After entering the state of combat readiness, Lu Hong immediately boarded the mainmast of the Nanrui ship, and the German-made telescopes installed here did work well, and he soon found an extremely familiar battleship from the Yuben fleet that was getting closer and closer, with twin masts, double chimneys, and 4-ear batteries, which was the Yoshino, the battleship Yoshino, which had just entered service.

Accidents are always mutual, Lu Hong unexpectedly encountered the Yumoto escort fleet, and on the Yoshino, which served as the flagship of the Saimoto escort mission, Kawahara Yaodaisa was obviously annoyed by the Chinese fleet encountered south of Jeju Island...... This time, the escort fleet under his command can be described as powerful, including five ships: Yoshino, Naniwa, Fuso, Akagi, and Katsuragi, and Yoshino and Naniwa are the main ships in the Saimoto Navy.

However, according to the information transmitted back from the intelligence officers of Lushun and Tianjin, the Admiralty confirmed that the imaginary enemy, the fleet of the Beiyang Naval Division of the Qing State, was being resupplied at the port of Arthur, and it was said that the Chinese arsenal was replacing the old shells...... This news has almost become the laughing stock of the Navy, how can there be a time before the war to remember that the shells are not good and need to be replaced!

Last year, in the name of cooperating with the Chinese side, Kawakami Yoroku, deputy chief of staff of the Imperial General Staff Headquarters, secretly visited an important port in China, and even visited the Qing Beiyang Fleet and the Huai Department training army, and finally submitted a report to the military department that the quality of the Chinese army was far apart, and that the military could completely defeat the huge army of the Qing State in the predetermined battlefield without falling into a large-scale protracted war!

Therefore, although Britain, Russia, France, and the United States all proposed to mediate the conflict between the Qing and the Korean, the imperial base camp still made a plan to continue to increase the number of troops in Korea, and the base camp's order was to secretly transport and quickly achieve the task of comprehensively suppressing the forces in Korea, and his fleet was to escort the infantry and supply of the third row of the Fifth Imperial Division......

The seven Mitsubishi ships behind the Yoshino carried more than 4,000 army soldiers and a large amount of weapons, ammunition, and supplies...... However, this secret operation was obviously in vain, because the three Qing warships on the opposite side did not leave at all, but sailed towards the fleet with billowing black smoke!

"Your Excellency Heyuan, the Qing people obviously have bad intentions, should we ambush them, so as to clean up some small troubles for the future!" At this moment, next to the naval staff officer Tamura Hiroshi

"Do you identify the other person? Doesn't it mean that none of the Beiyang sailors have ever been to sea...... The officers of the intelligence services were clearly blinded by their stupidity! Kawahara did not directly reply to his subordinate's suggestion, but asked about the identity of his opponent with a serious expression, in his opinion...... Or even the entire Navy...... The only imaginary enemy is the two Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ironclad ships that have been suppressed for many years.

A few minutes later, the officer at the lookout brought news that surprised Kawahara...... The Chinese warship that suddenly appeared on the outskirts of Jeju Island flying the Yellow Dragon Flag was confirmed to be none of the Eight Great Distances in the Beiyang Ocean......

"Order, immediately press towards the Qing fleet and prevent them from approaching the escorting Mitsubishi merchant ships!" The sudden unexpected situation made Kawahara want to be a big one and hesitated, and the imperial base camp has not yet issued any combat orders, and the military headquarters is intensively sending troops to Korea, which is obviously the overriding operational task at present.

When the flag officer turned around to go out to change the order flag, Kawahara added another sentence, "Order, the whole fleet enters the first level of combat readiness, and all actions follow the Yoshino!" ”

The first level of alert of the "Hai ......" meant that war could break out at any time, and for a time, the fleet immediately began to maneuver in formation, and the five ships of Yoshino, Naniwa, Fuso, Akagi, and Katsuragi had already come out of the original formation in less than 20 minutes, and pressed over the Nanyang Naval Division formation in the distance in the simplest column.

On the Nanrui ship, Lin Jianzhang had completely entered his role, standing in the bridge, he couldn't take his eyes off the fleet that came with billowing black smoke in the distance...... The enemy is outnumbered, and blind conflict must be avoided, but he is completely unsure whether he has evil intentions.

"Hang out the battle sign......" Lin Jianzhang didn't have any hesitation in his mind at this moment, and the brave wins when they meet on a narrow road! In this situation, there is no way back, only to move forward...... I must let him understand the combat effectiveness of this fleet under his command...... And with the artillery skills practiced hard by these hundreds of subordinates, he is undoubtedly the only trump card in his hand!

But can it win? Can you defeat the enemy? Everything will only be known after the fight......

The warships on both sides cleaved the waves and went head-on, the officers and soldiers on each gun position were obviously full of energy, and their faces were flushed with excitement, at this moment, from the beginning of entering the naval division, the people on each battleship formed a group of interests that prospered and prospered together, and lost together, at this point, the navy has a natural difference from the army, the ship sank, whether it was a pipe belt, or the fate of the boilermen was the same!

