Weihaiwei.

At three o'clock in the morning on February 9 in the Western calendar, the torpedo boat Kitty Hawk brought a telegram from the emperor approving the opening of the Ludong battlefield.

At the same time, Major General Yoshimon Kurose, chief of artillery of the Second Army of the Japanese Army, and the 3rd Brigade of the 6th Artillery Wing, who were also in the Dalian defense line, also arrived at the Weihaiwei theater by torpedo boats.

In the early morning of 9 February, the Combined Fleet began shelling Liugong Island and Ridao Battery, two seaside gateways to Weihai Harbor, amid the ice and snow floe off the coast of Weihaiwei.

The loud sound that shook the sky and the flames of the guns of the ship group filled the sea surface of the northeast line of Liugong Island in an instant, indicating the official start of the offensive and defensive battle of Weihaiwei in the Qing Dynasty.

And Liugong Island, the defenders of Ridao Island were not to be outdone, and immediately fired artillery to fight back.

The North Gang Battery Group and the South Gang Battery Group on the mainland of Weihai Harbor also immediately launched artillery bombardment of the Japanese ship group in solidarity with Shuangdao.

For a whole day, the Japanese ships took Hashidate, Matsushima, Itsukushima, Yoshino, Naniwa, Takachiho, Chiyoda, and Akitsuzu as the core, and formed a one-line swimming fish formation, cruising in an oblong oval shape on the sea surface, shelling the Qing army's Liugong Island and the Japanese Island battery group.

And with Fuso, Hiei, Amagi, Akagi, Saikyo Maru, Kongo, Katsuragi, Yamato, Takohsiung, 9 ships hovering over the sea with 4 on the right and 5 on the left, as fixed batteries, bombarding the Qing army's North Gang Battery Group and South Gang Battery Group.

And the Qing army's various artillery batteries also fought back fiercely.

At 11:35 p.m., a high-explosive shell fired from an 80mm tube rapid-fire gun from the Beishanzui Fort of the Beibang Fort Group hit the cabin of the Chicheng gunboat, which had a displacement of only 622 tons, and instantly triggered an inextinguishable raging fire inside.

This gunboat, which had experienced the Battle of Dadonggou and the Battle of Dalian Bay, was beaten half to death twice but escaped by chance, and this time it finally did not continue its good luck, and sank into the sea less than 20 minutes after being shot.

Of the 126 people on board, only 43 were rescued, and the rest were buried in the blue waves with the gunboat.

Suddenly, in the entire Weihai Weijun Port, more than 4,000 Qing troops shouted wildly and opened artillery bombardment even harder.

At 3:51 p.m., the Japanese island guard Kangji ship took Sa Zhenbing and hit the bridge of the Saikyo Maru with an armor-piercing shell from a 120mm caliber flat-fire gun.

Immediately, the Japanese fleet began to concentrate its fire on the island.

The Hijima battery had 2 200mm guns, 2 120mm guns, and 4 65mm guns, but the defenders had only 31 men.

Under the fierce artillery fire of the Japanese army, a ground trap gun on the island was completely blown up, and the dwellings on the reef island were completely razed by the Japanese artillery fire, and what was even worse was that the defenders suffered heavy casualties and were unable to fight again.

At the end of the night, the artillery fire of the Qing and Japanese sides stopped, and the Qing army completely withdrew from the island.

At 5 o'clock in the morning of February 10, the Japanese army moved away from Yoshino and Qiujinzhou, and bombarded Liugong Island with six capital ships as the core.

Fuso, Hiei, Amagi, Saikyo Maru, Kongo, Katsuragi, Yamato, 8 ships were far away from the range of the Qing army's 80 Krupp rapid-fire field guns, cruising at will, and continued to bombard the Qing army's north and south gang battery groups.

And Yoshino, Akitsuzu, Tenryu, Musashi, Kaimon, Yaeyama, Atago, Maya, Tsukushi, Chokai, 10 warships, escorting the transport ship group of the 11th Infantry Brigade and the 6th Artillery Wing, forced a landing at Longmiao Mountain, sixteen miles east of Weihai Port.

"Boom-"

In the salvo of the combined fleet's ship group, the 10 warships suddenly blew up the Longmiaoshan Fort all over the mountain, and the light of day was not visible.

Dai Zongqian, the commander of the Qing army on the land route of Weihaiwei, who got the news, hurriedly ordered Liu Chaopei, the commander of the Gong Army, the defender of the Southern Gang Fort, to lead his troops to Longmiao Mountain for reinforcements, and at the same time sent heralds to Rongcheng Bay to transfer troops.

