The so-called Dadonggou is actually a trumpet-shaped bay outside the mouth of the Yalu River, the mouth of the trumpet faces the ocean, and the mouth of the trumpet is just the mouth of the Yalu River.

The sea water of Dadonggou is yellow during this season.

The sea outside Dadonggou ranges from light blue to dark blue, which is distinctly different from the color in the bay.

A fleet flying the golden dragon flag was now changing formations along the border between yellow and blue, and the sea water ploughed by the battleship was stirring and scattering in both directions, and the muddy yellow and clear blue were stirred and mixed together.

The sky was blue, the gray clouds had long since been shattered, the white clouds had not yet appeared, and black smoke rose one by one, drifting with the wind on the sea skyline.

Like an overborn female mole, the flagship of the Zhenyang Fleet of the Great Qing Empire, the "Longwei" led a long line of warships to rush out of the Great Eastern Ditch, cleaving waves above the ocean, spitting soot and cascading in turn. From an altitude of 10,000 meters, this situation is like a giant dragon with its body stretched out and gliding across the sea, surrounded by black clouds and white waves under its feet.

History has recorded the names of the ironclad warships that made up the dragon.

After the flagship "Longwei", it was followed by the armored battleships "Fengxiang", "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan"; armored cruisers "Jianbei", "Jiannan", "Jiyuan", "Xinyuan", "Hengyuan"; fast cruisers "Gale", "Gale", "Chase", "Hurricane", "Super Wind", "Squall", "Sea Breeze", "Zephyr"; 17 ships in total.

10,000 yards away, two columns of battleships were facing the Zhenyang fleet, and the total number of warships was 17.

The bow of the ship is decorated with a jue pattern, indicating that they belonged to the Imperial Japanese Navy. As in the Battle off Incheon, the Japanese Combined Fleet was divided into its own fleet and the 1st Guerrilla Force. The famous 1st Guerrilla Group still consisted of four elite armored cruisers "Yoshino", "Takachiho", "Naniwa", "Akitsuzu", and "Yoshino" continued to serve as the flagship of the 1st Guerrilla Group. The composition of the team has changed a lot. The armored cruisers "Matsushima", "Itsukushima", and "Chiyoda" were organized as the first group of the team, and "Matsushima" was the general flagship and group flagship; Armored cruiser "Hashidate"

and the cruisers "Hiei" and "Kongo" were organized into the second group, of which "Hashidate" was the reserve general flagship and the second group flagship; The cruisers "Yamato", "Musashi", and "Kaimen" and the large gunboat "Fuso" were organized into the third group, with "Yamato" as the flagship of the third group; The gunboats "Maya", "Chokai", and "Atago" (the same type of ship as the "Chiseong" captured in the naval battle off Incheon) were organized into the fourth group, with "Maya" as the flagship of the fourth group.

At this time, Vice Admiral Ito, commander of the Combined Fleet, was leading almost all the ocean-going warships of the Imperial Navy into this dangerous naval battle with extremely complicated feelings.

Ito was well aware of his opponent's strength, and he knew his own strength, and he knew that the best choice for him was not to launch a frontal attack on the assembled Zhenyang fleet, but he had no choice. Not even anyone in the entire base camp, including the emperor.

The choice was in the hands of the Qing army.

The Japanese army did not have battleships, and in the naval battles of this era, battleships decided everything. In contrast, the Qing army had four armored battleships, and in the naval battle off Incheon, the Qing army's two ships, "Dingwon" and "Jinwon", saved the entire fleet on the verge of collapse as the mainstay, and Ito Youhyung witnessed this. The main force of the Japanese army is the armored cruiser, but in any case, the firepower and protection of the armored cruiser will be a big difference with the battleship of the sea hegemon, and the Qing army also has 5 armored cruisers, only 3 less than the Japanese army, and the unified equipment of 210 mm main guns, compared with the main firepower of the Japanese army - 150 mm and 120 mm rapid-fire guns, the advantage is obvious. The Qing army's "Wind"-class cruisers were advanced in technology and comprehensive combat performance on a par with the Japanese armored cruisers, and the thin light cruisers in the combined fleet could not be compared with them at all.

