When the North Sea Fleet passed through the Tsushima Strait, it did not choose to pass through at night as before, and at that time Weeser was very worried that the shape of the warship would be copied by the British, so that the British Navy would increase its combat effectiveness in vain. Now that the battle is about to begin, the British can not only clearly see the appearance of China's new warships, but also personally experience the combat effectiveness of China's new warships. Since any cover-up has become meaningless, it is better to calmly go north and let the opponent feel that the Chinese People's Navy is not afraid of the British Royal Fleet.

Japanese warships cruising nervously in the Tsushima Strait soon spotted the Chinese Civilian Navy, which had only fought the Chinese Tsingtao, in which several warships of the Japanese Meiji government were sunk, and most of the sailors who had seen the new Chinese warships sank to the bottom of the sea. The survivors' descriptions of the Chinese warships are vague, and the Chinese warships drawn according to their testimonies are extremely strange and distorted. The Japanese Navy, including the British advisers, could not have imagined how such a warship could have exerted such a powerful fighting force.

Now the Japanese Navy clearly saw the true face of the Chinese warships, and the slender hulls of the combat ships were all painted in gray, and the turrets were covered with army green canvas gun jackets. The high freeboard in the front half of the warship adopted a trapezoidal pattern with the top retracting. There is a huge chimney in the middle of the hull, and the fleet is at an economic speed of 10 knots, so the smoke from the chimney is grayish-white, and occasionally some black smoke is mixed in.

The Chinese warship, with a calm and arrogant appearance, completely ignored the Japanese warship watching from a distance, passed through the Tsushima Strait and headed north. The Japanese warships roughly counted the number of warships of the Chinese Navy, followed them for a while, and then turned around and sailed to the port. Although the Chinese warship ran fast, it could not outrun the telegram. At this time, the British navy had already assembled in the Tsugaru Strait, and before the Chinese fleet arrived in the Tsugaru Strait, they would surely get news about the Chinese navy's heading north.

Colonel Zhou Xinhua, commander of the Chinese Dispatch Force defending Hakodate, was already a division commander, and before the British Royal Navy arrived in Singapore, China acceded to the request of the Republic of Ezo and increased its dispatch in the Republic of Ezo. The main purpose of the increase in the number of troops was to help the Meiji government speed up the training from the government to the military.

By October 1874, the total population of the Republic of Ezo had reached 3 million. When the Ezo Republic was first established in 1869, the total population controlled by the government was only 5,000. This 600-fold increase is partly due to the inclusion of the local Ainu people, but also thanks to the unremitting efforts of the Meiji government.

The Meiji government treated the northern Okuriku region cruelly and forced a large number of people from the Okuriku region to move to the Ezo Republic. The men and women of the Okulu region were trained in the military, and these people supported the backbone of the Ezo Republic. The number of these people is around 300,000. The remaining 2 million or so people are Japan's poor.

The Meiji government has been expropriating excessively in recent years, and the lives of the Japanese people are miserable. According to the people who arrived in the Republic of Ezo alone with their families or alone, there have been mass suicides led by religious forces promoting the end of the world in many parts of the Mishima Islands. Finding no reason to live on this shore of the present world, the people had to go to the other side of the afterlife described by religious groups to find happiness. Of course, to put it more realistically, under the double oppression of the Meiji government and local tyrants, the people did not have enough food and clothing, and death was also a relief to a certain extent.

The Ezo Republic held out for several years under pressure from the Meiji government, and the affairs of this republic began to spread in the Japanese islands of Mishima. can divide the land, have a job, and only collect 40% of the tax in kind. Compared with Japan's Mishima, where seventy or eighty percent of income is exploited, this is a paradise-like life. No one wants to die, and if the price of reaching the other side of happiness is to cross the Tsugaru Strait instead of ending their own lives, the people can easily make their own choices.

The large number of people entering the Ezo Republic was a great boost. But the number of core personnel at the moment is only one-tenth of the entire country, which is more like a disaster for the leaders of the Ezo Republic. The Chinese side can only help the Ezo Republic politically, from the organizational building of the grassroots to the entire ideological mobilization and ideological education. Training is needed from the grassroots to the upper echelons in the Republic of Ezo. The Republic of Ezo asked China to send more "troops" to help.

The Republic of Ezo had its own intelligence network, and the news of the arrival of the British Grand Fleet in Japan also reached the Republic of Ezo. Everyone also knows that the time to test the strength of the Ezo Republic has finally arrived. At this time, the capital of the Ezo Republic was transferred from Hakodate to Sapporo, and the railway network connecting the major cities was built.

Theoretically, the total number of troops in the Republic of Ezo is 1 million people. Of these 1 million people, about 100,000 have rifles in their hands, and about 50,000 of these 100,000 people use new Chinese-made rifles. Hakodate, Otaru, and Muroran all built new forts, but could they withstand the attack of the British Grand Fleet? No one really has absolute confidence.

