A shell fired just now from the 160-mm breech gun of the "Tsukuba" has already hit the "Wannianqing". Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Ito Junkichi turned his head and looked in the direction of the "Mt. Fuji" and "Yangchun" ships, and except for the faint red light and large clouds of smoke, he could not even see the shadow of a warship.

Now Ito Junyoshi has reason to suspect that the "Ryusho" sent such a signal because Keinori Fukushima wanted to compete with him for military merit.

Ito Junyoshi looked at the "Wannianqing", which had been surrounded by black smoke and the artillery fire had obviously weakened, gritted his teeth, and gave the order to turn.

After all, the other side is the flagship, and the orders issued have to be obeyed.

Seeing that the "Tsukuba" with smoke still on its body turned and sailed away, Shiki Kayama put down the telescope in his hand with a gloomy face.

In fact, the signal just now was sent at his command.

From the moment he saw the appearance of the Chinese fleet, Shiki Kayama, who still had the concept of a Japanese samurai fighting alone, took it for granted that the flagship of the enemy fleet should be the prey of the flagship of the Japanese fleet where he was located, the "Ryuchamp", and how could he not be extremely angry that the lead ship "Tsukuba" had actually rushed ahead of the flagship?

The departure of the "Tsukuba" obviously made the Chinese naval officers and men on the "Wannianqing" feel a little inexplicable, but this situation did not last long, on the flybridge, He Xinchuan saw the huge figure of the "Longxiang", and knew that this was an ironclad ship whose tonnage and firepower far exceeded that of the "Wannianqing", and he was secretly surprised in his heart.

Although as the first batch of Chinese naval captains from the Harbour Master School, He Xinchuan has seen large British and French ironclad ships, and even boarded the French Navy's ironclad ships, and is no stranger to this kind of steel floating city on the sea, but after all, it was peacetime, at this moment, when he encountered the Japanese ironclad ship on the battlefield, although it was not comparable with the large ironclad ships of the British and French Navy, it still brought great pressure to him and the officers and soldiers under his command.

The "Longxiang" ironclad ship with a displacement of 2,850 tons is nearly twice as large as the "Wannianqing" and has two 165-millimeter guns and 10 140-millimeter guns, which is much more powerful than the "Wannianqing" with two 120-millimeter guns and six 75-millimeter guns.

At this time, the two ships were approaching rapidly, although he knew that the enemy ship was far stronger than the existing ship, but at this time, He Xinchuan had no intention of escaping.

After all, this is his first battle, and although he is facing a powerful enemy, this is by no means a reason for him to give up fighting!

He Xinchuan's eyes fell on the hull of the "Wannianqing" that had been damaged and was still smoking, because the "Tsukuba" shot a solid bullet, although it hit the "Wannianqing" solidly, it would never explode, and because the "Wannianqing" was a wooden hull and had no armor protection, although this solid bullet was amazingly powerful, it turned out to pass straight through the hull, pierce through the other side, and fall into the sea.

Since most of the breech guns of Japanese warships were equipped with such solid shells, in order to be able to sink enemy ships, most of them fired below the waterline, in order to penetrate the hull and cause a large amount of water. In this encounter with the Chinese warship, the Japanese ship still followed such a tactical principle, and it was only because of the poor gunner's skills that it became like this.

Soon, the "Longxiang" rushed to the front of the "Wannian Qing", and the two ships showed a state of sailing opposite each other, and when the two ships each used their side to face each other, the gunners of both sides invariably began to shoot.

The six cannons on one side of the "Longxiang" began a fierce salvo, and one after another huge shells swept across the sea and flew straight towards the "Wannianqing", entering the water not far from the "Wannianqing" and setting off a high column of water, while the two 120-millimeter guns and three 75-millimeter guns of the "Wannianqing" also opened fire fiercely, and He Xinchuan couldn't help but shout loudly when he saw that the three 75-millimeter shells had all hit the enemy ship.

While the gunners of the "Longxiang" and the main gunners of the "Wannianqing" were busy with the loading of the breech guns, the three 75-mm secondary guns of the "Wannianqing" opened fire again.