Dai Zongqian also sent a telegram to Wang Wenshao, deputy minister of the Beiyang Command, asking for help, asking the Beiyang Fleet, which was transferred back to Lushun Military Port, to 'hit him in the back,' while sending a telegram to Li Bingheng, the governor of Ludong, asking for help.

In the whole morning of noon that day, the Japanese warship group attacked Longmiao Mountain to death, and at the same time released a large number of sampans on the transport ships to transport troops to land.

Seeing this horrific scene, the Gong artillery of Longmiao Mountain immediately stopped bombarding the Japanese ships on the sea, and instead adjusted their guns to bombard the dense sampan boats on the sea.

Although from time to time, the huge waves splashed by the projectile overturned the surrounding small sampans, causing pieces of screaming, and even some projectiles smashed some small sampans directly into pieces with sharp and precise accuracy.

However, how can it stop the progress of hundreds of small sampans?

Seeing this scene, Liu Chaopei hurriedly sent a battalion of infantry to the coast to block the enemy.

As a result, as soon as they arrived at the coast, they were bombarded by Yoshino and Akitsusu with Shimose gunpowder high-explosive bombs, and more than half of the men and horses of the battalion were damaged in the brakes.

The remnants of the Qing army in this battalion were all shocked at this time, and they didn't even dare to go back to the Longmiao Mountain Fort, and fled directly towards Weihaiwei in a hurry.

Liu Chaopei, who was on the Fort of Longmiao Mountain, turned white with fright, and no longer dared to send troops down the mountain to stop it, but just yelled and ordered the artillery to bombard the boats on the sea.

At 10 a.m., the first group of Japanese infantry landed successfully and immediately established a defensive position on the beachhead.

At this time, the entire Gong army in Longmiao Mountain knew that the general trend had gone, but they were all trying their best to fire shells in an attempt to delay the landing of the Japanese army.

At 11:30 a.m., Daji Anchun boarded the coastal beach of Longmiao Mountain and ordered the 400 Japanese troops who had landed to immediately attack the Qing army's fort position on Longmiao Mountain.

Liu Chaopei led the Gong army and fled without a fight!

Moreover, Liu Chaopei did not keep his promise to Li Hongzhang on the basis of fleeing for his life,—— and ordered the artillery to dismantle the steel ring of the artillery base.

Even the cannon bolt, Gong Jun did not disassemble it and take it away.

As a result, the Japanese could not help but be able to continue to use these guns, and they were able to use the steel ring of the gun base to twist the muzzle of the gun, pointing directly at the Soabuzui Fort ten miles northwest and the Lujiaozui Fort twelve miles to the west.

When Ding Ruchang led the Beiyang Naval Division to garrison Weihai Weijun Port, Ding Xiangchang found that there were serious problems in the deployment of the Weihai Nangang Battery Group.

Among the three coastal forts, the Soabuzui and Lujiaozui forts are protected by long walls and ditches, and 'the Longmiaozui fort is separated from the wall, and there is a high hill, and if the enemy copies it, it is really difficult to defend'.

So Ding Ruchang secretly selected people to be planted in the Longmiaoshan Fort, preparing to blow up the artillery in case of 'emergency'.

As a result, Dai Zongqian accidentally knew about this matter, which caused him to be extremely dissatisfied and expressed strong opposition, and telegraphed Li Hongzhang that "Wei did not see the enemy, but was cowardly!" In the past six months, the Huai army has been invincible, what a wonder! The special statement of the constitution can be fought back, and the Longmiao mouth can also be fought back, so why abandon it? - Yu (Ting) is so bold, how can he not play? ’

The palms and backs of his hands are full of meat, and Li Hongzhang, who is in Jinmen, is also dry.

First of all, he made a big fuss, 'I ordered Dai to negotiate with Ding Mian properly, but he called to win the game, and there was no intention of making a perfect deal, and he lost his high hopes! I am worried about you, I am afraid that I will repeat the mistakes of Lushun, and I can only fight with you! ’

Then Li Hongzhang endured his anger, and the land defense of the "and thin mud" electric road should be in the road. However, as Ding said, if the police are approached and the mouth of the dragon temple is not guarded, the island and the ship will be destroyed, and we must not ignore it. I hope that the two of you will unite sincerely and strive to defeat the enemy. ’