In August, the Yellow Sea is full of sunshine and snow.

The golden dragon pattern shines on the bow of the armored battleship "Ruixiang".

The naval battle flag of the golden dragon on the red ground fluttered dazzlingly against the background of the blue sky, and under the battle flag, the gray battleship hull stirred the sea water, breaking through the waves and pulling out a radial water trail.

Vice Admiral Lin Taizeng, commander of the Zhenyang Fleet and commander of the East Asian Combined Fleet, was sitting on the towering bridge of the "Ruixiang" and drinking tea leisurely. There were only two people who accompanied the commander to drink tea, one was Rear Admiral Sa Zhenbing, chief of staff of the Combined Fleet, and the other was the first lieutenant of the commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ye Fei, who had just graduated from the master's class of the Imperial Naval University three months ago.

Canvas canopies were placed on the roof of the bridge to shade the sun, pine desks replaced tea tables, on which kettles and tea were placed, and long, narrow-mouthed naval cups were held in each person's hands—tea could not be drunk on a rickety battleship.

Lin Tai once took a sip of warm tea, covered the cup, exhaled a long breath, and looked ahead, countless wisps of black smoke were pulled into a diagonal line by the wind and stretched into the air, dividing the sea and sky with blue tones.

The black smoke was emitted by groups of light cruisers and destroyers that were escorting the left and right in front of the battleship group.

"The situation is getting more and more tense, and I'm afraid it's going to start." Lin Taizeng stared ahead and said casually.

"There's going to be a fight anyway." Sa Zhenbing said, his tone containing no emotion.

Ye Fei looked at the commander, then at the chief of staff, rubbed the teacup and said, "May I ask the two commanders, are you sure of victory?" ”

Lin Tai glanced at him and didn't speak, but Sa Zhenbing smiled and said to him: "This is not what you should say, you can analyze it yourself." ”

Ye Fei pursed his lips uneasily, and when he saw that the commander had a face and asked him to do what the chief of staff said, he lowered his head and analyzed.

"As far as the strength of the ships is concerned, the battleships of our army that have been incorporated into active service have four electric and two Ruizi, the former is equipped with four main guns with a length of 305 mm of 40 caliber, and the latter is equipped with six main guns of the same calibre, each equipped with 10 to 12 secondary guns of 45 times the caliber and 150 mm in length, with a speed of 17 knots and a thickness of 10 to 13 inches of the main armor belt. There are six armored cruisers in service with the Yunzi and two of the Suzhou class, all of which are equipped with four main guns of 40 times caliber and 305 mm in length, and 8 to 150 mm secondary guns of 45 times caliber and 150 mm in length, with a speed of 20 to 22 knots and a thickness of 6 to 10 inches in the main armor belt. There are 10 cruisers in active service, 10 Rain, 4 Sword and 4 Sword, a total of 28 ships. Among them, the wind and knife are equipped with two to four main guns of 210 mm of 24 times the caliber, six to eight secondary guns of 150 mm in length of 30 times the caliber, and the speed is 21 to 22 knots; The Yuzi and Jianzi are each equipped with four main guns with a length of 150 mm of 45 times the caliber and ten rapid-fire guns of 120 mm with a length of 45 times the caliber, with a speed of 25 to 26 knots. Thirty-six destroyers, mostly armed with 75 to 120 mm guns and four- to six-tube torpedo launchers. Sixty-two torpedo boats, mostly equipped with 75-mm guns and multi-barreled machine guns and two- to four-tube torpedo launchers. ”

Ye Fei raised his head and found that the commander and the chief of staff were listening to him seriously or pretending to be serious, so he mustered up the courage to continue: "As for the Russian Pacific Fleet, there are a total of seven battleships in service, five of which are each equipped with four 305 mm main guns, and the other two are each equipped with four 254 mm main guns, and all battleships are equipped with 152 mm secondary guns with eleven to twelve guns, the thickness of the main armor belt is eight to ten inches, and the speed is seventeen to eighteen knots. There are five armored cruisers in active service, of which the two largest are the Rulik and the Thunderbolt, both of which are more than 10,000 tons, each equipped with four 203-mm main guns and 16 152-mm secondary guns, and the speed is 18 and 19 knots respectively, and the other two have a displacement of 6,700 tons, each equipped with eight 152-mm guns, and the speed is 20 to 23 knots. In addition, there were seven light cruisers, 37 large and small destroyers, and two minelayers. ”

"We know all this information." Sa Zhenbing said, continuing to smile at Ye Fei.

