With the sound of the flagship's "Dingyuan", ten seconds later, the main guns of each ship of the first detachment of the Zhenyang Fleet launched the first salvo, and for a time, countless water columns rose around the Japanese ships.

Rear Admiral Tsuboi Hangzo on the "Yoshino" clearly saw that the firepower of the Qing army's main armored ships "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" was mainly pouring on his first guerrilla unit, and if the first guerrilla group did not turn around as soon as possible and avoid the powerful firepower attacks of the "Ding" and "Zhen" ships, the end would not be very glorious.

When the rangefinder officer on the "Yoshino" gave the signal of "five thousand yards away", Tsuboi Kozo immediately ordered: "All ships follow the flagship, accelerate to fourteen knots, and the right full rudder to the left!" ”

The four armored cruisers of the 1st Guerrilla Force made a sharp turn together, drew a track on the sea surface at an approximate right angle, accelerated to 14 knots, and swept in front of "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" in a clear diagonal line, and pounced on the three ships "Jingyuan", "Laiyuan", and "Pingyuan" on the right flank of the Qing fleet.

At 2:44 p.m., the Japanese Combined Fleet "Matsushima" opened fire with its 32-centimeter main gun at a distance of 3,700 yards from the Qing fleet, signaling a "general attack by the fleet." The Japanese ships in the squadron also opened fire one after another, and a fierce battle began.

A minute later, the commander of the 1st Guerrilla Force, Major General Kozo Tsubii, gave the order to send a signal: "Open fire at the right time!" ”。 When "Yoshino" was 3,000 yards away from "Jingyuan," "Laiyuan," and "Pingyuan," it launched an attack with 15-centimeter rapid-fire guns, followed by "Takachiho," "Akitsuzu," and "Naniwa," and the "Jingyuan," "Laiyuan," and "Pingyuan" immediately concentrated their firepower to return fire.

The Qing army's "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan" two ships were built seven years ago, and their main firepower was two 21-centimeter main guns and two 15-centimeter secondary guns, and the "Pingyuan" was put into service five years ago, and the main firepower was a 25.4-centimeter front main gun and two 15-centimeter secondary guns, and the three ships were not equipped with medium-caliber rapid-fire guns, and their armor defense was weak, and their opponents were the four cutting-edge armored cruisers of the Japanese First Guerrilla Force, which were known as the "elite of the empire," and these four ships were equipped with a total of 30 medium-caliber rapid-fire guns of 15 centimeters and 12 centimeters. There are also four 26-centimeter heavy guns, all of which are equipped with some armor protection.

Even so, the three warships "Jingyuan," "Laiyuan," and "Pingyuan" still resisted bravely without fear of a strong enemy.

At 3:03 p.m., the No. 1 guerrilla squadron inserted itself into the formation of Qing warships and separated the "Jingyuan," "Laiyuan," and "Pingyuan" from the main ship formation; two minutes later, the 25.4 centimeter main guns of the "Pingyuan" gave the enemy ships a resounding response, hitting the "Yoshino" with one shot, and the shells penetrated the "Yoshino" side armor and exploded on the No. 1 main deck, killing three people on the spot, wounding 11 others, and causing a large fire.

Almost at the same time, "Takachiho" also fired several 21-centimeter shells, the officers' quarters were blown up, shrapnel flew in all directions, one damage control officer was killed by shrapnel in the throat, several others were injured, and the fire was raging and approached the ammunition depot near the officers' quarters.

Seeing that all the officers and men of the ship were about to be killed, the commander of the "Takachiho" ship, Nomura Sadasa, ordered: "Except for the pilot, engineer and artillery personnel, all the crew members will be put into extinguishing the fire!" ”

The "Takachiho" ship had to deal with the dead, bandage the wounded, and even more put out fires, and it was busy for a while.

Later, the "Naniwa" ship, under the command of Togo Heihachiro Daisa, avoided several shells from the Qing cruiser, and temporarily suppressed the attacks of "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan" with intensive rapid-fire artillery fire.

