Chapter 213 The First Round of Naval Battle

Exiting each other's envoys is the next step of escalation. Russia brought my envoy to Russia from St. Petersburg, Shao Youlian, and we naturally responded with reciprocality. The bottom line of both sides is already very clear. My bottom line is that China will never allow Russian fleets to go to Japan. And Russia seems to have to insist on doing this.

This almost opposite bottom line is irreconcilable. Before both sides can sit at the negotiating table, they must use some means to coordinate the positions of both sides. War, and only war can make people restore their rationality.

When St. Petersburg's tough statement was higher than the other day, the Russian propaganda machines all stated that the Baltic fleet was going to the East to receive two pieces of Russian land, which was Russia's sacred and inviolable power.

But their fleet did not show the corresponding courage. Since the battle situation on Luzon was in a stalemate, the Baltic Fleet, which had supplied a large number of supplies, seemed to have been accustomed to the tropical climate. It seemed that they had received domestic instructions, and perhaps they would stay here before they received the highest order.

The cruel situation did not give them more hope. After receiving a large amount of assistance, Katipunan signed an agreement with Tieliang, which agreed on the coordinated progress of the two sides in the next period. Katipunan had the right to form his own independent republic on the basis of recognizing all the privileged requirements of the Qing Dynasty. Of course, both sides were just using each other, and both sides knew this, and the real decisive battle had not yet arrived.

When there is almost no room for reconciliation between China and Russia, my Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a formal statement to the outside world, saying that the Filipino people in Southeast Asia have the right to choose their own destiny, and Spain should immediately stop the war operations in the Philippines, otherwise China, who is also in East Asia, will not sit idly by. And the Russian fleet should return to the place they should return to, and the people of East Asia do not welcome such a fleet. Since this statement was released immediately after Zaiying met with the envoys of Britain and Germany, it will give people countless reverie intentions or unintentionally.

As the forefront of the world, the French, who also have interests in East Asia, naturally have not been idle. Unexpectedly, the French also tried their best to encourage the Russians. The French Governor Annan issued a statement that the Baltic Fleet has the natural right to sail to its own port, and under any circumstances, any port in Vietnam welcomes the arrival of the Russian fleet. This is a manifestation of the traditional friendship between France and Russia, and it is also the official statement of the French government on the increasingly unsettling regional situation in this region. Of course, his speech was very enthusiastic, and the situation in Vietnam did not let him say this in vain. On the next day, a major riot occurred in Hanoi, a famous city with a thousand-year history in the northern Tokyo region. The arsenal of a regiment stationed in France was infiltrated and detonated by the rioters. The flames soared into the sky. The next day, a large-scale civil confrontation was triggered by the city-wide search, which caused a large-scale civil confrontation, which was a slap to the Governor.

With the statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that it is impossible to sit idly by the situation in East Asia, the navy's dispatch was justified. The navy resumed its cruise in Southeast Asia from now on, and the airships directly searched for the Russian fleet to find excuses and opportunities to start a war. By early September, the seas in Southeast Asia had already gathered fleets of six countries such as Britain, France, Russia, China, Germany, Spain, and even an ocean-going formation of the Americans leaning against Hong Kong. The two strongest teams are also the two protagonists of the upcoming naval battle, brewing a duel with each other.

On the great Sissoi, Lieutenant General Rostrav is discussing the current situation with his senior generals. It has been almost a month since he stayed in the Philippines. It is basically impossible to return to the Baltic Sea. No matter how dangerous it is, the destination is still going to Japan. The danger is obvious. Even if the Chinese Pacific Fleet does not intercept it in the middle, it cannot be taken lightly. Maguan and Wakayama Port are not ports facing the Pacific Ocean, especially Maguan. To get here, you must go through Kyushu Island controlled by the Chinese. Dongning Port is also one of the key military ports of the Chinese fleet. Moreover, the sea conditions there are almost no one familiar with it except Major General Rozjestervinsky. Although Rostrav is irritable, he also has a calm side. After calmly analyzing this voyage, all he gets is pessimistic.

Pessimism is also the emotional tone that plagues the fleet at present. The homesickness caused by leaving home, and the slim future are the main reasons for the poor morale of this fleet. I tried all kinds of ways to mobilize morale, such as salary increase and holiday, all of which were useless, but only gave these sailors more opportunities to go ashore to visit prostitutes. The other generals couldn't say anything. Apart from cursing the stupid pigs in St. Petersburg, all they could do was to live and die in a drunken state with vodka.

