In the bridge of the Fengxiang, which had been stranded, the commander of the Combined Fleet, Ito Yuxiang, said calmly to the captain of the Fengxiang, Keio Uesugi: "Even if you stay on the two warships, you are just giving the Qing Dynasty some more prisoners!" It's not far from the port, so run ashore at once! ”

Uesugi Keio gritted his teeth and said, "Commander! Although the warship has no effect because of the grounding of the ship's bottom drain valve! But we can send dead soldiers to detonate the ammunition warehouse and prevent the warship from falling into the hands of the Qing Dynasty! ”

At this time, a Japanese Navy Major ran into the bridge and said urgently to Ito Yuxiang and Uesugi Keio: "Commander! Captain! The Qing Dynasty sent a flag! Let's not allow the destruction of 2 ironclad battleships, or ...... Let the people on board let us take the lifeboat back to the shore, and the Qing Dynasty people will not attack our lifeboat! ”

Ito Yuxiang shook his head with a wry smile after hearing this, "Uesugi-kun! The officers and men on our 2 warships are almost the last elite soldiers of the Combined Fleet! These are the seeds of our future Combined Fleet, don't lose all the hope of the future Combined Fleet for the sake of 2 warships! Flag was sent to the Mizuzuru, and the Japanese naval officers and sailors on all 2 warships retreated to Sasebo Port in lifeboats! 2 warships...... Leave it to the Qing Dynasty! ”

When Uesugi Keio heard this, he opened his mouth and didn't say anything more, compared to the ironclad battleships of the 2 Combined Fleets, his own life was more important.

Subsequently, the Japanese naval officers and men on the two ironclad battleships obeyed Ito's order, put one lifeboat after another into the sea, boarded the lifeboats in batches and fled to the shore on the left side of Sasebo Port, and then ran into the woods in front, fearing that the Beiyang Navy Division would not be trustworthy and shelled them ashore.

However, the commander of the Combined Fleet, Ito Yuxiang, suddenly pulled out his matching gun on the deck of the Fengxiang, hooked the trigger on his temple, and with a "boom-" sound, Ito Yuxiang committed suicide.

With tears in their eyes, the officers and men of the Combined Fleet aboard the Hosho transported Ito's body in a lifeboat to the shores of Sasebo Port.

Lin Daxin watched the personnel on the 2 Japanese ironclad battleships leave from the warship in a lifeboat, and suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, these 2 ironclad battleships have become boiled ducks, Lin Daxin doesn't want the Japanese to burn the jade and blow up the 2 ironclad battleships!

Fortunately, the Japanese have not yet instilled any bushido spirit, and obediently handed over the 2 ironclad battleships. Lin Daxin immediately transferred some personnel from the First Fleet and the Second Fleet, boarded the two Japanese ironclad battleships, and then asked the warships of the First Fleet to use chains to drag the two ironclad battleships out of the stranded shoals little by little.

During this period, the entire Beiyang Naval Division had stopped shelling, and the shore defense artillery on Sasebo had also stopped firing under the orders of the disheartened captain of the Japanese garrison. The captain of the Japanese garrison saw that his 12 old shore defense guns were not powerful and ranged, and they could not pose any danger to the warships of the Qing Dynasty at all! And there will be no more wasted shells!

After the naval officers and men of the Navy Academy dragged the two Japanese ironclad battleships out of the shallows, completely extinguished the fire on the warships, and made the Navy of the Navy School completely control the two warships, Lin Daxin took a look at the Japanese military port of Sasebo and issued the order to bombard the port of Sasebo.

Suddenly, the main guns of each ship opened fire in unison, and small mushroom clouds in Sasebo Harbor were seen rising into the air.

The valuable targets in the port of Sasebo were all under the bombardment of the Beiyang Naval Division, so the guns bombarded the Japanese barracks on the shore, several small Japanese gunboats on the docks, 12 rusty old shore defense batteries, and a small shipyard in the port of Sasebo became the focus of the bombardment, and these targets were destroyed in a few rounds of fire.

The entire Sasebo Naval Port became a hellish sea of fire in an instant! The soldiers of the Japanese garrison in the harbor ran around in a panic under such heavy shelling, howling frantically, either killed by the naval guns or mercilessly drowned by the surrounding sea of fire.

In the woods on the left side of Sasebo Port, the Japanese naval officers and sailors on the two ironclad battleships of the Combined Fleet kept looking at the bombarded Sasebo with dull eyes, but now that their warships were in the hands of the Beiyang Naval Division, they could no longer do anything but watch blankly.

After the entire fleet of the Beiyang Naval Division bombarded the port of Sasebo for 20 minutes, the entire fleet turned and left the Japanese military port of Sasebo. The Japanese ship Hashidate, which was captured by the main team of the Beiyang Naval Division, and the Japanese ships Fengsho and Zuizuru, who were captured by the naval fleet of the Naval Academy, also left Sasebo with them, leaving only Sasebo in ruins.

In the bridge of the Flying Bear, Lin Daxin looked at the chart in his hand and said to Sun Xitao: "Order the fleet to advance to the Seto Inland Sea of Japan, and we will attack the Japanese port of Kure!" ”

After several hours of sailing, the Hokuyang Navy Division and the Navy Academy Navy Fleet arrived in the waters of Kure Port in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan, when the sun was about to set.

