Arai Yougong obviously realized that the other party might have reinforcements, after all, it was unthinkable for a warship to challenge a fleet, but judging from his tactical arrangement, the first point in the tactics of fighting for the Ryukyus with the Qing State this time was to take it by surprise, and it was clear that he did it partially, bypassing the Qing country's fleet and directly attacking the port of Renten and Naha.

However, the big pit that the other party put in Naha made him really guilty, and he actually tossed the entire port with mines, this style of play is really dead!

Then, Arai naturally thought that he had to look for an opportunity to defeat one of the Qing fleets and achieve a tactical victory. He took the initiative to pursue the 601 ship for this purpose, but this time, he was disappointed again!

This Qing Navy fleet was unexpectedly huge, and when the warships continued to drill out from the north of the island, Arai Yougong's first thought was not fear, but complete disbelief!

A large number of intelligence personnel sent by Japan have not been less than to get information from the Qing military aircraft yamen and sailors in various places, and for the twilight Central Empire around him, the officers who have studied in the Japanese Army School, every eye treats him as a piece of big fat that absorbs nutrients.

Again, there is no intelligence mentioning that this empire has such a powerful fleet, and in all the intelligence analysis, in terms of the evaluation of battleships and soldiers, the army of the Great Japanese Empire is far stronger than the Qing Kingdom around it.

The country ruled by millions of moth-like Manchu peoples has a population twelve times the size of the empire and an area thirty times the size of the empire, but the army of that country has no combat effectiveness, and the rule of that country is extremely rotten, as long as it occupies one-tenth of the territory of the Qing country in the twilight of the western mountains, it means that the area of the Great Japanese Empire has expanded by three times, this is the idea that every instructor in the military academy instills in them!

From the Japanese emperor to the people at the bottom, they worked hard for 13 years to create this powerful Japanese fleet, and more importantly, the Japanese Admiralty was extremely strict in the training of soldiers, sparing no expense, and hired British and French instructors to train local soldiers, who were proud of advocating Western civilization.

But now Arai Yougong is facing an absolutely weak situation, the two navies are only 5 kilometers apart, but the first shot from the other flagship, actually caused a serious threat to the "Hiei" armored cruiser in front of the breakthrough, he clearly saw that the opponent's first round of shooting is six shells, the most accurate one, only 150 meters away from the bow of the Hiei ship!

The first gun at a distance of 5 kilometers has such accuracy, which is completely unbelievable for Arai Yougong, who is familiar with the operation of the artillery department!!

It must be the luck of the other party!! Arai studied artillery shooting when he studied in the UK, and he is an expert in the study of battleship shooting, and it definitely takes extremely good artillery to hit a battleship a few kilometers away on this high-speed moving battleship, and it also needs the favor of God!

However, what made him feel a little relieved was that except for the first flagship, the other warships did not fire immediately, and it was obvious that diplomatic fire at a distance of more than 5 kilometers was not a good idea for the warships and commanders of this era, except for the tried and tested group of men and horses on the 501 ship, of course.

The Japanese fleet, which was originally lined up in a two-wing flank attack formation, immediately received the flagship's flag order, and the formation quickly formed a long snake formation with each other looking at each other, which was a tactic that the Japanese Navy had practiced for a long time, and this was also one of the elements of the victory of the Japanese fleet that the British instructor repeatedly emphasized.

Because in the Japanese fleet, even the last launched "Fuso" ironclad ship, the use of the Qin armor absolutely impossible to use the layout of the central quadrangular gun room, which can be said to be the British shipyard in this period of very keen gun room design, the arrogant John Bull is always very persistent in their own design, they would rather cut a few more corners in the square gun room, than to improve the American Civil War period of the turret structure, his front turret design until the "Inflecil" was implemented.

On the Fuso, which was designed 6 years ago and completed and launched 3 years ago, the British used the layout of the central quadrangular gun house that they were very familiar with, that is, a square ironclad fort in the center, and then cut off a piece of the square corner, and mounted a gun, which contained 4 Armstrong heavy guns of 240mm 25 times the caliber, and the 4 guns were arranged at an angle of 65 degrees to the head and tail baseline, and the firing range of each gun was 35 degrees to the left and right of the reference position. ,

So...... The ironclad ship "Fuso", which the Japanese are very proud of, has a dead angle for its guns within 30 degrees of the bow and stern direction, and within 70 degrees of the bow, the central gun room of the Fuso ironclad ship can only face the enemy with one gun! Based on Qin Kai's warship evaluation system, the combat power of the Fusang, with a displacement of 3,800 tons, is slightly higher than that of the captured French Atlantite broadside ironclad.

Although the "Hiei" and "Kongo" armored cruisers were equipped with 170mm Armstrong heavy guns, the shooting of the side guns made these two fast cruisers, which were launched only a few months earlier than the Fuso, directly obsolete as outdated products.

The only fast cruiser "Tsukushi" that has just joined the Japanese fleet is the only new warship in the Japanese fleet with a front and rear turret design, two 254mm 26 times the diameter of the Armstrong rear-loading cannon and 120mm secondary guns are very large, this battleship is actually almost the sister ship of Beiyang Super Brave and Mighty.