Only Rozjestvinsky's suggestion is still his way. According to the words of this naval general who has suffered a great loss in East Asia, victory is the best way to boost morale. Moreover, based on the strength of the two sides, achieving such a goal is not an impossible task. If you can choose a suitable weather and make the airship that is better than yours cannot play a role, it is really hard to say in a melee.

God is also considered a beautiful thing. When the cold wind in Siberia began to test the strong cold on China, some haze also appeared in the Pacific Ocean, which was a good time for the Baltic Fleet to wait.

In contrast to the Baltic fleet, the Pacific Fleet of the Royal Navy, stationed in Kaohsiung Port, set out from here to the south and reach the Philippines in less than an hour. There is almost no early warning time in such a short voyage. Therefore, in addition to the airships taking turns to be on duty during the day, there are also batches of alert duty at night. Since the entire army received the imperial edict, there have been no combat orders except for several confrontations. More than 10,000 naval officers and soldiers were all holding on. Until a month later, the imperial edict was first issued to start the war, and the next day was the tough statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The navy knew that the time when the troops were raised for a thousand days and the time for use had already arrived.

However, the imperial edict also has its limits. Unexpectedly, Beijing does not have words such as "seeking for complete annihilation", which can almost be said to have no requirements for the results of the battle.

But in the eyes of Liu Buchan and others, since the court has made up its mind, the navy must strive for the greatest victory and use its superior forces to collect a fleet from thousands of miles away at its doorstep. If it doesn't make a fortune, then what is the top four in the world and the number one in East Asia?

The determination of both sides was almost on the same day, and the naval battle was not far away.

The next day, at around 7 a.m. on October 17, 1897, it was a cloudy morning. After their final mobilization, the fleets of both sides advanced towards the enemy. The Russians' destination was Japan, and our target was Manila. The middle of the channel was the place where they met. As time gradually advanced, the naval battle between China and Russia began.

The Batan Islands, located between the Philippines and Taiwan Island, are composed of three volcanic islands. Most of the residents on the island are mixed-race descendants of indigenous and Spanish who immigrated from Taiwan Island in the past. For both sides, there is basically no problem of tendency. In the vision of the large fleet, these small islands that deviate from the channel almost do not exist.

The waterway is located about twenty kilometers west of Batan Island. Almost all local residents gather on the beach, watching the sea battle with thick smoke filled the sea.

Due to the weather, two airships were not sent to the air to serve as usual to guard and search the enemy. Each of the six battleships had a small airship, which was organized into three shifts and took turns to serve the alert tasks. When they encountered it, there was only one airship belonging to the Kangxi in the sky. This was the first one to discover the enemy situation.

The flight operator was named Zhou Liang, a native of Liaoyang Prefecture in Liaodong, and a former Han army inlaid white banner. Since the emperor issued an order last year to merge with the Eight Banners of Manchu, withdrew the Eight Banners of the Han army and maintained the Eight Banners of Mongolia, he has followed the principle of self-interesting the Eight Banners of the Han army into Manchu and Han, and voluntarily became an ordinary Han nationality. Among the army and navy, he was the first soldier to give up the annual subsidy of six taels of silver and voluntarily enter the Han Dynasty. After him, a trend also formed. More than 40% of the Han army flags in the Central Plains voluntarily included in ordinary Han people's household registration.

The telecommunication operator is Wenhui, a native of Ningbo Prefecture, Zhejiang Province, and Han nationality. He was originally a steward in the Dingyuan ship. Because of his fame and reputation, he was trained in professional talents such as naval artillery command, coding and reading codes on a large scale in the past few years. He was assigned to the command class and learned professional skills such as radio operation and bubble sighting data compilation for nearly half a year. After returning, he directly joined the Kangxi ship with the Dingyuan ship. He took two months off to go back to his hometown to marry his wife, and bought ten acres of land with the bonus, and then returned to the army to report. Because he was a professional and technical soldier, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant because he was a flight upgrade. The young man was only twenty-five years old this year and his future was very good.

Wenhui, the first person to discover the white-backed and blue-forked Saint Andre flag, was Wenhui. He was using the radio to report to the fleet that "heavy fog, you can see five miles, everything is normal." When he raised his head, he suddenly found that a pillar of smoke almost suddenly appeared in the mist in the south. Then there were two and three... Then he gradually identified the Saint Andre flag, the Saint Andre flag that he had seen in the Liaodong waters a few years ago.

