On August 20, the cavalry reconnaissance unit of the 1st Division of the 2nd Qing Army engaged in a battle with a Qing patrol at a place called Tuchengzi. He began to attack Lushun. On the 23rd, the army began a formal assault on the fort. 11 warships of the Combined Fleet, 10 torpedo boats also began to support the army from the sea. In the early morning of the 24th, the army entered the fort that had long escaped and abandoned, the brainchild of the Qing Dynasty for 16 years, the fort and dockyard that cost tens of millions of taels of silver, and the Lushun Fortress, the first fortress in Asia with the crown of armament reserves in the Beiyang, fell in just one day.

In July of the twentieth year of Guangxu, Jinzhou and Lushun fell, and the whole country was shaken.

Since the Opium War, all those who fought against foreign enemies and were repeatedly defeated, and then ran foreign affairs in order to strengthen themselves, built a navy, raised coastal defense, opened factories, and built railways, and vaguely seemed to have a trend of prosperity...... However, overnight, Pyongyang was defeated, Liaodong was defeated, and the Golden Brigade was defeated. The Great Qing Dynasty, which is full of treasures, was beaten by a small country whose national strength was far behind its own, and it was powerless to fight back.

The long song should cry, but it is already painful.

The ministers of the Manchu Dynasty and the governors of various places suddenly seemed to have lost their voices, and for three whole days, no one even went to impeach Li Hongzhang Beiyang, and the entire court and the whole country were silent in the stormy changes.

One said, one said. Pyongyang, Jiuliancheng, Phoenix, Jeonju, Dalian, Lushun, along the way, all strategic points, all fortified fortresses, can only be defended. After more than 20 years of Westernization, even foreigners think that it is a well-equipped army, why is it so vulnerable and so miserable?

It seems that overnight, the fig leaf of the Qing Dynasty was torn to pieces in the sound of his own artillery fire, and the people of the world suddenly discovered that the Qing Dynasty had declined to such a point, the former Tongzhi Zhongxing, the former Western-style self-improvement, were just a dream, but what happened to the Qing Dynasty, where was the defeat?

On the night of August 24, on the night when the Yue army occupied Lushun, the whole army held a celebratory banquet in Lushun, and the captured tables were set up, chickens, ducks, and fish were all served on the table, and sorghum wine, old wine, and rice wine were all enough. Long live the emperor, long live the navy, long live the army.

It was late at night, but the combined fleet was still floating in the open sea of Arthur.

The officers of the Combined Fleet, who had just finished attending the banquet to celebrate the occupation of Lushun, had returned to their warships. Ito Henyo exhaled for a long time, looking at the still boiling army in Lushun City in the distance, but he frowned. Although he was the victor of the Qing Yellow Sea naval battle, the image left to him by the Beiyang Fleet was too profound, especially the two ironclad ships, although the speed was a little slower, and the artillery was also a little slower. But relying on the tonnage, cannon caliber, and thick armor, he actually survived under his carefully arranged tactics, and also caused damage to his own flagship. After the Battle of the Yellow Sea, although four warships of the Qing Beiyang Fleet were sunk, the Qing Beiyang Fleet, which had two ships in Dingzhen, still had combat effectiveness. Similarly, four of the combined fleets were heavily damaged and are still being repaired domestically. After the Battle of the Yellow Sea, he had been worried that the Qing Beiyang Fleet would attack the Combined Fleet. The pressure on the second ship of Dingzhen is too great! He knew that the Qing people had repaired the warships, but the weak and cowardly Qing people were frightened, and two or three torpedo boats frightened the huge Qing fleet. But the existence of the second ship of Dingzhen made him uncomfortable like a thorn in his eye.

