In order to cover up the King Kong, Hiei and Kirishima ships were severely damaged one after another.⊙,

At 6:39 pm, Hiei had been hit by 7 305mm shells, 19 155mm shells, and 108 75mm shells. The hull was seriously damaged and fires were ignited in many places, which were difficult to extinguish.

In the end, the fire burned through the rear deck ammunition depot, causing a death-destruction. One-third of the rear of the entire hull was blown up, and a large amount of sea water poured backwards and sank at 6:42.

Kirishima was not much better. It was hit by 4 305mm shells, 28 155mm shells, 110 75mm shells, and the hull was scarred and more than half of the people were killed or injured. Fortunately, the fire was extinguished in time, and the battle could continue to be fought to protect the evacuation of the King Kong.

In theory, ironclad ships can only be sunk by ironclad ships of the same level, but even so, it is difficult to sink an ironclad ship, especially if the other party does not fight you at all, but just escapes, it is even more difficult to sink the other party.

As it was getting dark and the visibility was getting worse and worse, Japanese naval frigates had arrived to reinforce.

Some water radium was also deployed near the coast of Japan. When the Zhiyuan ship accidentally touched the radium, Chen Shaoyi decisively stopped chasing.

It would not be cost-effective to sacrifice the Zhiyuan ship in order to kill the Kwangjong and Hiei. God knows whether he will touch radium again if he continues to pursue it. Chen Shaoyi stopped when he sees it is better and has already won a big victory, so there is no need to take any more risks.

The Zhiyuan ship was dragged to a nearby reef and stranded for repair, and other warships were responsible for the alert. Chen Shaoyi led Dingyuan, Zhenyuan and Jingyuan to return to the vicinity of the Fusang, and angrily sank the Fusang.

After a night of emergency repairs, the next day at dawn, the Zhiyuan ship finally repaired the big hole that was blown up by water radium and was dragged away by other warships again.

Chen Shaoyi led the fleet back, and eight other cruise ships arrived one after another on the way. Haiqi and Haidai successfully sank the fleeing Akijinzhou, and most of its own damage was repaired.

On the evening of the next day, the main force of the Chinese Navy arrived at the Weihaiwei Naval Base in Shandong, where the Zhiyuan ship and some injured warships were repaired. The other part returned to its home port naval base for repair.

When Li Weiguo arrived in Tianjin, the battle report had been sent to the Forbidden City, and a special person quickly transferred it to Tianjin and handed it over to Li Weiguo for the imperial view.

Seeing the good news, Li Weiguo was very happy. This was a premeditated naval combat plan that he planned to plot against the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet, and the result was successful.

According to Chen Shaoyi's battle in the East China Sea, the two 10,000-ton ironclad ships, the flagships of the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet, Fusang and Hiei. The Kwangor ironclad ships were severely damaged, the Kirishima ironclad ships were destroyed, the cruise ships Kirima, Yugu, Akizushi and Sansushi, and the total tonnage was 41,800. It is predicted that at least 5,000 Japanese naval officers and soldiers were killed, basically destroying the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet.

The Chinese Navy only paid the slight price of 11 soldiers killed and 71 injured. As for the warships, the Zhiyuan ships hit Radium, Haiqi, Haidai, and Haiyue ships severely injured. Chen Shaoyi did not report the details. Li Weiguo did not ask, but if he wanted to reward merits, he immediately rewarded the Navy with 1 million yuan as a reward as a reward. The specific distribution will be left to the Navy Department for handling.

The Sino-Japanese East China Sea War came to an end and the news spread quickly. The Chinese people did not react fiercely to this, because in their eyes, Japan was just a small country. The Chinese Navy defeated the Japanese Navy as a necessary and inevitable result, and it was far less excited than when he defeated the British Asian fleet last year.

But as the news spreads all over the world, it has attracted great attention from the whole world.

This is because when the Sino-Japanese War of the East China Sea broke out, Japan's plenipotentiary envoy was in London, England and the British government for the final negotiations to form an alliance. Britain and Japan officially announced the alliance to the outside world in the afternoon of the same day. In less than an hour after the announcement, news of the defeat of the Japanese joint fleet came.

This is a bare-smacking British and Japanese face!

The clever time chosen by the Chinese Navy has to be admired by governments around the world.

