"5000 yards away!"

The artillery staff officer on the flagship of the Zhenyang fleet "Longwei" shouted loudly, and the commander of the fleet, Rear Admiral Liu Buyun, waved his hand, and his voice was low and powerful: "Order, fire!" ”

The 12 305 mm main guns on the four battleships were turned to the starboard side together (the two twin 305 mm guns in Dingyuan Zhenyuan were arranged on the left and right sides of the bow, and only half of the main gun fire could be exerted after joining the vertical formation, and the two twin 305 mm guns of Long Wei Fengxiang were arranged forward and backward along the central axis, and they could all be turned to one side for use), aiming at the Japanese flagship "Matsushima", they opened fire almost simultaneously, and less than ten seconds after twelve 386-kilogram blasting shells were fired from the muzzle, they exploded one after another on the surface, side, and four sides of the "Matsushima." The whole ship was immediately shrouded in gunsmoke and mist. Two minutes later, the second salvo of the Qing army destroyed the two 120-mm rapid-fire guns on the port side of the "Songdao", and the fire rose from under the forward chimney, and thick black smoke enveloped most of the ship's hull.

Vice Admiral Ito, commander of the Combined Fleet, was swayed by a series of violent bumps when the "Matsushima" ship was shot, and he held on to the railing in front of the command platform in time to avoid falling.

"Herald! The ships continued to turn left until they were 3,000 yards away, and the first group began to fire at the enemy flagship, and the other groups fired at the enemy ships in turn. Ito immediately ordered after he stood firm, the reason why he asked the fleet to continue to approach the Qing fleet was to give full play to the rapid-fire artillery firepower of his own large number of equipment, Ito understood that his "three scenic ships" (that is, Matsushima, Itsukushima, and Hashidate, three coastal defense armored cruisers with a standard displacement of 4,200 tons, were the only warships in the Japanese Navy equipped with 320 mm guns, each ship equipped with a 320 mm front main gun, 120mm rapid-fire guns? The pitiful 320-mm guns on the door were simply unable to resist the powerful firepower of the four battleships of the Qing army, and only by risking to get close and let the firepower of the whole fleet be carried out could a truly effective counterattack be carried out.

"Commander, the enemy fleet is speeding up, and my subordinates think that the Japanese army wants to engage our troops at close range."

Captain Sa Zhenbing, the captain of the "Longwei", saw Ito Youheng's intention and reported to Liu Buyundao.

Liu Buyun grabbed the telescope with his right hand, half-raised his left hand, and immediately ordered: "Order!" The ships were on the right side of the rudder, keeping a distance from the enemy ships and continuing to bombard them with their main guns. ”

The hull of the "Longwei" shook with the salvo of the front and rear main guns, and the thick gray smoke spread on the starboard side, and was soon thrown behind by the moving battleship. Liu Buyun stood firmly on the command platform, quietly admiring the flickering firelight on the hull of the Japanese flagship "Matsushima", the thick smoke soaring into the sky, and the soaring water column around him from the telescope.

The third salvo of the Qing battleships used the newly developed Type 93 armor-piercing high-explosive shell, a huge projectile weighing 400 kilograms, which was enough to penetrate the 100 mm turret roof armor and 125 mm of engine defense armor on the Songdao ship at a distance of 5,000 yards.

However, this salvo did not hit either the turret or the engine room, and the two Type 93 armor-piercing shells fell at a wide angle, hitting the ship's mass and bridge, and the time-delay fuse caused them to penetrate until they were close to the bilge before exploding. As a result, two large holes of nearly 10 meters were blown open in the bilge of "Matsushima," and sea water poured in rapidly, capsizing the 4,200-ton warship within two minutes, and 383 Japanese naval officers and men, including Vice Admiral Ito, commander of the Combined Fleet, and Captain Matsushima, were killed in an instant.

Liu Buyun easily solved his senior brother at the Royal Naval College with his strength, mainly material, and the next thing he had to do was to use all the advantages at his disposal to kill all the 12 warships behind the butt of "Songdao", leaving not a single ship.

The "Hashidate," the flagship of the second group of Japanese troops, raised the command flag, and then broke away from the group and advanced ahead of the remaining two ships of the first group. Before the "Hashidate" reached the flagship position, the battleships of the Qing army's main team fired two salvos at it with explosive shells, destroying most of the ship's superstructure, killing the captain and reserve commander Hitaka Strongino Osa, so that the Japanese army actually lost its unified command again.

