Soon the counterattack on Heights No. 1 was also completed, destroying the enemy, and after the two armies converged, under the cover of mortars, artillery bombardment was launched on the Japanese troops defending in place. Kuroda was confident in defending against the Qing infantry's attack, but when they advanced lightly, they made a fatal mistake.

The 6 60mm Armstrong field guns equipped in the army were still in the camp more than ten miles away because of the transportation relationship, and the iron steel wheels and gun carriages equipped with those things were very difficult to push by manpower, so they were not useful in this night attack, but even if their infantry team was equipped with 60mm field guns, they could not compete with the opponent's artillery in terms of rate of fire and power.

After receiving an extended attack from the enemy's artillery fire, Kuroda immediately made up his mind to retreat completely, without the support of artillery, and to engage in a decisive ground battle, which was definitely an unwise act

At this time, the three battalions of the Second Association began to occupy the advantage of strength and firepower, and launched an attack on the Japanese army from the west and south, facing the fierce fire and artillery reinforcements of the Protector Army, the Japanese army chose the tactics of active retreat in the night, seeing the opponent's resistance and rapid and orderly retreat, the third battalion of the Protector Army also chose to take the initiative to break away from the battle after a little pursuit.

After all, before forming an absolute superiority, to eat a team of similar strength, first, it has to pay an absolutely large price, and second, in Qin Kai's strategic plan, there is no big plan for the Japanese army from the beginning, as long as the opponent is repelled and seriously injured, the strategic goal of relying on fortifications to complete the killing and wounding is achieved.

After dawn, the armies of both sides temporarily disengaged from contact, Kuroda Nakasa counted the battle damage, and more than 500 casualties and missing people overnight, including nearly 300 people killed in battle, and a large number of wounded waiting for rescue, the failure of this night attack can almost be described as a fiasco, it is obvious that the number of enemy troops on the opposite side is obviously not a small force, but the main force of the Qing army.

Thinking of this, Kuroda immediately decided to shrink the formation first, retreat 5 miles, retreat to the camp built first to rest, and immediately send sharp soldiers to spy on the front to block his army intelligence, and send small forces to occupy the villages and towns north of Liantian Port, and at the same time transport the wounded back to the port, preparing to send them back to the Japanese mainland for treatment, and at the same time asked the War Department to continue to send additional troops

At the moment when the fierce battle outside the city of Gomei County was in full swing, outside the port of Naha in the south of the Ryukyus, a huge fleet took advantage of the bright sky and cautiously sailed to the outer port, and the plaster flag fluttering high showed that this was the Japanese ironclad fleet that came all the way, and at this time the port of Naha was very calm, but it looked a little surprising that it looked calm

According to his estimates, after the Qing fleet occupied the Ryukyus, it was bound to strengthen the defense of Naha as soon as possible, so that the navy could enter and leave the East China Sea at will

According to the plan, he also sent the new cruiser "Tsukushi" as a spearhead, preparing to use the speed of "Tsukushi" at 16 knots to eliminate patrol ships in the port area. But the situation is very strange now, there are no patrol boats outside the port, and even two fishing boats, and the port of Naha seems to be defenseless...... Arai Yougong thought about it for a few minutes, no matter what the Chinese are doing, let's grab Naha back first

The order was immediately given, and the Japanese fleet lined up in battle outside the port of Naha, with the guns of the black hole pointed directly at the port in the distance, and as the spearhead of the fleet, the cruiser "Amagi" ironwaki-hulled once again assumed the duty of cannon fodder, slowly heading towards the port, and the two 150mm terrace guns in the bow of the ship were nervously pointed at the port.

After cautiously touching the port, they were surprised to find that this place seemed to be already an airport, and because of the mine-striking incident that occurred in Liantian Port the day before, the "Amagi" gunboat had been walking extremely cautiously and had been sailing in the deep waters of the main channel......

However, it was clear that the good wishes of the Japanese were a complete extravagant hope, and as they had slowly driven less than a thousand meters, the boilermen and mechanics in the bilge immediately heard a strange sound, the slight touch of the hull against something, which, though not very quiet, made them feel distracted

On the other armored cruiser "King Kong" following in the distance, Arima Shinichi Nakasa was also obviously very confused about the situation here, and he held a telescope to observe the cruiser "Amagi" that was penetrating the harbor in the distance, and there were two batteries in this harbor, and if nothing else, the defending Chinese would definitely open fire. ,

However, it seemed that the wind and waves were calm, and when they saw the "Amagi" slowly sailing into the port, the commanders of the Japanese fleet who were waiting behind them were somewhat relieved, and even some of the officers had muttered in a low voice, it seemed that Chinese must have considered that they could not hold the Ryukyus, and gave up here, and they were just engaged in a sneak attack before......

