A small Japanese warship immediately turned around, and the sailors on the Russian patrol ship surrounded by fire jumped into the sea one after another, the Japanese originally planned to save them, but now they were out of time, and the other three small Japanese warships also began to quickly leave the battlefield like the first one.

The large Russian cruiser with the name "Bayan" written on its hull had already fired its first shot, and the shells grazed the stern of a small Japanese warship and set off a column of water. The four small Japanese warships all fled at full speed, and the waves that stirred up continued to wash the deck.

In this skirmish, four small Japanese warships wiped out the small Russian patrol ship, but one incident on the battlefield often leads to other outcomes. And the outcome will be unpredictable.

Pursued by the large Russian cruiser "Bayan," four small Japanese warships fled to the open ocean, and at this time, six large Japanese warships emitting black smoke appeared in the open ocean, and in order to rescue the four small Japanese warships, they launched a surprise attack on the "Bayan."

Heihachiro Togo thought that the "Bayan" should be the best strategy at this time, but the captain of this Russian warship was extremely brave and planned to challenge the enemy's six large warships with a single ship. It didn't slow down, and it quickly approached with the wind and waves.

Like the captain of the Bayan, like a knight who jumped on his horse and rushed into the night as soon as he spotted the enemy, his flagship "Petropavlovsk" also rushed out of the harbor, followed by a large number of miscellaneous warships. This is the largest line-up that the Russian side has sent out on the ocean so far.

According to the original plan, the Japanese ships attracted Russian ships to the open ocean. But in order to attract Russian ships, it is necessary to rush to the enemy's artillery fire.

When the cannon of the Russian flagship "Petropavlovsk" was the first to spew sparks, other Russian ships also began to bombard. Shells landed in front and behind the Japanese ships in Dewa. The whole sea immediately boiled. The Japanese cruisers, although they knew that they were not opponents. But they also fired together, and the sea was shrouded in smoke from the shelling of both sides, and a Japanese ship almost collided with a friendly ship as it dodged in all directions.

The Japanese warships rushed one step at a time, one step back, one step back, and one step back, repeatedly carrying out these complex movements in an attempt to lure the enemy out into the ocean. And Makarov seems to have finally made up his mind to attack the ocean. Heihachiro Togo saw the formation of the Russian fleet change, and put out a single echelon formation on the left forward, while the entire Russian fleet increased its speed. While rushing towards the Japanese fleet.

The Japanese cruiser immediately turned its direction in the direction where the main fleet was waiting, trying to take Makarov there. Makarov led the fleet to follow, and Togo Heihachiro guessed that he was confident that he also had a strong army and was quite confident in his bravery. He walked a long way out, and finally came to a distance of 15 nautical miles out of the ocean, where the main Japanese fleet had been waiting for a long time.

Makarov took this as the end point of his courage, and when he found out that he had been deceived, he immediately gave the order for the whole fleet to retreat, and the flagship "Petropavlovsk" set off a wave and began to turn around, trying to escape back within the range of the fortress guns. The other ships also began to turn around on the heels of their flagships. After a while they were back within range of the fortress guns, but Makarov had no intention of returning to the port. He also wanted to continue to fight for a while.

By this time, the fog on the sea had cleared, the sky had cleared, and his vision had suddenly widened, and Heihachiro Togo could clearly see the movement of the ships of the warring sides.

As long as the Japanese warships were within range, they all sent shells to the Russian flagship "Petropavlovsk" as much as possible, but only one hit and the others fell into the water, and soon Makarov opened up the distance between him and Togo.

Heihachiro Togo watched all this nervously. Officers of the Japanese Navy also watched Makarov's fleet with binoculars.

Makarov's ship, Petropavlovsk, was slowing down on the shore parallel to the mountains of the Tiger Tail Peninsula, heading towards the port of Arthur, when the bell for the end of the battle was already ringing on the Russian ships, and the Russian sailors left their gun positions and stretched their bodies everywhere on the deck, as if to show contempt for the Japanese navy.

Togo Heihachiro saw Makarov walk out of the combat command post, just met a painter with the army, he greeted the painter happily, the painter's eyes moved away from the sketchbook, found the admiral in front of him, and handed over his sketchbook a little embarrassed, on which he drew the Japanese fleet on the horizontal line.

The Japanese fleet was also still on the horizon, with a few black plumes floating in the sky.

At this time, there was an earth-shattering loud noise, and Heihachiro Togo saw that the bottom of the "Petropavlovsk" was held up by a powerful force, and the deck was also pried up, and a huge pillar of fire appeared!

It all happened in an instant, and Heihachiro Togo saw Makarov swept up by the shock wave and fell heavily on the deck. When Makarov got up again, covered in blood, he immediately unbuttoned it, took off his coat, and took off his shoes, and the veteran who knew the sea wanted to jump from the side of the ship, and although he was seriously injured, he gritted his teeth and walked towards the side of the ship, but by this time the deck of the "Petropavlovsk" had sloped like a steep slope, and it was difficult to move forward.

At this time, a second explosion occurred. Makarov probably knew that he would have a hard time escaping, and Heihachiro Togo saw him on his knees and made a final prayer gesture.

