Seeing the loss of two destroyers in succession, he was embarrassed and angry and poured all his artillery fire on the "Perseus", although the "Perseus" did its best to fight against the warship, but under the furious blow of the 203-mm main gun and 152-mm secondary guns of the armored cruiser "Azuma" with a displacement of 9,307 tons, it quickly lost its ability to resist. He said that his picric shells also had the problem of insufficient armor-piercing ability, and finally the "Perseus" ignited a raging fire and sank in the light of fire and explosions.

And just as the officers and men of the "Azuma" were smiling at the "Perseus" gradually disappearing into the sea and the German officers and men struggling in the sea, a red-like light suddenly flashed under the gray sky in the distance, followed by a loud thunderous sound, and suddenly there was a piercing whistling sound in the air when a large-caliber shell pierced through the air.

Soon, he found out through the binoculars that it was a German battleship that opened fire!

The precise artillery fire of the German battleship frightened him, and Kato Kanji on the "Kurama" immediately ordered the destroyer to attack, and just as he finished speaking, the "Azuma" that rushed ahead was shot, and Kato Kanji saw that the "Azuma" was rising one huge flame after another, and the slender hull was broken into two in the explosion -- the "Azuma" hit eight large-caliber shells in a short period of time, and the ammunition depot exploded -- the violent explosion actually blew the bottom of the "Azuma" out of the sea more than 10 meters high. More than 650 officers and men of the Navy, including Captain Ryoichi Yagi, did not survive.

"It's Crown Prince William." Tetsutaro Sato, who was standing on the bridge of the Kurama, said to Kanji Kato, "It only fires with two main turrets, and it's still so powerful." ”

"We've got to sink it!" Kanji Kato looked at the armored cruiser "Azuma" that was gradually disappearing into the sea, and for a moment he was annoyed and angry, he waved his arms and gave a loud battle order, "Let the 'Ibuki' follow!" We send them to hell! ”

Although the sinking of the "Azuma" dealt a great blow to his morale, when he saw that there was only one lonely spirit of the German battleship faltering in the distance, his courage seemed to have been restored. Without waiting for Kanji Kato, who was on board the Kurama, to give an order, 12 destroyers rushed towards the "Crown Prince William" at high speed.

Knowing that the "Crown Prince William" had broken into the enemy's encirclement, it also saw the two "quasi-battle patrols" that appeared in the distance, and it seemed that it no longer cared about its fate, and the two remaining main turrets continued to spit long flames, and the secondary guns also turned the surrounding sea water into boiling.

The destroyer "Elm" was probably greedy for merit and rushed to a distance of about 500 yards from the "Crown Prince William" before firing the torpedo, and just as the destroyer "Elm" was about to turn around and run away after firing the torpedo, a 350-millimeter large-caliber shell fired from the main gun of the "Crown Prince William" hit the poor destroyer, and the "Elm" was lifted from the waves like a toy boat. With a loud bang, it broke in two, and almost at the same time, the stern of the "Crown Prince William" was also hit by a torpedo fired from the "Elm", and a high column of water was raised.

Having been hit by the rudder, the "Crown Prince William" began to slowly circle around the sea, heading straight for the main fleet. Seeing that there was an opportunity, Kanji Kato immediately commanded the "Kurama" and "Ibuki" to meet them, and the 305-mm main bubble of the "Kurama" began a salvo at a distance of 12,000 yards, and then the "Ibuki" also opened fire.

One after another 305-millimeter shells flew towards the "Crown Prince Wilhelm", hitting the body of the German battleship covered with bullet wounds, making a loud and heart-piercing sound, looking at the dazzling flashes of light emitted from the German ship, Kato Kanji knew that his artillery was not powerful enough, according to this style of play, even if the other side gave up resistance and wanted to sink this German capital ship, it would have to bombard for at least two or three hours.

