At half past six in the afternoon, the Sea Scale raised its battle flag and sailed at combat speed. The fourth team of Flying Thunder and Flying Eagle two ships escorted the left and right. The whole fleet quickly pursued the ship Anyi.

At the same time, the 5th and 6th warbands that were searching nearby also raised their battle flags, advancing their combat speed, and tried to outflank the ship from the left and right flanks.

The Anyi was a fast cruiser with a speed of 20 knots, and naturally sacrificed protection and firepower for the sake of high speed, with only two 150-mm main guns and four 105-mm secondary guns, as well as eight 47-mm rapid-fire guns. If it weren't for a range of 800 nautical miles, it would be just a gunboat.

However, although the speed of 20 knots was very fast, but his opponents were the Sea Scale and a group of high-speed lightning destroyers, and this speed advantage was suddenly gone.

At 7:35 p.m., the Sea Scale was less than 1,700 meters away from the Anyi, and the twelve hunting ships of the Fifth and Sixth Clans had already caught up with the Anyi and quickly blocked the way of the Anyi.

"Bang bang bang!"

Needless to say, the Exocet was the first to fire at the Aki, and one 12-pounder rapid-fire gun (76 mm) in the stern and two 6-pounder (47 mm) rapid-fire guns on the side opened fire fiercely, spit out rows of shells at the Aki in an instant, and immediately lit up the night sky.

Immediately afterwards, the other five destroyers of the Fifth Sentai followed the Exocet and also bombarded the enemy ship with rapid-fire guns. At the same time, the six destroyers of the Sixth Sentai also fired at the Yasui on the other side.

Although the caliber and number of guns of the Exocet-class destroyers are not as good as those of the Anyi, they can't stand much. Twelve destroyers lined up in a figure of eight to lock the Anyi inside, occupying the best firing position, and a large number of rapid-fire artillery shells were poured on the Anyi, which immediately caused a lot of bullet marks on the Anyi and a large number of casualties.

An Yi didn't think that the other party didn't say hello, and when he came up, he attacked and immediately suffered a big loss.

Kuroda Kiyomei immediately ordered a return fire.

"Boom! Boom! ”

A 150mm cannon in the front and rear of the Aki opened fire, and the threat to the Exocet-class destroyers was huge, because the fragile hull simply could not withstand a direct hit. However, fortunately, it has entered the night, and the cannon that relies on the shooter's eye to watch is not easy to hit the target at night, and the speed of the Exocet-class destroyer is as high as 30 knots, so it is difficult to be locked. Similarly, in night battles, small-tonnage destroyers have an advantage in speed, while rapid-fire guns are also a weapon for night battles.

After more than half an hour of fighting between the two sides, the Anyi was surrounded by 12 high-speed hunting ships, and suffered a big loss in firepower and speed.

At 8:25, the Anyi was blocked by the fifth and sixth teams one after another, and had to avoid turns many times under the fire of the opponent. In this way, the Sea Scale, which had been chasing at combat speed, finally caught up with the Aki.

With the addition of the Sea Scale, the Anyi was suddenly extremely sad.

"Knock knock!"

In the darkness of the night, the starboard side of the Sea Scale fired a volley. I saw the starboard side of the Sea Scale flickering, thick smoke spewed out, and shells burst out, drawing streamers and shooting at the ship.

"Boom!"

Shells exploded violently, setting off huge columns of water, splashing and rolling waves.

"Avoid! Circumvent! ”

On the Aki, Kuroda Kiyoaki couldn't stop shouting, ordering the battleship to evade the Sea Scale's artillery fire.

At half past eight, with a loud bang, a 150-kilogram shell fired from the main gun behind the stern of the Sea Scale hit the second chimney behind the Amidship Anyi, and the second chimney was immediately blown off.

In an instant, a huge flame rose from the Anyi, which suddenly lit up half of the sky. The smoke barrel of the Anyi was blown up, and thick smoke billowed out, and the unburned coal ash inside suddenly burned violently when it encountered an open flame, and there was a sea of fire in an instant.

On the Sea Scale, Chen Jiliang shouted hello.

