Fang Boqian was hesitating whether to retreat or turn around to meet the enemy, when the sailor in charge of the radio station in the bridge said excitedly: "Pipe band!" The Xinghai and Anhai from the Sailor Academy have called us, they are near us, let us hold on, and they will come to reinforce us immediately! ”

When Fang Boqian heard this, he was immediately shocked, there was really a miracle, and he immediately ordered in a loud voice: "Turn the bow of the ship, meet the Japanese ships, send flags to the Gaosheng and Caojiang, and let the two ships move closer to us!" ”

Gao Sheng is a large transport ship with a displacement of about 3,000 tons, which belongs to the merchant ships of the British Jardine Matheson & Co., and was leased by the Qing army to transport the army to aid Korea.

The Gao Sheng transported two battalions and two outposts of the Huai Army's Renzi Army, with a total of 1,116 people, 14 artillery pieces and a large number of guns and ammunition.

Naniwa ordered Gao Sheng to hoist the signal flag of "anchor and stop" and fired two empty cannons as a warning. The British captain of the Gaosheng had to do what the Japanese ship requires, but the Qing soldiers on the Gaosheng were all furious under the threat of force from the Japanese side, and suddenly the crowd was in an uproar, and the whole ship was in a commotion.

The Huai soldiers on the Gao Sheng pointed their guns at the British captain, so that the Gao Sheng moved closer to the Jiyuan ship.

Caojiang is a wooden-hulled old warship, originally belonged to the Nanyang Naval Division, and was later seconded to Beiyang for communications and transportation, with more than 80 officers and soldiers, the age of the ship has been more than 20 years, although it is also equipped with 3 breech-loading guns and 2 80 mm breech-loading guns, but it can only barely deal with pirates, and it is impossible to use it as a weapon against warships.

The Qiujinzhou ship approached the Caojiang, fired a warning shot, and ordered Caojiang to "stop sailing and drop anchor." Cao Jiang did not respond and continued to drive west. The Akitsu Chau approached again and fired a 120 mm shell to warn again. At this time, Wang Yongfa, who was in charge of the Caojiang, saw the flag sent by the Jiyuan ship, and the Jiyuan ship turned the bow of the ship and faced the Japanese ship, regardless of the dissuasion of the Dane Millens, a technician of the Tianjin Telegraph Bureau who went to North Korea to repair telecommunications equipment, Wang Yongfa, who was already over half a hundred years old, gritted his teeth and ordered: "Hit Lao Tzu with cannons!" Today, Lao Tzu will take you to sacrifice your life for the country! ”

The Qing troops on the ship were inspired by the old pipe belt, and while bombarding the Japanese ship with the only few cannons of the Caojiang, they approached the Jiyuan ship.

The three Japanese warships saw the Gao Sheng and the Caojiang approaching the Jiyuan ship, and the Jiyuan ship did not flee, but turned the bow of the ship and rushed towards its own three warships.

The three Japanese ships began to separate, relying on the speed of the three Japanese ships to surround the Jiyuan ship and the Gaosheng and Caojiang that were already close to the Jiyuan ship.

However, as soon as the three Japanese ships surrounded Jiyuan and the other three ships, and concentrated their firepower to prepare to sink the Jiyuan ship first, two warships appeared in the distance.

In the midst of the rumbling gunfire, the captain of the Yoshino, the flagship of the Japanese First Guerrilla Fleet, heard the lookout's report to him that a ship was approaching, and immediately changed his face, and ordered the lookout to continue to observe, and at the same time ordered the other two Japanese warships to move closer to his Yoshino.

After a while, the figures of the two warships in the distance became clear, the dragon flag flying high on the ship, and the huge hull of the Xinghai made Tsuboi Hangzo's heart sink suddenly.

At this time, the Jiyuan ship was already scarred, some of the ship's guns had been destroyed, and the ship was already on fire at this time, and the surviving sailors were struggling to extinguish the fire with water and sandbags, and even Fang Boqian's head was shaken by the bullet in the hull, and it hit the steel plate in the bridge, causing his head to bleed. But at this time, Fang Boqian, who had gauze wrapped around his head, leaked a smile, and finally insisted on the arrival of reinforcements, and then Fang Boqian ordered the gun position on the Jiyuan ship that could fire guns to continue to shoot at the Japanese ship!

