Since the other ships did not know that Ding Ruchang was killed, the morale of the officers and men of the Beiyang Naval Division was not affected by this, but the seemingly bad battle situation made Liu Buyun's confidence shaken a little.

Even if he is bold, Liu Buyun's mentality inevitably changes a little, "Li Dongyang always said before the war that our artillery skills are much stronger than those of the Japanese Navy, is this really the case?" Now our warships have received no less than ten large-caliber (more than 100mm) shells, but they have not even hit the Japanese ships with a single shell! ”

A biochemical soldier named "Zhou Chunyu" sent by the "venture capital company" to the Dingyuan guessed Liu Buchan's thoughts, and comforted him with a smile, "Our artillery has a slow rate of fire, and the number of shells fired is far less than that of the enemy. And I've always believed that luck is conserved in general, and it won't always be bad or good, we haven't hit it before, it's actually saving character, and once these saved characters break out, it's the end of the Japanese! ”

For the strange use of "character" to refer to luck, Liu Buyun is no longer unfamiliar with it, but Zhou Chunyu's statement only makes him feel a little at ease.

But what Liu Buyun didn't expect was that as soon as Zhou Chunyu's words fell, he heard a loud noise like thunder in the distance, and said with a look of surprise on his face, "Listen to this explosion, it's like a 10-inch blasting bomb?" Could it be that the main cannon of Chao Yong or Yang Wei hit?

The vision in the command tower was limited, and Liu Buyun did not see the power of this cannon with his own eyes, but the Yoshino, the flagship of the Japanese First Guerrilla Army, which was shot, was already full of mourning.

The 254mm blasting shell fired by the main gun of the Chaoyong accurately hit the middle of the starboard side of the Yoshino, and immediately exploded a large hole, and the explosion produced a dazzling white light and a high temperature of more than 4,000 degrees Celsius that appeared extremely dazzling even in the mist, instantly igniting the high-quality coal accumulated in the coal bunker, and the Yoshino suddenly burst into flames.

The billowing smoke almost enveloped the entire warship under the action of the deck wind, and even the commander of the first tour, Tsuboi Kozo, who was in the command tower, was choked and coughed, and it took more than half a minute before he could barely finish a sentence, "Immediately cough cough statistics and report cough injuries and casualties!" ”

As soon as Tsuboi Kozo's words were spoken, he felt another shock to the ship's hull, and it turned out that the main guns of the Yangwei were also fired!

However, the devil was lucky this time, the shell hit the shield of the 152mm rapid-fire gun on the right ear of the Yoshino, after all, it was a blasting shell and not an armor-piercing blasting projectile, and it was not much use to hit the armored protected parts, and the Yoshino escaped a catastrophe.

However, the high temperature and shock wave generated by the explosion of more than 20 kilograms of silver explosives caused the barrel of the 152mm rapid-fire gun to deform and completely scrapped, and even without considering the interference of thick smoke, the Yoshino's proud sharp firepower plummeted by more than 20%.

And the disaster of the Yoshino did not end there, almost at the same time as the Yangwei's achievements, a 260mm blasting shell from the main gun of the Pingyuan hit its foredeck, and the terrible shock wave generated by the explosion of more than 40 kilograms of silver explosives directly blew away the front main gun of the Yoshino!

The blazing white flames quickly ignited the flame-retardant wooden deck that the Japanese had deliberately wet before the war, and the fire spread rapidly, igniting a large number of propellant packs that the Yoshino officers and men had stacked on the deck in advance in order to increase the rate of fire of the guns, and then the shells that were also stacked on the deck were also detonated

After a terrible explosion that lasted for dozens of seconds, the already devastated Yoshino had become a living hell

"The three main guns in the front have all been scrapped, more than one-third of the 12-millimeter rapid-fire guns on the side have been unusable, the fire on the deck is fierce, and the fire in the coal bunker on the right side has also lost control", after learning this series of bad news, Tsuboi Kozo's face turned pale and he almost fell to the ground, he knew very well in his heart that the current Yoshino had completely lost its combat effectiveness.

Thinking of the great significance of the Yoshino to the Japanese Navy, Kozo Tsuboi couldn't help but retreat, but without the Yoshino, the strongest warship, would the Japanese Navy still be able to win this decisive battle as it wished? If he is finally defeated, will he become a scapegoat for retreating too early?

Seeing that Tsuboi Kozo was hesitant, the captain of the Yoshino, Kawara, couldn't help but be anxious, although the dome armor was not broken to ensure the most basic buoyancy, and the Yoshino was not in danger of sinking for the time being. But if the fire that is getting out of control is not quickly extinguished and spread to important compartments such as ammunition depots, it will certainly not be spared, and how can we free up manpower to fight the fire in a state of war?

Besides, what is the practical significance of a warship that has lost its ability to attack, even if it barely stays on the battlefield?

Due to the strict hierarchy of the Japanese army, Kawahara had no choice but to point out Tsuboi's mistake and could only rack his brains to help him come up with an excuse to retreat, "Your Excellency Commander, the Yoshino cannot afford to be lost, and now we must put out the fire with all our might, and wait until the fire subsides before returning to the battle."

Tsuboi Kozo's eyes lit up after hearing this, it was not a crime to quit the battle column to extinguish the fire, as long as the Yoshino did not stay away from the battlefield and put on a posture that was ready to return to the battle at any time, he would not be afraid of being questioned afterwards.

Of course, Tsuboi Kozo knew that Kawahara's so-called "wait until the fire subsides before returning to the battle column" was simply just talking, and with the Yoshino being seriously injured, he would have to repair it for at least more than a month after returning home, and even if he could extinguish the fire, it would be impossible to return to the battle, but anyway, what he needed now was just an excuse to shirk his guilt after the war

"Kawahara-kun, you are right, the most important warship of the empire cannot be lost needlessly, immediately withdraw from the battle column to put out the fire. Prepare the lifeboat, I'm going to transfer to the Akitsuzu to continue commanding the battle! Tsuboi Kozo patted Kawara on the shoulder and said loudly.

"Ship change? In such a formation with a speed of more than 16 knots and still in a sharp turn? Just kidding, right? Kawahara immediately heard that Tsuboi Kozo knew that it was impossible to do this and deliberately put on a look of sacrificing life and forgetting death in order to take advantage of the post-war assessment, and tacitly, he immediately admonished in a timely manner, "No! Your Excellency, Commander, now that our First Guerrilla Brigade is turning at high speed, it is very difficult for us to successfully lower the boat, and if this causes Your Excellency the Commander to be martyred and the formation loses its unified command, then you will be a sinner of the Imperial Japanese Navy! Please forgive me for not being able to obey my fate! In the current situation, it would be more prudent to temporarily appoint a temporary flagship and the captain of the ship to take command in your place for the time being."