Chapter 38

Amidst the debris floating around, several oil slicks slowly rose from the dissipating vortex, reflecting a dazzling array of red, yellow, blue, and purple. Ping Yi Hangsan, seeing the large gap in the formation behind him, his face contorted with a fierce and ghostly expression; he clenched his fists tightly, his nails deeply piercing his palms; the veins on his forehead throbbed, as if about to burst through his skin.

Since Ping Yi Hangsan was facing away from the others, no one in the command tower of the Yoshino saw the distorted and deformed expression on his face. A staff officer, noticing that Ping Yi Hangsan had been staring at the rear for a long time without saying a word, could not help but ask in a low voice, "General, the Takachiho has sunk. What should we do now?"

Ping Yi Hangsan's body suddenly moved, and he turned around abruptly. When everyone saw his face, including the ship's captain, Kawahara Yoichi, they could not help but shudder. He glared at the staff officer who had jinxed him with a nearly murderous look. After a moment, he suddenly shouted, "What should we do? What else can we do? Now that things have come to this, we can only continue to fight. We will either kill all the Qing people or go to hell ourselves! Pass the order down: the remaining three warships of the First Flying Squadron will continue to focus all their fire on this Qing battleship!"

Seeing that the commander was about to be overwhelmed by anger, Kawahara Yoichi hurriedly said, "General, should we continue to attack that battleship? Its waterline armor is at least 300 millimeters thick, and the guns of our First Flying Squadron cannot penetrate it! If we cannot penetrate its waterline, we cannot make it take on water. Even if we turn its superstructure into a wasp's nest, that battleship will not sink!"

Reminded by Kawahara Yoichi, Ping Yi Hangsan's mind regained a bit of clarity, and his contorted face gradually calmed down. Amidst the smoke and the roar of the guns, Ping Yi Hangsan's expression gradually softened, and a determined and composed look appeared on his face. "Kawahara, do as I said. I am not only avenging the joint fleet officers and men who died on the Takachiho, but also for the fate of the First Flying Squadron today, and for the joint fleet to win the next sea battle. Our goal today is not to sink it, but to silence all its main guns!"

Ping Yi Hangsan waved his hand, and Kawahara Yoichi's expression became solemn. A signalman had already relayed the order through the speaking tube. Looking at the battleship 2000 meters away, which was engulfed in flames, Ping Yi Hangsan's eyes showed a complex expression, and he said with a mixture of relief and anger, "This battleship has already been disabled by us, with only its midship main turret still able to fire勉强. It is the latest German battleship, which joined the Qing fleet just a month ago. The damage to its main guns caused by the explosion of the propellant is so severe that the Qing people cannot repair it! If we can put in more effort and take out its midship main turret, it will become a tiger without claws or teeth, posing no threat to our joint fleet. According to the previous battle, its main guns are definitely a weak point in its defense!"

Perhaps Ping Yi Hangsan's order had stirred the blood of the Japanese sailors. After the initial panic and flight following the sinking of the Takachiho, the Japanese sailors instead showed a fierce and more fanatical determination to attack the Kaiyuan. The thunderous roar of the guns and the rain of fire from the three Japanese cruisers' broadside guns rained down on the Kaiyuan. Amidst the dense curtain of shells, the upper superstructure of the Kaiyuan battleship burst into layers of purple and red flames. For this, Colonel Claude was also helpless; due to the lack of experience in building large warships in Germany, the Kaiyuan had heavily referenced the design of French battleships during its construction, resulting in a tall and imposing superstructure. While this improved flexibility, it also made it an excellent target for enemy fire!

The wind howled, and the red flames raged. After the Japanese shells exploded, the red flames stubbornly burned on the steel, and the thick black smoke mixed with a large amount of toxic yellow-green fog. The dense smoke rose, not only making it difficult for the crew on the deck to fight the fire but also blocking the view of the only remaining midship main turret. The gunners could see almost nothing but thick black smoke and burning flames. Despite the damage control teams' efforts to extinguish the fire, the center of the flames caused by the explosion of the Lyddite shells was extremely hot and could burn for a while even in water, making it difficult to extinguish with ordinary water. During the process of extinguishing the flames, a large amount of steam would also rise, which could interfere with the gunners' vision. For a moment, the Kaiyuan battleship was engulfed in a sea of fire and toxic smoke. In the dim and hazy surroundings, the gunners could not accurately measure the position and distance of the enemy ships, and could only adjust the firing parameters based on their own judgment, significantly reducing their accuracy!

