What the officers and men of the Beiyang Naval Division did not know was that the Japanese ship Saikyo Maru, which was rebuilt from merchant ships, and the old gunboat Chicheng, were all burned with cheap five-trough coal. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Moreover, because of the lack of boiler performance, the Xijing ship had a thick chimney, and the Akagi was full of strength to maintain a speed of more than 9 knots, and both warships were black smoke billowing at this time, which was spectacular.

After completing the preparations for the battle, all the soldiers of the Beiyang Naval Division looked nervously at the black smoke in the air in the southwest.

Although it had been estimated which country's merchant ship it was, this matter had not been implemented, and everyone was still a little uneasy in their hearts.

As long as it is confirmed that it is an ordinary merchant ship, everyone can leave the guy in their hands and go to dinner, and then slip back to Port Arthur, and no longer have to be so frightened and scared.

The precious time was slipping away little by little, and the expressions of the sailors and generals who stood on their respective bridges and watched the southwest direction became more and more cold.

The frolicking of all the ships gradually stopped, and an uneasy and oppressive atmosphere flowed stagnantly in between.

In the southwest direction, you don't even need to use a telescope, you can clearly see with the naked eye that there are obviously not two, but at least five or six pillars of smoke over there.

It's just that the pillars of smoke are pale green smoke, so they haven't been noticed by the sentinels before.

Green smoke means that expensive white coal is burned.

On the land of East Asia, the only steamships willing to burn white coal are, in addition to the large European and American merchant ships in the West, only the warships of the Japanese army.

At the mouth of the Yalu River, a place where rabbits rarely come to poop, how can there be a big merchant ship from the West coming to wander around?

Well, it can only be a Japanese warship!

For a time, the generals of the Beiyang Naval Division were all shocked and discolored.

Thousands of dodges, but I'm still bumping into the hell today!

It was 11:55 a.m.

In this time and space, except for He Changying, no one expected that this fierce battle between the Qing and Japanese sea steam ironclad ship groups that shocked the world would be on the verge of breaking out at this time.

Ding Ruchang, Liu Buyun, and Hannagan stood on the bridge of the Dingyuan ship, looking at the group of smoke slowly approaching from a distance, and the faces of the three of them were solemn.

"At the military gate, the Jiyuan sent a flag letter, 'At this time, the Japanese ships are still far away, and our naval division should immediately anchor and move westward to induce the enemy ships to fight a decisive battle outside the Lushun Pass'; Zhenyuan sent a flag letter, 'The Japanese ships are all prepared, and it is not suitable for wave fighting, they should immediately return to avoid sharp edges, and wait for the Japanese ships to chase after exhaustion, and then discuss advancing and retreating.' ”

"Bastard!"

Ding Ruchang's mouth trembled, if he really listened to the stupid words of these two beasts, returned to Lushun, and was dismissed from his post and sent to prison, his ancestors burned high incense, and it was appropriate to cut off his head.

"The military gate doesn't need to take care of these two sins, prepare for a naval battle; We, the sailors, have to fight a good battle! ”

Liu Buyun let out a long breath, it has been more than 20 years since the Beiyang Naval Division was established in the middle hall of the first year of Guangxu.

After 20 years of ups and downs, the naval division has grown from scratch, and now there are more than 4,000 sailors up and down, with Lushun Military Port, Weihai Weijun Port, Beitang Dock, and three naval bases.

There are 22 large and small warships and 12 torpedo boats, with a total tonnage of nearly 110,000 tons, ranking first in East Asia and ninth in the world.

And in the past 20 years, tens of millions of taels of silver have been smashed inside and outside the imperial court, and before the Battle of Toshima, the sailors have never had a battle, so how can they not let the Manchu Dynasty be civil and military, and the people of the world will criticize it?

Listening to Liu Buyun's words, Ding Ruchang nodded, this is what a sailor should say.

Otherwise, in the past twenty or thirty years, the imperial court has raised these people one by one for nothing, and almost every household is fat, and they really think they are fat pigs that are raised?