At this time, the flagships of the First Fleet of the Naval Academy, the armored cruiser Xinghai with a displacement of 7,000 tons and the armored cruiser Anhai with a displacement of 4,568 tons, had already entered the battlefield of naval warfare.

Sun Xitao, commander of the First Fleet of the Naval Academy standing on the bridge of the flagship Xinghai, and Jiang Chen, captain of the flagship Xinghai, both had gloomy faces.

Originally, the two warships received Lin Daxin's order to cruise in the waters of Toshima in the Yellow Sea, but Lin Daxin specially reminded the two that the Japanese Navy might take advantage of the narrow sea channel to ambush the Jiyuan and other ships returning from the Beiyang Naval Division in the waters off Toshima, so that the two fast-moving armored cruisers could act at the opportunity. As a result, last night due to the mistake caused by the lack of experience of the navigator on the ship, they deviated from the course, and by the time Sun Xitao and Jiang Chen found out, they had already deviated from the waters of Fengdao for dozens of nautical miles, but fortunately they intercepted the telegram sent by the Jiyuan ship to Weihaiwei.

Only when the two warships learned that Japan had not declared war, they immediately rushed to the waters off Toshima at full speed, and finally felt the battlefield at the most critical moment of the Jiyuan ship.

Seeing that the three Japanese warships were back together and formed a formation, already within 4,000 meters of the main guns of the Xinghai and Anhai, Sun Xitao ordered: "The main guns of the Xinghai and Anhai are firing at the Japanese ships!" Let the Jiyuan ship move closer to us! ”

Jiang Chen ordered: "At a distance of 4,000 meters, the main cannon fires!" ”

With the orders of Sun Xitao and Jiang Chen, the 260-mm main guns of the Xinghai and Anhai began to fire at the Japanese ships. Several huge water columns were stirred up in the sea a few hundred meters away from the Japanese ships, causing the originally calm sea to instantly turn into rough waves and rolling waves.

The Jiyuan ship, which was on fire, received a telegram from the Xinghai from the radio, and Fang Boqian immediately ordered the Jiyuan ship to retreat and join the Xinghai ship and the Anhai ship.

The main guns of the two warships, the Xinghai and the Anhai, fired six rounds, and not a single shell hit the Japanese ship. The main guns of the Japanese warships also fired at the Kokai and Yasukai, but they were also ineffective.

As the two sides got closer and closer, the secondary guns and other naval guns of the warships of the two sides also opened fire one after another, and the landing points of the shells of both sides also got closer and closer to the warships of the other side.

The first to achieve victory was the Japanese Yoshino, whose main gun fired a 155-mm shell into the bow of the Kokai, but did not penetrate the bow armor and caused no casualties.

When the distance between the two sides was 3,000 meters, the Xinghai and Anhai were each hit by the shells of the Japanese ships several times, but they did not cause any major damage.

A shell fired from a 200-mm secondary gun of the Xinghai hit the rear deck of the Akitsuzu, setting off a huge fireball that lightly swept away a 155-mm naval gun at the tail of the Akitsuzu. Even the shells of this 155-mm naval gun detonated, causing a huge explosion. The Japanese sailors, who had no time to escape, instantly turned into mutilated bloody people.

The first good start achieved very good results, so that these rookies in the Sailor Academy, full of surprises, the more brave they became, the Xinghai fired a 260 mm main gun shell, also hit the front deck of the Qiujinzhou, after the huge flames rose, you can see that there is a huge crater left on the foredeck of the Qiujinzhou, and the outermost wooden stars on the deck are scattered in all directions. A 155-mm naval gun and a 120-mm naval gun also flew into the sky. At the same time, the huge explosion also destroyed the emplacements of the other two 120-mm naval guns.

In an instant, a raging fire broke out, plunging the foredeck of the Akitsuzu into a sea of fire, and groups of Japanese sailors worked hard to extinguish the fire with water, sandbags and other fire extinguishing tools. And the firepower of Qiujin Island dropped by more than half in an instant.

The captain of the Yoshino, Tsuboi Kosani, saw that the Akitsusu was on fire, and that the guns of his own warship were not in any danger to the Qing Dynasty's giant ship of at least 7,000 tons, so he had the idea of retreating.

At this time, the side armor of the bow of the Xinghai was hit by a 155-mm shell, but the shell was instantly bounced off by the thick armor, leaving only a slight bullet mark on the side armor of the bow.

