After the departure of the 1st Regiment of the 22nd Independent Brigade to receive the Sanzhen oil field, on the afternoon of July 11, the 4th Infantry Regiment of the garrison brigade also set off and rushed to the Heigou Coal Mine.

At present, although the establishment of the Fourth Infantry Regiment of the garrison brigade is also eight infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, two baggage battalions, and one regimental guard company, many officers and men have been transferred to the first regiment of the 22nd Independent Brigade.

Therefore, there are only more than 2,500 people left in the Fourth Infantry Regiment of the garrison brigade, which is almost half missing.

However, Zhou Rui has authorized Huang Zhigang, the commander of the Fourth Infantry Regiment of the garrison brigade, to recruit new recruits on the spot in the Heigou Coal Mine.

There are many villages near the Heigou Coal Mine, and the more than 1,000 shearers in the Heigou Coal Mine are basically from nearby villages, and the Fourth Infantry Regiment of the Garrison Brigade will recruit a group of new recruits in these villages next.

In addition, the recruits recruited by the garrison brigade headquarters will also be assigned to the 4th Infantry Regiment of the garrison brigade, so that the 4th Infantry Regiment of the garrison brigade can fill the vacancy as soon as possible.

In fact, before the Fourth Infantry Regiment of the Garrison Brigade rushed to the Heigou Coal Mine, Zhou Rui had already transferred some personnel from the family's industry to take over the management and operation of the Heigou Coal Mine.

The reason why Zhou Rui was in a hurry to send the Fourth Infantry Regiment of the garrison brigade to the Heigou Coal Mine was because the Heigou Coal Mine had more than 4 billion tons of coal reserves.

Another reason is that the Heigou Coal Mine is very close to the time-space node of Panlong Mountain, only about 10 kilometers.

In this way, once a beast tide occurs at the different time and space node of Panlong Mountain, the Fourth Infantry Regiment of the garrison brigade of the Heigou Coal Mine can immediately rush to the different time and space node to support the first corps of the garrison brigade stationed at the different time and space node.

After sending off the two infantry regiments, Zhou Rui was going to go to the Nine Star Hotel to accompany Chu Yingying and Zhao Yan to dinner.

However, before Zhou Rui left the barracks of the garrison brigade, he received an urgent report that several warships of the coastal defense fleet going to sea for training today had been attacked by an unknown fleet.

After Zhou Rui learned of this situation, he hurriedly led people to the garrison brigade headquarters building, where the headquarters of the coastal defense fleet is currently located.

After meeting Song Limin, the deputy commander-in-chief of the coastal defense fleet, Zhou Rui asked urgently: "Old Song, what's the matter?" Who attacked our coastal defense fleet? ”

Song Limin said in a deep voice: "Major General, it has been confirmed that it is the Tongze fleet of the Lu family in Tongze City, Zhenwei Town, that launched an attack on our coastal defense fleet. ”

Before the Zhenwei Naval Fleet purchased the two all-steel battleships and two large armored cruisers, the strongest and largest navy in Zhenwei Town was not the Zhenwei Naval Fleet, but the Tongze Fleet of the Lu family in Tongze City.

Of course, now the Zhenwei naval fleet has only five iron-ribbed wood-hulled warships and two offshore gunboats left, and its strength is no longer comparable with the Tongze fleet.

Hearing that the enemy was the Tongze fleet, Zhou Rui's brows immediately furrowed, "How could the Lu family's Tongze fleet appear in the sea near Ganyang City?" ”

As the largest port city in the western region of the Han and Tang Empires, Ganyang City was a merchant of the six major beast countries, and had a large number of industries in Ganyang City.

Therefore, this time Fengwu Town and Zhenwei Town went to war, and the six major beast countries warned Zhenwei Jiedu envoys one after another, and they were not allowed to launch any form of attack on Ganyang City.

Zhou Rui didn't think that the Lu family's Tongze fleet dared to risk offending the six beast nations and launched an attack on Ganyang City.

What's more, the scale of the coastal defense fleet in Ganyang City should far exceed that of the Lu family's Tongze fleet, and at this time, the Lu family's Tongze fleet came to the door, didn't it look for its own death!

