On Yang Hao's speedboat, the signalman used a flashlight to punch the two nearest warships to give signals. The short, snowy light was completely backwards, so that it could not be seen by people from afar.

Including the two ships of Dingzhen, the compact formation made all ships discover the light signal, and then the "Dingyuan ship" raised the battle flag and the dragon flag, and all the boilers began to work frantically to output power at full capacity.

The officers and sailors, who were originally drowsy, stood at their posts in high spirits at this time, nervous but somewhat expectant, waiting for the moment when the battle began!

In the mist, the two fleets are getting closer and closer!

In the southern waters, the four ships led by the "Yoshino" advanced slowly at a speed of 10 knots. It's not that they can't be faster, 10 knots is the ship's optimal cruising speed, and the more important thing is to take care of the team behind.

After yesterday's day of chasing and tossing, constantly increasing speed, slowing down, turning, and fighting, all the officers and men of the ship were exhausted. Including Kozo Tsuboi himself, he didn't actually want to move a finger. For this reason, they also had to rest for a few hours off the coast of the Goryeo Peninsula until their own team caught up.

In the second half of the night, as the search area to the north became narrower and narrower, and the coastline was only fifty or sixty kilometers due north, they turned from the south of Phi Dao to the west. If it's daytime, you can summarize all the suspicious sea areas at a glance.

There is no way, in the era when there is no conclusive intelligence and no radar reconnaissance, searching for the enemy at sea is almost like hitting a big luck. This is still the narrowest Yellow Sea, but in the East China Sea, the South China Sea, and the Pacific Ocean outside, it is really difficult for the two sides to fight.

With the arrival of the second morning, they drove into the foggy waters. Kenzo Tsubai couldn't stay any longer.

He came out of the conning tower. Stand on the watchtower above. Look into the distance for yourself - although you can't see anything.

But his years of experience, and the experience of recent months, always made him have an indescribable feeling haunting in his heart. The enemy who could never catch up, and the deliberate seduction and tossing all day long, made him constantly alarm in his heart.

It's not that simple!

He turned his head and asked the staff officer who accompanied him: "Oda-kun, if it were you, it would obviously be possible to escape." He also chose to venture into the theater of operations, and did he have any other plans besides joining up with the Qing fleet? ”

Oda knew that he was talking about yesterday's armed freighter, nodded vigorously, and replied, "With such powerful artillery and speed, it is impossible to just escape." They have the ability to damage our ships, and I must retaliate at night. However, it cannot be ruled out that in fact, they are also worried about being attacked and do not dare to confront each other head-on. ”

"I'm worried too!" Tsuboi Hangzo spewed out two long breaths from his nostrils deeply, and his brows were tightly locked. His eyes rolled rapidly a few times, and he said categorically. "Go and tell the source of the river to be vigilant and prevent being attacked. Well, I also have to tell my team that if necessary, let the two slow-moving battleships be ready to withdraw from the battle at any time. ”

Because of the formation method that has been trained for a long time, they have not had time to replace it after the Chilean warship has just joined, so they still follow the previous structure. It is still those two battleships that are dragging their feet, and once they fight, they will not be of much use except for tonnage.

Thankfully, the team wasn't too far away, and the Yoshino four began to slow down slowly, allowing them to move closer. At the same time, all the sailors with good eyes were dispatched and looked around, but the vision situation was really bad.

"This damn fog is so annoying."

Tsuboi Kozo's mood is getting worse and worse, and he really can't take advantage of the various advantages of the Imperial Navy.

An hour, in a flash!

Two fleets of oblique shocks quickly approached the range of the main guns! The sea fog is still thick, and it is very difficult to see even a kilometer, but this is night!

The two ships rushed forward from the queue, overtook about 500 meters in front of the two ships, and each of its four main guns was filled with high-explosive shells!

Ding Ruchang did not listen to the advice, and personally stood in front of the flying bridge, so that everyone could see his cunzài, holding a saber, with a bitter face, as if he was about to freeze.

In his heart, he was actually anxious, and secretly muttered: "Why don't you fire the cannon yet?" Still not open? Have to wait?! ”

Seven thousand meters, six thousand meters, five thousand meters, the Yoshino has passed in front of their guns, and it is still approaching!

