Although the Kunming failed to completely destroy the four battleships of the Combined Fleet, at least the battleships of the Combined Fleet lost their combat effectiveness. In fact, the overall combat effectiveness of these two warships is not as good as the 6 armored cruisers of the 2nd Sentai Group, and the 6 warships of the 2nd Sentai are all large armored cruisers with a displacement of nearly 10,000 tons, while the displacement of the Kasuga and Nisshin is only 7,600 tons, which can only be regarded as medium-sized armored cruisers, but the battleship Hatsuse, which originally belonged to the 1st Sentai The Yashima was damaged by a mine during the attack on Arthur, so the two warships had to be assigned to the 1st Sentai to make up the numbers.

Just now, the Kasuga and Nisshin followed the Shikishima and Fuji to the west, and after the Shikishima and Fuji were hit by *, they naturally did not dare to continue westward, but hurriedly turned left and fled south.

In fact, the Japanese were not afraid of death, although in the previous battles, the Kasuga and the Nisshin were basically the last to be listed in the first team, but they still showed great courage on the battlefield, and in the Battle of the Yellow Sea, in the face of the six battleships of the Russian Pacific Fleet, they also dared to step forward to participate in the battle. Moreover, when the Russian fleet was intercepted just now, the two warships were also lined up behind the four battleships and made a big turn in front of the enemy, but now the two warships did not know who their opponents were, where they were, and what weapons they used? Even if they wanted to fight hard, they didn't know who to turn to.

But the Kasuga number、 The direction of the Rishin's escape was not to join the 2nd squadron of the combined fleet, but to the south, so the Kunming ship did not continue to strike at them, after all, there is still the southern fleet of the People's Army Navy, and the 2nd squadron is handed over to the northern fleet to deal with, although the northern fleet only has 4 armored cruisers, and there are two medium armored cruisers, but the 2nd squadron has been fighting for more than 3 hours, all of which have varying degrees of damage, and the combat effectiveness is only 7 percent at most, and the northern fleet is not only 4 armored cruisers, but also 4 large protective cruisers, 4 medium protective cruisers, in terms of overall strength, it is not worse than the 2nd squadron, not to mention that there are 2 modern armies in the back.

When the Mikasa and Asahi of the 1st Sentai were attacked, the 2nd Sentai took refuge to the east under the leadership of the flagship Izumo, and at this time the Northern Fleet of the KPA Navy had entered the field of vision of the 2nd Sentai Group, and at this time the two fleets were about 8 kilometers apart, roughly forming a "eight" shaped line, and constantly approaching each other, so the commander of the 2nd Sentai Squadron, Vice Admiral Hikonosei Uemura, immediately ordered the fleet to prepare for battle and accelerate its march in an effort to seize the opponent's "T" cross.

However, Uemura Hikonojo thought so, and the People's Army Navy also thought the same way, after the fleet was divided, the commander of the Northern Fleet was Wang Hailong, the captain of the Yueyang ship, although he was commanded after 30 kilometers, but he knew the situation on the battlefield well, and knew that the two sides were fighting for speed at this time, so he also ordered the armored cruiser detachment to speed up and definitely seize the "T" cross. The four Qingzhou-class cruisers of the 2nd Cruiser Detachment followed, and the remaining three detachments were temporarily located on the outside of the fleet, waiting for the planes.

The maximum speed of the six warships of the 2nd Sentai of the Combined Fleet was above 21 knots, but after all, they had been drifting at sea for more than 10 days, and they had fought fiercely for more than 3 hours, and the machines were worn out, so the maximum speed was now no more than 19 knots, and because it was an overall operation, it could only reach a speed of 18 knots.

The four warships of the armored cruiser detachment of the People's Army Navy due to the superior design of the ship, the highest aviation construction has reached 23 knots, and it has just been out of battle, it is the best time, at this time the speed of the fleet reached an astonishing 21 knots, according to the calculation of the computer on the Yueyang ship, the two sides are traveling at such a speed, after about 40 minutes, the armored cruiser detachment can make a right turn and cross the "T" cross head of the 2nd squadron at a distance of 3000-4000 meters.

After about 15 minutes, the distance between the two sides had reached about 5,500 meters, and the Izumo opened fire first, firing at the enemy ships, followed by the Iwate and Asama. In fact, for the 200 mm caliber main gun of an armored cruiser, the distance of 5500 meters is somewhat weak, and the ideal distance is within 5000 meters.

However, at this time, Uemura Hikonomasung had also seen the opponent's warship clearly, and found that the opponent's warship was not only significantly faster than his own, but also the first two warships were installed with 8 main guns, which were arranged along the central axis, which of course had many benefits, not only could 4 main guns fire at the same time, but all 8 main guns could be concentrated on the side side, and the firepower was twice as much as his own, so only from the paper data, the combat effectiveness of the opponent's warship could be compared to his own two warships.

