Gradually, the fleets of China and Japan were completely exposed to each other's sight.

This time, the Japanese dispatched six cruisers, including the flagship of the Japanese team, "Matsushima", "Chiyoda", "Itsukushima", "Hashidate", "Hiei", and "Fuso", and at the same time, the first guerrilla group of the Japanese Combined Fleet "Yoshino", "Takachiho", "Akitsuzu", and "Naniwa", and the replacement cruiser "Saikyo Maru" and the small gunboat "Akagi" set out with the team, and the elite main force poured out of the nest.

Ito Yuheng looked at the Beiyang Naval Division in front of him, "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" took the lead, and the five cruisers and gunboats behind followed, and he was overjoyed, the gap between the enemy's and our military strength was very large, and their own superior ships were concentrated, and this battle was bound to be annihilated.

Ito Yuheng directly ordered: "The ships of the First Guerrilla Force will move forward, and this team will be postponed and form a single column to attack the Qing army!" ”

The Japanese army's huge fleet opened up on the sea and advanced rapidly.

The corners of Ding Ruchang's mouth curled into a sneer, and he ordered: "Dingyuan and Zhenyuan are forward, Laiyuan, Jingyuan, Zhiyuan, and Jingyuan are divided into two wings, maintain formation, and launch an attack." ”

When the two fleets marched to a distance of less than three thousand meters, the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships opened fire first, and the four Krupp heavy guns on the two huge ships opened fire together, and eight shells sprayed out.

It's just a pity that the Krupp large-caliber heavy artillery at the end of the 19th century, eight shells were fired, and only one shell from Zhenyuan hit the Naniwa cruiser that charged at the front, and the rest of the shells were all missed, and only two shells fell on the side of the Japanese Chiyoda cruiser, and the explosion frightened the Japanese army, but the Japanese army was unharmed.

Naniwa was more miserable, a 305 mm heavy shell fell on the starboard deck of Naniwa, Naniwa's armor was very weak, under the bombardment of heavy shells, a huge hole immediately appeared, a fire on the deck ignited, and a gun on the right side was also blown up by the way, and the captain Heihachiro Togo quickly ordered to extinguish the fire and prepare to return fire.

Most of the Japanese fleet was equipped with small-caliber rapid-fire guns, although the power was not great, but the victory was fast, the first round of shells of the Qing army was fired, and the second round of shells of the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships had not had time to be loaded, and the two rounds of shells of the Japanese Yoshino ship were fired. Several shells roared out from the guns of the Yoshino ship and landed heavily on the Zhenyuan ship, but the Zhenyuan ship's iron armor was thick and did not bring substantial damage to Zhenyuan, but the navy was shocked and staggered and unstable.

Lin Tai was furious and scolded: "****, I haven't hit you yet, you guys have fired continuously first!" Gunner! Speed up the reloading of shells, don't wait for my orders, fire immediately! ”

Chinese and Japanese warships engaged in skirmishes in the Yellow Sea.

Ito Yuheng on the Yoshino ship looked at the Qing warships on the opposite side viciously, and said: "Pass the order, order the four ships of the first guerrilla group, 'Yoshino', 'Takachiho', 'Akitsuzu', and 'Naniwa', to circle the right flank of the Beiyang Naval Division in a single column, and the bow of the main formation will face the two main battleships and other warships of the Beiyang Naval Division, and work together to attack and annihilate the Beiyang on the Yellow Sea!" ”

As the Japanese flag was spoken, the four cruisers of the 1st Guerrilla Force began to change course, stabbing diagonally to the right.

Ding Ruchang stood on the deck with a stern face, and Liu Buyun stood on one side. Liu Buyun said: "My lord, the Japanese army has begun to move, and now their four cruisers are moving to the right, obviously relying on speed to flank them!" ”

Ding Ruchang's eyes narrowed, revealing a murderous aura, and he said in a deep voice: "Order Zhenyuan, Kaiyuan, and Zhiyuan to follow the flagship and insert it into the center of the Japanese fleet. The remaining eight **** ships will work together to encircle and annihilate it, and move to the right! ”

The messengers on the mast quickly raised the flag, and when the Beiyang ships saw it, they immediately changed their formations to respond.

