The cruelty of the naval battle, at this time, was displayed in front of Saigo Takamori with its bloody side.

The well-trained Satsuma sailors did not waver from this, and soon the sailors stepped forward to remove the dead and wounded from the deck and sprinkled sand on the deck to prevent them from falling while walking.

Saigo Takamori saw the sand, and then he noticed that on the flying bridge where he was, there were sandbags tied behind the guardrail, thinking of Togo Heihachiro's painstaking arrangement, Saigo Takamori was moved.

The fierce artillery battle continued, and the "Kongo," under the command of Heihachiro Togo, as the captain of the "Hiei" did last time, always locked the engagement distance at a medium distance favorable to the side by virtue of its high speed, and took advantage of the short range of the "Fuso's" main guns to continuously fire at the "Fuso."

Heihachiro Togo's tactics achieved very good results; except for the one shot just now, the shells fired from the main gun of the "Fuso" were never able to hit the "King Kong" again, and all of them fell into the sea not far from the "King Kong," while the 170-mm main guns of the "King Kong" hit the "Fuso" one after another, causing the "Fuso" to burst into flames and thick smoke, but despite this, the "King Kong" was never able to inflict fatal damage on the "Fuso."

Saigo Takamori noticed that Togo Heihachiro, who was beside him, did not turn his gaze to "Fuso", but stared at another sea, and couldn't help but be very strange.

Saigo Takamori raised his binoculars and looked in the direction that Togo Heihachiro was looking, and was shocked to find that in the smoke of gunpowder on the sea, a small gunboat was struggling to rush towards the port side of the "King Kong".

"Isn't that the 'Panlong Pill'?" Saigo Takamori asked a little strangely.

"Yes." Heihachiro Togo put down his binoculars, and a wry smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. "According to Lin Jun's battle plan. Our ship will take cover. The next attack will be carried out by the 'Beauryomaru'. ”

Listening to Togo Heihachiro's answer, Saigo Takamori was surprised.

Although the "Panlong Maru" gunboat was equipped with a 240 mm caliber Krupp breech mortar, this kind of gun was only suitable for bombardment on the other side, and it was actually very inconvenient in naval battles. In fact, it is very inconvenient in naval warfare. But Togo Heihachiro actually said that Lin Yiqing arranged for the "Panryu Maru" to attack the "Fuso" ironclad ship, which really surprised him.

If Heihachiro Togo hadn't said that such an arrangement was made by Lin Yiqing, he really had to wonder if the staff camp had brought in spies and tampered with the battle plan.

In order to cover the approach of the "Panryu Maru," which had poor protection performance in the sea, Togo Heihachiro re-commanded the "King Kong" to rush toward the "Fuso." The government officers and men on the "Fuso" were annoyed by the "King Kong's" rogue tactics, and when they saw that the "King Kong" had re-entered the firing range, the gunners of the "Fuso" were all overjoyed and immediately lost no time in firing with their main guns.

Seeing the fierce artillery fire of the enemy ships, Heihachiro Togo and Takamori Saigo and others left the flybridge. Entering the command tower, Heihachiro Togo was about to run to the observation window. A shell fired from the "Fuso" hit the main deck of the "King Kong" and exploded, only a loud bang was heard, and a large cloud of gunpowder smoke sprayed in through the observation window.

Heihachiro Togo felt a violent tremor under his feet and almost fell, he tried to stabilize his body, turned back to look at Saigo Takamori, and saw that Saigo Takamori was unharmed, but he almost fell, so he was relieved.

"In terms of artillery battles alone, the soldiers of enemy ships can be described as good at fighting!" Saigo Takamori came to the observation window, held a telescope, and looked at the "Fuso" in the distance, "I just don't know who its captain is." ”

"According to Lin Jun, the captain of the enemy ship is Kozo Tsuboi, a native of Choshu, who used to be the captain of the 'Settsu' ship." When Heihachiro Togo heard Saigo Takamori ask, he replied on the side, "The commander of the enemy fleet is Yoshishin Inoue, who has only recently been promoted to rear admiral. ”

Hearing Saigo Takamori's praise of the enemy ship, the Satsuma naval officers in the commander tower all looked angry, but out of respect for Saigo Takamori, they did not say anything, but devoted all their energy to the cover operation in front of them.

