After the six warships of the coastal defense fleet were attacked by the Tongze fleet in Zhenwei Town during training, Zhou Rui quickly reported the matter to the Fengwu Jiedu Mansion.

At the same time, he called Shen Zhi, the commander of the Third Division, about this matter.

Zhou Rui hoped that Shen Zhi could help, and asked him to urge the Fengwu Jiedu Mansion to find out why the Tongze fleet appeared in the sea near Ganyang City as soon as possible.

Shen Zhi was taken aback when he learned that the coastal defense fleet had been attacked by the Tongze fleet.

Could it be that the Zhenwei army wants the dog to jump over the wall and attack Ganyang City?

You must know that Ganyang City, as the most populous city in Fengwu Town, is also the most economically developed city.

At least 40 percent of Fengwu Town's tax revenue comes from Ganyang City, of which the customs duties of Ganyang Mingang account for more than 30 percent.

Ganyang City is equivalent to Fengwu Town's money bag, and once something happens to Ganyang City, it may even shake the foundation of Fengwu Town.

Shen Zhi immediately sent a telegram directly to his father, Shen Xiao, the envoy of Fengwu Jiedu, hoping that the Fengwu Jiedu Mansion would find out as soon as possible whether the Zhenwei army had the intention of attacking Ganyang City.

Zhou Rui asked Zhou Xiaorong in a deep voice, "Second uncle, what did Shen Zhi say?" ”

Zhou Xiaorong had a dark face and handed Zhou Rui two pieces of paper, "The Fengwu Jiedu Mansion is really irresponsible, the intelligence department of the Fengwu Jiedu Mansion learned about the purchase of four all-steel battleships by the Tongze fleet more than a month ago.

As a result, because of human negligence, the intelligence department of Fengwu Jiedu Mansion did not report such important information to our Zhou family!

In addition, Shen Zhi also learned from the Fengwu Jiedu Mansion that the Liu family's Xiyun fleet also spent a high price to buy four all-steel battleships. ”

Zhou Rui took the two pieces of paper and quickly flipped through them.

It turned out that more than a month ago, the Lu family in Tongze City had purchased four Berserk-class all-steel battleships from the Black Bear Empire that its navy was preparing to mothball.

The Berserk class is the first all-steel battleship built by the Black Bear Empire, with a full load displacement of 11,500 tons, a maximum speed of 15.5 knots, and is equipped with two twin 35x caliber 270 mm main guns and 6 35x caliber 170 mm secondary guns.

8 40x caliber 65-mm rapid-fire guns, 8 30-mm anti-aircraft guns, 12 13-mm anti-aircraft machine guns, 4 420-mm torpedo tubes.

The broadside armor belt was from 110 mm to 185 mm, the main deck armor was 55 mm, the main turret armor was 270 mm, and the full crew was 685 people.

At the beginning, the Black Bear Empire built ten Berserk-class all-steel battleships in one go, except for two that were sunk in the war with the Wild Bull Empire, the remaining eight Berserk-class all-steel battleships, and the Admiralty of the Black Bear Empire were ready to be mothballed.

However, later, these eight Berserk-class all-steel battleships were all sold by the Admiralty of the Black Bear Empire.

The Lu family of Tongze City bought four of them at a high price of 19.5 million silver coins.

As a result, the size of the Tongze fleet was expanded to five all-steel battleships, four ironclad battleships, three armored cruisers, four destroyers, eight offshore gunboats and six torpedo boats, with a total tonnage of more than 110,000 tons.

The Tongze fleet of this size, even in the entire Han and Tang Empires, has become a decisive maritime force.

The other four Berserk-class all-steel battleships of the Black Bear Empire were recently bought by the Xiyun Fleet of the Liu family in Xiyun City, Fengwu Town.

As for why the Tongze fleet came to the waters near Ganyang City and launched an attack on the coastal defense fleet?

The intelligence department of the Fengwu Jiedu Province is also not clear.

Looking at the information on the two pieces of paper in his hand, Zhou Rui's brows suddenly furrowed.

What made Zhou Rui frown was actually not the Tongze fleet, even if the Tongze fleet added four new Berserk-class all-steel battleships, it would not be comparable to the Zhou family's coastal defense fleet in terms of total tonnage.

What's more, the coastal defense fleet will soon add three more hard-bone-class all-steel battleships and six Banshee-class ironclad battleships.

Among the many navies of the Han and Tang Empires, except for the naval fleet in Shuonan Town, there is probably no fleet that can surpass the Zhou family's coastal defense fleet in tonnage.

