The weather in the South China Sea was good at the beginning of February, or as long as there were no storms at sea, the weather was good. The news that Wei Ze wanted to go north did not have any impact on Lan Fang, and when the central government was discussing whether Wei Ze was going north, Lan Fang didn't know that this happened because of communication problems.

At this time, China's first island chain had been basically completed, and almost all of the islands southeast of Japan were taken by China's Tongguò contract, and Britain recognized China's sovereignty over these islands in the Sino-British secret treaty. To the south are Taiwan, Luzon, and Lanfang. It's just that at this time, due to technical reasons, the concept of the first island chain has not been really formed, and even so, Lanfang is the most important piece of the South China Sea islands.

Wei Ze himself didn't know how lucky he was, if he moved Lan Fang a few years later, things would be completely different. Borneo has not only the Lan Fong regime, but also the country of Brunei. Historically, after 1870, Britain attacked Brunei and turned Brunei into a British protectorate. After two or three years of war, the king of Brunei sent his family to China, who "admired Chinese culture". China signed the Treaty of Brunei in the legal sense, and China's substantive merger with Brunei was completed. Since then, the whole of Borneo has become part of China.

Having got the whole of Borneo, the next step is naturally to continue south. The Dutch East Indies are not far from Borneo, and even a stone's throw away by sea. The blue sky, the white sand beaches in the distance, and the sea that takes on a different blue color due to different shades of water, the South China Sea Fleet of the Liberation Army is cruising in such a beautiful scenery.

The Chinese Navy now has four major fleets, which are the North Sea Fleet, the Yellow Sea Fleet, the East China Sea Fleet, and the South China Sea Fleet from north to south. The second strongest of the four fleets is the South China Sea Fleet. Recently, there has been a talk in the Navy that it wants to reformulate the fleet number based on the theater of operations. Starting from the Fourth Fleet, the fleet will be stationed according to the theater of operations in each sea area. These are all adjustments to facilitate paperwork and combat inference, and what really determines the strength of the fleet is the total number of warships, tonnage, and combat effectiveness.

On 4 February, the voyage records of the Second Squadron of the South China Sea Fleet recorded the following: "At 10:18 a.m., a warship was spotted about 10 nautical miles to the south. ”

If the Dutch East Indies, or the series of islands in northern Australia that line from east to west, are described as long snakes, Lan Fong Province is undoubtedly a boulder on the back of this long snake. The distance to attack south from Borneo was short. This is also the reason why the Liberation Army is full of confidence in the capture of the Dutch East Indies. The navy could easily reach several important ports in the Dutch East Indies, and the army could easily land under naval protection. The Dutch did not have a decent navy, and the Chinese warships took full advantage of this to conduct comprehensive hydrographic surveys of the various routes, and the fleet was often physically driven and prepared.

The preparations were all supposed to be made, and war historians have mixed opinions on the choice of the second squadron at 10:30 a.m. The Second Fleet chose to face that fleet at that time, and did not take a more conservative approach.

At 11 o'clock, the Spanish naval flag was raised by the opposing fleet, and the two sides immediately entered a state of battle.

Although Spain is already thousands of miles away from China. China and Spain were still belligerents, and the Chinese fleet was ready for battle when it approached the enemy, and when it saw the enemy's bare mast raising the Spanish naval flag, the Chinese navy immediately ordered the main guns on the deck to fire on the Spanish warship, and the two steam-sail-powered fleets immediately entered the battle phase.

The Liberation Army participated in the war with eight warships, four of which were of more than 3,000 tons. If they were all small ships of more than 1,000 tons, the commander of the Second Fleet would not order them to approach them, but would take a close look. The number of the opposite fleet was about ten, four of which were small ships, and six of them were ironclad ships of four thousand tons. Although the Spanish warships had an advantage in number and tonnage, the advantage was not so great.

The actual battle was not as evenly matched as the numbers on paper suggested, and the Chinese Navy was completely inferior when it entered the battle line to bombard. The range and power of the Spanish fleet's guns were terrifying, and the main guns could easily penetrate even the 150 mm iron armor of the Liberation Army.

After more than half an hour of artillery fighting, a cannonball pierced the iron armor of the flagship Changsha of the Second Fleet, and the shell smashed into the boiler room. During the brutal pursuit, two more Chinese warships were hit and sank. When the Chinese Second Fleet approached the Chinese ports, the Spanish fleet gave up the pursuit and moved on.

Lan Phuong Province immediately raised its combat readiness level, and at the same time transmitted a message to the central government to report the enemy's coming attack.

The central government received this news on February 10, because the laying of submarine cables has not yet been completed, and the speed of information transmission at sea is too slow. On February 11, the central government received another telegram that just after Lan Phuong Province raised its defensive level, another detachment was attacked by the enemy, this time it was not bad, only one warship was sunk on the Chinese side, and two of the enemy's warships seemed to have a problem with artillery bombing, so the battle was interrupted, and both sides retreated.

"How did the Spaniards start fighting back against us now? Aren't they incapable? "Someone in the military commissar raised this question.

Weese sneered, "We only saw the enemy's warships with the Spanish Navy flag, and anyone can produce the Spanish Navy flag, and anyone can hang it on their own mast when the war starts." When you see those flags, can you be sure that the enemy is a Spaniard? ”

"What?" Some comrades were bluffed, and if we put it that way, there were too many enemies, the Dutch, the British, the French, and even the Americans. There are just a few countries in this sea area that have the strength to use ironclad ships to wage war with China.

Seeing Wei Ze close his eyes and ponder, everyone only dared to talk in a low voice. Europe and the United States are both countries of foreign devils, and everyone has no good opinion of them. Everyone was still in high spirits preparing to attack the Dutch East Indies in 1870. Now the fleet of Lan Phuong Province is suddenly attacked by the enemy's navy, which is really a bit of a blow to the head. The enemy is not as weak and incompetent as imagined, they still have the ability to fight back, and even inflict considerable losses on China with their fangs and claws.

Just as these two naval battles were being discussed, Wei Ze suddenly opened his eyes, "Order Lanfang Province to conduct an internal inventory, there must be a traitor in the navy!" ”