"Boom!" Another earth-shattering roar, and the Kaiyuan battleship's midship main turret burst with a red glow, firing two fiery shells that instantly struck the water 100 meters away from the last ship of the flying squadron, the Naniwa, sending a column of water skyward. Seeing that the enemy's main guns had missed, Ping Yi Hangsan let out a long sigh, and his heart, which had been on edge, finally relaxed a bit. What he feared most was the accuracy of the enemy's 283 mm guns at a distance of 2000 meters. If they hit, it would be a devastating blow to his cruisers, as evidenced by the Takachiho, which had been sunk instantly!

"They have fired, they have fired! All units, take this opportunity to hit them hard!" As the water columns collapsed, Ping Yi Hangsan suddenly came to his senses and shouted in the command tower.

Without waiting for Ping Yi Hangsan's order, the Japanese sailors, at this critical moment of life and death, began to act quickly, moving shells and loading them into the guns at the fastest speed possible. For a moment, the red light danced, and the shells spewed out. Looking at the raging flames rising from the Kaiyuan, Ping Yi Hangsan's face showed a fierce and satisfied smile. Even if you are a battleship, the areas with heavy armor are limited to a small strip of the waterline. The large areas of the deck and superstructure are only covered with a thin layer of shipbuilding steel. Once these unarmored areas are hit by shells, they can still cause significant damage!

The sea of fire raged, and water columns shot up. Due to the intense flames and smoke from the shell explosions, the accuracy of the Kaiyuan's midship main turret was lost, and it failed to hit in five consecutive rounds. At the same time, the secondary guns of the Kaiyuan were also heavily damaged: its 105 mm and 88 mm guns were positioned above the main armor belt with no armor protection. While they could still show off against the rear of the joint fleet, which had few quick-firing guns, they now revealed their weak nature when under concentrated fire from the First Flying Squadron. In the armored command tower, Colonel Claude's brow furrowed with worry for the first time. Although the Japanese could not penetrate the core compartments, being passively hit like this was clearly not a good situation. Only a few key areas of the entire battleship, such as the command tower, had heavy armor protection. Japanese shells hitting unarmored areas would still cause casualties! And the number of Japanese shells was clearly much greater than the number of sailors on this ship!

"This can't go on! Pass the order: turn the ship 3 points to the left, increase speed to 15 knots, and move towards the center of the main fleet. Let the Qing deal with these damned Japanese first. After we put out the fires, we will launch the final attack on the Japanese. We have no reason to fight to the death for the Qing!" Feeling another explosion under his feet, the white-clad Claude thought for a moment and then loudly said.

Due to its French battleship design, the Kaiyuan, although with a large target area and only mediocre stability, had excellent turning flexibility. With its maximum speed of 16 knots, it could escape and maneuver like a strong wind. The rudder shifted, the propellers spun, and the massive battleship, with its billowing smoke and raging flames, quickly turned and sped away from the First Flying Squadron. Seeing this, both Liu Butuan on the Dingyuan and Ping Yi Hangsan on the Yoshino were stunned. In their subconscious, they had not expected this 11,000-ton battleship to adopt the highest strategy of retreat as described in Sun Tzu's Art of War!

"Alright, Germans, you have done well enough. Now it's our turn!" In the command tower of the Dingyuan, Liu Butuan issued the order in a slightly deep voice. After accelerating and cutting through the joint fleet's formation, the Beiyang Fleet gained a numerical advantage over the main fleet of the joint fleet by sacrificing the right wing. The Dingyuan, Zhiyuan, and Jingyuan, except for the first 20 minutes, had almost not been hit by Japanese shells, and their combat strength was largely intact. Following Liu Butuan's order, these three ships began to turn slowly, presenting their bows to the approaching First Flying Squadron.

Ping Yi Hangsan, seeing the Kaiyuan battleship turning and accelerating, his facial muscles began to twitch uncontrollably. If this battleship really chose to retreat, he would have no way to deal with it! Its entire waterline was protected by 300-400 mm thick armor, and even the 260 mm guns on the Naniwa could not penetrate it, making it impossible to slow it down by making it take on water. The probability of hitting something like a propeller was extremely low, and just half an hour ago, the Youyi had hit the Chaoyong's propeller by chance. Such a good thing, Ping Yi Hangsan did not think could happen again!

Chase it? What a joke! There were three other Qing warships right next to it, and the 305 mm guns of the Dingyuan, although slightly less powerful, would still cause serious damage if hit!

"If all the main forces of the joint fleet were here today, and I had two more cruisers, the result would not be like this!" Ping Yi Hangsan roared in his heart. He looked at the three Qing warships that had abandoned fire support and come to the front line, and encouraged his subordinates, "That battleship has already been disabled and poses no threat to our joint fleet. Pass the order: turn the fleet to the right, and engage the enemy with the port side. Victory for the joint fleet is just ahead!"

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