Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/79

 wounded. It was a brilliant victory, and it proved to be the prelude of another equally conspicuous success at sea.

For, on September 17th, the very day after the battle at Pyöng-yang, a great naval fight took place near the mouth of the Yalu River, which forms the northern boundary of Korea. Fourteen Chinese warships and six torpedo-boats were returning to home ports after convoying a fleet of transports to the Yalu, when they encountered eleven Japanese men-of-war cruising in the Yellow Sea. Hitherto the Chinese had sedulously avoided a contest at sea. Their fleet was the stronger, since it included two armoured line-of-battle ships of over seven thousand tons' displacement, whereas the most powerful vessels on the Japanese side were belted cruisers of only four thousand tons. In the hands of an admiral appreciating the value of sea power, China's naval force would certainly have been directed against Japan's maritime communications, since a successful blow struck there must have put an end to the Korean campaign. History had already demonstrated that fact, for on two occasions in former ages attempts made by Japan to conquer the peninsula were rendered abortive by the superior maritime strength of the Koreans and Chinese. On land her soldiers proved invincible, but her sea-route being severed, she had to abandon the enterprise in each case. The Chinese, however, failed to read history.