Li Shengjun, the commander of the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the 22nd Independent Brigade, learned that the 3rd Marine Division of the Silver Wolf Imperial Navy had begun to retreat, so he discussed with Wen Ximing, the deputy commander of the regiment: "Brother Ximing, we still have the 1st Infantry Battalion, the 2nd Infantry Battalion, the 8th Infantry Battalion and 18 supplementary battalions in our hands and it is useless.

Do you think we're taking advantage of the retreat of the Third Marine Division of the Silver Wolf Empire and taking the opportunity to beat them? ”

Up to now, Li Shengjun has used the young and strong men recruited from the civilians of Xiangshi Island to form a total of 30 supplementary battalions, of which 12 supplementary battalions have been assigned to positions on the front line.

Wen Ximing thought about it for a moment and said, "If you just send a small number of troops to carry out a harassing pursuit, I have no opinion.

But I am not in favor of a large-scale pursuit, and let's not forget that near the beach to the west, there are still a dozen enemy warships.

When the Third Marine Division of the Silver Wolf Empire retreated, it could be covered by the fire of these dozen warships at any time. ”

Li Shengjun nodded, "I'm not going to launch a large-scale pursuit either.

I plan to give way to the 2nd Infantry Battalion and the 8th Infantry Battalion, which are located near the forward positions, in company and platoon units, for a limited pursuit of the 3rd Marine Division of the Silver Wolf Empire.

Anyway, you can't let them come and go when they want. ”

Then Li Shengjun hesitated, "Brother Ximing, do you think the coastal defense fleet can win?" ”

Wen Ximing's face suddenly showed excitement, "The telegram sent to us by the Major General said that the coastal defense fleet has gathered 14 battleships with full main guns, 9 all-steel battleships, 10 large armored cruisers and 2 destroyers this time.

With such a strong strength, victory will definitely belong to our Zhou family's coastal defense fleet! ”

Li Shengjun scratched his head, "But when did the coastal defense fleet have so many battleships with all main guns and large armored cruisers?" ”

"I guess the major general got it!

Think about it, our Ganyang Zhou family actually has 14 battleships with all main guns, and I want to change careers to become a navy. ”

"Just think about it, I'm not going to let you go.

You're gone, let me go where to find such a compatible partner. ”

"Hehe, of course I'm not leaving.

This time, our regiment has made such great achievements, and I think that our regiment should soon be expanded into a brigade-level unit. ”

Compared with Li Shengjun and Wen Ximing's lively conversation and laughter, Long Ge, the commander of the Third Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Silver Wolf Empire, was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.

Seeing Gorey, the deputy commander of the Third Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Silver Wolf Empire, walking over with a telegram, he hurriedly greeted him, "What do you mean by the Admiralty over there?" ”

Gorry said with a wry smile: "The Admiralty asked us to verify the situation again, those people in the Admiralty still don't believe that a small family in the Han and Tang Empires will have 14 battleships with full main guns." ”

Longra reached out and snatched the telegram from Gorri's hand, read it quickly, and then angrily tore up the telegram, "Xiangshi Island is about to start fighting, and let's verify the situation!" ”

Gorri sighed and said: "Commander, there should be no time to stop this naval battle now, I can only hope that Brigadier General Yerk will perform a miracle." ”

Longra gritted his teeth and said, "That guy Yerk is a madman!"

The other side had 14 all-main-gun battleships and 9 all-steel battleships, while he only had 4 all-main-gun battleships and 6 all-steel battleships.

I should have given the madman the order to retreat if I had known! ”

Although Longra asked Yerk to decide whether to fight or retreat, Longra believed that Yerk would definitely choose to retreat temporarily.

After all, the other side suddenly appeared 14 battleships with full main guns, which were far beyond the detachment led by Yerk in terms of strength.

In this way, in the future, even if the Admiralty and the Governor's Office will be held accountable for retreating without a fight, Yerk will bear the blame.

