also arrived in the vicinity. Lin Yuan then ordered, "Rescue Two, stay above the enemy ship and target their observers!"

The observers were usually positioned high in the ship’s tower. To strike a distant helicopter, they needed the observers’ guidance. Once the observers were eliminated, the entire ship would be like a blindfolded person.

At such a distance, using a sniper rifle to target the observers on the ship seemed impossible, at least to the observers on the “Naniwa.” As one observer was about to report the helicopter’s position, a bullet pierced his forehead.

The helicopter’s position was in the blind spot of the ship’s guns. Without aircraft, the ship did not consider air defense, so there were no guns capable of firing at this angle. To reduce losses, the observers had to withdraw from their positions.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the first rescue helicopter arrived above the crashed helicopter and rescued Ling Xiao and Wang Rui.

Upon hearing this news, the command room erupted in applause. Lin Yuan’s tense face finally showed a hint of a smile. At this moment, a distressing message came: the Beiyang Fleet flagship “Dingyuan” had fired its first shot at a distance of 5,300 meters from the Japanese fleet!

The Battle of the Yellow Sea, which ended in the Beiyang Fleet’s defeat, was about to begin, and the “Beijing” aircraft carrier could only watch helplessly as its compatriots were slaughtered!