Half an hour later, one of the cruisers at the front of the line made a report on the enemy: "More than ten kilometers ahead, there were three British warships, which seemed to have discovered us earlier than us, and when they saw that there were many of our warships and they had no way to start, they fled to the southwest of Ceylon." ”

Wei Jun: "To the southwest?" It just so happened that we were going to attack Colombo on the island of Ceylon, and we were going to make a detour to the southwest. He ordered: "The whole fleet, with all its sails furled, pursue it with all your might." ”

Half a day later, at noon, on the surface of the sea about ten kilometers away from the southeastern land of Ceylon, three escaped warships finally showed most of their shadows, one of them a cruiser, and the other two were steam gunboats.

According to common sense, such a small fleet will definitely choose to disband and evacuate separately when it encounters the enemy, and the strange thing is that these three warships are not separated, probably thinking that Wei Jun's Indian Ocean Fleet cannot catch up with them, but unfortunately, they encountered the two small wooden battleships "Dingyin III" purchased from Austria, with a speed of 14 knots, which is two or three percent higher than the speed of ordinary warships.

Perhaps because they saw that there was only one warship "Dingyin No. 3", or a small battleship, and the speed could not be compared, the three warships of the British army no longer fled, but lined up in a formation waiting for the attack.

The "Dingyin III" deliberately came close to the enemy ship only a kilometer and a half before firing, and several thick gun barrels protruded from the portholes of the side chord, and then a flash of red light, a row of shells flew towards the largest of them, the cruiser with a displacement of about 2,500 tons.

It was the 4 Krupp 260mm front-loading rifled guns on the battleship "Dingyin III" that fired first. Two of the shells landed a few meters away from the cruiser, and the explosion of the shells shook the surface of the sea with a huge column of water, but even this frightened the lookout on the cruiser so that he could not stand on his feet and almost fall. The other 2 rounds hit the cruiser directly, quickly piercing the outer deck.

At this time, the cruiser took the lead and immediately fired back. The two gunboats next to it also opened fire fiercely.

The battleship "Dingyin No. 3" adjusted its angle slightly, and a row of more violent shells flew out, which was 12 Krupp 150mm rear-loading rifled guns on one side, which was terrifying.

However, although the momentum was impressive, it was a pity that because the hull was a little wobbly, and the naval officers on the Indian Ocean Fleet were mostly novices, a small number of well-trained gunners were also transferred to large-caliber 260mm front-loading rifled gun positions. As a result, 10 of the 12 shells were fired and fell into the water empty. The other shell only broke one of the tail masts and fell into the water, only the last one hit the middle of the cabin, breaking a hole in the most deck of the hull.

Fortunately, the "Dingyin No. 3" gun performed well, and the gunners were only not very accurate, but their proficiency was quite normal, and they immediately loaded the shells, and before the British cruisers opened fire, another round of shells was fired.

This time, perhaps closer to the target, the accuracy of the 150mm caliber gun fired by the "Dingyin III" has been significantly improved, and 4 of the 12 shells have hit, also penetrating the outer ship's plank.

The guns in the hold were suddenly muted at the pierced part, which showed that the gun gallery of the British cruiser had no protection at all, and either the guns or gun mounts were damaged, or the gunners were killed and wounded.

The British cruiser was not reconciled, and adjusted the angle to change the side of the ship to the "Dingyin III" battleship. But before he could fully adjust, the "Dingyin III" plunged straight between it and the other gunboat, taking advantage of the superior fire on both sides of the ship, and opened fire at the same time.

At this time, the gunboat was obviously panicked, and it is also possible that the gunners on the gunboat were not at all the regular navy of the British Empire, and they did not know how long it had been since they had fired live ammunition.

On the contrary, another British cruiser fired three rounds of shells, and one of them hit the stern side of the "Dingyin III", wounding four gunners and damaging the rope of one of the gun carriages.

However, the results of "Dingyin No. 3" are more eye-catching. By the beginning of the second round of artillery, the gunboat had hit several vital points, and soon a raging fire was burning and swirling on the sea.

And at this time, the British cruiser, also badly damaged and scarred, began to turn the steering wheel, ready to flee backwards.

But it was too late, and the other cruisers of the Indian Ocean Fleet had already outflanked it and quietly blocked its retreat.

Only the other gunboat, seeing that the situation was not good, began to withdraw to the southwest. But unfortunately, the "Dingyin III" did not intend to let it go, and began to increase its horsepower, adjust its sails, like a sharp arrow that began to shoot, and chased after the gunboat.

More than half an hour later, Wei Jun's flagship "Dingyuan No. 1" ironclad ship and Yang Zaifu's "Dingyuan No. 2" arrived at the scene of the incident, escorted by two frigates and four gunboats.

The speed of the ironclad ship is significantly lower than that of the cruiser, and it is estimated that it is only 8 knots, which is far behind, and it cannot be compared with the "Dingyin No. 3". Of course, this is also because the "Dingyin No. 3" relied on its fast speed and strong firepower, and did not find any other enemy ships around, so it recklessly pursued alone.

When Wei Jun saw the cruiser trapped on the sea and the gunboat that was still on fire and had been paralyzed, he couldn't help but smile dumbly, and he was a little unsatisfied: "Chief of Staff, we will win?" The 'Dingyin No. 3' warship alone defeated three enemy ships, this, this, I can't imagine that our 'Dingyin No. 3' is so powerful? ”

Buchanan said: "Commander, don't underestimate the 'Dingyin No. 3'. In our Indian Ocean Fleet, the firepower of the 'Dingyin No. 3' can only rank fifth, and there are two ironclad ships in front of it, the 'Dingyuan No. 1' and 'Dingyuan No. 2', and the two large battleships 'Dingyin No. 1' and 'Dingyin No. 2'. But compared to the British cruiser in front of him, the firepower was more than four times that of it. Even if three more of these cruisers besieged the 'Dingyin III', they would be able to win with the same experience of gunners. ”

Wei Jun laughed, obviously, he was very happy to have such a powerful fleet, waved his hand, and said, "In this case, presumably that enemy gunboat can't escape!" I was ordered to make a direct detour to the western part of the island of Ceylon and attack Colombo, the largest garrison of British troops on the island of Ceylon, according to the original plan. ”