Everyone came out of the sailor's cabin and found an upward staircase to the deck, Sima Fuqiang was slightly relieved after looking around, "This is the flagship Dingyuan ship of the Beiyang Naval Division, with a displacement of up to 7335 tons, although it was bombed badly in this battle, but after all, it is a German-made ironclad ship, strong enough, at least this time it cannot be sunk." However, in the end, Yu Haiwei could not escape his fate, and he was also sunk. ”

Later, Sima Fuqiang searched his stomach and recalled some relevant data of the Dingyuan, but after all, his brain power was limited, and it was impossible to remember everything, only some information that was more related to this battle.

The Dingyuan has been launched for 12 years, and due to the lack of funds of the navy, it has not carried out relevant maintenance for seven years, resulting in the main gun blowing up during the battle, and the bridge was blown up. Admiral Ding Ruchang was injured in this accident, and the fleet's letter flag was destroyed, which directly led to the ineffective command of the entire fleet. This undoubtedly made the Beiyang Naval Division, which was already weaker than the other party, even worse, and completely fell into a bitter battle.

"In this way, the key turning point in this battle is the letter flag!" Huang Zhi's eyes suddenly lit up, remembering that he and the captain had discussed the issue of changing history on the first night of the week, and the two of them made up their minds to find an opportunity to try it, but they didn't expect this opportunity to come so quickly.

If the fleet flag on the Dingyuan ship can be kept, even if Ding Ruchang will still be injured, it will not make the command of the entire fleet ineffective. Although it is unlikely that defeat will turn into victory, it can at least minimize the losses of the Beiyang Fleet in this battle. Not to mention whether it will change the overall pattern of the First Sino-Japanese War, at least the East China Sea team can obtain short-term benefits from improving its evaluation.

These things are somewhat suspected of "violations", not only can they not be discussed in front of their teammates, but they also have to communicate with Sima Fuqiang in code. So Huang Zhi immediately pulled the captain aside to communicate, and after a while, the two unanimously decided to take this battle for an attempt, whether it was successful or not, at least for now, there should be no loss.

Looking back at the flag guarded by the commanding officers high on the bridge, the question now is how to get it before the accident happens. Sima Fuqiang looked at the altitude angle of the sun at this time, and probably the time it appeared should be around ten o'clock, and in his memory, the battle of the Yellow Sea was started at half past eleven on the same day, and the first gun of the Dingyuan ship was fired at nearly one o'clock, and the explosion accident happened at about one o'clock, so they still had more than three hours to work.

However, no matter how long the time remains, it is impossible to take the letter flag off the bridge in full view of everyone, and it will only be taken down on the spot as a spy of the army, and it will be dealt with by military law.

Huang Zhi also considered using his "social" skills to persuade Admiral Ding Ruchang to find some reason to fool the other party and get him to agree to temporarily remove the flag from the bridge. However, this idea was immediately completely rejected by Sima Fuqiang, the letter flag is the soul of the entire fleet, related to the command and operation of the fleet, even if the Minister of the Navy is in person, it is impossible for Ding Ruchang to agree to take it down.

So the two discussed for a long time, and came to the conclusion that they would do the opposite, let themselves get as close as possible to the flag, and wait for the opportunity to protect the flag at the time of the accident.

When the two of them informed their other teammates of the situation, they unexpectedly received a strong response.

First of all, Huang Ying's statement, "Let me protect the letter flag!" My 'Tenacity' skill has just been upgraded to the C rank, the 'Tenacity' effect has been increased to 350%, and the 'Absorption' effect has also been strengthened a lot, and even the damage caused by the D skill can be reduced by 10%. Newly added 'regeneration' effect, hehe, I don't need Zisha to help me heal in the future. ”

Sima Fuqiang shook his head resolutely, "No, the main cannon is not a D skill, even if your 'tenacity' reaches the A rank, if you are bombed, you will die on the spot, absolutely not!" ”

The second statement is that Xiao Qi, who thinks that he has not contributed much to the East China Sea team, must be more proactive if he wants to integrate into this team as soon as possible and be recognized by his teammates. His solution is to use his "stealth" skills to steal the letter flag quietly, after all, stealing things is his job.

However, in the eyes of others, this method is even more infeasible than Huang Ying to protect the letter flag, because Xiao Qi's "stealth" exclusive skill is only a pitiful E rank, and it is impossible to take effect in this kind of daylight, unless everyone is blind, they will watch a thief "sneak" close to the letter flag that is vital to the fleet.

It's really troublesome to say, because the important surname of the flag is so self-evident that no one can take it off the bridge without attracting attention. And keep it there, there is only one ending, that is, it was destroyed by the accident of the main gun.

Just when the roads were blocked, Xiaofeng spoke triumphantly, "Captain, why did you forget me?" I'm fast, and when the time comes, I run over and grab the letter flag and run, they can't catch me. ”

"That's a good idea." Sima Fuqiang nodded, if he could calculate the timing of the explosion, Xiaofeng's method would have a strong surname.

At this time, more than half an hour had passed, and soon Ding Ruchang would find a few clusters of black smoke on the sea, and judge the existence of a military fleet nearby. In a sense, Ding Ruchang, who was 58 years old when he was born in the Taiping Army, was an experienced veteran who had been in charge of Beiyang coastal defense affairs since 1879, and devoted the next 16 years to the construction of the Beiyang Naval Division and Beiyang coastal defense.

It's a pity that although this old man is strict with himself, he is not good at rectifying military discipline because of his early experience in the Taiping Army, which makes his subordinates seriously corrupt, and the already limited funds of the Navy Division are even more stretched.

In addition, the Qing Dynasty began to implement a century-long maritime ban in the twelfth year of Shunzhi (1665), which led to China's navigation industry at that time lagging far behind the foreign powers, and there was a serious fault in navigation talent and navigation technology. Although the Qing court was aware of the importance of the navy in guarding the country, it was too late.

Although the Qing government spent a huge amount of money to purchase more than 20 ships of various types from Britain and Germany, and introduced British instructor Luang Weili, it was too late after all, and he could only hastily train a group of sailors with half a bucket of water to lead the ships. As the admiral of the navy, Ding Ruchang himself was an army general who had not been trained as a sailor, and from the beginning of the battle, he put the fleet in a wrong formation, so that after the fleet lost its command, the ships were forced to fall into the dilemma of fighting their own battles.

Thinking of this, Huang Zhidu had no enthusiasm to "hook up" with Ding Ruchang, but focused more on the main gun that would bring big trouble to the given long-range ship at any time.

(To be continued)