In a word, the Qing army had maritime superiority in its hands.

Because of this, the Japanese Navy had only one way left to sit back and wait for death except to take the initiative to attack.

Unlike the fanatical generals in the base camp, Ito had a clear understanding of the results of the naval battle off Incheon, "We helped the Shina people clean up the old garbage, that's all", Ito once said to the commander of the 1st Guerrilla Force, Tsuboi Kozo, when Tsuboi's reaction was to bow his head and drink vigorously, and Ito Yuhyung knew what he meant: "There is no way".

Yes, there is no way, I thought that one or two battleships of the Qing army could be defeated at Incheon, or even just severely damaged them, and they could not be used for three to six months. But even so? Aren't "Long Wei" and "Feng Xiang" still good? Even if a detachment of the Zhenyang Fleet was completely annihilated, the combined fleet would not be able to destroy the remaining strength of the Zhenyang Fleet, and the disparity in strength was too great.

Ito Yoheung smiled wryly, he couldn't find a reason to win this battle.

The honor and mission of a soldier does not allow anyone to evade it, even if he knows that he cannot do it, once he receives an order, he must devote himself to it with the determination to die. A true soldier should have the virtues of a soldier. Born at the Greenwich Naval Academy in England, Ito was completely different from the warlords of Saigo Takamori and Takehiro Natsumoto (Note 1), and his military temperament was so pure that his subordinates had to take him as a model from the bottom of their hearts.

Since it was impossible to achieve a complete victory, it was necessary to try to inflict huge losses on the other side, so that the Zhenyang fleet would not be able to block the supply lines of the Japanese mainland to Korea. Ito felt that this was the point of the Combined Fleet.

Contrary to Ito Youheng's thoughts, Major General Liu Buyun, commander of the Qing Army's Zhenyang Fleet, only wanted to annihilate the Japanese army.

At this time, Liu Buyun stood on the top of the command platform of the battleship "Longwei", surrounded by the captain of the ship, Colonel Sa Zhenbing, and the staff officers of the fleet, and everyone was engrossed in observing the movements of the Japanese fleet.

"Commander, it seems that the Japanese army wants to repeat the trick of the naval battle off Incheon, insert the first guerrilla group into our own formation, and circle a number of ships to encircle and annihilate it first." Sa Zhenbing said to Liu Buchan.

Liu Buyun put down the binoculars and nodded: "Yes, but they must not be allowed to use the same tactics twice, the commandos will stop them." Our army's own team will first destroy the enemy's own team, and the commando will contain the first guerrilla unit, and after the enemy's own team has been annihilated, we will turn back to support the commando team to attack the first guerrilla unit. ”

Sa Zhenbing carefully observed the situation again and said, "Commander, the first guerrilla force of the Japanese army has begun to accelerate, and it is time for the commando team to attack." ”

Liu Buyun looked at the telescope for a while, and asked the staff officer beside him: "What is the distance?" ”

"Report, 8000 yards away!"

"En-" Liu Buyun nodded, waved his hand and ordered: "Pass the flag order!" The assault team came out of the array, and the team accelerated to 11 knots, turned left on the right rudder, and seized the T-shaped position. ”

The flag was raised to the top of the flagship mast, and the eight "Wind" class cruisers, led by the "Gale," turned left rudder and right, accelerated to 19 knots, broke away from and overtook the column of the group, and turned further right in front of the first guerrilla group of Japanese ships, preparing to seize the T-shaped crosshead position, so as to give full play to the broadside firepower to strike at the enemy.

Rear Admiral Tsuboi, commander of the 1st Guerrilla Group of Japanese ships, was also not a vegetarian, and when he saw that the Qing army had changed formation, he urgently ordered the fleet to turn to the right and left rudders, so that the two sides turned from a head-on situation to a side-by-side one, and the broadside guns could exert their might, and the rate of fire and power of the guns and the protective capabilities of the battleships became the main factors determining the outcome of the battle.