Now the only thing that can save the Republic of Ezo is the Chinese navy, and the Japanese around Zhou Xinhua are far more confident than Zhou Xinhua because they have received less news. And Zhou Xinhua himself is well aware that only 6 cruisers can really come in handy for China now. These 6 cruisers had to deal with dozens of British armored ships.

The Japanese hoped that the Chinese navy would attract away the British fleet entrenched in the Strait, while Zhou Xinhua hoped that more British fleets would concentrate in the Tsugaru Strait. The best way for a weaker army to attack an enemy with an advantage is to divide the enemy and eat it all in one bite.

But no matter how you look through the binoculars, there are only five British navies in the Tsugaru Strait, and these five warships show no signs of going into battle shirtless, just cruising in the sea from a distance. Zhou Xinhua became more and more anxious, which one of the British are playing?

The Royal Navy played a strategy of waiting for work. When the flagship Agincourt received news of the passage of the Chinese Navy through the Tsushima Strait, the British fleet was divided into three. The main fleet was 20 nautical miles outside the western entrance to the Tsugaru Strait. No matter how much they looked down on the Chinese Navy in their hearts, the British Royal Navy did not disgrace their own reputation, and this fleet with a long history did not adopt the stupid tactics of dividing forces.

The Royal Navy left 10 armoured ships and 15 unarmoured ships in Singapore in preparation for a surprise attack by China's South China Sea Fleet. The remaining forty armored ships and fifty unarmored ships arrived in Japan. The purpose of this fleet was to first deal with the Republic of Ezo, and then take advantage of the north wind to sweep all the way south to the coast of China.

The opponent was, after all, ironclads, and the British unarmored ships remained in Tokyo and did not participate in the battle. Forty armoured ships filled the island of Kyushu with anthracite and headed north, placing 10 armoured ships at the eastern entrance of the Tsugaru Strait, which housed the navy of the Japanese Meiji government and five British armoured ships. At the western entrance to the Tsugaru Strait, where the Chinese Navy is most likely to encounter, a total of 25 armored ships, including the flagship Agincout, are lined up here.

Vice Admiral Pope, commander of the British Dispatch Force, was not surprised by the appearance of the Chinese fleet, which was the only chance for the Chinese fleet if it wanted to engage in a decisive battle with the British fleet.

In the early morning of October 13, the Chinese fleet finally appeared in the field of view of the British fleet, which was in full array. At this time, the gun jacket on the warship had been removed, and the artillery of the Chinese Navy was seen in the high-powered telescope, and Vice Admiral Pope was stunned. He looked at it carefully and again, and couldn't help but ask the staff officer next to him, "Is there a 6-inch gun on the Chinese warship?" ”

The slender and slender barrels of the Chinese warships were obviously different from the thick guns of the British fleet, and the staff officer carefully distinguished them, and said with a little hesitation: "It should be a six-inch gun." ”

One inch is 25.4 mm, and the caliber of a real six-inch gun is 152.4 mm. China uses the metric system, so the 2.4 mm is omitted. Wei Ze's idea is to run if he can't win, and the 120 gun has a fast rate of fire and strong firepower, which is quite suitable for running and fighting. The Navy's expectation is to have as large artillery as possible, and 200 guns have proven unsuitable for loading on cruisers, but the Navy still raises the question, what is the use of the Navy's 120 guns if they encounter ironclads of the same type? After some debate, Weeser simply made concessions for the sake of the Navy's sense of security. In the end, the two sides reached a compromise and adopted the 150 gun.

With a displacement of 4400 tons, a 6-inch gun was used, which is already a standard cart pulling a small cannon. But the 6-inch cannon still has enough armor-piercing ability after all. If the British fleet commander saw that China was using a 5-inch gun, he was afraid that his jaw would fall in shock.

The Chinese naval officers opposite the British looked at the British Grand Fleet with complicated expressions, such a number of warships is the dream of any navy, and this number of enemy warships is also the last thing our army wants to see. In particular, the enemy's flagship, the Agincourt, was under tremendous pressure from a distance. There are other warships of five or six thousand tons, which also seem to be full of courage.

"Let's fight!" Ding Ruchang gave the order. The warships of the Chinese Navy were split in two, and the destroyer formation, which had little protection, broke away from the battle line and kept running parallel to the cruiser fleet outside the battlefield. The cruiser formation, on the other hand, picked up speed and tried to get ahead of the British fleet.

Watching the dexterous actions of the Chinese warships, the British Royal Navy quickly made a judgment, and the Chinese fleet was estimated to play the trick of seizing the T-shape. The side guns have been playing for hundreds of years, how could the British let a junior succeed in front of the old master. The British fleet also began to pick up speed. Seeing the actions of the other side, the Chinese and British fleets began to turn, the Chinese fleet in the west was on the left side, and the British fleet in the east was on the right side, and the battle lines on both sides were soon completed. At a distance of 2,000 meters, everyone opened fire on each other. The shells flew out of the chambers and across the sea, smashing snow-white waves on the sea.