What really made Zhou Rui frown was that the Liu family's Xiyun fleet also bought four Berserk-class all-steel battleships at a high price!

Although Zhou Rui didn't care about the military affairs of the garrison brigade in the previous life, Zhou Rui was sure that in his memory, the Liu family in the previous life had definitely not purchased four Berserk-class all-steel battleships.

It seems that his rebirth seems to have changed a lot of things, which makes Zhou Rui feel a little more inexplicable sense of crisis.

Zhou Rui pondered for a moment and said: "Fengwu Town and Zhenwei Town are still in the war period, and it is understandable that the Tongze fleet of the Zhenwei Army will attack our coastal defense fleet. ”

Suddenly, Zhou Rui's voice changed, and his tone became gloomy, "But the 249 brothers of our coastal defense fleet can't just die in vain."

This hatred, I want the Lu family in Tongze City to double it back! ”

Song Limin stood up directly, "Major General, you give the order!" The blood of our coastal defense fleet cannot be shed in vain! ”

The other naval officers in the conference room were also angry at this time, and they asked Zhou Rui to fight.

Zhou Rui slowly stood up from his seat, "I order, the coastal defense fleet will immediately mobilize the whole team!"

Tomorrow morning, we will go to Tongze City! ”

At this time, in the bridge of the all-steel battleship Jixiang, the flagship of the Tongze fleet, the first mate Sun Feng'an held a telegram and said to the captain Lu Mao: "Young master, the head of the family has sent another telegram, asking us to overcome difficulties and return to Tongze Port as soon as possible. ”

Lu Mao, the captain of the Jixiang, is the eldest son of Lu Junke, the current head of the Lu family in Tongze City, and the heir to the next head of the Lu family.

In addition, Lu Mao also served as the commander-in-chief of the Tongze fleet.

Lu Mao's expression was a little annoyed at this time, "Originally, I wanted to intercept the four Berserk-class all-steel battleships purchased by the Liu family in Xiyun City, but it turned out to be a mistake and fought with the coastal defense fleet of the Zhou family in Ganyang City. ”

It turned out that the Lu family of Tongze City, when they learned of their family's feud, the Xiyun Liu family, bought the other four Berserk-class all-steel battleships of the Black Bear Empire.

And sent more than 2,000 people directly to an overseas naval base of the Black Bear Empire to receive four warships.

Five all-steel battleships and three armored cruisers were immediately dispatched, ready to intercept halfway.

It is best to be able to capture the four Berserk-class all-steel battleships newly bought by Xiyun Liu's family, and if they can't be captured, they should also sink those four Berserk-class all-steel battleships as much as possible.

However, due to the weather, the five all-steel battleships and three armored cruisers of the Tongze fleet deviated from the course and came to the waters near Ganyang City, and encountered six warships of the coastal defense fleet going to sea for training.

Because the Zhou family's coastal defense fleet and the Liu family's Xiyun fleet are both under the banner of the Fengwu Army.

The five all-steel battleships and three armored cruisers of the Tongze fleet mistook the six warships of the coastal defense fleet for the battleships of the Nigumo fleet, so they first launched an artillery bombardment.

When the two sides closed the distance, the Tongze fleet realized that it had found the wrong opponent, but Lu Mao saw that it was the warship of the coastal defense fleet of Ganyang City, and did not order to stop the shelling.

Anyway, it's all the fleet of the Fengwu Army, and it's not wrong to fight.

It wasn't until he discovered that reinforcements from the coastal defense fleet of Ganyang City had appeared in the distance that Lu Mao ordered a retreat.

In this encounter, although not a single warship of the Tongze fleet was sunk, one of the main guns of a Berserk-class all-steel battleship was destroyed.

A large hole was blown open in the side armor of a Berserk-class all-steel battleship, and although the water-filled cabin was sealed in time so that the battleship did not sink, because of the hundreds of tons of seawater, the battleship's maximum speed had dropped to less than 11 knots.

Sun Feng'an said with a wry smile: "Young master, one of the Zhou family's cruisers was sunk by us, the Zhou family will never give up, we have to return to Tongze Port as soon as possible, in case the Zhou family's Ganyang fleet attacks Tongze Port to retaliate."

As for the four Berserk class newly purchased by the Xiyun Liu family, they can only be let go for the time being. ”

Lu Mao spread his hands and said with some frustration: "I also want to rush back to Tongze Port as soon as possible, but we can't even figure out where we are now, so we can only sail in the general direction."

Hopefully, after dawn, we'll be back on the right track. ”