Out of the West Korean Bay, you entered the sea frontier of the Ming Empire, and the sea here has a new name: the Yellow Sea. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoWhen the fleet of the Ming Empire entered the Yellow Sea, everyone seemed to be relaxed.

By this time the Japanese fleet was already out of the question, so this time the battle might have ended. Some seafarers were clearing the decks of their ships, while others were returning to their bunks, relaxing and resting with the intention of recovering from the fatigue of the past two days.

Just when Zhang Rude was doubting whether his caution was really superfluous, a huge explosion suddenly came from the port side of the battleship Hengshan that was traveling in front. The huge column of water obscured the figure of the cruiser on the flank of the battleship Hengshan, but Zhang Rude still judged that it was the heavy cruiser Fuxian Lake that exploded.

It was a heavy cruiser with a displacement of 10,000 tons, and it could be said that it was the most powerful battleship on the sea except for battleship-class warships. With 3 twin 203 mm guns, this heavy cruiser resembles a huge sea fortress.

But now that the situation is not good with this huge sea fortress. Its hull had begun to tilt, and the huge explosion had caused smoke from its boiler, and the fire was visible even from the bridge of the battleship, the fleet's flagship, the Huashan.

"What's the situation? What's going on? Ask the alert ships to see if there are any enemy ships nearby! Zhang Rude frowned and glanced at the exploding Fuxian Lake heavy cruiser in front of the bridge, and gave the order to prepare for battle without a moment's delay.

Soon the Ming warships were sounding shrill sirens, the destroyers and cruisers on the periphery were accelerating, and many soldiers were standing on the side of the ships, observing the nearby sea, trying to find anything worthy of vigilance. It took less than 30 seconds for most of the Ming warships to begin to accelerate and change their predetermined sailing direction.

With this sudden explosion, it took Zhang Rude less than 1 minute to confirm that it was not an attack from an enemy warship. Soon the cause of the explosion was left with only two other possibilities: either it was bad luck because it triggered a mine, or it was an accident in the ammunition compartment of the battleship itself.

"Destroyer No. 144 is trying to get close to the exploding cruiser Fuxian Lake to rescue the officers and men who have fallen overboard...... Destroyer Project 213 called to say that it had seen a strange track. An officer reported the fleet's response to Zhang Rude, who had a solemn expression.

After that explosion, the main forces of the Ming fleet began to change their course. The huge fleet left white waves on the surface of the sea like ridges, and because of the turn, these waves drew a graceful arc and looked beautiful.

"I still can't contact the Fuxian Lake, which exploded...... It could be that the radio equipment was damaged. We're trying to use light signals and flags to connect, but the smoke is blocking our vision, and we don't know if they can see it. Another officer came to the bridge and reported the latest situation to Zhang Rude.

The atmosphere in the entire fleet changed from relaxed just now to solemn in an instant. This unexplained explosion affected everyone, and even now it is not known whether the explosion was an enemy attack or a mistake by one's own people.

"Report, Destroyer No. 144 observed, the cruiser Fuxian Lake has been flooded too much and has begun to roll badly." One report after another made Zhang Rude's face more and more ugly, and before he knew what the reason for the explosion of his warship was, this precious warship was already destined to sink in this icy sea.

Zhang Rude put down the telescope that was being aimed at the cruiser Fuxian Lake, and ordered his subordinates with difficulty: "Use flags, light signals, and radio to send a message to the cruiser Fuxian Lake, and let all officers and men abandon the ship." This is an order, including the captain of the Fuxian Lake! ”

There is an unwritten tradition of the world's navies for captains, that is, the captain should sink with his own warship in a combat state. This tradition of not allowing the captain to abandon the ship and escape has been passed down since 200 years ago, because Zhang Rude did not want to lose a captain inexplicably, so he deliberately sent a signal to ask the captain of the cruiser Fuxian Lake to leave the ship together.

Unfortunately, at this time, the captain of the Fuxian Lake could no longer see the signal deliberately sent to him, and at the moment of the explosion, the captain who happened to be patrolling the explosion area was torn to pieces by steel along with more than 50 officers and soldiers, and a large amount of water directly affected more than 100 crew members.

The second torpedo fired by the Japanese and the first torpedo hit the side of the cruiser Fuxian Lake together, this time the explosion directly ignited the 203 mm caliber main gun shells stored in the ammunition depot, and the huge explosion directly lifted half of the bridge, including most of the non-commissioned officers and senior commanders such as the first officer and other senior commanders were killed, and the fire affected the vision on Fuxian Lake, and even until the moment when it was about to sink to the bottom of the sea, there was still no one to organize an escape or emergency repair.

Of course, the North Sea Division of the Ming Empire was also very lucky in this history-making attack. A torpedo grazed the tail of the battleship Hengshan, which did not cause a greater disaster, and the strange traces seen by the destroyer No. 213 were left by this torpedo.

"Are you sure? Are you sure? Damn it! In the radio communication room of the battleship Huashan, a non-commissioned officer dropped his headset, stood up and shouted loudly to the officer in the distance: "This is an attack!" This is an enemy attack, not an accident! Not an accident! ”

His shout attracted the attention of the officer on duty in the radio communication room, who came over and asked, "What's the matter?" Why? ”

"Sir! The news that the destroyer No. 144 had just arrived, and they had approached the cruiser Fuxian Lake and found that there were two holes in the side of the cruiser Fuxian Lake! They say that it has been confirmed that it is not a breakage formed by an explosion, not a single one! This is an enemy attack! The radio communications non-commissioned officer reported loudly.

"Hell! Contact Destroyer Project 144 to confirm the news! After hearing the report from his subordinates, the officer on duty held the hat on his head with one hand, pushed open the hatch and ran towards the command bridge. (To be continued.) )