This can be seen, so only in the case of one side of the enemy, the firepower of the Japanese fleet can be maximized! However, it was clear that Lu Han, the commander of the Nanyang Naval Division, who was well aware of the situation of the Japanese fleet, would not give Arai any chance to play.

The flagship immediately raised a new flag signal, and the fleet that came out immediately split into two, the first squad was stored as a suppressive force, and the slower ships in the combined fleet were included in it, of course, the 501 ship was an exception, he was the Dinghai Divine Needle of the Nanyang Naval Division.

The squad includes 501 ironclad ships, "Huashan" ironclad ships (captured the French Atarante ironclad ship refitted), Zhennan, Zhenbei mosquito ships, Chaowu, Dengyingzhou ironwaki, a total of six warships, as the heavy artillery suppression force on the flank, a total of 9 254mm caliber heavy guns gathered here, except for the two equipped in Zhennan and Zhenbei are 25 times the caliber, the others are 35 times the diameter of heavy guns, and they have absolute suppressive power in long-range firepower!

And the number of rapid-fire guns that the first squad can put into the process is also overwhelming, with 20 150mm, 120mm rapid-fire guns, once they enter a close battle, the first time to tilt the most amazing firepower, the only drawback is their speed, except for the 501 ship with a speed of 16 knots, the speed of the other 5 warships is only 10-11 knots!

However, it is clear that in the case of shelling at cruising speed, Lühan very skillfully hides these weaknesses! The Second Fleet, which flew out at a rapid pace and intercepted the front of the Japanese fleet and could be flanked on both flanks at any time, was even more luxurious, and all of them were new warships that were launched this year.

The heavy cruiser 701 ship of the Nanyang Naval Division is undoubtedly the best among them, with a maximum displacement of 3,800 tons and a speed of 18 knots, in addition to three 35 times the diameter of 254mm heavy guns and four 150mm rapid-fire guns on the side of the side, so that he has considerable combat power. Chaoyong and Yangwei are also equipped with 2 254mm Armstrong cannons and 4 120mm rapid-fire guns, and the speed of the ship has also reached a high speed of 16.5 knots.

Immediately following the 501 ship was the 701 heavy cruiser out of the column, Xu Shoushan stood on the bridge with high spirits, watching the Japanese battleship in the distance, the speed of the opponent's flagship was far lower than his own, even if it was a heads-up, he was completely sure to take advantage of the opponent's artillery and speed inferiority, and easily defeated it.

"Pipe band, ranging 5300m, whether to launch an artillery bombardment!" The shooting officer asked loudly.

Xu Shoushan looked at the young shooting officer, this is also Liu Ye, a shipmaster graduate who came out of the training camp, has achieved remarkable results in previous training and assessments, and was excavated by him to become the shooting commander on the 701 battleship, obviously, the first time to feel the baptism of real naval battles, the young officer is a little nervous!

Xu Shoushan laughed and said, "Liu Ye, today is the first time to go to the battlefield, fight hard, I think your training level is no worse than Instructor Chen Ying!" It's up to you to play, and today you have to steal the limelight with the flagship! ”

Hearing the encouragement of the pipe band, Liu Ye's originally nervous expression was obviously relaxed, nodded vigorously, and shouted loudly, "Yes!! ”

According to the tactical arrangement, at this time, the target of the 701 ship in the vanguard of the second team was the same as that of the 501 ship, which was the cruiser "Hiei" in front of the breakthrough, but the actual distance of the 701 ship was slightly closer, and after receiving the ranging information of the No. 2 and No. 3 ranging positions, Liu Ye immediately calculated the new shooting elements according to the empirical formula, and at the same time made fine-tuning with reference to the table of artillery error numbers.

At the sound of an order, the three 254mm main guns of the 701 ship let out an angry roar, and when the black smoke and fire at the muzzle of the guns rolled, huge projectiles sprayed out. Xu Shoushan observed the situation of the enemy ship in the distance, and seven or eight seconds later, not far in front of the cruiser Hiei in the distance, the explosion of three shells smashed a huge wave. ,

He estimated that this error was about two hundred meters, and the first shot could reach this accuracy, Xu Shoushan smiled slightly, Liu Ye, this kid is a little capable, and he didn't make a mistake in choosing thousands of choices, but ...... This choice is not wrong, then you have to look at the final result!

"Turn the rudder 15 degrees to the right, advance at full speed, and occupy a favorable position for shelling in front of the bow of the Japanese fleet!" He didn't pay attention to the artillery bombardment, that was what the shooting command officer should do, for this Japanese fleet, Lord Qin had given an order to besiege it with all his might!

Immediately following the 701 ship to complete the shooting is the bow gun on the "Huashan", Chen Mo quietly stood in front of the bridge to watch the roar of the giant cannon, under the calm appearance, the mood is very excited, more than a year ago, he was still eating and drinking on his uncle Chen An's iron-wedged wooden hull battleship, there was a feeling of losing the direction of life, and the knowledge he had worked hard to learn in the West was useless.