"The crux of the matter is land." Lin Tai once spoke, he didn't laugh, he rarely smiled.

"In the event of a war, the army will endeavour to encircle and capture Vladivostok, and the Russian fleet will most likely be forced to operate along the coast in order to defend their most important military port in the Far East in order to support the land operation, and then our combined fleet will have to cruise near the Russian military port, looking for opportunities to destroy the Russian fleet, and if necessary, to support the land operation, if that is the case, both sides will inevitably lay mines on a large scale, blockade the key sea areas along the coast, and our excellent warships and well-trained officers and men will be easily destroyed by the mines near the shore."

After Lin Taizeng finished speaking, he lifted the lid of the teacup and took another big sip of tea.

"The existing mine nets can only protect against torpedo attacks when the port is berthed, and it must be very difficult to clear mines under the nose of the enemy." Sa Zhenbing added.

"So, Adjutant Ye, what do you think, we may win in the end, but we may also pay a huge price."

Ye Fei took a sip of tea and felt that this tea was very astringent, but he didn't dare to say it, this was not the time to say that the tea was astringent.

"We should be prepared in advance to induce or force the Russians to go to sea for a decisive battle."

"The Russians may go to sea for a decisive battle, but we will probably not be able to achieve a decisive victory, or even any results of real value, and as a result, we will still be caught in the circle of offensive and defensive battles in the fortresses, which will be dangerous and costly."

Lin Tai sighed, but there was obviously no cowardice in that tone.

"We can't keep indulging in the fond memories of the Battle of Daedonggou, after all, we have also tasted the bitter fruits of defeat in the naval battle off Inchon before. To be clear, the Russian Pacific Fleet is not much weaker than ours, we must be cautious and make every effort to fight the enemy outwits on the premise of preserving the warships, and we must remember that Russia has more than one Pacific Fleet, the Russian Navy has a total of twenty battleships, and if the Russians gather more than half of the main forces of the Navy in the Far East, we will certainly not be an opponent. The Russians will send reinforcements, they will not sit idly by and watch the Far East be taken by us, the Russians will send a whole army division from Europe, they will send a huge fleet from the Black Sea and the Baltic, we will make the existing Pacific Fleet ineffective before their support fleet arrives, but even if we do this, we will pay unbearable heavy losses, and it is very likely that we will no longer be able to fight against the support fleet sent by the Russians. ”

"So, is it uncertain?" Ye Fei listened attentively, and felt that a person like the commander was powerful and talented after all, and he could often look at problems from a height that ordinary people could not reach.

"For the officers and soldiers at the lower levels, it is necessary to have the belief that they will win, but for the senior officers, they must take into account the overall situation and make a sober judgment, and even if the result is undoubtedly defeated, they must not be discouraged, and can only rely on their own ability to do their best to carry out the orders of their superiors. Today, we have a slight advantage in the technology and equipment of the Pacific Fleet, but the victory or defeat of the war is not determined by the slightest difference in equipment; the Russian sailors have skill, discipline, and a strong sense of honor, and the new commander of the Pacific Fleet, Vice Admiral Makarov, is knowledgeable, energetic, and has a strong sense of responsibility. The entire Russian Pacific Fleet conducted only one mixed formation sailing training in two years. Our opponent is not weak, and first of all, we must have this understanding, so that we will not suffer unnecessary losses due to underestimating the enemy in wartime. ”

Ye Fei nodded again and again, and was about to take the opportunity to speak, but Sa Zhenbing held his pocket watch and said: "The tea time is over, the fleet combat maneuvering drill will start in ten minutes, and the live-fire training will start in an hour, so call everyone up." ”

Lin Taizeng nodded, and asked the heralds around him to call the other adjutants, staff officers and other headquarters personnel to the bridge.

Ten minutes later, there was a piercing whistle of "beep", and the huge group of battleships began to turn.

"Heading 318, accelerating to 15 knots."

Colonel Hong Feng, the captain of the armored battleship "Ruixiang", gave an order, and the "Ruixiang" twisted the huge steel body with a standard displacement of 14,800 tons, and the three thick chimneys spewed out thick black soot.

"Fleet Level 1 Alert!"

