Soon, the two sides of the word "man" slowly merged into a single column, and then 8 cruisers began to accelerate one by one and move forward. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

"Three enemy ships have been found! Behind the port side! ”

On the gunboat "Yangchun," the lookout pointed to the outlines of the three warships that were rapidly growing on the sea in the distance, and shouted loudly.

Soon, four Japanese warships sounded their sirens again.

On the ironclad ship "Longxiang", Shiki Kayama hurriedly rushed out of the cabin again, came to the flybridge, and just happened to see three Chinese high-speed notification ships speeding over.

As if mocking the speed of the Japanese warships, the three Chinese warships, two on the left and one on the right, sailed in unison from both sides of the four Japanese ships lined up in a double column, blocking the way of the Japanese ships.

"Why don't you open fire?" Shikinori Kayama glared at him angrily when he saw the Chinese warship swaggering past the two sides of the Japanese ship, but Keinori Fukushima did not give the order to open fire.

As if knowing that Shikiki Kayama would ask this question, Fukushima Keinori calmly replied: "The enemy ships are too fast to hit, and we don't have many shells, so we don't want to waste them." ”

Shiki Kayama knew that he had asked an extremely stupid question, his face flushed, and he raised his binoculars as if in disguise, looking at the three small Chinese warships.

After coming to the front of the Japanese ships, the three Chinese warships formed a single column in front of the Japanese ships without any scruples, and then went around to the right side of the Japanese fleet, and then began to bombard.

At this time, the Japanese fleet was advancing in a double column, with the "Ryuchaka" ironclad and the "Tsukuba" large gunboat in front side by side, and the "Mt. Fuji" and "Yangchun" behind. The three Chinese warships circled to the right side of the Japanese fleet, and the obvious goal was to attack the "Yangchun," the weakest of the Japanese warships. This trick can be said to be quite vicious.

The armament of the three Chinese high-speed notification ships is quite weak, with only 75 mm breech guns, which is certainly invincible to a large ship like the "Longxiang", but it is more than enough to deal with such a small and old warship as the "Yangchun".

Fukushima Keinori, of course, understood what the Chinese wanted to do, and immediately ordered the "Yangchun" to avoid the left side of the fleet, and at the same time ordered the "Ryuchi" and "Tsukuba" to speed up to the enemy ships in order to be the first to engage the enemy.

However, the speed of the three Chinese warships was so fast that before the "Ryuchamp" and "Tsukuba" rushed closer, they had already circled in front of the "Yangchun" and began a sideboard salvo.

For the first time, the captain of the "Yangchun" Sotaro Misu felt that the combat effectiveness of these small Chinese warships should not be underestimated.

Although it was a notification ship, the gunners on the ship were also very skilled, and the shells fired from the first row flew down on the side of the "Yangchun" in unison, and the "Yangchun" fell into the water column for a while, and the danger was full of dangers.

At this time, the Japanese gunners could not hold back their nervousness, but due to the ban on "saving shells" before the war, they could not fire at the moment.

The "Yangchun" staggered to the rear of the "Mt. Fuji", and immediately opened fire after giving way to the "Mt. Fuji" firing range.

As if to confirm Fukushima's judgment, the "Mt. Fuji" missed all the salvos on the side of the ship, and the impact point was far away from the stern of the last Chinese warship.

As if they knew that their own firepower was not enough to confront the "Mt. Fuji," the Chinese warships ignored the attack on the "Mt. Fuji," but quickly bypassed the direction at the end of the Japanese fleet, came to the left side of the Japanese fleet, and continued to shoot at the "Yangchun."

Seeing that the Chinese warships were staring at the weak "Yangchun" attacking, Fukushima Keonori once again ordered a change of formation, and soon, the "Ryuchamp" turned around and sailed to the left, widening the distance between the "Tsukuba" and the "Yangchun" Captain Sotaro Misu immediately understood the flagship's intentions, and when the flagship did not send any further signals, he personally steered the "Yangchun" and drove the "Yangchun" to the middle of the flagship "Ryuchaka" and the large gunboat "Tsukuba".