Seeing that the German ship's firepower was not strong, other warships also gathered one after another to shoot at the "Crown Prince William" with guns of various calibers, and at this time, two torpedoes fired by the destroyer hit the hull of the "Crown Prince William," and the hull of the "Crown Prince William" shook violently, and the main guns also fell silent.

Seeing that the main guns of the German battleship were dumb, he was surprised and said that he leaned over and fired around the giant ship with all kinds of guns, large and small. An officer aboard the "Kurama" wrote in his diary: "...... We pressed on her, each salvo hitting her, and she was already enveloped in yellow flames and black smoke...... Both chimneys collapsed, and the red tongues of fire poking out of the breaches on both sides indicated that the fire was raging inside the hull...... Her mainmast slowly tilted, like a large tree, and slowly lay down on the foredeck. …… More details of the battle were provided by the survivors of the ship's hull that we rescued later, as they groped their way inside the tilting hull with flashlights in their hands, and the gunners, microphone controllers, and ammunition delivery teams were blown to pieces. The upper deck was littered with ruins, flames, scorching heat, and corpses, and the suffocating yellow-green gas from the explosive residue of our shells spread everywhere. In order to prevent the "Crown Prince Wilhelm" from falling into the hands of the enemy, the captain of the "Crown Prince Wilhelm", Hans . Feng. Lieutenant Commander Page ordered the ship to sink and ordered the entire crew to put on life jackets", and after giving the order, he stepped out of the conning tower and was immediately killed. However, the warlike naval officer, Rear Admiral Luffy, refused to obey, and he ordered the battle to continue, and since the main guns were all destroyed, the Germans insisted on returning fire with the secondary guns. Faced with this situation, an officer said that he was full of respect: "The 'Crown Prince William' has shown incredible bravery...... The last time I saw her, she was completely wrecked, the whole middle of the hull had been reduced to a smoking hell, but she still spewed out angry and defiant fire with two bow guns and one stern gun, like a wounded and mad tiger. ”

Under the frantic siege of the warship, the resistance of the "Crown Prince William" finally stopped, and Kanji Kato also ordered a ceasefire, and the destroyer "Shirasha" lowered the dinghy and rescued 56 people who had fallen into the water. Seeing that the deck of the German ship was crowded with wounded people who were unable to move, the "White Sand" ventured close to the "Crown Prince Wilhelm". About 220 men withdrew to the destroyer in flames and smoke. But there was a young German officer who was very active in transporting the wounded, but he refused to leave the ship at this time, and although he tried to persuade him, the officer just stood still, saluted him proudly, and said simply: "Thank you, no." "The "Crown Prince Wilhelm" finally sank, and the German [***] officer was not able to be rescued in the end.

With the sinking of the "Crown Prince William", this "three-fork" style melee finally came to an end, Kato Kanji counted his results, although a large number of cruisers and destroyers in exchange for sinking the enemy's battleship, but he finally kept the "Kurama" and "Ibuki" two quasi-battle cruisers, such a result, has made him thankful.

To Kato's surprise, soon, the defeated German battleships and their deadly pursuers would appear in front of him.

After the "Republic" regained power, Betty was never able to see the enemy ships, at this time he still tried his best to maintain command of the entire fleet, and he did not know that although the Germans, whether battleships or light ships, had been scattered, the German light cruisers had repeatedly drilled out of the fog, and tried to attack when they saw lone Allied ships, and were forced to retreat when a large number of Allied ships arrived. Although this style of play posed little threat to the Entente fleet, it effectively slowed down the pursuers. Since Betty did not know the current situation of the battle, he could only wait passively, and he was soon reported that because of the dense fog, all the Chinese battleships pursuing the Germans had lost their targets (on the one hand, due to the unpredictable weather in the North Sea, and on the other hand, the Chinese naval officers and men were inexperienced in combat, and they did not respond appropriately in such situations), Betty had to order a gathering, but the order was given for a long time, but there was no response.