When the "Hashidate" finally entered the flagship position with a thick column of smoke, the third salvo of the Qing battleship came, and a Type 93 armor-piercing projectile penetrated the defensive armor of the turbine and exploded in the depths of the engine room. Boilers, steam turbines, and gearboxes were all twisted and broken scrap metal in an instant, filled with broken flesh and bones, which were being scorched and vaporized by the fire. After rushing forward several hundred meters by inertia, the "Hashidate" began to drift northward with the current, and the Qing army lost no time in firing a fourth salvo at it, and four blasting shells destroyed most of the guns on the "Hashidate" reserve flagship, killing more than half of the crew, but it still persisted in not sinking. The Japanese ship "Itsukushima" raised the command flag and led the fleet to overtake the "Hashidate" ship, which had been completely paralyzed, and continued to march eastward. Unwilling to bear the infamy of "cowardly escape," the captain of the "Itsukushima" Michiyu Daisa, stubbornly insisted that the fleet continue to move closer to the Qing army, and counterattacked with the 320-millimeter cannon that was the last in the fleet on the "Itsukushima Island."

"The Japanese ship 'Hashidate' stopped moving and fell to the right rear of our fleet, and was about to get out of the range of our artillery fire." Sa Zhenbing stood beside Liu Buyun and reported.

Liu Buyun didn't look at it, but only concentrated on observing the Japanese ship "Itsukushima" that was leading, and said slowly: "Hashitachi has left enough for the torpedo boats to clean up, and the Japanese armored cruisers are our main target, and we ordered the battleships to concentrate fire and shoot at the enemy leading ships." ”

As soon as Liu Buyun's words fell, the herald sent a report from the rear mast observer: "Three torpedo boats of our army are approaching the port side of the Japanese ship 'Hashidate', separated by 1,000 yards. ”

Liu Buyun said: "I know the way, continue to observe." ", raised the binoculars and continued to monitor the Japanese ship.

Ten minutes later, the Japanese 4,200-ton "Hashidate" ship was sent to the bottom of the sea with three torpedoes at a distance of 50 yards by the Qing army's 144-ton "Fulong" torpedo boat. Of the total 730 crew members of the two ships, less than three survived.

At this point, the backbone of the combined fleet, the Sanjing ship, was all finished. The Chiyoda, the last armored cruiser in the group, with a displacement of 2,439 tons and 10 120-mm rapid-fire guns, raised the command flag and led the entire fleet to continue this hopeless battle.

At this time, because the Japanese warship team kept turning left to try to get close to the Qing army's main team, and the Qing army's main team also kept turning left to keep a distance, the course of the two sides changed from due east to northeast, heading towards Dadonggou, which was exactly the situation Liu Buyun hoped to see.

The first, second, and third escort squadrons of the Qing army were assembled in the Dadonggou, with four cruisers and two gunboats, although they did not join the formation because of the lack of speed and firepower, but as long as the remaining 10 warships of the Japanese army penetrated deep into the bay, they had to face the dilemma of being flanked.

The captain of the "Chiyoda", Masatoshi Uchida, was hesitating. Forward is the bay, and after the bay is the coast, and he cannot lead the fleet to ram the land; There may be a way to live backwards, but he himself will bear the shame of a lifetime.

"A soldier's life is more important than shame."

Uchida Masatoshi Osa saw the Qing army escort in the bay preparing for battle, and finally made up his mind.

"Herald! The ships are full of rudders! Turn due south and the whole team is out of the fight! ”

The "Chiyoda" ship crossed a short arc on the sea, and the ships behind it followed suit, Liu Buyun of course refused to let go of the fat that was about to arrive, and urgently ordered the fleet to turn south, maintaining a position of 5,000 yards on the side of the Japanese ship, so as to give full play to the battleship's main gun firepower and limit the opponent's counterattack at the same time.

Two long, curved tracks spread out across the sea.

"Commander, the enemy ship Chiyoda is sailing faster than the overall speed of our fleet, and it is about to sail out of the fire limit of our main guns."

Sa Zhenbing looked at it carefully, and hurriedly reported to Liu Buchan.

Liu Buyun's face was expressionless, and he waved his hand and ordered: "Order, target the enemy's leading ship, the battleship's main guns fire a salvo, all armor-piercing shells." ”

Because the position of the "Chiyoda" at this time was already in the right front of the Qing army's main team, which exceeded the firing limit of the main guns behind the Qing army's "Longwei" and "Fengxiang" ships, this salvo could only be carried out by eight 305-mm main guns.

However, this did not bring any benefit to the "Chiyoda", and a Type 93 armor-piercing projectile drilled straight from the upper deck of the bow to the bottom bilge and exploded, and after a few minutes, the "Chiyoda" raised its butt high, revealing the tail rudder and the still spinning propeller, and plunged almost vertically into the sea. Although Uchida Masatoshi Osa realizes the importance of soldiers' lives, if he can't save himself, how can he save others? Sometimes, the will of man is often not worth mentioning in the face of strength.

The time of the sinking of the "Chiyoda" was about 13:30, and a few minutes later, the cruiser "Hiei" raised the command flag and led the remaining nine warships to flee south at full speed, but because the speed of the "Hiei" was only 13 knots, the entire fleet under its leadership could not escape the pursuit of the Qing army.

