Although the artillery battle had just begun for only a few minutes, it was already very intense, because the "Fujing" armored cruiser was the flagship of the Chinese fleet, so at the beginning of the battle, it was also the focus of the Japanese ship's artillery bombardment; at the same time as the shell fired by the "Dong" just now (it should have been fired by a 70-pounder gun), the 160-mm breech gun of the "Rijin" also fired a shell and hit the "Fujing" before the "Dong" completely blocked the "Rijin." Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Seeing the smoke rising from the "Fujing," the Japanese naval officers and men on the "Nisshin," who had been completely blocked by the ironclad ship "To," did not bother to cheer and began to fight the fire and save themselves under the command of Heihachiro Togo.

At this time, Heihachiro Togo, looking at the ironclad ship "Higashi" standing in the rain of bullets fired by Chinese warships, his heart was full of admiration for the Ito brothers.

The Nisshin under his command was a 1,468-ton wooden-hulled gunboat ordered from the Netherlands in 1867 by Naomasa Nabeshima, the lord of the Saga Domain, and was equipped with six 160 mm breech guns with a speed of 9 knots. After its completion in 1869, it returned to Japan, and in 1870 it was donated to the Meiji government by the Saga Domain, becoming one of the main ships of the Japanese Navy.

Only 4 years have passed, and the once capital ship has no power to parry in the face of cutting-edge warships built by the Chinese!

Although the 160-millimeter guns of the "Nisshin" had just achieved the success of hitting the enemy's flagship, Heihachiro Togo knew that the warship under his command would be difficult to face a ferocious salvo of the enemy fleet as terrible as just now!

Since the Chinese cruiser fleet was about to sail in front of the Japanese fleet, according to the tradition of battle line operations in the sail era, the next action of the Chinese cruiser fleet should be to turn the rudder and sail to the left, perform a major turn and re-cross the front of the Japanese fleet, and switch to the left side of the artillery fire to fight the Japanese fleet again, so that the right gun position can rest and replenish. But to the surprise of the Ito brothers and Heihachiro Togo, the Chinese fleet did not fight in such a way!

After seeing the ironclad ship "To" in front of the "Nisshin", Hayashi immediately understood Ito's intentions, and he immediately ordered to bypass the "To", drew a circle around the two Japanese warships, and increased the speed of the formation from 8 knots to 10 knots.

Taking the actions of the flagship "Fujing" as an example, the four Chinese cruisers "Jianjing", "Princess Heshuo", "Chaowu", and "Chengqing" carried out their orders in turn, with the "Dong" and "Rijin" as the center of the circle, and made a large circle with a radius of about 2,000 meters!

Seeing the actions of the Chinese fleet, Ito Yuma immediately ordered the "To" to circle around the "Nisshin" to shield the "Nisshin" from artillery fire. As a result, the ironclad ship "Dong" became the main target of the Chinese warship's one-side salvo fire. The ironclad ship "East" fell under siege from Chinese cruisers,

Soon, a 190-mm shell fired by the "Fujing" hit the port side of the stern of the "East", making a loud noise, and as the fire flashed, black smoke rose into the air, and the armor plate of the stern of the "East" was actually cracked a hole!

As a time-traveler from later generations, Hayashi Yoshizhe, who had regarded the Japanese Navy as the first imaginary enemy very early, did a lot of work in order to be able to deal with the two ironclad ships owned by Japan. In addition to secretly refitting the "Fujing" and "Jianjing," which were also part of the "Weiyuan" class of fast gunboats, and upgrading them to armored cruisers, the "Palisé armor-piercing shell," which was still a novelty in the navies of various countries at that time, was also specially introduced.

When the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau first introduced this kind of shell, the French technicians did not understand China's intention to rush to introduce this shell, but because they very much hoped to use Chinese's money to test the performance of this shell, it was to introduce it to China, and France gave strong cooperation.

The results now show that Hayashi's efforts have not been in vain.

Inside the command tower, the ship's captain Ito almost fell down due to the violent shaking of the ship's hull, and he no longer bothered to pay attention to this, and shouted hoarsely into the intercom to urge the engine room to speed up.

At this moment, in addition to the 190-mm guns that were pouring out their anger on the Japanese warships and the 140-mm guns on the "Chaowu" and "Chengqing" ships of the "Weiyuan" class, there were also a large number of small-caliber guns pouring bullets on the enemy ships. A large number of 40-millimeter single-barreled guns of the Chinese cruiser were aimed at the "East" for rapid fire, and next to these guns were the 40-mm Haqikaisi five-barreled machine guns with greater close-range deterrence.

In addition to the 279-millimeter main gun in the bow gun room, the two 70-pounder breech guns, two 6-pounder guns, and two 4-pounder guns of the "East" ironclad ship were all installed in the open air on the main deck, and they shot outward through the gun doors set up in the bulwark. An even more terrible blow came from a high altitude, when the "Lin-Gatling" machine gun in the mast of the Chinese cruiser condescendingly strafed the deck of the "East." For a time, the main deck of the "East" ironclad ship rained down like bullets and fell into a cloud of gunsmoke.

