When the tail main gun of the Laiyuan was knocked out, the battle between the detachment led by the Zhenhai and the Russian fleet was completely unbalanced! It won't be long before Laiyuan and Jiyuan will collapse, and then under the attack of two new Russian warships, it is only a matter of time before the Zhenhai is destroyed. However, at this time, the arrival of the Zhiyuan made the already tilted balance go back a little!

I have to say that Sir William White's design products are still very good, purely from the technical point of view, in 1887, it was able to press 3 210 guns and 4 150 guns on a warship of more than 2,000 tons, and guaranteed a speed of more than 18 knots and relatively good seaworthiness plus 2 to 4 inches of dome armor, this performance was definitely first-class at that time! (Because Beiyang had no money, there were 2 less 150 guns when I bought it) When the 3 8-inch guns on the Zhiyuan and the 2 6-inch guns on the side chord were put into battle. The superb quality and relatively stronger firepower of the sailors on the Zhiyuan rebalanced the situation.

"Hell, why haven't the two slow guys come up yet?" The captain of the Pearl, Evansky, cursed under his breath. Just 1 minute ago, two 8-inch high-explosive shells hit the stern of the Pearl, and the other hit the underside of a 6-inch gun. With the increase in the number of shots, the fire on the battleship has a tendency to further expand, although the key parts are protected by armor and there is no threat in a short time, but the rest of the battleship will be burned to ashes!

"Your Excellency. What do you see behind? Just as the Beiyang Fleet was gradually moving back into the situation, a herald pointed to two blurred figures that suddenly appeared on the sea behind him.

"Oh no, Russian reinforcements have arrived!" Shen Shouchang secretly screamed in his heart. The two shadows in the distance were definitely not Xu Jie's fleet, and the more unlikely it was Lin Yongsheng's fleet. Lord Lin's fleet won't be so slow. Lord Xu's battleship won't be that small! Then the only possibility is the two slow ships of the Russians! Now the Beiyang Fleet itself is already at a disadvantage, and with 2 more ships, then the Beiyang Fleet front is likely to collapse immediately!

"What are we going to do?" At the same time that Jiyuan discovered the other party, Ye Zusi and Ding Zhuangqian on the Zhenhai also discovered the figures of the two warships. Once the other party joins the battle, the outcome will be disastrous. A bean-sized cold sweat flowed down Ye Zusi's head. For a while, he didn't know what to do!

"Keep holding on and wait a few more minutes! Maybe things will change! Ye Zusi took a deep breath and said.

"Lao Ye, if it's too late, you may not be able to run!" Ding Zhuangqian said with some panic.

"We're not fast enough. If you go now, not only may none of the Zhenhai 4 ships be able to escape, but I'm afraid that Dingyuan and Zhenyuan in front will also be attacked! At that point, it's all over. Ye Zusi paused and continued: "If we can ensure the stability of the front, at least before we collapse, the Beiyang Fleet will not be completely wiped out!" Dingzhen may still have a chance to evacuate. ”

Because the entry position of the Beiyang Fleet is different, coupled with weather factors, Ye Zusi does not know what to do. At this time, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were even worse than the 3 warships led by Zhenhai! But the impact of Ye Zusi's decision is huge. Because Zhenhai and other 4 ships insisted on fighting, the 4 Russian battleships located in the rear of the battle column could not quickly join up with the Rurik and Bayan. And in naval battles, fighters are fleeting. Because of the time delay. This allowed the Guiyuan 3 ship to wound Rurik with almost no external interference, causing it to temporarily withdraw from the battle due to the fire.

And the wounds of the Rurik. Let Makanov misjudge the situation. A fire broke out on the Rurik, and the Bayan was hit. Moreover, when Lin Yongsheng's fleet has already been killed, and Xu Jie's fleet may be killed at any time, it is understandable to issue an evacuation order without knowing the battle situation of the rear team. And because of all this, in the end, the Beiyang Fleet team avoided suffering a heavier blow! …,

"Your Excellency. The Laiyuan and Jiyuan ships broke away from the array and began to move in the direction of the Russian reinforcement fleet! "That's when it happened. The herald shouted.

"What?" Ye Zusi and Jian Qian were shocked, and hurriedly ran to the observation hole to look behind them. I saw that the Laiyuan and Jiyuan, who had lost the rear main gun, waved the flag at the same time: "Everyone work hard, I will take the first step." Afterwards, the Laiyuan and Jiyuan broke away from the battle column and headed for the two Russian cruisers behind.

"They're buying us time!" Staring at the fold Qian's heart tightened. He knew that coming to the Yuan and Jiyuan could be described as self-defeating. Although the remaining Zhenhai and Zhiyuan had to face two 7,000-ton cruisers from various countries, the Turquoise and Pearl had been fighting for a long time. Especially the Pearl in the back, it is not a big problem to start with one enemy and two enemies. But when the Zhiyuan joined, the picric acid high-explosive bombs of the three warships burned enough in the latter's non-protective zone. Combat effectiveness has temporarily decreased. So Zhiyuanhao itself is not too dangerous.