Liu Buyun drove his unscathed fleet into pursuit, gradually narrowing the distance between friend and foe, and at the same time ordered the signal flag to be raised to inquire about the situation of the commando.

"Spotted my assault team, eight thousand yards southwest of nine o'clock, passing in front of the Japanese fleet!"

Sa Zhenbing reported.

"Commando flagship back signal! The first combat mission has been completed and is now returning. ”

The herald reported.

Liu Buyun nodded lightly, no nonsense, and directly ordered: "Give the commando a flag order: intercept and destroy the enemy fleet!" ”

"Yes, Banner Order! Intercept and destroy enemy fleets! ”

The herald shouted to the signalman with all his might.

"Tempest" miraculously appeared in the position of the flagship of the commando.

Although the hull of the ship still spewed sparks and green smoke from time to time, although the two 210-mm main guns in the front and rear had been damaged, and although more than half of the officers and men of the ship had suffered casualties, in the opinion of Lieutenant Colonel Jiang Chaoying, commander of the commando, as long as it could sail at high speed, as long as there were a few secondary guns left, and as long as there were still people who could steer and fire their guns, a cruiser would be far from losing its combat effectiveness.

After sinking the Japanese No. 1 guerrilla squadron "Takachiho" and "Akitsuzu" and forcing "Yoshino" and "Naniwa" to withdraw from the battlefield, the assault team was led by the flagship "Hurricane", which had just extinguished the fire, and moved closer to their own unit.

Lieutenant Colonel Jiang Chaoying discovered the remnants of the Japanese army that were fleeing southward, and after calculating the difference in speed between the enemy and us, he adjusted the course of the assault team from northeast to due east, and ordered the fleet to accelerate to 20 knots. In this way, the seven cruisers of the assault team can pass horizontally from about 2,000 yards in front of the Japanese ship's main squadron, and the broadside firepower can be maximized, while the Japanese ships can only use a small amount of firepower to return fire, which is the so-called "seizing the T-shaped cross-head position."

The powerful firepower of a total of 12 210-mm guns and 21 150-mm rapid-fire guns turned to the starboard side of the Qing assault team was concentrated on these two ships, and the bombardment lasted for 25 minutes, until the Qing commando team moved away from the Japanese ships and exceeded the artillery fire limit.

In these 25 minutes, the superstructure of the "Hiei" was shattered, the bow of the ship was disconnected, and it slid into the sea, and the hull was tightly wrapped in the smoke of the fire until the whole ship burned down, and then sank at 14:16, and the 286 people under the captain Sakurai were not alive. The "King Kong" capsized on the starboard side of the ammunition depot after the explosion, and even so, the Qing artillery shells continued to fall on its overturned bottom shell until it sank.

At the same time, the battleships and armored cruisers of the Qing army's own corps were not idle, and the 305-mm and 210-mm guns roared one after another. "In the huge bomb station, the building collapsed, the iron shattered and the steel cracked, the flesh and bones splashed, so that the hull of the ship was broken, and the sailors wanted to abandon the ship to escape but could not get it, and sank to the bottom of the sea with the whirlpool of the ship's sinking."

The three small gunboats, Maya, Chokai, and Atago, with a standard displacement of tons of water and a speed of only 12 knots, soon became the small desserts of the Qing fleet's main meal, and were blown apart by shells along with a total of 303 crew members.

The remaining four ships of the Japanese army were led by the "Yamato" ship with a standard displacement of 1,502 tons, and they desperately fled southward, however, whether it was the cruiser Yamato, Musashi, Haimen or the large gunboat "Fuso", none of them had a speed of more than 13 knots, and the slowest battleships "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" in the Qing army's main team could also drive to 14:5 knots.

The maximum speed of the cruiser could reach 21 knots, and the Japanese had no reason to escape.

At 14:20 a.m., after completing a 180-degree turn, the Qing assault team rushed to the port side of the Japanese ship's main team, but was stopped by enemy fire. The last large warship of the Japanese army, the "Fuso" gunboat with a standard displacement of tons of water and equipped with four 240-mm guns and 200-mm turret armor, played an important role, just like a man's return to the light before his death, two consecutive 240-mm shells hit the commando flagship "Hurricane", shrapnel flew into the control tower, seriously injuring Lieutenant Colonel Jiang Chaoying, commander of the Qing commando. Major Yang Tianzhi, the captain of the "Hurricane", immediately took over the command and ordered the command flag to be raised: "All ships have full rudder on the right and shoot parallel to the enemy ships. ”

Seeing that the "Fusang" was arrogant for a while with its armored heavy artillery, Liu Buyun on the "Longwei" ordered the battle fleet to fire a salvo at the "Fusang" in order to reduce the pressure on the commandos, while the patrol team concentrated on attacking the "Haimen" ship behind the enemy's palace.