The ironclad ship "Dong" seemed to have crashed headlong into a terrifying aisle where shells were flying, and it sailed forward with difficulty in the rain of gunsmoke and shells, and the hull was already covered with bruises, and the large and small guns were silent. Along with the small-caliber machine shells fired at the "East", a shell fired by the 140-mm breech gun on the starboard side of the "Chaowu" hit the port side of the "East", and as the shells exploded, six sailors near the 70-pounder gun emplacement were killed by shrapnel, and the deck was covered with flesh and blood.

Although the bitter battle that had just taken place was actually only a few minutes long, for the Japanese officers and men on the ironclad ship "To," it was like experiencing an experience from death to life, and in the face of the dead who fell beside them, many Japanese sailors felt the cruelty of naval warfare for the first time.

At this time, Ito Yuma, who had escaped from the flying bridge into the command tower, faced with such a terrible scene, the feeling of fear in his heart was not much worse than that of his subordinate officers and those ordinary Japanese sailors.

Since the artillery fire of the Japanese fleet had been suppressed to the death by the Chinese fleet, the artillery attack of the Chinese warships was getting weaker and weaker, so that Lin Yizhe could calmly observe the results of the 190-mm heavy guns of the Chinese cruisers.

In order to increase the number of 190-mm heavy guns with powerful destructive power, at the request of Lin Yizhe, the chief engineer of the shipyard, Da Shibo, removed the six 140-mm guns originally scheduled to be equipped on the two strings of the "Fujing" and "Jianjing" and one 140-mm gun in the bow, and added a ear station on the two sides of the "Fujing" and "Jianjing", each of which was equipped with one 190-mm heavy gun, and then strengthened the configuration of rapid-fire weapons, in addition to the original six "Lin's machine guns", six 40-mm Haqikaisi five-barreled machine guns were added, and the excess weight is saved on the armor. After such modifications, the firepower and protection of the "Fujing" and "Jianjing" have been greatly improved, and they have become the nemesis of the "Dong" ironclad ships.

At this time, the "Fujing" ship had been shooting at the "East" in the left ear platform, and with the rapid movement of the warship, the Chinese sailors controlled the cannon to slowly rotate, and the muzzle of the 190-millimeter caliber cannon began to turn to the side and rear, aiming at the stern of the "East."

At this time, the wounded Japanese Navy in the officer's cafeteria at the stern of the "East" did not know that a terrible disaster was about to befall.

On the steam warship in the 19th century, the huge steam-powered equipment and complex and bulky ammunition, armament and other devices usually occupy a lot of space in the ship, so the space that can be used to arrange other living and functional cabins on the warship is very limited. For this reason, since the era of sail warships, a maritime custom has been continued, that is, the spacious officer's canteen located at the stern of the warship will be used as a first-aid station in wartime, and the cramped interior of the warship cannot be luxuriously used as a cabin only for one function. The long oak dining table in the officers' canteen is used as an operating table for officers to sit around or meet or dine in peacetime, and in wartime. In Nelson's time, it was not uncommon for some veteran sailors to tell visitors to the ship which marks on the tablecloth were left by the soup and which were stained with blood, and then wait to see the shocked expressions of the audience.

Like most of the warships on the battlefield, the "Dong" ironclad ship hastily converted the officers' canteen located under the main deck into a military hospital shortly before the start of the naval battle. Medics and paramedics were standing at the tables to operate on the wounded, the sand on the floor to prevent slipping had turned red with blood, the cafeteria was filled with the heart-rending wails of the wounded, and the air was filled with the disgusting smell of blood. Hearing the sound of the cannon on the deck, the people here were nervous all the time, and some of them were chattering helplessly, praying for the blessing of Amaterasu and the fact that their warship could be freed from the tiger's mouth.

Suddenly, there was a roar like the roar of a giant beast in the distance, and the low voice came from far and near, and the air in the room seemed to tremble, and a 190-millimeter-caliber large-diameter high-explosive bomb launched horizontally by the "Fujing" ship flew in with a thunderous momentum, and the ghost made a miracle to drill through the crack that the armor-piercing bullet had just shot out, and easily penetrated the hull plate of the rear port side of the "East" ironclad ship, and shot into the ship, followed by a thunderous explosion, and fragments, gunsmoke, and shattered limbs ...... "East" The interior of the ship became a horrible hell. The "East" officers' cafeteria, which was used as a military hospital, was badly damaged and the room was in shambles, killing 12 people, including military doctors and paramedics, and injuring more than 30 others.

"When the military medical officer was rescuing the wounded, a huge bomb suddenly flew and destroyed the officer's office of the 'East' ship, and more than 10 people, including the chief medic and nurse, were blown to shreds, and their flesh and blood flew everywhere, and only the entire crew of the ship was killed." ("The Actual Record of Taiwan's Expedition", "The Brave Battle of the 'East' Ship").

Affected by the explosion of a huge bomb, the part of the rear mast of the "East" that extended to the lower part of the main deck was hit, and the rear mast shook terribly in the strange sound, and due to the great damage to the ship's internal structure, the rear main deck of the warship partially collapsed and subsided.

