"Commander, there's a signal. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

The shouts of the staff officers who had been holding binoculars to observe the fleet in front woke Qin Chuan from his contemplation, and he hurriedly grabbed the binoculars and observed.

A flag came from the Saint-Louis, the largest tonnage in the flotilla ahead, saying that the Gao Sheng in front of them had received a message, "Five columns of smoke have been found in front of them at twelve o'clock, and it is suspected that the other party is a large-tonnage warship." In addition, according to Gao Sheng, the Beiyang Naval Division only has two ships in Asan called Jiyuan and Guangyi, so it is judged that the other party is likely to be a Japanese ship. For the sake of prudence, because the Caojiang is a warship of the Beiyang Naval Division flying the Qinglong flag, the Caojiang will break away from the formation and temporarily avoid it at 11 o'clock, while the British Gaosheng will keep its course unchanged. ”

Due to the low shape of the ship where Qin Chuan is located and there is no mast, it is impossible to arrange people to observe and look out on the mast, and the distance between the Surprise and the Gao Sheng is too far, due to the curvature of the earth, the front Gao Sheng can not be seen on the Qi Qi at all, and can only be looked at through the observers on the mast of the St. Louis, which has the largest displacement in front, and then transmit the information to Qin Chuan in flags.

"It's finally here."

Qin Chuan let out a long breath, and an impulse to try germinated in his heart.

"Tell the Saint Louis to keep a distance from the Ascension no matter what happens. Tell the Nautilus in the back to follow us. ”

Qin Chuan was a little excited and gave an order to Xu Tong who ran out of the cabin after hearing the sound, and Xu Tong, who was a little nervous, agreed loudly and turned around and shouted into the cabin: "Send a signal, order the St. Louis to keep a distance from the Gao Sheng, and the Nautilus to follow." ”

With Xu Tong's order, three reconnaissance platoon fighters with a bunch of signal flags in their hands ran out of the cabin, and the three ran out of the cabin and went to the deck, and after being busy for a while, they hung out the flag signal on the small mast that was surprisingly not tall.

Seeing that the three soldiers hung up the signal, Xu Tong ordered them to stay on the deck and wait, and ran into the cockpit again, and said in a nervous and excited tone while rolling up his sleeves.

"Commander, there are not only our Qing Dynasty and Japanese warships in this sea area, but also Britain and France. Germany has all of them, I have seen them all in the past few times in North Korea, do you think the front will be a Japanese warship?

Qin Chuan nodded affirmatively: "Yes, it must be a Japanese warship." You go and check what we have prepared, and then listen to my orders and act when the opportunity arises. ”

"Good!"

Xu Tong agreed, and went into the cabin.

As the flag signal continued to come from the front, the situation ahead gradually became clear.

In front of it, it was discovered not only the warships of the Japanese Navy, but also the warships of the Beiyang Naval Division engaged in a naval battle.

On the Japanese side, there were three warships of Yoshino, Naniwa, and Akitsu Prefecture, and on the side of the Beiyang Naval Division, there were two warships of Jiyuan and Guangyi.

The Yoshino was a cutting-edge dome cruiser that had just been completed in 1893. It was improved by the famous British ship designer Watts according to the Argentine Navy's Esmeralda, because the designers of Esmeralda, Zhiyuan, and Naniwa are all British White, so Yoshino and Zhiyuan have some relationship in "blood".

As a large warship, Yoshino has a displacement of 4,150 tons and a length of 109.73 meters, which even exceeds the Dingyuan-class ironclad ships, and the thickness of the steel armor under the slope slope on both sides reaches 4.5 inches. The Japanese were particularly proud of its speed, which reached an astonishing 23 knots, making it the fastest warship in the world at the time.

Equally impressive for its record-breaking speed is its powerful weaponry, Yoshino's four main guns are all 6-inch rapid-fire guns with an effective range of 8,600 meters and a rate of fire of 7 rounds per minute, as well as eight 4.7-inch secondary guns. In addition, there are up to 22 Hatch Kaiss single-barrel rapid-fire guns and five torpedo tubes.