It took just over a minute for the Russian battleship to sink completely from the time it exploded. Makarov sank to the bottom of the sea along with the warship, and hundreds of Russian sailors were martyred along with Makarov.

The Russian Army soldiers at the Golden Mountain Fort near this body of water let out an exclamation. Makarov also had a high reputation among the soldiers of the army outside his jurisdiction. Army soldiers on the Golden Mountain battery witnessed the entire sinking of the "Petropavlovsk". Seeing the soldiers kneeling down at the same time, Togo Heihachiro took off his hat and drew three crosses on his chest with the three fingers of his right hand. I did a Russian prayer. Farewell to the world-famous player they are proud of.

Heihachiro Togo watched all this. Somehow, the uneasiness in my heart became heavier and heavier.

Is this real history? And is it a history that you are personally involved in?

Just as Heihachiro Togo was immersed in this incomparably real and familiar dream, a cannon shot made the dream disappear in an instant.

Heihachiro Togo jumped up from the bed suddenly, he didn't understand what was happening, he hurried to the porthole, and saw the small Russian warship, which was rushing towards it, and above its mast. The St. Andrei's flag of the Russian Navy has been lowered rapidly, and in its place is a blood-red flag!

As for the meaning of the enemy's actions, Togo Heihachiro was very clear.

Lowering the flag of one's own country and raising the red flag means that the actions that the Russian ship will take are no longer bound by its own laws and have nothing to do with its own government, but will attack like pirates!

Historically. When pirates chase their prey, they will first raise their white flags. Identify yourself, and sometimes the prey will give in for this to lower its own flag; But if the prey refuses to surrender, the black and white flag is raised, indicating intent; If the prey continues to flee, the red flag will fly at the top of the mast, meaning that once the prey is captured, nothing will be left alive.

In later times, for example, in the case of the United Kingdom, a traditional naval country, the British armed civilian ships were ordered by the king to raise a red flag on their masts in addition to the national flag before launching a broadside battle. The purpose is to warn the victim that if they resist, they will not be forgiven.

And now the practice of the Russian ships shows that their purpose is to destroy the "Mt. Fuji"!

According to Heihachiro Togo's order, the captain of the "Mt. Fuji" Shichiro Kataoka, who was constantly monitoring the Russian ship, and the Satsuma naval gunners under his command also understood the intentions of the Russian ship, and it was only the Satsuma gunners who would unceremoniously fire at this menacing small Russian warship.

"Sir! The enemy ships rushed towards our ship, as if to launch a lightning strike! A Satsuma officer hurried in and reported to Heihachiro Togo.

Before he could finish speaking, the 120-mm cannon of the "Mt. Fuji" began to bombard again.

Heihachiro Togo couldn't help but sneer when he noticed that the shells fired from the "Mt. Fuji" exploded on the surface of the sea very close to the small Russian warship, and the stirred up sea water rushed onto the deck of the Russian ship, making the Russian ship feel like a chicken in soup.

He turned around, took his coat and put it on calmly, and then took the military hat and put it on, and then he went out of the cabin with the officer and came to the flybridge.

"Why the cannon?" Heihachiro Togo saw that Shichiro Kataoka and several other officers were holding binoculars and were nervously staring at the rapidly approaching Russian ship, and he wanted to relieve the tension on the flybridge, so he asked very casually.

"The enemy ship rushed over at such a fast speed, obviously trying to launch a lightning strike." Shichiro Kataoka put down his binoculars and said, "And...... Enemy...... It seems that they want to attack our ship with torpedoes! ”

Hearing Shichiro Kataoka say the words "torpedo", Heihachiro Togo couldn't help but look awkward.

Because Lin Yiqing perfected the lightning strike tactics of the Satsuma Navy, the officers and men of the Satsuma Navy were very familiar with the attack tactics of the pole mineboat and related tactics, and it was as soon as this small Russian warship was launched, Kataoka Shichiro keenly felt what the other party wanted to do, but he never observed that the other party's lightning strike device was there, until the enemy ship approached, and he saw the appearance of the bow of the enemy ship clearly, so he made such a guess.

Heihachiro Togo immediately raised his binoculars and took a closer look.

Sure enough, in the binoculars, he clearly saw that there was a black hole in the bow of the enemy ship, which was fully enclosed like a turtle shell!

That's a torpedo tube!

Although the Satsuma Navy is not equipped with torpedoes, a cutting-edge weapon, Togo Heihachiro is no stranger.

According to what he learned in England, as early as the second year of Keio (9066 Western calendar), the Englishman White? Hede designed the first self-propelled torpedo.

Does Heihachiro Togo remember White now? The first self-propelled torpedo designed by Head had a blunt, stiff front end, with the overall appearance of a dolphin and four long fins extending to the entire length of the minebody. The engine is propelled by compressed air stored in the mine body at a pressure of 370 psi and relies on a simple flap to keep the speed constant. It uses a two-cylinder V-shaped engine with offset cylinders with two parts of the vanes, and the air pressure directly drives the cylinder to drive the only propeller.

