In the Yellow Sea, a huge fleet is heading south from being driven at high speed. The yellow dragon flag hanging high on the mast is being blown by the wind,

On the upper deck of the Hashidate, Li He looked at the armored cruisers Bu Toad and Shichang that were following him, and a smile appeared on his face. He was sure that the detachment composed of these three warships, together with the main force of the naval division two kilometers away, would not be able to lift the head of the combined fleet that rushed to invade.

The current Beiyang Naval Division is not the original Beiyang Naval Division, and not only has two armored cruisers of more than 5,000 tons been added, but even its tactics have been changed.

The Beiyang Naval Division, who was grinding his fists and palms, had the greatest wish during this period of time to fight with the Combined Fleet again to see who was powerful.

As early as when Liu Jun was in Liaoyang, Li He held several meetings with the Beiyang Naval Division.

Li He has always known that there are problems in the Beiyang Naval Division.

Needless to say, the speed is known to everyone, the fast fast, the slow full, the fast, the Hashidate, the two armored cruisers from Germany, the Shichang, the maximum speed is more than 18 knots, slow, such as Zhenyuan, Dingyuan, Pingyuan, Jiyuan, etc., the highest speed, on 11 knots. And this is still an exaggeration, if it is true, several warships will not even reach 10 knots.

This creates a problem, once the war starts, how to configure the uneven ships, the fast speed, have to slow down and wait for the slow, this battle has no way to fight.

Relative to this speed problem, it can be overcome, but there is another problem, that is, there is no way for the king to come, that is, the artillery configuration of the current ships of the naval division.

In the original warships of the naval division, the guns were mainly arranged in the bow, that is, when encountering the enemy, the bow of the ship was facing the enemy, so as to give full play to the maximum power of the fleet. This is why Ding Ruchang took the bow of the ship against the enemy at Dadonggou at that time to fight to the death with the Japanese Combined Fleet.

And now, since the Hashidate and two German armored cruisers joined the Beiyang Naval Division, this rule has been completely broken. Quite simply, the guns of these three warships were mainly concentrated on the sides of the ship, not on the bow.

This question arises, once the main force encounters the enemy, what kind of formation should be placed, if the bow of the ship is facing the enemy, the original warships such as Zhenyuan and Dingyuan will be able to give full play to their advantages, and these three warships will not be of any use; on the contrary, if the side of the ship is taken against the enemy, then Zhenyuan and Dingyuan will not give full play to the advantages they should have.

This problem not only gave Li He a headache, but also gave the entire Beiyang Naval Division a headache.

In the end, Li He asked Liu Jun in Liaoyang, and Liu Jun immediately made a decision.

Divide the family, according to their respective advantages, form two fleets, and when the time comes, each will fight its own.

Liu Jun's words made Li He suddenly lose his mouth, and at that time, he urgently convened all the pipe belts, and after consultation, it was finally decided that the original Beiyang Naval Division ships Zhenyuan, Dingyuan, Jiyuan, Guangbing, and Pingyuan would form the main fleet of the Beiyang Naval Division, and the fleet commander would be Lin Taizeng, the pipe belt of the Dingyuan ship. The Hashili, Buchan and Shichang formed the first detachment, and the fleet commander was Li He. Two fleets, unified under the command of Li He.

And today, the formation that Li He put on is the formation of the sailors who have been differentiated.

Five hundred meters away, the main fleet of the Beiyang Naval Division was closely following a hundred meters behind him, while the three relatively fast detachments had indeed been sailing at a speed of ten knots.

"Soot found in the southwest."

"Soot found in the southwest."

The lookout, who was observing the sea situation from the mast of the bridge, let out a heart-rending shout.

Soot, Li He frowned, and raised the telescope in his hand with some trembling.

Sure enough, in the southwest direction, a large black cloud was appearing, and Li He knew that it was not a black cloud, but soot from the ship.

"Discover the Japanese fleet." The lookout post once again saw the flag of the warship to the southwest and began to yell below.

The bell bell, the alarm hanging on the bridge of the Hashidate began to ring in the sky.

