With Li Mo's departure, the Zhiyuan finally sank in the violent explosion, and the battle situation ahead finally reached the most critical moment.

At 15:04, Dingyuan, the flagship of the Beiyang Naval Division, was shot and caught fire.

At 15:20, the four cruisers of the forward of the First Guerrilla Fleet surrounded the Zhiyuan, causing the Zhiyuan to sink and Deng Shichang to die.

At 15:25, after the sinking of Zhiyuan, Jiyuan and Guangjia suddenly turned around, turned around and sailed away from the combat area, and at the same time drove the entire Beiyang Fleet formation into chaos.

At 15:30, Matsushima, the flagship of the Combined Fleet, was hit and caused an explosion of ammunition piled up on the deck.

At 15:45, Dingyuan was besieged by many ships, Yoshino and Naniwa, and was shot in many parts of the hull, and was unable to command the battle anymore.

At 16:10, the Beiyang Navy Jingyuan, the Laiyuan was wounded, withdrew from the battle, and sailed to Daludao. At the same time, the flagship Matsushima also issued a signal that "all ships are moving", representing that the Beiyang Naval Division has completely entered the stage of fighting on its own.

But Ito Hengyou didn't expect that after the Beiyang ships were forced to a corner, they became more and more courageous, especially the Zhenyuan, under the leadership of Lin Zengtai, not only blocked most of the ship's artillery fire on the Dingyuan, assisted the Dingyuan to extinguish the fire, and took the initiative to launch a fierce attack on the enemy.

Under his leadership, the 305-millimeter cannons of the Zhenyuan and Dingyuan ships continued to hit the main formation of the ships, and immediately hit several warships in the main formation, forcing the Itsukushima to withdraw from the battle for a time.

At 17:05, Jingyuan and Laiyuan were repaired and partially regained their combat effectiveness, and then entered the war again.

At this time, six small torpedo ships, including the Pingyuan and Guangbing, which had been fighting on the periphery, surrounded one after another after seeing the flagship's signal. Stabilize the tide of the battle again.

At 17:30, the Jingyuan sank, but the fleet also paid a lot of price, although it was claimed that it did not sink a ship, but the Naniwa was broken and lost its combat effectiveness, and the flagship Matsushima, Yoshino, and Hiei were broken, Akagi, and the Saikyo Maru were broken, and the rest of the ships were also scarred.

In particular, the two giant ships of Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, the impact on the ships of the Navy, which was too deep, faced with the siege of four or five warships, and it was a sneak attacker, and Dingyuan still lost the front main gun soon after the beginning, and still failed to sink the opponent, as two shells hit the No. 4 gun position of the Matsushima, causing a fire and causing the deck to tilt, almost falling into the same command confusion as the Beiyang Naval Division, Ito Henyoke also had to order the Matsushima to temporarily get out of the battle.

At 17:40, seeing that he could no longer expand the results of the battle, Ito Shosuke first gave a signal to leave the battle, and then without waiting for the four forwards of the first guerrilla group to return, he began to withdraw south with the main formation, and at the same time, the four cruisers led by the Yoshino also quickly broke away from the battle, and soon caught up with the main formation.

The six ships of the Beiyang Fleet, Ding, Zhen, Jing, Lai, Ping, and C, once rushed to catch up, but in the face of the high-speed Yueben fleet, they finally gave up the pursuit and watched the ships flee with a blank eye.

At this point, this nearly five-hour battle, known as the largest and fiercest battle since entering the steam age, has come to an end, and the impact of this naval battle on the navies of various countries is also very far-reaching. As a result of the decisive battle of the main force of the Chushuo Navy, the ship Saikyo Maru was destroyed and almost sunk, Yoshino, Hiei, and Akagi were seriously wounded, Matsushima lost its combat effectiveness, and many other ships were also seriously damaged. The Beiyang Fleet sank Zhiyuan, Jingyuan, Chaoyong, and Yangwei, and after Guangjia escaped, it ran aground and was destroyed, and the rest of the ships were seriously injured.

A later British naval warfare expert once commented: "The result of the Battle of Dadonggou was the product of ignorance of naval warfare theories on both sides: if Ben had known more about naval warfare theories, he would not have dared to challenge the Beiyang Fleet, which was stronger and had indestructible ironclad ships; And if the Beiyang Fleet had learned more about the theory of naval warfare, how could it have suffered a fiascoous defeat with a disparity of 0:5 despite having large ships and huge guns? ”

As the Beiyang Naval Division gathered up its fleet and began to return home, several naval observation ships of various countries under the banner of neutrality that had been paying attention to this naval battle also raised their guns and returned to the sea, neither the Beiyang Naval Division nor the observation ships of the great powers noticed that the two destroyers that had been looking at the battlefield from afar and flying the Chilean flag and the neutral flag had already followed the fleet and chased after them.

"It's our turn!"

In the Polaris war room, Chen Ping threw away the wooden boat in his hand and took a deep breath.

