"fire!"

Somewhere in the South China Sea, six scorching balls of fire erupted from the two obliquely connected exposed turrets of the Indian battleship Empress of India. Six 16-inch (406mm) cannons fired at the four Saxony-class battleships in the distance.

Let out a roar.

"Commander, the distance is too far, we can't hit..."

"Boom boom boom..."

Before Chief of Staff of the British Eastern Fleet Aspen could finish speaking, the 16-inch main guns of the Royal Oak and Remillis on the left and right of the Empress of India also roared, and another 12 giant 16-inch shells were fired at the gunpowder.

Under the thrust, small black spots were formed, which can still be observed with the naked eye.

The speed reached four Chinese ironclads flying 11,000 meters away. This distance will become the best distance for battleship exchanges in twenty or thirty years, but it is indeed a bit far now. Only a dozen huge water columns were seen rising into the sky.

, and then suddenly dispersed and turned into dots of water droplets.

"Commander, it's too far. It's a complete waste of ammunition." Aspen said, "Our speed is more than 4 knots faster than them. We can get closer to 7,400 meters in one hour. Then it will take another two hours to kill them all.

.”

"Three hours?" Arthur Hood smiled bitterly, looked at the four Chinese armored ships in front of him, and shook his head, "We won't have an hour. They didn't choose the route in a panic, but deliberately lured us away from the battlefield.

Open! It must be like this!"

"But the bombardment team didn't find anything?"

"That's because the Chinese can keep their composure!" Arthur Hood said with certainty, "In fact, as long as their main fleet appears on the battlefield, our artillery squadron can only retreat immediately. If we still want those steam sailing ships

words."

"Then we are still going to fight?" Aspen asked hesitantly.

"Of course!" Arthur Hood snorted. "Didn't I leave six Devastated-class and Victory-class ships? They are enough to cover the retreat of the main force of the fleet. If the Chinese really ambush somewhere in the South China Sea,

A large fleet."

He paused for a moment and showed a confident smile, "Those are six 10,000-ton battleships, equipped with 16-inch cannons. The Chinese have no battleships that can fight us. And according to reliable intelligence, they

Not enough to hit

A naval gun that can penetrate the armor of any of our battleships... The Chinese people's naval gun development idea is to fire guns at full speed. The current battle has proved this. They have no large-caliber artillery at all, and they can only damage our ships. No.

It is likely to result in sinking."

"But the damage...our shipyards in Singapore, Kolkata and Mumbai cannot repair too many damaged ships. There are not enough dry docks, and the parts need to be shipped from Europe."

"I know, but we still can't miss any opportunity to sink China's four battleships... What I want is to sink, not damage!" Arthur Hood said, "As for our losses... the worst is to send them back.

If Europe goes to Europe for repairs, as long as the three Indian Empress-class ships, three Devastation-class ships and three Victory-class ships do not suffer major damage, I can still rely on them to defend Singapore for several months."

The biggest weakness of the British Eastern Fleet is actually the same as the Chinese Army that penetrates deep into India. It does not have reliable logistics. If the number of damaged warships is not many, it is okay. If there are really 20 or 30 serious damage, more than half of them may have to go back to Europe.

Without a year and a half, these ships would not be able to come back at all.

If the country still wants to maintain sea control in the South Ocean or the Indian Ocean, it can only let other ships replace them. However, in this way, the defense in the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean will be empty, in case the French betray their trust and become the white world

Traitor, the British Empire is about to die suddenly!

So Hood's plan is to inflict real heavy damage to the Chinese Nanyang Fleet in this naval battle - to sink as many Chinese warships as possible. For the British Royal Navy, it is meaningless to damage Chinese warships in the Nanyang battlefield. They

It will take a month or two at most before we can go to sea to perform combat missions again... Arthur Hood, who was the Director of Ordnance of the British Navy, knows best how powerful China's shipbuilding and ship repair capabilities are!

"Lei, you must have heard Napoleon's famous saying. The essence of war is to make the enemy fear and obey our will... It seems to be so. We must now sink as many enemy ships as possible to make China

The people felt scared and gave up the control of the sea in Nanyang. It must be sunk! If it is only wounded, they are not afraid at all!"

…

"Commander, the British are getting closer!"

In the damaged command tower of the Yongli, the communications officer Zhu Guohui screamed again. The wound on his head was no longer bleeding, but his whole body was in terrible pain. I am afraid that many bones were cracked by the fall just now.

Got it!

The elderly Yu Guibei seems to have sprained his feet. Now he is unable to stand, so he sits on the floor in the command tower and conducts operations. Enomoto Takeyoshi is not injured at all, and is now personally maneuvering the ship to avoid the falling shells.

"How much distance is there?" Takehiro Enomoto asked.

"About 10,000 meters...the three British battleships ran at least 16 knots!" replied Hikouchi Uemura, the first mate of the Everlasting. He now holds the positions of sea officer and gunnery officer, because those two unlucky ones

Dan fell off the bridge and died!

"Commander, we can't run away..."

"Boom boom..."

The three British battleships fired another salvo, and one of the shells landed on the sea less than 30 meters away from the starboard side of the Everlasting, causing splashes of water to hit the deck of the Everlasting.

'I'm dead now...' Zhu Guohui thought of his mother, a maid who was favored by Emperor Zhu and became pregnant as a chosen maid. She only had one child of her own and no prominent family background to rely on. She was her hope.

, how sad she would be without herself!

Yu Guibei said feebly at this time: "How far are we from the Riau Islands?"

Uemura Hikonosei checked the chart and replied: "The Riau Islands? It's less than 15 nautical miles away, just to the southeast of us. Commander, what do you mean... to the Riau Islands? There doesn't seem to be any of our forts there."

?”

The Riau Islands are an affiliated archipelago of Borneo, belonging to Lanfang Province (now the five provinces of Borneo have been redivided into four provinces, Hung Minh Province in the north, Lanfang Province in the west, Nanyang Province in the south, and Nanyang Province in the east).

Phuong Bai Province). Although this archipelago is close to the Strait of Malacca, its geographical location is

Very important. However, the Ming army's defense arrangements there were very sloppy and did not build forts and military ports. It is not that they were derelict in their duties or were reluctant to spend money, because this is not an era when aviation dominates the ocean. A fort can block a very small area of ​​the sea, and the enemy fleet

It was easily bypassed.

Yu Guibei shook his head, "No, our four Saxon-class ships are forts!"

…

"Report, received a telegram from the battleship Yongli. The Yongli, Longwu, Shaowu, and Hongguang are retreating towards the Riau Islands. Three British Indian Queen-class ships are chasing them! The current position is

East longitude xx, north latitude xx.”

In the command tower of the Tianjin fast cruiser, the communications officer reported the telegram just received.

"Commander, they are here." Zhu Guoguang quickly marked the location on the chart table. "It is about 15 to 20 nautical miles away from the main combat zone... I think we can insert from the middle."

"Cut off the retreat route of the British fleet?" Wang Bourne tapped lightly on the map table, "Zixiu (Zhu Guoguang's trade name) has a big appetite."

Zhu Guoguang smiled, "The risk is not small, it is very likely to be attacked by the British!" He glanced at Wang Boern, "Commander, do you want to do it?"

"How not to do it?" Wang Boern chuckled, "If you, the prince, are not afraid, what do I, the young prince, have to be afraid of? Even if the British three Indian Queens go north, won't we have saved four Saxon-class ships? Moreover, Our ten Tianjin-class ships all have a high speed of 18.2 knots. If we can’t defeat them, are we afraid that we won’t be able to move away?”
Chapter completed!