The weapon is designed to be launched from an underwater launch tube. The adjustment of the sailing depth is done by a hydrostatic valve controlled elevator. The heading bearing is controlled only by fixed fins. It travels at a speed of 6.5 knots. It can sail 200 yards, and if you want to go another 100 yards, you have to lower your speed. The propeller speed is 100 rpm. The depth control of this new weapon was initially extremely unstable. But White? Improvements were made, and two years later a new depth fixing device was installed on the model. This device consists of a water pressure regulator - a pendulum device. However, relying only on this control principle, the system lacks inherent damping and its oscillation amplitude is large. The horizontal pendulum device adds an element of inertia to it, which makes the elevation angle of the torpedo when navigating more precisely proportional to the depth (the self-weight of the combat torpedo is heavier than the equal volume of water it distributes, i.e., the torpedo is subject to negative buoyancy. It has to have a certain elevation angle when navigating in the water. The thrust of the propeller is divided into two components, one to counteract the negative buoyancy. One pushes the torpedo forward. When the torpedo is disturbed by external interference and the depth is greater than the preset depth, the elevator should increase the elevation angle of the torpedo in order to return to the normal depth. However, the exception is the training torpedo, which can be lifted up by itself at the end of the voyage after launch, so that it can be recovered and reused. Author's note), with the addition of damping limiting, the depth error is greatly reduced. Such a torpedo can be from the water or from White? Launched from an underwater launch tube manufactured by Head.

White? In a bold experiment of attacking ships, Hede enclosed an abandoned wooden coal carrier with protective netting, moored it as a target ship, and fired a 16-inch diameter torpedo with a warhead at a distance of 134 yards. The torpedo went through a protective net and blasted a large hole in the deck of the ship, 20 feet long and 10 feet wide. The target ship sank instantly. Seeing this amazing scene, the British Navy ordered a batch of White that year? Head's torpedo. The torpedo was thus put into service in Britain.

In the autumn of the second year of the Meiji era (9069 A.D.), a British naval delegation came to the test site to inspect the White ? After the invention of the self-propelled torpedo, Head wrote a report on the success of torpedo tests. White? Head was invited to perform live in England. He took with him a torpedo 16 inches in diameter, 14 feet long, with a 67-pound strong cotton warhead and another 14-inch in diameter, less than 14 feet long, with an 18-pound warhead. These torpedoes can be from the water or from White? Launched from an underwater launch tube manufactured by Head. From September to October of Meiji 3, more than 100 launches were carried out. The average performance of these torpedoes reached the level of 7 knots and a range of 700 yards. In the fourth year of the Meiji era, the British Navy bought a production patent for 15,000 pounds and started its own production. Other European countries also showed great interest in such a powerful weapon, and subsequently, France, Germany, Austria and Italy began to be armed with torpedoes. Head products are sold all over the world. Several countries themselves tried to manufacture with White? Head's product was similar to a torpedo, but not very well-behaved. This, in turn, stimulates White? Head is constantly improving its products. At first, he intended only torpedoes to be used to attack moored ships in the harbor, in which case the speed of 7 knots was enough. The only thing that needs to be improved is the accuracy of shooting and the reliability of the triggering fuse. But what he didn't expect was that the Germans would come up with a guy with a speed of 16 knots and a range of 500 yards. Now White? Feeling the pressure of competition, Hede did not dare to slack off, pondering the replacement of the two-cylinder V-engine on the torpedo with a three-cylinder engine. By the time of the eighth year of the Meiji era, White? Head was already able to produce a torpedo with a diameter of 14 inches, a speed of 18 knots, and a range of 550 yards.

In order to expand production, White? Head buys the company he works for. Within four years, the production and sales of torpedoes with mature technology were booming. The enviable production record is constantly being broken. Ever to White? The Germans who bought torpedoes with the head of the head were modeled after White? Head's design principle makes torpedoes himself. This was followed by a German company in Berlin that produced high-quality phosphor copper torpedoes, which were exported to Russia and Spain.

What Heihachiro Togo is most worried about now is that the torpedo used by the new Russian mine-striking ship in front of him may be a German product with excellent performance!

"If the enemy ship gets closer, the secondary guns will also fire!" Heihachiro Togo ordered.

At this time, the Russian mine-striking ship was still far from the "Mt. Fuji", and the "Mt. Fuji" had been firing with 120-mm Krupp breech guns, and after a while, the Russian ship approached at high speed, and under the order of Shichiro Kataoka, the Satsuma gunners fired 75-mm Krupp breech guns to join the shelling.

"Our enemies are quick to react!"

In the armored commander tower of the mine-striking ship "Demolition", Makarov looked at the "Mount Fuji", whose side gun flames were constantly flashing, and sneered.

"The enemy is proficient in pole and minecraft tactics and has sunk a warship of the Japanese Navy, so after seeing the movements of our ship, he will not hesitate to open fire." Captain Rysakov said, "They are more cunning and more difficult to deal with than the Turks." ”

Makarov knew that Rysakov was reminding himself that in the battle with the Turkish Navy, he commanded the "Demolition", and successfully sent the Turkish Navy's ironclad ship "Incibach" to the bottom of the sea with a torpedo. (To be continued......)

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