"Urgent! Urgent! Urgent!" Wenhui almost roared out these words, and then quickly sent a notice to the fleet. Due to the heavy fog, he only saw the three ships in front. When he finished sending, he looked up and saw that he could already see six smoke pillars. He quickly added another sentence, and the number increased one after another!

Liu Buchan, who received the report, was almost shocked, and he was waiting for this day! For more than a month, he had been so suffocating. Since receiving the imperial edict, he almost dreamed about his dreams. Now this moment has come! But it’s a bit of a pity that the weather is not very good, and we cannot fully utilize our advantages, and it is too late to find out that the enemy situation was discovered. Of course, we can’t blame the airship. Originally, due to the weather, it was a bit difficult to take off the airship and the fog was heavy, so it would be good to find it. So he quickly ordered the airship to return to the airship to avoid leaking its whereabouts.

In fact, he didn't have to be so nervous. The enemy was far from discovering himself. On the flagship, the great Sissoi, Lieutenant General Rostrav was glad that he had chosen this day of departure. Today's fog was particularly thick, and the sun seemed to exist, but in the thick fog, he could only feel the paleness that seemed to be there. After ordering the fleet to be careful, he thought about it and ordered the entire fleet to drive full power and pass through this dangerous waters as fast as possible. With the fog, it was produced by the operation of full power.

The smoke pillars will not be so easy to find. As long as you can enter the southern tip of Taiwan Island and then change to the waterway east of Taiwan. After arriving in Japan, since the main force of the Chinese is in Kaohsiung, it is no problem to enter the port. Rostrav thought about this and frowned and prepared to make a request for St. Petersburg. If the land access is not opened as soon as possible, his fleet will never stay in East Asia for a long time. The Chinese have a very decisive attitude this time, and they will not tolerate a Russian fleet staying in Japan.

While he was considering the words uneasy, Liu Buchan's fleet had completed the mobilization. In order to avoid disturbing the other side, all ships completed the issuance of the order with flags and whistles.

"The left full rudder!" Liu Buchan's fleet completed a large turn. The entire fleet formed an arc-shaped long serpentine formation with six battleships as the core. Before the enemy ships found themselves, they were slowly adjusting their own ship position.

Wenhui's visual distance was obviously somewhat deviated. After completing this big move, Liu Buchan vaguely saw the vague black outline of the Russian fleet in the telescope.

"All fleets are on! Turn on the searchlights! All airships are launched! Get ready for combat!" With the order, dozens of searchlights light up in one go, forming a long dragon on the foggy sea surface. Six airships rose into the air one after another. Each of them had to command the main guns of the next battleship to fight. The pilots made cheering gestures to each other and rose up.

Almost suddenly the Russians discovered a lantern dragon in the north of their own. With the harsh sirens, they saw the airship, they ran towards the battle position, and they roared and issued orders.

Five battleships with displacements of about 11,000 tons, the great Sissoi, the Three Saints, Navarin, Alexander II and Nicholas I. The latter two ships had displacements of 9,000 tons. In addition to the other ships, there were 27 ships in total, with a total displacement of more than 117,000 tons.

On the other side are six imperial power-class battleships, with a displacement of about 11,000 tons, and together with the eighteen cruisers, the total displacement is about 129,000 tons.

In terms of main artillery, the Sissoi, the Three Saints, and the Navarrin were 4 305, but two were behind. Alexander II and Nicholas I were both 305 pairs. Judging from the artillery, such equipment was not weak, but there were six imperial powers on the opposite side. Twenty-four 305mm caliber main artillery had already adjusted their shooting elements according to their orientation. The only thing waiting was the "Fire!" from the commander Liu Buchan.

Of course, the Russians were not that stupid. After discovering the enemy situation, Lieutenant General Rostrav quickly divided the entire fleet into two columns, and all attacked the left full rudder, trying to use the battleship's anti-strike ability to cover the cruiser on the inner wing with the speed of speed to get rid of the enemy's strike range as soon as possible. The sea surface was filled with waves caused by rapid turns.

In response to the enemy's changes, Liu Buchan quickly made up his mind. Since this pocket has been laid, how could he let them go?

"Free fire!" The sailors on the flagship excitedly waved the signal flag and issued the orders of Commander Liu Buchan to the entire fleet. It was 7:57 in the morning.

Just as the twenty 305 giant cannons were almost roaring in unison, Liu Buchan also issued an order to Deng Shichang. They had tempered Deng's rapid assault fleet tactics for a long time. For such a large piece of fat, they needed to penetrate into their way back as soon as possible. Otherwise, with the current artillery fire, it would be impossible to sink tens of thousands of tons of steel on the opposite side in a short period of time.