Just when Betty was anxious, a huge gray shadow suddenly appeared from the western fog, and Betty somehow felt a kind of uneasiness and tension in her heart. But this unpleasant smell did not last long, as the lookout shouted the name of the "Constitution", the melancholy on the bridge vanished in an instant, and waves of ease and joy swept over the ship, and in a short time four other Chinese battleships also appeared in sight, "each of them appeared in the wake of the ship in front of them, and sped by like an express train." An English[***] officer wrote excitedly in his chronicles, "The deck of the battleship was deserted, the chimneys were spewing puffs of smoke, and the huge turrets poked out of their long barrels and rose high forward, as if eager for battle." A Chinese captain aboard a Chinese destroyer witnessed the same sight: "The Republic, the Ming Cook, the Constitution, the Free Spirit, the Nation, and the Reading Power all came towards us like an ancient beast walking among a pack of cats and dogs." They were as big, cold, and fierce as the monsters of the Wilderness, and they looked so sturdy, so awe-inspiring. They followed in our footsteps and pursued the enemy here, and we showed them the enemy of the hand...... Then they went their separate ways...... A moment later we heard the roar of a cannon. ”

"After about half an hour, the first thing that was reported was the sound of artillery in the distance. Soon there was a faint glimmer of the muzzle in the fog on the port side, which at first was only a faint glow, and soon a hint of orange and gold was recognizable. Soon after, the body of the 'Crown Prince William', riddled with holes and fire demons, appeared in front of him, and several cruisers were firing without mercy, and their shells caused more explosions and even more fire. …… I think I must have been very surprised when I saw us appear, they would have feared that we would take away their achievements, but unfortunately they were wrong, and of course the male lions would not compete with the hyenas for their prey, and soon the flagship ordered a left turn and a detour, so that he could enjoy their delicacies alone. ”

Soon, the Chinese battlefleet made visual contact with the light cruisers and destroyers, and the "Augsburg" and "Fuerte", which were sticking to the Chinese fleet at first, saw that the situation was not good, and immediately turned around and ran away, and the "Augsburg" successfully escaped, and the luck of the "Fuerte" was obviously not good enough. Betty, with the speed advantage of the fast Chinese battleship, easily cut off the retreat of the "Fuerte" and kept it in sight at all times. At a distance of 7,000 yards, the Fulte was an excellent moving target, and "the turret of the Republic turned slowly, pointing at the poor creature ...... In a few moments, the cannon roared, and the other ships opened fire. "In a short time, the German cruiser ship was hit several times by heavy shells, and she bravely aimed her small 6-inch (actually 105 mm) gun at our ship's command tower to return fire." Someone felt a small 6-inch shell hit the armor of the conning tower, and the shrapnel hissed away. In a matter of minutes, that German cruiser was a pile of carved steel. ”

At this moment, a German battleship with two chimneys sailed out of the thick fog and appeared in front of Betty, this was the "Elector" who had just arrived on the battlefield, she was still ignorant of the battle situation, and the course happened to cross the bow of the "Republic". Betty immediately dropped the dying "Fuerte" and pounced on her new prey. Shen Honglie ordered the gunners to switch the firing targets, and the gunners quickly switched the main turret from port to starboard and reopened fire. We fired three heavy salvos, and the enemy ships were completely surrounded by flames and explosions, and I saw only constant explosions and columns of water rising high. At such close range, the Elector's evasion effect was minimal, "the first salvo formed a close shot at about 330 yards, and the second was so close that a column of water flooded the foredeck." The third salvo of the "Republic" hit the target, and the rest of the ships joined in succession. The Chinese battleship fired for about 20 minutes at a distance of 3000 to 6000 yards, constantly setting off a series of inverted waterfalls around the target. The number of shots on the "Elector" is no longer countable, and she is completely enveloped in fire and smoke.

