Yang Feng's robbery at sea almost made Ito Hirobumi angry. Damn, if you didn't do this, would you let us live?
But he was getting angry, and he had nothing to do about it. It was meaningless to condemn this shameless bandit internationally. In Europe, Yang Feng had the right to speak. As for using this to win over the British and French fleets to intervene,
, let’s not even dream about this. Those two families are so good to Yang Feng that they are almost wearing a pair of trousers. It is absolutely impossible to offend this villain for His Majesty the Emperor.
It is impossible to dispatch the combined fleet to escort. This is also impossible. Now the Beiyang Navy is watching Liugong Island. Unless this biggest enemy is solved, the combined fleet will not dare to go anywhere. Otherwise, they will take the opportunity to bombard Nagasaki and they will be in trouble.
, As for dispatching those small warships, it is no different from sending death. Not to mention dealing with Yang Feng's high-speed destroyers, even those troop carriers can kill them instantly. To be honest, except for the smaller caliber of artillery, these troop carriers seem to be no better than the
worse than any battleship in the combined fleet.
In this case, the only thing Prime Minister Ito can do is to equip Japanese merchant ships with some weapons. Of course, it is impossible to equip them with artillery. The most they can do is equip them with some rifles, which is better than nothing. In addition, spend more money to take a trip on the sea.
A large circle can bypass Taiwan, but this is definitely not possible for most merchant ships, and even warships do not have such a long range.
Prime Minister Ito is not in the mood to care about anything else now. The land war situation in Korea is still unfavorable. After Zhang Gaoyuan and the fourth battalion of the Songwu Army arrived, the defeated remnants of Oshima Yoshimasa would not have the courage to launch an attack. In fact, if it were not for the Qing army
Lacking attack power, he should run away at this time, but even so, he retreated again and again.
After gradually becoming familiar with the combat method of mortars, Nie Shicheng has learned to use them to harass the Japanese army. Every night, the Qing artillerymen would sneak to the river bank, set up mortars and fire a few shots at the Japanese defense line on the opposite bank.
Before the Japanese army could react, they ran away with the cannon. Oshima Yimasa was almost driven crazy by the torture. It was impossible for him to capture Chenghuanyi.
The only hope now lies in the reinforcements. Just as Yang Feng was making a fortune in Taiwan, the 5th Division Headquarters and the Tachimi Naobumi Brigade led by Nozu Michinuki had already begun to sail north along the Naktong River, and then
Land at Jinquan and attack Tianan on the front line at Daejeon, but this will take time.
At the same time, under the escort of the main force of the combined fleet, the Oshima Hisao Brigade of the Japanese Third Division also began to land in Incheon. However, their main task was to take over Seoul, which had an empty defense. Although the Qing army on the northern front was advancing at a slower pace.
Not happy, but after all, North Korea is just a big place, and with the smooth road, it will not take more than a few days for these 10,000 men to reach Seoul. If the combat power of these 13,000 men can reach that of Nie Shicheng's troops,
level, then Seoul is really dangerous.
Civil War warships gathered in Incheon Port. On the Combined Fleet flagship Songdo, Hyungsoo Ito looked southward with a gloomy face. The Yoshino suffered more serious wounds than expected, and it has not yet been able to drive out of the dock and hit it.
Among the four shells, one even penetrated the internal dome armor and caused considerable damage to the power system. However, without Yoshino and Akitsusu, with the strength of the combined fleet, if it was attacked by the Beiyang Navy,
There is almost no chance of winning. Now I can only pray that this kind of thing will not happen.
Of course, he still has some confidence in this. It is impossible for the Beiyang Navy to know the time of his departure. From Liugong Island to here, it is at least a ten-hour voyage. The combined fleet arrived at Incheon at dawn because it controlled the port and telegraph office.
, and it is impossible for anyone to report the news to Ding Ruchang.
Even if a spy found out and went to Asan to notify by wireless telegram, it would still take at least half a day. In other words, even if the Beiyang Navy launched an attack, it would not be able to arrive before dark. No one would be stupid enough to engage in night fighting at this time.
Yes, but the landing force can be completed at night, and then the combined fleet can retreat before dawn. He definitely has an absolute advantage in terms of speed.
But unfortunately, everything backfired. Just as he was sitting worriedly on the deck and watching the Japanese troops landing on the shore, he suddenly saw the reconnaissance cruiser Chiyoda running back in the distance at a high speed like crazy, sending out flags as he ran.
The Beiyang Navy has arrived.
"What?" Ito Hyungyou stood up in shock.
"This is impossible!" he roared angrily.
On a merchant ship in Incheon Port in the distance, the captain was holding coffee and looking at the Japanese fleet that was setting sail in a hurry with a smile.
The news of the Japanese landing in Incheon was reported by wireless telegraph to Liugong Island, a merchant ship flying the British flag. This merchant ship, belonging to the Yang Shipping Company, had been parked in Incheon Port for half a month on the grounds that the captain was ill.
Well, since the cable office here was controlled by the Japanese army, it has been acting as a spy.
After receiving the telegram from Incheon, Ding Ruchang immediately ordered the fleet to set sail. The one-hundred-nautical-mile voyage set sail at dawn. Even with the speed of the Beiyang Navy, it arrived near dusk, looking at the Japanese troops approaching at sunset in the distance.
