The battleships were separated, soot rushed, cannons roared, and firelight danced wildly.

After more than two hours of fierce fighting, the headquarters of the Combined Fleet was already in a rather unfavorable situation: their four cruisers had to face the front of eight warships of the Beiyang Naval Division. Although Japan still had a considerable advantage in firepower, it was still difficult to be besieged by the Beiyang Naval Division with the "Zhenyuan" ironclad ship as the core. With the passage of time, the officers and men of the long-trained Beiyang Naval Division gradually adapted to the picric acid shells equipped by the Japanese fleet, and the fire extinguishing efficiency became higher and higher; In addition, there are many targets, and on average, one Japanese battleship has to fight against two Beiyang battleships, and the firepower is further dispersed, and the damage caused to the Beiyang Naval Division is already within a controllable range.

The artillery battle lasted for nearly half an hour, and the flagship of the Combined Fleet, the "Matsushima", suffered heavy damage: at 15:30, a 305-mm bomb from the ironclad ship "Zhenyuan" hit the fourth gun position in the bow of the "Matsushima"; A 120-mm gun weighing more than 2 tons was swept into the air by the air wave of the explosion, and it smashed right into the ammunition pile on the deck!

"At about 3:30 p.m., the flagship was hit by enemy shells, and all the ammunition piled up on the foredeck was ignited. Suddenly, like a hundred thousand thunderbolts suddenly fell, even though I was in the closed command tower, I still felt a sharp pain like pinks and needles in my eardrums. Commander Ito struggled to get up from the ground and asked me to go to the foredeck to observe the situation, and I struggled to push open the twisted iron door, only to find that the foredeck was no longer the scene of the world. A Japanese Navy second lieutenant staff officer named Michiko Takamasa described the situation in his diary afterwards.

"There were flames burning uncontrollably, and bloodied corpses were everywhere around him. Blood flowed like waves at my feet, and my nose was scorched and dizzying. A moment before the front deck was crowded, and now there was not a single figure standing; A piece of intestine 'clicked' and landed right in my arms. After a long time, my ears gradually cleared, and I heard the heart-rending screams of the survivors, like a terrible ghost crying out. ”

Poisonous smoke gushed and flames rolled and burned. The poisonous gases produced by the burning of Shimose gunpowder spread in all directions, and Ito Yuhyung smelled it for a while, and then felt that the world was spinning and he was bored and nauseated; Left and right hurriedly took a wet towel and helped him cover his nose and mouth. Slightly concentrated, and after a little counting, in the monstrous flames of the bow of the ship, there were about 30 corpses lying horizontally! Seeing this scene, Ito Yuhyung chuckled in his heart, so many people died in just death, if you count the wounded, the "Matsushima" has basically lost most of its combat effectiveness!

Do you want to keep fighting?

Ito Yuhyung clenched his fists, his muscles jumped, and his ordinary and kind face looked extremely hideous in the gray sky at this moment. If the battle continued, the Qing cruisers were completely fearless, but the threat of the three ironclad ships could not be solved at all. The successive sinking of the capital ships of the Combined Fleet proved that these cruisers were simply unable to withstand the bombardment of the opponent's 305-mm or 283-mm heavy guns; Once hit, those who are lucky can still pick up a life, and those who are unlucky are like the "Gao Chiho" just now, and they are sentenced to death instantly!

And the three 320mm cannons, which were originally pinned on high hopes, can only be described as on the battlefield today; In the two and a half hours after the start of the battle, only 8 shells were fired by the 3 guns, and except for one shot just now, none of the other shots could fall within 200 meters of the opponent's battleship. To make matters worse, the flagships had recently destroyed each other's main guns in a battle with the Qing battleship "Pingyuan", which meant that the combined fleet had only two 320-mm guns capable of providing fire attacks. With this rate of fire of one fire per hour, and the accuracy of thousands of miles, relying on them to solve the threat of the Qing Dynasty's ironclad ships is tantamount to a fool's dream!

Guo listened to the chief of staff Xuan Ye Guangyi said in a low voice: "Learn anus, at present, the Qing fleet is rampant, and the accuracy of our army's giant artillery is extremely poor, and it is difficult to make achievements." It is better to withdraw the troops for the time being, return to the home port, and wait for the completion and delivery of the two 'Fuji' class battleships, and then make a big plan......"

Before the words fell, the captain of the "Matsushima" raised his eyebrows and shouted angrily: "Xuanye-kun, do you know what you are talking about? The battle has reached this point, where is there any reason to escape! If we retreat like this, how can we be worthy of those officers and men of the Imperial Japanese Navy? ”

Xuan Ye Guangyi retorted: "As a general, you should look at the situation and take the overall situation, and you can't be blind and stick to the gains and losses of one city and one place. The artillery battle lasted more than 2 hours, and although our rapid-fire guns hit the enemy ironclad many times, it was difficult to inflict fatal damage on them except for causing a large fire; On the contrary, our battleships could not withstand the bombardment of the opponent's main guns! ”

"Lies confuse the public." Shima snorted and said, "That 10,000-ton battleship has been abolished, and the front and rear main guns are the best time for us to annihilate him, if we choose to retreat now, and be relieved by him, I don't know how much we will have to pay in the future to sink this evil German battleship!" “

was repeatedly confronted by Nomura Zhen, and a nameless fire also appeared in Genye Guangyi's heart, and he sneered: "Okay, I'm stupid, I don't know what Nomura-kun's plan is, can sink that 10,000-ton iron ship?" Should 'Itsukushima' and 'Hashidate' get within 1,000 meters and find their heads and let the opposing warships turn into a hornet's nest, or should the 'Yoshino' rush to a distance of 300 meters again and carry out a suicide torpedo attack? Don't forget, 'Dingyuan' and 'Zhenyuan' are still alive and well! ”

Just as they were arguing, the stern of the battleship "Kaiyuan" not far from the north suddenly burst out again with dazzling purple waves and red waves, and the two involuntarily stopped arguing; As far as the eye could see, I saw two monstrous water columns more than ten meters high rushing up in the formation of the First Guerrilla Fleet, separated by nearly three miles, and the rushing and turbulent snow waves and silver waves could still be clearly seen.

