On the 14th day of August in the second year of Ninhe, at noon, on the ocean 20 nautical miles southwest of Kuchiko Island, the huge combined fleet was moving at high speed, approaching the Osumi Strait at a very fast speed, according to the itinerary, it could enter the waters of Yakushima Island at the entrance of the Osumi Strait at sunset, and it was no longer a problem to enter the Yujima Strait on the night of the 15th. Shimazu Ichiro, the daimyo of the Satsuma Domain, who was in Kagoshima, sent a message of success.

"Report!"

At noon, Edward Vernon was deducing tactics in the war room as usual, and was in a trance, when he heard a command sounding outside the door.

"Come in."

Hearing the sound, Edward Vernon responded without raising his head.

"Report to the general, ten nautical miles northwest of the Qing Dynasty, a Qing warship has been found, please let your Excellency the general know!"

When the door opened, an officer on duty hurried into the cabin, gave a standard military salute to Edward Vernon, and hurried to say a word.

"Oh? Check it out! ”

As soon as he heard that the Qing warship had been discovered, Edward Vernon's brows furrowed, and he didn't dare to be careless, dropped the pencil in his hand, grabbed the monocular resting in the corner of his desk, and hurried out of the war room and hurried to the front deck......

"Send a report to General Wang, and find the main force of the Xiyi Combined Fleet, location: 130 east longitude. 28, 30 north latitude. 30, there are a total of forty-nine large and small warships, including twenty-seven battleships of various types, seventeen medium-sized battleships, five cruisers, and one Japanese merchant ship. ”

Ten nautical miles away was not close, but on such a sunny day, the soldiers on both sides could easily see each other on the unobstructed sea, and just as Edward Vernon hurried to the front deck, Lieutenant Commander Su Ke, the captain of the Qing army standing on the foredeck of the "Shunfeng", was already excitedly giving orders to the heralds who followed him.

"Yes!"

Su Ke gave such an order, and the herald waiting on the side did not dare to delay a little, and rushed to the telegraph room on the ship, and with the sound of ticking buttons, a series of passwords were already broadcast.

"Report to the general, the 'Shunfeng' has sent an urgent telegram, and the enemy's main fleet has been found."

On the ocean surface thirty nautical miles northwest of Kouzi Island, the main force of the Bohai Fleet of the Qing Army was sailing in the direction of Kouzi Island, the speed was not very fast, but the formation was maintained extremely tightly, on the foredeck of the flagship "Zhenyang", Wang Yanxia, who was dressed in a neat military uniform, stood solemnly, his eyebrows slightly furrowed at the end of the sea, and he was groaning, but he saw a herald rushing out of the cabin, and quickly grabbed Wang Yanxia's side.

"Huh? Good! The order of the general was passed down, and the whole fleet accelerated with full sails and marched in the direction of Kouzi Island, ordering the 'Shunfeng' to closely monitor the enemy fleet and report any abnormal situation immediately, and then send a report to the Beijing Division, saying that our fleet had discovered the enemy's traces and was expected to encounter the enemy in about an hour! ”

Wang Yanxia led the main force of the Bohai Fleet to patrol the ocean near here for more than a day, waiting for the arrival of the five-nation joint fleet.

"Yes!"

As soon as Wang Yanxia gave such an order, the herald who came to report did not dare to delay in the slightest, and hurriedly answered, and hurriedly issued the order everywhere, and with the ticking sound of the telegraph, a telegram had already crossed the ocean and flew to Beijing.

"His Majesty, He Tao and Director He are asking to see you at the palace gate."

In the Heart Cultivation Palace, Hongqing sat at the back of the dragon case, holding a fold, as if he was carefully looking at the contents, but he didn't turn the previous page for a long time, obviously his mind was not on the fold itself, and he was distracted, but he saw Li Dequan hurriedly coming in from outside, and quickly grabbed the front of the dragon case, and said a word carelessly.

"Xuan!"

The reason why Hongqing was distracted, waiting for He Tao's arrival, this time he heard that he had arrived, his spirit suddenly lifted, and he threw the fold in his hand to the dragon case, and he was already in a hurry to declare.

"Wow!"

Hongqing Chrysostom was opened, how dare Li Dequan have the slightest delay, he hurriedly responded, and hurriedly withdrew from the main hall, and after a while, he had already accompanied He Tao, who was sweating profusely, from outside.

"Wechen knocks to see His Majesty!"

As soon as he saw Hongqing sitting at the top, He Tao didn't dare to be rude at all, so he hurriedly rushed to the front of the palace, and hurried to pay homage to the top of the court.

"Excuse me, is there any news ahead?"

Hongqing was obviously very anxious, and before He Tao finished the ceremony, he couldn't wait to ask a question.

