The tragic battle on Motianling was recorded by Japanese military reporters and sent back to China in the form of news bulletins. After reading it, Fukuzawa Yuji felt sad, and was deeply moved by the spirit of fighting for his life for the "imperial army" and seeing death as home; I was surprised and angry that the "ignorant race" of China had such a "savage resistance"!

He wrote a poem to pay tribute to the soldiers of the "Imperial Army" who died in battle, hoping that their heroic souls would "return their souls to the Yasukuni Shrine":

Weihai wall skyscraper, halberd forest and sharp edge.

The sound of the cannon shook the sky, and the clouds cried miserably and the yellow dragon.

Ning Ji's feet stumbled, and the iron bullet in front of the general's horse cracked.

The pen where the flag is cracked, and the six-foot body cloud is extinguished.

The horse leather shroud was in the past, only to see the battlefield full of blood!

However, at this time, at the emergency meeting of the Japanese base camp, there was no such poetry, and a haze shrouded everyone's hearts, making everyone silent for a while.

The report of Oyama Rock means that China has two main armies, which are strong enough to defend themselves on land, while the elite troops in Japan have all been dispatched, and there is only one division. Originally, the Japanese leadership fantasized about entering Beijing and forcing China to sign an alliance under the city, but at the moment, this is simply impossible.

To make matters worse, Japan could no longer bear the burden of war, the poor grassroots could not bear it, small-scale riots continued to occur, the whole country was like dry wood and fire, and the emperor's regime was more like tormenting on a volcanic crater, with lava about to erupt under its feet, and the only hope was the "manna rain" of China's reparations.

Faced with the protracted war, Saionji and Ito have begun to discuss whether they should seek a channel for negotiations with China, or at least Japan now in control of the sea, should be able to extort a reparation to end the exhausting war.

However, some hardliners believe that the matter has come to this point, and that it is necessary to overcome all difficulties, persevere to the end, and fight until China takes the initiative to seek peace.

Emperor Meiji weighed the pros and cons and thought that ending the war now might be the best time to end the war, and it was reasonable to say that as long as he could get reparations, he should be satisfied.

Therefore, he took Iwakura's suggestion and made full use of the advantages at sea, so that the navy began to attack the Chinese coast extensively, including some important ports such as Shanghai, to put pressure on China, and at the same time asked Aoki Shuzo to find an intermediary in Europe and be able to persuade China to pay reparations.

There is only one basis for these people to consider, and that is the strategic superiority of the Japanese Navy, but what is the truth?

At 10 o'clock in the morning of February 25, Liu Buyun led the fleet and arrived 25 nautical miles east of the Shandong Peninsula, with six warships maintaining a speed of 10 knots, all of which were flying the Portuguese flag.

At this time, a Japanese flotilla suddenly appeared in front, flying the flag of the rising sun, swaggering closer.

Strictly speaking, the agreement between China and Portugal has long since been annulled because the warship has returned home, and it is a violation of international law to fly the Portuguese flag at this time.

But in order to achieve the suddenness of the attack, Ding Yuntong considered letting all the warships fly the Portuguese flag, as for whether Portugal would protest? Whatever, in this era, strength is supreme, and there is no need to talk about the reason why his fists are hard enough.

According to Ding Yuntong's Jihua, the fleet was to launch a surprise attack on the Japanese fleet surrounding Weihaiwei Harbor, and then the fleet in the harbor also took advantage of the situation.

But this shijie is always full of accidents, and the fleet actually ran into the Japanese halfway, and the distance between the two sides was less than two thousand meters. The lookout post quickly reported that there were five Japanese ships, two warships and three transports.

Liu Buyun fell into hesitation, in order to maintain the suddenness, whether to let go of this fleet. But looking at this course, it is obvious that it is a delivery of supplies, and it may be extremely important, and it would be a pity to let it go like this.

After a few moments, he made up his mind: how could he not eat the meat that was brought to his mouth? Immediately pass the order, and all officers and men are ready for battle!