The wine of the Qing people is still too strong, and the sake of the Empire is evocative. Ito Hensuke is sipping sake with Captain Captain Yokoo Michiyu on the new flagship Itsukushima: "Yokoo-kun, as an excellent officer who studied in France, what do you think of this battle of Yuqing?" ”

"Your Excellency, Commander." Yokoo Daoyu saluted before continuing: "Please forgive me, although we are extremely brave in this emperor [***], we have won a very lucky victory so far. If the Qing people's will to resist is a little stronger, I am afraid that we will be the ones who will fail. As for the Combined Fleet, the combined fleet's speed is fast, and the rate of artillery fire also suppresses the Beiyang Fleet, but at the same time, we lack the decisive force, and we lack such large warships as Dingyuan and Zhenyuan of the China Fleet. I'm sure you've seen that, although we gained more advantages in naval battles, we still couldn't sink two large warships, and if it wasn't for their command problems, I believe it would have been an even tougher battle! ”

Ito nodded and agreed, "Yes, it's important to keep a clear head in victory. The Qing people repeatedly retreated, making the current Imperial Army a little arrogant. But if there are two large ironclad ships in the Imperial Navy, I believe that our Imperial Combined Fleet can completely annihilate the Beiyang Fleet of the Chinese people! ”

"Yes, Your Excellency. So I suggest that the Admiralty should immediately think of His Majesty the Emperor's suggestion. With the introduction of that kind of 10,000-ton battleship, now that countries are massively expanding their navies, we can't afford to lag behind this time! ”

"What Yokoo-kun said is very true, but don't worry, His Majesty the Emperor has already ordered two real 10,000-ton battleships from Britain half a year ago, and I believe that the take-off of this empire is coming!" After Ito Heng finished estimating, he laughed: "Maybe Yokoo-kun will be the captain of my country's first battleship!" ”

"Thank you, Your Excellency, for the compliment." Hearing that two battleships larger than Dingyuan Zhenyuan had been ordered, Yokoo Michiyu excitedly shouted, "Loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor is Yokoo's lifelong goal!" ”

"Yo Si! It's late at night, let's go rest. Ito laughed. There was some pain in my abdomen, maybe I had eaten too much tonight. But before he finished laughing, the shout of the mast sentry was already heard in his ears: "At six o'clock, I found the Beiyang Fleet of China." ”

"Yaga!" Ito Hengyu scolded: "Nonsense, the Chinese Beiyang Fleet has already scared out of guts. How can there be a Beiyang fleet of the people of China here. ”

But then the whistling cannon sound told Ito Hyungwoo that the Qing Beiyang Fleet was really coming. Ito Hyung-woo looked desperate, and in order to save coal, every warship of the Combined Fleet did not light a fire.

Tonight, the wind was strong and the waves were rolling. The sky was dim and starry, and the moon seemed to know that something was going to happen tonight, and she hid in the clouds early.

On the sea, all seven main warships of the Beiyang Fleet slowed down to a speed of 5 knots when they approached Lushun about 10 nautical miles. Because it was a night attack, all the torpedo boats did not bring with them. Since it was a sneak attack, it was natural to quietly lean forward and then give the other party a hard blow. Three days ago, during the last escort of the Beiyang Fleet, they encountered three torpedo boats, and the officers and men of the Beiyang Fleet, who had long been holding back their fire, were eager to rush up and kill them, but Commander Lang Weili ordered: All ships should cancel their formations and speed up their separation. Because it is not necessary to expose strength for the sake of small torpedo boats that are not worth a few dollars. For a time, on the sea, the Qing fleet launched a race of speed, and the Beiyang Fleet abandoned the transport fleet to protect and left on its own. The chaotic Qing fleet confused the three torpedo boats that had lost their hearts, and they should have retreated, right?

But on this night, the entire Beiyang Fleet maintained a neat formation, and strict light control made all ships without a single light, and the entire fleet only turned on the anti-collision lights and the command lights on the Dingyuan ship. In the Dingyuan command cabin, although only one light was turned on, it was still surrounded by thick curtains to ensure that the light would not leak out. The sound of the wind and waves at sea was a good attempt to mask the sound of the fleet as it sailed slowly.

"The mast observation report has clearly seen the ships of this book. The distance is 10,000 meters. ”

"Accelerating to 10 knots keeps the boiler compartment under pressure and ready to accelerate at any time." For more than a year, Luang Weili's Chinese has become very standard.

Suddenly, a shrill siren sounded over the United Fleet. All the officers in the Dingyuan command cabin pulled down the curtains that blocked the lights almost at the same time. Now that it has been discovered by the enemy, there is no need to hide anything. They raised their binoculars and watched. In the distance, the Combined Fleet was brightly lit. There are also 6000 meters.

