It had been a long time since Commander Lin Taizeng, who was on the command platform of the Combine Fleet's flagship "Ruixiang", had seen the "shadow" of a Russian battleship, and in fact, there were not many opportunities to let go of the ravages of these cheap goods.

The nine-month-long blockade operation has made all the officers and men of the Combined Fleet, including Lin Taizeng, nauseated and depressed and gritted their teeth to the extreme, and this time they finally waited for the Russian fleet to roll out of Vladivostok Harbor, and as soon as they received the order to dispatch, they all geared up to do push-ups, carry shells, and climb masts.

This time, the main force of the Combined Fleet poured out of the nest and spread out five columns in a row to take the Russian fleet directly.

The battleship column in the middle is composed of the first, second and third battleship fleets, from front to back, there are six ships: "Ruixiang", "Ruiji", "Ruixian", "Feidian", "Thunderbolt", and "Yundian"; The port side of the battleship column is the first patrol column, which is composed of the first, second and fourth patrol teams, and from front to back are "Suzhou", "Fuzhou", "Blowing Clouds", "Caiyun", "Baiyun", and "Xiangyun", a total of six ships; On the starboard side of the battleship column is the second patrol column, which is composed of the first and second Japanese patrol teams, and from front to back are "Fuji", "Yakumo", "Iwate", and "Izumo", a total of four ships; On the port side of the 1st Loading Patrol Column is the 1st Light Patrol Column, which consists of 4 Sword and 4 Sword Protection Cruisers and 8 Lunge Destroyers; On the starboard side of the 2nd Patrol Column is the 2nd Light Patrol Column, which consists of 8 light cruisers of the Rain and 8 destroyers of the Moon; Another 16 destroyers of the Xuezi were divided into four groups and were responsible for perimeter guard and cover.

"We must not let them run away this time! Order, the whole ship unfolds into a battle formation! ”

Lin Tai once gave an order, and the five-way compact column was dispersed at once, the main column directly took the Russian ships, the light patrol column was transferred to the non-combatant side of the main column to be responsible for mobile cover, and the mounted patrol column was divided into two ways to outflank the rear of the Russian fleet.

Rear Admiral Wittgeft, who was located at the command platform of the "Letvizhan", saw this formation, and his lips trembled involuntarily.

At this point, Wittgeft had only two options:

Option 1 is to use the broken fleet of only 13 warships and 8 305 mm and 4 254 mm guns to confront the main force of the Combined Fleet with * warships and 54 305 mm and 16 203 mm guns, even if the whole army is destroyed, it will try its best to cause the maximum damage to the Combined Fleet and create a chance for victory for Rozhestvensky's Second Pacific Fleet, which is already sailing in the Indian Ocean.

The second option is to flee back to the military port, relying on a large number of shore defense guns and air defense facilities deployed near the harbor to survive, waiting for the Second Pacific Fleet to come to the rescue, but since there is already a precedent for the "Dawn", it is also expected that the entire fleet will be destroyed by air-dropped bombs flying all over the sky before the reinforcements arrive.

"If self-sacrifice is the only contribution we can make to Russia......"

Wittgeft muttered, clenching his fist.

"Your Excellency, the enemy is rapidly approaching, what should I do?" Chief of Staff La Perouse asked calmly, his tone seemed to contain the meaning of what he had anticipated the answer.

"Admiral La Peruz, His Majesty the Tsar and all of Russia are watching us, aren't they?"

"Yes, Your Excellency." La Perrouse looked directly at his commander with a look of determination.

"You've always thought we couldn't break through, right?"

"Yes, Your Excellency, with all due respect, what we were not able to do at the end of last year under General Makarov, we are even more unable to do now."

"Well, Admiral Laperuz, now let's fulfill Admiral Makarov's last wish, as I said earlier, the Russian fleet is used in combat with the enemy's fleet rather than the enemy's air miscellaneous, and Admiral Makarov would rather have the fleet destroyed in a fleet engagement than allow the fleet to be eaten up by the enemy's air weapons a little bit, what do you think?"

"Your Excellency, do as you wish, God bless you."

Wittgeft excitedly shook La Peruz's hand: "Colonel, Russia will remember us." ”

"Your Excellency, what are you going to do?" La Perrouz rightly wanted to know more.

"I'm going to lead them to the preset mine-artillery positions...... "Wittgeft led Rapperuz to the chart table, "here, and here, the enemy has a huge advantage in numbers and firepower, we have mine positions and dozens of large-caliber shore guns, we have to give full play to our advantages, and at the expense of ourselves, we will inflict heavy damage on the enemy and clear the way for the Second Fleet!" ”

"But will the enemy be fooled?"

