The Tsukuba went at full speed and attacked the Suzaku with the ship's guns, and two of the cannons really hit the target, but the shells hit the side of the Suzaku and actually boomed twice, and they were directly ejected! Its waterline armor was 355.6mm thick, and Japanese shells felt like tickling when hit. There are huge cannons and heavy armor, which can attack and defend!

After a while, the Xuanwu hit the center of the Tsukuba, directly lifting the boiler room inside, the power of the whole ship was unbalanced, and the officers and men on the ship jumped into the sea to survive.

At this time, hundreds of Japanese officers and soldiers were floating on the water, and some diehards were still hanging on lifebuoys and shooting at Chinese warships with rifles. Liu Buyun ordered: "Send them on the road!" ”

Immediately, a total of 16 machine guns on the two ships made a "all passing" sound, and the water surface was beaten like a boiling pot of boiling water, and the splashes of water and blood were mixed together, stirring the screams and angry scolding of the Japanese officers and men.

At first it was a cacophony, then it slowly decreased, then it was just sporadic shouting, and Zuihou was silent, leaving only a large area of clutter.

On the other side, the Chinese cruisers had already caught up with the enemy in only ten minutes, and you must know that these are the fastest warships in Shijie today, with a speed of 18 knots, and can reach more than 20 knots when ventilated under strong pressure, which is twice as fast as the Japanese ships.

The Sagami Maru and the Flying Falcon were sunk by the Shirakan and Shirasawa respectively without any suspense, while the Wyvern was caught in front and back by the Teng Snake and the Kirin, unable to move.

The officers on the ship were in a mess, especially Prince Higashifushimi Miyashihito, who was actually just a 17-year-old child, and couldn't help but cry bitterly when he saw the catastrophe coming!

"Boom, boom" sounds, deafening cannon reverberations on the sea, this is the roar of 210mm Krupp heavy guns. On the Teng Snake and the Kirin, there were three 210mm guns each, two in the bow and one in the stern. Although the warship was built in England and all the secondary guns were Armstrong guns, out of trust in the German guns, the main guns were still Krupp guns.

Soon, the Wyvern was beaten to one side and leaked, the whole ship was crooked there, and the people on the deck ran back and forth crying, after all, this is a transport ship, most of them are sailors of shipping companies, they don't have the samurai spirit of killing, some shouting for mercy, some waving white flags, and some are in a hurry to release lifeboats, and the flag is also hung on the ship: There is the Imperial Japanese family on board, please stop attacking, we are willing to be prisoners!

This flag made the captain of the Kirin, Lin Taizeng, happy for a while, if he could capture a few Japanese princes alive, what a beautiful thing it would be. But he immediately gave up on the idea. The most important thing now is to end the battle in front of you as soon as possible, and hurry back to assemble, because the big battle is still to come.

The cannonballs continued to blast towards the Wyvern, and soon sank it, and there were more than 100 survivors on the sea, two princes, and more than a dozen people such as Shiki Kayama and Saigo Congmichi, all huddled in the only life raft.

You must know that it is the depths of winter, and several people are wet with the sea, shivering from the cold. But compared to those who are immersed in the sea, they are already in heaven.

But the good times did not last long, the Chinese navy began to massacre, and Lin Tai had ordered that all these Japanese must be killed, and the Japanese prince must not be allowed to escape this fate.

The Snake ran straight over the victims, flooding many people and overturning the life rafts. In order to save machine gun fire, the captain of the ship, Yang Yonglin, ordered the use of rifles, and the soldiers aimed and shot one by one, and some even picked up bamboo poles and stabbed them into the sea.

The two princes who were desperately struggling were shot in the head one after another, and Saigo was killed by the propeller of the warship, and his head hung on the oars for a long time, stirring up in the water. Shikinori Kayama held a wooden plank and begged for mercy from the warship while swimming, but a sharp bamboo pole stabbed down, coincidentally inserted into his head, inserted from the left eye socket, and the right jaw protruded, and the whole person was lifted up from the sea, as if it had been put on a barbecue, hanging in mid-air, and blood droplets fell down, scaring the nearby Japanese people into a dripping soul.

