Chapter 78: The Overlord of the Yellow Sea

  The torpedo boat squadron quickly completed the adjustment of the torpedo depth, and then eight speedboats rushed towards Saikyo Maru again. At this time, a fierce fire had already broken out on Tenjin Maru, and compared to its opponent, there was no comparison in terms of protection performance. This thousand-ton wooden cruiser was leaving the battlefield to find a place to put out the fire.

  This solitary sheep was naturally the best food for the torpedo boat, and the smallest body of Ding Er and Zhen Er immediately pounced on it. The small boat shape wrapped in its entirety had a strong sense of science fiction, of course, this era's science fiction. Although not fast, but enough for the ten-section exposed Tiancheng, under the terrified gaze of Japanese sailors, Ding Er, who was the first to rush to the 50-meter position, simultaneously fired two torpedoes at it, and then turned around to retreat. Before it even completed its turn! A loud explosion suddenly came from behind, and the nearby blast even shook itself violently.

  The explosion of the Blackhead torpedo was like replacing the outer shell of the Tiancheng with steel, which was also a fatal blow. The wooden cruiser had already been battered and bruised, with a huge gash several meters long torn open in the middle section, seawater rushing in, and by the time Ding Er turned his head back, it had already begun to sink.

  The Tei Ni swiftly retreated after completing its mission, now out of torpedoes. Next was to watch the commotion. The Tei Ichi and Chin Ni reluctantly withdrew, then charged towards Saikyo Maru and Oshima. In fact, at this time, Oshima had already been hit by two torpedoes from Uryuuji, unfortunately neither exploded, and even took Uryuuji down with it. But that's just how torpedoes were in this era - whether they explode or not is all up to luck. Torpedo boat attacks are like gambling.

  But the Oshima was not doing well either, this steel-clad gunboat had a small tonnage, slow speed, weak firepower, and the 152mm quick-firing gun on the bow used nitrocellulose shells, which already had some penetration capability against its thin armor. The power of the shell was also too much for the small gunboat. Now that the propulsion system was severely damaged, it was lucky to have escaped this disaster. But good luck wouldn't last forever, and soon the left torpedo boat rushed in at a range of tens of meters, still firing two torpedoes simultaneously. This time Oshima couldn't dodge either, and the explosion of the two torpedoes was too terrifying for her. The poor gunboat had one side of its hull almost destroyed, and it disappeared from the surface of the sea within minutes.

  The lone and isolated Saikyo Maru didn't dare to continue fighting, so Hishiyama ordered a speedy retreat. With its speed, it was easy to shake off the Pingyuan, but it would be impossible to shake off those five torpedo boats. Looking at the five torpedo boats rushing towards them like hungry wolves, Li He on the Pingyuan shook his head in dismay. The Pingyuan's speed was too slow, less than 10 knots, and there was no way they could compete with these guys who had snatched away their prey.

  He turned his attention to the main battlefield, looking for an opportunity to gain an advantage. However, he saw the Shikishima, a large armored cruiser that was originally capable of speeds over 16 knots, but due to excessive flooding, it could no longer continue fighting and had to withdraw from the battlefield. The ship's speed was now reduced to less than 10 knots as it searched for a safe place to stop and drain the water. Upon seeing this situation, Li couldn't help but laugh.

  The captain of the Kaga had not expected to be in this situation, watching as the Fuyang approached slowly at a speed similar to his own. The sense of frustration and despair he felt was indescribable. Although the Kaga possessed one 320mm cannon and eleven 120mm quick-firing guns, it now seemed to have no advantage over the small warship, which had only one 152mm quick-firing gun and two old-fashioned 150mm retractable cannons. The Kaga's massive cannon was out of commission, its rudder damaged, and only three of its 120mm secondary guns were still operational. The Fuyang was now entering from the port side, where the Kaga had only one remaining 120mm quick-firing gun.

  Actually, he didn't know that Li He only had one front main gun left, and the other two 150mm Krupp guns were damaged in battle. What happened next was quite funny: the two warships each took out their only big gun, like two ancient knights starting a duel, but playing this game with Pingyuan wouldn't work, as its armor was much thicker than that of Li He.

  The ones who retreated from the battlefield were not only Yan Dao himself, but also the heavily damaged Chikuzen and Kōhei, who withdrew from the battlefield at the same time. Adding to this, the previously sunk Kōei and the completely destroyed Kōichi, all three of the Guang ships that Li Han Zhang had assisted his brother with have now been annihilated. However, their opponent Chikuzen has also lost its combat effectiveness.

  Although this super-brave and mighty ship, a sibling of the same door, possessed two 254 guns and four 120 guns, with firepower clearly surpassing Kōhei, the issue of firing speed was swapped between these two ships. Because Kōhei had three domestically produced quick-firing guns, while Chikuzen had old-style cannons, the result was that both sides were evenly matched, and in the end, they fought each other to the point of losing combat effectiveness. However, Kōhei's loss of combat effectiveness wasn't a big deal, but Chikuzen's loss of combat effectiveness was equivalent to a death sentence.

  The left wing, which had been wandering around the periphery, immediately pounced on it and used two torpedoes to send this Randall-style gunboat to the bottom of the sea.