At the end of the 1st Guerrilla Column, the No. 5 gun mount of the "Akijinzhou" was shot, and seven crew members below the gunnery officer were killed and nine others were wounded.

Tsuboi Kozo was not worried about this slight damage, and ordered all ships: "Concentrate fire and attack the enemy's right flank ships!" ”

At this time, on the right flank of the three ships of the fifth squadron of the Qing army was the 2,150-ton domestically produced cruiser "Pingyuan"; although Lieutenant Commander Li He commanded his subordinates to hit the flagship of the enemy's first guerrilla unit first, which boosted the morale of all ships in the squadron, the enemy's gunfire was quickly concentrated on the ship, and Lieutenant Colonel Li He was unfortunately pierced through the chest by a shrapnel and died a heroic martyr.

Under the intense and intensive artillery fire of the First Guerrilla Force, the "Pingyuan" almost became a honeycomb on its side. At 3:16, an enemy bomb pierced through the bulkhead and exploded in the ammunition depot, and in an instant, a huge black smoke rose from the hull of the ship, obscuring the nearby sea and air. After the black smoke gradually thinned, the "Pingyuan" no longer existed, and only a few wooden planks and debris remained on the sea, and only one of the 145 officers and men on the ship survived.

Taking advantage of the enemy's concentrated fire to attack "Pingyuan," the "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan" invariably turned their guns to the "Qiujinzhou" and continued to bombard, hitting several artillery pieces, killing more than 20 enemy people, wounding more than 30 others, destroying one artillery mount, and causing a ghost to cry wolf on the "Qiujin Island." Seeing this, Heihachiro Togo, the captain of the "Naniwa" ship, urgently ordered his subordinates to divert artillery fire and attract the firepower of "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan" to rescue "Akitsuzhou".

After the sinking of "Pingyuan," the four ships of the First Guerrilla Force began to circle around "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan," forming a semicircular formation in motion, so as to carry forward the broadside firepower and attack "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan."

Although "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan" fought desperately, they were shot and caught fire one after another because their firepower was inferior to that of the other party. Lieutenant Commander Lin Yongsheng, captain of the "Jingyuan," was unfortunately shot in the brain and was martyred, and Major Chen Rong, the first officer, and Major Chen Jingying, the second officer, were also killed in the gun.

The "Jingyuan" lost its command, and relied on the officers and men to resist the enemy spontaneously, until it was fired by Yoshino's rapid-fire guns at a distance of 2,000 yards, and the hull slowly sank in the flames, but the gunners still stuck to their posts and continued to fire artillery at the enemy, and finally died with the ship. Of the 202 officers and men on board, only 12 were rescued.

Lieutenant Commander Qiu Baoren, the captain of the ship, saw that "Jingyuan" was sinking, and ordered the whole ship: "Fight to the last one!" ”

While organizing the extinguishing of the fire, Qiu Baoren calmly commanded, fired several cannons in succession, hit "Yoshino", damaged one enemy cannon, and killed and wounded more than 10 enemy soldiers. However, the 1st Guerrilla Squadron of the Japanese ships relied on the speed of their guns and concentrated their intensive rapid-fire artillery fire on the "Laiyuan", which suffered heavy casualties among the officers and men of the "Laiyuan" ship, most of the guns were damaged, and the fire on the whole ship was extinguished and started again until it could no longer be controlled. The flames rushed to the bridge, and Lieutenant Commander Qiu Baoren, who was personally steering, was unfortunately killed, and the "Laiyuan" lost control and staggered around the sea; the Japanese warship seized the opportunity to get close to the bombardment, and the "Laiyuan" was hit by hundreds of bullets, and finally sank at 3:51 a.m., and only 23 of the ship's 202 officers and men survived.

At this point, the three cruisers of the fifth squadron on the right flank of the first detachment of the Zhenyang Fleet of the Qing army were all sunk.