"The main artillery fire of the amidships has been restored!"

Shima Kiyoshi was shocked, and at 15:08, the 1st Guerrilla Fleet had just defeated the battleship and was forced to leave the battlefield; Just over 20 minutes later, the Germans turned around and fired again! The battleship at this moment, although its whole body was covered with rolled holes and black scorch marks, there was no longer a trace of open flame!

Even Genba Koichi, who advocated retreating, was staring into the distance with a look of disbelief in his eyes at the moment. After a while, he pointed to the battleship "Kaiyuan" roaring and running on the sea in the distance, and his eyes showed a look of resentment that could not be concealed: "Gentlemen, please see for yourself, just now he was beaten by the officers and men of the Imperial Navy, and now there is no trace of flame at all. If you continue to fight like this, with the accuracy of the opponent's main guns, the combined fleet is afraid that all of them will be donated here! ”

"Pass my order, the fleet turns, and returns to the port of Incheon." Ito's tone was flat, as if he was saying something that had nothing to do with him, but his face, which had become bloodless, showed that he was suffering great torture and pain inside.

Xuanye Guang's heart was relieved, but Shima next to him was straight but said in a hurry: "General! Even if you can't beat their ironclads, there is no problem in sinking these cruisers! The Qing cruisers were on fire higher than their masts, and with a little more fighting, they could all be sent to the bottom of the sea; Wouldn't retreating now be a waste of all your efforts? ”

"For a while? Can you tell me how long this is a little while? Is it 30 minutes, is it 1 hour, is it 2 hours! During this period, how many warships and officers will the combined fleet lose! Ito Yuhiro couldn't bear it anymore, and slapped the table and roared, "An all-steel battleship, if it doesn't enter the water, it won't capsize, and the flames alone can burn him down?" You should think this is still a wooden battleship, or the era of sails, right? ”

"Sikashi (but) ......" Shima gritted his teeth tightly, and the rest of the words were gagged in his mouth, and he couldn't say anything.

Ito Yuhyung took a deep breath and began to tremble slightly, and after a while, he continued in a hoarse voice: "I don't know that this is a waste of all my previous efforts? It's just that if it continues to fight like this, even if it is lucky enough to sink those seriously injured Qing cruisers, how many ships will there be left in the combined fleet? Without the certainty of victory, as the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, I must not allow the elite navy that the Great Japanese Empire has built up for decades to be exhausted in my hands! ”

Shima straightens his chest and is stagnant, sour and indescribable. After a moment of silence, he suddenly remembered something, and his face changed slightly: retreating at this time, if the Qing fleet pursues it, what should the combined fleet do?

Seeing Shima Kiyoshi with a worried look on his face, Genba Guang next to him seemed to know what he was thinking, and sighed slightly and said, "Nomura-kun is too worried." The ships of the Combined Fleet did not enter much water, and their speed was still only higher than that of the turtle ships of the Qing Kingdom; And their fastest boats, 'Zhiyuan' and 'Jingyuan', have already entered a lot of seawater, and it is difficult to keep up with our footsteps. As long as we want to withdraw, the Qing fleet can't stop it! ”

With the flag of "Closing the Fleet and Returning Home" on the signal line of the flagship "Matsushima", the First Guerrilla Fleet, with only three warships left, crossed a huge arc over the sea and quickly broke away from contact with the battleship "Kaiyuan". The steel shaft transmission roared deafeningly, and the four cruisers "Matsushima", "Chiyoda", "Itsukushima" and "Hashidate" began to accelerate one by one, and the dial hands of the nautical room slowly deflected, and finally stopped at the 13-knot scale. Seven Japanese cruisers divided into two columns and galloped away to the southeast.

In the command room of the cruiser "Matsushima," a number of senior officers of the Combined Fleet were silent. The officer of the damage control department has just reported that the 305-millimeter shell detonated more than 100 shells on the foredeck, killing 28 people on the spot, seriously wounding another 88 others, and destroying all the foredeck guns. Thankfully, the Matsushima did not get flooded as a result of the heavy damage, and the power was still there, allowing it to sail at speeds close to 14 knots.

Ito glanced back, and sure enough, as he expected. Although the Qing fleet did not give up and pursued closely, due to the serious flooding of its cruisers in the previous battle, the speed of the voyage had plummeted, and the distance between the two fleets had been widened by more than 4,000 meters, and it was still increasing at a speed of 2 knots per hour. Ito Yohei sighed softly, and was about to say something to motivate his subordinates, when the microphone connected to the mast observer suddenly vibrated violently; He took the microphone, and suddenly an anxious and flustered voice came: "Report, the cruiser 'Hashidate' has stalled and fallen behind!" ”

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