"Damn, so that you can't threaten the Qing battleships from the flanks!" Tsuboi Hangzo gritted his teeth and said angrily, "Order, gather fire and shoot the enemy's flagship!" ”

Tsuboi's plan was to sink the Qing commando's flagship first, causing a gap or confusion in the other side's command, and then take the opportunity to get rid of the annoying cruiser and launch a flank attack on the Qing army's clumsy battleship.

Lieutenant Colonel Jiang Chaoying, commander of the Qing commando, had a plan that coincided with Pingjing Hangsan, and the command flag was also raised on the mast of the "Gale": "The front team gathers fire to attack the enemy's flagship, and the rear team gathers fire to attack the enemy's ship." ”

At 11:50 a.m., the two fleets were approaching 4,000 yards at high speed, and the warships of both sides were spewing fire and smoke almost simultaneously, and the cannon roared, and a decisive naval battle began to decide the fate of the two countries.

The 4 ships of the front group of the Qing assault group bombarded the flagship of the Japanese 1st guerrilla force "Yoshino" with 8 210 mm guns and 12 150 mm rapid-fire guns, and the 4 ships of the rear team attacked the reserve flagship of the Japanese 1st guerrilla force "Takachiho" with the same number of guns, and soon set the two armored cruisers known as the "elite of the empire" into a huge bonfire on the sea.

At the same time, the two ships "Hurricane" and "Gale Wind" led by the Qing army also burst into flames, as if there was an invisible force in the dark, trying to turn this desperate battle into a show of fairness.

Kozo Tsuboi rolled and struggled on top of Yoshino's command stand, flames pounced on his white uniform, shrapnel pierced his thighs, and blood fled frantically, in this brutal naval battle, the commander was no more likely to be protected by fate than the minions. At 12:28 p.m., Major General Tsuboi Hangzo stopped breathing. In view of the fact that the fire on the ship could not be controlled for a while, Captain Kawahara of the "Yoshino" ordered the signal flags of "the commander is dead," "the ship is dangerous," and "the ship cannot fight" to be raised one after another, and led the ship to turn the rudder to the south and withdraw from the battle.

The "Takachiho" immediately raised the commander's flag, and Commander Nomura Sadaosa acted as commander and led the 1st Guerrilla Force to continue the battle. This move provoked more intense artillery fire from the Qing commandos, but it also covered the "Yoshino" ship to withdraw from the battle smoothly until it returned to the Sasebo military port.

At 12:41 p.m., the engine room of the "Gao Chiho" was suddenly hit by a bomb, and in an instant, fireworks rose and fragments of the machine flew in all directions, sweeping down countless officers and men, and the whole ship immediately lost power, like floating leaves in the sea, shaking the sea.

Lieutenant Colonel Jiang Chaoying, commander of the Qing commando, saw the opportunity, and while strictly ordering the officers and men of his ship to step up extinguishing the fire, he issued a flag order in a timely manner: "The last two ships will stay behind to monitor the enemy ships. ”

The two ships "Sea Breeze" and "Zephyr" at the end of the assault column were ordered to slow down and break away from the array, encircling "Takachiho"

The ship surrounded the enemy ship and bombarded continuously, "Takachiho" lost power and could not turn to return fire, and was hit by numerous bullets, and the hull continued to enter the water, until it finally sank at about 13 o'clock, and the captain Nomura Sadaosa tied himself to the mast and sank with the ship.

However, it was said that the remaining two ships of the First Guerrilla Force, "Naniwa" and "Akitsuzu", continued to fight with a hard head, and the captain of the "Naniwa" ship, Heihachiro Togo, ordered the commander's flag to be raised, and then the flag order to "concentrate fire and shoot at the enemy's flagship" was raised, and the two ships immediately aimed the two remaining 260-mm guns, four 150-mm rapid-fire guns, and three 120-mm rapid-fire guns on the starboard side at the "Hurricane," the flagship of the Qing commando. The fire had not yet been extinguished, but at this time it was hit more violently, with heavy losses, the two 210-mm guns in the front and rear were completely destroyed, and more than half of the officers and men were killed or wounded. As soon as the "Gale Wind" hoisted its commanding flag, the Japanese ship's artillery fire shifted to it again. Lieutenant Colonel Liu Guanxiong, the reserve commander, ignored the blazing artillery fire of the opponent, stood on the command platform and calmly ordered: "Gather fire and bombard the enemy's flagship!" Suddenly, an enemy bullet hit the No. 3 gun position in the ship's amidships, penetrated the side deck, and hit the ammunition compartment of the 150-mm rapid-fire gun. After a series of loud noises, the "Gale Wind" tilted sharply to the starboard side and sank at 13:05 a.m., but the captain of the ship, Lieutenant Commander Liu Guanxiong, boarded the lifeboat in time and survived in accordance with the "Decree on the Lifesaving of Navy Officers" (Note 2) issued by Chief of General Staff Liu Yun after the Battle off Incheon.

