On Liugong Island.

In this Lantern Festival in the second year of the Qing Dynasty, artillery fire replaced the usual fireworks, blooming on the island, and the earth shook the sky.

The South Gang Artillery Group, the North Gang Artillery Group, and the Combined Fleet on the sea captured by the Japanese army continued to smash solid armor-piercing shells and ship-belt high-explosive shells on this small island with an area of only about 3.15 square meters.

The 10 80 Krupp retracting rapid-fire guns and nearly 1,000 80 Western high-explosive shells captured by the 6th Artillery Wing were ordered to be sealed as if they were treasures.

In his opinion, if these 10 rapid-fire guns and powerful high-explosive shells were transported to the Arthur front, the artillery battle attack and defense between the Qing and Japanese would be completely tilted towards the imperial artillery.

After Prince Akihito Komatsumiya gave the order, the 11th Infantry Brigade and the Combined Fleet Marines were immediately mobilized.

All the Japanese generals clearly understood that when the Qing army blocked Weihai Port with mines and Liugong Island was equipped with a large number of coastal defense guns, it was the best choice for the army to forcibly land on the island.

However, at this time, Liugong Island had fallen into chaos.

Zhang Wenxuan, the commander of the Liugong Island Protector Army, was still commanding the six forts of Donghong, Huangdao, Qidingshan, Yingmendong, Nandao, and Majingzi, and engaged in a desperate artillery battle with the Japanese army.

However, the fierce artillery fire of the Japanese army caused huge damage to the defenders of the Liugong Island Fort, who only had two battalions of more than 1,000 people, and no less than 300 Qing troops defending the island were killed by artillery at this time.

Moreover, with the fall of the Weihaiwei land, the fear and war-weariness among the soldiers have been greatly amplified, and the situation of avoiding war and fleeing from the fort without permission has begun to appear in large numbers.

The German artillery instructor Rinel, the American big liar Haowei, the British doctor Krk, and the sailor Taylor colluded with the Weihaiwei Marine and Land Battalion Office to promote Niu Changyu, the Beiyang Navy Battalion Office Daoist Ma Fuheng, and the Shandong alternate Dao Yan Daohong, and secretly discussed the surrender matter.

The Beiyang Naval Division stayed behind and anchored the Zhenbian gunboats at the wharf in Liugong Island Port, five training ships Kangji, Haijing, Weiyuan, Meiyun, and Zhenhai, the Liyun and Haijing transport ships, and four Dingyi, Dinger, Zhenyi, and Zhenyi torpedo boats with a displacement of only 16 tons.

The officers and men of the naval division on the ship were also arguing at this time, and they had no intention of sending artillery to help the battle.

By this time, all the officers and soldiers of the sailor division who stayed behind had confirmed without doubt that they were the abandoned sons deliberately discarded by Ding Ruchang.

What's even worse is that when the No. 1 guerrilla unit of the Japanese army blockaded Weihaiwei a few days ago, Dai Zongqian ordered a large number of mines to be laid to blockade the east and west of Weihai.

From Huangdao to Beishanzui Fort at the west entrance, 2 layers of defense materials and 7 layers of mines are set up; 2 layers of fortification materials and 5 layers of mines from Donghong Fort to Ridao Fort at the east entrance; Day Island to Antlermouth Fort, 1 layer of fortification materials, 5 layers of mines.

The defense material is placed horizontally with a log with a diameter of 1.5 feet and a length of about 12 feet, and the ring is firmly bound with three iron cables with a thickness of one inch and three minutes, and a giant rope is tied to the lower end of the defense material, and it is fixed on the bottom of the sea with an iron anchor.

Only at the southernmost point of the Dongkou defense material, in the sea near the Donghong Fort, a narrow passage was left for emergencies.

This narrow waterway was impassable by all but four torpedo boats.

In other words, although Dai Zongqian's order blocked the way for the Japanese fleet to enter the port, it also trapped all the Beiyang remaining fleets in the port.

At present, the fall of Liugong Island was obviously a matter of time, and the Kangji ship manager Sa Zhenbing proposed to blow up and sink all the warships, which was immediately unanimously opposed by the Beiyang generals who were afraid of angering the Japanese army.