Lin Tai, the commander of the Combined Fleet, once gave a sharp order on the bridge, and then the alarm sounded throughout the fleet, the crew was in place, the main and auxiliary guns of each ship also began to be debugged, and the main turret of the huge battleship turned left and right, and the gun barrels moved up and down, and the momentum was calm.

"That's what it looks like, I applied for the naval academy just to see this kind of exciting scene, no, there are many more, I want to see and join the battlefield with my own eyes, witness and direct the battleship group to fire a salvo at the enemy ships, and see them turn into torches at sea one by one, I joined the navy for this."

Lin Taizeng was by his side, Ye Fei had already begun to dream of being a future fleet commander, he missed the Sino-Japanese War because his undergraduate studies at the Naval University were not over, and then successively served as the destroyer gun captain, deputy captain, captain, and deputy captain of a light cruiser, three years ago because of his outstanding performance, he was sent to the Imperial Naval University for further study in the master of tactics, but after graduation, he did not serve as the chief officer on the ship, but was appointed as the lieutenant of the commander - this is a beautiful difference that everyone envies, after this level, the road to promotion in the future is equivalent to the green light.

However, at an altitude of 10,000 meters, no creature would notice that there was a lucky Ye Fei on the battleship "Ruixiang", and there, looking down at the sea, he would only see steel snakes spitting out countless curved pillars of smoke.

Lowering the altitude, looking around from the top of the mast of the battleship "Ruixiang", to the rear, is the sister ship "Ruixiang" "Ruixiang", which is also spewing filthy smoke from three large chimneys into the clean sky, and the front two and rear one or three twin 305 mm main turrets are still rotating left and right to debug. Further back, four battleships with a standard displacement of 12,800 tons, "Feidian", "Zhendian", "Thunderbolt", and "Yundian", were each emitting even blacker plumes of smoke from the two huge main chimneys, and a square main turret with inclined planes in the front and rear, some of which had stopped commissioning, and some were still spinning around. Not to be outdone, the Suzhou-class armored cruisers "Suzhou" and "Hangzhou" with a standard displacement of 11,800 tons slashed their huge bodies into the blue sea, and snow-white foam and boiling waves flew all around, especially behind the stern. After that, six Yunzi battleships with a standard displacement of 10,500 tons, "Fuyun", "Baoyun", "Lingyun", "Caiyun", "Baiyun", and "Xiangyun", were busy launching black clouds into the sky. Behind the column of the main ships of the entire Combined Fleet are two Japanese Navy armored cruisers "Fuji" and "Izumo", which were ordered from Britain, with a standard displacement of 9,800 tons, each equipped with four 305-mm main guns and 10 150-mm secondary guns, but the armor protection is weaker than that of the Yunzi and Suzhou classes made by China, the main armor belt is about six inches, and the coverage area is less than 30 percent of the area of the two sides.

Before the capital ship formation composed of these 16 10,000-ton giant ships, 16 high-speed light cruisers and 32 fleet destroyers were arranged in six columns and were slowly moving forward as the lead of the fleet.

Looking from the top of the mast of the battleship "Zuixiang", the first column on the left is full of "Songxue"-class destroyers with two chimneys, and from front to back, there are "White Snow", "Flying Snow", "Pine Snow", "Forest Snow", "Deep Snow", "Twilight Snow", "Mountain Snow", and "Falling Snow", a total of eight destroyers. From the second column on the left, all of them are three-chimney "Water Moon" class destroyers, this class of ships has a standard displacement of 960 tons, equipped with three single-mounted 120 mm rapid-fire guns and two triple 460 mm torpedo tubes, with a speed of 30 knots. From the left to the third column, starting with four "Sword" class light cruisers, in order "Dragon Sword", "Tiger Sword", "Treasure Sword", and "Wind Sword", this class of ships has a standard displacement of 4,310 tons, a maximum speed of 26 knots, no armor belts, and only a maximum of five inches of armor wrapped around the boiler and engine room. The "Sword" class was followed by four light cruisers of the "Heavy Rain" class with four chimneys, in order of "Spring Rain", "Autumn Rain", "Valley Rain", and "Fog Rain", with a standard displacement of 3,620 tons, a speed of 25 knots, and completely unarmored. From the left to the fourth column, the first is four "rainstorm" class light cruisers, in order of "summer rain", "heavy rain", "thunderstorm", "mountain rain", followed by the four light cruisers of the Japanese Navy, in order of "Asahi", "Kasuga", "Nissin", "Nisshin", originally China imported from Germany "Dragon Axe" class, in 1902 transferred to the Japanese Navy for a fee, but still incorporated into the combined fleet, its standard displacement of 3,500 tons, speed of 25 knots, equipped with 150 mm guns four, Eight rapid-fire guns of 120 mm, unarmoured. The fifth column from the left is the second column from the right, followed by the fleet destroyers "Ning Yue", "Jing Yue", "Qing Yue", "Ping Yue", "Ming Yue", "Ting Yue", "Ling Yue", and "Xingyue", and the sixth column from the left is the second column from the right, which is the fleet destroyers "Rain and Snow", "Frost and Snow", "Snow", "Misty Snow", "Wind and Snow", "Cloud Snow", "Light Snow", and "Shower".