At this time, Wu Daqing suddenly said: "Captain, I suggest that he be let live!" ”

Chen Jiliang, who was excited, immediately said unhappily: "What does this mean? ”

Wu Daqing said with a smile: "My lord, I wasted more than two hours, and finally judged that the ship on the opposite side was the Anyi. ”

Chen Jiliang asked, "What's wrong with the Anyi?" Since it's a ship, it has to be killed, there's nothing to say! ”

Wu Daqing hurriedly explained: "My lord, the Anyi and Naniwa are the escort warships of the third batch of troop transport fleets. ”

Chen Jiliang asked, "If the chief of staff has something to say, just say it, right?" ”

Wu Daqing then said: "The Anyi is not with the fleet, which shows that I am already vigilant. It was impossible to be on the original course, and now it was night, and it was almost impossible for us to find the fleet. ”

Chen Jiliang asked, "What do you mean?" ”

Wu Daqing replied: "I suggest that the Anyi be released and let him take us to find the Yueben fleet!" ”

Chen Jiliang frowned and said, "But when the ship finds out that we are following him, will he take us obediently?" ”

Wu Daqing said with a smile: "You see, this ship is an iron-ribbed wooden shell, and now it is burning with fire, and it is a huge target at night." Let's turn off the lights of our fleet and follow from afar. At the same time, the ship's chimney was broken, and the smoke drifted along the surface of the sea, which could be smelled from a distance, and with the speed of our destroyers, they would definitely not be able to escape. And our destroyers have small targets, and they can't be detected at night. ”

Chen Jiliang has one last question: "The ship may not necessarily go to the troop transport fleet, but it may also return to its home port." ”

Wu Daqing said with a smile: "This ship is the frigate of the fleet of the ship, he found us, and he must be in a hurry to go back to warn the fleet to strengthen vigilance and prevent us from attacking!" ”

"Makes sense! In the opinion of the Chief of Staff! ”

Chen Jiliang felt that this plan was feasible and immediately agreed to Wu Daqing's suggestion.

With the rapid whistle of the radio horn, this was the signal to disarm the fighting state.

The ships of the 5th and 6th warbands in the nearby battle immediately stopped attacking and turned around and returned to their own teams.

On the Aki, the captain Kuroda Kiyoaki didn't understand the other party's intentions, but the other party had ceased fire, and he was naturally happy that he didn't have to die in the belly of the fish with the Aki.

"Your Excellency Captain, why didn't the Qing army attack us?"

"There is no official declaration of war, I think they don't want to go too far!"

"So what do we do?"

"Let's chase the fleet immediately, we must tell the news to Masatoshi Uchida!"

Kuroda Kiyoaki seems to be blinded, not realizing that this is nothing more than a trap. He ordered the fire to be extinguished immediately and the wounded were rescued, and at the same time ordered the Anyi to sail northwest and chase the fleet.

In the darkness of about a kilometer behind the Anyi, two Exocet-class hunting ships quietly followed, and five miles behind were the three ships of the Sea Scale, the Flying Thunder, and the Flying Eagle, as well as the remaining ten destroyers of the Fifth and Sixth Teams.

Two hours later, the Aki extinguished the fire. But the chimney was broken, the stern was still thick with smoke, and there was no way to keep people, and the line of sight at night was less than 100 meters, so naturally it was impossible to find the two tracking ships 500 meters away.

At the same time, the lights were still on, because the hull was damaged in many places, and it was in urgent need of repair, and there were a large number of casualties, and it urgently needed surgical treatment. In this way, the Anyi with the lights on is a navigation light on the sea at night, making it very easy for the Qing Emperor [***] ship that follows them, and even the Sea Scale five miles away can know the exact location of the Anyi.

At the same time, according to the route of the Anyi, the Sea Scale sent a report to the fleet at any time.

After receiving the report, Deng Shichang quickly analyzed the situation with Lin Jianzhang, Zhao Sheng, Gao Erqian, You Xuekai, and others, and after affirming Chen Jiliang's tactics, he roughly estimated the possible position of the troop transport fleet. At the same time, according to the route and course of the Anyi, the fleet route was constantly corrected, and the position of the fleet was gradually locked, and all ships of the fleet were ordered to accelerate at combat speed and take a shortcut.

At 5 o'clock in the morning of May 31, ※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※, on the sea 12 nautical miles southeast of Kukushima in Minami Kyushu, the third batch of troop transport ships was slowly advancing towards Minami Kyushu.

In another hour and a half, the fleet will be able to safely sail into Kami Island Bay in southern Kyushu, where the shore defense cannons of the Honmoto Navy can stop the invading enemy.

The sky was overcast, the wind was blowing on the sea, and the waves were about half a meter high.

This little wave did not affect the warship, but for the troop carrier, many soldiers on it could not stand it, and immediately vomited and diarrhea.

The Aki dragged a long stream of black smoke back to the fleet, and the Naniwa staff officer on duty saw that the Aki was scarred and quickly reported it to Masatoshi Uchida.

