At this time, Li Weiguo, the captain of the 'Gannan', was pointing to the chart and said: "I think that the Japanese Navy should be on the way back now, and we should intercept it halfway." ”

Feng Ju, the captain of the 'Baoshan', had a different opinion: "I don't think the Japanese Navy will end the shelling so quickly, after all, the Imperial Navy is not prepared, and they will definitely consume almost all the shells before going back in order to expand the results of the battle, this is an opportunity for us." ”

Gao Tonghui, captain of the 'Bei'an', said: "There are many ironclad ships in the Japanese Navy, and we only have five cruisers and three small gunboats, how can we intercept them directly, we should go and attack the other side's ports." ”

Seeing Sun Xiaohu coming, Zhang Haiyang smiled: "You are finally here, come here, let me tell you about the situation first." An hour ago, the main force of the Japanese Navy attacked the Port of Arthur, and the Second and Third Fleets of the Empire suffered heavy losses, and the young master had instructed us before, once the Japanese Navy attacked the Lanfang Imperial Navy, let us try to eliminate the strength of the Japanese Navy. So I decided to attack the fleet, but I haven't thought about the target yet, where do you think I should hit? ”

Sun Xiaohu walked to the chart and said: "I agree with Feng Ju's statement, we can attack the main force of the Japanese fleet, after all, their shells should be almost hit, as long as we attack suddenly enough, they will only be beaten." ”

Zhang Haiyang said: "Yes, but it is not easy to find a fleet on the sea, and we are likely to miss it." Sun Xiaohu said: "It doesn't matter if you miss it, anyway, they have old warships to drag them down, and the speed will not be too fast, if we miss it, we will go here to fight." ”

Sun Xiaohu pointed to a small island near the Wa Kingdom Maritime Frontier on the map. "Etajima?" Gao Tonghui exclaimed. "That's right, it's Etajima."

Sun Xiaohu nodded and said, "Didn't the young master let us try to eliminate the naval strength of the Wa Kingdom?" Etajima is the location of the Wa Naval Academy, where the next generation of their naval officers are studying, and as long as we defeat this place, we can make the naval officers of the Wa Kingdom disconnected, so that they have warships that no one can command. ”

Zhang Haiyang said: "Okay, let's fight here." Feng Ju said: "However, it is difficult to have a great effect on land targets with our artillery shells. ”

Sun Xiaohu said: "Isn't that kind of shell specially made by the young master to be filled with picric acid very combustible?" Let's bring some, let the three gunboats also carry more of that kind of shells, and we'll burn it completely. ”

Listening to Sun Xiaohu's words, several people gasped, and Zhang Haiyang slammed the table with his fist and said, "Okay, let's do this." ”

In the early spring, when the sea was warm and cold, and a layer of mist was shrouded in the sea in the early morning, in the lookout post at the top of the mast of the cruiser Naniwa, the Japanese soldier Takahashi moved his hands and feet a little stiffly, and said to his companions: "What did the captain ask us to see in such a big fog?" I'm afraid that we won't be able to see the enemy when they arrive. ”

Shang shirt said: "Look at it with wide eyes, if the enemy comes, report it quickly, who let us be the lead ship." ”

Takahashi leaned against the mast and smiled, "Where did the enemy come from?" The First Fleet of the Lanfang Empire? I'm afraid it will take them two days to get here from Quanzhou Port. What's more, our shells have all been fired, what can we use against the enemy? Shove you and me into the cannon and shoot out? ”

After a long time, Takahashi said, "Why don't you speak?" The shirt said, "What do you see in front of you?" It seems to be moving very fast, and I've been paying attention to it for a long time. ”

Takahashi also stared at the black shadow, only to see it get closer and closer, and suddenly a sharp bow of the ship pierced through the fog, and then a huge main gun of two hundred and three millimeters appeared in front of them.

The two Japanese soldiers shouted in unison, "It's an enemy attack." Takahashi immediately rang the alarm bell, and the piercing bell rang throughout the ship, and the Japanese soldiers who were eating breakfast threw down their rice bowls and immediately ran to their posts, but it was too late.

Feng Ju, the captain of the 'Baoshan', clenched his fists and said, "I finally caught you, this time it's up to you where you run." He shouted at the communications brass pipe, "Attention the front main gun, fire." ”

The officers and men of the Chinese Consulate Navy, who had already been ready, immediately moved, and the 203-millimeter main gun almost flattened the barrel and fired a cannon from 2,000 meters away.

Due to the close distance, this huge cannonball drilled into the bow of the 'Naniwa' without any suspense, and opened a large hole half a meter above the waterline, and the shell grazed the side of the ammunition depot through three partitions and exploded inside the hull, knocking down the Japanese sailors who were running to the battle position, and a few unlucky people even turned over from the side of the railing unsteadily.

"Good fight." Feng Ju slammed his fist on the command platform, feeling quite relieved. He still has a lot of affection for the Second Fleet of the Empire, because they were in the Second Fleet when they interned at the Academy.

