"They're good."

Tan Xiaozeng put down the binoculars, turned his head and handed a cigarette to Long Guozhang.

"Of course it's good, otherwise you think our young master is the kind of person who rushes to put some dishes into his arms?" Long Guozhang took the cigarette, lit it and pursed his lips, during this time he was so busy blocking his own nest that he forgot to let the supply ship bring it even after smoking the cigar.

But I can say that I am like a king who only shrunk his head, but he nested in the hole and didn't come out, and finally he was able to exercise Ji Weishan as a reason to convince himself, and handed over the hottest task to the younger generation, which is really boring!

After taking two sips and enjoying himself, he squinted his eyes and looked at the Duke in front of him, and sighed: "It's a pity, there are only so many people left in the generation of Beiyang." ”

"Yes, there are hundreds of foreign talents, and so many soldiers from the southeast coast, it's a pity that they are gone!" Tan Xiaozeng smacked his lips: "If these people can belong to our fleet, there is no need to worry about the talent gap at this moment." ”

"Hehe, what the hell are you doing so much, the defeat of Beiyang was originally [***], if the shells were not mixed with sand back then, then a small combined fleet would be finished!"

"Besides, if it weren't for Beiyang, how could we go back to Lushun?" Long Guozhang squinted and smiled: "If you want me to say, killing Xiao Yue is the best chance to avenge Beiyang's shame!" ”

Tan Xiaozeng nodded, suddenly turned his head to look at Long Guozhang and blinked, and said jokingly: "Old Long, you said that we will put a few capital ships back in a while, will Xixiang Congdao pay tribute to your immortal tablet?" ”

"Dog, I don't dare to ask for that thing! I'm still waiting for the young master to say that he will the British guy once! Long Guozhang scolded with a smile, his eyes burning leisurely: "Great Britain, the world's first navy!" ”

"Grandma!"

Long Guozhang's bold words made Tan Xiaozeng laugh: "You, let's take it easy, this kind of thing can be done, don't spread it down, it's not what we should have." ”

"Yes, this is what I can still talk nonsense, besides, no one will believe it, is it possible that you really believe what the young master said, there will be a big war in more than ten years?"

"I don't know." Tan Xiaozeng shook his head, although the young master feels very mysterious, understands enclosure, and can accurately grasp the situation, but it is ...... to say that it will be more than ten years later.

"Report, the Jinghai ship sent a telegram saying that the fleet has arrived at the Izu Islands, and we should see it in another hour." The communications officer's report interrupted the two of them's thoughts.

"Order Le Fei, the light patrol formation immediately overtakes the Yue Ben fleet, cuts into the inner road and feigns an attack, be sure to ensure the safety of Hachijo Island, and prevent Yu himself from discovering them!"

"Order the Cruiser, the Patrol Sky to intercept it, and be sure to rush the warship to us!"

"Inform the ships and get ready for battle."

Long Guozhang, who was still thinking about it just now, seemed to be a different person in the blink of an eye, and he had been in charge of the fleet for so many years, which had made him from the original Beiyang down-and-out pipe belt to the commander of the navy.

Half an hour later, when the four capital ships all received the signal that they had completed their preparations, the five capital ships that had been waiting for nearly ten days finally appeared in the sky.

"The left rudder is full, following the movement of the flagship, and the guns on the port side are ready."

Lin Tai once pinched the binoculars tightly, looking at the five capital ships with mottled hulls, the battle in the Yellow Sea seemed to come to his heart again, at that time, the Zhenyuan ship he led was disgraced by the people because of the slow speed of the cannons, and the shells mixed with sand could not sound, but now it is ......!

When the five capital ships slid past the bow in a panic, when the interception formation of four battleships had completed the right turn, and the distance between the port side and the enemy's starboard side was only 8,000 meters, a sneer suddenly rose from the corner of his mouth.

"Fire!"

Lin Taizeng's roar erupted from the bridge, as if to completely vent the depression of these years, as if in response to his roar, the two main guns in front and behind the Duke also roared at the same time, when the smoke of the main guns had not yet dispersed, the four 203 mm new secondary main guns also followed suit.

Boom, boom, boom, ......boom.

Suddenly, countless columns of water rose above the sea, and the five warships in the smoke and dust also followed closely and began to counterattack, the flames and gunpowder smoke continued to erupt from the ships, and the sound of rolling cannons spread out like thunder in all directions.

Looking at the four battleships intercepted, Yamamoto Gonbei's eyes were red, and all the way over, the ghostly Jinghai-class cruisers continued to attack and harass, and they had already tortured him and all the sailors to the point that they didn't look like people and ghosts, and many people were about to be driven crazy!

Although their rapid-fire main guns can't cause much damage to the capital ship from 10,000 meters away, the heroes can't stand the crowd, forty-eight high-speed naval guns, plus sixteen 130 mm secondary guns with a faster rate of fire, each time it is thousands of shells, and one person will collapse!