Because all the secondary guns of the "Wannian Qing" were 75 mm Krupp breech guns, the firing speed was extremely fast, so that before the gunners of the "Longxiang" could react, these guns re-spewed out tongues of fire.

He Xinchuan saw a 75-mm shell hit one of the gun doors of the "Long Xiang", and exploded there, bursting out a dark red fire, which was immediately surrounded by black smoke. After a short time, the Japanese ships opened fire again, but this time only five guns fired, and the gun door that had just been hit by a 75-mm shell fired by the "Wannianqing" was dumb.

He Xinchuan's heart flashed like lightning, at this time, on the mast of the "Wannian Qing", the shooters manipulated the Lin's machine gun inside to fire, and the rain of bullets and fires poured down, sweeping straight towards the deck of the Japanese ship, and suddenly the flames and debris flew in all directions, although the distance was very far, He Xinchuan seemed to be able to hear the screams and wails of the enemy sailors on the opposite side.

"Pass the order! Tell the gunner to fire at the enemy's gun! He Xinchuan ordered loudly.

The heralds left in response, and at this time the "Wan Nian Qing" and the "Long Xiang" had already staggered past, and He Xinchuan ordered the rudder to be turned, and before the enemy ship could turn, the "Wan Nian Qing" had already rushed to the stern position of the "Long Xiang".

The "Wannian Qing" once again began to fire a salvo from one side, because all the guns of the "Longxiang" could only shoot at both sides, and the tail was the dead angle of the shooting, so at this moment, there was only the share of being beaten, and there was no power to fight back.

Several 75-millimeter shells flew and landed on the deck of the "Longchamp" and exploded, and for a time the shock wave swept across the deck of the "Ryuchamp" with shrapnel, and as the Japanese sailors who were beaten into a sieve fell one by one, there was a sound of ghosts crying wolves everywhere.

Shikinori Kayama on the flybridge was also almost hit by shrapnel, and he retreated back to the command tower with Keinori Fukushima and others in some panic, and he raised his binoculars again to look at the Chinese warship, only to find that unlike the mess on the deck of the Japanese warship, on the deck of the Chinese warship, the Chinese sailors could even walk safely.

Now Shiki Kayama understands why the Japanese fleet, led by the ironclad ship "To", will be annihilated by the Chinese Navy.

The "Wannianqing" quickly passed through the stern of the "Longxiang" by virtue of its high speed, and opened a distance from the "Longxiang", and without waiting for the "Longxiang" to turn, the "Wannianqing" had already sailed to the other side of the "Longxiang" and was driving side by side with the "Longxiang", but the distance between the two sides was much farther than just now.

The two warships continued to engage in a fierce artillery battle, and the shells fired from the "Wannian Qing" continued to hit the "Longxiang," and for a time the "Longxiang" hull rose from time to time with dark red flames and billowing black smoke; although the heavy iron armor of the "Longxiang" withstood the fierce bombardment of the "Wannianqing," the Japanese sailors on the ship could not help but be frightened by the terrible artillery fire.

In particular, the Chinese gunners played very tricky, and the shells were always fired at the guns of the Japanese ships, and although they did not penetrate the armor there, the shrapnel that flew into the guns from time to time could always inflict terrible damage on the Japanese gunners.

Although the Japanese gunners tried their best to maneuver the 165-mm and 140-mm breech-loading guns to shoot at the "Wan Nian Qing", they were always difficult to hit due to poor gunnony skills and long distances. However, Fukushima Keinori commanded the "Ryuchamp" to accelerate towards the enemy ship several times, trying to shorten the combat distance, but the "Wannianqing" was aware of it, and it left at high speed, maintaining an engagement distance of about 3,000 meters.

Just when the "Longxiang" was tortured by the "Wannian Qing" fighting style ********, in another battlefield, the battle was also raging.

While the "Tsukuba" and "Ryuxiang" were both heading for the "Wannian Qing," two other small Japanese gunboats, the "Mt. Fuji" and the "Yangchun," also rushed straight at the three Chinese gunboats, the "Jingyuan," the "Zhenhai," and the "Zhenwei."