The shell on the deck just now killed and wounded many sailors on the deck of the "Kongo", and the flames were ignited, and a large cloud of smoke rose up, but the Satsuma gunners did not flinch, but worked hard to bombard the enemy, and in just a few minutes, one 170-mm shell and two 150-mm shells hit the deck of the "Fuso," and the "Fuso" was also filled with thick smoke.

At this moment, the gunboat "Uryu Maru," under the command of Captain Ryosuke Shibayama, was cutting into the battle group from the stern of the "Kongo" under the cover of thick smoke on the sea, and was constantly approaching the "Fuso."

On the deck battery, the huge 240-mm Krupp breech mortar gun of the "Panlong Maru" had been loaded and was waiting for the "Panlong Maru" to take the "whole ship" approach to aim at the target.

"Target, the stern main turret of the enemy ship, ready! Put! ”

After determining the direction of aiming, the gunners waved their command knives sharply and gave the order to fire the guns loudly.

"Boom!" The muzzle of the black hole spewed out a dark red fire, followed by a thick cloud of black smoke, and the huge shells rushed out of the chamber and flew straight into the air.

On the "King Kong", Togo Heihachiro and Saigo Takamori happened to see the "Panryu Maru" firing, and when they saw the 240-millimeter giant bomb flying into the sky, Saigo Takamori's eyes widened and did not blink.

He couldn't imagine what kind of damage the "Panlong Maru" cannon could cause to the "Fuso".

The 240-millimeter bomb fell from the sky and smashed into the sea not far from the port side of the stern of the "Fuso," stirring up a high column of water, and the "Panryu Maru" missed its first launch.

Seeing this scene of "mortar cannon ceiling", Togo Heihachiro couldn't help but secretly scream that it was a pity.

Although the "Fuso" was inexplicably hit by a shot, because of the smoke on the sea, the "Panryu Maru" was not found, and it still concentrated its firepower on the "King Kong."

The "King Kong" was hit by the main guns of the "Fuso" again, and the hull of the ship trembled violently, as if it was about to be overturned. Heihachiro Togo almost fell down again. But after he stabilized himself. Instead of going to see the injuries of the "King Kong", he kept an eye on the "Panlong Pill".

The gunners of the "Panryu Maru" quickly completed the reloading operation and fired another shot at the "Fuso", but this time the shell still did not hit the target, but landed on the sea surface on the starboard side of the stern of the "Fuso".

This shot of the "Panryu Maru" obviously attracted the attention of the "Fuso", and Togo Heihachiro raised his binoculars to look at it, and saw that the stern main turret of the "Fuso" was slowly turning in the direction of the "Panryu Maru", and a group operating 75-mm sampan guns also struggled to move their guns in the direction of the stern. I want to bombard the "Panlong Maru".

And when the Nodenfeld 4-barreled machine gun of the "Fuso" turned to the "Panryu Maru" and opened fire, Heihachiro Togo's heart sank suddenly.

But at this moment, the Gatling cannon of the "Panryu Maru" actually opened fire first, and a stream of fire swept straight to the aft deck of the "Fuso", and the government gunners who were operating the Nordenfeld machine guns and sampan guns were caught off guard, and many people were hit, and Heihachiro Togo clearly saw through the binoculars that the arm of a government officer commanding it was broken at once, and a hand holding a command knife fell on the deck. Then the whole person was like a puppet with a torn string torn apart, scattered and shattered. Another government gunner instantly knelt there. He screamed loudly because his two calves were missing in an instant.

The stern of the "Fuso" became the hell of Shura for a while. The gunners suffered heavy casualties, and the Nordenfeld guns were completely suppressed, but the heavily armored stern main turret was undisturbed in the slightest - the shells of the Gatling guns hit the turret, turning into sparks, leaving a row of pitted spots, which could not do any more damage.

Just as the huge Coles turret slowly turned, and the thick barrel pointed at the "Panryu Maru", the "Panryu Maru" opened fire again.

