"Victory" is a French ironclad ship that was not built here in the seventies, it is of the same class as the previously captured "Triumph", characterized by good protection and strong firepower, the disadvantage is that the speed is not very fast, only 15 knots. However, after the Great Shimizu Division lost "Chaoyong" and seriously injured "Yang Wei", the only ones that could reach 15 knots were "Triumphant", "Long Victory" and "Undefeated". Originally, the "Victory" could have been calmly evacuated, especially in the darkness, when the artillery battle on both sides lost its crosshairs. It's not as accurate as it is during the day! However, after the "Doer" sank the "Chaoyong", the "Victory" was extremely confident. After seriously injuring "Yang Wei", he was still reluctant to leave, and he stuck together with the two cruisers "Nanji" and "Nanxiang", and the two cruisers "Shengli", which had a speed of only 13 knots, were not taken into account at all, and even if they were defeated, it was quite easy to run.

However, on the other side of the darkness, the seriously wounded "Yang Wei" had already surrounded the side of the "Victory" surrounded by seven small gunboats.

"The muzzle of the cannon is lower, and the cannon is fired!" Mischer, the captain of the Victory, commanded the battle.

"General, General Billy has sent another flag to tell us to retreat." Said a communications soldier.

Mishe looked at the rear and said to the signal soldiers, "Where are you going?" Where did General Billy hit the four ironclad ships of the Qing army, and wouldn't we become a target if we retreated? The guns of the two German cruisers here were not very powerful. We can barely resist it, and removing Billy is the equivalent of sending him to death. Ordered the flag soldier to send a flag message to General Billy: The Door will withdraw to the Red River military port first, and the victory will be cut off. ”

"General, a large number of gunboats of the Qing army were found on the left. It's less than 2,000 meters away. Another soldier hurried to speak.

Mishe looked to the left in horror and yelled, "What? We're surrounded? The right rudder is full, and the right is withdrawn at full speed. ”

On the other side, the "Doer" faced the siege of the four Qing ironclad ships "Undefeated", "Changsheng", "Triumphant" and "Juyin" alone. However, Billy took full advantage of his fast speed and kept moving around the four ironclads. If it weren't for the "Victory", he would have fled back to Vietnam a long time ago.

"General, the Victory said that he would cut it off. Let's withdraw first. A communications soldier said.

Billy was on the verge of collapse at this time, although the "Doer" was extremely fast, and always maintained a distance of about 2,000 meters from the Qing army's ironclad ships. Together with its own displacement of 5700 tons and 153mm of armor, it did not suffer any fatal damage. However, since I sailed in Vietnam in the morning, I have sailed a total of several thousand nautical miles. Another 10 hours of fighting were going on, and the shells were almost done. Since the original plan was to surround the Qing army by a surprise attack from the southeast, in order to conceal it, it made a big circle on the sea. Now that the fuel has been almost consumed, I am afraid that if I take the Qing army in circles, I am afraid that the fuel will run out and the shells will be in danger of being captured. When he was considering whether to evacuate first, another signal soldier came running and said, "General, the Victory is surrounded by dozens of gunboats and cruisers of the Qing army. Unable to break through, a distress signal has been issued. ”

By now, Billy finally realized his mistake in dividing his forces to surround the Qing fleet. He couldn't help but give up the "Victory", if he always let the Qing fleet follow him, he would consume more fuel, and when the fuel ran out, it would really be all over.

The "Duer" waved the flag: "After the "Victory" was broken, after the "Duer" was far away, it was allowed to surrender to the Qing fleet.

After waving the flag, the "Door" quickly fled in the direction of the Red River in Vietnam......

And when the "Victory" saw the commander's banner, it was already completely disappointed. They had been abandoned by Billy, and a terrible hole had been blown into the aft deck of the "Victory" in the face of close attacks from numerous gunboats. Before the "Duer" ran away, the white flag had been hoisted and surrendered to the Great Shimizu Division.

And Zuo Zongtang seemed to be unwilling to let go of "Duer", and led "Triumphant", "Juyin", and "Undefeated" to chase 40,000 miles until it was determined that he could not catch up. Only then did the flag sail back, and the four ironclad ships drew beautiful circles in the sea and sailed towards the port of Kaohsiung, Taiwan......

