Chapter 80

Sun Jiang saw the enemy warship fire its cannons, but he did not panic at all. The entire battery had over forty gun positions, and some of them were decoys—just empty shells with no cannons inside. They might not have aimed at him, and even if they did, they might not hit him, given the considerable distance.

Sun Jiang was right; the enemy did not aim at him. The shell grazed his gun position and landed on the one beside it, striking the wall of the gun position heavily. Sun Jiang keenly sensed that the enemy's cannon power was not very strong.

Before he could think more, the two gunners beside him had already moved the handles to raise the pit gun from the pit. The so-called pit gun was a cannon hidden in a deep pit behind the parapet. When not in use, it was hidden in the pit. When the enemy warship approached, the elevation mechanism was operated to raise the cannon above the parapet, and then it was aimed at the enemy warship.

On the side, the observer used a theodolite to measure the position of the enemy warship. The theodolite is an instrument for measuring angles. In this era, there were no laser rangefinders, so distances were measured using triangulation. This involved knowing the positions of two points, which formed a known line, and then connecting these points to the unknown point. Using the observation instrument, the angles between the two lines and the known line were measured, and then the distance from the observer's point to the unknown point was calculated using trigonometric functions.

Everyone knows that trigonometric functions are not integers. To apply them in engineering, a certain approximation is needed. If too many decimal places are used, the calculations become too complex, especially since there were no computers in that era. If too few decimal places are used, the precision is insufficient. The distance between the two known points cannot be too small, otherwise the angle deviation would be large, and the error would be even greater when multiplied by the distance.

The error in trigonometric functions was just one aspect; the observation error was even greater. This included the inherent error of the theodolite and the error of the observer. As a result, it was difficult to measure the distance accurately. If the distance could not be measured accurately, how could the shots be accurate? Additionally, factors like wind speed, air density, and humidity affected the accuracy. Therefore, it was not easy for artillery to hit accurately in any era.

Before the artillery concentrated fire, they needed to fire a test shot, and then the observer would adjust the firing position. However, due to the backward command system of the Qing army, each battery fought independently. The enemy warship, after the first shot, immediately adjusted and soon fired more accurately, and thus the Qing army lost the initiative.

"Azimuth 275, elevation 12," Sun Jiang heard the observer's command and quickly adjusted the gun position. Adjusting the gun position was a skill. The large-caliber cannon, weighing several dozen tons, was difficult to turn, and it had to be stopped quickly and steadily at the designated direction, which was not an easy task. Sun Jiang was an expert at this, and he quickly turned the cannon to the designated position.

Another gunner opened the breech, and two men carried the shell and inserted it into the breech. Someone else loaded the propellant, and then pulled the firing pin. The firing pin struck the primer, which ignited the propellant, and the high-temperature, high-pressure gas produced by the explosion was blocked by the barrel and the breech mechanism, forcing it to rush toward the muzzle. This propelled the shell, which rotated at high speed in the barrel before leaving it and heading toward the target.

The massive recoil made the cannon move backward, and the barrel shook. Sun Jiang and the other gunners waited for the cannon to stop and then pushed it back to the gun position. Sun Jiang shouted to the observer, "Did we hit?"

"No hit!"

Sun Jiang asked again, "How much did we miss by?"

"There are too many impact points; I can't tell which one is ours."

Sun Jiang yelled, "Where should we aim for the next shot?"

"Let me recalculate."

Just then, Sun Jiang suddenly noticed that the enemy warship was retreating.

What they did not know was that the British fleet had already used this round of fire to determine the real positions of the Qing army's batteries.

Seeing the British warships retreat, Sun Jiang sat down on the ground, as if he had narrowly escaped death. He took out his opium pipe, struck a flint, and lit it, taking deep puffs.

Before Sun Jiang could catch his breath, he heard someone shout, "The British ships are back!"

Sun Jiang poked his head out of the fort and saw the British fleet advancing in two columns toward his battery. Suddenly, a loud explosion shook the fort, and his ears rang. A shell had exploded near the fort.

Sun Jiang couldn't help but yell, "How the hell can the foreign devils' cannons be so accurate!"

Someone beside him shouted, "It's not the accuracy; it's the amount of gunpowder in the shell. What kind of cannon is this, so powerful?"

They did not know that it was a 343mm shell from the main gun of a Royal Sovereign-class battleship, one of the most powerful in the world.

Sun Jiang's battery had a 250mm cannon, which had a shorter range. At this distance, the battery could only take hits.

Soon, Sun Jiang saw a shell penetrate the parapet of a nearby battery. It was an armor-piercing shell, and the massive kinetic energy tore through the parapet, shredding the gunners inside. The impact triggered the ammunition stored below, causing a massive explosion that sent dust, blood, and flesh flying into the sky.

Sun Jiang watched as the observer on the high platform was shaken, blood streaming from his seven orifices, and he fell to the ground. His wide-open eyes met those of a soldier cowering in a corner, who instantly broke down and screamed as he ran out. Sun Jiang cursed in his heart, "This damn coward, hiding inside is a way to survive, but outside, he dies faster."

Sun Jiang reached out to grab the soldier's clothes and shouted, "Get back here!" But in the deafening explosions, who could hear him?

With a "rip," a large piece of the soldier's clothes was torn off by Sun Jiang, and Sun Jiang was pulled to the ground, his right arm hitting the gun carriage, causing intense pain!

Just as Sun Jiang was about to curse, an officer kicked the soldier to the ground, drew his sword, and roared, "Anyone who deserts in battle will be executed!"

His words were drowned out by a loud explosion. A high-explosive shell exploded outside the fort, and shrapnel hit the wall. Although it did not penetrate, the wall's debris flew like knives inside the fort, and the officer's head was turned into a sieve!

As the officer fell, Sun Jiang smelled a foul odor. The fleeing soldier had soiled his pants. Sun Jiang cursed in his heart, "How the hell can the foreign devils' cannons keep firing without end!" He did not know that the British fleet's firing was carefully designed to ensure that the intervals between shots were not too large.

Seeing the British warships enter the range of his cannon, Sun Jiang quickly got up. The observer was dead, and the theodolite was broken. Even if it were intact, no one else knew how to use it. Sun Jiang shouted, "Brothers, get up! Are we just going to let the foreign devils hit us?"

At that moment, a shock wave hit, and the top of the fort was suddenly lifted, with sand and dirt raining down, covering everyone in the fort with dust. Sun Jiang extended his arm, raised his fingers, and tried to estimate the distance using the thumb method, but before he could finish, another shock wave hit, and Sun Jiang felt everything go black.

After an unknown amount of time, Sun Jiang opened his eyes. The area was filled with mangled limbs, cannon parts, and wooden debris from the fort. He looked around and saw that most of the decoy forts were intact. He seemed to understand the purpose of the British warships' initial retreat, but he no longer cared about it.

What he cared about was that he had survived this battle.

As he rejoiced, the British fleet was crossing the Taiwan Strait, heading north. Their true purpose was still unknown.