"Master Sun, we're going to fight with Xiao Yueben!" On the port side gun position, the young sightman Li Cheng was a little nervous, and involuntarily asked Sun Yigang, an officer who was climbing on the gun mount to observe in the distance.

Sun Yi had just won the reward for the artillery competition, and he didn't expect to turn around and do it with a real gun, this is not something he can manage, hearing Li Cheng's question, he patted his chest, looked at a few of his subordinates, and laughed: "Li Cheng, worry about a bird...... If it really starts, it will definitely be our port side cannon first, and I don't believe that our cannon can't do it...... It was finalized with Liu Huangya, who was transporting the shells, that the above regulations were not allowed to store shells under the gun base, but don't drop the chain at that time! ”

Before his words fell, someone behind him had already picked up the flowers, "Sun Heipi, when did my old Liu fall off the chain...... You just got the bounty, and I don't have my share in playing that artillery training, this time it's really a fight, and I can't expect the shells to be in place here...... After the fight, we have to ask us to carry the group's old wine! ”

Sun Yigang, the port tube gun who had just received the award and won the award of the gunnery competition, is now a celebrity on the ship, he turned his head and saw that it was Liu Huangya he had just mentioned, and laughed, "Liu Huangya, you have transported enough shells for me, I will definitely be able to play at a good level here, and the reward at that time will naturally be indispensable to you!" ”

The situation between the two conversations fell into the camera of Kuang Qizhao, the editor-in-chief of the "Yiwen Report" who was extremely excited to accompany the army, and this editor-in-chief Kuang was obviously very excited to encounter such a hot confrontation scene between the Chinese and Chinese navies so quickly.

8000 m ......

6000 m ......

At this moment, the fleet of the Nanyang Naval Division pounced from the southwest to the northeast, and the fleet pounced from the northeast to the southwest......

It is said that the column of this fleet has been quickly inserted into the right flank of the Nanyang Fleet, and this situation is exactly what Lin Jianzhang does not want to see, the modified 120mm rapid-fire gun position on the battleship, due to the scarcity of rapid-fire guns, are installed on the port side, to give full play to combat effectiveness, the port side is obviously the best choice for the enemy, however, this ...... Obviously not under your control.

"Herald...... Pressurize, turn with the right rudder full, and be sure to seize the advantageous position in front of the fleet......" Lin Jianzhang gave a loud order without hesitation.

At this moment, Lu Hong, who had just entered the bridge command room, suddenly interrupted his order, "Lang Zhai, change to Zuo Manrudder...... We must make a move that makes me misjudge, if the little devil dares to chase after ...... Let's see you again! ”

Lin Jianzhang was stunned for a moment, and he already understood Lu Hong's intentions, the right full rudder steering was to close the distance, and the left full rudder steering was to open the distance...... However, the result was the same formation of port side naval guns against the enemy...... But the meaning of this is the opposite of the other! Of course, he wouldn't think that Lu Hong's intention was to break away from ......

"Lord Lu, I understand!" Lin Jianzhang responded loudly.

"Kawahara Daisa, turn left Chinese and open up the distance...... What does this mean? "On the Yoshino, Naval Staff Officer Tamura Hiroyoshi obviously also immediately saw the move of the Nanyang Fleet, the two sides are more than 6,000 meters apart at the moment, there is no possibility of a battle at all, and the other party suddenly made such a move!

Kawahara wanted to see this scene naturally, and was frowning at the Chinese battleship in the distance, Tamura's staff officer had an idea, obviously and he also had something in common, and this seemed to be in line with the previous judgment of the Qing Navy, those Chinese with braided hair, there were no really qualified fighters at all......

At this time, the hatch was pushed open, and an officer walked in quickly and reported loudly: "Dazuo, the lookout has determined the identity of the other party according to the identification of the two types of warships on the opposite side!" ”

"Oh......" Tamura Hiroyoshi immediately asked, "Is it really a new battleship in Beiyang?" ”

The officer looked at Tamura, saluted and reported loudly, "Your Excellency Tamura, the lookout observed that the opposing battleship has a vaguely recognizable word 'Nan' on the side string, and combined with the intelligence of the Qing Navy Division's battleships, it can basically be determined that this is the Nanyang Navy cruisers Nanrui and Nanchen who belong to the Qing Nanyang Naval Division and are responsible for defending the direction of Shanghai and the mouth of the Yangtze River...... It can be inferred from this that the other one is predicted to be the Kaiji-class cruiser of the Nanyang Naval Division! ”

Nanyang Naval Division...... Although Kawahara Hiroshi was very concerned about the battle with the Qing naval division, he did not pay attention to this second-rate Chinese fleet responsible for coastal defense along the southern coast, and now he inexplicably encountered the other party on the outskirts of Jeju Island...... Could it be that the Qing State has always come to deter the Beiyang Naval Division of Yuben and refused to appear, so he sent this kind of garbage fleet to make up the number?

He stared at the distance and thought for a full minute, then glanced at Tamura Hiroshi, the two of them looked at each other, obviously understanding each other's intentions, "Keep up, let's see, what kind of means this second-rate fleet of Qing Guo has!" (To be continued.) )