The sun rose to the zenith, and a long line of target ships fluttered and emerged from the clear sea antenna, and a huge group of warships, ploughing the bright sea, quickly approached the target ships with white sails.

"Target, enemy battleship Sevastopol, fire!"

On the bridge of the battleship "Ruixiang", after an order, the sea five thousand yards away turned into fire.

Attached: The main combat ships of the Imperial Chinese Navy in July 1903 (above)

1. Armored battleships: 6 in service and 4 in reserve.

* Battleship 1st Squadron: 2 ships of the "Ruixiang" class: "Ruixiang" (launched in 1900) and "Ruiji" (launched in 1901). The standard displacement is 14,800 tons, the speed is 17 knots, the coal load is 2,000 tons, and the cruising range is 4,000 nautical miles / 12 knots. 3 main guns are 305 mm / 40 times the diameter, 10 secondary guns are 150 mm / 45 times the diameter, 16 are 75 mm / 45 times the diameter, 20 are 37 mm / 35 times the diameter, and 2 torpedoes are twin 406 mm. Armor: main armor belt 8-12 inches (36% of broadside area), waterline armor 4-6 inches, deck armor 2-4 inches, turret armor 4-12 inches, boiler and engine room 6-10 inches. The crew is 751 people.

* Battleship 2nd Squadron: 2 ships of the "Flying Lightning" class: "Flying Lightning" (launched in 1896) and "Zhendian" (launched in 1897). The standard displacement is 12,800 tons, the speed is 17 knots, the coal load is 1,700 tons, and the cruising range is 3,500 nautical miles / 12 knots. 2 main guns are 305 mm/40 times, 12 secondary guns are 150 mm/45 times, 16 are 75 mm/45 times, 20 are 37 mm/35 times, and 2 torpedoes are 406 mm. Armor: main armor belt 10-13 inches (24% of the broadside area), waterline armor 6-8 inches, deck armor 2-4 inches, turret armor 4-12 inches, boiler and engine room 6-10 inches. The crew is 686.

* Battleship 3rd Sentai Squadron: 2 ships of the "Flying Lightning" class: "Thunderbolt" (launched in 1898) and "Yundian" (launched in 1899).

* Battleship 11th Reserve Team: 2 ships of the "Longwei" class: "Longwei" and "Fengxiang". The standard displacement is 8550 tons, the speed is 15 knots, the main gun is 2 twin 305 mm / 24 times the diameter, and the secondary gun is 6 150 mm / 30 times the diameter. Omitted.

* The 12th Reserve Battleship Team: 2 ships of the "Dingyuan" class: "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan". The standard displacement is 7300 tons, the speed is 14 knots, the main gun is 2 twin 305 mm / 24 times the diameter, and the secondary gun is 8 150 mm / 30 times the diameter. Omitted.

2. Armored cruisers: 8 in service and 2 in reserve.

* 1st Armored Cruiser Squadron: 2 ships of the "Suzhou" class: "Suzhou" (launched in 1902) and "Hangzhou" (launched in 1902). The standard displacement is 11,800 tons, the speed is 22 knots, and the cruising range is 4,700 nautical miles / 12 knots. 2 main guns twin 305 mm/40 times, 10 secondary guns 150 mm/45 times, 16 75 mm/45 times, 16 37 mm/35 times, 2 torpedoes twin 406 mm. Armor: main armor belt 6-10 inches (43% of broadside area), waterline armor 3-5 inches, deck armor 2-3 inches, turret armor 3-10 inches, boiler and engine room 6-8 inches. Crew 665 people.