The huge cannonballs whistled into the sky, and then fell down like a meteorite, and seeing the canopy of the "Fuso's" bulky Coles turret, Heihachiro Togo suddenly understood Lin Yiqing's intention to use the "Panryu Maru" to attack the "Fuso".

The seemingly impregnable Coles turret on top of the Fuso, and the canopy set up to disperse smoke should be its only weak point!

The next scene confirmed Togo Heihachiro's conjecture, this time, the "Panryu Maru" finally hit the target, Togo Heihachiro's eyes widened, watching the huge bullet disc down into the air, and landed firmly on the canopy of the aft turret of the "Fuso", and easily broke through the canopy and smashed into the turret.

The cylindrical Coles turret was like a furnace with the lid removed, and in the huge explosion, a cloud of flames erupted in an instant, followed by billowing smoke, and the two thick barrels were lifted by the huge wave of air generated by the explosion, and fell to one side, the door of the turret opened, and several government gunners covered in fire rushed out screaming and screaming.

"The 'Panlong Pill' is playing well!" Saigo Takamori also saw this thrilling scene, and couldn't help but slap his palms and shout loudly.

At this time, Togo Heihachiro can be said to be full of admiration for Ryosuke Shibayama, the captain of the "Uryu Maru", and Lin Yiqing, the formulator of the battle plan.

He didn't expect that in a naval battle, there could be such a way of fighting!

While Togo Heihachiro was feeling agitated in his heart, he saw several wounded Satsuma gunners, under the command of a newly emerged officer, take advantage of the gap between the Gatling machine guns of the "Panryu Maru" to maneuver the sampan guns at the stern of the ship and fire a shot at the "Panryu Maru", hitting the main deck of the "Panryu Maru".

A flash of fire rose on the deck of the "Panryu Maru", and then the small body of the "Panryu Maru" was completely surrounded by thick smoke, and the 240mm mortar and Gatling guns all stopped firing. Then the "Panryu Maru" began to turn, dragging the billowing smoke out of the battle.

Seeing the "Panryu Maru" withdraw from the battlefield, Heihachiro Togo couldn't help but sigh.

After the "Panlong Maru" withdrew, it became a counterfire between the "King Kong" and the "Fuso"; because of the relationship between covering the "Panryu Maru," the "King Kong" had already rushed to a very close distance from the "Fuso," and in the close artillery battle, it was obvious that the 240 mm large-caliber main gun of the "Fuso" had an advantage. Although the stern turret had been completely abolished and could not fire, and a third of its firepower had been lost, it was still able to suppress the firepower of the "King Kong".

Not much. "Fuso" twice hit the starboard side of the "King Kong" with its main guns. Not only did the two 150-mm guns and one 170-mm gun of the "King Kong" mute fire. It also ignited the shells on the gun emplacement, and a series of explosions not only greatly reduced the firepower of the "King Kong", but also caused the deck building of the "King Kong" to burn.

"Turn right 15 degrees! Back to Hong Kong! Seeing this, Heihachiro Togo decisively gave the order to withdraw from the battle, "Keep the speed!" 9 knots! ”

Hearing Togo Heihachiro's order, Saigo Takamori asked with some puzzlement: "Heihachiro, although our ship has been hit by many bullets, the engine is intact, why do you want to reduce the speed?" Wouldn't this be overtaken by enemy ships? ”

"This is also Lin Jun's order. Great General. Heihachiro Togo explained. But Yanqing did not leave the observation window, "Lin Jun's instructions, if the 'Panlong Maru' is unfavorable in battle and fails to cooperate with our ship to destroy the enemy ship, then implement a plan to lure the enemy into depth, so that the enemy ship thinks that our ship is seriously injured and slows down, so as to facilitate the introduction of enemy ships into port." ”

"That means that Hanpeng still has the means to deal with 'Fusang' in Hong Kong?" Saigo Takamori somewhat understood.

"It should be!" Heihachiro Togo replied.

Saigo Takamori understood that Togo Heihachiro might not know Lin Yiqing's entire battle plan, and thought that Lin Yiqing would come to the "King Kong" by himself and hang the general flag. The purpose is to firmly attract the "Fuso" to come, and I can't help but secretly laugh.

Looks like. My own temptation is really great!

