Compared to the Shunlì advance on land, the Japanese navy's actions were much more problematic, but the Beiyang naval division was locked in the Bohai Bay because of the Qing court's order to defend the gate, so the situation of the Japanese did not make the situation worse for the Japanese.

And now that he knew that the Beiyang Naval Division was escorting army transports back and forth between the interior and the Yalu River estuary, Shikini Kayama ordered Ito Sukehiro to lead the combined fleet to fight the Beiyang Naval Division, and the decisive battle between the two sides was coming

As the war progressed, warships from all over the world in the Yellow Sea were cruising here to observe the decisive battle between the Japanese and Qing navies that could break out at any time.

Rear Admiral Tirpitz, commander of the German Far East Fleet, and his flagship, the Victoria Louiser, have been cruising in this area since the declaration of war between the Japanese and Qing sides, and have sailed with the Japanese fleet from a distance on several occasions, just to be able to observe the unprecedented ironclad fleet battle that may break out at any time at close range.

"The Japanese are now assembled to prepare for a decisive battle with the Qing fleet? They did this for a month, and nothing happened, and now they are doing it again, is it because they have some exact information? Tirpitz, who was holding a telescope and observing the Japanese fleet in the distance, seemed to be asking a question and talking to himself.

However, someone still responded to his words: "The Japanese should have received some information, otherwise they would not have assembled like this and dispatched them all." It is clear that the Japanese had clear combat missions. Colonel Otto von Dietrichs, a staff officer of the Far East Fleet, who was standing aside, responded.

Suddenly, there was a burst of cannon fire in my ears, and it was not that someone was firing at the Victoria Luiser, but that a passing British gunboat was firing a gun salute at the Victoria Luiser with the flag of the Rear Admiral.

"Fire a salute, lower the flag at half-mast, and return the salute." Seeing the British gunboats slowly approaching and saluting, Tirpitz calmly ordered that such encounters and salutes had been happening almost every day since the area was crowded with British, German, French, Russian, American, and Italian warships.

Ignoring the courtesy exchange with the British, Tirpitz took the telescope and looked at the Japanese fleet in the distance and continued to comment: "The actions of the Japanese are quite bad, one month ago the whole fleet went to Weihaiwei to find the Qing fleet for a decisive battle, but the Beiyang Naval Division was not in the port at all, looking for someone to fight a decisive battle but did not know the enemy's movements, this is simply stupid."

And what's even more stupid is that in the case of not knowing the enemy's movements, you should think that the enemy may also come out and look for yourself, and as a result, after seeking a decisive battle failed, they did not continue to look for the enemy's main force, but let the fleet perform other tasks, not only that, but also divided the troops, and the cutting-edge Gao Chiho was left in the Han River, and they were not afraid of being broken by each other? ”

"But didn't the Qing fleet also seize this opportunity, they left the port obviously to look for fighters, but unfortunately they pounced, and then they, like the Japanese, did not continue to look for the main force of the Japanese, so we can now see that the Japanese have regrouped." Colonel Diedrichs teased the clumsy expressions of both sides.

"If the Qing people seize the opportunity, it is still possible to have a few fewer ships on the Japanese fleet in front of us. However, it is clear that in the case that both sides did not grasp the opportunity, the Qing people were even worse. Otto, if it weren't for the fact that this would be the first large-scale decisive battle in history with the fleet of steam-ironclad ships, to be honest, I really don't think there is anything we need to learn from the navies of these two countries. Tirpitz smiled wryly

"Alfred, those who don't take their chances will be punished, but I still think the chances of the Japanese winning are very small, but to see the new technology and new tactics in action, I think that's enough." Because it was small talk, Didrichs also called Tirpitz by his first name.

"Like you, I also think that the chances of the Japanese winning are very small, but looking at the current Qing Dynasty, I can understand why the Japanese dare to gamble." Tirpitz shook his head.

"Huh? The Japanese seem to have accelerated. Diedrich, who was holding a telescope, saw that the soot over the Japanese fleet suddenly became thicker.

"Maybe they found something." Tirpitz turned to the captain of the Victoria Luiser and ordered: "Full speed, keep up." ”

"Yes, Your Excellency, full speed!" The captain repeated Tirpitz's order in a loud voice.

The huge cruiser began to accelerate, the splash from the bow became bigger and bigger, and the British gunboat on the side was obviously not as fast as the latest German cruiser, and the distance between the two sides was quickly widened.

As Didrichs had anticipated, the Japanese discovered the situation, and the lookout on the mast of the Izumi at the head of the 1st Guerrilla Fleet of the Japanese Combined Fleet was the first to spot the Beiyang Fleet to the northeast.

With the distance between the two sides, even Tirpitz on the Victoria Luiser, which was 5 kilometers behind the Japanese fleet, could see the thick column of smoke in the distance.

"It seems that the Beiyang Fleet is also the main force, and both sides want to decide the victory or defeat here." Tirpitz was a little excited: "Left rudder 15, let's go to the side and find a good position, this is a rare big scene." ”

"Yes, Your Excellency, Left Rudder 15!"