Who would have thought that a year later, he personally participated in every sea victory of the Nanyang Naval Division, and the first victory made him excited for several days, but then the brilliance created on the 501 ship made him only admire and worship Lord Qin Kai, with his clever mind, he fully understood that this qiē achievement came from the policy of strengthening the army and rejuvenating the country through industry.

He quickly walked to the position of the commander of the battleship, so that he cherished this modified old ironclad ship very much, although the speed is not high, but the overall armor level, the "Huashan" is also ranked second in the Nanyang Naval Division, plus the modified artillery, this combat effectiveness is absolutely good.

This shot was a little off, and there was at least a 400m error from the target, the opponent's flagship Fuso, and his shooting officer was still an energetic new officer, who had just come out of the training camp and still needed some exercise!

Looking at the Japanese battleships that were stubbornly advancing under artillery fire in the distance, he had an inexplicable feeling...... Anyone who is an enemy of the Nanyang Navy Master is destined to be a cup of life!

At this time, the Japanese fleet commander Arai Yougong was indeed in a very low mood, the opponent in the first round of artillery bombardment, there were 9 heavy artillery launched an attack, although did not hit any battleship, but the error of the opponent's shelling, except for the last shot, is very good.

The current distance, for the 240mm heavy guns on his own ship, is close to the maximum effective range, and the shooting at this distance, in his experience, is almost inaccurate! It can be seen that the performance of the opponent's artillery completely suppressed its own side, and even the artillery was very good.

At this time, he felt very stupid about his motive for trying to find the decisive battle of the main force of the Qing army, and at the same time he was even more angry at the stupidity of the Japanese intelligence officers, but now is not the time to care about these, the opponent's tactics are very obvious, using the range of artillery to suppress laterally, and at the same time occupy the direction of his own fleet to intercept and shoot!

And in front of his own fleet, but it is the weakest place of artillery, which makes Arai very depressed, could it be that the other party knows everything about the situation of the Japanese fleet? He didn't have time to look for answers, but it was time to think about how to defuse the opponent's attack, so he immediately gave the order, "Sideways to meet the enemy!" Enemy warships directly ahead of the emergency,"

From the perspective of tactical analysis, Arai's order is completely correct, after all, the opponent is divided into two squads at this time, the first squad has more than 9 heavy guns, and is bombarding from afar on the flank, while the second squad has only 3 heavy guns, at present, the Japanese fleet is likely to defeat only the second squad composed of 4 battleships in the front!

From his point of view, Arai did find that the second squad of the Qing Kingdom had an advantage in ship speed, which was similar to the "Tsukushi" that had newly joined the fleet, so he formulated a plan for an imminent attack, and now he counted 4 ironclad ships and the Cangyun ironwaki-hulled battleship on his side, and there was a little advantage in the local area, and his belief in the superiority of his own soldiers was even stronger.

At this time, the 601 ship, which had finished playing the decoy, had already turned its bow to join the fleet, and the effective range of the guns on the 601 ship was about 3,500 meters, so he did not follow behind several battleships, but hid on the other side of these battleships, ready to carry out a close shelling at any time.

The Japanese fleet was desperately speeding up in the hope of shortening the distance with the second squad, but in the face of the second squad's battleships with an average speed of more than 17 knots, this was an unattainable luxury. ,

The situation of the cruiser "Hiei" in the first place was very bad at this time, he obviously became the collective target of the second squad, and what was even worse was that the 170mm heavy guns on the Hiei could not pose any threat to the enemy in front of the battleship, and the only threat in front of him was a few small 120mm cannons that he could use to counterattack!

Just after receiving the flagship's order, Hiei immediately turned sharply, hoping to threaten the second squad of battleships in front with the ship's gunwales, but the second squad always maintained this distance of 4,000 meters, and the 170mm guns of the Hiei were almost powerless for this position.

After the first round of shelling began, only two and a half minutes later, the 501 ship took the lead in the second round of shelling, and the roar of the six heavy guns was absolutely earth-shattering, and the smoke from the muzzle even obscured the view of the entire turret for a full few seconds! The officers and soldiers inside the turret operate efficiently and complete this complex process.

The bad news is that this round of firing still failed to hit the enemy ship, and the good news is that a close miss is less than 30 meters according to the observation error, which is half the length of the hull, and if you are lucky, this shell may be the first to open the record! However, the shooting officers are not in a hurry about this, and now it is a completely advantageous situation, and shooting steadily will inevitably produce results!

The distance of the second round of twin engines was further shortened to 4,300 meters, and at this time, the 254mm and 25 times diameter heavy guns in the south and north of the town also entered the effective range, and the guns roared in turn, and a total of 16 heavy guns of the Nanyang and Beiyang combined fleets participated in the attack, and the shells continued to fall near the Japanese fleet, setting off a wave.

Arai Yougong only then found out that the second squad, which he thought was slightly weaker, also had 7 heavy guns, instead of 3 as he originally thought, which made him retreat, it was more difficult to face a strong enemy, and he had to make senseless sacrifices, which was not what a commander should do!

At this time, the Japanese fleet finally got the first opportunity to counterattack, and the two 254mm heavy guns on the cruiser "Tsukushi" and the two 240mm guns on the left side of the ironclad ship Fuso participated in the counterattack.