More than ten seconds later, Li He saw the sailors in the cabin rushing out quickly and began to remove the gun jackets and carry the shells. And the 320 mm main gun also began to slowly turn, aiming at the Japanese fleet in the distance.

Three minutes later, reports of the completion of the shell loading came from the various gun positions.

Finally found it, Li He clenched his fists.

Biting his lip, Li He slowly turned his head, took a deep breath, and looked at Yan Fu, who was standing beside him. After being silent for a while, Li He slowly gave an order: "Order each ship, according to the pre-war plan, to act on its own." ”

"Okay." Yan Fu nodded and began to convey the order.

Phew, Li He sighed, it was the first time for him to command such a large fleet to fight, and he was inevitably a little nervous in his heart, and when he gave the order just now, he felt that he was trembling a little.

Raising the binoculars, Li He saw the Matsushima at first sight, which was the lead of the Japanese army.

The Matsushima was wounded by Liu Jun's first shot last time, but he didn't expect it to appear here again now.

Looking coldly at the Songdao and the flagship flag on it, Li He pointed to the Songdao. Coldly, he tried to calm himself down and said: "Tell the ships that once they reach the firing range, they will hit Matsushima first." ”

The order soon began to be conveyed, and a few minutes later, Li He saw that the main fleet not far away was moving to the right, facing the bow of the ship in the southwest direction.

At the same time as the discovery of the Beiyang Naval Division, the Combined Fleet also discovered the Beiyang Naval Division.

Ito sighed and put down the binoculars in his hand.

Looking at the panicked eyes and panicked movements of the Imperial Navy officers now, Ito Yuheng also had a bitterness in his heart.

He didn't understand why the prime minister knew that the Beiyang Naval Division had added two large armored cruisers, and still let the combined fleet, which had been greatly damaged, fight a decisive battle with the Beiyang Naval Division.

In this battle, he was not sure, nor did he have the confidence to win, he didn't want to move, but in the face of Ito Hirobumi's order, he had to obey, he only hoped that the Qing spies in Weihai could ignore this operation, or did not find out. However, now, he was disappointed, and the Beiyang Naval Division not only came out, but also all the main forces.

Looking at the huge fleet in the distance, looking at himself, Ito's heart was bleeding.

Originally, his own fleet surpassed the Hokuyang Naval Division, but now, Naniwa, Yoshino, Fuso, Yaeyama, Saikyo Maru, and Hiei have sunk to the bottom of the sea, and Hashidate is in the hands of the Beiyang Naval Division, and now in his hands, there are only Akitsuzu, Itsukushima, Matsushima, Chiyoda, and the rest, only some torpedo boats.

It turned out that even if the United Fleet was the strongest, he was not sure, let alone now. Not to mention the two terrible ironclads, there are two more armored cruisers of the same price. It's scary to think about.

"Your Excellency Commander, the Beiyang Naval Division is divided into two queues and is bifurcating to surround us, do we send warships to intercept it?" The chief of staff, after looking at the situation, expressed his opinion.

The Chief of Staff's words woke up Ito, who was pondering, and Ito raised his binoculars. Took a look.

Just see. The three warships, led by Hashidate, were adjusting their angles and facing the side of the ship, while two nautical miles to the right of the Hashidate, the main force of the Beiyang Naval Division was facing the bow of the ship to themselves.

Waving his hand, Ito Yuheng sighed, he rejected this suggestion, after all, now, he has no extra Jingjiang, it is better to concentrate firepower together.

Time is slowly passing, and in a flash, an hour is going in a tense situation.

"The enemy is 30 yards from me." On the bridge, the surveyors reported the positions of both sides.

30, the best strike distance of the Hashidate, Butoon, and Shichang.

Li He looked at the time, fifteen o'clock.

Taking a deep breath coldly, Li He looked at the Songdao in the distance, holding on to the railing on the bridge, Li He let out a faint roar: "Open the gun"

With a bang, the 320-mm guns on the Hashidate took the lead in firing the first shot.