In fact, after the expeditionary fleet left Cam Ranh Bay, it was under the strict control of the KPA. The East China Government specially dispatched the Sanya ship to take charge of monitoring the movements of the expeditionary fleet. Therefore, with the cooperation of the Sanya ship and the UAV, almost all the movements of the expeditionary fleet, including the movements of the reconnaissance ships dispatched, are under the monitoring of the Sanya ship, and they are naturally fully controlled by the People's Army.

The Vent River was able to discover the KPA's reconnaissance ship and thus further discover the KPA fleet, but in fact, it was a deliberate arrangement made by the KPA fleet, with the aim of allowing the expeditionary force to discover the KPA fleet, so as to attract the attention of the expeditionary force fleet and rush to the Taiwan Strait to fight a decisive battle with the KPA fleet.

The expeditionary fleet naturally didn't know anything about this, and at this time, everyone was immersed in the excitement of discovering the enemy fleet, and the Bi Jing expeditionary fleet was not afraid to fight the People's Army, but it was the most physically and mentally exhausting to be on guard all the time, and now that they found the People's Army fleet, they were naturally relieved.

The army commander of the expeditionary force, Admiral Beauchamp of France, and the naval commanders of France, the Netherlands, and Russia, rushed to the Edward VII to consult with Phillips on the next movement of the expeditionary fleet.

The naval commanders of France, the Netherlands and Russia all agreed to concentrate the strength of the fleet and fight a decisive battle with the discovered People's Army fleet, because they all knew that although the strength of the expeditionary force fleet was strong, Bi Jing was on an expedition, which was not conducive to a long war, and this time it was rare to encounter the main fleet of the East China government, which was six battleships, and if these six battleships could be sunk in one fell swoop, then this battle could be regarded as a sure victory. Only Beauchamp was the commander of the army and did not speak on the decisions of the Navy.

In fact, Phillips was also inclined to face the People's Army fleet in his heart, because this opportunity was too difficult, and if he missed this opportunity, it would not be easy to find a similar opportunity in the future, and it could even be said that there was no such opportunity at all. According to Phillips's judgment, the KPA Navy was planning to ambush in the Taiwan Strait and wait for an opportunity to surprise the expeditionary fleet, so it concentrated the huge strength of six battleships and planned to take the expeditionary fleet by surprise. But he didn't expect that because the expeditionary force fleet was going to anchor in Kaohsiung, the People's Army fleet was discovered. In this way, I am indeed a little lucky.

After this time, the KPA will basically not concentrate so many battleships to attack and engage in a head-on battle with the expeditionary fleet. Therefore, this can almost be said to be the only chance for a quick victory for the expeditionary fleet, and it was a good opportunity to encounter such a good opportunity when it first arrived in the Far Eastern seas, and the expeditionary fleet was simply full of good luck.

But maybe this fighter came too suddenly, too easily, and Phillips was even ready to fight a long-term cat-and-mouse war with the People's Army Navy, but suddenly won the jackpot, or the kind with the bonus capped, Phillips felt a little uneasy in his heart, and faintly felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't say what was wrong, because all this was logical and reasonable.

Under normal circumstances, the People's Army Navy is of course unable to engage in a head-on confrontation with the expeditionary force fleet, so it can only assault tactics; after the expeditionary force fleet left Cam Ranh Bay, it has always been guarding against a surprise attack by the People's Army, and the Taiwan Strait is indeed a sea area suitable for the navy to set up ambushes; if the expeditionary force fleet is not stationed in Kaohsiung, it will definitely sail from the waters off Taiwan, then the KPA fleet can either intercept or follow the pursuit, which is a great threat to the expeditionary force fleet. It was only the People's Army that could not have predicted that the expeditionary force fleet would be stationed in Kaohsiung and anchored, and it was discovered by the reconnaissance ships of the expeditionary force fleet.

But it was all so plausible that it made Phillips suspicious and uneasy. It's just that this kind of suspicion is purely intuitive, and there is no reason for it, and you can't give up this great opportunity to destroy the main fleet of the People's Army because you feel that there is a ghost in your heart. Therefore, Phillips could only suppress the uneasiness in his heart and decided to lead the fleet to attack the fleet of the People's Army.

In the expeditionary fleet, there are more than 60 non-combat ships, most of which are carrying soldiers, equipment, and materials of the army, and if these non-combat ships are allowed to fight with the expeditionary fleet, it will not only slow down the speed of the expeditionary fleet, but also have to allocate some warships to protect these non-combat ships, which will become a burden to the fleet. Fortunately, at this time, the fleet was not far from Kaohsiung, and it was originally planned to place the army in Kaohsiung, so Phillips also decided to take advantage of this opportunity to let some non-combat ships be stationed in Kaohsiung first, and the expeditionary force fleet only brought a small number of auxiliary ships to meet the KPA fleet.

