Chapter 31

The sound of spring thunder and the rush of fire filled the air as a ball of crimson flame, like a meteor falling from the sky, angrily swept across the sky and collided with the hull of the cruiser Takachiho with a deafening boom!

"Boom!" Suddenly, a blinding and unbearable intense purple light erupted from the starboard side of the Takachiho's midship, as if a giant blood-red flower had burst into the sky. Shock waves flew, steel plates shattered, and the metal, melted by the high temperature of the explosion, mixed with irregular shrapnel of various sizes, danced and flew in all directions, instantly causing more than a dozen people to fall in pools of blood.

The wind of flames raged, and the sea of fire surged, with the raging flames rising to a height of over ten meters, turning the nearby sea a deep red. At this moment, the starboard side of the Takachiho's midship had become a living hell: more than a dozen bodies lay scattered on the deck, blood flowing profusely, with severed limbs and broken bodies visible everywhere. At a 150mm Krupp gun position in the midship, a piece of intestine hung from the twisted gun barrel; the nearby corpse had its abdomen torn open, brains splattered, and the lower half of the body was nowhere to be found!

"Boom! Boom!" More violent explosions echoed on the deck, and the Takachiho's hull began to tremble painfully. To increase the firing rate of the guns, the Japanese Navy chose to stack some ammunition next to the guns. While this certainly increased the firing speed, it also brought significant safety hazards. Once the gun area was hit, the picric acid, which is highly reactive, would cause the shells filled with Shimose explosive to detonate immediately, leading to even more devastating consequences!

"Quick! Extinguish the fire!" With Captain Norimura Sadaharu's anxious roar, the Japanese sailors, still in shock, trembled as they got up from the ground, started the electric motors and water valves, and fought the raging fire with rubber hoses. The flames from the picric acid were known to be able to "ignite even steel," making them extremely difficult to extinguish. After burning, they would also produce large amounts of toxic gas. Before the war, the Japanese Navy had been proud of their shell propellants, but now it was their turn to suffer the consequences.

Not long after, the damage control department reported: a 283mm high-explosive shell had hit the 150mm gun position on the starboard side of the midship, leaving a shocking large hole. Eighteen officers and men were killed on the spot, and nearly ten others were seriously injured. Fortunately, the ship's power system did not malfunction due to the violent shaking and could still travel at 14 knots without any issues. To prevent Tamai Kōzō from worrying, Norimura Sadaharu ordered the signal flags to be raised, indicating that the Takachiho was still capable of continuing the battle.

"Xuegang, the Takachiho has been hit, but they have raised the signal 'My ship is fine,' indicating that they can still follow the flagship in battle." Captain Kawahara Kanichi of the cruiser Yoshino walked to Tamai Kōzō's side and whispered.

Tamai Kōzō pushed open the door and walked out of the command tower, looking back. He saw the Takachiho, which was closely following, with its starboard side already turned into a sea of flames. Under the crimson glow, a faint yellow-green smoke could be seen swirling, and no matter how the water from the rubber hoses roared and sprayed, it could not suppress the flames at all.

"Part of the Takachiho's ammunition has detonated." Tamai Kōzō retreated to the command tower, closing the heavy iron door, his voice revealing unhidden anxiety. "I have seen the power of that thing; it can boil mountains and burn seas, terrifying beyond measure! Damn the Qing and the Germans, they should all go to hell! Kawahara, how far is the Qing fleet from us?"

Kawahara Kanichi pulled a rope hanging from the ceiling, and a moment later, a voice came from the mast: "Report, the Qing fleet is only 3,200 meters away!"

"Good!" Tamai Kōzō slammed the table, his triangular eyes flashing with a fierce light, and he roared, "Damn Chinese pigs, you've been hitting me for so long, do you really think the Imperial Japanese Navy is made of clay? Pass the order, when the distance closes to 3,000 meters, ignore the 'Laiyuan' and 'Jingyuan' cruisers, and concentrate fire on the two smaller warships on the right flank of the Qing fleet!" He licked his lips with a bloodthirsty look, his face full of ferocity.

A distance of 200 meters was just about a minute. In front of the First Flying Squadron, composed entirely of new cruisers, were the two warships on the right flank of the Beiyang Fleet, also the oldest two ships in the Beiyang Navy, the Chaoyong and the Yangwei.

The Chaoyong and Yangwei were of the same class, built by the Armstrong Company in Britain, with the hulls partially subcontracted to the Mitchell Shipyard. They were 64 meters long, 9.75 meters wide, had a draft of 4.57 meters, and a displacement of 1,350 tons. The power was provided by two reciprocating steam engines and six round boilers, with a power output of 2,600 horsepower. Although the hull was claimed to be fully steel, it extensively used wooden components internally. The two sisters, once highly regarded by the world's navies, had long lost their youth and were now the weakest ships in the Beiyang Navy.

