Emperor Guangxu made up his mind, and then said to Weng Tonghe: "Send someone to contact the Japanese official secretly and reveal some of Liu Hai's information to the Japanese official."
Weng Tonghe immediately fell to his knees and said, "Your Majesty, your Majesty."
Next, Weng Tonghe began to secretly contact the Japanese official Kawakami Soroku. Through a roundabout relationship, he passed on a lot of Liu Hai's convenient military information to the official, including the specific performance and maintenance status of Liu Hai's Nanyang Navy warships.
After receiving the news from Weng Tonghe, Kawakami Soroku immediately reciprocated the favor and told Weng Tonghe that Liu Hai's private actions this time had nothing to do with the Qing Dynasty and that he would definitely plead with the Emperor of Japan.
The following news soon reached the ears of the Japanese Combined Fleet Commander Ito Yuhiro. Ito Yuhiro attached great importance to this information. He could see the current combat effectiveness of the Nanyang Navy from this information. .
After a day and night of analysis, Ito Yuhiro and the Japanese naval officers concluded that the current Imperial Japanese Navy has surpassed the Qing Nanyang Navy in both quantity and quality.
After Ito Yuhiro came to the conclusion, he immediately reported to the Emperor of Japan, requesting the combined fleet to set off immediately for a decisive battle with the Nanyang Navy in order to clear the last obstacle to the empire.
The current Emperor of Japan, Meiji, can be said to be very proud. The current Empire of Japan has defeated its biggest enemy in the East and has also received compensation from the enemy for ceding territory. As long as this amount of money comes in, the Empire of Japan will be able to usher in a new era. A period of rapid development.
He didn't pay much attention to Nanyang Navy Liu Hai's incident. He believed that it was just a counterattack by the Qing die-hards. As long as this counterattack could be defeated, the Empire of Japan would become the leading power in the Far East.
Therefore, he immediately complied with Combined Fleet Commander Ito Yuhiro's request for the Combined Fleet to set off immediately to find the Nanyang Navy for a decisive battle.
Even Hirobumi Ito doesn't care about the combat effectiveness of the Nanyang Navy, because they now have 4 ironclads, and the combat effectiveness of each one cannot be underestimated.
It can be said that Yuhiro Ito's expedition received full support from all over Japan. When the combined fleet left the Sasebo base, countless Japanese people came to see him off.
Like a hero about to go on an expedition, Ito Yuhiro frequently waved to the Japanese people below on his new flagship Zhenyuan battleship.
Why did the Japanese commander choose the Zhenyuan ship instead of the two larger Royal Navy-class battleships?
This was also because during the Battle of the Yellow Sea, their Japanese combined fleet besieged two ironclad ships. The two ironclad ships turned out to be invulnerable, which left a deep impression on the Japanese commander.
In addition, in order to humiliate the Qing Dynasty, when Ito Yuheng set out for the expedition this time, he set his flagship on the Zhenyuan ship.
This time Japan's fleet was much larger than the last time. At the beginning were four huge ironclads, followed by several armored cruisers of more than 5,000 tons, and then nearly ten light cruisers.
And the old warships from the last joint fleet expedition are now gone, and they have all been relegated to the second line? Now all those who can go out are the elites of the Japanese Navy.
After Ito Yuhiro left the military port with the Japanese combined fleet, he immediately searched southward.
Besides, Liu Hai led the Nanyang Fleet and left the Wusongkou base with the determination to succeed or not and headed north to look for the Japanese fleet.
As a result, before they had gone a hundred or two hundred nautical miles, they discovered that there was a warship following behind the fleet.
Liu Hai immediately sent the light cruiser Yancheng over to ask which country's warship it was? Why was it following the Nanyang Navy?
Soon Yan Chenhao, the steward of the light cruiser Yancheng, sent back the news? It turned out to be a fast cruiser of the British Empire's Far East Fleet.
As for the reason, who knows? The British Empire now has indisputable navigation rights on the high seas? The Nanyang Navy has no right to interfere.
After Liu Hai got the news, he was so angry that he slapped the ship on the board. He knew that this was a reconnaissance ship sent by the British. What was wrong? Now the location of their Nanyang Navy had already reached the ears of the Japanese Navy.
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And this ship has been following him? How could he release those battleships?
So Liu Hai also got angry? He directly ordered the armored cruiser Jiangsu to leave the formation immediately and go to expel the Chinese warships. He also gave the cruiser Jiangsu the right to open fire immediately.
There is no need to worry about bangs now. Since you, the British, have inherited a pair of trousers from the Japanese, then don’t blame me for being unkind.
Now I will use the armored cruisers built by you British to attack your British battleships.
After receiving the order, Liu Da immediately drove the Jiangsu armored cruiser to leave the Nanyang Navy formation and sail towards the British warship.