Deng Shichang's Liu Che led eight cruisers, Tian Dan, Li Guang, Tian Rangju, Zhou Bo, Deng Yu, Guo Ziyi, Lu Meng, and Wu Han. With the assistance of Zhu Di, he slowly deviated to the east while firing. The overall formation gradually changed.

"Near loss! Near loss! Far loss! Hit!" The airship successively sent back the hit data of the first round of fire. The Kangxi hit rate was 25%. Generally speaking, if only the Li Shimin data were better, and he hit two shots, and Ying Zheng failed to hit one shot. The commanders quickly asked the gunners to adjust the gunners through the copper tube.

The hits were the Three Saints and the Great Sisoi, the Baltic Fleet on the periphery. Sisoi was hit with four shots, two shots on the left side of the fore deck, and one shot banged and exploded. The huge flames and shock waves made the gunner who was working on the cannon dizzy. The other shot was inserted into the hull and passed by. In fact, it was a long-lost bullet, but the sight was not good. The personnel on the airship did not notice the wave splashing on the sea.

"Fire! Fire!" Rostrav issued a counterattack order, and at the same time ordered the fleet on the inside to immediately look for opportunities to detour, and interspersed to find a suitable position to strike the enemy fleet.

The airship kept reporting the data back, and based on this data, the commanders quickly commanded the moving ship position and carried out the next round of artillery.

"Concentrate firepower! Strike enemy flagships!" Amid the fierce artillery fire, the five Russian battleships always maintained the protective posture of the periphery. Liu Buchan made a fuss, ignored the dozen or so shadows gradually moving away from the battlefield at the far end. He looked at the bad weather in anger, held the copper tube and added: "Fight!"

Of course, the Russian flagships would not take on protective tasks for too long. Not long after leading four battleships to counterattack and make a charge posture, they made a turn and aimed the double-equipped 305 at Liu Buchan's Kangxi.

"Boom-Boom" There were several more roars. Our sixteen main guns opened fire again, seizing the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of the enemy fleet turning. The shells roared and smashed towards the side of the enemy ship. The fireballs caused by the explosion threw the screaming sailors into the sky.

The enemy was also a volley. Because it crossed the hull, except for the Sissoi, which had already made a turn, the Three Saints and Navalin could fully exert the power of four 305 guns. Alexander II and Nicholas I had only a double-equipped 305 guns on the bow. This round of volleys was 14 guns, and the fourteen guns crossed more than 4,000 meters and caused two explosions on the Kangxi. The main gun at the stern of the ship was almost hit, and the shells landed on the guardrail not far from the gun position, which had little impact on the hull, but the explosion caused minor injuries to the two soldiers.

The other one was worried. The shell, like the help of God, hit a torpedo boat hanging on the flank, and the explosion caused the airship to blur the position of the boat.

"Fuck your mother!" Liu Buchan straightened up and turned around and cursed angrily: "Beat! Beat me hard. Get full power and turn to the south!"

While the main ships were duel, the small cruisers were not idle either. Taking advantage of the opportunity when both sides were greeting each other, more than a dozen cruisers were under the command of "free fire", and quickly interspersed with their high speed and approached their respective enemies.

The Russians' turn is still going on, their morale is a little low, and the entire fleet seems to have different ideas. Commander Lieutenant General Rostrav's intention is to use a large fleet to attract the opponent's firepower, and then use his advantage of many small ships to let the cruiser fleet detour to the other side and assist the main ship in combat. However, many ships below were thinking that the commander was covering their retreat, so as soon as the war started, two cruisers of the Russian fleet left the battlefield and quickly headed south.

Part of the other cruisers was rushing towards the other side at close range, while part of the other still carried out Rostraff's roundabout strategy.

A pattern of large ships shooting from afar, and the sub-cannons on the large ships and small ships fighting each other in the middle. When the Russian ships gradually adjusted their battle positions, the two sides formed a circular battlefield. On the two edges of the round east and west, the core combat power of both sides shot from afar.

At that time, it was 8:37 am on October 17, 1897. During the 40-minute fire reception, there were no shipwrecks on both sides. However, the five Russian core combat power, the five battleships, were severely damaged. The Three Saints and the Sissoi were severely damaged due to key strikes, and the Qing army was also the flagship Kangxi. The battle between the two sides had completed the first stage.
Chapter completed!