Although the Weihaiwei batteries all launched a counterattack at this time, they basically bombarded indiscriminately, posing almost no threat to the Kunming, Xiangyang, and Huaihua ships, and the crossing fleet immediately turned to bombard the next target.

This is the Kunming ship, Xiangyang ship, Huaihua ship berthing position is about 12 kilometers away from the battery, this distance has exceeded the effective range of artillery in this era, but the Kunming ship, Xiangyang ship, Huaihua ship are the old time and space technology level of more advanced warships, although the caliber of the gun is not large, but the accuracy is far more than the artillery of this era, and it is also equipped with an advanced fire control system, in the air there are UAVs to provide coordinate guidance, plus the shore-based batteries are stationary, so the shelling is very accurate.

The main guns of each ship are still fired in five-round bursts, and then the firing unit is modified, the Kunming ship is equipped with a single-barreled 130 mm caliber naval gun, while the Xiangyang ship and the Huaihua ship are equipped with double-barreled 100 mm caliber naval guns, after two rounds of salvo fire, a total of 10 130 mm shells and 40 100 mm shells were fired, and after UAV confirmation, a total of 22 guns hit the target, and the average explosion hit rate reached 55.38%.

Most of Weihaiwei's batteries were open-air batteries, and their defense was not strong, so after two volleys were fired by the crossing fleet, the second battery was completely destroyed, and then the crossing fleet turned to attack the third target.

Less than half an hour later, four of the eight forts in Weihaiweibei Pass had been destroyed by the traversers.

Although Weihaiwei was not prepared for battle, such a big movement had naturally spread to the city of Weihaiwei, and most of the residents, troops, and soldiers in the city were awakened by the artillery fire, and they were immediately frightened and chaotic. At the same time, the fort also sent people back to report to the chief executive of Weihaiwei.

After the British leased Weihaiwei in 1898, it was first managed by the British Admiralty and set up a provisional administrative office in Weihai, with the official position of the highest official being the political and military commissioner of the Weihaiwei administrative office. The following year, it was transferred to the War Department. Although in the British administrative hierarchy, the political and military commissioner of the Tenant Office was of course lower than that of the colonial governor, and it was only a temporary official position, generally used in the newly occupied small colonial area, but it was the executive, legislative, and judicial power of the territory, and therefore much more powerful than the colonial governor. Of course, when the colonial area is stabilized, it will be handed over to the British government, and the government will send civil officials to manage it.

The current political and military commissioner of the Weihaiwei Administrative Office is named Dao Huade, with the rank of army colonel, and is the second supreme officer of Weihaiwei.

Britain's participation in the Eight-Nation Coalition was to use Weihaiwei as a front-line base, and after most of the transport ships transported troops and materials to Tianjin, they returned to Weihaiwei to anchor, because the sea area of Weihai Bay is large and can berth a large number of ships, so although Britain has the world's largest navy, the number and tonnage of warships are more than that of France and Russia, which ranked second and third combined, there are not many British warships anchored at Dagukou. As the supreme commander of Weihaiwei, Dao Huade also did a lot of things for the logistics support of the British fleet.

Although the situation in northern China has changed greatly due to the intervention of the traversers, Dao Huade has never worried that overseas Chinese will attack Weihaiwei, because the prestige of the British Empire for a hundred years is Dao Huade's greatest reliance. After the arrival of the German fleet in China, Dawward sent the protective cruiser Endymion from Weihaiwei as an observation ship to Tianjin with the German fleet. Therefore, it is clear that the news of the defeat of the German fleet by the Traverser was the first to be transmitted back home by the British.

The German fleet was defeated by the overseas Chinese, and the negotiation contacts between the overseas Chinese and other countries broke down, and the British businessmen in Weihaiwei were also worried that the overseas Chinese would not come to attack Weihaiwei, but Dao Huade swore that the overseas Chinese would never come to attack Weihaiwei, in addition to the prestige of the British Empire for a hundred years, there was also a convincing reason, that is, the overseas Chinese wanted to use troops, and they would also go to fight Beijing, not to attack Weihaiwei. Therefore, it also dispelled the doubts of many British businessmen and stayed in Weihaiwei with peace of mind.

Today, Colonel Dowward was still the same as usual, and after the day's work, he returned to his mansion and went to bed punctually at ten o'clock in the evening. When the fleet crossed the fleet to attack Weihaiwei, Dao Huade was dreaming in his bed.

Awakened by the roar of artillery fire, Doward's first reaction was that the Navy were making trouble. In any country, the navy and the army are natural opponents, and they don't like each other and go toe-for-tat with each other, and the reason is very simple, everyone wants to be the boss, not the little brother. Although the navy has always been the boss in the UK, the army is destined to be the younger brother, and no army official has ever thought of changing this pattern, but it does not mean that there are no contradictions between the army and the navy.

