The coast of North Korea has been closed, there are many ice floes, and the danger factor of navigation is too high, so Hu Chuyuan can only stay in Seoul to spend this winter, and by the way, he can also take care of the situation and economic politics in North Korea.

Relying on the main line of the Pacific Rim telegraph, even in Seoul, Hu Chuyuan was able to obtain all kinds of information at any time through convenient telegraphs and participate in domestic decision-making.

In the same way, he can also obtain information at any time.

The former was headed by the new prime minister of the Yama Prefecture, and the latter was led by Hirobumi Ito, the first prime minister, and Shigenobu Okuma, the first prime minister of the Satsuma lord.

Youpeng of Shan County was the main promoter of Yuben's militarism, and he was also convinced that if he did not defeat China, he would lose his final future. If the war had been delayed until after 1892, there would have been no chance of victory, and that opportunity would have been lost in their generation.

Ito Hirobumi believes that Yamaguchi Aritomo's view is too pessimistic, and that as long as he makes rational use of the international situation, uses the remaining national bonds for domestic economic construction, and continues to wait for an opportunity, he still has a chance to defeat China, but both sides have a consensus -- Hu Chuyuan is the biggest obstacle to his hegemony in the Far East.

Regardless of whether he finally chose to fight urgently or slowly, Hu Chuyuan realized that he was already in a more dangerous state, and perhaps in that inadvertent dark corner, there were more than a dozen rifles aimed at his back.

In March 1890, the northern port was opened.

Hu Chuyuan signed a final trade agreement with North Korea and was about to leave for China, but the night before, he had obtained a top-secret piece of information -- the first detachment of the Standing Fleet had secretly assembled in the port of Nagasaki.

After carefully confirming the list of the eight warships assembled in Nagasaki and their commanders, Hu Chuyuan's eyelids jumped.

Yuhiro Ito, Kozo Tsuboi, Heihachiro Togo, and Kamaichi Kawahara...... It is said that the navy has always been the territory of the Satsuma valve, but this time, the elite of the navy of the Satsuma valve has all gathered in Nagasaki.

Another piece of information is that the new Minister of the Navy, Shikinori Kayama, has secretly arrived at the port of Nagasaki to inspect it, which was obtained last month, and Shikinori Kayama has always been the mastermind of the Nagamoto Navy, claiming to be the real commander of the Tokyo Standing Fleet.

Continuing to figure out the surnames of the eight warships, Hu Chuyuan unusually found that it was extremely likely that he would launch a naval battle in advance.

If you think about it carefully, the Fuzhou Fleet, the Ningbo Fleet, and the Beiyang Weihai Fleet in China have no signs of activity, and the fleet group assembled in Nagasaki does not have the ability to storm the port...... So, what do you want to do?

The names of Ito Yuhiro and Tsuboi Kozo made Hu Chuyuan feel very uncomfortable, the former was the first good admiral of the Satsuma Lord's navy, and the latter was the only vice admiral of the Choshu valve, both of whom were in Nagasaki, which in itself was too weird.

After thinking about it carefully, Hu Chuyuan felt that he might be a little worried...... However, it is indeed possible that he may use the speed advantage of the cruiser to intercept his visiting fleet.

It looks crazy, but I have always been a nation that is good at gambling.

Even if he can't kill Hu Chuyuan, he declares war on this, and then takes advantage of the fact that the Qing Empire has not yet completed its preparations to suddenly occupy the whole of Korea, this is his biggest plan.

Hu Chuyuan was shocked by his inference, and he quickly thought of a countermeasure in his heart, asking Chen Shanyuan to send a secret report to the East China Sea Master alone, and deliberately caused some ship breakdowns, and continued to stay in North Korea for a few days.

On March 17, 1890, Hu Chuyuan left Seoul on the flagship Xinyangwu, crossed the Yellow Sea, and headed for Weihai Harbor of the Beiyang Naval Division.

The sea was cold, vast and boundless, and the Xinyangwu and two Chaowu-class cruisers, and a Weikang-class ironclad ship were driving on the Yellow Sea, black smoke billowing out of the chimney, dragging a black black smoke tail.

The speed of the Weikang-class ironclad ships is not fast, and the four battleships can only sail on the sea at a speed of 10 knots.

Hu Chuyuan's flagship was the Xinyangwu, and the flag of the Prime Minister's Senior Minister's Yamen, which symbolized the flagship, was hung on the ship, and the named Admiral Lin Yongsheng was on the Xinchaowu, and the Admiral Flag of the East China Sea Division was hung on the ship.

Hu Chuyuan happened to be on another super-martial class-class cruiser, the Sawu, wearing a very ordinary sailor uniform, and put a comfortable chair on the aft deck of the ship, lying on the chair silently, thinking about all kinds of problems.

Sometimes, even he wants to die, and he has been living in the shadow of his own assassination, and he even has a feeling that he has survived enough, in short, he is very disgusted.

He really couldn't understand himself.

The statements of Britain and other European and American powers not only did not make Yue himself retreat, but instead prompted them to declare war in advance and tried to kill Hu Chuyuan in the first naval battle, obtaining the greatest result of the entire war.

This is really bizarre, and only I can understand such thinking.

However, Hu Chuyuan had to admit that Yue Ben had seized the best opportunity, and there would be no such shop in this village after that, and in 1891, with the large-scale entry into service of the Fuzhou class and the Chunyu class, the Chinese navy would gradually change from a defensive type to an offensive type.

Hu Chuyuan believes that this is also the last fight of Youpeng in Shanxian County as prime minister.

Sky...... Surprisingly blue, as blue as washing, you can't see a ray of white clouds, lying in the sun, but you can't feel a trace of warmth.

Standing and talking without backache, in a real war, who can guarantee victory?

