Chapter 61: The Battle of Inchon

  Yang Feng's robbery at sea almost made Ito Hirobumi's nose crooked, damn it, don't play like this, do you still let us live or not?

  It's all about going up in flames, and there's nothing he can do about it. Condemning this shameless bandit internationally is meaningless. Yang Feng holds the power of speech in Europe, let alone using this to lure the British and French fleets into intervention - that's just a pipe dream. Those two are so close to Yang Feng they're almost wearing the same pants, and it's absolutely impossible for them to offend this villain on behalf of the Emperor.

  Mobilize the combined fleet to escort, this is also impossible. Now the Beiyang Fleet is staring at Liu Gong Island, and if they don't solve their biggest enemy, the combined fleet won't dare go anywhere. Otherwise, they would take advantage of the situation and bombard Nagasaki, which would be troublesome. As for mobilizing those small warships, it's no different from sending them to death. Not to mention Yang Feng's high-speed destroyers, even those transport ships can annihilate them instantly. To be honest, these transport ships are not inferior to any of the combined fleet's main battleships in any aspect except for their smaller caliber guns.

  In this case, Prime Minister Ito could only arm Japan's merchant ships with some weapons, of course, it was impossible to equip them with cannons, at most they would be equipped with a few rifles, which is better than nothing. In addition, spend more money to sail around Taiwan in a big circle on the sea, but this is definitely not possible for the vast majority of merchant ships, and even warships do not have such a long range.

  Prime Minister Ito is now in no mood to care about other things, the land battle situation in Korea is still unfavorable, and the remnants of Oshima Yoshimasa's defeated army have lost their courage to launch an attack after Zhang Gaoyuan led four battalions of the Xungwu Army arrived. In fact, if it weren't for the lack of attacking power of the Qing army, they should have retreated at this time, but even so, they continued to retreat again and again.

  After gradually becoming familiar with the combat methods of mortars, Nie Shichen has learned to use them to harass the Japanese army. Every night, the Qing army's artillery would sneak to the riverbank, set up mortars and fire a few rounds at the Japanese defensive line on the opposite bank. Before the Japanese could react, they would quickly retreat with their cannons. ōshima Yoshimasa was almost driven mad by this, and it had become impossible for him to capture Chenghuan Station.

  The only hope now lies in the reinforcements, and when Yang Feng was making a fortune in Taiwan, Notsu Michizō led the 5th Division and Tatsuoka Yoshifumi's brigade, embarked on a journey along the Liao Dong River to the north, then landed at Jinquan, Datian, one line to attack Tianan.

  At the same time, under the escort of the main force of the Allied Fleet, the Japanese Third Division's Oshima Hisanao Brigade also began to land in Incheon. However, their main task was to take over the defense of the empty Hanseong (Seoul). Although the Qing army's advance speed was not fast, after all, Korea is just a small place, and with an unobstructed route, it would only take a few days for these 13,000 men to reach Hanseong. If their combat effectiveness could also reach that of Nie Shicheng's unit, then Hanseong would indeed be in danger.

  Incheon Port, warships gathered, on the flagship Matsushima of the combined fleet, Ito Sukeyuki looked south with a gloomy face. The damage to Yoshino was more serious than expected, and it had not yet been able to leave the dock. Of the four shells that hit it, one even penetrated the internal armor, causing significant damage to the propulsion system. Without Yoshino and Akitsushima, the combined fleet would have almost no chance of winning if attacked by the Beiyang Fleet. Now all they could do was pray that this wouldn't happen.

  Of course, he still had some confidence in this regard. The Beiyang Fleet could not have known his departure time, and from Liu Gong Island to here, there was at least a ten-hour voyage. The Combined Fleet arrived at Incheon at dawn because it controlled the port and telegraph office, and no one could have informed Ding Ruchang.

  Even if a spy is discovered and runs to Yashan to send a wireless telegram, it will take at least half a day, which means that the Beiyang Navy cannot arrive before dark even if it sets out immediately. At this time, no one would be foolish enough to fight a night battle, but the landing troops can complete their task under cover of darkness, and then the combined fleet can withdraw before dawn, so he has an absolute advantage in terms of speed.

  But unfortunately, things went against his wishes. Just as he was sitting anxiously on the deck, watching the Japanese landing on the shore, he suddenly saw the Chiyoda cruiser, which was responsible for reconnaissance, rushing back at a crazy speed, waving flags towards them while running.

  The Beiyang Fleet has arrived.

  "What?" Ito Hyougo was so surprised that he stood up straight away.

  "This is impossible!" he roared in anger.

  In a merchant ship in Incheon Port, the captain held a cup of coffee and smiled as he watched the Japanese fleet hastily set sail.

  The news of the Japanese army's landing at Incheon was reported by this British flag-bearing merchant ship via wireless telegraph to Liu Gong Island. This merchant ship, belonging to the Yang Shipping Company, had been anchored in Incheon Port for half a month under the pretext that its captain was ill. Since the wired telegraph office here was controlled by the Japanese army, it has been playing the role of a spy all along.