Seeing that the Japanese fleet had surrounded the weakest "Yangchun" in the middle, the three Chinese warships seemed to be a little afraid of the huge "Longxiang" ironclad ship, and while continuing to circle around the Japanese fleet, they widened the distance between them and the Japanese fleet.

"Is this the high-speed reconnaissance ship of the Qing people?" Shiki Kayama asked loudly.

"Yes, General." Keinori Fukushima replied coldly.

At this time, Shiki Kayama suddenly remembered that Yanagihara Maemitsu had told him that there was such a high-speed warship in the Chinese Navy, and his face was feverish.

The last time he went to Taiwan to reconnoiter and was arrested, he has always regarded it as a great shame in his life. He couldn't understand how Lin Yizhe, who was far away in Fuzhou, could communicate with Li Hongzhang in Tianjin and Premier Yamen in Beijing without a telegram. And the answer that Yanagihara Maemitsu told him was that the Chinese had high-speed notification ships.

Regarding Yanagihara Maemitsu's statement, Kayama Shikiri dismisses it, he thinks that this is Yanagihara Maemitsu to cover up his incompetence to the outside world, which led to the leakage of news, and until now, when he saw the three warships in front of him, he believes that what Yanagihara Maemitsu said is true.

"They're trying to hold us back!" Shiki Kayama put down his binoculars and said to Keinori Fukushima, "We must find a way to sink them!" ”

"They are weakly armed and pose no threat to us." Keisenori Fukushima simply rejected Shikinori Kayama's request, "We don't have to pay attention to them." ”

As soon as Fukushima Keisenori's words fell, a 75-millimeter shell fired by a Chinese warship flew in, hitting the side armor of the "Longxiang", and with a flash of fire, a large cloud of white smoke rose up.

Although this cannon did not cause any damage to the "Longxiang", the violent explosion still caused the hull of the "Longxiang" to tremble, and made Shiki Kayama, who was standing on the flybridge, frightened.

"Are you going to let us be beaten forever?" Shiki Kayama, who shook his feet and almost fell, looked at Keinori Fukushima angrily, and asked loudly.

"I must save the shells until the real enemy appears!" Maybe it's because when it came to life and death, Fukushima Keinori broke out all of a sudden, and he glared at Shiki Kayama angrily and said sharply.

Kayama Shiki was speechless for a while, and suddenly a burst of cannon sounded, and Kayama Shiki quickly turned around and looked in the direction where the cannon sound came, and found a step for himself.

This is the "Mt. Fuji" bombarding a Chinese warship with its own 80-mm cannon.

Seeing that all the shells missed, Shiki Kayama's heart was extremely anxious.

He had to admit in his heart that Keisenori Fukushima was right.

Thinking of the imminent appearance of the enemy's main fleet, he did not have the desire to seek a decisive battle before, but was full of worry.

What if you still can't hit the Chinese warship at that time?

At this time, Keinori Fukushima looked unusually calm, and he couldn't stop looking at the Chinese high-speed notification ship circling the Japanese fleet, as if he was thinking about something.

After going around in an unknown number of circles, the three Chinese warships suddenly stopped attacking and turned to the other side in unison, as if to vacate the battlefield.

"It's coming so fast!" Keinori Fukushima sighed and held up his binoculars.

Soon, the lookout on the "Longxiang" shouted loudly: "Behind the starboard side!" Spot enemy ships! More than three! ”

Shiki Kayama raised his binoculars and looked at the newly emerging black dot on the surface of the sea that was emitting black smoke.

In the telescope, the silhouettes of the Dragon Flag battleships are getting bigger and bigger.

Soon, the Chinese fleet appeared in front of the Japanese fleet in a single-column battle formation.

Seeing that the other party was driving over with 8 cruisers, Shiki Kayama couldn't help but gasp, and then realized how stupid he was to say that he was going to fight the enemy before.

He subconsciously put down the binoculars and cast an inquiring glance at Fukushima Keinori, but met Fukushima Keinori's cold eyes.