So Uemura Hikonojo's heart couldn't help but worry about it, when did the overseas Chinese build such two armored cruisers with such a clever design and double the firepower. Didn't they say that they built only two medium armored cruisers comparable to the Kasuga class?

It turned out that Japan's perception of the warships of the People's Army Navy was still stuck on the two Jinan-class armored cruisers, and since the tonnage of the Jinan-class armored cruisers was only comparable to that of the Kasuga-class, Japan did not take this type of warship to heart. The Nakoma-class armored cruisers entered service with the KPA Navy after the Russo-Japanese War, and at that time Japan did not have enough energy to collect KPA Navy warships, and only knew that there were two more armored cruisers in service, and did not know anything else.

However, Uemura Hikonojo also knows that now he can't take care of so much, and he can't hide, so he can only fight to the death. In any case, it was a face-to-face bombardment with the enemy, which was much better than the Mikasa and Asahi just now. So Uemura Hikoyuki knew that it was not the best firing distance, but he still ordered to fire first. However, shooting at such a high speed made it much more difficult, so although the 2nd Sentai fired first, none of them hit, and only knocked the sea into water.

And at this moment, the counterattack of the KPA Navy was also launched, and the eight 200-mm guns on the flagship Akatu opened fire together, and the target was naturally aimed at the Izumo.

Around the Izumo, seven or eight columns of water more than ten meters high immediately rose, the nearest of which was less than 50 meters away from the Izumo, and the splashing waves even hit the Izumo's bridge.

Uemura Hikonojo was not only secretly frightened, although this round of shooting did not hit the Izumo, but the accuracy was much stronger than the Izumo's shot just now, and since it was the closest shell to the Izumo, it almost formed a close miss.

However, Uemura Hikonojo is also a battle-hardened person, and he has seen all kinds of scenes, as long as he is not hit by a strange blow like the Mikasa and Asahi just now, Uemura Hikonojo will not panic, and at this time, the Izumo also corrected its trajectory and fired again.

And almost at the same time as the Izumo fired, the Red Rabbit also launched a second round of strikes, in the roaring cannons of both sides, the hull of the Izumo shook suddenly, and Uemura Hikonojo, who was directing the battle on the bridge, did not grasp the railing and almost fell, but fortunately he grabbed it again to stabilize his body, and he also knew that the Izumo was shot, and he didn't have time to check the location of the bullet, but immediately looked at the other party, only to see that after the water column fell, the opponent's warship seemed to be intact.

At this time, the signal soldier reported to Hikonosei Uemura that he had been shot at the waterline in front of the port side, and more than a dozen soldiers had been killed or wounded.

Before the report was over, there were two more "booms", and the Izumo's hull shook violently again, and it turned out that the Izumo had been hit by two more bullets, and one of the sides cracked into the water.

In fact, the Izumo's protection is still quite strong, the thickness of the main armor belt reaches 180 mm, and the thickness of the secondary armor belt is also 90 mm, although it has been hit by several bullets, it will not crack into the water in many places, but in the battle with the Russian fleet just now, the Izumo was hit by a total of 10 bullets, and there have been several cracks and water, but one is that the damage is not serious, and the other is that the damage is effective, so the impact on the whole ship is not great, but it is obviously not comparable with the new time. The cracks and cracks that had just been plugged by the cannons just now were shaken open and flooded.

Of course, Uemura Hikonojo knew that his warship was not in the best condition, and it was not abnormal to enter the water, but the opponent's accuracy was too terrifying, and 3 of the two rounds of shelling were hit. How did overseas Chinese conduct artillery training?

At this time, several other warships also reported to the flagship, and the Iwate, which was fighting against another large armored cruiser of the enemy, had been hit by 4 shots, but none of them hit the opponent, and the Asama and Tokiwa, which were against the enemy's two medium armored cruisers, were also hit by 2 shots, but the Asama hit the opponent with one shot, which was considered to have won the game. Only the last two Yakumo and Azuma were not armoured cruisers, and although they were hit by 3 and 4 guns respectively, they were only 155 mm shells, and their power was not great, so the losses were not large.

When this was heard, the Izumo engaged in two more rounds of artillery bombardment, and the Izumo finally made a victory, hitting one 203-mm shell and one 152-mm shell, but it was able to hit five more shots, two 200-mm shells and three 155-mm shells. More than 50 soldiers have been injured and killed, and there are more parts that have cracked and entered the water.

But Uemura Hikonojo's heart began to waver, judging from the current situation, the accuracy of the opponent's artillery skills is obviously not the Red Rabbit alone, but the general level of the entire fleet, that is to say, the enemy's artillery level is obviously above the combined fleet, so it will definitely be detrimental to himself if he continues to fight like this.