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At the same time that the Japanese No. 1 Guerrilla Force intercepted the right flank of the Qing fleet, the flagship of the combined fleet, "Matsushima," also led a column of 11 ships composed of three groups of its own fleet to sail directly in front of the "Dingyuan," the flagship of the Qing fleet, and the flagships of the two sides launched a fierce confrontation.

At 2:46 p.m., a 30.5 cm shell hit the upper turret of the 32-cm gun of the "Matsushima," destroying its cannon rotation mechanism, killing two gunners and damaging the hydraulic pipe.

Vice Admiral Ito, commander of the Combined Fleet, was frightened by the powerful firepower of the huge artillery of the "Zhenyuan" and "Dingyuan" and did not dare to continue the confrontation head-on, so he hurriedly ordered his squadron to turn the rudder to the left and speed up to the right front of the "Dingyuan" ship.

Brigadier General Lin Taizeng, commander of the Qing army's detachment, saw the Japanese turn around, and immediately ordered: "The left flank will turn four degrees to the right with the flagship!" ”； Then he ordered the "ironclad battleship to speed up to twelve knots!" ”

As a result, the five battleships on the left flank of the formation accelerated to the right with the two ironclad ships in the center, facing the enemy with their bows, while the accelerated "Zhenyuan" and "Dingyuan" protruded forward and slightly separated from the formation. Because of their slow speed, the third group of ships in the rear of the Japanese fleet was far behind the ships in the first and second formations in front, and was cut off by the prominent two ships, "Zhenyuan" and "Dingyuan." As a result, the main group of the combined fleet was stopped and cut into two sections, and the situation was greatly unfavorable to the Japanese side.

At this time, the left flank of the Qing warship formation completed the right turn one after another, and the four warships of the third group of Japanese warships and the two warships "Chicheng" and "Saikyo Maru" lined up in the left rear of the group were forced to pass through the main artillery fire network composed of two ironclad ships and five cruisers of the Qing army one by one in a single column, and the Qing fleet seized the opportunity to launch a fierce attack, concentrate artillery fire, and "name names" the enemy ships one by one.

The cruiser "Kaohsiung," the flagship of the third group of Japanese ships, was hit by two 30.5-meter shells at once, the front main gun was completely destroyed, and the bow of the ship drooped into the water, and then several 21-centimeter shells hit everywhere, and a fire broke out on the ship, and more than half of the crew was killed or wounded. The "Jianbei" and "Jianzhong" first bombarded the "Kaohsiung" from a distance with their 30.5 cm main guns, then accelerated their turn to the right to block the escape route of the "Kaohsiung"; after approaching, they concentrated 15 cm rapid-fire artillery fire on the "Kaohsiung"; "Kaohsiung" was hit by more than 100 bullets within five minutes, the hull was flooded in many places, and sank at 3:09 a.m., and the 222 people on the ship rescued a total of 31 people, 16 of whom became prisoners of the Qing army.

Immediately following the "Kaohsiung" was the cruiser "Katsuragi," a thin ship with a standard displacement of 1,502 tons, and it was even more vulnerable to a single 21-centimeter shell, first cutting off its front mainmast, and then raining down artillery fire enveloped it densely; "Jianbei" and "Jianzhong" rushed to help in the battle after cleaning up "Kaohsiung"; "Katsuragi" was hit by nearly 100 rounds of bullets, and the entire ship sank at 3:25 a.m. after it was completely burned down, and 223 of the 230 crew members were killed.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the captains of the "Yamato" and "Musashi" ships of the same class as the "Katsuragi" ordered the rudder to turn to the left without waiting for the Qing army's firepower to be transferred, intending to withdraw from the battlefield, at this time the Qing fleet was busy besieging "Katsuragi", and when it was discovered that the "Yamato" and "Musashi" had fled, and the first and second groups of the enemy's main formation had already circled behind the Qing warship formation, the situation was dangerous.

At this time, he saw through the telescope that the Japanese ships "Chicheng" and "Saikyo Maru" were desperately chasing after "Yamato" and "Musashi." Because of their lack of speed, they were far behind, so they attacked in violation of the order and ordered to speed up to the "Chicheng" and "Saikyo Maru."

