With a dull crashing sound, one of the Xuanwu's shells passed directly through the side of the Japanese Musashi, exploding between the engine room and the mechanical room, destroying all the barometers, nautical watches, measuring instruments, etc., and the steam pipe was also broken, and the steam steering wheel immediately lost its function.

Captain Omoto knew that he had to order the use of manpower rudder and barely sailed, but the speed of the whole ship slowed down significantly.

At the same time, a cannon of the Suzaku hit the turret on the deck of the Musashi, and the huge explosion actually tore the entire turret apart, and the broken fragments were like spinning flying knives, sweeping across the entire deck, and more than 20 people were torn apart on the spot, and the flesh, internal organs, and large intestines on the deck were all over the ground, and the middle people wanted to vomit!

Although the Japanese "First Guerrilla Force" finally turned to the right side of the Chinese fleet, suddenly the enemy's warships were billowing black smoke and had already run to the left side to attack the main team.

Ito Yuhiro screamed strangely: "Yaga, how can you be faster than us!" ”

Just as the Japanese were maneuvering rapidly, the four Chinese cruisers had already turned to the left side of the ironclad ship in a clockwise direction, just facing the Japanese main group.

This tactic had a special advantage, that is, relying on ironclad ships to contain the Japanese ships in both directions, and the four Chinese cruisers avoided a hard fight with the strongest Japanese "first guerrilla force", but attacked the weaker Japanese army first. This tactic was premised on the belief that with Japanese firepower, it would not be possible to sink the Suzaku and Xuanwu under any circumstances.

The changes on the battlefield were completely unexpected by the Japanese army, and the four sister ships, the Kirin, the Shiraku, the Tengser, and the Shirasawa formed a single column, and quickly rushed to the flank of the Japanese army at a high speed of 20 knots obtained by strong pressure and ventilation, and directly took the Yaeyama and Tenryu on the far left of the team.

The Yaeyama is a Japanese domestically built warship using the French Jishu, with a tonnage of less than 1,600 tons, and is Japan's first notification ship. Because it was a communication mission, it had a strong horsepower, a speed of more than 20 knots, and the corresponding firepower and armor were weak, with only 3 120mm guns. The Tenryu is also a small warship made in China, and it does not have any armor.

The combat effectiveness of such a warship can be imagined, and the Kirin and other four ships each have three 210mm Krupp main guns, two bows, one stern, and eight bow main guns are a salvo.

A shell hit the starboard rear waterline of the Yaeyama, and a crack immediately appeared in the hull, seeping into the seawater, and the warship desperately reversed, using its own speed, and retreated to the middle of the group.

The Tianlong was not so lucky, it was surrounded by a fierce bombardment, and it was hit by four heavy guns in a row, and in the violent explosion, the entire hull was deformed, twisted into an "S" shape and sank quickly, because it sank too fast, the 210 officers and men on the ship did not have time to jump into the sea, and were directly sucked into the whirlpool.

The four major cruisers continued to charge and began to attack the Haimen and Iwaki, a wooden gunboat with a displacement of only 656 tons, whose mission was mainly to be on guard, where could it withstand such a tiger and wolf-like blow, and it was hit with only two guns that made it emit black smoke, and after two turns, it began to sink slowly, and most of the 112 officers and men jumped to the sea.

The Kirin and the others began to besiege the Haimen again, but after a period of chaos, Kozo Tsuboi finally organized his own team to counterattack. Six ships, including Fuso, Kongo, Hiei, Atago, Maya, and Chokai, formed a team and rushed over to shoot at the Chinese warships, temporarily saving the life of the Haimen.

The three ships in the back are all small gunboats like the Iwaki, but the three ships in front are the main force of the Japanese Navy, especially the Fuso, the four 240mm Krupp heavy guns on it are very powerful, and the battle situation immediately fell into a stalemate, and the artillery of both sides fired in a row, almost without interruption, and the sound of the cannons was like an endless bell, hitting the waves everywhere, as if the sea was boiling.

In the fierce battle, the Chinese warship also began to have casualties, the Fusang hit the deck of the Bai Jian with a cannon, shrapnel shattered the glass and flew into the conning tower, causing three deaths and five injuries to the commanding officer, especially the captain Lin Yongsheng suffered a heavy blow in the chest, bleeding all over his body, he gasped and ordered Sun Jingren to act as the captain, and then closed his eyes and died.

