On September 15, 1899, the huge Beiyang Fleet sailed out of Port Arthur again, with three Dante-class battleships, three King-class armored cruisers, and three Guiyuan light armored cruisers, surrounded by numerous supply ships, third-class cruisers, minesweepers, and miscellaneous ships, heading for the Sea of Japan. 2 Garibaldi class and 2 PISA class did not accompany the main fleet, their task is to cover the troops to capture Sakhalin Island and ensure the smooth flow of sea routes, after all, in addition to the shelling fleet, there are also a large number of supplies and supplies that need to be transported to Vladivostok by sea, although Vladivostok is very close to the mainland, but there is no railway, and the road conditions are extremely poor, and they have been destroyed by the Russian army before, so a large number of heavy equipment still needs to be transported to the Vladivostok battlefield by sea.

Such a large-scale transfer naturally can't hide from the eyes of the Russians, not to mention that Beiyang has no intention of hiding anything, two fleets, 13 large and medium-sized ships of all kinds, such a powerful scale even the British Far East Fleet, which once ranked first in Asia, cannot match it, you must know that the most powerful warships of the British Far East Fleet are only second-class battleships. Among them, Yang Yonglin led the main fleet to bombard Vladivostok, while Lin Yongsheng took 2 PISA and 2 Garibaldi-class armored cruisers to cover about 5,000 officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Army to land on Sakhalin Island.

The war has been going on to this point, the Beiyang Naval Division is already the actual victor, Xu Jie wants to use his actions to tell the Russians that from now on, the army under the cover of the Beiyang Navy can easily attack the Russians in any coastal area in the Far East! Xu Jie's purpose in capturing Sakhalin was not only to regain lost territory, but also to warn the Russians. Since Beiyang can solve an island of more than 80,000 square kilometers by itself, then as long as the Beiyang Fleet is willing, the Japanese can easily land on the territory of Hokkaido! If the conditions offered by Russia do not satisfy Beiyang. Today in Sakhalin is tomorrow in Hokkaido! The only difference is that the Japanese do not abide by international law as much as Beiyang!

In the face of the high-profile attack and overwhelming propaganda offensive of the Beiyang Naval Division, the Russians actually chose to remain silent, whether it was Tsar Nicholas II who was far away in the Winter Palace or Makanov, who was practicing hard in Hokkaido, they did not express any opinion on the attack and provocation of Beiyang! What else can I do? Keep talking hard? Then there will still be people who believe it! It's called self-inflicted humiliation! As for sending the fleet again, let alone whether the tsar agrees or not, even Makanov himself is firmly opposed to continuing the naval war. In a few months, the competition between the two sides has caused the elite of the Russian Navy to be lost, and the entire fleet can't be put on board, right?

Two fleets passed through the Tsushima Strait. The main fleet entered the Amur Bay two days later, and 18 12-inch 40L guns, 12 11-inch 40L guns and 8-inch guns were aimed at the Russian batteries defending Vladivostok. Outside the range of both sides, Beiyang and the Russian army are making the most advanced preparations, and the hot air balloons used by Beiyang to observe and guide artillery shelling have risen into the sky. A large number of concrete-piercing shells were also brought to the batteries from the ammunition depots. The Beiyang Fleet at this time was even more relaxed than when it attacked the Japanese Gulf of Tonkin.

After all, the Beiyang Fleet at this time is no longer comparable to 4 years ago, and its combat effectiveness has more than doubled! And the defense standard of the Russian battery on the opposite side is far less strong than the defense of Tokyo Bay in Japan back then. Although there are some 10-inch and 8-inch long-barreled guns, in the face of the Dante and King classes, as long as the firepower of this level is not dense enough to sweep the deck, there is nothing to be afraid of!

THE RUSSIAN BATTERIES ARE REALLY WELL REPAIRED, FROM THE SMALLEST 75MM ANTI-LANDING GUNS, TO THE LARGER 6-INCH CANNONS, ALL THE WAY TO THE 10-INCH CANNONS AND 8-INCH CANNONS. Although it cannot be compared with the artillery batteries that have been operating in Beiyang for many years in Lushun Weihai, they can definitely be called well-defended in the Far East! But you have to look at who you're facing. One of the characteristics of the batteries built by the Russians was that the small- and medium-caliber guns were actually built in well-defended reinforced concrete nests. The 8-inch and 10-inch guns were in open or semi-open gun pits.

If such a design is still very sharp for the navy before 1894, small and medium-caliber guns are closely protected at least will not be beaten into a sieve by dense rapid-fire guns, although the firing range will be affected somewhat, and large-caliber guns are set on high ground, generally with the elevation angle of the naval guns at that time, even if they hit it, they are also hit on the breast wall, although there is no top cover, but it doesn't matter, anyway, it is also the breast wall resistance, not to mention that there is a better firing range.

But after encountering the Beiyang Fleet, the Russian land artillery group will inevitably be tragic! Like the army, the navy's naval guns are mainly used to attack the top of the fortress. Moreover, heavy ammunition was specially used, and the amount of propellant was lowered, so that the trajectory was more complete, even if the cannon nest with a roof may not be able to resist, wouldn't it be more tragic to directly hit the roofless cannon pool! And now the Russian Navy is facing such a tragedy.

The Beiyang Fleet slowly sailed towards the Russian battery numbered A1, and with the order to open fire, the three Dante-class battleships finally spat out deadly fire on the landing target for the first time! The targets of the first round of firing were 3 10-inch 30L fortress guns on the A1 battery. It was taken in a half-salvo. 9 rounds of 12-inch concrete through the eggs roared to the Russian battery in the distance, the roar of the giant cannon and the sound of the shells bursting completely engulfed the weak counterattack of the Russian army, and the whole battlefield could only see the three battleships in the Beiyang constantly spitting out tongues of fire, and from time to time in the distance remembered a loud noise, accompanied by a loud sound, a column of smoke rose into the sky. After the fourth salvo, the battery of a 10-inch shore defense gun was hit simultaneously by two 12-inch shells. The violent explosion directly blasted the gun mount above into a pile of broken steel.

"It doesn't seem to be difficult, if it goes on like this, the navy will be able to go home soon!" Liu Buyun said with a smile to Yang Yonglin on the side. "I hope so." Yang Yonglin was noncommittal, and when the three Dante-class battleships were fiercely knocking on the A1 battery and the attached artillery group, the three King-class battleships commanded by Lin Tai began to attack the B1 battery group, which was a second-class battery group, with only 8-inch guns pressing the formation, and the rumbling shelling sounded on the other side of the coast.

At this time, Lin Yongsheng was not idle, as a relatively old officer in the Beiyang Fleet, he still came out with three Guiyuan-class armored cruisers this time, and his task was not to fight to the death with those well-defended fortress batteries, but to bombard Vladivostok with the assistance of observation balloons! Of course, it is not an indiscriminate attack, the key target is the supply depot of the Russian Army that was discovered through preliminary reconnaissance and spies, as well as some suspected fire points, because these targets are relatively soft targets, so they do not use concrete armor-piercing shells, but picric acid high-explosive shells! For a while, thick smoke rose in the city of Vladivostok, and the wooden houses turned into torches under the blow of picric acid shells, and soon those scattered fire points were connected under the continuous blow of high-explosive shells, and the smoke produced even covered the entire strike area, even if you look at it from the hot air balloon, there is a sea of fire and smoke underneath!

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