Even in this one-sided and exhilarating battle, the strings in Betty's heart still crumbled, and due to the long battle, the ammunition and fuel of the Chinese battleships were greatly consumed. The accompanying Chinese destroyers continued to spot some mines that were outcropping. The German submarine was still a lingering shadow on Betty's mind, and after making sure that the "Elector" was finished, Betty left the dying German battleship and turned around and signaled the retreat of all Allied ships in the bay.

Although it was less than 50 minutes before he joined the battlefield, Betty knew that he had another target to attack. When the Chinese battlefleet passed by the "Fuerte", which was still holding on to the water, the "Republic" fired two salvos from two forward turrets at a distance of 2500 yards, sending the pile of wreckage to the bottom of the sea. The four destroyers just wanted to come to the rescue, but they found the trace of the periscope and had to turn the rudder and leave.

The people on board the "Elector" couldn't help but rejoice as they watched the Chinese battlefleet turn away. However, due to the complete destruction of the fire extinguishing equipment, the fire on the ship was out of control, and the officers and men, led by Captain Konett, gathered on the foredeck to prepare to abandon the ship. At the suggestion of some soldiers, the officers were cheered three more times. Fortunately, after a while, the German light cruisers "Rita" and "Strauss" appeared and rescued the survivors. For a period of time, the fire on the "Elector" gradually died down and the explosions decreased, and Captain Konett, who loved the ship, was ready to ask the "Strauss" to tow it. And yet at this moment. The "Elector" suddenly capsized and sank.

Due to the presence of fog, other German light cruisers in the vicinity escaped doom. If the weather is clear, they will definitely die in front of the Chinese battleships.

At this time, Betty still hoped to be able to kill all the remaining German battleships.

"I really don't understand how I could let them escape right under their noses."

In the commander tower of the "Republic", Betty looked at the battle reports sent by the ships, and her brows began to wrinkle unconsciously.

"After all, the Orientals are not very accustomed to the weather changes in the North Sea," the chief of staff of the fleet looked at the dense fog rising in the distance and said, "It is the foggy weather in the North Sea now, and there is more fog than today, and it is difficult to identify the target, and besides, the Chinese sailors have not experienced such a battle before, and it is quite good to be able to achieve today's results, and we should not be harsh on them anymore." ”

Betty shook her head and was about to speak, when a red light suddenly came from the distance, followed by the rumbling of cannons.

"What's going on?" Betty rushed to the bridge with the officers and looked into the distance.

"It's the guns of German battleships! We've found them! A British [***] officer shouted excitedly.

"There...... Is it my position? Betty asked, looking through the binoculars at the place where the red light was coming from.

"It should be." Xu Zhenpeng put down the telescope in his hand, nodded, and said in a mocking tone, "Their luck has been very good today. ”

"Let them report right away!" Seeing that the shelling in the distance was becoming more and more intense, Betty ordered with some annoyance.

As for the reason why she appeared in Helgoland Bay early today, Betty is actually very clear in her heart.

As soon as Betty's words fell, a huge gray shadow loomed in the thick fog not far from the port side of the "Republic".

At this time, the fog was getting bigger and bigger, and it was quite possible to reach out and lose sight of the five fingers, and judging from the position of the other party, the other party was heading in the direction of the "Republic", and it was very close to the "Republic", but the speed did not seem to be fast.

"Fire! Hit it! That's an enemy ship! Shen Honglie suddenly shouted.

With his order, the main turret of the "Republic" began to slowly turn to the port side, listening to the rolling sound of the turret turning, Xu Zhenpeng's heart also hung up.

At this moment, the shadow of the ship in the distance suddenly radiated a bright red flash, followed by a thunderous roar, accompanied by the sound of cannonballs whistling through the air, the No. 1 main turret of the "Republic" suddenly burst into huge flames.

A strong shock wave swept over, overturning all the people on the bridge, and some small shrenchnel hit the armor plate of the command tower, grazing out sparks, and several officers were hit by shrapnel, and immediately let out a cry of pain.

(To be continued)