* 2nd Armored Cruiser Squadron: 2 ships of the "Blowing Cloud" class: "Blowing Cloud" (launched in 1896) and "Saiyun" (launched in 1896). The standard displacement is 10,500 tons, the speed is 20 knots, and the cruising range is 3,800 nautical miles / 12 knots. 2 main guns are 305 mm/40 times the diameter, 10 secondary guns are 150 mm/45 times, 16 are 75 mm/45 times, 12 are 37 mm/35 times, and 2 torpedoes are 406 mm. Armor: main armor belt 8-10 inches (28% of the broadside area), waterline armor 3-5 inches, deck armor 2-3 inches, turret armor 3-10 inches, boiler and engine room 6-8 inches. The crew is 647 people.

* Armored cruiser 3rd squadron: 2 ships of the "Fuyun" class: "Lingyun" and "Baoyun" (both launched in 1898).

* 4th Armored Cruiser Squadron: 2 ships of the "Fukuun" class: "Baiyun" and "Xiangyun" (both launched in 1900).

* The 11th Reserve Fleet of Armored Cruisers: 2 ships of the "Jianbei" class: Jianbei (launched in 1892) and Jiannan (launched in 1893). The standard displacement is 4850 tons, the speed is 17 knots, 1 main gun is 305 mm/24 times the diameter, and 9 secondary guns are 150 mm/30 times the diameter.

3. Light cruisers (including protective cruisers)

* 1st squadron of light cruisers: 4 ships of the "Sword" class: "Dragon Sword", "Tiger Sword", "Treasure Sword", "Wind Sword", launched in 1899-1903). The standard displacement is 4310 tons, the speed is 26 knots, the endurance is 3900 nautical miles / 15 knots, the main gun is 4 150 mm / 45 times the diameter, the secondary guns are 10 120 mm / 45 times the diameter, 10 are 37 mm / 30 times the diameter, and the torpedo is 406 mm in 3 twin seats. Armor: boiler and cabin 5 inches.

* Light cruiser 2nd squadron: 4 ships of the "Broadsword" class: "Broadsword", "Mo Knife", "Long Knife", "Sabre", launched from Germany in 1896-1899. The standard displacement is 4750 tons, the speed is 22 knots, and the cruising range is 3200 nautical miles / 15 knots. 2 main guns twin 210 mm/24 x diameter, 8 secondary guns 150 mm/30 times diameter, 4 75 mm/30 times diameter, 10 37 mm/30 times diameter. Armor: boiler and cabin 6-8 inches.

* 3rd squadron of light cruisers: 4 ships of the "Heavy Rain" class: "Spring Rain", "Autumn Rain", "Valley Rain", "Fog Rain", launched in 1897-1899. The standard displacement is 3620 tons, the speed is 25 knots, and the cruising range is 3000 nautical miles / 15 knots. 4 main guns 150 mm / 45 times diameter, 10 120 mm / 45 times diameter, 10 37 mm / 30 times diameter, 3 torpedoes twin 406 mm. Armor: None.

* 4th squadron of light cruisers: 4 ships of the "Rainstorm" class: "Summer Rain", "Heavy Rain", "Thunderstorm", "Mountain Rain", launched in 1895-1900.

* Light Cruiser 5th Sentai Squadron: 2 ships of the "Rainstorm" class: "Winter Rain" (launched in 1899) and "Pine Rain" (launched in 1900).

* 6th squadron of light cruisers: 4 ships of the "Wind" class: "Super Wind", "Tempest", "Sea Breeze", "Zephyr", launched in 1892-1894. The standard displacement is 3150 tons, the speed is 21 knots, and the cruising range is 3000 nautical miles / 15 knots. 2 main guns 210 mm/24 x d, 6 x 150 mm/30 x d, 6 x 75 mm/30x d, 10 x 37 mm/30x d. Armor: None.

* 7th squadron of light cruisers: 4 ships of the "Wind" class: "Gale", "Yunfeng", "Qingfeng", "Huofeng", launched in 1895-1898.

* Light Cruiser 8th (Training) Squadron: 2 ships of the "Wind" class: "Chasing the Wind" and "Hurricane", both launched in 1891.