Especially at a time when all aspects of preparation have not reached a level?

Hu Chuyuan's heart was full of all kinds of doubts, and now, he almost didn't have any estimate of this war. It's okay to win...... The losses will inevitably be too heavy.

Not far overhead, a siren burst through the eardrums, and the sound continued, whining and whining, echoing through all four battleships.

At this moment, Chen Shanyuan, Li Cunyi and others, with the guards of the Fuwei Battalion, rushed to the deck one after another, protecting Hu Chuyuan as he entered the lower cabin.

Lin Yongsheng stood on the command tower of the new Chaowu and commanded, constantly waving the flag, and the visiting fleet began to accelerate collectively, increasing the speed to 15 knots, and heading towards Weihai Port at full speed.

Sa Zhenbing, the pipe band of the Sawu, hurriedly ran down, and when he saw Hu Chuyuan, he said: "My lord, this fleet is really here, there are eight warships, two of which are ironclad cruisers. ”

Hu Chuyuan was quite calm, looking coldly at the vast sea area on the south side, he couldn't see the other party's trace, and he couldn't help but feel a little unwilling.

He thought for a moment, and suddenly walked quickly to the command tower silently, took the telescope from the scout's hand, and looked in the direction pointed by the sailors from a distance.

Hu Chuyuan couldn't count the number, so he asked Sa Zhenbing beside him, "How far is it from us?" ”

A trace of anxiety flashed quietly in Sa Zhenbing's expression, and he said, "There are still about seventeen nautical miles, and we can probably drive forty nautical miles north at full speed, and the two sides will officially enter the battle distance." ”

Hu Chuyuan thought about it in his heart, and estimated that it was too late, so he nodded slightly with Sa Zhenbing and returned to the cabin with his entourage.

Because it was not set up as Hu Chuyuan's flagship, the cabin design on the Sawu was a little simple, Hu Chuyuan sat here and watched the overall changes, and his navy "staff officer" Lan Jianshu arranged a separate table with ten warships on it, four warships on the patrol fleet in the middle, and Weihai Port opposite, 144 nautical miles away.

Hu Chuyuan's itinerary had already been exposed, and without any prior warning, as long as the standing fleet was placed near the midpoint between Inchon and Weihai, the traces of the visiting fleet would inevitably be captured.

Due to the temporary adoption of an arc-like route by the roving fleet, the standing fleet could only speed up to intercept the forward point, while the roving fleet also changed its route and headed for Port Arthur.

The limit speed of the Xinyangwu in the visiting fleet was 20 knots, while the Ankang was only 16 knots, and with some aging and boiler problems, it was a safer choice to keep it at 15 knots.

The standing fleet was quickly divided into two groups, the slower two ironclad cruisers and the two heavy artillery cruisers in a separate group, and the other group consisted of six dome cruisers, which pursued quickly, approaching 20 knots.

It was probably because he was used to being assassinated by himself, and from the very beginning, Hu Chuyuan realized that they were going to deal with his own patrol fleet.

The four warships of the patrol fleet quickly moved northward, while the advance detachment of the Zodiac was in hot pursuit, and the two sides were already getting closer and closer, especially the Ankang, which barely maintained its speed at 15 knots.

At a distance of 120 nautical miles from Port Arthur, the two sides finally entered the battle distance, at this time, Lin Yongsheng quickly changed his strategy, the Ankang turned the rudder first, the Chaowu and Sawu followed, and the Xinyangwu increased its speed to 20 knots and rushed towards Port Arthur.

At this time, he could have completely confirmed that Hu Chuyuan was on the flagship of the patrol fleet, the Xinyangwu, and immediately sent two Naniwa-class dome cruisers to pursue it, and the rest of the fleet began to fight with the patrol fleet, blocking the retreat route of the patrol fleet, and waiting for the arrival of the main detachment of the standing fleet.

In 1885, he began to receive aid from Britain and France, and in 1887 began to produce large-scale warships, and purchased a large number of dominary cruisers from Britain and France, among which the Naniwa class was purchased in the United Kingdom, with a maximum speed of 23 knots and a displacement tonnage of 4,150 tons.

By 1890, Ben had built 13 cruisers and purchased 21 cruisers, not only built by Britain and France, but also built in Italy and Germany.

In the early days, the self-built cruisers were not equipped with any armor defense, and were concentrated in the West Coast Fleet, that is, the alert fleet stationed in Nagasaki, while the outsourced cruisers were concentrated in the standing fleet and stationed in Yokohama.

This strategy was mainly for fear that the Qing army would advance eastward and crush the West Coast Fleet in the first wave of attacks.

However, it was the large-scale westward transfer of the standing fleet that caused the intelligence to leak out, so that Hu Chuyuan was aware of the abnormality in advance.

The Naniwa class entered service with the standing fleet in 1888, and a total of six ships were built, and since then newer Chaokaze classes and Asahi classes have been added, all of which are similar dome cruisers.

The Naniwa class was modified at the end of 1889, and all of them were equipped with 120 mm rapid-fire guns, and with the assistance of France, almost all of the guns were smokeless gunpowder and picric acid, and the sensitivity of the shells was very high.

Although the East China Sea Division also completed this change, due to the fact that picric acid is too sensitive and prone to accidents, the patrol fleet uses a more stable DNT, that is, dinitrotoluene, and then nitrification is TNT, the problem is that it is very difficult to nitrate again, and the current industrial system cannot do it.

The explosive power of DNT is similar to that of picric acid, which is relatively stable and much more expensive, and the main patented technology is currently in the hands of BASF Chemical Company in Germany.

The visiting fleet did not anticipate this change at all in the early days, and the number of shells was very inadequate, so in order to ensure a certain combat power, the Xinyangwu, which fled first, transferred all the shells to the other three warships.

(To be continued)