Just as the Zhiyuan ship rotated its gun muzzles, the two German cruisers launched another salvo, and a 150-mm high-explosive grenade exploded in front of the stern gun of the Zhiyuan, and the shrapnel jumped like a dancing grim reaper, and several gunners were killed.

At this time, the two-mounted main gun in the bow of the ship had been turned around, the main gun fired, and the shell accurately hit the port side of the cruiser. The rate of fire reaches 2.5 minutes per shot, which is already relatively fast in large-caliber artillery, but under the rapid-fire guns of the cruiser, it still seems too slow, and the speed of the Zhiyuan ship is far behind, so it is difficult to dodge the artillery fire of the opponent's cruiser, and the current Zhiyuan ship is like a boxer trapped in the corner, with no way out, he can only wave his fist desperately, hoping that the opponent will fall first.

The remaining 150 mm main gun of the Zhiyuan ship turned its head and began to attack the German ship, more than a dozen machine guns also poured artillery fire on the German ship, and soon the deck of a German ship caught fire, the German ship adjusted the gun pitch angle and concentrated fire to attack the waterline position of the Zhiyuan ship, so more than a dozen shells hit the waterline position, and the sea water began to pour in, and the sailors on the German ship thought that the Zhiyuan ship would soon sink, so they let out bursts of cheers!

If the Zhiyuan ship is an ordinary cruiser, then it will quickly tilt and sink, but it is a dome cruiser, the so-called dome cruiser, that is, its hull is not covered with armor like an ironclad ship, its hull is still a wooden structure, but a layer of armor is added on top of the engine room and ammunition depot, the word "dome" in Chinese means the middle of the bulge, "dome armor" is this layer of armor is the middle of the flat, two sides of the slope structure, the bottom of the two sides of the slope just extend below the waterline, so, Even if the hull near the waterline is damaged, the sea water will be blocked by the armor and will not flood into the hull in large numbers.

At this moment, the Pingyuan ship, which was far behind him, finally arrived, and the large-caliber guns of the Pingyuan ship only had one 260 mm main gun and two 150 mm main guns, although this was enough to pose a threat to the German warship.

The previously wounded cruiser and the Weisenburg ship, which had suffered a mechanical failure, had been out of battle, and the Zhiyuan and Pingyuan could not catch up and returned to the temporary port in Jiaozhou Bay.

This confrontation gave the commander of the German fleet, Dietrich, more confidence, and he strengthened his previous belief that this was a contest between cavalry and artillery, that cavalry could destroy the artillery cannons and then calmly leave, that he believed that the Beiyang Fleet could be inflicted heavy damage at the right time, and then strive for the best interests of the German Empire at the negotiating table.

So Dietrich telegraphed his idea to Wilhelm II, and the extremely ambitious Wilhelm II immediately ordered Dietrich to act cheaply, although the weak Qing State was vulnerable, but it was like a dying hedgehog, and the Beiyang Fleet was a thorn in its back.

The German government then accused the Qing government of launching an attack on its own warships, and the German warships would have to take the necessary means of self-defense, Britain, France, Russia and other countries also criticized the Qing government, France even opened the port of Cam Ranh Bay for the German fleet to rest and replenish fuel, and Britain also expressed its willingness to provide a port in Hong Kong for the German warships to rest and recuperate.

The Qing government also accused the German warships of unprovoked provocation and called on the Western powers to remain neutral.

On November 7, 1894, the Weisenburg repaired the mechanical failure of the power system, the wounded cruiser went to Hong Kong to recuperate, and on November 8, the German fleet entered Jiaozhou Bay and shelled Qingdao, killing 12 civilians and wounding 45 others.

At 9 o'clock on November 9, the German fleet found a large amount of soot in the northern sky, and Dietrich knew that this was because the Beiyang Fleet used inferior coal, so it produced a large amount of soot, and the German fleet discovered the other side two hours earlier than the Beiyang Fleet.

At 10:30, the German fleet found more and more smoke columns, and the outlines of the warships under the smoke columns became clearer and clearer, and Dietrich judged: they had found the main force of the Beiyang Fleet, a total of nine warships.

Dietrich found that the Beiyang Fleet used a "stacked array of geese," a formation in which five warships were in front and four in the rear, with the warships in the rear falling near 45 degrees behind the previous warship. Since the speed of German ships was generally fast, Dietrich ordered the fleet to adopt the tactic of flanking and outflanking, and strive to form more local formations to fight less, and then withdraw from the battle after sinking two or three Qing warships.

Twenty minutes later, the German fleet had changed formation. At 11 o'clock, Dietrich ordered the fleet to have a meal in advance, and even allowed soldiers to drink a small amount of alcohol, and even smoked freely after the meal.

At this time, the Beiyang Fleet finally discovered the German fleet, a total of seven warships. Admiral Ding Ruchang knew that the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships, which were the most effective ships in the fleet, were far from reaching the 15 knots at the beginning of the design because of their long service life, long-term use of inferior bituminous coal, and disrepair of their boilers, while the speed of the other party's three Brandenburg-class battleships could generally reach 15 knots, not to mention the four faster cruisers.

Ding Ruchang found that the opponent's fleet had formed a column, with its side facing his own fleet and marching to his southeast, knowing that the other party wanted to outflank him, so Ding Ruchang decided that the bow of the ship would be deflected to his northeast, and the faster dome cruisers Zhiyuan, Jingyuan, and Jiyuan would make a detour to the northeast through the Yuanshu, and form an encirclement of the German ships with five warships, including the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan.

Ding Ruchang hoped to take advantage of the artillery power of the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships to inflict heavy damage on one or two enemy ships and force the other side to withdraw from the battlefield.

In the era of steam power, the formation of naval battles was convenient for the participating parties to develop their firepower and increase survivability, so the decisive battle of the fleet began when they seized the position.

At 11:20, Ding Ruchang ordered a meal, and after being full, the decisive battle was approaching, and most of the sailors of the Beiyang Fleet were veterans, so in the face of the upcoming battle, there was no excitement and uneasiness of the recruits.

At 12:10, the German warships entered the firing range of the four 305 mm guns of the Dingyuan ship, at this time, the German warships did not reach the predetermined outflanking position, and the Beiyang Fleet did not complete the outflanking of the German ships, so the battle situation formed a situation in which the Beiyang Fleet attacked the German column with two horizontal formations.

Ding Ruchang knew very well that if this continued, he would inevitably fall into a situation of chaotic warfare, and closing the distance would certainly be beneficial to the large-caliber artillery of Dingyuan Zhenyuan, but because the ships of the Beiyang Fleet were generally slower, they would not take much advantage in the chaotic battle, so he ordered to fire the cannon first.

A huge roar echoed across the sea, and the first battle of the Ironclad Fleet in human history began.