"Left full rudder, full speed! Notify the ships to follow the flagship to seize the T-position, calculate the ocean current, calculate the wind speed, and each gun position can adjust its own firing points. Prepare for engagement, get ready for all gun emplacements - engage! As the Dingyuan gave the signal, the Beiyang ships followed the Dingyuan to hang out a beautiful arc on the sea, forming a beautiful "T" shape together with the suspended Yueben United Fleet.

"Five thousand meters! 4,000 meters! Enemy ship speed 0 knots. ”

"Three thousand five hundred meters, into range!" With the sound of the first mate, each cannon constantly adjusted its attitude according to the instructions. When the first mate reported that he was in range, Luang Weili nodded heavily.

"Fire! Hit me hard! Almost all the captains, the gunners shouted at the same time.

305mm, 210mm, 150mm guns, a salvo. Whistling cannonballs flew towards the enemy like flames of vengeance. In the formation of the combined fleet, a splash was smashed in the sky.

Finally, after three rounds of salvo fire, with a loud "bang", Zhenyuan's 305mm main gun hit directly, and a huge fireball rose from the deck of the Itsukushima, which was at the forefront of the combined fleet. The power of the yellow powder was revealed, and in the firelight, a ship's cannon was overturned by cannon fire and then plunged into the sea.

"Good. The ships continued to concentrate artillery fire in order. "With Luang Weili's order, the Itsukushima was caught in a hail of bullets.

"Raise the fire, let all the ships set sail. Yaga, the despicable Shina. Ito cursed. In the telescope, a cannonball sped in and slammed into the bow of the ship. "Boom", the explosion of the bomb caused the Itsukushima to shake violently. The bow of the Itsukushima was hit, and the Qing shells blew a large hole in the bow.

The violent shaking slammed Ito to the ground, and the shards of the telescope left a deep wound on his face. From the wound, blood gushed out and slowly flowed on Ito's hideous face. The cramping in his abdomen grew worse and worse, and he stood up with his grip on the bulkhead. Outside the window, artillery fire roared, and the warships were shot one after another, and the entire fleet burst into flames. It's been five minutes, and it's been five minutes since the Qing fleet was discovered. It is said that the combined fleet of this empire has not yet fired a single shot.

The hatch was opened, and a medical officer rushed in and said anxiously: "Your Excellency Commander, Lieutenant General Shiki Kayama has suddenly fallen ill. We suspect poisoning. After the medical officer finished speaking, he realized that Ito Henyo's painful face had already shaped: "Your Excellency Commander, are you also ......?"

Ito Hyungwoo raised his left hand and pointed at Yokoo Daoyu: "It's up to you to command." After saying that, his eyes went black, and he fell down and never woke up. What he didn't know was that at the moment he fell, the Speedy finally fired its first shot, and Yokoo Michiyu also fell asleep five minutes later.

With the passage of time, the artillery fire of the counterattack became more and more dense, and the counterattack gradually became unified and orderly. "Boom!" A shell hit the starboard side of the Pingyuan. Lang Weili stared at the Itsukushima, which was at the front with the flagship flag, and clenched his fists suddenly: "Right full rudder, order the Zhenyuan ship to press in with our ship, and shell Itsukushima with all your might, and the rest of the ships continue to keep the artillery in order." ”

"Press in?" The officers in the command cabin of Wanyuan all shook violently, they all understood what would happen to them once the two warships took the initiative to close the distance, and when they were hesitating, Deng Shichang had already shouted again: "Execute the order." ”

"Yes." After a resounding answer, the Dingzhen No. 2 ship took the initiative to leave the artillery group, and the bow deflected and continued to press towards the Yueben fleet, and when the bow pointed at the Yueben fleet, all eight main guns were aimed at Itsukushima at the front. Eight 305-mm guns fired a salvo, and several huge pillars of fire were immediately fired on the Itsukushima. Sink it, this is the idea of all the gunners on the second ship at this moment.

"Keep the right rudder full, and change to port to meet the enemy."

It takes 30 minutes for a warship to accelerate from the time it fires to the time it takes to set sail, and the entire engagement takes only 30 minutes. When the ships of the Combined Fleet began to accelerate, the Beiyang Fleet began to leave the battlefield. And it was these 30 minutes that completely buried the combined fleet. (To be continued.) )