In this "South China Sea War", the Qing naval division sank a total of 2 ironclad ships (including the capital ship "Grace"), 3 cruisers, 7 gunboats, and 4 torodo ships. Also captured an ironclad ship "Victory".

The Qing side lost 2 cruisers ("Yang Wei" was seriously wounded and sunk on the way back) and 14 gunboats. The number of warships sunk was exactly equal on both sides, 16 each. But everyone knows what kind of warships France lost, and what warships the Qing Dynasty lost.

The most important thing is that the Dashimizu Division thus gained the initiative in the naval battle, and the remaining 1 ironclad ship, 4 cruisers, and 3 gunboats of the French Far East Fleet after this have been hiding in the military ports of Vietnam and dare not move.

In the warm pavilion of the Military Aircraft Department, Li Hongzhang, Li Zhen, Prince Gong, Prince Alcohol, Peng Yulin, and Weng Tongsu were all sitting inside, and the books on the case were already piled up with a large stack, but no one had the heart to look at it. The tea on the table was added one after another, and the leaves were soaked white, but none of them noticed it. Every time there was a sound of footsteps in front of the window, the nine people always stood up at the same time, but the submissions that came in were not what they wanted to read, and there was no news about what they wanted to know.

There was another sound of footsteps of "kicking, kicking, kicking", the tea bowl in Li Hongzhang's hand trembled, and he glanced at Prince Gong, but this time no one stood up.

However, the little eunuchs who ran all the way were not as reserved as them, and they had already shouted loudly: "Great victory, great victory of the sailor." ”

At this time, the other people in the warm pavilion had already gathered around, and when they saw the content of the telegram clearly, the expressions on the faces of Prince Alcohol and Li Zhen, who were full of gloom, were like seeing the sun through the clouds. Now France has only two capital ships in the Far East, and I'm afraid it won't even dare to go out of the port. It will take at least two months for the new warships to be transferred, and their greatest reliance, naval superiority, no longer exists. The rest is the decisive battle of the army. Even a naval battle with such a huge difference in strength was won, and the army, which was more numerous than the French, could still lose?

However, the expressions on the faces of Prince Gong and Li Hongzhang were a little complicated, this battle was too thrilling, but after the palpitations, there was infinite worry. This battle was barely won, the little emperor didn't know how much it had swelled, and he would definitely continue to fight this battle, but if he wanted to fight again, the foundation of the 20-year Westernization movement would be completely gone, and now our side is already hurting, and the French are just a drop in the bucket, really off people, driving all the warships over, we can really resist it.

"Does the emperor know?" Prince Gong asked at the eunuch.

The eunuch said excitedly: "The emperor knows, the emperor has been in the telegraph room, and the emperor asked the servants to send it to the adults." ”

"Where is the emperor going now?" Li Hongzhang continued to ask.

The eunuch scratched his head and said, "The slave doesn't know, the emperor was still in the telegraph room when the slave came." ”

"Go down." Prince Gong said.

"Wow."

Although the military aircraft department was not very optimistic about the prospects of the war, it did not care so much outside, and on the same day, the "Daqing Daily" published the news of the victory in the Yellow Sea battle, which not only sank 19 French warships, but also captured a big one. And the teahouses and restaurants are full, so that the owners of these shops make a lot of money.

But some people are happy and some people are unhappy, Zai Lian came out of the house early in the morning to walk the birds, and threw the newspaper away after seeing the article in the newspaper.

"* Damn, it's gone *** shit luck again, the lord of Zhongxing, not by adding people**, when will it be his turn to be the emperor. Phew. Jae-ryun spat directly at the newspaper.

And the outcome of the Battle of the Yellow Sea also shocked the West, and the French newspaper called it another "Battle of Trafalgar". And the Western media exclaimed "the rise of another naval power" and "the awakening of the lion of the East". What's more, the naval battle had far-reaching political implications. Germany, which has always regarded the Qing Dynasty as a cash cow, has also reconsidered whether it can cooperate with the Qing Dynasty in more areas, including strategic alliances!