At the same time, Long Guozhang also quickly stood up, strode towards the flagship bridge above, and as the commanders of the ships left one after another, only ten minutes after the end of the naval battle in the Yellow Sea, the Pacific Fleet raised anchor and set sail.

Thirty minutes later, the two ships of the survey and the patrol began to speed up, raised the dragon flag of the Great Qing Dynasty, and took the lead in printing the retreat route of the fleet.

It is said that the flagship of the United Fleet, the Matsushima.

Ito exhaled, looked at the few warships around him that were still emitting black smoke, and frowned.

Although he was the victor of this naval battle, the image left to him by the Beiyang Navy Division was too profound, especially the two ironclad ships, although they were a little slower, but relying on the tonnage, cannon caliber, and thick armor, they actually survived under their carefully arranged tactics, and also caused damage to their own flagships, which is really unforgivable!

"Yaga!" Ito Hengyu scolded, and then turned to the side of Omoto, whose face was blackened by soot, and said, "Omoto-kun, as an excellent officer who studied in France, what do you think of this battle?" ”

"Your Excellency, Commander." Omoto knew that after saluting, he continued: "With all due respect, although our warships are fast and the rate of artillery fire has suppressed the Beiyang Fleet, at the same time, we lack the decisive force, and we lack large warships like Dingyuan and Zhenyuan of the Shina Fleet. I'm sure you also saw that although we gained more advantages in naval battles, we were still unable to sink two large warships, and if it wasn't for the fact that their command went wrong at the beginning, I believe it would have been an even more difficult battle! ”

Ito Hyungwoo nodded and agreed: "Yes, if we also have two large ironclad ships, I believe that we can completely annihilate the Beiyang Fleet of the Chinese people in this Empire's combined fleet!" ”

"Yes, Your Excellency. Therefore, I suggest that the Admiralty should immediately think of His Majesty the Emperor's suggestion and introduce such 10,000-ton battleships, and now that countries are massively expanding their navies, we cannot afford to lag behind this time! ”

"What Omoto-kun said is very true, but don't worry, His Majesty the Emperor has already ordered two capital ships from Britain a few months ago that are larger than the people of China, and I believe that the take-off of the Great Empire is coming!" After Ito Hyunyu finished speaking, he laughed: "Maybe Omoto-kun will be the captain of my country's first battleship!" ”

"Thank you, Your Excellency, for the compliment." Hearing that two battleships larger than Dingyuan Zhenyuan had been ordered, Omoto knew that he had forgotten the hard battle just now, and shouted excitedly: "Loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor is Omoto's lifelong goal!" ”

"Yo Xi!" Ito laughed, but before he could finish laughing, he heard the shouts of the sentries on the mast. "Two o'clock directions, two Chinese cruisers were found!"

"Yaga!" Ito Hyunyu scolded: "Nonsense, how can there be a cruiser of the Shina people here, can their warship fly?" You can go around ahead of us! ”

Omoto knew that he also hurriedly raised the binoculars, but the overpass of the Commander Tower was much shorter than the mast, and he could only see a few pillars of smoke, and he couldn't see the national flag hanging by the other party clearly.

"I think it may be that the battle just now made the soldiers too nervous, please calm your anger, Commander." Omoto knew that he couldn't see clearly, so he put down the binoculars first, but he didn't believe that there would be a Daqing cruiser here, so he hurriedly persuaded him.

This is, the Yoshino, which has been at the front, suddenly gave the signal to meet the enemy, and at the same time, the two ships of Akitsusu and Takachiho also began to accelerate at the same time, preparing to intercept the enemy, and the Naniwa, which originally belonged to the guerrilla group together, had to follow the main formation slowly because of serious injuries.

It was only then that Ito really believed that he had really encountered the Shina warship. "Could it be the two warships that broke away first?" Omoto knew that he remembered the Jiyuan and Guangjia who suddenly turned away during the battle, and said subconsciously.

"Yaga! Two warships want to ambush our combined fleet, they really underestimate us! As the distance got closer, Ito scolded and raised the telescope.

However, when he saw the two warships that had appeared on the horizon, he froze, searched his stomach for a long time, and did not remember which of the warships he had seen in the list of warships in China, and there were photos of these two warships.

As stunned as him, Omoto knew, but compared to Ito Hyungyou's frowning thoughts, Omoto felt that the two warships were a little familiar, but he couldn't remember them for a while.

"Report, that Chilean mine-strike ship is back!"

At this time, the staff officer came to report that the Chilean mine-strike ship, which had been following the fleet since its departure, had returned to the left of the fleet's main formation, and another mine-strike ship of the same class, also flying the Chilean military flag, appeared on the right flank of the rear of the fleet.

Seeing the Chilean Navy flag flying high, Omoto suddenly remembered the Chilean Navy that had visited not long ago, thinking that as a liaison officer, he had personally boarded the other party's three cruisers to visit, and at this time, weren't they the two that appeared in front of him?

Omoto immediately shouted, "Your Excellency, Commander, those are two Chilean warships." ”

"No, it's a Chilean warship bought by the China!" Omoto's words reminded Ito of the time when the Chilean Navy came to sell warships, and when he saw the dragon flags hoisted by the two warships, he finally knew why the bearded Chilean officer said that the two warships already had buyers!