The three small gunboats, "Jingyuan", "Zhenhai" and "Zhenwei", all belong to the "Meiyun" class gunboats built by the shipyard, with a displacement of 550 tons, one 140 mm Schneider breech gun and four 75 mm Krupp breech guns, and the fastest speed can reach 14 knots, making them the cutting-edge gunboats of the Chinese Navy. However, due to the lack of care and maintenance after arriving at the Nanyang Naval Division, the boiler was aging, and the speed was not as good as before, and the speed had dropped to below 10 knots, but compared with the Japanese gunboats, the ship's condition was still much better.

Compared with the Chinese gunboats, the Japanese gunboats all give people the feeling of old dragon bells, among which the "Mount Fuji" has a larger displacement, reaching 1,000 tons, equipped with 12 80 mm breech guns, but it is an old ship that entered service in 1866, with a maximum speed of only 7 knots; The "Yangchun" has a displacement of 530 tons, is equipped with six 70 mm guns, and the fastest speed is only 7 knots, and it is an old ship that entered service in 1865, and it is older than the "Mount Fuji".

At the beginning of the battle, the two sides began to fight each other, with "Jingyuan" and "Zhenhai" attacking the larger "Mt. Fuji" one after the other, and "Zhenwei" and "Yangchun" fighting each other. Due to the relatively high rate of fire of the guns of the Chinese gunboats, the Japanese ships were overwhelmed at the beginning. It was only due to the lack of training in peacetime that the gunners of the three Chinese gunboats were not as skilled as the gunners of the "Wannian Qing", and they fired several salvos one after another, with few hits.

In contrast, the Japanese ship's gunnery was slightly better, but because the Japanese ships were all equipped with old breech guns, the firing speed was slow, and after a long battle, not a single shot could be hit.

Soon, however, the situation on the battlefield changed in favor of the Japanese.

The "Tsukuba" received a message from the "Ryuchamp" that "'Mt. Fuji' and 'Yangchun' are dangerous!" Support now! After that, they stopped fighting with the "Wannian Qing" and sailed in the direction of the "Mt. Fuji" and "Yangchun" ships fighting with the Chinese gunboats. Soon, the "Tsukuba" arrived at the battlefield, and it was only then that the captain of the "Tsukuba", Ito Junyoshi, realized that the situation on the battlefield was indeed unfavorable to the "Mt. Fuji" and "Yangchun".

Almost similar to the situation in the Battle of Langqiao, the Chinese gunboats in the battle quickly discovered their superiority in speed and artillery rate of fire, so they took the slow Japanese gunboats as the center, bypassed the circle, and continued to bombard, while the Japanese gunboats resisted vigorously, but because the artillery rate of fire was too slow, and the speed was too far from the Chinese gunboats, they were never able to hit the other side, but were hit by the Chinese gunboats.

During the engagement, the larger "Mount Fuji" was hit by 1 140-mm shell and 1 75-mm shell, and a huge hole had already appeared in the hull. "Yangchun" was hit by two 75-mm shells, a fire broke out, and the ship was covered with smoke. If it weren't for the timely appearance of the "Tsukuba" and the dispersion of the Chinese gunboats, the two Japanese gunboats would likely have come to an extremely tragic end.

After a brief observation of the battlefield situation, Ito ordered the "Tsukuba" to rush towards the two Chinese gunboats besieging the "Mt. Fuji".

Seeing the appearance of the "Tsukuba", the two Chinese gunboats "Jingyuan" and "Zhenhai", which had been attacking together, made a fatal mistake. The "Jingyuan" took the lead in meeting the "Tsukuba", while the "Zhenhai" did not follow, but was still firing at the "Mt. Fuji", and was bent on sinking the Japanese gunboat as soon as possible. Indeed, the temptation to sink a 1,000-ton Japanese gunboat was too great for Yang Yibao, the pipe band of the "Zhenhai," and the officers and men of the Nanyang Naval Division under him.

The "Jingyuan" commanded by Jiang Chaoying rushed straight towards the "Tsukuba", and did not stop attacking the enemy ship with the 140 mm Schneider breech gun in the bow.

The battle with the "Wannian Qing" just now had given him a certain understanding of the combat effectiveness of the Chinese Navy, and it was this time that he became extremely cautious and did not order the gunners to open fire until he was quite close to the "Jingyuan."