  Upon receiving the telegram from Incheon, Ding Ruchang immediately ordered the fleet to set sail. The 100-mile journey began at dawn and even with the speed of the Beiyang Fleet, they arrived by late afternoon. Looking out at the approaching Japanese fleet in the distance, this naval admiral who was full of controversy in history, immediately issued the order to form a line of battle to meet the enemy head-on.

  The entire fleet of eight warships formed a line with Dingyuan and Zhenyuan at the core, gradually forming a wedge-shaped formation like a cavalry charge during navigation, rushing towards the Japanese fleet like a giant chisel. In fact, this was the best formation that the Beiyang Fleet could adopt, because they were originally designed for such combat. The eight 305mm main guns on Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, after being loaded with armor-piercing shells, would be unbearable not only for Japanese warships of three to four thousand tons, but also for European first-class ironclads at that time.

  Dingzhen II as the vanguard, to the left are Jingyuan, Zhifyuan, Guangbing, Jiyuan, to the right are Laiyuan, Jingyuan, Chaoyong, Yangwei, and the remaining Pingyuan and Guangjia have not caught up yet due to their slow speed.

  However, the eight warships are now different from what they used to be. Dingyuan and Zhenyuan have replaced their 305mm Krupp guns with 152mm Armstrong quick-firing guns at the front and rear. Jingyuan has also replaced its three main guns with quick-firing guns. Jingyuan has replaced its four main guns, while Laiyuan has replaced its twin rear main guns. The remaining two guns were given to Guangji and Pingyuan, each with one gun. As for Guangping and Guangyi, they use domestic 120mm quick-firing guns.

  As for the shells, it's not even worth mentioning. The 152mm shells are in ample supply, with a staggering 8,000 rounds that are almost embarrassing to have so many. As for the 305mm shells, although there are only 600 rounds, they are Bofors-made sour acid shells, and their quality is far superior to those of the Japanese.

  However, what made Ding Ruchang regretful was that Li Hongzhang was scared off by the terrifying price of the steam-powered torpedo, which is understandable. Even he did not expect it to be so expensive. The price of ￡10,000 was more than that of the Fulong-class torpedo boat. Although no torpedoes were purchased, as a thank you for the help from Bofors in sinking the Chiyuan, Li Hongzhang not only rewarded O'Connor and his team with 5,000 taels of silver but also bought twenty Maxim guns and one million rounds of ammunition that had just arrived in Shanghai.

  As the fleet completed its formation change, smoke trails from Japanese warships also appeared in the distance.

  "Hoist the signal flag to inform all ships: fight to the death!" Ding Ruchang commanded with a cold face.

  The orderly immediately relayed the order with flag signals.

  At the same time, on the Matsushima, Itō Sukeyuki also issued almost identical orders. The Combined Fleet immediately began to form a battle line from its double column formation, losing the Yoshino and Akitsushima but gaining the three fast cruisers of the 1st Flying Squadron led by Chiyoda which quickly moved ahead and formed a single line with the main force, presenting their broadsides as they charged towards the right flank of the Northern Fleet.

  Both sides quickly entered visual range, and Ding Ruchang immediately ordered the entire fleet to turn right, with the goose wing formation already slightly changed due to speed issues drawing an arc on the sea surface, still maintaining the state of each ship's bow facing the enemy and charging towards the Japanese.

  At this time, the Japanese First Torpedo Flotilla also began to open a distance with our fleet, slightly turning left, aiming directly at the weakest combat power of the Beiyang Fleet's right wing, Chaoyong and Yangwei. This actually replicated the original historical Battle of the Yellow Sea.

  Unfortunately, the Combined Fleet was no longer its original self at this time, and the Beiyang Fleet was also not its original self. At a distance of 5,000 meters, with Ding Ruchang's order, the four front main guns of Dingyuan aimed directly at Matsushima in front, firing the first salvo. Although it did not hit the target directly, it caused one near miss.

  A 305mm shell filled with bitter acid exploded less than five meters away from the Sōyū, and with a deafening roar, the powerful water pressure shockwave crashed into the hull of the Sōyū, causing it to creak and groan. Commander Itō Hikonosuke was nearly thrown against the bulkhead in the command cabin, and when he managed to steady himself, his face turned white as he gazed out at the thick yellow smoke billowing across the surface of the water.

  "Bastards! How did they get the Shimose powder!" The fleet commander's terrified roar echoed immediately on the Matsushima.

  The tremendous power of the 305mm sour acid shell left the entire combined fleet stunned.

  Although they had a large number of spies in China and were well aware that the Beiyang Fleet had replaced its twenty 152mm quick-firing guns, they only knew that the shells were made of smokeless powder, but no one knew that the second batch of shells had been replaced with picric acid, so the smokeless powder shells used by Jiyuan during the Battle of the Pungdo Islands also misled them.

  This is their secret weapon, the thing that allows them to defeat their enemies and emerge victorious. No one knows better than they do the power of this thing, and no one knows better than they do how terrifying it will be when the main gun of the Dingyuan is loaded with it.