It turned out that the buyer turned out to be a person from China, no wonder he increased the price no matter how he raised the price, and the other party did not agree to sell the two warships, and in the end only got three other older cruisers.

Since you can't buy it, let's just sink it! A cruel smile appeared on the corner of Ito Youheng's mouth, and he ordered: "Order the first guerrillas, use the speed to hold them down, and be sure to hold out until the main formation arrives." ”

"Yes."

With Ito's order, the Yoshino, Akitsuzu, and Takachiho, which had been speeding up, immediately changed to a fan-shaped formation to outflank the past.

"Wow Ka Ka, the little widow still looks up to us." In the overpass of the Commander Tower of the Sky Survey, Xiao Zhitian held a telescope and looked at the three cruisers that had changed formations, and also laughed.

"Left full rudder, full speed! Inform the Cruiser, follow me to seize the T-position, and get ready for the battle! ”

As the Sky Survey signaled, the Sky Survey followed the Sky Survey like a shadow and hung a beautiful arc on the sea, forming a beautiful T-shape with the Yoshino taking the lead.

"Distance, six thousand three hundred meters, the speed of the enemy ship is 20 knots." The first mate of the Sky Survey held the telephone and stared at the Yoshino and shouted.

"Six thousand meters!"

"Five thousand meters!"

"Four thousand meters! Get into range! With the voice of the first mate, each cannon constantly adjusted its attitude according to the instructions.

When the first mate reported that he was in range, Xiao Zhitian blushed and stomped his feet and shouted. "Fire! Hit me hard! Let Xiao Yueben know how powerful our Pacific Fleet is! ”

Several staff officers behind him had white eyes, and they wanted to tell the boss that now we were hanging the Great Qing Dragon Flag, and they said that they didn't know that we were the Pacific Fleet.

However, the captain at this time is very popular, especially the Pacific Fleet, which is now popular with Lee's flying feet, so the staff officers have to watch the captain jump up and down like a monkey without grace.

As soon as the words fell, the main guns in front and behind the Sky Survey roared at the same time, and the Sea Patrol also broke out with two loud noises, and as the main guns fired, the other secondary guns were also in full fire, and a whirlwind of steel swept towards the nearest Yoshino like raindrops.

Although the displacement is only half of that of the Yoshino, the firepower is not weak, in addition to the four earrings on the front and rear sides of the installation of a 150 mm main gun, but also installed a 120 mm single-barreled rapid-fire gun in the front and rear, so that after seizing the T-position, it can have four guns of more than 100 mm at the same time, plus two 57 mm rapid-fire guns installed on each side of the two sides, and each ship has six guns firing at the same time.

The two warships were twelve guns, and at this time, the Yoshino was still adopting the posture of the bow facing the enemy, and only three guns could fire, and it suddenly fell into passivity, and the bow of the ship was even more fired.

As the distance got closer, it was like a torrential rain around the Yoshino, and thick columns of water rose into the sky. Fortunately, the tonnage of this battleship that had just been launched was larger than that of the two ships combined, so it could still support it for a while in the face of a rainstorm-like attack.

At this time, the Akitsuzu and Takachiho on both wings rushed up quickly, and suddenly the shells flew sideways on the sea, and the pressure on the two ships of the survey and the sea patrol suddenly increased greatly.

"Boom!"

A cannonball hit the port side of the Sky Survey, making the battleship tremble violently, after Xiao Zhitian stabilized his body, he raised his binoculars, looked at the three cruisers that were getting closer and closer, and said with a cruel smile: "Left full rudder, retreat at full speed as planned, and the tail gun will hit me hard!" ”

With the order, the Patrol and the Sky Survey drew a huge arc at the same time, and the rudder began to retreat, and the stern guns began to roar.

"I want to run!"

Seeing the two prey that reached the mouth at the same time, Ito Hengyou sneered, he was very sorry that he couldn't sink the two giant ships of Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, although the naval battle had an advantage, but the goal was not completed, this was already a very big dereliction of duty, I didn't expect to be disturbed by the ambush of two small ships, and suddenly shouted in anger, and ordered the three ships of Yoshino to block each other at any cost.

Although the speed of the Yoshino trio is faster, the French-made Survey and Patrol Sea Patrol are adhering to the special arrangement of the French diamond-shaped installation of four guns, even when retreating, the stern direction can still have three cannons to attack, and the firepower is not much weaker than the three pursuing warships, not to mention that the Yoshino triship was also injured in the battle just now, so it was unable to give full play to the speed advantage for a while, and the two formations were tied.

"Hehe, do you think that the little devil will commit suicide by seppuku when he finds out that he has plunged into our pockets? Provincial we fight again? Xiao Zhitian held the binoculars, looked at the three ships that were getting bigger and bigger from the main formation, and smiled loudly at the staff officers beside him.

"Seppuku? That's not too cheap for them! The staff officer scoffed: "Those guys are still going to make meat for them." ”

"Haha."

(To be continued)