At this time, facing the Pacific ship blockade fleet with one less capital ship than himself, he has long lost the idea of fighting, and his only idea now is to rush into the Puga waterway quickly, and then block the enemy with the mine-ridden waterway, and sleep for three days and three nights!

Fortunately, most of the casualties of the fleet last time were on the port side, and the guns on the starboard side were basically intact, although the main guns of several capital ships were damaged, but the overall number of naval guns was still slightly superior, so they could only immediately order the release of smoke and run while fighting.

Long Guozhang, who was holding a telescope to observe, also knew very well that this place was not far from Yueben, and the four capital ships in the country should come out to support soon, so one or two must be destroyed as much as possible before the reinforcements arrived!

Almost at the same time, Long Guozhang and Tan Xiaozeng both selected the weakest of the five capital ships, the Changpan, this heavy cruiser suffered heavy damage to the front main gun in the previous naval battle, coupled with this attack and disturbance battle, Le Fei regarded it as the first target when the ship's guns could not bite the battleship, so at this moment the Changpan has long since lost the majestic posture when it was launched a few months ago.

Two of the three chimneys had been pierced and ineffective, and the rear bridge was long gone, and if the British hadn't added 356 mm thick Harvey armor to the heavy patrol tower, they would have lost their command long ago.

But the British were not all-powerful after all, and in the case of taking care of both speed and firepower and endurance, the main armor on the side could only reach 180 mm, and the thickest part of the internal dome armor was only 50 mm, which could not withstand the fierce bombardment of the battleship's main guns.

So when the smoky heavy patrol drilled in front of the telescope, the Polaris and the Morning Star locked the nearly 10,000-ton heavy patrol almost at the same time, and in just four minutes, the continuous four rounds of salvo fire finally made the heavy patrol suffer a fatal blow, more than 400 kilograms of shells drilled a big hole in the thick armor on the side of the front bridge underneath, and penetrated the interlayer of the coal bunker that was originally used for protection after the armor, and the coal bunker, which had long been empty, did not play a unilateral blocking role at all, and the shells smashed straight through the third layer of dome armor behind the coal bunker and penetrated the ammunition depot.

Almost instantly, a violent explosion shaved off half of the heavy cruiser's forward bridge, and even the front main guns flew out, and the flaws in the design of the British's watertight compartment were perfectly reflected in this heavy cruiser, the bow of the ship had just broken, and the huge hull suddenly stalled as if it had hit a mountain, and plunged headlong into the warm water.

Ten minutes later, when the two Polar-Star battleships chose a new target again, the Joban hull was already raised high, slowly sinking into the bottom of the sea like straight stakes, and the two propellers were spinning rapidly, as if they were still trying to escort the more than 600 sailors on the warship home.

Asama, Tokiwa, the two sister ships that Britain spent millions of pounds and exhausted the whole country to build, had such similar fates that they were all plunged into the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in a vertical downward posture.

The sinking of the Joban dispelled the last confidence of the Yu, and the remaining four capital ships were even more unwilling to fight, and they all accelerated towards the sea off the coast of Yumoto, because the four ships had been releasing smoke, coupled with the smoke of the gunners and explosions, the visibility at sea became very low, which had a great impact on the gunners.

At this moment, the rumbling sound of cannon finally sounded in the distant sky, and at the same time that a large area of thick smoke came out of the water, the four capital ships that had been nested in Tokyo Bay for nearly half a year finally arrived in time.

Saigo stood in the commander tower of the battleship Satsuma built on the basis of the Iowa class in the United States, and he was so anxious that if it hadn't been for the desperate efforts of the officers next to him to stop him, I am afraid that he would have rushed to the mast long ago.

The rumbling of cannon in the distance hit his heart like a war drum, and when the four capital ships finally got involved in the battle, almost every sailor and officer who rushed to meet him opened their mouths wide and widened their eyes, unable to believe what they saw.

This is the main fleet of your country, which costs tens of millions of pounds and is known as the first fleet in the Far East?

The mottled hull, broken turrets, collapsed chimneys, bare decks, holes and traces of explosions can be seen everywhere, especially on the Shikishima, the deck is tilted to the left, and the bow is tilted to avoid shells.

What's going on? Why are there only four battleships left, and the others? Where are they? Is all this done by the Pacific Fleet?!

After desperately trying to see the fifth warship, all the sailors seemed to freeze, staring blankly at the four capital ships rushing from their side, at the broken and blackened naval flag hanging on the hull, and then brushed away like a lost dog before they had time to say hello.

Then, countless shells exploded around them, and two Polar and two Duke-class seized this golden moment and continued to pour shells around them.

Not only that, after protecting Hachijo Island, the four Jinghai-class light cruisers who rushed to the round at full speed also joined the battle circle at this time, and the twelve 152 mm rapid-fire main guns quickly let these sailors know why their partners were so miserable, and the dense shells rained down on the four ships.