At 14:25 p.m., the first salvo of the Qing battlefleet cut off the main mast and command platform of the "Fusang", and the second salvo two minutes later smashed a 240-mm armored turret behind the left side, and three minutes later, the "Fusang" was sent to the bottom of the sea with a third salvo of Type 93 armor-piercing shells.

Everything was so simple and effective, and the power of the battleship's main guns to fire a salvo was by no means comparable to those noisy rapid-fire guns.

At fourteen o'clock, the loading patrol solved the displacement with 305 and 210-mm guns? The old iron-boned wood-hulled cruiser "Haemun" was left with only two thin cruisers, "Yamato" and "Musashi", which had sailed out of the Sasebo military port and created the "Incheon myth".

"It's almost over."

Sa Zhenbing stood beside the commander-in-chief, and the telescope in his hand had been handed over to a staff officer.

"This is just the beginning."

Liu Buyun responded, put his hand on the brim of his military hat, staring at the sky polluted by the smoke and flames of war, and seemed to have seen the scene of the next war.

"At that point, the opponent will be much stronger, and we will become stronger until we outrun our teachers."

Sa Zhenbing looked at the sky with the commander-in-chief's gaze, thoughtful.

The seven cruisers of the assault team finally completed the steering and reduced the speed to 13 knots in order to increase the time of fire contact.

In fact, the murderous bombardment lasted for 30 minutes, and the "Yamato" and "Musashi" were transformed from warships into honeycombs, and then from honeycombs to torches, and then completely disintegrated after being burned out, splitting into several twisted and deformed parts and submerging into the water.

They could have surrendered, and the Qing army could have chosen to capture them.

But both sides chose different paths.

Surrender, how shameful, those dead officers and crews probably thought so.

So what do the Chinese think?

"It's already like that, what's the use of keeping it?"

So said a captain after the war, who did not want to be named.

"Commander-in-Chief Liu meant to sink them all, leaving not a single Japanese ship floating on the sea."

Some people say so.

The most popular but never confirmed version is: "Chief of General Staff Liu Yun called for the sinking of the 'Yamato' and 'Musashi' ships by name in order to attack the self-esteem of the Yamato nation." ”

In any case, the Battle of Dadonggou, which decided the final outcome of the Korean War, finally came to an end against the backdrop of Liu Buyun's satisfied expression.

After four hours of fierce fighting, the Combined Fleet of the Empire of Japan almost ceased to exist, six of the eight armored cruisers were given to algae and fish and shrimp for buildings, five of the ten most combat-ready cruisers were reduced to scrap iron and rotten wood, and four of the seven gunboats capable of fighting in the ocean were crushed, with a total loss of 15 battleships and heavy damage to two armored cruisers. The ship's crew suffered 4,056 casualties, most of whom were killed.

The losses of the Qing army were insignificant before the huge gains: one light cruiser was sunk and one light cruiser was heavily damaged, and 336 people were killed or wounded.

As of today, August 5, 1894, the Japanese Navy ceased to exist as a force that threatened the Chinese fleet.

As a result, the tide of the war on the Korean Peninsula was fundamentally reversed.

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11：50

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J11J10J9J8J7J6J5J4J3J2J1

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The third map of the situation of the naval battle of Dadonggou (due north to the north)

Description: The Qing army's main team first (right rudder left turn) turned eastward, and the Japanese army followed the rapid east (left rudder right turn) to turn, and the two sides formed a battle line to bombard.

Matsushima (J1) was sunk first, then Itsukushima (J2), Hashidate (J3), and Chiyoda (J4) were sunk one after another, and the remaining battleships tried to escape (left rudder to the right) to the south, but were intercepted by the Qing commando, and the Qing army pursued fiercely behind.

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13：45

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Dadonggou Naval Battle Situation Map No. 4 (due north to Xianglu)

Description: The remnants of the Japanese ship were attacked from both sides by the Qing commando and the team, and the leading Hiei (J5), King Kong (J6) and the rear Maya (J11), Torikai (J12), and Atago (J13) were sunk one after another.

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14：20

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Dadonggou Naval Battle Situation Map No. 5 (due north to Xianglu)

Description: The Qing army sank the Japanese ships Fusang (J10) and Haimen (J9) in pursuit; After turning 180 degrees, the assault team attacked from the left side of the Japanese ship's main team.

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14：45

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The sixth map of the naval battle of Dadonggou (due north to the north)

Description: The Qing assault team turned south again, caught up with the remnants of the Japanese ship's own team, and annihilated all the remnants of the enemy.

By 15:10, the battle was almost over, and 15 ships were sunk on the Japanese side, and two were heavily damaged.

On the side of the Qing army, a cruiser was sunk and a cruiser was heavily damaged.