The fleet, this naval admiral full of controversy in history, immediately issued an order to meet the enemy in horizontal formation.
The eight warships of the entire fleet lined up with Dingzhen Liangyuan as the core. During the voyage, they gradually formed a wild goose wing formation similar to a cavalry charge. They rushed towards the Japanese fleet like a giant chisel. In fact, this was the Beiyang Navy.
The best formation that can be adopted, because they were originally designed for such operations. After the eight powerful 305mm main guns on Dingzhen Eryuan were replaced with picric acid shells, let alone the three or four thousand tons of the Japanese army,
Warships, even Europe's first-class ironclads at this time couldn't stand it.
Taking Dingzhen Eryuan as the edge, to the left are Jingyuan, Zhiyuan, Guangbing, and Jiyuan; to the right are Laiyuan, Jingyuan, Chaoyong, and Yangwei. The remaining Pingyuan and Guangjia are too slow because of their speed.
, at this time, I was still behind and didn’t catch up.
However, these eight warships are now different from what they used to be. The 150 Krupp guns at the front and rear of Dingzhen Eryuan have all been replaced with 152mm Armstrong rapid-fire cannons. The three main guns at the front and rear of Zhijing Eryuan have also been replaced with rapid-fire cannons.
Jingyuan replaced the four front and rear main guns, Laiji Eryuan replaced the twin rear main guns, and the remaining two were replaced by one each for Guangjia and Pingyuan. As for Guangbing and Guangyi, they also use domestic 120mm
Rapid-fire cannon.
As for the artillery shells, needless to say, the 152 artillery shells are fully stocked, and 8,000 rounds of artillery shells are simply outrageous. As for the 305 artillery shells, although there are only 600 rounds, these are picric acid artillery shells produced in Bofors and are of high quality.
It's more than a little stronger than the Japanese.
But what made Ding Ruchang regretful was that Li Hongzhang was scared away by the terrifying price of the steam gas torpedo. This is understandable. Even he did not expect that thing to be so expensive. The price of 10,000 pounds was more expensive than the Fulong torpedo boat.
Although he did not buy torpedoes, as a reward for Bofors helping the navy sink the Akijin Zhou, Li Hongzhang not only rewarded O'Connor and the others with 5,000 taels of silver, but also gave him 20 marks that had just been shipped to Shanghai.
Qinhe bought one million rounds of matching bullets.
As the fleet completed its formation changes, smoke trails of Japanese warships also appeared in the distance.
"Send a flag to notify all ships to fight to the death!" Ding Ruchang ordered with a stern expression.
The messenger immediately conveyed this order using semaphores.
At the same time, on the Matsushima in the distance, Togesuke Ito also issued almost the same order. The combined fleet, which was marching in double columns, immediately began to shift into a combat formation, losing Yoshino and Akitsusu, but added
The three high-speed cruisers of the First Guerrilla Fleet that entered Chiyoda quickly moved forward, formed a column with the main force behind them, and charged towards the right wing of the Beiyang Navy with broadside fire.
The two sides quickly came into visual distance, and Ding Ruchang, who discovered the Japanese attempt, immediately ordered the entire team to turn right. The wild goose wing formation, which had slightly changed due to speed issues, drew an arc on the sea surface, while still maintaining the status of the bows of each ship facing the enemy.
To the Japanese army.
At this time, the Japanese First Guerrilla Fleet also began to distance itself from the main fleet, turning its course slightly to the left, aiming directly at Chaoyong, the weakest combat force on the right wing of the Beiyang Navy, to show off the second ship. This actually copied the original
The historical Battle of Dadonggou.
It's a pity that the combined fleet at this time is no longer the original combined fleet, and the Beiyang Navy is not the original Beiyang Navy. At a distance of five thousand meters, following Ding Ruchang's order, the four front main guns of the Dingyuan were aimed straight ahead.
The Songdao's first salvo fired, although it did not hit the target, it caused a near-miss.
The 305mm shell filled with picric acid exploded less than five meters away from the Songdao. With a loud noise like the earth was shattering, the powerful water pressure impact made the Songdao's hull creak, and the command module
Ito Hyungwoo, who was inside, almost hit the bulkhead. When he tried to stabilize his body, he saw the thick yellow smoke on the sea and his whole face turned pale with fright.
"Asshole, why do they have Shimase gunpowder!" The frightened roar of the fleet commander immediately echoed on the Matsushima.
The huge power of the 305mm picric acid shells stunned the entire combined fleet.
Although they have a large number of spies in China and know clearly that the Beiyang Navy has replaced twenty 152 rapid-fire cannons, they only know that the shells are made of nitrocellulose, but no one knows that the second batch of shells has been replaced by picric acid.
Jiyuan's nitrocellulose shells in the Battle of Toshima also misled them, so today the Beiyang Navy actually had picric acid shells, which was like a bolt from the blue to them.
This is their secret weapon, something they rely on to defeat the enemy. No one knows the power of this thing better than them, and no one knows better than them how terrifying it will be when the main gun shells of the Dingyuan are filled with this thing.