By now, the condition of the Chaoyong and Yangwei had deteriorated to a shocking degree: due to long-term high-intensity use, the machinery was severely aged, and the six boilers were on the verge of being scrapped. No matter how hard the sailors worked to add coal to the boilers, the two ships could not exceed 6 knots, while in 1882, they could easily reach 15 knots! Although Ding Ruchang had repeatedly requested the Tianjin Arsenal to replace the boilers of these two ships before the war, it was never implemented due to various reasons.

Worse still, the original design of these two ships was to rely on high speed to quickly approach the enemy and use ramming tactics to defeat them. To achieve high speed and heavy firepower, the designer, Rendel, drastically reduced the armor and tried to lighten the ship's tonnage. The entire ship had only 1 inch (25.4 mm) of armor on the turrets at the bow and stern, and a pitiful 9.5 mm of deck armor covering the ammunition magazines and boiler rooms, hoping to reduce the chance of being hit by its low profile. Without high speed, the Chaoyong and Yangwei had very weak self-defense capabilities, and their only effective weapons were the single 26-caliber 254 mm main guns at the bow and stern, and four 120 mm guns. Like the boilers, these guns had also aged due to long-term use and were far less effective than before.

"Yima, she me gaga lu! (It's now, attack the enemy!)"

At 12:55, with Captain Kawahara Kanichi's order, the three 152 mm guns, four 120 mm guns, and eleven 47 mm Hotchkiss heavy machine guns on the Yoshino began to fire wildly. These Japanese sailors, who were already cruel and vicious, had been terrified by the large-caliber heavy guns of the Kaoyuan battleship but still harbored a grudge. Now, it was their turn to fire, and they immediately unleashed astonishing combat power. For a time, shells flew from the Yoshino like they were free, and the smoke from the explosions never dissipated. Due to the accurate distance measurement, the hit rate of the Yoshino's guns was almost astonishing!

"Boom! Boom!" Light waves exploded, and flames flew. The Chaoyong was hit by the gunfire one after another; the ship shook violently, and the sailors screamed in shock, their faces full of disbelief and horror!

Captain Huang Jianxun was now filled with fear and shock. Although Ding Ruchang had repeatedly warned the commanders of the Beiyang Fleet before the war to be cautious of the quick-firing guns on Japanese warships, he lacked a direct understanding of their power. After the Battle of Pungdo, when Fang Boxian described the Japanese Navy with lingering fear and vivid detail, Huang Jianxun had been dismissive; Fang Boxian's cowardly and timid character was no secret in the Beiyang Navy, and he must have exaggerated the Japanese Navy's capabilities to cover up his own cowardice.

More than a month later, when his own ship was exposed to the Yoshino's intense bombardment, Huang Jianxun realized that Fang Boxian's words were not exaggerated! What terrified him most was that after the Japanese warship's guns fired, they could reload and fire again in just over 10 seconds, with a firing rate ten times that of the same-caliber guns on his own ship! How long could his old ship withstand such intense firepower?

Before he could finish his thoughts, a loud explosion shook the right side of the deck, flames danced, and the heat was intense. Several sailors, unable to avoid it, were instantly set on fire, screaming as they jumped into the Yellow Sea, their bodies disappearing in the steam.

Seeing the officers in the command tower looking at him with blank and defeated expressions, Huang Jianxun's fear vanished, replaced by a burning desire for revenge. He suddenly roared, "Why do you all look like that? Have all your elders died? As soldiers of the Beiyang Navy, I am ashamed of your current state! In the face of the enemy, we should fight bravely for our country and clear the sky!"

Huang Jianxun was known for his generosity and bravery, and the sailors all respected him. Hearing his angry rebuke, they were deeply shaken, their faces burning with shame, and their fear of death gradually turned into intense anger towards the Japanese.

The sound of gunfire echoed, and another ball of flames erupted on the Chaoyong, crackling and reflecting in Huang Jianxun's eyes like two burning red flames: "A man dies when he must, but he should die gloriously, without regret. If I can die in the war to protect my country and prevent my people from being humiliated by foreigners, what a great honor! If the ship sinks, I, Huang Jianxun, will sink with it, and we will all rest in the ocean, never to live in shame!"

The sailors were filled with passion and determination, shouting, "We will follow the commander's orders and fight the Japanese to the death!" The sound of their voices was like thunder, drowning out the roar of the gunfire.

"Boom!" With a deafening explosion, the two 254 mm heavy guns on the Chaoyong began to roar...

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