With his excellent command ability, Togo Heihachiro used two ships against six ships, severely damaged and sank one Qing cruiser, but the damage itself was not small. Because the "Naniwa" ship was hung with the commander's flag, it was repeatedly washed and plundered by the Qing army's artillery fire, and there were bullet scars on the side and on the surface of the ship, and there were several bullet holes, spitting flame smoke, shrapnel flying sideways, blood flowed into streams, cross-flowing decks, and the upper deck, which was originally painted gray, almost became a lake of blood. With the knowledge and experience he gained at the Royal Naval College Greenwich in the British Empire, Togo knew that the general trend was gone, and that if he continued to fight for face, it would only increase his losses.

"For the sake of Japan's tomorrow, let's preserve as much of the navy's blood as possible."

Thinking so, Togo ordered his subordinates to hang out the flag order of "each ship moves at will", and personally led the ship to turn the rudder and withdraw from the battle.

At this time, under the command of the captain Major Li Shiyuan, the "chasing the wind" ship hung up the command flag, acted as the flagship, and led the commando ships to turn the rudder and chase after the Japanese ship, and the "Haifeng" and "Zefeng" ships also accelerated back to the array after sinking the "Gao Chiho", and the assault team became a column of six ships, approaching the "Naniwa" and "Qiujinzhou" that were emitting thick smoke

And go.

The "Akitsuzu" ship, which was far behind the "Naniwa" due to damage to its engine, was besieged by the Qing commandos, and the "Naniwa" took the opportunity to speed up and escape, and the "Qiujinshu" was left alone, and finally suffered hundreds of bullets, and the hull of the ship was like a honeycomb, and the sea water swarmed in, and sank at 13:23 a.m., and the captain of the ship, Hikoyuki Uemura, and 304 people below did not survive.

Just as the Qing commando team and the Japanese first guerrilla force were fighting fiercely, the Qing army also successfully forced the Japanese army into the battle line to bombard the formation.

First of all, Vice Admiral Ito, commander of the Combined Fleet, saw that the Qing army had turned to seize the position, and without thinking about it, he immediately ordered the left rudder of the team to turn east and drive parallel to the Qing army in the same direction. He didn't have the right to run away from the confrontation, maybe he would have preferred to see the results sooner rather than later, so that he could get rid of the worries that bound him, but he still didn't have the right to decide.

Rear Admiral Liu Buyun, commander of the Zhenyang Fleet, while enjoying the oncoming deck wind, ordered: "After entering 5000 yards, the main guns of the capital ship will fire a salvo!" ”

Liu Buyun needs a perfect victory to establish his supremacy in the navy, and Lim Tae's defeat at Incheon has made him criticized, and he cannot tolerate a stain on him for even an hour, just like he changed his bed sheets every day in his dormitory at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, England. The splendor must be allowed to cover up the stain, preferably completely washed away. However, history will not be arbitrarily washed by the will of a rear admiral.

The two brothers from the same school trained by the British Empire launched a life-and-death competition on the seas of Northeast Asia.