But Longra never imagined that Yerk would choose to take the initiative to fight.

You must know that in the face of the Ganyang City Coastal Defense Fleet with 14 all-main gun battleships, even if all the capital ships of the Third Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Silver Wolf Empire, 7 all-main gun battleships and 12 all-steel battleships are gathered, Longra is not sure of victory.

Now, once the detachment led by Yerk suffered too much loss, even if he, the commander, did not directly give the order to go to war, he could not escape the blame when the Admiralty and the Governor's Office tracked it down.

Longra then said hatefully: "Keep in touch with the Red Horned Eagle, I want to know the situation on the battlefield at all times!" ”

As the fleets of both sides continued to close the distance, both fleets hoped to seize the "T" prefix so that all their main guns could be aimed at each other, while the opposing side had only the battleship at the front of the column to be able to use the main guns on the front of the hull to return fire.

But a big part of the "T" prefix depends on luck.

Since the warships on both sides are advancing at high speed, it is very likely that because the timing is not mastered well, they will change from a horizontal to a vertical with the prefix "T", and thus be passively beaten.

At 9:16 a.m. on January 28, 1537, when the four all-main gun battleships and six all-steel battleships of the Third Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Silver Wolf Empire were the first to open fire.

The battle lines of the fleets of the two sides formed a figure-eight shape running in the opposite direction, with a distance of about 11,000 meters.

If the battle lines of the two sides continue to advance in this "eight" shape, the distance between the battle lines of the two sides will continue to shorten.

Immediately, on the side of the coastal defense fleet, 6 battleships, 8 battlecruisers, and 4 all-steel battleships, which had become a long snake formation, also launched a counterattack with their main guns.

However, the first round of main gun firing on both sides did not achieve any results.

In addition, the five all-steel battleships of the third formation of the coastal defense fleet, the Weibing, Weiding, Weiwu, Weiji, and Weigeng, could only temporarily act as cheering groups because they were equipped with 35 times the caliber 280 mm main guns and had an effective firing range of 11,000 meters.

The second round of gun fire from the Third Fleet of the Silver Wolf Empire's Royal Navy still did not hit any targets.

And the second round of main gun shooting on the side of the coastal defense fleet, I don't know if it was because of Zhou Rui's presence on the Zhenhai, his 5.0 luck played a role.

In the second round of main gun salvo, a 300-mm shell from the Zhenhai hit the Purple Thunderbird all-main gun battleship of the Third Fleet of the Silver Wolf Empire's Royal Navy.

Although it did not cause any serious damage to the Purple Thunderbird, destroying only 1 secondary gun and 2 anti-aircraft guns, it was able to hit the enemy warship first, which also made the officers and men of the coastal defense fleet excited.

The Purple Thunderbird and the Red Horned Eagle, where the temporary commander Yerk belongs, both belong to the Firedove-class all-main gun battleships of the Silver Wolf Imperial Navy, with a full load displacement of 27,500 tons and a maximum speed of 20 knots.

It was equipped with 5 twin 45x caliber 340 mm main guns, 16 45x caliber 150 mm secondary guns, 16 30 mm anti-aircraft guns, 30 13 mm anti-aircraft machine guns, and 4 550 mm torpedo tubes.

The broadside armor belt was from 150 mm to 250 mm, the main deck armor was 60 mm, the main turret armor was 280 mm, and the crew was 1060 people.

The Fire Pigeon class is the third all-main gun battleship of the Silver Wolf Imperial Navy, and it is also the latest all-main gun battleship in active service.

The Third Fleet of the Silver Wolf Imperial Navy is currently only equipped with these two Fire Pigeon-class battleships with full main guns.

However, the officers and men of the coastal defense fleet were not happy for long.

Immediately after that, the Purple Thunderbird all-main gun battleship of the Third Fleet of the Silver Wolf Imperial Navy used a 340-mm main gun shell to severely damage the all-steel battleship Wei Geng of the coastal defense fleet.