Of course, although the location of the KPA fleet has now been determined, it is also necessary to pull out some warships to protect these non-combat ships and station them in Kaohsiung Port, just in case, the Bijing Expeditionary Force fleet is far away from the home field, and everything should be done with caution. Of course, the scale of the expeditionary fleet is huge, and it is not difficult to detach some warships to protect non-combat ships. Therefore, Phillips decided after consultation with everyone that the two armored cruisers of the Dutch fleet, the Utrecht and the Republic, would be the main team, and then a destroyer detachment would be drawn from the British and French fleets, a total of 12 warships, to protect these non-combat ships in Kaohsiung.

After the East China Government evacuated overseas Chinese from Java, the Netherlands specially purchased two 7,000-ton armored cruisers from Italy in order to develop its naval strength.

In fact, the combat effectiveness of these two armored cruisers is still good, but the position in the entire expeditionary fleet is very awkward, because the two armored cruisers cannot form a sub-fleet, and there are no other armored cruisers to form a team, because the British and French armored cruisers each have their own formations, and they are both their own warships, and they are skilled in cooperating with each other.

Although the Netherlands also had only 2 battleships, it could be combined with the 3 Russian battleships to form a detachment, but this time the Russians did not have armored cruisers, so the two Dutch armored cruisers became redundant, and could only be formed into a team with the 4 Dutch protective cruisers, but the combat purpose of the armored cruisers and the protective cruisers was different.

The People's Army Navy can include Qingzhou and Yizhou in the armored cruiser fleet, this is because although these two warships are defined as large protective cruisers by the People's Army Navy, they are also equipped with sideside vertical armor, according to the broad definition, as long as there is sideboard vertical armor, it can be designated as an armored cruiser, and these two warships and Jinan-class armored cruisers use the same ship type, and the tonnage difference is only more than 1,000 tons, so they can also fight with the armored cruiser fleet.

However, the four Dutch protective cruisers are 4,000-ton Armstrong-type ships customized to the United Kingdom, that is, they are the same type of ships as the Yoshino of the former Japanese Navy, and the Haitian and Haiqi of the Beiyang Naval Division.

It was precisely because these two armored cruisers were somewhat redundant that they were sent precisely to escort the army ships. After this distribution, the British fleet retained 10 transports, France 6, and the Netherlands and Russia 1 each, for a total of 18 non-combat ships. The burden on the expeditionary fleet has also been greatly lightened, and it is now possible to calmly go into battle.

However, if the KPA fleet notices and retreats during this time, it will be a good opportunity to annihilate the enemy's main force, so Phillips decided to send a fleet first, rush to engage with the KPA fleet and drag the other side, waiting for the main fleet to arrive.

At this time, Phillips had already received definite news, the total number of this fleet of the People's Army was about 25, in addition to the 6 battleships identified, there were probably 6 large armored cruisers, 8-9 protective cruisers, and about 10 destroyers.

However, the dispatched fleet still needs to be seriously considered, and its strength cannot be too strong, nor too weak, because if it is too strong, it will scare away the KPA fleet, and then its careful arrangement will be in vain; and if it is too weak, it will send the KPA fleet to its head in vain, after all, the naval battle of the Natuna Islands proved that the combat effectiveness of the KPA fleet is quite strong and it is not easy to deal with. Therefore, after careful consideration, Phillips finally decided that the British First Battleship Detachment would be the main force, with an armored cruiser detachment, a protective cruiser detachment, and a destroyer detachment, a total of 22 warships, including 8 battleships, 4 armored cruisers, and 5 protective cruisers.

The overall strength of this fleet is roughly the same as that of the KPA fleet, and since it is composed entirely of British warships, although it is a temporary formation, because the training style and naval combat concept are similar, there will not be too many problems in coordination and cooperation, and although the number of battleships is two more, it will not scare the KPA fleet away, and it can be said that it is just right that it will not be as vulnerable as the Far Eastern Fleet.

At the same time, Phillips appointed Rear Admiral Martinez, commander of the 1st Battleship Detachment, who was also the captain of the battleship Dreadnought, as the temporary commander of this fleet. Rear Admiral Martinez received the order, and immediately led the fleet out of the group, speeding towards the side of the KPA fleet. Half an hour later, Martinez's fleet had completely detached itself from the expeditionary fleet, raised its speed to about 16 knots, and gradually disappeared into the distance.

Phillips calculated on the map that it would take about three hours for Martinez's fleet to make contact with the KPA fleet, so he put it aside for the time being and focused on the re-detachment of the fleet first.

Soon, non-combat ships, as well as escort warships, also separated from the Far Eastern Fleet and headed for Kaohsiung. The rest of the fleet was regrouped by Phillips, the remaining warships of the British fleet were one group, and the Dutch Russian warships were incorporated into the French fleet as another team, and the two fleets were divided into two columns, side by side, and also accelerated in the direction of the People's Army fleet.