Just as he thought, when he saw that the "Kongo" turned sharply and headed straight for the port of Osaka, the "Fuso" did not hesitate to chase after it.

"See! Takamori Yoshinosuke Saigo, the chief of the thief army, is on top of the enemy ship! I'm waiting for the emperor's favor today to catch the rebel thief, right today! ”

On the flybridge of the "Fuso", Inoue Yoshixin pointed to the "King Kong" in front of him and said loudly to boost morale.

"Repay the emperor's kindness! Catch the thief! Hearing Inoue's shout, the government officers and soldiers shouted feverishly as if they had been beaten with chicken blood.

Tsuboi Kozo, who had a smoky face on his face, was also excited at this time, and he loudly gave the order to "pursue at full speed", and the huge propeller of the "Fuso" desperately stirred the sea water, pushing the huge hull to rush forward.

The "King Kong" soon entered the waterway, followed by the "Fuso," and the "King Kong" continued to fire with its tail guns, while the "Fuso" fired back with the main gun turret in the bow.

Seeing the "King Kong" moving along the coast, Inoue Yoshishin and Tsuboi Kozo were worried that the Satsuma Army would ambush a heavy artillery attack on the shore, so they invariably raised their binoculars and looked at the shore.

There were indeed Satsuma artillery batteries on the coast of this area, but they were all destroyed by the artillery fire of the "Fuso" in the battle the day before, and Inoue Yoshishin observed for a while, but found no signs of enemy artillery ambushes, so he was relieved.

"General, it seems that there is a deception for the enemy ship to flee like this, we have already won the victory, so let's not pursue, right?" Just as Inoue Ryoshin put down the binoculars, Tsuboi Kozo carefully suggested.

"Why? The rebels of Saigo are in front of him, the enemy ship has been seriously injured, and he can sink it in one drum and capture Saigo alive, why give up? ”

"General, I'm afraid that the enemy ship is deliberately luring our ship deeper, and there may be an ambush ahead!" Kozo Tsuboi voiced his concerns.

"How can you be sure that the enemy ship is deliberately luring our ship deeper?" Inoue Ryoshin frowned and asked, his question already clearly containing dissatisfaction.

"The speed of the enemy ships now is obviously faster than just now." Tsuboi Kozo pointed to the "King Kong" and said, "We have been fighting with the enemy for many days, and we have won and lost each other, and the previous time the enemy fleet poured out of the nest and fought with our army, the Saigo rebels have not yet appeared, and today the enemy ironclad ship has only appeared, but the Saigo rebels are watching the battle on the ship, and there is a very good attempt to lure our ship, and the general must not ignore it." ”

"I think that the thief army should be attacked by our army and cannot hold on, and the reason why Saigo Yoshinosuke rebel appeared on the 'King Kong' was that he wanted to escape on the 'King Kong', but fortunately our ship intercepted in time, and he saw that he could not escape, so he had to flee back to the port." Inoue said wishfully.

"However, if the Saigo rebels want to escape and act in secret, how can they hang their generals on the 'King Kong' with great fanfare today?" Tsuboi pointed out another suspicious point.

"Saigo Yoshinosuke has always sold his reputation and reputation, and the matter of escaping is too disgraceful, so he hoisted the flag to show an upright retreat." Inoue Yoshishin said, "This flag is here, which just means that he himself is on the 'King Kong', and our ship can take the opportunity to destroy or capture it." ”

"Even if, as the general said, the enemy ships are ambushed in front. Our ship is not fast, it suddenly goes deeper, and once it encounters an ambush, it is quite dangerous to be unable to exit quickly. Seeing that he couldn't make sense of Inoue Yoshishin, he simply expressed his worries and wanted him to retreat.

"The enemy's batteries have been destroyed by our ships day by day, what can be an ambush?" Inoue Yoshishin said disapprerovingly, "If the enemy army lays mines, the weather will be sunny at this time, and our military lookouts will always pay attention and will find out." Besides, a few days ago, the 'Xuefeng' and other warships entered the harbor to attack, but they did not encounter mines, so it can be seen that the enemy forces did not lay mines, so how could the enemy troops spend the night and wait for our ships to come? (To be continued......)

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