"The enemy's fleet has been holding back for nine months just to destroy us, and for them, if they don't destroy us this time, the merit of destroying us will be attributed to their air debris."

"What if they don't catch up?"

"Then we will rush out to the open sea again and lure them again until they take the bait."

La Peruz nodded and smiled: "Your Excellency, can you give an order?" ”

Wittgeft also smiled and nodded: "Send a telegram to the fortress headquarters to tell them that we are ready to engage the enemy fleet, and ask them to let the shore artillery units cooperate with us in battle." ”

The two seem to have already had the realization that "this is the most difficult opportunity to smile, so you have to laugh".

"Enemy winged aircraft found behind port side!" The anti-aircraft observer with the telescope exclaimed, and Wittgeft and La Periuz stood on the exposed command platform with their hands behind their backs, unconcerned.

Three "winged aircraft" painted with dragon patterns and four Arabic numerals on the surface of the fuselage swept over the mast of the "Letvizhan" at an ultra-low altitude, and the bombs dropped exploded within 20 to 100 yards of the warship, setting off a tall column of water that broke in the wind, drenching Wertgeft and La Perruz on the podium into ducks.

This was followed by an attack by a smaller airship, which dropped several small bombs from a height of several hundred meters and exploded in the sea more than 100 yards from the battleship, naturally causing no damage to the battleship.

"Order, the whole ship moves closely with the flagship, ready to exchange fire with the enemy ship, for the sake of Russia!"

Wittgeft took out his handkerchief and ordered as he wiped his face.

Within a few minutes, six more planes attacked the "Letvizhan" in two groups, and all the light guns on the "Letvizhan" opened heavy fire, knocking down two of the planes and dodging the bombs dropped by the other planes.

"Morale is very high." Laperuz said.

"Hopefully the lads will continue to be like that today." Wittgeft nodded with satisfaction.

'Report!' The Diana raised the flags of 'This ship is on fire' and 'This ship is out of power', as if it had been hit by an enemy bomb. The observer suddenly reported.

"Signal the 'Diana' with a signal light, allowing the captain to dispose of it freely." Wittgeft ordered, not that he did not want to rescue the fleet's only remaining cruiser, but he knew very well that a bombed warship was like a rabbit with a broken leg, and could not escape the greedy claws of other "eagles", and that any rescue of the "Diana" would be meaningless in the current urgency.

As Wirtgeft expected, at 12:30 a.m., the "Diana," with a standard displacement of 6,731 tons, was hit by five to seven bombs and died at the bottom of the sea with 402 crew members.

Almost at the same time as the sinking of the "Diana", the 8 305-mm guns on the "Letvizhan" and "Chashalevich" (i.e., the "Prince") opened fire, and the shells whistled through the air and exploded a terrifying tall column of water in front of the 4 Japanese armored cruisers that circled the flank of the Russian fleet, and the Japanese hurriedly turned to evade, their "Fuji" class armored cruisers were far below the Russian armored battleships in terms of firepower and protection, so their mission was not to confront the Russian battleships head-on, When you accidentally run within the range of the main guns of the Russian ship, it is also wise to take the initiative to escape with high speed.

At 12:40 p.m., Wittgeft was surprised to find that two Chinese three-turret battleships at a distance of 12,000 yards had opened fire on the fleet, and he was terrified by the columns of water that had risen within 100 yards of the "Letvizhan" by the test-fired shells.

"Observer, is it really 12,000 yards? Make no mistake! ”

"Report sir, it's 12,000 yards!"

"Impossible! How could it be so accurate at a distance of 12,000 yards! It is no wonder that the maximum distance of the main guns of the two fleets was about 10,000 yards, and the exchange of fire at a distance of 10,000 yards was usually only a waste of shells, and the normal distance of the main guns was usually between 7,000 and 9,000 yards. But this time, at a distance of 12,000 yards, just the test projectile hit so close! So the next battle ......

Without waiting for Wittgeft to think clearly, the second wave of shells fell, two of which landed less than 20 yards from the "Letvizhan"!

"Fight back! Fight back now! Wittgeft couldn't hold his breath.

"Report to the chief, the enemy ship has not yet entered the effective range ......"

Others can beat themselves, but they can't beat others...... Any commander in such a tragic situation deserves sympathy.

"Order, the flagship turns left towards compass direction 330!"

The compass is at 330, or north-northwest, and is one of the decisive battle sites in the Weitgeft plan, with a dense and complex minefield, supported by several large-caliber shore artillery batteries.

"Come on, let's fight to the death, you have been looking forward to it for nine months, let you see the courage and wisdom of the Russians!"

Wittgeft said fiercely in his heart.

As soon as the Russian fleet showed signs of escape, the huge fleet of ships did not hesitate to follow......