But the two Russian warships that came up behind had not yet received any damage, one was a 5,000-ton cruiser, and the other was a 3,000-ton cruiser, the former with 12 6-inch guns. The latter has 6-inch guns! All the artillery pieces of the Yuan and Jiyuan guns were only 4 8-inch guns and 1 6-inch gun. The Russians have an overwhelming superiority in firepower! Although the Russian ships are relatively old, the Laiyuan and Jiyuan have been damaged in the naval battle, and they cannot outrun these two old ships in terms of speed. It can be said that once the two sides meet, the outcome is already set before the fight.

Faced with an almost certain death, Laiyuan and Jiyuan did not show a trace of hesitation! The two veterans of the Beiyang Fleet dragged their already broken bodies and struggled forward in the waves, using their thin bodies to meet the Russian battleships that were far more powerful than themselves! Use your own life and the blood of officers and men to fight for a chance for the Beiyang Fleet! Even if it's just a few dozen minutes!

"For the sake of victory, there is nothing that is not to be sacrificed. The Pingyuan, Jingyuan, and Jingyuan have left us, because of their insistence, the Beiyang Fleet has won victory after victory, and now it's our turn, we naturally can't let the martyrs see jokes, right? Qiu Baoren said with some self-deprecation.

Just ten minutes later, the battle between the Northern Fleet and the slowest warship of the Russian fleet officially began! As soon as the battle began, the dense rain of bullets weighed down Yuan and Jiyuan and couldn't raise their heads. For every 8-inch shell fired, the opponent would return with more than 8 6-inch shells, and although the Russians did not have a high accuracy, the high enough rate of fire fully compensated for this.

"Fight." Faced with this situation, Shen Shouchang glanced at the Laiyuan, who was also struggling in the rain of bullets, "Leave the queue, let's launch a torpedo attack!" The herald next to him nodded, turned and ran, without a trace of fear or hesitation on his face. A few minutes later, the Jiyuan broke away from formation again and cut across towards the Russian fleet not far away. The stokers in the boiler room desperately filled the coal into the boiler, and with the large amount of air sent in by the strong pressure ventilation, the speed of the Jiyuan was raised to the maximum! Rushing towards the Admiral Korninov in the Russian fleet like an arrow from the string!

"Crazy, this is just a madman!" The Russians cursed as they tried to evade, and at the same time, almost all the rapid-fire guns on both battleships were aimed at the Jiyuan. Shells from 6-inch and 3-pounder guns rained down. As the distance approached, more and more shells fell on Jiyuan's deck! The fragile hull was already difficult to withstand such a dense blow, and it was not the sound of metal cracking and the fire on the deck that indicated that the old ship, which had been more than 10 years old, could no longer support it!

Finally, the twin 8-inch guns in the bow of the Jiyuan were hit by three 6-inch guns in 10 seconds, and the entire gun cover was torn apart. The two 8-inch guns finally stopped roaring. One was blown in two, and the flying half-barrel smashed a large hole in the foredeck of the Jiyuan, and the gun carriage of the other 8-inch gun was destroyed, and the gun rolled off the gun carriage. …,

"It's almost." Shen Shouchang looked at the enemy ship less than 500 meters away, and his eyes were full of regret. Although the distance is not far, but Jiyuan has no chance, the bow of the ship is shot too much, the dense 6-inch shells almost wiped out the entire bow of Jiyuan, a large amount of seawater poured in from the breach, even if the damage management personnel worked hard, Jiyuan could not move forward half a step, and then, the bow slowly sank, the tail was raised high, and the propeller was still unwillingly rotating, but the end was certain.

"Shall we keep shooting?" A Russian official asked.

"Forget it, the other side has sunk, and it is against international practice to shoot people who have fallen into the water." The captain of the Admiral Korninov, Ivanovich, shook his head and said that a real navy should only be admired by everyone. The purpose of the war has been achieved, then senseless killing is not needed. This view was unusual in the Russian fleet, but Ivanovich dismissed the idea of slaughtering the soldiers who had fallen overboard.

"Another clear ship is also going to launch a collision tactic!" At this moment, the Laiyuan also rushed over with a group of horsepower! "Looks like we're at war with a bunch of outlaws! They don't know tactics at all! A staff officer said through gritted teeth.

"Avoid, keep your distance." Ivanovich said calmly. At this time, Pingyuan's speed could not be increased, and as long as he kept his distance, he could destroy the opponent with naval artillery.

"Mr. Captain, the Pearl in front of you suddenly sent a signal to ask the fleet to evacuate!" At this moment, the vice captain pointed to the light signal from the Pearl in the distance.

"What's wrong? Could it be that the Beiyang Fast Fleet felt it? Ivanovich muttered to himself as he looked at the Pearl in the distance. At this moment, the Turquoise gave up its entanglement with the Zhenhai and broke away at high speed. The Pearl also stopped shelling the Zhiyuan and followed the Turquoise out of the battlefield.

"It looks like something happened, let's go, don't delay for a minute." Ivanovich ordered.

"But the Laiyuan is almost sunk!" One officer objected.

"If we don't leave, we may not be able to leave." Ivanovich ignored the other party's opinion and continued to order, he had a hunch that the battle had just begun!

Thanks to the book friend pada-white and the reward with a breeze, the peak showdown is about to begin, and everyone will support ~~~~.