Seeing that the 'Naniwa' slowed down, Feng Ju ordered: "The left rudder is full, order the gun positions on the starboard side, and give me a hard blow when you see the enemy ship." ”

The first mate on the side reminded: "Captain, should we raise the fire and send a signal to the main fleet?" ”

Feng Ju unbuttoned his collar and said, "There's no need, they'll rush over when they hear the sound of cannons." ”

At this moment, the dexterous 'Baoshan' had already begun to turn, and as soon as it saw the figure of the 'Naniwa', several auxiliary artillery crews that had already prepared for the cannon immediately opened fire.

A flash of fire rose into the sky, and the front main gun of the 'Naniwa' was completely reimbursed, Feng Ju pointed to the 'Naniwa' that was burning the fire and smiled: "Look, isn't this signal there?" ”

The shells of the main guns of the 'Naniwa' had been exhausted in the previous shelling, and the remaining small guns were okay against small gunboats, and against cruisers of the same tonnage were not much different from tickling, and in order to load more shells, the 'Naniwa' did not carry torpedoes at all.

The only thing it could do was to escape, but the Naniwa, which had returned from tens of thousands of nautical miles from the Saar Empire and had not had time to clean up the microorganisms at the bottom of the ship, was only eighteen knots, while the 'Baoshan', which used the latest three-expansion steam engine, had a high speed of twenty knots, and the Naniwa had only been beaten.

In the main fleet of the Japanese Kingdom, five miles away from the Naniwa, the commander of the fleet, Ito, was stomping back and forth worriedly, and he heard the sound of cannons, but there were not many shells left in the fleet, and only some small-caliber rapid-fire guns kept their shells because the range was too short.

If you encounter the opponent's fleet, you don't have much power to fight back, and you blame those stubborn artillery batteries, which make you hot-headed for a while, so you have committed a taboo.

In fact, I can't blame Commander Ito, Lan Fang's navy has had to deal with it carefully under the power of hundreds of years, for fear that the cannonballs fired will not be enough to destroy it, which is also a kind of psychological catharsis for the Japanese navy that has been suppressed for many years, but I didn't expect that due to their lack of actual combat experience, the main artillery shells were exhausted without paying attention.

The captain of the flagship 'King Kong' on the side was Arima Shinichi: "Commander, let's rush over and fight, listening to the sound of cannons, there is only one enemy ship, and the 320 mm main guns and ammunition of the three new ironclad ships such as the 'Hashidate' are enough to sink it." ”

Ito thought about it again and decided: "Order the fleet to turn left, and we will go around." Arima Shinichi said urgently: "Commander, if we go around, what will happen to the 'Naniwa'?" Ito sighed and said, "The only way to do this is to give up on the Naniwa." ”

"Commander." Arima Shinichi wanted to say something more. Ito said: "Carrying out the order, I can't risk my entire fleet, this is the only naval strength in the Japanese country. ”

Although Ito's voice was firm, he could see from his clenched fists and white knuckles how difficult it was for him to make such a decision, after all, the Japanese navy had too little money to withstand losses.

Due to the lack of domestic resources and the fact that the operational objectives were not far apart, the Japanese people, who had always paid attention to frugality, did not equip their fleet with ammunition supply ships, and this time the Japanese people would eventually pay a high price for their negligence.

At this time, the main fleet of the Chinese leader also heard the sound of artillery, and Zhang Haiyang, who was in the command tower of the 'Tongjiang', said: "I didn't expect to let Feng Ju, this kid, take the lead." Notify the ships and outflank them in two ways. ”

The four cruisers of the main fleet of the Chinese Lordship were divided into two directions to shell the battlefield, while the three gunboats avoided the battlefield and guarded the perimeter.

Wan Yong, the captain of the gunboat 'Baishan', was the leader of the gunboat formation, and at this time, he was unhappy and took the other two gunboats to cruise around the periphery: "These five boys, aren't they better than me in graduation?" Now it's good, I don't even leave a bite of soup when I have fatty meat to eat. ”

Just when Wan Yong was complaining, he didn't know what to say, the four cruisers that supported him didn't have any fighting opportunities, and the artillery battle between the 'Baoshan' and the 'Naniwa' had been going on for half an hour.

The 'Naniwa', which had no power to fight back, was already scarred, especially the two large holes on the port side and the bow of the ship allowed the sea water to pour in quickly, although the Japanese sailors were still trying to pump water, but this new ship that had just been launched for less than a year still began to sink slowly.

The sun on the sea crossed the horizon, and the warm sunlight swept away the only mist, and the sailors on the 'Baoshan' finally saw their opponent clearly.

At this time, the 'Naniwa' was almost impossible to see the ship's shape, because it was too close, the shelling behind it was almost all covered by the secondary guns, the caliber of the secondary guns was small, and the later shelling almost did not penetrate the hull of the 'Naniwa', but the extremely high rate of fire of the secondary guns almost swept away the opponent's superstructure, and the Japanese sailors also suffered heavy casualties.

Just as Wan Yong was muttering and complaining about Zhang Haiyang, the first mate suddenly pushed Wan Yong's arm and said, "Captain, you see that there is a large cloud of black smoke in front of you, it may be the combined fleet of the Japanese Kingdom." ”

Wan Yong jumped up from his seat all of a sudden, and suddenly changed to a smiling face: "This fourth brother is really interesting, he left such a big fish for me, and now it's finally my turn to play." ”