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On the substitute cruiser "Saikyo Maru", Vice Admiral Shikiri Kayama, vice commander of the Japanese Admiralty, originally saw the Qing warship formation turning back, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but unexpectedly found that an armored cruiser was single-handedly heading towards the ship at high speed, and he was shocked, and hurriedly shouted to the captain of the ship, Yunosuke Kanosuke: "Kano Shaosa, do you see it, an enemy ship is rushing over." ”

Luye Shaozuo replied: "General, I saw it below, but I can't help it, we only have a 12-centimeter rapid-fire cannon and a few small machine guns, and everything depends on 'sincerity'." ”

In fact, the "Chicheng" is not enough to rely on at all. What a chance this small gunboat, with a standard displacement of 602 tons and one 20.3 cm gun and one 12 cm gun, could win a confrontation with the "Jianbei" coastal defense armored cruiser with a standard displacement of 4,580 tons and one 30.5 cm heavy gun and nine 15 cm rapid-fire guns.

"Jianbei" spewed smoke and rushed over with a split wave. Itamoto Hachiro's hand holding the telescope began to tremble slightly, and after the rangefinder officer signaled "two thousand five hundred yards away", he simply threw away the binoculars, pulled out the saber with the octopus family crest on his side, and yelled "Fire!" ”

The 20.3-centimeter main gun of the "Chicheng" spewed out a cloud of monotonous white smoke, and the shell miraculously hit the foredeck of the "Jianbei" for the first time, but it was bounced off by the thick armor belt of the "Jianbei" and exploded outside the armor belt, leaving only a not-so-shallow pit on the foredeck of the "Jianbei."

The next two cannons of "Chicheng" missed, and after that, its front main gun had no chance to be used, and several fifteen-centimeter shells completely destroyed it, and at the same time, the artillery fire of "Jianbei" also covered the bridge of "Chicheng", and shrapnel pierced the head of captain Ita Motohachiro Taishaozo, who was at his post, and blood and brains splashed on the compass, and the chart table was also red and white. Captain Tetsutaro Sato, the acting captain of the ship, was blown in two a few minutes later, the lower half of Shen hung on the steering wheel, and the upper half of his body flew to the front of the main gun mount, and his condition was unbearable.

Lieutenant Commander Liang Xuezhi, the captain of the "Jianbei" ship, decided to capture him, so he organized 60 sailors, each with rifle bullets, to get to the port side of the "Chicheng", put down the rope ladder (because the dry deck of the "Jianbei" was much higher than that of the "Chicheng"), and sent the assault team to board the ship, breaking the resistance of the remnants of the Japanese crew. Lieutenant Colonel Liang Xuezhi also sent a number of non-commissioned officers of navigation and marine engineering to board the "Chicheng" to repair the marine engine equipment, and then made a detour to Lushun Military Port to ask for merit. However, the effort exerted by the "Jianbei" to capture a small gunboat not only gave the "Saikyo Maru" carrying Vice Admiral Shikinori Kayama, vice admiral of the Japanese Admiralty, time and opportunity to escape from the battlefield, but also caused the "Jianbei" to break away from the ship's formation in violation of the order, resulting in a lack of cover on the right flank of the flagship and irreparable losses to the entire fleet.

Lieutenant Commander Liang Xuezhi looked at the loot in front of him proudly, and the signal officer suddenly shouted: "The flagship sends a signal - the flagship is dangerous, all ships will return to the ship formation immediately, and those who violate the order will be killed!" ”

When Liang Xuezhi heard the word "chop", he immediately felt cold, and the warship in front of him that was still smoking was no longer a trophy, but probably the evidence of military law* that killed him.

He did not have time to think about anything and immediately ordered to accelerate the steering and go to the rescue flagship.

At this time, there was a large hole in the belly of the flagship "Dingyuan" that was spewing blazing flames, like a volcanic crater in an eruption.