Although the returned fleet has lost most of its capital ships, there are still four capital ships left, and as long as these four capital ships can be saved, then there is still hope for the navy.

Therefore, when the huge hull of the Jinghai class appeared in the distance, Saigo immediately mistook it for the main ship group of the Pacific Fleet and ordered to retreat before he had time to take a look.

But this civilian, who doesn't understand naval warfare, and is the same as Ding Ruchang, is the Minister of the Navy, who was born in the army, although he personally pressed the formation, but he obviously forgot that the warship is not a war horse, and he can turn around with two reins, because of the habitual role of the four warships that need a sufficient radius when making a sharp turn, so when they turned to the bottom of the U-shape, he once listened to Young Master Li use some classic naval battle fragments in his memory plus Le Fei, who had understood the key points of naval warfare after making up nonsense, immediately seized the once-in-a-lifetime fighter, Ordered all naval guns to slam at the bottom of the U-line.

At the same time, the four battleships also immediately deflected the bow and bombarded the U-shaped bottom with the front main and secondary guns, and the big U-shaped bend that Togo Heihachiro played in front of the equally inexperienced Russian Navy in the memory of Master Li finally appeared, but this time he was obviously not so lucky, because they met the Pacific Fleet, which was more experienced, and Li Mo had personally explained this situation.

Whether it was Saigo or Gonbei Yamamoto, who escaped, I am afraid that he would never have dreamed that Li Mo would tell the commanders of the Pacific Fleet how to concentrate fire and attack the fleet tactics in a hurry a few years ago.

Nearly 100 naval guns, large and small, fired at a little bit of indiscriminate bombardment at the same time, which suddenly caused the four sharply turned US-made capital ships to suffer the heaviest blow, and in just a few minutes, the four warships seemed to have been baptized.

Compared with the British and French warships, the defects of the American-made warships with thin skins and big stuffing were vividly exposed in this kind of concentrated artillery bombardment, and the four capital ships in the turn could not concentrate their firepower at all, or even shell!

Finally, when a 203-mm shot of the Duke accurately hit the American-made Heavy Cruiser at the bottom of the line, and drilled a large hole near the port side waterline, penetrating the boiler room, the 8,300-ton Heavy Cruiser completely lost the possibility of returning to Yokosuka.

Although the boiler compartment did not explode, a large amount of water caused the boiler to go out, and the speed of the heavy patrol of the Iwate quickly dropped to less than fourteen knots, not to mention the Jinghai-class light cruiser, even the Polar Star battleship could not compare.

Losing speed and ranking last, the Iwate without any cover was quickly surrounded by four battleships, and before Long Guozhang, the naval commander, could speak, the Duke and Prince, who were bent on avenging the revenge of the Yellow Sea, burst out with strong combat effectiveness, Lin Taizeng and Liu Buchan, the old partners, perfectly interpreted what it means to have a heart.

When the Duke's four first-class guns, four second-class guns and six 152-mm speed guns suppressed the Iwate's naval guns with all their might, the Prince concentrated all its firepower on the main armor of the waterline, and the thin 152-mm armor was pierced and torn apart like paper paste under the blow of eight naval guns of more than 203 mm caliber, and a large amount of seawater began to pour into the hull at the same time, the hapless heavy patrol was already on fire and thick smoke.

Poor Iwate, the original combat object was only to suppress the determination-class heavy cruiser, but he didn't expect to wait for two thickly armored cutting-edge battleships, just like a light cavalry without a war horse meets a heavy cavalry, which was crushed by cannonballs over and over again.

No one knows how many shells the heavy cruiser suffered before it sank, and although the Americans' design on the watertight compartment was better than that of the British, it also invisibly increased the time that the sailors on the Iwate suffered were tortured.

Eventually, when the twenty minutes of torture ended in a loud explosion, the Pante's thin armored hull could no longer withstand the weight of the sea, and the entire superstructure had been flattened by the shells.

Long Guozhang pinched his chin, squinted his eyes and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the sinking of the Iwate with the soldiers standing on the deck, before he raised his head to look at the sun that was halfway sunk in the west, and at the same time a sly smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, he remembered Li Mo's bright and dark eyes when he explained the battle plan to him.

"The highest level of naval warfare is not the bloody artillery battle, but the death and port of the enemy in despair."

In the background of the huge sunset, nine majestic warships have rushed into this picture, and the thick black and thick pillars of smoke are entangled, forming a dark cloud that obscures the entire sun, completing the interception task, severely damaging the main fleet, and the heavy patrol formation after receiving supplies finally arrived on time.

A minute later, when an electric wave was emitted from the flagship Polaris, a round black buoy with a small antenna off the coast of Izu Oshima trembled violently twice, and soon the black back of the buoy slowly dived into the sea with the buoy in countless bubbles. After a few moments, only a short black spot like a bamboo pole remained on the surface of the sea.

The billowing smoke in the distance made the "bamboo pole" turn twice, and then slowly submerged into the water with a thin line of water

(To be continued)