"Back to His Majesty, Weichen just received a call from General Wang, saying that he had discovered the main force of the Xiyi Combined Fleet, and it was expected to encounter the enemy at about three o'clock at the end of the day.

Hearing Hongqing's urgent question, He Tao didn't dare to delay in the slightest, and took out a telegram from his wide sleeve with shaking hands, and hurriedly made an explanation.

"Hand it over."

Hongqing is indeed very anxious, there is no side, but because it is the first sea battle related to the fortunes of the country, although even if it is lost, it may not necessarily make the Qing Dynasty slump from now on, but it is inevitable that the vitality will be greatly damaged, if this is the case, the various deployments arranged earlier must be readjusted, and there is no ten years of preparation time, I am afraid it will be difficult to step out of the country again, and this is obviously not the situation that Hongqing is happy to see.

"Wow!"

Hearing Hongqing's order, Li Dequan didn't dare to delay at all, hurriedly ran down the front pier, took the telegram held by He Tao, and carelessly forwarded it to Hongqing.

"Well...... immediately send a telegram to Wang Yanxia, informing the officers and soldiers of the three armies that I will pray for the blessings of the whole army in Beijing, and hope that my iron-blooded man of the Qing Dynasty will annihilate Xiyi and raise the prestige of my country!"

The telegram was very short, only one line of words, but Hongqing looked at it for a while, and then he considered his tone and made a will.

"Yes, Wechen obeys."

As soon as Hongqing's Chrysostom was opened, He Tao didn't dare to slack off, so he hurriedly and respectfully agreed to the promise, withdrew from the main hall, and returned to the Overseas Intelligence Bureau on his own, and sent Hongqing's will to the front fleet without mentioning it......

"Order: The two ships 'Rose' and 'Victory' will attack and drive that Qingren battleship away!"

Two flowers bloomed, one on each branch, not to mention that the Qing army was galloping towards Kouzi Island at high speed, but said that Edward Vernon stood on the foredeck of the "Brave" and observed the "Shunfeng" with a monocular, and after seeing the "Shunfeng" from the flank to a distance of about four nautical miles from his side, he did not move any further, nor did he see the Qing warship send a flag to communicate, but walked side by side with his own fleet in a big way, clearly showing the posture of surveillance. Vernon's brows tightened, and he vaguely felt that things might have gone out of the predetermined plan, but he couldn't figure out where the problem would be, and he was distraught, and he couldn't help but have the idea of retreating, and then he withdrew without firing a shot, obviously some of which could not be explained, and it was from this idea that Edward Vernon decided to explore the bottom of the Qing army before making a decision.

"Yes! The general has an order: "Rose" and "Victory" will attack and drive away the Qing people! ”

As soon as Edward Vernon's general order, the herald who followed him loudly conveyed the order to the flag-bearer on the tall mast, and as the flag-bearer waved the two small flags in his hand, the two cruisers "Rose" and "Victory" in the British Fleet series began to turn to the northwest and ran towards the "Downwind" diagonally.

"Report to the captain, two enemy warships are rushing towards our ship!"

At the moment of the great enemy, the lookout posts on the tall masts of the "Shunfeng" did not dare to relax in the slightest, and the two British warships had just rushed out of the formation, and they had already been clearly seen by the lookout posts, and they did not dare to be careless, so they hurriedly shouted.

"It's just in time, the gun emplacements on the port side are ready to meet the enemy!"

As soon as the lookout post shouted like this, Su Kedang became excited, took a telescope and looked at the two British battleships, and the battle spirit in his heart was already raging, not caring that the main force of the enemy fleet was nearby, and he roared and issued an order to prepare for war.

"Raise the flag and let the Qing warships leave this place, otherwise, our army will make a decisive disposition."

On the "Rose", the captain of the ship, Lieutenant Commander Cook Bosnia, held a telescope in his hand and watched the movement of the "Shunfeng", and when he saw that the other party showed no sign of backing down, he was annoyed for a while, and with a wave of his hand, he gave an order with hatred.

"Captain, Xiyi has called the flag and asked us to leave!"

Under the waving of the two small flags on the "Rose", the Qing army flag soldiers on the "Shunfeng" immediately understood what the other party meant, and hurriedly roared.

"Leave? Hey, ignore him, order, the port side gun window is fully open, the guns are in position, ready to meet the enemy! ”

Su Ke had the intention to fire the first shot of this battle, and he would not pay attention to the warnings of the British, and after an order, the two rows of gun windows on the port side, which were originally tightly closed, were all pushed open, and the twelve cannons were all in place, and the muzzles of the black hole holes were aimed diagonally at the two British warships that were galloping.

"Damn, lower the sails, turn left, prepare for war, prepare for war!"

As soon as the gun window of the "Shunfeng" popped open, Lieutenant Colonel Cook Bosinia immediately noticed that something was wrong, and immediately became anxious......