"Report! The Aki is back! ”

Uchida Masatoshi was woken up from his sleep and looked at the staff officer with an abnormal expression, so he frowned and said, "What's the matter?" ”

The staff officer said: "The Anyi was besieged by Qing Empire warships and was almost sunk. ”

Uchida Masatoshi sat up and asked while getting dressed, "What about Kuroda?" ”

"Boarding the ship!"

Masatoshi Uchida hurriedly left the captain's room and headed outside.

Coming to the deck, Uchida Masatoshi looked at the Aki not far away, and saw that the Aki was covered in bullet wounds and wounds in many places, like a turkey that had been burned out, which showed that it must have experienced a fierce battle.

At this time, Kuroda Kiyoaki was covered in blood and climbed up to the deck from the rope ladder in embarrassment.

"What's going on?"

Masatoshi Uchida asked eagerly.

"Report to Your Excellency Osa, the Aki was ordered to go to Amami Island to investigate, but before it reached Amami Island, it encountered a warship of the Qing Empire. They don't say anything, they will fight us when they see us. The other side had dozens of warships, and the ship fought bloodily before escaping at night. ”

Kuroda Kiyoaki had to brag about it as a way to cover up his embarrassment.

However, Uchida Masatoshi originally wanted to comfort him, but after hearing this, he suddenly became angry.

"Bastard!"

Uchida Masatoshi slapped him in the face and scolded: "Idiot, dozens of warships are besieging you, and you can still come back alive, do you treat me as a three-year-old child?" ”

Kuroda Kiyoming said aggrievedly: "I'm sorry, it's more than a dozen warships!" ”

Uchida Masatoshi slapped him again and said angrily: "More than a dozen warships are besieging you, and you can't come back!" ”

Kuroda Kiyoming said depressedly: "What I said this time is true! ”

Uchida Masatoshi was about to slap him, when he suddenly heard a shout from above the mast: "Enemy ship!" A large number of enemy ships! ”

Uchida Masatoshi immediately let go of Kuroda Kiyomei, ran onto the bridge in a few steps, picked up the binoculars and looked into the distance, only to see a large number of Qing Empire warships whirring black smoke, quickly heading towards the fleet.

Uchida Masatoshi immediately understood everything, and scolded Kuroda Kiyoaki for being a fool and actually luring the enemy ship over. Uchida Masatoshi was about to shoot him immediately, but was stopped by Okuhoko, who rushed in.

At this moment, killing Kuroda Kiyomei will not help.

The Naniwa immediately raised the battle flag, and Kuroda Kiyoaki also returned to the Aki, ready to make meritorious service for his crimes.

The thirteen troop carriers quickly circled east of Miyakudo Island and accelerated toward Kami Island Bay, but no matter how the troop carriers accelerated, their top speed was only 9 to 10 knots.

At the same time, the Fifth and Sixth Fleets of the Qing Empire bypassed the west side of Miyajiu Island at a combat speed of 30 knots, preparing to intercept the Yumoto troop convoy.

Naniwa and Aki tried to intercept them, but their speed was clearly unable to catch up, and five large armored cruisers appeared on the flanks, forcing them to dare not pursue them, so they had to escort the troop carriers at the rear.

At this moment, Naniwa and Aki had to be cut off for the troop convoy. However, both Uchida Masatoshi and Kuroda Kiyoaki understood that with the strength of Naniwa and Aki, they could not stop the attack of the five large armored cruisers of the Qing Empire's Second Sentai at all.

At 5:24 a.m., the Sea Scales of the Fourth Squadron accelerated to a top speed of 23 knots and quickly pursued the troop convoy. The Naniwa immediately turned to the right, the hull of the ship turned horizontally, and planned to fire at the Sea Scale with its starboard gun, trying to block the Sea Scale's path.

The two 260 mm 35 caliber Krupp main guns in the bow and stern of the Naniwa ship were the first to fire, and these high-powered heavy guns posed a great threat to the Sea Scale. The Seascale immediately returned fire with the eight-inch main guns in the bow and the six-inch secondary guns in the two ear stands on the left and right sides of the bow, and at the same time avoided being fired by a volley of Nanwa's side fire and actively turned left to avoid it.

The wave continued to turn right at a wide angle, and the starboard side of the hull remained facing the Seascale.

At 5:35 a.m., the Sea Scale sped up and tried to force its way through. Naniwa immediately fired at the Seascale with three 150-mm Krupp guns on the starboard side, three 47-mm heavy Habekaith rapid-fire millimeter guns, and five 25-mm quadruple Noudianfeld machine guns.

The Sea Scale immediately attacked the Nanisu with five 6-inch Armstrong rapid-fire guns on the starboard side and 12 47-mm and 25-mm Habekis rapid-fire guns.

