The design of the armored cruiser was ultimately based on the long bow tower, the rotating turret with twin 210 mm guns in the bow and stern, and the more conservative design of the gun profile with a single 210 mm gun on the side sides. Although he abandoned the alluring design of the rear piggyback, Jochen asked Popper to continue to refine and strengthen the design.

The construction of a total of five cruisers also became the actual platform for the German Navy's new power system, which will also be the first time that the German Navy has tried to use water-tube boilers.

Dürer boilers, Belleville boilers, Nicklaus boilers, Sannikroft boilers, Sulzer boilers, as long as the water-tube boilers that can be found now, the Germans used them, 5 cruisers, each with just one type.

The best of these boilers will be selected after use, accumulating a number of jù and experience for the German Navy's subsequent boiler design.

The design plan for the new ships has been decided, and the anxious navy is in a hurry to start construction at the end of the year, because the navy only has more than 50 million marks in its hands at this time, which is enough to pay a deposit for the five battleships in advance, so the construction plan of the cruiser has to be postponed and wait for the second batch of appropriations from the parliament.

Just when the navy was hurriedly contacting the Germania, Volkeng, Shuoxiao and other major shipyards to prepare for the construction of new battleships, two experimental ships on the slipway of the Royal Ship Technical Shipyard quietly laid their keels.

The German side was in a hurry to build ships, while the Qing Kingdom was in a hurry to buy ships.

Under the condition that Britain and Germany "strictly observed" neutrality, Italy and France, which also wanted to sell old ships to the Qing to make a lot of money, had no choice but to give up, so after the search for a purchase here in Europe failed, the warships in the hands of the Chileans once again became the object of competition between the Japanese and Qing sides.

The Captain Pratt, the two Ellasuliz-class protective cruisers, the Esmeralda (third generation) protective cruiser, and the two Rear Admiral Lynch-class torpedo gunboats are all high-speed ships that Li Hongzhang wants to buy, and the Captain Pratt, as an ironclad ship, has a speed of up to 18 knots, which is the best choice for Li Hongzhang.

The Japanese side naturally knew that if the Beiyang Naval Division was allowed to obtain these warships, it would really have no hope at all, so it did everything possible to obstruct it.

On August 23, Gong Zhaoyu called that the two Rear Admiral Lynch-class torpedo gunboats had been negotiated with the Chilean side, and the total price of the two ships was 150,000 pounds, plus 16,000 pounds for water feet, and they could set off ten days after the payment was paid, and arrived in Weihai about 20 days later.

On the 24th, the Chilean side suddenly broke the treaty on the grounds of abiding by the "common practice of all countries" not to sell warships to both belligerents.

However, in the end, Li Hongzhang was not allowed to pay the money and then detain the ship, which is still not as shameless as the big hooligans in Europe.

At this time, the situation of the Qing army in Korea was becoming less and less optimistic.

From August 4 to 9, the Qing army arrived in Pyongyang one after another. At this time, the Japanese army had not yet arrived, and the Qing army had enough time to arrange defenses, and even took the initiative to attack and look for fighters, but the Qing army on the four routes did not make the slightest move, wasting the precious time of war preparation. Li Hongzhang urged the advance to suppress, but the armies could not advance rashly under the pretext that the horses and infantry were not ready.

On September 2, Li Hongzhang learned that the Japanese army had landed in Yuansan, and sent an urgent telegram to Ye Zhichao: "Prepare to attack!" Ye Zhichao said, "If our army advances, the Japanese army will land with troops on board, attack my rear road, and cut off my transshipment." "Refusing to attack as an excuse.

Until Guangxu heard that the Japanese army was going to attack Pyongyang, he told Li Hongzhang not to make any mistakes, and Li Hongzhang urgently telegraphed Ye Zhichao that the Japanese army would attack in a big way, so that he could block the Japanese offensive with his current strength.

It was only at this time that Ye Zhichao convened the generals to discuss, but at this time, he was still not thinking about how to fight, but thinking about retreating first: "The enemy is so big that the edge is sharp; Our army's ammunition is not complete, and the terrain is not familiar, so it is better for the whole team to temporarily retreat to Yunaizhou and recuperate in order to move forward. ”

After hearing this, most of the generals agreed, but only Zuo Guigui objected: "The imperial court set up a machine, raised soldiers, and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, precisely for today." If you retreat without a fight, how can you repay the country to North Korea? As for the gains and losses of success or failure, it is not a matter of consideration. ”

Although Ye Zhichao was greedy for life and afraid of death, as soon as Zuo Guigui's words came out, if he objected again, he would say that he would not serve the country, so although he was angry in his heart, he could only start preparing for war.

The army is so virtuous, the navy is not much better, the first battle of Toshima, the navy lost Jiyuan, Guangyi, Caojiang three ships, the Beiyang naval division knew that the Japanese ships were strong and the artillery was strong, began to passively avoid the war, in Ding Ruchang's words: "Our army's elite ships, not the slightest negligence, is less than a throw." ”

Therefore, the Japanese mastered the sea control of the Yellow Sea for at least this time, and they could continuously project troops by sea and land.

Although the Jiyuan was sunk, the main force of the Beiyang Naval Division was still there, so the Japanese did not dare to land directly in Bohai Bay after controlling the sea power according to the original plan, and then execute the phalanx of the decisive battle with the Qing army in Zhili, so they changed their strategy and decided to eat the Qing army in Pyongyang first.

In order to conquer Pyongyang, Japan formed the First Army, and the commander was Yama Prefecture Aritomo, who was making a noise every day to go to the front line in person. In early September, the Japanese army marched north to Pyongyang by four routes.