At this moment, the Japanese sailors on the "Yoshino" suddenly shouted: "I heard a suspicious engine sound, it is very likely that there is a ship near us!" ”

Pingjing Hangsan's eyes flashed, and he shouted: "That's right, it must be an enemy ship, all ready to fight!" ”

"Sure enough...... Sure enough, I expected it! ”

He hurriedly returned to the command tower with his staff officer, rushed to the chart table with Kawahara Yaoyi, leaned over to take a look, and couldn't help but shudder in unison - is the enemy really here? How did they seize the ingenious timing?!

Their response was quick, but it was too late!

The majestic body of the "Dingyuan", like an ancient giant beast, emitted billowing black smoke and violently drilled out of the fog from the night! When it almost approached 3,000 meters to the second place "Takachiho", it opened fire!

"Boom!"

An earth-shattering loud bang suddenly exploded on the sea like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, and the dazzling light of the fire lit up the surrounding sea for miles in an instant! The surging shock wave pushed away a large area of fog, and two cannonballs roared straight ahead!

In the blink of an eye, a cannonball accurately hit the bow of the target, and half of the hull was pierced by the sharp hole of the cannonball wrapped in terrifying kinetic energy, almost piercing the other end!

The letter tube made by modern technology shooting is extremely reliable, and easily detonates the high-explosive charge it contains, followed by an explosion, tearing half of the bow into obtuse angles!

Another shell, with the angle still a little higher, hit the chimney behind it and caused a large explosion, and the downward impact easily took out nearby buildings. The debris of the downward impact damaged the upper end of the boiler, and the lifeboats and snorkels in the front and rear and left and right were swept into garbage fragments in one piece!

One blow, seriously injuring "Shintaka Chiho"!

On the other side, the "Zhenyuan" aimed at the two shells fired by the "Yoshino", and one hit the base of the mainmast behind it, and the explosion swept across the rear half of the deck, turning the top of half of the ship into a mess. Another shot, grazing the stern of the ship, exploded from dozens of meters away!

However, the powerful modern high-explosive charges still made several holes in the waterline on the other side, and even cut off the sun flag in one piece.

The downward force of the ferocious explosion stunned and even killed many of the sailors below deck! The "Yoshino", which was sailing in less than ten knots, was shocked so hard that the sound of the main engine was wrong!

This is not the beginning of its bad luck, because just to the right of the "Zhenyuan", there is a slightly further "Jingyuan" ship! Just a few seconds later, the ship's twin 210mm Krupp guns fired in unison, striking its bow head-on.

An armor-piercing bullet stuck to the waterline pierced its weak armor, creating a transparent hole, but unfortunately did not explode. The other shot prematurely brushed the bow of the ship, leaving a splash of water, making the Japanese soldiers above feel cold all over their bodies!

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Get ready for battle! ”

The bells, the shrill sirens, and the panicked cries rang out on the four day ships!

On the "Yoshino", which had been hit hard one after another, several commanders passively swayed from side to side, and their heads buzzed because of the explosion.

Tsuboi Kozo couldn't be calm, and exclaimed: "What kind of grenade does the Qing country's naval artillery use? Such a big explosion? Seems to be more powerful than the Imperial Shimose Gun-Potion!? It's incredible! ”

Originally, he thought that his secret weapon was world-class, but he didn't expect the other party to be even more ferocious. Is this still the Beiyang Fleet that he is familiar with?

No wonder "Gao Qiansui" sank so fast last time, it turned out that the other party's terrible main gun actually used such a vicious thing!

He didn't care to make any more sighs, so he threw himself to the side with great boldness, staring fiercely at the enemy ships in the darkness, revealing his whereabouts because of the flash of artillery fire.

According to the afterglow of that flashing light, he found six warships staggered and parallel in front and back, lined up horizontally, and subconsciously thought, is this their customary goose-shaped formation?

"Huh? No, the parallel positions of the warships are not uniform, and there seems to be some staggered posture. So is it because of the problem of uneven speed? Other than that...... They're too densely packed! (To be continued......)