That's not all, the Yoshino ship is also equipped with a special gun rangefinder that has just come out, which means that the ranged measurement and aiming of the guns on the Yoshino ship will be more accurate and convenient. With its powerful firepower and ultra-fast speed, the Yoshino was hailed as the world's best warship at this time.

Captain Yoshino is a Kawahara Ogai who studied in the Navy in Germany.

Such an excellent warship is naturally expensive, and in order to buy this ship, the Japanese emperor once took the lead in raising funds, and even announced that until the defeat of the Qing state, he would only eat one meal a day. At the instigation of the Emperor of Japan, the whole country of Japan donated so much that the funds raised were able to buy three Yoshino.

Qin Chuan read a document before crossing, saying that Yoshino was originally customized by Li Hongzhang, but in the end it was snapped up by the Japanese because of lack of funds. In fact, the one that Li Hongzhang didn't have the money to buy in the end was not Yoshino, but Blanco, which was bought by the Chilean Navy. Enkarada. The ship is equipped with two eight-inch or 203-mm guns, ten six-inch or 152-mm rapid-fire guns, twelve Hatch Chase rapid-fire guns, and five torpedo tubes. In addition to being half a knot slower than Yoshino in terms of speed, the firepower and armor were far above the Yoshino.

In other words, if the Beiyang Naval Division had not purchased this warship that was eventually bought by the Chilean Navy because of money, the Sino-Japanese First Sino-Japanese Naval War would probably have been a different result, and this could not help but make people sigh.

The Naniwa frigate cruiser has a displacement of 3,650 tons, a maximum speed of 18 knots, and two 10.2-inch guns. In addition, Naniwa, like the Zhiyuan of the Beiyang Naval Division, did not have broadside dome armor. Although the Naniwa was not as fast and armed as Yoshino, it had a captain who would become famous in the future, Heihachiro Togo.

As for the Akitsushu protection cruiser, it was designed by the United Kingdom, built by the Yokosuka shipyard in Japan, and was just put into service in March this year. Displacement 3100 tons, maximum speed 19 knots, 4 six-inch rapid-fire guns, 6 4-inch rapid-fire guns.

The Jiyuan of the Beiyang Naval Division, although it is also a dome cruiser, has a displacement of only 2,300 tons and a speed of only a pitiful 15 knots. There is a 210 mm front gun and a 150 mm rear main gun, 2 47 mm Hatch Kaisi rapid-fire guns, 9 37 mm single-barreled rapid-fire guns, 4 copper cannons manufactured by the Jinling Machinery Bureau, 4 torpedo tubes, and Fang Boqian with pipes.

The Guangyi torpedo cruiser, manufactured by the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau, was completed and put into service four years ago. With a displacement of 1,000 tons and a speed of 16.5 knots, it has just been replaced with 3 120mm rapid-fire guns produced by the Jinling Manufacturing Bureau, with Lin Guoxiang in the pipe.

After participating in the second naval review of the Qing court in Weihai in May, the Guangyi warship, Guangjia and Guangbing were left in the Beiyang Naval Division by Li Hongzhang at the suggestion of Cheng Biguang, the commander of the Guangbing ship.

Compared with the wolf-like Japanese warships designed or manufactured by the Armstrong shipyard in the United Kingdom, the two warships of the Beiyang Naval Division are far inferior to the three Japanese warships in terms of tonnage, firepower, and speed.

"Report."

The voice of the staff officer, who had been observing the flag in front of him, reported with a slight tremble: "The Gao Sheng has sent back the news that the Guangyi ship is seriously wounded, the hull is tilted, and it is withdrawing from the battle in the direction of eleven o'clock. ”

"Report, the Jiyuan ship is retreating towards us at full speed, and the Japanese ships Yoshino, Naniwa, and Akitsu Prefecture are chasing after us."