"Be careful to keep a safe distance from both sides, I don't want our ships to be shelled for no reason."

"Yes, Your Excellency!"

"The Japanese still maintain their own linear, this formation is indeed very suitable for their ships to exert firepower, using a large number of rapid-fire guns on the ship can surprise the Qing fleet when the time comes, and use all the firepower as much as possible, which is very consistent with our thinking." Diedrichs looked at the formation of the Japanese fleet and commented.

"That's true, the column formation is a formation that can maximize the efficiency of the firepower of the whole fleet, it seems that the Japanese are ready to use the amount of firepower projection to win, if it were me, I would do the same, because I don't have enough guns to fight the Dingzhen Second Ship, so it is indeed a wise choice to maximize the advantage of the rate of fire." Tirpitz commented.

"In order to cooperate with the Dingzhen Second Ship, the Qing Fleet should still use a horizontal formation, how good the effect of the vertical column to meet the enemy with maximum firepower can be, which is more suitable for the current naval tactics of the column or the horizontal column, it is possible to verify it today." Didrichs was also a little interested.

Although the German Navy has been insisting on facing the enemy in a tandem and lateral direction over the years, under the mainstream situation that there are still extremely many supporters in the bow of ships all over the world to meet the enemy, although the German Navy has found all kinds of advantages in various exercises, it is still a little apprehensive about what will happen in actual combat, and now the Japanese formation can just help verify it.

However, Tirpitz and Diedrichs clearly overestimated the Japanese.

You must know that the installation method of the 320-mm guns of the Matsushima and Itsukushima ships requires the bow of the ship to exert the maximum firepower against the enemy, and the reason why the Japanese chose this formation is because they are not confident in their captain's ability to operate the ship.

It takes 20-30 years for the British Navy to train from naval cadets to become a qualified captain of a large ship, while the Japanese Navy has only been around 30 years since it was built, and many of these old antiques have just been kicked out by Gonbei Yamamoto.

Therefore, it seems too difficult for them to arrange a "formation suitable for engagement" in an engagement, so the problem soon became a "formation that is easier to maintain in an engagement".

So which formation is easy to maintain? Tsuboi Kozo came up with an idea, but it wasn't clear on his lips, so we actually went to see it. So the captains got into small boats and walked back and forth in the Seto Inland Sea, constantly changing formations to see which formation was easier to maintain.

Trying to come and go, it was found that a column was the easiest to keep. As long as the ships in the back follow up with the ships in front, they don't need to think about the speed and course at all, just follow and do it, so the Japanese have such a formation.

Of course, these Tirpitz and Didrichs naturally did not know, but their desire to see the vertical formation VS horizontal formation was quickly realized.

The Victoria Louiser's high speed quickly allowed the Germans to grab a good seat, and it was time to sit back with popcorn and wait for the annual naval battle between the two sides.

"Look, Qingguo is really a horizontal formation!" Diedrichs excitedly shouted that in fact, the Beiyang Naval Division was in a double vertical formation at the beginning, but at this time it had completed the formation change of the double vertical column to expand into a horizontal formation, to be honest, the pipe bands of the Beiyang Naval Division were indeed better than the Japanese captains.

"It seems that the Qing fleet is still in accordance with the set given to them by the British, but if they want to reproduce the glory of the Battle of Lisa with a horizontal formation, do the Qing people think that they are the Austrian fleet led by Taghoff?" Tirpitz said with a smile.

Although later generations have been criticized for the outdated formation of the Beiyang Naval Division, in fact, at the end of the 19th century, the adoption of this formation is really not something worthy of criticism.

First of all, this formation was originally formulated by the British Navy teacher Lang Weili, on the one hand, because the British advocated the bow against the enemy's charge formation, and the glory of Nelson's Trafalgar at the beginning was also quite crazy double-column charge formation, so the bow against the enemy, charging close combat, close chaos and "seeing the enemy is fighting" has become the belief of the British Royal Navy.

On the other hand, the main force of the Beiyang Naval Division, the Dingzhen No. 2 ship, did have a huge advantage in firing all the main guns forward when the bow was facing the enemy, and the Dingzhen No. 2 ship was also equipped with ramming angles. The fatal collision of the Austrians in the Battle of Lissa made everyone attach great importance to the ramming tactics, and the Germans deviated from the norm.

However, the Beiyang Naval Division is not the British Royal Navy, and Vice Admiral Philmantle of the Chinese Fleet of the British Royal Navy once commented on the formation of the Beiyang Naval Division in the Battle of Dadonggou: "A perfect formation on paper", but "if it is not the best commander and the best trained fleet, this formation should not be adopted"

The command and coordination between the ships in the horizontal formation are difficult, and the problem of limited formation maneuver is very strict, and the British can rely on the excellent skills of the captains and the excellent performance of the ships to rush into the chaotic battle, but Beiyang does not have this condition at all.

Moreover, the age and performance of the ships in the Beiyang were too different, and the different speeds could not be discharged at all, and in this way, an uneven horizontal formation rushed towards the Japanese. RS