After about 10 minutes of fierce firing, the 140-mm breech-loading guns of the "Jingyuan" took the lead in achieving results, and a shell exploded on the deck of the "Tsukuba", killing six Japanese sailors on the spot, and Ito Junyoshi on the flybridge was also wounded, his arm was grazed by shrapnel, and then a 75-mm shell hit the rear mast of the "Tsukuba", breaking the mast, and at about the same time, "Tsukuba" A 160-millimeter shell fired from the "Jingyuan" hit the waterline, piercing it, and seawater immediately poured into the hull through the hole.

Seeing that the enemy ship had been hit, Ito Junyoshi did not care about the pain, and loudly ordered to continue firing at the waterline of the enemy ship, and soon, two more 160-millimeter solid bullets pierced through the waterline of the "Jingyuan", and the sea water rushed in, and the hull of the "Jingyuan" immediately began to tilt, and the secondary guns had to stop firing.

On the "Jingyuan", Jiang Chaoying rushed down the flybridge and came to the cabin to check the damage to the hull, and saw that the damage was serious and a large amount of seawater poured in, he knew that the "Jingyuan" might not be able to float for a long time, so he immediately ordered the warship to break away at full speed.

Under Jiang Chaoying's order, the Chinese sailors in the engine room began the operation of strong pressure ventilation, and the "Jingyuan", which had not reached a speed of 10 knots, actually ran out of a speed of 12 knots, desperately rushing in the direction of the shallow water, and the "Tsukuba" originally refused to let go of this small Chinese gunboat and tried to pursue, but after all, it did not catch up, and seeing the "Jingyuan" that was already tilting violently, Ito Junyoshi knew that the other side might not be able to travel long before sinking, so he did not continue the pursuit, but continued to attack the "Mount Fuji" Zhenhai" rushed away.

Seeing that the "Tsukuba" turned its head to attack itself, and the "Jingyuan" had disappeared, Yang Yibao, the pipe band of the "Zhenhai", realized that something was wrong and was about to retreat at high speed, but he did not expect that an 80-millimeter shell from the "Mt. Fuji" hit the "Zhenhai" flybridge, and Yang Yibao was shaken off the flybridge, fell on the deck, and fell unconscious. The ship suddenly fell into chaos, and at this time, the "Tsukuba" approached and began to fire a salvo from the other side of the "Zhenhai", forming a flanking attack on the "Zhenhai" with the "Mt. Fuji".

In the face of the attack of the two Japanese warships, although the "Zhenhai" ship, which had lost its command, tried its best to resist, because the Japanese ships were too close, in the face of the flanking attack, the gunners of the "Zhenhai" could only use the guns on one side to return fire; although it was not long before some sailors stepped forward and fired the guns on the other side, they were still much weaker than the firepower of the two Japanese ships, and the higher rate of fire could hardly make up for the gap in caliber and quantity.

After a long fierce battle, Yang Yibao, who was unconscious, woke up under the timely rescue of the sailors and returned to the flying bridge to continue directing the battle. At this time, although it was flanked by two Japanese ships, due to the poor gunnership skills of the Japanese gunners and the slow rate of fire of the artillery, only one 160-mm solid shell and one 80-mm shell hit the "Zhenhai" during a long artillery battle between the two sides.

Although there were not many bullets, the 160-mm solid shells fired by the Japanese ships passed through the waterline of the bow of the "Zhenhai" and penetrated on both sides, causing great damage to the hull of the "Zhenhai", while the 80-mm shell caused a partial fire on the deck. Yang Yibao then ordered to break away from the battle and sail to the shallow water area to extinguish the fire and drain the water to save himself.

But at this moment, misfortune befell the head of the small gunboat.

A 160-millimeter solid bullet fired from the "Tsukuba" flew in a whistling manner, hit the hull of the "Zhenhai", pierced the wooden hull plate of the "Zhenhai", drilled directly into the boiler room, smashed the boiler, and triggered a violent explosion of the "Zhenhai".

With a loud bang, the middle of the hull of the "Zhenhai" exploded, and a huge fireball rose up. The bow of the "Zhenhai" began to sink first, the stern of the ship was erected high in the air, and the propellers were still spinning rapidly...... In less than 10 minutes, the heroic battleship disappeared from view.