The Qing court forwarded the request of the Italians to Li Hongzhang of the Governor's Office of Zhili, and asked him to solve the matter quickly! Li Hongzhang took the case after reading the request of the Italians! The Italians are simply too deceitful! After Li Hongzhang thought about it for a while, he asked people with a gloomy face to send the Italians' request to Lin Daxin by telegram.

Lin Daxin, who received the telegram, saw that the main contents of the treaty proposed by the Italians were three.

The first returned four Italian ironclad battleships and released more than 2,000 Italian naval officers and men. All those responsible for the seizure of the Italian warship were punished, including Admiral Ding Ruchang and Lin Daxin of the Beiyang Naval Division.

Article 2 leased Qingdao in the eastern part of the Qing Dynasty to Italy for a period of 99 years.

Article 3 compensates Italy for its military expenses of 30 million taels of silver.

After reading the telegram, Lin Daxin angrily crumpled the telegram into a ball, and shouted angrily: "Dog's day in Italy, the tiger is not powerful, he treats me as a sick cat!" Looks like we're going to have to fight the Italian fleet first! ”

At this time, the Italian fleet had already bombarded many port cities such as Fujian and Zhejiang, and was cruising in the waters outside Shanghai, preparing to attack the Shanghai port base of the Nanyang Naval Division, completely destroying the naval forces on the southeast coast of the Qing Dynasty, and giving the Beiyang Naval Division located in the north of the Qing Dynasty a knock!

The main warships of the Nanyang Naval Division were already in Wusongkou, Shanghai, and the six cruisers of the Nanyang Naval Division, Kaiji, Huantai, Jingqing, Nanrui, Nanchen, and Baomin, and the 16 gunboats of the Nanyang Naval Division, and the warships of the whole fleet had already ignited and pressurized the boilers, preparing that when the Italian fleet attacked, the entire Nanyang Naval Division relied on the shore defense artillery on the coast to fight desperately with the Italian fleet.

But the faces of every officer and soldier of the Nanyang Naval Division were full of despair, because the fleet of the Italians was too powerful to be on the same level as the Nanyang Naval Division!

This time, in order to teach the Qing Dynasty a lesson, Italy recaptured 4 ironclad battleships and sent most of the main warships of the Italian Navy.

Among them were 6 powerful ironclad battleships, and 3 of the sister ships of the Italian ironclad battleship, the Reberto, with a displacement of 15701 tons, was completed in 1888. The Prince Carignano had a displacement of 15,520 tons and was completed in 1889. The Redria had a displacement of 15,680 tons and was completed in 1890.

Three ironclad battleships of the same type are 127 meters long, 23 meters wide, 9.3 meters draft, 18 boilers, four-axle drive, 18.8 knots, and a maximum coal load of 1,800 tons. Waterline armor 280 mm to 380 mm, deck armor 90 mm to 120 mm, main gun turret armor 380 mm, secondary gun turret armor 280 mm, conning tower armor 380 mm. Armed with 4 343-mm naval guns, 8 152-mm naval guns, 16 120-mm naval guns, 12 47-mm rapid-fire guns, 4 365-mm torpedo tubes. Crew: 740 people.

The other three Italian ironclad battleships were also sister ships, the Francisco, with a displacement of 11,914 tons, which was completed in 1885. The Rechnar had a displacement of 12,120 tons and was completed in 1886. The Maria Pia had a displacement of 12,080 tons and was completed in 1890.

These three ironclad battleships of the same type are 106 meters long, 20 meters wide, 8.7 meters draft, 16 boilers, four-shaft drive, 18 knots, and a maximum coal load of 1,500 tons. Waterline armor 260 mm to 360 mm, deck armor 90 mm to 110 mm, main gun turret armor 360 mm, secondary gun turret armor 260 mm, conning tower armor 360 mm. Armed with 4 432-mm naval guns, 2 152-mm naval guns, 6 120-mm naval guns, 8 47-mm rapid-fire guns, 4 365-mm torpedo tubes. Crew: 660 people.

In addition, there are 4 large armored cruisers, which are of the same class as the 4 armored cruisers such as the current Grand General of the Second Fleet of the Naval Academy.

The displacement is 7069 tons, the length of the ship is 104.90 meters, the width is 18.19 meters, and the draft is 7.11 meters. 8 boilers, 2 axle propulsion, speed 20 knots, waterline armor 195 mm in the middle, bow and tail armor 100 mm, open turret armor 195 mm, conning tower armor 195 mm, equipped with 2 40x 330 mm naval guns, 4 45x 260 mm naval guns, 10 40x 200 mm naval guns, 14 45x 200 mm naval guns, 6 45x 155 mm naval guns, 2 x 100 mm naval guns, 10 x 57 mm guns, 4 600 mm fish**, Crew: 500 people.

