Although the 1st Guerrilla Fleet was facing an unfavorable situation of 2 to 3 at this time, Tsuboi Kozo was still determined to fight, and his side could all sail at a speed of more than 19 knots, and the firepower of the 15 150 mm tube guns also exceeded the Beiyang ships rushing towards the enemy in the bow.

Tsuboi Kozo is full of confidence, facing the Zhiyuan that rushed over, Izumi and Yoshino attacked with all their might, although the Zhiyuan is not the 2,300-ton small Armstrong-type cruiser in history, but it still seems to be in danger in the face of a stormy attack.

The decisive assault of the Zhiyuan was unsuccessful, and after the bow waterline was partially penetrated by Japanese shells, the speed of the bow guide was sharply reduced. The Zhiyuan, which had no speed, was broken through in many places on the side of the side, and finally capsized and sank, Deng Shichang refused to jump into the sea to escape and sank with the ship.

However, Zhiyuan's charge was not without effect, and when fighting with the Zhiyuan, the first guerrilla fleet left the Dingzhen No. 2 ship aside, and Dingyuan's self-rescue was completed.

Moreover, after the sinking of the Zhiyuan, the Laiyuan and the Guangjia tried to escape, but they were tightly bitten by the first guerrilla fleet, and between the two sides escaping and chasing, the distance between the two ships and the Dingzhen two ships was slowly widened, and the left flank of the Dingyuan was temporarily safe.

At this time, Takachiho and Naniwa, who had bypassed the Hashidate and returned to the queue, followed Izumi and Naniwa and began to pursue, and the slower Hiroka was the first to be caught up, and Tsuboi Kozo took the faster Yoshino Rido ignore Hiroshi and continued to chase Yuan, while Hiroga was besieged by Takachiho and Naniwa and quickly sank.

Just when the First Guerrilla Fleet was desperately trying to grab the head, Shiki Kayama almost lost his life. It turned out that at this time, Pingyuan, Guangbing, and Fulong rushed from the right front of the Beiyang Fleet to support, and the Saikyo Maru, which stayed on the left side of the combined fleet, bore the brunt and became the easiest target to attack, and the Pingyuan, like Matsushima and Itsukushima, was installed in the bow with a large main gun. Although the 260 mm guns were far less powerful than the main guns of Matsushima and Itsukushima, the small body of the auxiliary cruiser converted from a cruise ship could not withstand a single shot.

Moreover, there is only one 120-mm main gun on the Saikyo Maru, and this main gun is still out of order, and the remaining small-caliber rapid-fire guns can only tickle the warships of the Beiyang Naval Division on the opposite side. Originally, Huashan Ziji was ready to evacuate, but as a result, Pingyuan, Guangbing, and Fulong rushed over on the other side.

Face the fastest torpedo boat Fulong rushing on the opposite side. Seeing that there was really no way, Shiki Huashan gritted his teeth and fought hard! An order was given to use a temporary ramming angle to hit the Fukulong, which was only 115 tons, and as a result, Fukulong fired a torpedo at the Saikyo Maru at a distance of 40 meters.

Watching the torpedo's trajectory coming straight towards Saikyo Maru, Shiki Kayama thought to himself, it's over, Saikyo Maru has calmed down. It doesn't matter if the Xijing Pill sinks, after all, it's not much combat power, but I'm on it. If the head of the military command department is finished with the Saikyo Maru, it will be finished. Then the combined fleet must not mess around?!

However, due to the close proximity between the two sides, the torpedo entered the water too deeply, and before it could float, it passed through the bottom of the Saikyo Maru, and then floated up on the other side. Shiki Kayama was so frightened that he told Ito after the war, "It's really more terrible than anything else to get a torpedo bubble under the ship." ”

Even the luck was on the side of the Japanese, and there was nothing to say about the defeat of Beiyang, at this time Zhiyuan, Chaoyong, Yangwei, and Guangjia were sunk, and they fled from Yuan. There is also Tsuboi Kozo behind the buttocks, and it is estimated that there is more luck than luck. Seeing that the situation was not good, Jingyuan and Jingyuan also began to break away from the battlefield.

At this time, only Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were left on the battlefield, and in the face of the siege of the combined fleet, the two ships were in danger, and at this critical moment, the two ships each hit once. The main gun of the Dingyuan hit the Qiujinzhou, and this shell smashed on the deck in front of the bridge in Qiujinzhou, and Ito Yuhiro in the bridge was also terrified when he was shocked, if this shell landed ten meters later, it was estimated that it would have smashed directly on the bridge. At that time, it is still a question whether the armored command tower of Akitsuzhou can be defended.

Zhenyuan, on the other hand, pierced the side of Songdao's hull with one shot, and the shells exploded near the Songdao's 120-mm rapid-fire gun, which detonated the stacked shells and caused a chain explosion, and all six 120-mm rapid-fire guns on the port side of the Songdao ship were destroyed.

These two shells caused the whole team to be in a mess, and in this case, the Dingzhen 2nd ship began to withdraw to the northwest. Tsuboi Kozo, who was chasing the Laiyuan, finally got his wish, and after chasing for nearly an hour, he finally sank Yuanyuan.