"Send a signal to order the 'Yangchun' to leave the team and leave at full speed." Keisenori Fukushima ignored Shikinori Kayama, but turned his head and gave orders to the officers beside him.

The signal flag was quickly raised, and unexpectedly, the "Yangchun" quickly raised the reply flag: "Swear to live and die together with the whole army!" ”

Seeing that Sotaro Misu actually planned to fight with him, Fukushima Keisenori was moved and let out a heavy sigh.

"Tell them! Obey orders! Don't hold everyone back! Keinori Fukushima ordered loudly.

The flag was raised again, probably sensing the heaviness and severity of the flagship's order, and this time the "Yangchun" no longer refused, but played the flag: "Take care!" Then they sailed out between the Ryusho and the Tsukuba and hobbled towards the Sea of Japan.

Seeing the "Yangchun" sail away, Fukushima Keino let out a long breath and ordered the flag to be raised: "Carry forward the honor of the Imperial Navy!" to boost morale.

Soon, the "Ryuchi" raised a huge sun flag, and seeing this scene, Ito Junkishi, who was standing on the flybridge of the "Tsukuba", could not suppress the passion in his chest, and the captain immediately ordered the flag to be waved on the bow of the "Tsukuba" with the slogan "Completely ready!" Following the "Mt. Fuji" of the "Tsukuba" ship, the flagship responded to the flagship's slogan, and Haragoro Hita, who was on the flybridge of the "Mt. Fuji" ship, also ordered the flag to be hoisted: "Always forget!" ”

"Come on! Let's have a dignified showdown! Keinori Fukushima looked at the eight Chinese cruisers approaching at high speed and let out a beastly roar of excitement.

"The Japanese are really hypocritical!"

On the flybridge of the "Fujing", Lin Yizhe put down the binoculars and sneered.

Hearing Lin Yizhe say such a strange word as "hypocrisy", Pei Jinquan and the others were stunned, and he wanted to ask funny, "Why did the adults say this?" But because of the big war, he still suppressed his curiosity.

Soon, a huge golden dragon flag on a red background was also raised on the Chinese cruiser, as well as a red pennant indicating "bloody battle to the end".

At this time, the Japanese fleet had formed the same single-column formation as the Chinese fleet, and the two sides showed a posture of moving in the opposite direction, which was similar to the style of the "Battle of Langqiao", and the Chinese fleet rushed straight to the "Longxiang", preparing to seize the "D" position by virtue of high speed.

And when the "Fujing" took the lead in rushing towards the "Longxiang", the "Longxiang" suddenly turned around under the command of Fukushima Kejinori, and at the moment when the "Longxiang" completed the turn, the "Fujing" happened to be in a situation of parallel with the "Longxiang".

At this moment, the 165-mm guns of the "Longxiang" opened fire first.

A cloud of white smoke rose from the main gun door on the left side of the "Longxiang", and at the same time, a 165-mm gun made a loud sound like the sky was cracking, followed by a huge shock, and the cannon weighing more than ten tons was slowly pushed to the end of the lower gun carriage by the huge recoil, and the entire gun position was shrouded in choking smoke. A huge 165-millimeter steel warhead spun and flew out of the barrel of the cannon and fired at the Fujing, the flagship of the Chinese cruiser fleet in the distance.

The first shell fired by the "Long Xiang" flew roaring toward the "Fujing" and landed in the sea about 600 meters away from the starboard side of the "Fujing," stirring up a high column of water.

“…… The enemy's flagship, a large ironclad ship, fired at our ship first, and its bow gun door spit out clouds of smoke, and then with a loud bang, a cannonball flew and entered the water on the starboard side. Zhang Zhihe, a painter of the "Dianshizhai Pictorial" on the "Fujing", wrote in his diary, "From this point of view, the Japanese artillery skills are far inferior to those of our army, and although the Japanese ships have many cannons and thick armor, they are not afraid ......