In addition, there are 6 newly commissioned Elba-class Italian protective cruisers with a displacement of 2,800 tons, 8 boilers, 2-shaft propulsion, a speed of 22 knots, and a maximum coal load of 500 tons. Waterline dome armor 150 mm to 115 mm, equipped with 4 152 mm naval guns, 6 120 mm naval guns, 6 37 mm guns, 3 365 mm fish **, crew composition: 260 people.

Finally, there are 12 supply carriers with a displacement of 500 to 3000 tons.

Such a powerful Italian fleet is not at all something that these old and weak small warships of the Nanyang Naval Division can resist, and if there is a firefight, the total annihilation of the Nanyang Naval Division is already a foregone conclusion!

Guo Baochang, the commander of the Nanyang Naval Division, was ordered by Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, to quickly contact the British, French and Americans in the foreign concession of Shanghai, hoping that the three countries could mediate between the Nanyang Naval Division and the Italian fleet, and it was the Beiyang Naval Division that seized the four Italian ironclad battleships, and it had nothing to do with the Nanyang Naval Division!

Sixteen warships of the Italian expeditionary fleet were docked in the sea outside the mouth of Wusong in Shanghai, waiting for the attack order of Admiral Roberte, the commander of the Italian flagship Ray Umberto, to completely destroy the Qing Dynasty's Nanyang naval division.

However, the commander of the Italian fleet, Admiral Roberte, looked at the notice jointly issued to him by Britain, France, and the United States, which would not allow Italy to exchange fire with the Qing Dynasty in Shanghai.

Britain, France and the United States all have concessions in Shanghai, and a war in Shanghai will affect the interests of 3 countries!

Italy's fleet against the Qing Dynasty can be said to be more powerful than the warships of Britain, France, and the United States in the Far East combined, but Italy must pay attention to the opinions of the three countries, otherwise it will bring a crisis to the entire Italian country. The commander of the Italian fleet, Admiral Roberte, finally gave the order: "Order the fleet to turn the bow and continue sailing north!" We no longer pay attention to small shrimp like the Qing Dynasty's Nanyang Sailors, our target should be the Qing Dynasty's Beiyang Sailors! Order the fleet to continue shelling the port cities of the Qing Dynasty along the coastline of the Great Qing Dynasty Jiangsu! ”

Under pressure from Britain, France, and the United States, the Italian expeditionary fleet continued along the coastline of the Qing Dynasty in the direction of Weihaiwei.

The commander of the Combined Fleet, Ito Yuxiang, received a report from Japanese spies in the Qing Dynasty, and knew that the Italians were actually looking for trouble in the Qing Dynasty, and even dispatched most of the main warships of the Italian Navy to expedition to the Qing Dynasty!

After getting the news, Ito Yuxiang was overjoyed, and immediately excitedly gave an order to let the Japanese Combined Fleet enter a state of readiness, and after the conflict between the Italian Fleet and the Beiyang Naval Division, the Japanese Combined Fleet immediately set off to attack the Beiyang Naval Division!

After the battle between the Beiyang Naval Division and the Italian fleet, whether the Beiyang Naval Division could win or not, its strength would be greatly damaged, and it was the best time for the Japanese Combined Fleet to take advantage of the fire to loot.

In the Weihai Weishui Academy, Lin Daxin called the main officers of the Navy's First Fleet and the Second Fleet to the conference room, and also specially called Zhang Bin, the captain of the Bayonet, and Li Dong, the captain of the Sharp Knife, two J-class conventionally powered submarines, to the office.

Lin Daxin said to dozens of admirals: "Everyone may already know! The Italian fleet has hit our doorstep! These rampant Italians have already shelled many cities on the southeast coast of our Great Qing Dynasty! Now the Italian fleet has arrived in Jiangsu and is heading straight for our Weihaiwei! This Italian fleet is not weak, there are 6 ironclad battleships, 4 large armored cruisers, 6 protective cruisers, what do you have to say about the imposing Italian fleet! ”

Wen Yu, the captain of the Flying Tiger ironclad battleship, first said, "Headmaster! Nothing to say! Fight with the Italians! "Wen Yu's Flying Tiger is the original Italian ironclad battleship Italy, if Lin Daxin decides to return the 4 Italian ironclad battleships, then Wen Yu's warships will be gone, he Wen Yu finally became the captain of an ironclad battleship, but he didn't want to be dismissed without a single battle!

Dozens of other admirals also excitedly demanded a harsh lesson to the Italians.

Only among this group of naval officers, Jiang Hui, the commander of the Second Fleet, who was relatively older, frowned and said, "Handsome! Although the main force of the navy of our Naval Academy is not afraid of the Italian fleet! But if we fight with the Italian fleet, there will definitely be considerable losses! At this time, what should the Japanese combined fleet do while it is on fire? ”

Listening to Jiang Hui's words, dozens of admirals fell into deep thought! Yes, not only is the Italian fleet coming aggressively, but there is also a Japanese combined fleet next to it!