Although the massacre was lighthearted, it had undesirable consequences, as a number of foreign ships, including Spanish, British, and Italian merchant ships and warships, passed by, and they were very puzzled by the "Portuguese fleet" attacking Japanese ships.

At about 11 a.m., the fleet regrouped in its place, and the whole process was clean, although it was difficult to be sure that the Japanese had been completely killed, but time was limited and could not be delayed, and the fleet was reorganized into a double column and sailed westward.

Ito had a hunch that perhaps today would be a decisive day, and since yesterday the Chinese Navy, which had been blocked in the harbor, was ready to move, launching several tentative attacks.

He believed that this must be because the army occupied Ferris Ridge and began to attack the coastal defense battery, which made the warships in the harbor feel threatened by the rear, and it was possible to change tactics and take the initiative to attack.

In view of this, he ordered his subordinates to make all preparations early in the morning, and the combined fleet of 14 warships, including Fuso, Kipong, Kongo, Hiei, Tsukushi, Yamato, Musashi, Kaimon, Tenryu, Yaeyama, Iwaki, Atago, Maya, and Chokai, were all on alert and fighting.

At about 11 o'clock in the afternoon, according to the report of the torpedo boat, all 10 enemy ships in Weihaiwei Harbor had already raised fire and anchored, and it seemed that it would not be long before they left the port.

Ito is very confident in his own strength, both in terms of the number and quality of warships, and the third phase of naval expansion is finally completed, and a number of new warships will also arrive, so it is even more sure of victory.

He ordered the officers and men of the fleet to eat lunch in advance, so that they could have sufficient physical strength for the battle. The Japanese officers and soldiers ate sweet and delicious glutinous rice dumplings directly at their combat posts. This kind of food is only eaten during the New Year's holiday, which shows how solemnly the Japanese army treats today.

At half past eleven, the staff officer of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Isobe Baoyoshi, came running out of breath and reported to Ito Yuheng the terrible news that, seventeen nautical miles to the east, several Japanese ships had been attacked, all sunk, and the enemy seemed to be Portuguese warships.

Ito Yuheng lowered his head and thought for a while, and immediately complained bitterly, according to the schedule, only those ships could come at this time, not only carrying a large number of strategic materials, but also the two princes of Emperor Bixia (Japanese custom is that Yuko is like an adopted son, and is the designated heir who is not related by blood).

After a little thought, Ito came to the conclusion that no matter whether the Chinese warship was pretending to be or not, it could not stay where it was, and in order to avoid being flanked, it was necessary to take the initiative to meet the new enemy, and he ordered the whole army to go east and drive in a "straight column".

At 11:57, the observation post on the mast of the Suzaku first reported that "thick black smoke has been found ahead, and a large number of warships are suspected!" ”

Liu Buyun sensitively realized: the enemy is coming! That is, the Japanese already knew about the existence of this fleet. At this time, he was faced with two difficult choices: to fight or to avoid. At this time, the fleet in Weihaiwei Harbor had not yet come out, and it was impossible to flank the enemy according to Jihua, so it could only rely on the six warships in hand.

What to do?

After a few moments, he began to lean towards fighting, and there were four reasons for this decision:

First, if you back down, morale will suffer;

secondly, he believed in the strength of the fleet, albeit less numerous, but more advanced;

Thirdly, he believed that as long as he fought for a while, the fleet in the harbor would come to reinforce him;

Fourth, and most importantly, now that the navy's hole cards have been turned over, if there is no decisive battle today, wait until Japan calms down, makes a cruel and decisive decision, abandons the Japanese army on the Shandong Peninsula, and the navy withdraws from the country on all fronts, at that time Emperor Bixia's Jihua will suffer a major setback, and the fleet's long-term secrecy and ambush will be in vain, and this responsibility will be great.

Liu Buyun looked back at the fierce demeanor of the fleet, gritted his teeth, and gave the most important order in his life: fight!