"The summons ordered all ships to immediately lift anchor, full pressure boilers, and maintain a speed of 5 knots for each ship; With Dingyuan and Zhenyuan as the first squad, Zhiyuan and Jingyuan as the second squad, Laiyuan and Jingyuan as the third squad, Jiyuan and Guangjia as the fourth squad, and Chaoyong and Yangwei as the fifth squad, lined up in a column with horns and fish, and met the enemy in array. ”

Ding Ruchang began to give a loud combat order: "Pingyuan, Guangbing, United Zhenzhong, Zhenbian, Fulong, Left One, Right Second, Right Third, form the second echelon, and coordinate the battle around the right flank in the west!" ”

With the issuance of the command flag of the Dingyuan ship, the entire ocean surface of the large and small deer islands immediately boiled and turbulent, and the warship sounded the whistle of 'woo' and began to sail in formation.

"It's really bitter!"

Lin Tai once stood on the railing of the Zhenyuan Bridge, his face was pale, and he was crying bitterly.

His legs trembled and he wasn't pulling on the railing, so he probably sat on the deck a long time ago.

"Phew!"

Yang Yonglin, the first officer, and Ma Jifen, the deputy captain, glanced at each other, and they both saw the disdain in each other's eyes.

"Raise the anchor, raise it with fire, and take its place; The battleship reached 1,200 yards to the starboard side of 'Dingyuan', and advanced at a speed of 5 knots, facing the enemy ships in the southeast! ”

Seeing that Lin Tai couldn't count on it, Yang Yonglin directly overstepped his responsibilities and began to issue instructions loudly.

"Wow!"

The whole ship of Zhenyuan Ship roared in unison.

In the past month and a half, not only has Shangguan been impeached and reprimanded by the imperial court, but how could he not have held back his anger?

In the past, when I drank flower wine and played women in Port Arthur, those players saw that they were sailors, and they wanted to play with red cards, and they all politely let them out without saying a word.

These days, everyone is depressed in their hearts, going out to drink stuffy wine, and looking for women to put out the fire.

Often not only can't win those local tyrants, but also is ridiculed by them for a while: 'When I see the Japanese with their tails between their legs, they will only find women to play majestic, what are they doing!' ’

Now, the brothers are going to fight a dozen Japanese soldiers fiercely, expel the anger in the hearts of the masters, and increase the prestige of our sailors.

Let the people of the world take a look, Lao Tzu is not a soft egg!

"Shake up the muzzles of each gun emplacement, aim well, and wait for the attack order!"

After coming to China for more than ten years, this unemployed young man from the United States, Ma Jifen, has made China his home, and his wife and daughter live in Weihaiwei.

At this time, he was also excited, and shouted to order all artillery targets, artillery guns, and prepare for war.

In Dingyuan, when the Zhenyuan ship quickly moved to the front of the array, Zhiyuan and Jingyuan also followed.

At a distance of 400 yards in the rear, Deng Shichang and Chen Jinhua, the first mate of the Zhiyuan ship, and Liu Yinglin, the chief manager, looked at several small black dots in the distance with serious faces.

"I still don't understand, the Japanese ships seem to be lined up in a linear array, and I don't know how many warships there are."

Deng Shichang put down the binoculars and rubbed his sore eyes.

"The first-class warships of our naval division are all here, and the Japanese fleet is the whole division, and there are a few of them; We don't suffer in terms of tonnage and artillery caliber. ”

Chen Jinhua took Deng Shichang's telescope and looked at it for a while, only to see that there were five or six small dots in front, and there should be more behind, but I don't know how many there are.

He put down his binoculars and continued: "I just heard that the Japanese army has all replaced with new rapid-fire guns, and as soon as we bombarded it, they had already fired six or seven rounds. ”

Deng Shichang glanced back, saw that he came far and passed away, and he had already followed, touched the dog lying beside him, relieved the tension in his heart, and said with a smile:

"The court has spent so much money, since we started raising it in our teens, and we have raised it for twenty-six years, and it is time to repay it; Today, if you don't succeed, you will become benevolent! ”

"If you don't succeed, you will become benevolent!"

Liu Yinglin raised his right arm and roared.

"If you don't succeed, you will become benevolent!"

"If you don't succeed, you will become benevolent!"

Suddenly, on the Zhiyuan ship, the roar shook the sky.