The British government was very confused. When Benjamin was asked about his opinion on this matter by reporters, his face turned red. He knew very well that the British Navy had not breathed for a while. At this time, it was absolutely impossible to go to war with China because of Japan. However, just as the British and Japanese alliance had just formed an alliance, the Japanese joint fleet was almost wiped out by the Chinese navy. This made the original intention of the British and Japanese alliance and the strategic purpose of using the Japanese Navy to restrain the Chinese navy, but he had to take care of Japan's emotions.

So, Benjamin had to declare that when the Sino-Japanese War of the East China Sea broke out, Britain and China did not formally form an alliance, so Britain could not fulfill its alliance and went to war with China.

The British chose to surrender temporarily, but the Japanese side was filled with complaints.

The news of the Japanese joint fleet's defeat was returned to Tokyo, and the Japanese emperor quickly convened a meeting to investigate the reasons and hold them accountable, and filed a solemn protest to the Chinese Vandal Court through the consul in China.

In response to the protests of the Japanese consul, the Chinese Rifanyuan responded righteously that it was the Japanese Navy's attempt to attack China's escort fleet with the intention of hijacking the Chinese emperor, which eventually led to the war between the Sino-Japanese Navy in the East China Sea. The Chinese government not only did not have any responsibility, but instead issued an ultimatum to Japan, demanding that Japan severely punish war criminals and compensate the losses of the Chinese Navy's warships and personnel.

The Japanese consul was originally very weak in diplomacy with China, but now the joint fleet is almost completely destroyed, and he has no confidence to fight against China.

When the news came back to Japan, Emperor Meiji felt humiliated and angry. On the one hand, he urged the Japanese consul in China to conduct diplomatic debates, and on the other hand, he launched an internal investigation.

Takamoto Saigo changed his normal behavior in the military court, insisting that he only led the joint fleet to conduct military exercises in the West Sea and had no intention of intercepting the Chinese escort fleet to hijack the Chinese emperor. It was entirely the Chinese navy's active attack. The Japanese navy was forced to defend itself, and eventually could not defeat the Chinese navy and returned after defeat.

Takamori Saigo insisted that he was not guilty, but made contributions, because he successfully brought the Kwangon and Kirishima back, otherwise it would be annihilated. Obviously, it is very important for Japan to preserve the two ironclad ships.

Emperor Meiji was confused. He clearly guessed that Saigo Takamoto secretly hijacked the Chinese Emperor Li Weiguo, but failed to succeed. He was even more aware that the main fleet of the Chinese Navy came to reinforce so quickly. It was obvious that it had already planned that it deliberately led the Japanese joint fleet to take the bait and then annihilated it in one fell swoop.

Whether it is Takamoto Saigo or the Chinese Emperor Li Weiguo, in the eyes of Emperor Meiji, these two guys are lying, and they are not good things.

The Japanese military court had no choice but to use Takamoto Saigo because the remaining Japanese ships, the King Kong and Kirishima, all spoke, and refused to mention Takamoto Saigo took them to hijack the Chinese emperor. He insisted that the military exercise was suddenly attacked by the Chinese navy.

This is because the Japanese joint fleet was defeated and they had to make an excuse for the defeat. If Takamoto Saigo told the truth, then he would be done. If the remaining Japanese naval officers and soldiers told the truth, then their reputation would be ruined and their future would be over.

Takamori Saigo promised to give all the martyred Japanese naval officers and soldiers a generous funeral and subsidies they should have. If the truth is revealed, then the Japanese naval officers and soldiers who were defeated and died will not receive a penny of subsidy, but will bear the national infamy. Therefore, the two harms are of less importance, and all the officers and soldiers stand on Takamori Saigo.

Of course, there is another important reason, that is, Takaho Saigo is not so stupid that everyone knows that he wants to sneak attack and hijack the Chinese emperor. Most of the Japanese army received orders for military exercises, and only a few senior officers knew about it. But they were all confidants of Takaho Saigo, so naturally they would not say it out.

Therefore, China accused Japan of intending to hijack the Chinese emperor. Japan could not find out the reason, so it could only accuse the Chinese navy of sneak attacks according to Takamori Saigo.

On April 3, 3972, and on May 1, 1872, in order to give an explanation to the Japanese people, the Japanese Emperor issued an edict to reject China's ultimatum and declared that Japan and China were in a state of hostility.

The reason is a state of hostility rather than a state of war. This is because Japan originally planned to declare war on China. Anyway, the Japanese navy has almost been destroyed and it is impossible to engage in naval warfare. It is not easy for the Chinese Shence Army to expedition to Japan. The Japanese firmly believe that they can defeat the Chinese Shence Army on the ground, so they do not care about declaring war. Instead, they have to express their protests against China through declaring war and restore the dignity of the Japanese.