At this time, Kure Harbor had already received the Qing Dynasty fleet attacking the Sasebo Military Port, which not only destroyed the Sasebo Military Port, but also stopped in the Sasebo Military Port, and the remaining main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet had also been completely wiped out.

The entire Kure port is currently guarded by a port garrison brigade belonging to the Japanese Navy, and Yoshioka Yoshioka, the captain of the garrison group, heard that Sasebo was attacked by the Qing fleet, and suddenly felt a danger coming, and he turned his head to look at a huge shipyard in Kure Port, and a feeling of the sky falling rose in his heart.

The shipyard in Kure Port was expanded several times after Japan received a large loan from the British. There are 1 dock of 10,000 tons, 1 dock of 8,000 tons, 2 docks of 5,000 tons, 3 docks of 2,000 tons, and more than a dozen small docks of 100 tons to 1,000 tons. It can be said that Kure Port Shipyard has surpassed Yokosuka Shipyard to become the largest shipyard in Japan!

Before the First Sino-Japanese War, stimulated by Lin Daxin's purchase of warships, Japan not only purchased six British warships in service at that time, but also formulated a huge shipbuilding plan. The main warships planned to be built were all in the shipyard in Kure Port, and a group of experts were sent by the British to Kure Port to help design and build them.

At this time, there are two large warships in the 10,000-ton dock and the 8,000-ton dock that have completed the main construction, and the naval guns have been installed. Then these 2 large warships, built by Japan itself, can be subjected to sea trials and finally enter service with the combined fleet!

These two warships belong to the same type of armored cruisers, with a displacement of 7,900 tons, a length of 121.5 meters, a width of 20 meters, a draft of 7 meters, three new steam engines, 20 boilers, three-shaft propulsion, a speed of 21 knots, and a maximum coal load of 1,100 tons. Waterline armor 150 mm to 240 mm, deck armor 80 mm to 100 mm, main gun turret armor 240 mm, secondary gun turret armor 150 mm, conning tower armor 280 mm. Armed with 4 210-mm naval guns, 14 155-mm naval guns, 12 74-mm guns, 8 47-mm rapid-fire guns, 4 457-mm torpedo tubes. Crew: 610 people.

The two warships in the two 5,000-ton docks have also completed most of the construction, but the guns are only half installed, these two warships are modeled after the original Japanese Yoshino, with a displacement of up to 4,200 tons, a length of 110 meters, a deck width of 15 meters, a draft of 5 meters, 12 boilers, two-shaft propulsion, a speed of 23 knots, and a maximum coal load of 600 tons. Near the waterline, the dome deck was laid throughout the ship, with a central bulge of the dome 15 mm thick, a slope on both sides of the slope sloped to the waterline 120 mm thick, and a rear open gun cover with a thickness of 4.5 inches. Armed with 4 155-mm naval guns, 8 120-mm naval guns, 22 47-mm rapid-fire guns, 5 356-mm torpedo tubes. Crew: 360 people.

The keels of three protective cruisers have also been laid in the three 2,000-ton docks, and a dozen small docks of 100 to 1,000 tons are also filled with small warships under construction.

Yoshioka Takeshi, the captain of the garrison brigade, looked at the shipyard not far away, and his heart was cold, can the warships of the Qing Dynasty let Wu Gang go? After the Qing fleet came, could it withstand the powerful Qing fleet by relying on 4 coastal batteries, 22 shore defense guns, 5 torpedo boats, and 3 small gunboats in Wu Harbor?

Sure enough, when the sky was about to darken, a huge fleet of Beiyang Naval Divisions appeared on the sea surface of Wu Harbor.

Lin Daxin, who was on the Flying Bear, used a telescope to observe the Japanese army Wu Harbor through the setting sun, and then used a telescope to look at the shipyard in Wu Harbor!

Lin Daxin had already interrogated the Japanese naval prisoners on the original Yoshino through guò, and learned that Japan had a huge shipyard in Kure Harbor and was building a large number of advanced warships with the help of British experts.

Lin Daxin has always had the idea of attacking the ports of the Japanese mainland before, and the reason why it was not implemented was that in addition to the reasons of the Japanese Combined Fleet and the Qing Dynasty government, Lin Daxin also had a consideration, he had been calculating the speed of the construction of Japanese warships, and was ready to attack the Japanese ports at the same time, hugging the grass and beating rabbits, and snatching the warships built by Japan itself, so this time to attack the Japanese ports, Lin Daxin also ordered a brigade of the Marine Corps to follow the fleet to Japan on a transport ship.

Lin Daxin was preparing to use the Marines to capture Kure Harbor, control the Wu Harbor Shipyard, and seize the warships that Japan was about to complete construction.

Lin Daxin put down the binoculars and ordered Sun Xitao: "Hurry up, immediately shell the four Japanese batteries in Wu Gang and several small Japanese warships in Wu Harbor, and remove the threat of Wu Gang to the fleet!" Order Ju Peng of the Marine Corps to prepare the soldiers of the Marine Corps for a forced landing! Capture Kure Harbor, and the main thing is to quickly occupy Kure Harbor Shipyard! ”

Lin Daxin was worried that the Japanese in Wugang knew that if they were defeated by the entire fleet of the Beiyang Naval Division, they would destroy the warships that had been built in the shipyard, and their own intentions would be in vain!