Liu Buyun was right, if he let it go, he didn't know how long he would regret it in the future. This Japanese ship formation consisted of the wooden cruisers Akagi and Tsukuba, as well as three transport ships, Sagamimaru, Flying Falcon, and Wyvern.

The Sagami Maru carried more than 1,000 Japanese officers and soldiers, as well as 27 British cartel guns, and a large amount of ammunition. In particular, the machine guns were smuggled by the Japanese government through Ottoman Turkey, and the price paid was three times the market price.

The Falcon was loaded with more than 600 tons of rice, as well as a large amount of miso, and two tons of medicines.

On board the Flying Dragon, there were not only 11 240mm Krupp heavy howitzers, but also a number of heavyweights, including the Navy Secretary Saigo Nomichi, who went to the front line to supervise the battle on behalf of the base camp, Prince Kanin Miyazaihito and Prince Higashifushimi Miyashihihito, who inspired the army and navy on behalf of the emperor, and a large number of officers such as Kayama Shikiri, the head of the Navy's Military Command.

The Japanese thought that they had the right to control the sea, and the vast East Asia was at our disposal, but they did not expect that there would be such a fleet, and at this time Portugal had already declined, and the Japanese could not even recognize the flag of which country, so they waved the flag to greet and ask the origin. But there was no response from the other side, and they directly spread out into a fan shape and surrounded it, and at this time, even the fool knew that the comer was not good.

The Tsukuba is a very old cruiser, built in 1854, the former British Navy colonial guard ship "Malacca", purchased by Japan on July 1, 1871, has been in service for 30 years, it is really a "classic car", but it is Japan's first warship to sail through the equator.

The captain of the ship, Kurooka with a sword, saw that the big thing was not good, and immediately raised the flag and asked the transport ship to escape in three ways, Sagami Maru fled north to the direction of Korea, the Flying Falcon fled south, and the Flying Dragon turned around and returned to Japan directly. At the same time, he asked the Akagi to come over and drag these enemies of unknown origin together.

Liu Buyun once did things to block and rob in the Sino-French War, so he is naturally familiar with the way, and now he has the fastest cruiser in his hand, so he is naturally not afraid of them flying into the sky.

He ordered the two ironclad ships, Suzaku and Xuanwu, to clean up the enemy on the spot, and the other four cruisers also pursued in three directions, emphasizing one principle: sink the enemy ships, do not take prisoners, and kill them all.

Ding Yuntong has repeatedly declared that he has no mercy for the Japanese army, and that he can kill one more person, and now he is pretending to be a warship of another country, although he is not afraid of things, but it is better to have more than one thing, so he tries not to leave the Japanese army alive.

The Suzaku quickly raised its muzzle and pointed at the other side, and at this time the distance was only 1,500 meters, and both sides could clearly see each other's movements in the telescope. The 4 305mm Krupp cannons of the Suzaku are enough to make the Japanese ship commander's legs and feet sore just by looking at the appearance and caliber: Who is such a giant ship cannon?

Kurooka ordered the Tsukuba to make a serpentine maneuver while having people keep waving flags, asking the other party to identify themselves and clarify misunderstandings, and he felt in his heart that such a giant ship could only be the British Empire and the like.

As if it was just an instant, the Suzaku fired!

Only a loud "boom" was heard, and the entire battleship shook, and the huge sound wave made the sea and air around the battleship feel stagnant, and then more than 1,000 meters away, 20 meters in front of the Tsukuba, a huge white column of water rose into the air dozens of meters high, and the sprinkling mist shrouded the entire Tsukuba, and the officers and men on the deck seemed to be drenched in the sea.

Such momentum, such power, make the Japanese fearful, powerful, tough, awesome, thick, stiff, these words can't help but flash in their minds.

Moments later, the Akagi was the first to be shot, and the shell punched a large hole in the bow of the ship, and the sea water rushed in, and the huge impact force actually smashed the warship's course off. In just a minute, the Akagi had its ass cocked high and began to sink, one shot, just one shot was enough.

(ps. It's on the homepage list today, and I'll start to do more tomorrow, or I'm really a little embarrassed.) ）