The two ships sailed opposite each other, starboard to starboard, and fired fiercely at a distance of 1,250 meters. In an instant, the cannon roared and the smoke filled the air. Huge columns of water rose on the sea between the two ships, and the waves splashed, and the sea water boiled in an instant.

In terms of firepower, the Sea Scale has the upper hand. On the armor, the Naniwa's 76 mm homogeneous armor protection is more comprehensive than the Seascale's 4-inch dome armor protection, but the Naniwa's armor advantage has not been brought into play, and when firing at close range, the Seascale's dome armor protection is no worse than the Naniwa's protection against straight ballistic shells.

In this way, three minutes after the Naniwa and the Sea Scale 2 ship were fired at each other, the Naniwa suffered a big loss of insufficient firepower, the hull was scarred, damaged in many places, and the casualties were more serious than those of the Sea Scale.

At 5:55 a.m., the Sea Scale forcibly broke through the fire blockade of the Naniwa, and did not love to fight, and directly pursued the troop transport fleet. On the other side of the Sea Scale, the Flying Thunder and the Flying Eagle took advantage of the cover of the Sea Scale's hull to avoid the bombardment of the waves, and also followed to chase the troop transport fleet.

The wave turned the corner and tried to pursue, but the speed difference was as much as five or six knots, and it was obvious that he could not catch up.

During the fierce battle between Naniwa and Hailan, on the other side, in order to cover the troop transport fleet, the Anyi did not hesitate to use its mantis arm as a car, and the hull was horizontal, and the port side met the oncoming flagship of the second combat team of the Qing Imperial Navy.

The Anyi's guns were simply unable to pose a threat to the eight-inch-thick armor, and the Yuyong rushed directly at the Anyi, and the bow guns bombarded the Anyi.

At 5:32 a.m., an 8-inch main gun shell from the Yu Yong hit the Amidship Amidship. The 150-kilogram shell instantly pierced through the amidship wall of the Anyi and exploded. The violent explosion shattered the first chimney of the Anyi, and suddenly the flames rushed hundreds of meters high, and the black smoke was blown back by the wind, which soon obscured the view of the gunners on the Anyi.

The Yu Yong continued to move forward, taking advantage of the fact that the ship could not hurt itself, and at the same time, the black smoke on the ship blocked their sight, and the captain of the Yu Yong, Du Xigui, planned to fire torpedoes at close range.

At 5:56 a.m., the Yu Yong fired a bow torpedo at a distance of about 150 meters from the Anyi.

With a loud "boom", the 18-inch black-headed torpedo instantly hit the amidship of the Anyi and exploded violently.

In an instant, the torpedo explosion shattered the Amidship, and the entire amidship waterline, including the entire ship's island, was instantly torn into countless fragments and flew into the air for several hundred meters, and then fell into the sea with a violent flame.

A huge mushroom cloud rose from the blast site, and seawater poured into it, breaking the entire hull into two and sinking at a visible rate.

The Yu Yong was afraid of being hit by the explosion, so it gave up the pursuit of the Yuben troop transport convoy and turned around to attack the ship on the other side.

At 6:12, the Yu Yong approached Naniwa, and the Brave and Dou Yong continued to follow the Yu Yong to attack the Naniwa from the left, while the Gang Yong and the Yi Yong broke away from the second team and turned to the right side of Naniwa.

Seeing that the Aki had been sunk, and that the troop transport fleet was being pursued by more than a dozen Qing Empire warships, Uchida Masatoshi knew that the matter was irreparable, and in the face of the attempt of five giant ships to encircle and annihilate Naniwa, Uchida Masatoshi immediately gave up the hard fight and turned around and fled.

When the commander of the second battle team, Du Xigui, saw that the wave was fleeing, how could he give up, and immediately ordered all ships to surround the wave at full speed and be sure to sink it.

The several battleships that were sunk before were too weak, and this Naniwa was the sworn enemy of the Qing Empire's navy, and this revenge must be avenged.

So five large armored cruisers of 7,000 tons chased a small armored cruiser of less than 4,000 tons, and the speed of the Naniwa was less than 17 knots, and the minimum speed of each ship of the Second Combat Fleet of the Qing Imperial Navy was also 20 knots, and the speed of the Naniwa was quickly overtaken.

At 6:24 a.m., the starboard side of Naniwa was fiercely attacked by the three ships of Yuyong, Courage, and Douyong, and on the port side, it was fiercely attacked by Gangyong and Yiyong.