The navy looked down on the army, thinking that the army was just a bunch of cowards hiding on the shore, and when they really needed to contribute to the British Empire, they couldn't count on it at all, and even the tens of thousands of Boer peasants in South Africa couldn't handle it, and they were so tired that the navy helped them transport troops, food, and materials. And the army is only resentful, the annual military expenditure is the navy takes the lion's head, leaving the army with only a little leftovers, just such a little army military spending, and to upgrade equipment, and to train soldiers, and to bear the soldiers' salaries, how to use it is not enough, as long as the navy builds one less battleship, the army can form a new division of army.

Although Dao Huade is the supreme commander of Weihaiwei, he can't control the British warships stationed in Weihai Bay, and the two sides can only negotiate when there is an incident, of course, most of the time, the navy and army can still focus on the overall situation, so that they will not pull each other's back, but in front of the army, the navy always shows a superior demeanor, which makes the army very unhappy, and in some things that have nothing to do with the overall situation, the navy does not care about the feelings of the army, and does its own thing.

Therefore, Dao Huade was awakened by the sound of cannons, and his first reaction was that the navy was making trouble. Because similar things have happened before, the navy has conducted training, or attacked unidentified ships close to warships and opened fire, without telling the Weihaiwei Administrative Office.

However, Dawward soon knew that his judgment was wrong, because the sound of artillery was continuous, and there was also the sound of bombardment, and Dawward immediately realized that this was not the Navy making trouble, but a war. So Dowards hurriedly got up and dressed, and before he could get dressed, he received a report that the North Pass Fort had been attacked by an unknown fleet.

When Dao Huade heard this, he couldn't help but be shocked, because if there was a fleet to attack Weihaiwei at this time, then there would be no one else but the fleet of overseas Chinese, but did the overseas Chinese really come to attack Weihaiwei?

As a soldier, Daohuade naturally knew in his heart that Weihaiwei's garrison force was actually very weak, and the strength of the overseas Chinese to defeat the Eight-Nation Alliance and the German fleet was not at all what the current Weihaiwei garrison could compete, not to mention that Weihaiwei had not made any preparations for garrisoning, so it could be said that if it was really overseas Chinese who attacked Weihaiwei, Weihaiwei would not be able to defend it at all.

In fact, at this time, the best choice is to give up Weihaiwei immediately, whether on land or at sea, he can escape, but Daohuade, whether it is his sense of honor as a soldier or the duty of the chief executive of Weihaiwei, does not allow him to give up Weihaiwei without resistance like this, so he knows that he is not an opponent of overseas Chinese, but he must also stick to it.

After putting on the military uniform, Dao Huade immediately rushed to the administrative office, his residence was not far from the administrative office, only a few hundred meters, but at this time the entire Weihaiwei was alarmed, and many people rushed to the administrative office to ask what happened. Seeing Dao Huade coming, several businessmen immediately stopped Dao Huade and said nonsense: "Colonel, what happened, whether there was a war, whether the overseas Chinese came to attack Weihaiwei." ”

Now Dao Huade naturally couldn't say anything, he could only say: "I'm sorry, I don't know what happened, but please rest assured, no matter what happens, I will do my best to protect Weihaiwei and your safety." After finishing speaking, Dao Huade hurriedly separated the crowd and walked into the administrative office.

When he came to his office, most of the other principal officials of Weihaiwei also arrived, and Dao Huade immediately said, "How is the situation of the battle now?" In addition to the attack on the North Pass Fort, there were no other places under attack. ”

Adjutant Major Morris said: "Colonel, now only the North Pass Fort has been attacked, and there are no other places, and I just received the news from the North Mountain Pass Battery, four batteries in the North Mountain Pass have been destroyed, and the remaining four batteries will not last long, and the warships in the bay have begun to fire, but it will take at least half an hour to move." They have sent men to ask us how we can fight with the land-based army. ”

After listening to the adjutant's introduction, Dao Huade was also a little comforted in his heart, although the navy and the army have always looked at each other unpleasantly, they were still able to put aside their differences and fight side by side at the moment of Guan Jian.

There are now more than a dozen ships moored in the bay, but only three warships, the protective cruiser Endymion, the torpedo boat destroyers Sturgeon and Ray, and all the rest are transport ships.

However, among these three warships, only the Endymion has more powerful firepower, equipped with two 9.2-inch (234 mm) caliber guns and 10 6-inch (152 mm) caliber guns, while the other two are small ships, and the main firepower is two 4-inch (102 mm) caliber guns, so even if these three warships are added to the battle, the garrison of Weihaiwei will not increase much strength.

Dao Huade nodded and said, "What about Weihaiwei's army?"

Morris said: "Now the army has begun to assemble, and it will be assembled soon. ”