The rigging of the Teng Snake was broken and lost its communication function, and at the same time, one of the Kirin's 210mm front main guns was also destroyed, but the captain Sa Zhenbing still commanded the use of the rear main gun to sink the Japanese ship Haimen, which was already seriously damaged.

On the other side, the Japanese "First Guerrilla Force" was besieging the Chinese ironclad ships, and the four ships were maneuvering back and forth like marquees, constantly firing artillery bombardment, but after fighting for a long time, the shells could only make the heavy ironclad surface become pitted at most, but the 303mm heavy artillery only needed to take a hit.

The battle seemed to be at a stalemate, with Japan having a numerical advantage, but China having a numerical advantage, and the wolves fighting the tigers were difficult to resolve for a while.

The fierce battle has lasted for more than two hours, and it has reached 16:15, a major turning point came, and the fleet in the harbor commanded by Shen Shoukun finally arrived at the battlefield!

According to Jihua, it should be Liu Buchan's fleet to arrive at the periphery of Weihaiwei, first attack the Japanese main fleet, and then Shen Shoukun and others will kill from the port. But unexpectedly, the Japanese army left suddenly, and Shen Shoukun was worried that it was a trick to lure the enemy, so he did not dare to come out, but sent two cruisers, Kaiji and Nanrui, to go out of the port to search and reconnoitre.

It wasn't until more than an hour later that the two ships came back to report that, through an inquiry of an Italian cargo ship, there was a "Portuguese fleet" attacking a Japanese transport ship in the eastern seas. This news immediately woke up Shen Shoukun, he knew the details of the so-called "Portuguese fleet", and estimated that the Japanese were going to meet the battle, so he immediately ordered the whole army to go out, drive at full speed, and advance at full speed in the direction pointed by Italy, and rushed for more than an hour, and finally arrived when the battle was deadlocked.

At this time, the balance of power on the battlefield was completely broken, and the brunt of the battle was the Japanese army's own team, which attracted the attention of both sides because of the fierce battle, and was not discovered until Shen Shoukun's fleet was close to it. The small Japanese gunboats roamed around the periphery, occasionally stealing a cannon shot, thinking that they were safe, but at this time they were surrounded by the new Chinese army.

The first unlucky one was the Yaeyama, where the captain Hachitaro Sakamoto was directing his men to repair the machine and the cracks that blocked the stern, only to be caught between the Hokuto and Kaiji. After a bombardment, the Yaeyama bubbled and sank, Sakamoto Yataro picked up the mast and yelled at the Beidou, the Chinese sailors couldn't understand whether he was provoking or begging for mercy, and directly hit the machine gun, and it was extremely accurate to blow up Captain Sakamoto's head, like a smashed watermelon, pulp and silk of various colors sprinkled on the sea, and his hands and feet were still on the mast!

The second is the Atago, which was fired at by the Qinglong, the White Tiger, the Magpie, and the Kunlun four ships in a salvo, and after a few shots, it miraculously did not sink, but before it had time to rejoice, it was hit by the Maya that was dodging the artillery fire next to it, and the hull structure was completely destroyed and sank.

The commander of this unit, Tsuboi Hangsan, saw that the general situation was not good, and commanded the remnants of the five ships to retreat with the flag, in an attempt to get closer to the "First Guerrilla Force", but the sea was filled with gunsmoke and the situation was chaotic, and not all Japanese ships could see his orders clearly. Braving Chinese artillery fire, although the superstructure of the deck was almost completely shattered, but relying on the 115mm thick waterline armor, it was not sunk, and rushed into the interior of the opponent's formation.

This lark, which was originally captured by the French Destein, has been used for many years and has long been old, and when it was hit by such a hard blow, the hull of the ship was directly cracked, and the sea water poured in violently, and it quickly began to sink, and the captain Qiu Baoren fell off the bridge and injured his spine during the impact, and he endured severe pain and ordered to abandon the ship.

According to the military regulations of the Chinese Navy, when abandoning the ship, it is not the officers who will be given priority to retreat, but Jishu engineers, including skilled electricians, mechanics, doctors, etc., but the warship sank too fast and there was no time to put the lifeboat, everyone could only jump directly into the water, Qiu Baoren fell and was seriously injured, unable to move, knowing that he would be paralyzed if he was alive, and he didn't want to drag his subordinates, so he committed suicide directly with a pistol.

All the soldiers had tears in their eyes, and they all saluted and said goodbye to the captain's body before diving to escape, and the battlefield was solemn!