Three minutes later, most of the guns on the port side of Naniwa were destroyed, and the shells and propellants piled up near the gun emplacements exploded one after another, killing and wounding more than 100 sailors and igniting a fire.

Uchida's tower was the focus of care, and the tower less than 90 millimeters thick was hit by more than 200 shells, the tower was distorted and deformed, and the steel armor was torn apart in many places, and all 12 commanders on the ship including Uchida Masatoshi were killed.

At 6:36, Nanisu lost its ability to counterattack, the hull of the ship was beaten into a hornet's nest, the ship island was razed to the ground, the flames were scorching, the smoke was billowing, and the remaining soldiers were howling heartbreakingly.

Du Xigui was bent on sinking Nanisu, but Nanisu was like an unbeatable Xiaoqiang, and kept sailing to Kamijima Bay.

At 7:12, the wave, which was no longer commanded, sailed into the west side of Kami Island Bay and ran aground on the shallows. At the same time, the anti-aircraft guns on the left and right shores of Shiami Island Bay opened fire fiercely at the ships of the Qing Empire, and Du Xigui was afraid of hitting the mines near the harbor, so he gave up the wave and retreated.

At the same time, the 4th, 5th, and 6th teams had caught up with the slow-moving convoy of troop carriers. At 6:11, the Exocet launched a torpedo and sank the Osaka Maru first.

With a violent explosion of the Osaka Maru, the troop carrier, which had no protection, was torn to pieces by the huge explosive force of the 18-inch torpedo, and all 902 people on board were killed in the flames, and none of them were spared.

Three minutes later, the four troop carriers of the Phoenix Maru, the Lixiang Maru, the Kuaifeng Maru, and the Kaiyun Maru were respectively torpedoed and sunk by the four repellers "Flying Rabbit", "Flying Cat", "Flying Badger", and "Flying Wolf".

At 6:38 a.m., the remaining nine troop carriers were afraid of being torpedoed and sunk, so they immediately broke away from the formation and fled in all directions. Then, the three ships of Shozuru Maru, Hamin Maru, and Nagawhale Maru hurriedly rushed to the nearby Takeshima Shoal and ran aground, the three ships of Hongqiao, Xingsu Maru, and Tokyo Maru rushed to the right of Mamao Island and ran aground, and the two ships of Hanrong Maru and Kata Maru ran aground and sank in a panic, and the soldiers who fell into the water were shot and killed by the rapid-fire guns of many destroyers, and some of them escaped ashore and survived.

The Kayo Maru was chased and beaten by the Sea Scale, then stopped the ship and raised the white flag to surrender, while the Tokyo Maru sailed vigorously into Kami Island Bay. Seeing this, the Sea Scale immediately abandoned the Kayo Maru and pursued the Tokyo Maru, and sank it near the mouth of Kami Island Bay, witnessed by the artillery of the shore defense army.

When the Kayo Maru saw that the Sea Scale was pursuing the Tokyo Maru, it immediately continued to escape, only to be stopped by the Pegasus and torpedoed and sunk. The huge explosive force of the torpedo instantly blew up the entire troop transport ship, and all the more than 800 soldiers on board were spared, and they all followed the Huayang Maru to the bottom of the sea.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the ships of the Qing Imperial Royal Navy wandered around the waters off Lujian Island Bay, Takeshima, Mamao Island, and Gongjiu Island for several hours, and then strafed the overboard Japanese army, and then bombarded the Japanese army that fled to the nearby islands, until the first Ding Mao and the second Ding Mao, two coastal defense heavy gunboats, appeared, and then three coastal defense ironclad ships, Meng Chun, and Yun Yang rushed to support, and launched an attack on the Qing Imperial Navy under the cover of coastal defense heavy artillery.

The five large armored cruisers of the Second Sentai fired at the ship for half an hour, but when they saw that they could not cause damage to the other side, and the threat of the anti-aircraft guns on the shore of Kami Island Bay was very great, they chose to retreat.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, the three armored iron battleships of the 1st Squadron of the Qing Imperial Navy arrived in the waters near Gongjiu Island and joined the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th and 6th warbands.

After the assembly, the morale of the Qing Imperial Royal Navy was greatly boosted, and Deng Shichang ordered to go back to find the field.

At 11 o'clock in the morning, the three armored battleships of the First Combat Squadron of the Qing Imperial Navy attacked the coastal defense fortress of the Yueben Navy, and fought several shallow-water heavy gunboats and shore defense ironclad ships of the Yueben Navy for an hour, but they did not take advantage. In the end, Deng Shichang saw that there was no advantage to take advantage of, so he ordered the whole fleet to retreat.

(To be continued)