However, the "Amagi", which was slowly entering the port, suddenly stopped suddenly, and in the stunned eyes of the Japanese officers, thick black smoke suddenly appeared from the front of the bow, and fierce fire came out of the middle of the hull, and then everyone heard two earth-shattering explosions

Arai Yougong's face changed, at this time there was no movement at all on the distant battery, this violent explosion was obviously not caused by shells, it is clear that the cruiser "Amagi" once again repeated the mistake of Liantian Port, these hateful Chinese, even put mines on this main channel

The cruiser "Amagi" was obviously badly damaged by this violent explosion, and it was very unfortunate that the bow of the ship hit the anchor mines laid on the main channel, and it hit two at a time, and at this time, the first quarter of the whole ship had completely detached from the hull, and the broken wood chips flew far away under the action of the strong air current, and the sea water naturally poured into the hull from the bow without any suspense

The British-built wooden-hulled battleship, which had only been in service for three years, had clearly completed its history in the port of Naha, and the officers and soldiers on board had what else to think about a battleship that had lost a quarter of its hull...... They all jumped into the sea from the stern of the boat to escape.

In the face of such an embarrassing situation, whether to continue to attack, or to return, this is a problem that Arai Yougong must solve immediately, Arai secretly cursed in his heart, this Qing Navy is really crazy, and even blocked his own port with mines At this time, he naturally understands the current situation, they are running long distances to attack Naha, that is also hoping to catch Qing Guo off guard here, according to common sense, the other party will definitely anchor some ships in the port.

You must know that the warship moored in the harbor in this era, if it didn't have time to fire and pressurize, the steam engine didn't start, it would be a live target, but now it seems that the other party did not set up any powerful ambushes in this harbor, but it must have laid a lot of mines.

If it weren't for wartime, Arai would have been sure that he would have been able to clean up the port in a few days by sending a rope to detect mines, but when is it now, his warships are parked outside the port, and obviously they can't pose any threat to the enemy forces in the port, and at this time, the army on the other side is estimated to be advancing southward......

The Japanese Admiralty and the War Department have always been in a state of fierce competition, and Arai can be said to be quite under pressure at this time, and the Imperial Fleet under his command was purchased by the huge wealth saved by the Emperor's Restoration in the past ten years, and in order to purchase the new warships needed by the Navy, the Imperial Governor even greatly reduced the army's expenditures

Something must be done, Arai Yugong took out the map, immediately gave the order, and ...... to the south Continuing south, more than 30 miles south of Naha Port, there is another simple commercial port, Itoman, where large cargo ships can be berthed, but the harbor is narrow, not suitable for too many ships to enter, but at this time, it will be necessary to land first.

More than 30 miles, but an hour's sea journey, and when the huge fleet arrived at the port of Itoman, Arai observed that outside the small port, there was an American cargo ship that seemed to be unloading, but it happened to block the narrow channel of the port.

As a last resort, he sent an officer to discuss with the American cargo ship whether to make way for the soldiers on the cruiser "Soun" to dock and log in to the original plan, but the plan to directly occupy Naha after attacking from the port of Naha was obviously difficult to implement, and it was necessary to try to attack Naha from here

There was silence in the port of Naha, in fact, the news of the arrival of the Japanese fleet had already spread here, and the army defending here was only 50 Protectors, 200 Ryukyu New Army, and the commander was Fang Dai, the captain of the Protector Army.

After the little Japan was deflated at the port, they did not turn around and go north to Liantian Port, but continued to go south, and Fang Feng immediately gathered all his troops, directly abandoned the defense of Naha Port, and pulled the new Ryukyu army and went straight to the south.

When he left Naha Port, the local guide from the Ryukyus was already waiting, and he immediately shouted loudly, "Go to the west peak ridge in the south," and the group immediately followed the guide and hurried away. ,

It is the only hilly area in the south of the Ryukyus, and the entire hilly area is about 150 meters high, forming a geographical dividing line separating Naha and Itoman.

According to the plan, if the Japanese army gave up attacking Naha, then Naha's defenders would be stationed at Xifeng Ridge as soon as possible, relying on the mountainous area for defense, of course, the defense order issued by Zhang Kui was to defend for the purpose of killing and injuring the enemy, rather than simply defending one or two mountain peaks, and what was needed was to resist the enemy step by step.

Wait until the afternoon... At that time, the Protector Army and the Ryukyu Army in ambush at Xifengling waited for the first group of enemy troops, which were a small detachment of 30 people who landed on the "Soryu", and they were the first Japanese troops to launch a reconnaissance and occupation mission to Naha, mainly composed of marines and sailors on board.

You must know that the authorized number of the "Cangyun" Tetsuwaki cruiser is only 150 people, and it is already very difficult to squeeze out such a manpower of more than 30 people, and this is also thanks to the "Amagi" that hit a mine in front, and a large part of the combat soldiers are from the soldiers who escaped on the Amagi.