A 200-mm shell from the Xinghai hit the middle of the Naniwa, destroying not only a 150-mm naval gun and several machine guns, but also causing a large fire.

The Yoshino was also hit by a 260-mm shell from the Yasuhai, blowing up one of the main guns.

At this time, the fire on the Jiyuan ship had been extinguished, and Fang Boqian commanded the Jiyuan ship to the left side of the Xinghai ship, and fired at the Japanese ship again, rejoining the battle.

When the two sides were 2,500 meters apart, the Japanese ship Akitsuzu, which had already been seriously injured and had not yet extinguished the fire on the foredeck, suffered a fatal blow and was hit on the rear deck by a 260-mm shell from the Xinghai, which passed through the aft deck and drilled into a boiler in the cabin, only to explode, causing an even bigger explosion in the boiler.

In an instant, the tail of the Akitsu Island was blown to pieces, and the sea water poured in, and the tail sank rapidly.

After the explosion, the flames continued to rush forward along the internal compartment of the battleship, and the Japanese naval officers and men working inside the battleship were instantly engulfed in flames, leaving only countless screams. The power of fire is immense, and it is also cruel. However, as the steam pipes become clogged, the steam that cannot be discharged will burst the pipes. The sailors who had just escaped from the fire were instantly drenched in the high temperature of water vapor, and countless blisters the size of bird eggs immediately grew all over their bodies, and the screams were no less miserable than the Japanese sailors who were burned by the fire.

After a while, the entire front of the Qiujinzhou hull was cocked, and the Japanese soldiers on the deck were sliding and screaming that their bodies were hit by the bumps on the battleship one after another, and some clever soldiers tried their best to grab the handle and prevent their bodies from falling. Most of the Japanese sailors knew that the Akitsuzu was finished, and they jumped directly into the sea to escape.

The fire in the Akitsuzu quickly burned to the ammunition compartment in the middle of the ship, detonating the shells in the ammunition compartment, and with an earth-shattering bang, the Akitsuzu broke in two from the middle, and then quickly sank into the sea. Most of the soldiers who were struggling in the sea after diving just now were also sucked into the bottom of the sea by the huge whirlpool created by the sinking of the ship.

Seeing that the Qiujinzhou was sunk, the students of the Xinghai ship and the Anhai ship on the sailor school, as well as the sailors on the Jiyuan ship next to them, were extremely excited and shouted long live!

Inside the bridge of the Xinghai ship, Jiang Chen excitedly said to Sun Xitao: "Commander Sun, we actually sank the Japanese Qiujinzhou!" Ha ha! ”

Sun Xitao also shouted excitedly: "Let's win the battle!" Sue sù brothers work hard! Leave the remaining two Japanese warships behind! Pass my order, now hit the fire and fire on the Yoshino! ”

With Sun Xitao's order, the main and secondary guns of the Xinghai and Anhai ships were aimed at the Yoshino ship, and even the Jiyuan ship on the side also aimed the naval guns at the Yoshino ship, and suddenly water columns continued to rise around the Yoshino ship.

Tsuboi Kozo looked at the place where the Akitsuzu sank, his face turned pale, and when he saw the continuous water columns around the Yoshino ship, he almost exhausted all his strength before he shouted with difficulty: "Order the Naniwa to follow our ship, ...... Turn in! "The self-righteous character of the Japanese makes them even run away, which is called turning in.

The two Japanese warships quickly turned their bows and fled to the open sea at full speed. The Xinghai and Anhai ships pursued for a while, and Sun Xitao and Jiang Chen discussed it for a while, and then gave up the pursuit.

Now the Xinghai and Anhai not only saved the Jiyuan ship of the Beiyang Naval Division, but also sank the Japanese Akitsu Island, which can be described as a great victory, and now the trainee sailors of the Xinghai and the Anhai are very tired after a voyage and a big battle, and the shells of the two ships have also consumed a lot, if they pursue the Japanese ships, if they encounter reinforcements from the Japanese Navy, the gains outweigh the losses! Therefore, Sun Xitao and Jiang Chen pursued for a while, then turned the bow of the ship, converged the Jiyuan ship, and discussed it with Fang Boqian, the pipe leader of the Jiyuan ship, and the three warships escorted the Gao Sheng and Caojiang and sailed back to Asan Port.