Witnessing the tragic situation on the Japanese ironclad ship "Higashi", the sailors on the Chinese warships around them had not yet had time to enjoy the joy of victory, and they soon discovered that the power of the explosion of the high-explosive bomb filled with black powder was very limited, and the shell that had just hit was not enough to make the Japanese warship sink to the bottom of the sea immediately.

At this time, the four cruisers in the rear of the "Fujing" were also firing fiercely with their main guns, and soon, the 190-mm guns in the stern of the "Princess Pegatron" had also turned to the rear and aimed at the "east" ship; Chen Anming, the first mate of the gunnery, and Rochelle, the French gunnery consultant, commanded the Chinese sailors to load a huge cannonball into the chamber, and the gunnery officer of the "Princess Peshuo" planned to "shoot a single armor-piercing shell from the bow to the stern of the ship in a diagonal line to kill her." Due to the close distance, the sailors easily hit the "East" again with flat fire.

At about the same time that the 190-mm main guns of the "Princess Pegatron" hit the "East", the three 140-mm guns on the starboard side also achieved success, and the three shells almost hit the thick iron armor of the "East" hull at the same time, raising dark red fire and huge smoke balls.

At this time, in the command tower of the "East" ironclad ship, Ito Youheng's face was already so nervous that it was about to be deformed, and Deng Shichang, who was sitting in the bow of the cruiser "Princess Heshuo", looked at the officers and soldiers around him who were celebrating each other, and was very excited.

However, to his surprise, these shells fired by the "Princess Pegatron" did not sink the "East" in one fell swoop. The ironclad ship "East" loomed in the battle clouds with billowing smoke, but it refused to sink!

Lin Yizhe, who witnessed this scene, put down the telescope in his hand and frowned.

When 5 Chinese cruisers joined forces to besiege the lone ironclad ship "Dong", in the flank and rear of the Chinese fleet, 4 warships suddenly appeared!

With the loud warning of the lookout, Lin Yizhe turned his head and raised his telescope to look, and saw that four warships on the sea were quickly heading towards the battlefield.

"Could it be that the Japanese reinforcements have arrived?" Looking at the unidentified warship that suddenly appeared, Pei Jinquan asked with some concern.

Hearing Pei Jinquan's slightly nervous words, Lin Yizhe was still very calm.

"That's better, we won't have to go through the trouble of finding them, and we can annihilate them all." Lin Yizhe sneered and replied.

The reason why Lin Yizhe dared to say such a thing was because he was well aware of the current background of the Japanese Navy.

Hayashi knew that the Japanese Navy could no longer come up with many ships that could be used for ocean-going operations. If those newly emerged warships are reinforcements from the Japanese Navy, what can really pose a threat to the Chinese fleet is nothing more than the "Longxiang" ironclad ship!

Pei Jinquan's worries soon proved to be unnecessary, and as the incoming ships continued to approach, the Chinese naval officers and men saw clearly that the four warships were all very large, and two of them were flying the British flag of rice, one of them was flying the American Stars and Stripes flag, and one was flying the French tricolor.

"They got the news and came to watch the game." Lin Yizhe noticed that among the new foreign warships, the largest one was the ironclad ship "Normandy", the flagship of the "Eastern Detachment" of the French Navy's fleet in the Far East, and couldn't help but nod secretly.

Just as Lin Yizhe estimated, in addition to the US cruiser "Monacan," the other three warships -- the flagship of the British Navy's "Chinese Fleet," the 3,774-ton ironclad ship "Otdisha" and the 1,459-ton cruiser "Tellia," as well as the French ironclad ship "Normandy," were indeed here to "watch."

In this era and in later generations, in the event of naval battles or naval military exercises, warships of other countries can go to "watch" them, on the one hand, they can observe and learn, and on the other hand, they can also take the opportunity to exercise the courage and courage of their own naval officers. Of course, not everyone understands that there is such a convention in the naval community. Otherwise, there would not have been an incident in which the PLA's "Army and Navy" exercise was met with onlookers and provoked angry denunciations from the indignant youth.

"Leave them alone." Ignoring the foreign warships that appeared, Hayashi moved his telescope back to the Japanese warships in the hail of bullets.

"God......

At this time, on the cruiser "Monaken" of the United States, Lieutenant Commander Masson, who had witnessed the Japanese Navy's troubled situation, could not help but exclaim in exclamation when he looked at the ironclad ship "To" struggling on the sea.

Captain Myers, the first mate of the "Monaken", put down his binoculars, turned his head to look at Masson with a look of surprise on his face, and said, "I'm afraid the Japanese are going to lose this naval battle." ”

"Perhaps, we should find a way to help these poor people." Ma Sen remembered the secret contract he had signed with Li Xiande, and said with a gloomy face.

"But the Chinese's artillery fire is so fierce that if we want to stop them from continuing to fight, we will take a big risk." As the first mate of the Monaken, Miles certainly understood the purpose of the Monaken's trip, but the battle situation in front of him did make him feel terrified.

Although the Japanese promised the captain and himself and all the Americans on board the ship a very generous monetary reward, he still understood that no amount of money could be compared to his own life.