At this time, it was getting late, and with the sinking of Akagi and Hiei, the pretending of Hashidate, and the loss of contact with the Saikyo Maru, Ito Yuheni thought that it would be too dangerous to fight at night with the support of torpedo boats in the Hokuyang Naval Division, and finally decided to withdraw his troops.

In this way, the Battle of Dadonggou ended. Five warships of the Beiyang Naval Division, Zhiyuan, Laiyuan, Chaoyong, Yangwei, and Guangjia, were sunk, Dingyuan was seriously injured, and the rest of the ships were damaged.

Only two gunboats, Akagi and Hiei, were sunk, and two ships, Hashidate and Matsushima, were seriously injured and lost their combat capability, and the rest of the ships were also damaged, but the impact was not great.

The Beiyang Naval Division disappeared into the Yellow Sea like the broken dragon banner on the collapsed foremast of the Dingyuan.

A few days later, all of Europe was talking about this naval battle, about its implications, about its significance, about its value, and what would happen after that.

"The Japanese have already won great victories on both land and sea battlefields, and have completely controlled the sea control in the Yellow Sea and the control of Korea, and it is estimated that it is only a matter of time before the Japanese win." Caprivi, who received a telegram from the German envoy in Qing and Japan, analyzed.

"What if the Japanese aim for more than just Korea?" Frederick III asked, and Frederick III, who had spoken to his own son, also thought that Japan's appetite could not be satisfied so easily.

"Your Majesty, do you mean that it is possible for the Japanese to continue to expand the scale of the war?" Caprivi believes that Japan has completely mastered Korea, and it should first digest it with all its might, and even if there is any idea about the Qing country, it should not be now.

"Now that the control of the Yellow Sea has completely fallen into the hands of the Japanese, the Japanese can land their land forces in any area of the Yellow Sea without any scruples and expand the war, and I think it is very feasible.

In addition, the Qing army was defeated in Pyongyang, the remnants of the army returned to the country, and the Japanese attacked Mukden with the support of the navy, especially the Qing fleet base Lushun, which I think should be the first choice of the Japanese next. Jochen speculated on the next move of the Japanese in history.

"Although the Qing Navy lost 5 warships this time, the Japanese side only sank 2 gunboats, but according to Tirpitz's telegram sent back from Hong Kong, the Japanese Navy had at least 2 warships heavily damaged, and it was unable to restore its combat effectiveness in a short period of time. Caprivi still thought that it was too risky for the Japanese to continue their attack on the Qing coast, and that it was important to preserve the fruits of the victory.

"The outcome of this war has little to do with us, and whoever wins or loses will have little impact on us. But we can't do nothing, and how can we get something out of it. "Frederick III didn't care what kind of war between Japan and the Qing Dynasty was, he only cared about getting a piece of the pie in Far Eastern Germany.

"I don't think this war will end with the complete fall of Japan or the Qing side, and if the Qing want to completely defeat Japan, they must first completely defeat the Japanese fleet at sea, but it seems unlikely that it will be possible at this time.

However, if Japan wanted to defeat the Qing Dynasty completely, it could not do so, and neither Britain nor Russia would allow such a situation to occur.

The British had the greatest interests in the Qing country, and perhaps after this war they would realize that the Qing could not contain Russia and turn to Japan in the opposite direction, but this did not mean that they could tolerate Japan to harm their interests in the Far East too much, so when the war continued to the point where the Japanese gained too much benefit, the British would intervene.

And if the main goal of the Japanese next step was Mukden, and they eventually captured it, then the Russians would not sit idly by, because it was an obstacle to their way south. A warm, ice-free port is what the Russians dream of, and I think Lushun is a good place, so the Russians won't just let the Japanese take it away.

Therefore, the final result is likely to be that in the case of external access, the Japanese will negotiate peace, and then the Qing country will cede land and pay compensation. Therefore, I think it is possible to consider providing a loan to Qingguo. Jochen said: "The loser of this war will have to pay a huge loan, and I don't think the Qing state will be able to come up with such a sum of money in a short time." Then we can lend money to them. And lending to losers, naturally, can make some demands on them. “

Historically, the "Treaty of Shimonoseki" paid 200 million taels of silver, plus 30 million taels of "redeemed" Liaodong Peninsula, a total of 230 million taels of silver, and the Qing State borrowed a total of 400 million francs from France and Russia, and then borrowed a total of 32 million pounds from Britain and Germany in two installments.

According to the Qing Dynasty at that time, the Qing Dynasty borrowed 32 million pounds from Britain and Germany in two times, with annual interest rates of 5% and 4% 5 respectively, requiring it to be repaid in 45 years, and according to Germany's half, there was also an interest of nearly 3.5 million pounds.

Of course, interest is not the most important thing, but more importantly, you can continue to expand the trade activities of German goods in the territory of the Qing Dynasty through guò government loans, and Germany has now shortened the voyage of the Far East trade by more than 4,000 nautical miles, and the cost continues to decrease, if it can expand the export of goods to Germany, it will certainly increase its market share. (To be continued......)