As a result, in this premeditated ambush, under the siege of more than 200 Ryukyu troops and well-equipped protectors, the first Japanese soldiers who served as spearheads resisted for only 10 minutes before almost all the troops were wiped out

A Japanese officer who desperately escaped brought the news of the ambush to Itoman, who was reorganizing the Marines here and preparing to form an army to occupy Naha and Shuri, and Arai Yugong was taken aback, and his every plan seemed to be calculated by the other side, which was definitely a psychological shock...... The other party had long expected that he would land from Silk Port

For a commander, it is absolutely unacceptable to be controlled by others everywhere in the battle, Arai sorted out his thoughts, and along the way, the Qing army expected that he would attack Naha, so he desperately abandoned the port, took the initiative to lay a large number of mines to blockade, and landed from the port of Silkman, and he was also ambushed in advance

This situation must be changed immediately, and it is necessary to give full play to the advantages of this powerful navy, but in the current situation, the other party seems to know his tactics very well, and has set up many obstacles for himself everywhere, so that he has a feeling of punching cotton, and he is completely unable to use his strength...... Thinking of this, Arai Yugong immediately decided to replan the tactics of the fleet, and he had to get rid of the current situation immediately.

The fleet set sail again, and Arai felt that he had seen through the intentions of the enemy commander, and the other party seemed to have no intention of fighting a decisive battle with him, but instead used mines and the method of blocking on the road, gradually depleting his own strength, it seemed that he still had to carry out the established plan and go straight to the tiger's den

After resting in the bay of the island that night, early on the morning of the 15th, the huge Japanese fleet began to enter the role, the fleet approached the port of Naha, and several small boats were put down, using the cable to carry out demining operations on the main channel, and the guns on the battleship Morimori were pointed in the port, Arai had already calculated, at most half a day, skilled Japanese soldiers could find a main channel suitable for the fleet to enter the port

In the north of the Ryukyus, Deng Shichang rushed to the vicinity of Tokushima overnight to rendezvous with the combined fleet, while the Nanyang and Beiyang fleets were busy in Tokushima for three or four days, but they found nothing...... Little Japan of Dog Day has learned so smartly

The fleet immediately returned to the south, Tokushima was still more than 200 kilometers away from Naha, the whole fleet was sailing at a speed of 8 knots, Lu Han lay on the chart to depict the direction of progress, and by tomorrow morning at the latest, the fleet would be able to reach Naha, which was the first battle launched by the Nanyang Naval Division in the shape of a fleet.

After a long night of continuous sailing, the fleet was hidden in the early light next to a deserted island 8 kilometers west of the port of Naha, and the number of warships participating in the battle reached a staggering number, with a total of 10 warships of the combined fleet of the Nanyang and Beiyang naval divisions participating in the battle.

The specific battle plan, Qin Kai did not participate too much, it was made by Lu Han and Liu Buyun after discussion, the Nanyang Naval Division's new 601 light fast cruiser will be used as a decoy, and the two fleets will form an attack formation on the left and right flanks respectively, and once the Japanese Navy enters the attack range, it will immediately counterattack.

In the morning, the main Japanese fleet, which had been busy all day yesterday, had just woken up from its slumber, and Arai Yugong got up early, and as soon as it was dawn, he urged the demining unit to carry out its work, hoping to quickly clear the channel, so that he could easily take advantage of the great superiority of the naval guns and occupy the port of Naha in one fell swoop. ,

Suddenly, Arai, who was carefully considering, was suddenly awakened by the rapid sound of alarm bells, and soon the news came from the lookout post that an unidentified warship had appeared on the western horizon, and it was clear that the other side was spying on the Japanese fleet.

Arai Yougong immediately sent two warships, "Tsukushi" and "Hiei", to meet the enemy, check the identity of the other party, and if it was the Qing fleet, resolutely sink the other party

However, this plan to meet the enemy soon went bankrupt, and when Tsukushi relied on speed to catch up, the other party turned around and left without hesitation, and there was no intention of a decisive battle at all, and as soon as the Japanese battleship retreated, the 601 ship followed with a stubborn fight.

Seeing this, Arai once again issued an order, with Hiei and King Kong forming the right wing, and he personally led the Fuso, Tsukushi, and Cangyun to form the left flank to flank the Qing warship.

On the 601 ship, Lu Zhiyuan calmly kept this distance in the stalemate battle with the two Japanese warships, and now he saw that the entire enemy army had obviously started to act, and the five battleships formed a pincer offensive, it seemed that the other party was sure of himself, he smiled slightly, and his yin* can be described as very successful

Lu Zhiyuan immediately ordered to turn around and evacuate without hesitation, but the speed was very cooperative to maintain about 15 knots.

Inside the Fuso ironclad ship, Arai Yougong naturally saw some signs, the appearance of the battleship in front of him was very similar to the Qing warship that attacked Naha Port pointed out in the intelligence, which made him very interested in using his current advantage to annihilate the culprit in one fell swoop.

But the other party did not mean to engage in the battle immediately, and withdrew all the way, it is obvious which direction to seek support It seems that the main force of the Qing State Water Division is over there, thinking of this, Arai Yougong felt a burst of excitement in his heart, this decisive battle between the main force and the main force will definitely create his immortal achievements

He gave the order loudly, "Inform the whole army, line up for battle, follow the opposing warship, and prepare for a decisive battle!"

When the Japanese fleet in a column followed and the 601 ships entered the ambush circle, the 501 ships that rushed out of the battle column from behind the island fired their first shots, and in the black smoke in the sky, with the rumbling cannons, a row of shells smashed into the left flank ...... the cruiser "Hiei" like a waving steel whip.