  At this time, Tōgō and his First Torpedo Flotilla were also heavily hit. Chiyoda fell behind because of the damage to its transmission system caused by the 305mm shell from Chen Yuen. At first, it could still keep up with the speed of the three ships in front, but as time went on, the problem became apparent. The original speed of nearly 18 knots had dropped to less than 13 knots, and at this speed, it was no longer possible to catch up with the three ships of Kino, and almost half of the artillery was lost, so they had to withdraw from the formation and turn around to rescue the besieged Yashima. Unfortunately, those two destroyers would not let go of this opportunity. The reward given by Li Hongzhang to these guys was 10,000 taels of silver for every 1,000 tons, and the nearest Glasses Snake immediately rushed up from its stern fire blind zone at a speed of 36 knots, firing two torpedoes at a distance of about two kilometers.

  Two steam-powered torpedoes, leaving a visible trail behind them, struck the stern of the Chiyoda with terrifying accuracy in the eyes of Japanese sailors, and the massive explosion of 360 kilograms of TNT blew off the entire stern of this 2,000-ton armored cruiser, quickly sending it to the bottom of the sea along with over 300 crewmen on board.

  The naval battle so far has sunk one and destroyed two of the Beiyang Fleet, but none of them are main force ships. The combined fleet, however, has lost four ships, including two that should be counted as main force ships. Ito Sukiyoshi on board Matsushima can no longer hold on, and Kaga is already hopeless. When Hei Yuan was bombarding from a distance, Fulong and Zuo Yi rushed up again. Although they were temporarily repelled by the frantic firing of small-caliber guns, Hei Yuan relied on its perfect armor protection to withstand the attack of Matsushima's 120mm quick-firing gun. At the same time, it aimed its muzzle at those small-caliber quick-firing guns. It is clear that its goal is to eliminate these obstacles and then let the torpedo boats go up and finish them off.

  The combined fleet, up to now, has no possibility of winning this naval battle. Look at the sea, Ito Sukeyuki found that he only had six main battleships left, although all the ships of the Beiyang Fleet were heavily damaged, but because they were basically external explosions, they did not cause fatal damage, even if the Zhiyuan was engulfed in flames, it could still continue to fight.

  "Fall back!" he gritted his teeth and ordered, the combined fleet had already lost its offensive capability, and it was hopeless to annihilate the Beiyang Fleet in this war. However, they must leave behind a force to defend their homeland. If they were completely exhausted here, Japan would be a lamb to be slaughtered by others.

  After receiving his order, the combined fleet's Yoshino, Naniwa, Takachiho, Matsushima and Hashidate immediately withdrew from the battlefield. However, the oldest and slowest Fusō was unable to retreat no matter what. This old ironclad battleship had a design speed of only 13 knots, and it was already nearly twenty years old. Even if the Japanese had taken good care of it, it would have been doing well to manage 11 or 12 knots. The Beiyang Fleet's speed was even slower, so cutting off Fusō was not a problem at all.

  Just as the five warships of Song Island retreated from the battlefield, Yan Island also fought to the last moment. Under the cover of Pingyuan's firepower, Fulong and Zuo Yi rushed up together and launched torpedoes at him. Although only one exploded, it was enough to send it to the bottom of the sea. The originally flooded Yan Island with over 500 tons of seawater slowly sank into the sea.

  Ito Hengyu almost shed tears, looking back with painful eyes, watching as Kagoshima sank and Fusō was battered by seven enemy ships. Only then did he think of where the minister had gone.

  The minister is now considering whether to commit suicide or be captured. His Saikyo Maru has run aground, and although it's impossible to hit a high-speed moving target with torpedoes these days, if the enemy gets within 20-30 meters and fires, it's almost impossible to miss. The three small-caliber rapid-fire guns on the Saikyo Maru were all destroyed in the distant bombardment, and another 120mm rapid-fire gun was also destroyed, leaving only three 120mm rapid-fire guns with firepower, making it difficult to attack small torpedo boats, and if five torpedo boats attacked from both sides at the same time, it would be beyond difficult.

  After sinking a torpedo boat, it also took an exploding torpedo. Here is already shallow water area, with the increase of flooding finally ran aground, fortunately its firepower was not damaged, so now like a fixed gun emplacement sitting on the sea surface, with three 120mm rapid-fire guns and four remaining torpedo boats facing each other. Among these four torpedo boats, only two still had torpedoes left. Anyway, the enemy could no longer escape and did not dare to come up and attack, so both sides were in a standoff until the appearance of Matsushima's fleet in the distance.

  Minister Kasuyama's department was overjoyed and hastily sent a flag signal requesting rescue.

  Ito Sukemasa was also hesitant, and logically speaking, he shouldn't have abandoned the rescue. After all, it was Minister Hayashi's ship. However, if they were to attempt a rescue, there were several problems. Firstly, due to the draft issue, the five warships under his command had drafts of around 5-6 meters, making it impossible for them to get close enough. They could only lower small boats and have sailors row over, but two of the four torpedo boats lurking nearby were equipped with revolving cannons, so sending sailors over would be suicidal. Moreover, this method would take a long time, and if the Beiyang Fleet caught up, they would be in trouble.

  Watching the flag signals being spelled out again and again in the distance, Commander Ito fell into a dilemma.