When it was more than 1,000 meters away from the British warship, Liu Da immediately ordered the flag bearer to convey a message to the British, requiring the British warship to leave immediately, otherwise the Nanyang Navy had the right to fire and expel it.
Behind the British Nanyang Navy was a Forth-class cruiser. There were many cruisers of this class in the British Navy, but most of them were in service in Europe.
The cruiser now following behind the Nanyang Navy was because Liu Hai's naval strength in the Far East was rapidly expanding. Britain felt a little regretful, so it allocated a cruiser to the Far East Fleet.
The current commander of this warship is Lieutenant Colonel Khalid Qabbani, an extreme white supremacist whose contempt for the yellow race, especially the Qing people, is down to his bones.
At the same time, he believed that there was a majestic British Empire behind him, so he ignored Liu Da's order at all, and directly ordered the flag bearer to reply that the British Empire Navy had the right to sail on any sea surface in the world.
After Liu Da got the other party's reply, he already expected that this time might not be good, so he once again asked the flag bearer to send a message to the other party to tell him that this was the last warning. If the other party continued to follow, the Nanyang Navy would have the right to attack him.
Launch an attack.
After Khalid Qabbani received the opponent's signal again, he ignored the opponent's warning at all. He did not think that the decadent Qing Empire dared to challenge the British Empire, the most powerful country in the world.
Therefore, Khalid Qabbani ignored it and continued to order warships to follow the Nanyang Navy.
When Liu Da saw that the other party ignored his warning, he knew that if he didn't give them a look, he might not leave the British cruiser.
"Open the gun jacket and prepare for a test firing."
As soon as Liu Da's order came down, the cannon coat of the Jiangsu's cannon immediately changed, and his crew opened it and shook the gun barrel, aiming the muzzle at the opponent's cruiser.
Then ten seconds later, a cannonball was fired.
Since the two warships were very close, the shell accurately landed 100 meters away from the British cruiser.
Khalid Qabbani was shocked by the other party's actions. He never thought that the cowardly Qing Dynasty would dare to challenge the British Empire.
Khalid Qabbani also immediately ordered to open the gun jacket and prepare to fight back.
As a result, as soon as he gave the order to fight, he was stopped by his first mate James.
"Your Excellency, I hope you can clearly see the strength of both sides. If we fire, I'm afraid we won't be able to do anything to the other side's eight thousand tons behemoth, but will be sunk by the other side very quickly."
After hearing this, Khalid Qabbani immediately roared at James, "You coward, do you know that what we represent now is the glory of the British Empire. If we retreat without firing a shot, we will
It would be a disgrace to the entire British Empire."
After he finished speaking, the first mate continued to persuade him and immediately ordered the sailors to fight back.
Not to mention that the quality of British sailors is still very high. This first shot flew out just against the side of the Jiangsu armored cruiser, shocking Liu Da.
Seeing this situation, Liu Da said to himself that I just gave you a warning and did not want to really start a fight. Since you are rude, I will not hold back, so he immediately ordered all the main and secondary guns to fight together.
British warships began to attack.
The sailors on the Jiangsu armored cruiser are not the sailors of the original Nanyang Navy. They are biochemicals created by Liu Hai using the biochemical preparation equipment in the space ring. Although they are a bit dull, it is undeniable that they are the most elite.
Soldier.
The cruiser Jiangsu started firing for the second time, and the accuracy was several steps higher than the last time. In just one round of shelling, a 234mm armor-piercing projectile hit the opponent's side deck. This shot immediately fired on the opponent's flank.
A big hole was made.
Moreover, the artillery shells used by the Nanyang Navy now are all modern modifications, and are no longer the solid shells commonly used in modern times. A big explosion occurred immediately after hitting the opponent, igniting the opponent's warship.
Although the British warships have a tonnage of 4,100 tons, their main guns are only 180 mm. To be honest, as long as they do not hit the weak points of the Jiangsu armored cruiser, they pose no threat to the Jiangsu.
Although the distance between the two sides was very close, a 180 mm caliber shell hit the Jiangsu armored cruiser, but it was immediately deflected by the Jiangsu's armor, leaving only a white mark on the Jiangsu's hull.
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Khalid Qabbani saw that the opponent's artillery was so sharp. His warship was only hit by one shot, and he could no longer bear it.
So the captain stopped talking harshly. After all, although glory is very important, it is still a little worse than life.
So the captain ordered the warships to turn around and stay away from the Nanyang Navy, and at the same time ordered the flag bearer to send a message to Liu Da, telling Liu Da and the others that the British Empire's warships agreed to leave the Nanyang Navy and asked them not to continue firing.
After Liu Da received the news, he immediately ordered the Jiangsu armored cruiser to stop the bombardment. However, during this period, two more secondary guns of the Jiangsu armored cruiser hit the British warship, causing the British warship to lose nearly 50 people.