"Report 。。。。。。 reported that the Jiyuan ship raised the white flag. ”

Because of nervousness, the staff officer's voice was out of tune, and Xu Tong, who had just returned to the cockpit, kicked it over.

"Stop."

Qin Chuan glared at Xu Tong fiercely: "It's the first time you go to the battlefield, there's nothing to blame." ”

Qin Chuan reached out again and patted the shoulder of the staff officer, who was only nineteen years old, and smiled faintly: "Don't be afraid, with me, the Japanese can't bite us, and Lao Tzu will bite them hard in a while." ”

The staff officer blushed, nodded at Qin Chuan, straightened his waist again, and nervously observed the situation in front of him.

"Call the signal and ask, will the Jiyuan stop after the white flag is hoisted?"

Qin Chuan put down the telescope in his hand, leaned on the bulkhead after instructing Xu Tong, reached out and took out a cigarette from his pocket, took out a light one, took a deep breath, and tried to control his emotions.

In fact, Qin Chuan was also a little nervous in his heart, he was not worried about his own safety, but he was worried about whether he could deceive the Japanese by stealing the beam and changing the pillar. You must know that after the sinking of the Gaosheng, which was full of more than 1,200 Beiyang elites from the Renzi battalion in the previous life, it directly caused the Qing army in Asan to lose one-third of its strength.

Although Qin Chuan knew in his heart that even if he escaped the interception of the Japanese army in front of him, it would be impossible for the Renzi battalion to go to Asan again.

Because Asan is located in the southeast of Seoul, and the Japanese army landed from Inchon and entered Seoul, the Japanese army is now behind the Asan Qing army, and the Asan Qing army is in danger of being isolated behind enemy lines at any time.

However, even if these Beiyang elites are changed to Pyongyang, they will always have more strength.

"Report, the Jiyuan did not stop, and it was still heading towards us at full speed."

Xu Tong, who was standing at the door of the cabin, spat "bah".

"Grandma, I thought that Fang Boqian, this old boy, was going to surrender to the Japanese, did he want to fool the Japanese, or did he want to run."

"Hmph."

Qin Chuan snorted and said: "The defeat of this battle is certain, the strength is not as good as others, it is no wonder that Fang Boqian, and there is no reason to fight to the death, Guangyi was seriously injured and withdrew from the battle, and it was understandable that he led the ship to withdraw, but when he hung out the white flag in a daze, this Fang Boqian was dead." ”

"Report, the Japanese ship Yoshino is rapidly approaching the Jiyuan, and the Jiyuan has hoisted the Japanese military flag again."

As soon as he heard that the Jiyuan hung out the Japanese military flag, Qin Chuan suddenly blushed, and crushed the half-smoked cigarette in his hand that was still on the fire, and he didn't feel the blisters on the hot hand on the cigarette, Qin Chuan scolded with a hideous face.

"Grandma's, where did Fang Boqian get the Japanese military flag? It is clear that he has already been on the ship, just waiting for this day to save his life. But if you have this heart, your heart can be punished. ”

"Report."

The staff officer tried his best to control his nervousness: "The Japanese ship sent a signal at a fast pace to ask Jiyuan to stop, and the Jiyuan was slowing down and preparing to stop. ”

"Hey."

Hearing that Jiyuan obeyed the order of the Japanese ship Nanisu to stop, Xu Tongqi slammed his fist on the bulkhead.

"Damn Fang Boqian, he lost all his face in the Qing Dynasty."

"Jiyuan is parked!"

This news made the expression on Qin Chuan's face instantly turn from shame and anger to extreme consternation.

Although Qin Chuan was not clear about the process of the Battle of Toshima, he knew that this Fang Boqian finally ran back to Weihai with the injured Jiyuan ship, not only did not mention the matter of hanging the white flag, but also lied about the military situation, saying that he seriously injured Yoshino and killed the enemy chief Yunyun.

But at this time, how could the Jiyuan stop? (To be continued.) )