The two ships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan rushed straight towards Japan, and Zhiyuan and Pingyuan followed closely behind, protecting the two wings.

On the Japanese Yoshino ship, Heyuan shouted: "Your Excellency, General, you see, the flagship of the Qing army is leading three main cruisers to rush towards us!" ”

Ito Yuheng frowned and said: "The Dingyuan ship and the Zhenyuan ship are extremely thick and indestructible, order the two sides of the fleet to avoid and concentrate artillery fire on both flanks!" ”

As soon as the formation of the Japanese fleet was opened, the artillery fire of Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, Zhiyuan and Pingyuan was fired at the same time, and dozens of shells with tongues of fire rushed towards the Japanese ships. At great close range, an artillery battle began.

Ding Ruchang stood still on the deck under the command tower of the Dingyuan ship, calmly looking at the Japanese ship, and his heart was agitated. Seven or eight years ago, he led a fleet to visit Japan, at that time, the Japanese navy was still just a mess in vain, a total of only a few old gunboats, and now it is not a long time, the Japanese navy has already made great strides to catch up, and Beiyang, indeed standing still, and even because of outdated equipment, lax training, there is still a bit of decline, the contrast between the two sides, one is thriving, the other is declining, this war will either play the iron-blooded majesty of Beiyang, or it will collapse, and it will sink.

At this time, the Japanese ships Yoshino and Matsushima had already rushed to the front of Dingyuan and Zhenyuan with high speed. The guns on the two cruisers fired in unison, and the rest of the ships also began to spray tongues of fire, and shells flew sideways, trying to sink Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, and first break the backbone of the Beiyang Naval Division.

Liu Buyun, who was on the side, saw the ferocity of the Japanese artillery, grabbed Ding Ruchang's robe sleeve and shouted: "My lord, my lord, the Japanese artillery is fierce, please still command the tower to take refuge temporarily, I will command the battle here!" ”

Ding Ruchang shouted: "Nonsense, the old man has been spanning for decades, every time the enemy must go forward, when have he dodged the enemy's shells!" ”

The two people were arguing, two shells hit the deck of the Dingyuan ship directly, two loud "booms", the fire rose to the sky, and a dozen or so soldiers nearby were instantly swept into the sea of fire, accompanied by a terrible scream, several Qing soldiers quickly jumped into the Yellow Sea.

Liu Buyun and Ding Ruchang were near the left of the shell's landing point, and were pushed sideways by the shock wave of the shell's explosion to stagger out more than ten paces away, before they stood still, Liu Buchan didn't dare to slack off, stood up, and shouted "My lord!" "Your Excellency!" , the figure rushed towards Ding Ruchang. Ding Ruchang staggered to his feet, and two gaps were cut on his left chest by flying shrapnel and flying hard objects.

Liu Buyun grabbed Ding Ruchang and persuaded bitterly: "My lord, your status is noble, and the entire fleet still depends on your command, please be sure to command the tower and bandage the wound first!" I'll leave it to me first! After that, he turned around and shouted: "Pro-soldiers, pro-soldiers!" Where did they all die? Why don't you hurry up and help the adults go back to bandage their wounds! ”

A few soldiers not far away hurriedly ran towards Ding Ruchang.

At this time, another shell landed on the Dingyuan ship, hitting one of the guns of the Dingyuan ship, and blew up the battery on board.

On the Zhiyuan ship, Deng Shichang was directing the soldiers to launch an artillery bombardment, and the ship's deputy next to him shouted: "Lord Guanjiao, look!" Dingyuan ship! The Dingyuan ship is heavy artillery! ”

Deng Shichang was shocked, and when he looked back, he saw that the fire on the Dingyuan ship was raging, and it had been burned to pieces.

Deng Shichang shouted angrily: "******, the Zhiyuan ship immediately accelerated and rushed forward to protect the Dingyuan ship!" Artillerymen, aim at the nearest Yoshino ship and hit me hard, I must knock out his arrogance! ”