The generals were noisy, and in the end there was no unity.

In the early morning of that night, Dingyi, Dinger, Zhenyi, Zhenduo torpedo boats and two motorboats began to quietly leave the dock and fled alone from Donghong Waterway to Yantai.

Rear Admiral Norito Norimichi, commander of the 2nd Guerrilla Force of the Japanese Army, immediately led his ships in pursuit.

The Qing army broke through the ships and was eventually sunk and shot dead on the sea.

The escape of the torpedo boat formation of the naval division became the last straw that overwhelmed the hearts of the troops on Liugong Island.

A large number of fort soldiers yelled and scolded, 'For whom?' They left the battery and refused to continue the artillery battle.

The abnormality of Liugong Island was soon discovered by the Japanese waterway artillery group, and soon the shelling gradually stopped.

Off the coast of Weihaiwei, the British Far East ship group.

Flagship Cardinal.

"The Qing army on Liugong Island is going to surrender, this Qing-Japanese war is really coming to an end,—— ending miserably with the complete defeat of the Qing country!"

Vice Admiral Philmantle, commander of the British Far East Fleet, said regretfully: "I prefer the Qing court and their generals to the Japanese army, although they are barbaric and ignorant, rude and ignorant, treacherous and cunning, but they are also obedient and cowardly, lazy and generous and hospitable. As for these Japanese soldiers, although they are trying their best to imitate the Empire, their perseverance and ambition hidden in their eyes make me very uncomfortable. ”

"General, even if the Japanese army occupies Weihaiwei Harbor, as long as the Imperial Navy does not agree to their entry into Bohai Bay, this victory does not seem to be decisive for the Japanese army?"

Victor, the chief of staff of the British Far East Fleet, apparently did not very much agree with Philmantle's judgment.

"Your eyes are only on here, but my eyes are on Naoli a thousand miles away."

Fermantle said a very pretentious sentence, and then explained: "The essence of the Empire's purpose in preventing the Japanese fleet from entering the Bohai Bay is to fear that the Japanese army will reinforce the army and betray its treachery again, and unite with the Japanese First Army to take the opportunity to expand the scale of the Zhili War and destroy the Qing court." ”

"If there is no victory in Weihaiwei today, the Qing State will not easily meet these sufficient conditions of the Japanese army, and now the Qing Dynasty should be completely afraid of giving in; So, the war can already be over! ”

Phimantle said abruptly: "The Japanese army in Weihai will soon make telegraph contact with the outside world, and now is the time for the diplomats to talk about it; As for whether the ship group can enter Bohai Bay, it is also a matter of negotiation between Mutsu Munemitsu and Lord Kimberley. ”

"Commander, is the ship group going to Jinmen or going back to Hong Kong?"

The captain of the Cardinal, Colonel Miller Lagres, asked, who had long since grown tired of the cold seas of Northeast Asia and longed to return to the warmth and drunkenness of Hong Kong.

"No, let's go to Lushun;"

Philmantle said with a smile: "Go and visit our old friend Ding Junmen, and at the same time listen to what he has good ideas." ”

Immediately, with the sound of a 'woo' whistle, the four British warships turned and sailed towards the Port of Arthur 150 nautical miles to the northwest.

"Yaga! These golden horse-haired monkeys will one day let you know the sad fate of offending the Imperial Navy! ”

Ito Hyungwoo scolded very unconfidently, and then looked at Liu Gongdao, who had stopped the sound of artillery, and ordered: "Order the soldiers to take turns to sleep and closely monitor the movements of the Qing army; If it doesn't fall tomorrow morning, this island will be reduced to rubble! ”

That night, Dai Zongqian heard that the shelling outside the house had stopped, and he committed suicide by swallowing gold.

Zhang Wenxuan saw that the soldiers refused to continue firing, so he had no choice but to order the artillery to blow up all the coastal defense guns on Liugong Island.

His order was directly ignored by his soldiers, and Zhang Wenxuan was angry and carried a bag of explosives to personally open a 'clean cannon', which was blocked by the soldiers who were afraid of angering the Japanese army.

Zhang Wenxuan returned to the house with a haggard face and committed suicide.