However, after all, Britain and Japan have become alliances, and the British government does not want Japan to declare war on China. At least not now.

The secret interference of Britain also requires the full support of Britain, so it finally came to a state of hostility without any pain.

At the same time, the UK also expressed the British attitude to the Chinese Phantom House through its ambassador to China, hoping that China and Japan would not have a war.

In response to this situation, the Chinese Lifanyuan had a firm attitude at the beginning and threatened to prepare for war against Japan.

However, when Li Weiguo finally made his statement, Li Weiguo shook his head and had no intention of going to expedition to Japan.

To outsiders, this is a bit incredible. Only Li Weiguo knew in his heart that once war started against Japan, the Chinese Shence Army would have to expedition to Japan. Although the war started and military expenditure surged, China's finances could still support it.

But the question is whether this war is worth it. Li Weiguo has to consider the overall factors. What benefits can the expedition to Japan bring to China? Japan is poor and broken, and there is no resource for industrial development for plunder.

In addition, Japan is a fighting nation. If it attacks the Japanese mainland, the resistance it encounters is unprecedented. If it cannot conquer Japan in a short time, it will fall into an endless war of attrition. The Vietnam War, the Afghan War, etc. all show a problem. Even the United States and the Soviet Union, the later superpowers, will be dragged down by a small country.

China has just begun to rise, and Li Weiguo does not want to block national destiny for a Japan that has no war value. Of course, Li Weiguo also wants to deal with Japan, but not now, according to Li Weiguo's revengeful personality, when he has an atomic bomb, he will not just throw two cliffs.

In the end, Li Weiguo deliberately gave the British a step forward, asking Japan to compensate the Chinese navy for losses of one million yuan, which was used to repair warships, ammunition consumption and personnel compensation. At the same time, he asked the Japanese capital Tokyo to rename it, because Tokyo is the nickname of Bianliang, the capital of the Song Dynasty in China, and the Japanese capital is not allowed to be called Tokyo.

The former requirement was neither high nor low, and the British government put pressure on Japan and solved it quickly, but the latter problem was purely that Li Weiguo was deliberately looking for trouble, disgusting and humiliating Japan.

But in the end, Britain and Japan chose to surrender. After all, they can't beat China now, so they can only endure it.

Therefore, the Japanese Emperor issued an edict, and Tokyo was changed back to its original title, and it was still called Edo, which was considered to be surrendering to China.

Edo, which had just been renamed Tokyo for only two years, quickly became a joke around the world. The Japanese hold grudges and vowed to defeat China one day and change Edo back to Tokyo with dignity.

The Japanese were plotted by Li Weiguo, and they suffered losses and were humiliated after being humiliated. This also aroused their will to revenge and accelerated their alliance with Britain.

Previously, the British-Japanese alliance was not strong because many unequal treaties were signed between Britain and Japan. With the defeat of the Japanese joint fleet in the East China Sea Battle, the Japanese government became more aware of the importance of the navy, so it could only ask Britain for help.

From a certain perspective, the British government was still very happy that the Japanese Navy was defeated, so Japan relied more on Britain and became the British younger brother and pawn, helping Britain to restrain China in Asia.

Therefore, the British government quickly passed a resolution to provide interest-free loans and low-interest loans to Japan to help Japan develop its economic and military strength. Among them, interest-free loans come from British government banks, about 10 million pounds. The low-interest loans come from British private capital merchants, about 40 million pounds, and the total amount is about 50 million pounds. This huge sum will greatly help Japan carry out modern industrial construction and military construction.

At the same time, the UK is also helping Japan restore its naval power and agreeing to export four new ten-ton iron armored ships and four new five thousand-ton armored cruise ships to Japan. The cost is almost the same as the purchase price of the British Navy, which shows its care for Japan.

However, Japan's finances were very tense in the 1970s, and even if Britain did not make money and sold it to Japanese warships, the Japanese government could not bear it.

In order to solve the financial problem, Emperor Meiji had to take the lead in tightening his belt to save money. At the same time, Japan developed its economy but had no resources to export, so he encouraged Japanese citizens to work and earn foreign exchange abroad. Among them, Japanese men went abroad to work as piglet slaves like black Africans, and it was difficult to generate foreign exchange income.

However, Japanese women are basically engaged in prostitution and can earn a lot of foreign exchange. Gradually, more and more Japanese women are in the world, supporting the development of Japan's economy from generation to generation.
Chapter completed!