This painter is not very familiar with naval business, and his evaluation of Japanese ships is actually biased. But he can't be blamed for that. Like many people who can only apply modern tactical knowledge to analysis with "hindsight", he does not understand that in the current era, artillery shooting is more of a separate battle, and each gun position on the ship is free to grasp the timing to fire, and the aiming method is also very simple and primitive. It was not easy for the sailors of the "Longxiang" to operate a huge breech gun with a very slow rate of fire of more than 10 tons, and to adopt a simple and primitive aiming method at a long distance.

After the 165-mm main gun of the "Ryuchamp" fired, five 140-mm breech guns on the same side also fired at the "Fujing" one after another.

And at the same time that the "Mt. Fuji" opened fire, the Chinese fleet also began shelling.

“…… The artillery fire of the Qing fleet was very fierce, as if it was a meteor shower, they opened fire on our ship at a distance of about 3,500 meters, and most of the shells fired by the enemy ship in the first salvo flew above our ship, fell into the sea on the other side and exploded,...... While our ships were reloading their guns with all their might, the enemy ships began another round of salvo fire, this time the enemy's shells fell in the sea on the port side, but the impact distance was much closer than the last time. Our ship was surrounded by waves in an instant, which greatly interfered with our ship's firing, and I could not see the situation on the other side of the bridge standing on the bridge, let alone our gunners...... Although the situation was unfavorable to our ship from the very beginning, the officers and men of our ship still persisted in fighting and did not flinch in the slightest. ”

These are the words that Keisenori Fukushima wrote down in his memoirs. The purpose of his words was to pay tribute to the ignorant rumors of those who accused his officers and men of ineffective warfare.

In fact, as Keinori Fukushima wrote in his memoirs, the performance of the officers and men of the Japanese fleet when facing the Chinese Navy at the beginning was actually beyond reproach.

On the 165-mm main gun position on the port side of the bow of the "Longchamp", despite the extremely poor vision and the interference of the waves and water columns stirred up by the enemy's shells, the Japanese gunners were still shooting hard, and they were very focused on aiming, trying not to miss every shell.

The efforts of the Japanese sailors soon paid off, and after several rounds of firing between the two sides, a 140-millimeter shell finally hit the target, the second ship in the Chinese fleet, the Jianjing.

With a loud bang, Lin Yizhe, who was on the flybridge of the "Fujing," turned his head to look and saw a thick cloud of smoke rising from the deck of the "Jianjing."

Lin Yizhe raised his telescope and looked at the flybridge of the "Jianjing", and happened to see Lu Wenjing, who had already been shaken, standing up with difficulty with the support of two officers.

Lin Yizhe looked at Lu Wenjing carefully, and saw that his arm seemed to be injured, and an officer seemed to persuade him to go to the doctor, but he resolutely refused.

"Old Lu...... You okay? Pei Jinquan said with some concern.

"It may be a bit of a lottery, it shouldn't matter." Lin Yizhe looked at it for a while, and only after making sure that Lu Wenjing was okay did he put down the binoculars.

At this moment, "Fujing" and "Jianjing" also hit the "Longxiang" one after another, and the violent explosion attracted the attention of Lin Yizhe and Pei Jinquan to the "Longxiang" again.

"This ironclad ship of the Japanese is larger than the last time, and it seems that the turtle shell is more solid."

Seeing that two 190-mm shells and two 140-mm high-explosive shells directly hit the armor of the "Long Xiang", after the four fires dissipated, except for the black smoke, the "Long Xiang" seemed to be business as usual, Pei Jinquan couldn't help but mutter.

"Pull in, hit the deck, the gun door." Lin Yizhe said in a deep voice.

As soon as Lin Yizhe's words fell, the guns of the "Jianjing" began to roar again, and both Lin Yizhe and Pei Jinquan saw the fire rising on the deck of the "Long Xiang".

A 190-millimeter high-explosive bomb flew away like a meteor, hitting the mainmast of the "Longxiang", Lin Yizhe saw the flash of fire, and the mainmast of the "Longxiang" instantly broke apart, and the burning wood pieces flew in all directions, as if it had rained fire, and the broken upper mast mainmast fell along with the signal flag above, smashed on the side of the ship, and slid into the sea.