At this time, the Qing army relied on Pyongyang to establish defenses, although a lot of time was wasted, but more than ten days of preparation, or on the north bank of the Taedong River, around the city of Pyongyang to establish a defensive line and fortress, in their opinion, although the construction was hasty, but these defense lines were still enough to resist the Japanese army.

At the beginning of the war, it was indeed similar to what the Qing army expected, and the Qing army, which relied on fortifications to fight defensive battles, did bring great damage to the Japanese army.

In the early morning of September 15, the Japanese army began to attack, and the battles were carried out simultaneously on the south bank of the Datong River, the Peony Terrace and Xuanwu Gate in the north of the city, and the west of the city.

The 9th Brigade led by Yoshimasa Oshima attacked the south bank of the Datong River, and at 3 a.m., the 9th Brigade crossed the Shuiwan Bridge and approached the Qing bridgehead in the bridge. The defensive Qing army returned fire and inflicted considerable casualties on the Japanese, but under the leadership of Takeda Hideyama, the Japanese attacked with all their might and captured the first base of the bridgehead.

Oshima Yoshimasa then ordered to take advantage of the victory to attack the second base, and at this time it was already dawn, and although the German-made Gew.81 equipped by the Qing army was a black powder rifle, the continuous firepower provided by the five-round magazine was far superior to that of the Murata Type 18 single-shot rifle equipped by the Japanese army.

The attacking Japanese troops were trapped in the open ground in front of the Qing defense line, completely exposed to the guns of the Qing army, and the Japanese side later recorded that "the bullets of the repeating guns fired frequently swept over the branches of the trees, just like the wind sweeping away the leaves."

Under the command of Ma Yukun and Wei Rugui, the Qing army used its equipment advantage to block the Japanese attack, and the bridgehead was never captured. By 2:40 p.m., the fierce battle lasted for 10 hours, and Oshima Yoshimasa could only stop the attack and retreat to the Shuiwan Bridge.

However, the other three attacks of the Japanese army were much smoother, and perhaps relying on defense could indeed effectively kill the Japanese infantry with backward rifles, but the temporary fortifications were built temporarily, and the high-explosive grenades fired from the artillery pulled up by the Japanese army were vulnerable.

While Yoshimasa Oshima was fighting fiercely on the south bank of the Taedong River, the 5th Brigade led by Sato Masashi placed 12 artillery pieces on the top of Bukhan Mountain. At 5 o'clock, Sato gave the order to fire artillery on the north of Pyongyang. The 10th Brigade led by Tachimi Shangwen heard the shelling of the 5th Brigade and took the opportunity to approach the Qing army fortifications north of Pyongyang from the east, but was resolutely resisted by a Qing army of less than 3,000 people led by the defender Zuo Guigui in the north of the city.

Seeing that the fortress was difficult to overcome, he ordered the artillery to place field artillery on a hill 800 meters from the fortress and shell the fortress. With the bombardment of stray bullets, the Qing army's fortifications were destroyed one after another, and by 8 a.m., only the fortress of Peony Terrace was left in the north of Pyongyang.

After a fierce battle, at 8:30 a.m., the Japanese army rushed to Mudantai and transferred its artillery to Mudantai to bombard Xuanwumen and the whole city. Under the cover of artillery, the Japanese army began to attack Xuanwu Gate, and at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the Japanese captured Xuanwu Gate. In the fierce battle, the Qing army general Zuo Guigui was wounded by a gunshot, but he still commanded to resist, and finally was shot in the chest and died.

After the Japanese army captured the Xuanwu Gate, they immediately saw Shangwen persuade the Qing army to surrender, and the Qing army replied that it was raining now, and it was dark, and I would give you an answer tomorrow.

After receiving this reply, Immediately saw that the Qing army did not intend to surrender, but compared to the Qing army staying in the city, the situation of the Japanese army was much more difficult.

At this time, it was raining, and the Japanese soldiers were very tired from a day of fierce fighting, and it was very unfavorable to sleep in the open, and the Japanese army did not have enough food. Later generations of Japanese historians analyzed the situation of the Japanese army as follows: "Suffering from lack of food, if you fight fiercely for more than two days in a row, you can only give up the siege and retreat." ”

However, seeing that Zuo Guigui died in battle, Ye Zhichao, who had no one to say goodbye to him, ordered: "Lightly armed and retreat at night." "The Qing army discarded its baggage and retreated north from Qixingmen and Jinghaimen in the rain.

In the middle of the night, the rain poured down, the Qing soldiers swarmed out of the city, the scene was chaotic, and the number of people lost in the chaos was more than the battle during the day, Ye Zhichao took these remnants of the defeated army to run 500 miles and retreated to the border.

Not only that, but they also discarded more than 30 artillery pieces of various kinds, thousands of rifles, hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, food, and enough rations for the Japanese army to eat for one month, giving a great gift to the Japanese who had logistical difficulties.

In the early morning of September 16, Naomun Tachimi and Sato led the 5th and 10th Brigades from Xuanwumen into Pyongyang. At 7 o'clock in the morning, the Fifth Division led by Nozu Michikan entered the city from Jinghai Gate. At 10 o'clock, the 9th Brigade led by Yoshimasa Oshima entered the city through Suzak Gate, and Pyongyang fell.

Since the continuous advance of the Japanese army, its battle line has become longer and longer, and the logistics that could still be barely supported have begun to be stretched, and in order to meet the logistics needs of the army, transport ships began to frequently send supplies back and forth for the army.

Then the main force of the remaining Beiyang Naval Division always let the Japanese like a man's back, annihilating the Beiyang Naval Division, completely allowing themselves to have no worries at sea, for this purpose, Ito Yuhiro's combined fleet must be separated from the Beiyang Fleet. RS