11：10

v8

v7

v6

v5

v4

v3

v2

v1

T5

T4

T3

T2

T1

B4

B3

B2

B1

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(8000 yards away)

A1

A2

A3

A4J1

J2

J3

J4

J5

J6

J7

J8

J9

J10

J11

J12

J13

One of the situation maps of the naval battle of Dadonggou (due north of Xianglu)

Description: At first, the Qing army met the enemy in a column. B1-B4 are armored battleships "Longwei", "Fengxiang", "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan", of which "Longwei" is the general flagship and "Dingyuan" is the reserve general flagship; T1-T5 are armored cruisers "Jianbei", "Jiannan", "Jiyuan", "Xinyuan" and "Hengyuan", of which "Jianbei" is the flagship of the patrol and "Jiannan" is the flagship of the patrol team; V1-V8 are the cruisers "Hurricane", "Gale", "Chasing Wind", "Hurricane", "Super Wind", "Squall", "Sea Breeze", and "Zephyr", of which "Gale" is the flagship of the commando and "Gale" is the reserve flagship of the commando.

The Japanese attacked in two directions, A1-A4 were the armored cruisers "Yoshino", "Takachiho", "Naniwa", and "Akitsuzu" of the First Guerrilla Force, of which "Yoshino" was the flagship of the First Guerrilla Force, and the First Guerrilla Group was about to insert from the left side of the Qing army column at this time to divide the Qing army array. The J1-J3 armored cruisers "Matsushima", "Itsukushima", and "Chiyoda" were respectively organized as the first group of the team, of which Matsushima was the general flagship and the first group flagship. J4-J6 are the armored cruiser "Hashidate" and the cruisers "Hiei" and "Kongo" in turn, and are organized into the second group, of which "Hashidate" is the reserve flagship and the second group flagship. J7-J10 were the cruisers "Yamato", "Musashi", and "Kaimen" and the large gunboat "Fuso", which were organized into the third group, with "Yamato" as the flagship of the third group. The J11-J13 gunboats "Maya", "Chokai", and "Atago" were organized into the fourth group, with "Maya" as the flagship of the fourth group. At this time, the Japanese army was about to drive to the right side of the Qing army column and flank the Qing army array with the first guerrilla group.

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11：50

V8

V7

V1V2V3V4V5V6

A1

A2

A3

A4

The second map of the situation of the naval battle of Dadonggou (due north to the upper part of the river)

Explanation: The Qing assault team accelerated to 18 knots and broke away from the team, and turned one by one in front of the first guerrilla group of Japanese ships, and the Japanese ships hurriedly turned west (right rudder turned left), so as not to form a "T" situation unfavorable to themselves. During the turn, Yoshino (A1) was hit too many shots, exited the array, and escaped.

Later, the two sides formed a column to bombard, the Japanese ships Takachiho (A2) and Akitsuzhou (A4) were sunk, Naniwa (A3) successfully escaped, the flagship of the Qing commando Gale (V1) was damaged, and the Gale (V2) was unfortunately sunk.

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Note 1: Saigo Takamori, one of the "First Three Heroes of the Restoration" (the other two were Kido Takayoshi and Okubo Toshitsu), dissatisfied with the advance of the then Prime Minister Okubo and threatening the so-called "Saigo Kingdom" in Kagoshima, which he had semi-sectained, rebelled on February 12, 1877, and attacked the Okubo government, igniting the fire of the Southwest War. At the beginning of the war, the old samurai took refuge in him, and Saigo's army once reached more than 40,000 people. The Emperor Hou issued an edict to attack Saigo, and the government army destroyed all the rebels through the battles of Kumamoto, Nobeoka, and Shiroyama, and Saigo fled to the Iwasaki Valley at the foot of the castle and committed suicide.

When Tokugawa Yoshiki, the last shogun of the shogunate, surrendered to the government forces in Kaesong, Edo (present-day Tokyo), Natsumoto led the elite of the shogunate navy to escape, and later took in the remnants of the Shogunate Army President Keisuke Otori and the so-called "Oyugoshi Domain" in Sendai, and went north to occupy Hokkaido. In January 1869, the "Republic of Ezo" was established, with Natsumoto as president. The government forces launched a major crusade and finally surrounded Natsumoto's fleet in Goryokaku, and Natsumoto had to surrender.

Note 2: According to the Naval Crew's Life-Saving Decree of 20 July 1894, naval officers are not allowed to be buried on board the ship when the warship is irretrievable. This move was to put an end to the prevailing atmosphere of "living and dying with ships" in the navy at that time, so as to preserve the precious naval talents.