Song Limin shook his head, "It's still unclear what the other party's purpose is, according to the report of the Longhai, the strength of the Lu family's Tongze fleet is much stronger than what we have mastered, and five all-steel battleships have appeared at the same time!" ”

Three days ago, Zhou Rui had purchased a Tornado-class all-steel battleship, a Buran-class all-steel battleship, three Ice-class light cruisers, two Summer-class destroyers, and more than 2 million silver coins of attached artillery shells that Zhou Rui had purchased from the Sixth Fleet of the Red Tiger Empire Navy, and had already arrived at the military port in Ganyang City.

This Tornado-class all-steel battleship was immediately named Longhai by Zhou Rui, and this Buran-class all-steel battleship was named Canghai by Zhou Rui.

Both the Long Hai and the Cang Hai were incorporated into the battleship formation, that is, the first formation, of the coastal defense fleet.

Song Limin's son Song Shengwen was appointed by Zhou Rui as the captain of the Longhai, and Wang Xin, the son of Wang Hongchun, the captain of the Jinghai, was also promoted by Zhou Rui and became the captain of the Canghai.

The three Ice-class light cruisers were named the Feiting, Feijie, and Feirong, and the two Summer-class destroyers were named Kuaishun and Lishun, and the captains of these five warships were all first or second officers of the former coastal defense fleet.

After the research of Zhou Rui and Song Limin, it was decided that the three Ice-class light cruisers and two Summer-class destroyers would be temporarily organized into a special task force of the coastal defense fleet, so that the coastal defense fleet now has five formations.

Cao Hui, the captain of the Flying Thunder, will also serve as the commander of the task force.

"Five all-steel battleships?

Didn't the Lu family's Tongze fleet only have one all-steel battleship purchased from the Liang Yan Empire?

Where did the other four all-steel battleships come from?

What other warships are there with the Longhai? ”

Song Limin shook his head with a solemn face and said, "For the time being, I don't know where the four extra all-steel battleships in the Tongze fleet came from.

Today, along with the Longhai, there are also the Canghai, as well as all four warships of the third formation. ”

Zhou Rui's heart couldn't help but tighten when he heard this, in order to receive the newly purchased two all-steel battleships, three light cruisers and two destroyers, most of the officers and men of the third formation, two ironclad battleships and two old armored cruisers, were transferred.

At present, the two ironclad battleships and the two old armored cruisers of the third formation are most of the newly recruited recruits, which makes the combat effectiveness of the four warships, which are not strong in combat, even weaker.

In this encounter with the Tongze fleet, I don't know if these four old ships can hold up?

"Old Song, how is the situation over there?"

"The Longhai and Canghai have already exchanged fire with each other, and the specific battle situation has not yet been transmitted.

I have just ordered two all-steel battleships, the Weihai and Yanghai, as well as four armored cruisers of the second formation, to rush over to support. ”

In the middle of the night on 11 July, in a conference room in the headquarters building of the garrison brigade, the atmosphere was somewhat depressing.

Zhou Rui said with some gloom: "The pension of the fallen soldiers must be delivered to the family members in time, and there must be no deduction." ”

In the naval battle with the Tongze fleet during the day, the old armored cruiser Brave of the third formation of the coastal defense fleet was sunk, and of the nearly 300 officers and men on the Brave, less than 100 were rescued in the end, and the remaining 196 people were all buried in the sea.

The old armored cruiser USS Ryan was also seriously injured and was barely towed back to the dock at the Ganyang military port.

The officers and men on the Ryan also had 32 killed.

The all-steel battleships Longhai, Canghai, Jiangjun and Mengjiang also suffered some minor injuries in the naval battle, and a total of 21 officers and men were killed in the four ships.

The Weihai, Yanghai and four large armored cruisers, which rushed to support later, took the initiative to withdraw before they could participate in the battle.

Considering that the enemy's situation was unknown, the coastal defense fleet did not dare to pursue it.

Song Limin said with some sadness: "Don't worry, the young general, if someone dares to be greedy for the pension of the fallen soldiers, the young general will only ask!" ”

As soon as Song Limin's voice fell, Zhou Xiaorong hurriedly walked into the conference room, "Major General, there is news from Shen Zhi's side!" ”