Early in the morning of May 1, 1538, the Zhou Mansion in Ganyang City had already begun to put up lanterns, and today was the day of the full moon of Zhou Rui's eldest son, Zhou Jun.

Liu Yiqiu lived up to expectations and finally gave birth to the third generation of heirs for the Ganyang Zhou family.

For this reason, even Zhou Xiaorong, who has always been slamming the door, suggested that Zhou Rui give all the officers and soldiers of the Zhou family army and all the public servants subordinate to the Zhou family an additional month's military salary or monthly salary to celebrate.

Zhou Rui waved his hand and decided to give everyone an additional three-month military salary or monthly salary.

The extra two months of military salary or monthly salary, one of which was reissued for the birth of her daughter Zhou Yan, and the other was to celebrate the southern province of the Bajin Empire, which became the Jinnan Town of the Zhou family.

may be stained with the joy of his son, Zhou Rui won a three-star lottery card in April, and a three-star lottery card given by the lottery system in May in the early hours of this morning.

A large number of army weapons, equipment and ammunition were opened, which added up enough for Zhou Rui to form a new army unit in a feudal town according to the standards of the Zhou family's army.

However, Zhou Rui's joy did not last until noon, and he was wiped out by the news brought by Hu Yi.

News came from the Silver Wolf Empire, and the newspaper with the largest circulation in the Silver Wolf Empire published an article called "New Forces on the Sea", and the new forces mentioned in the article referred to the Zhou family's Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet.

What spoiled Zhou Rui's good mood was that this article exposed the Crescent Island Naval Base that the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet had been hiding, and pointed out with great certainty that the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet still had a number of cutting-edge warships at the Crescent Island Naval Base, and did not participate in the Shark Island Naval Battle.

This article also disclosed that the total number of naval fleets, battleships and battle cruisers under the command of the Zhenwei Jiedu Envoy of the Han and Tang Empires has reached 34, which is enough to pose a very big threat to the Royal Navy of the Silver Wolf Empire and even the navies of the other five spirit countries.

Zhou Rui asked Hu Yi in a deep voice: "Can you find out about the matter of Crescent Island, how did it come out?"

Since the newspapers of the Silver Wolf Empire said that the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet had a total of 34 battleships and battle cruisers, the suspicion could be placed on the officers and men of the Navy who left Crescent Island before February. ”

Before February, the Southwestern Coastal Defense Fleet had 22 battleships with full main guns and 12 battle cruisers, which added up to 34 indeed.

However, Zhou Rui added two new warships to the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet in succession, making the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet newly organized the sixth, seventh, and eighth formations.

The sixth formation consisted mainly of 8 German King-class battleships with full main guns, namely Gale, Agni, Thunder, Lieden, Blazing Rain, Blaze, Liegang, and Blazing Wood.

Hao Desheng, the commander of the fifth formation, was reappointed as the commander of the sixth formation, and the position of commander of the fifth formation was taken over by Xue Tai.

The seventh formation is dominated by 8 British Iron Duke class battleships with full main guns, namely the Shining Moon, the Shining Sun, the Shining Star, the Shining Chen, the Shining Spirit, the Shining Stream, the Shining Firefly, and the Shining Glory.

The commander of the seventh formation was Liu Tiecheng.

The eighth formation is dominated by 12 German Seydlitz-class battle cruisers, namely the Thunder, Feijie, Feishun, Feidu, Feixuan, Feiyang, Feiteng, Feiyue, Feichi, Feixiang, Feiwu, and Feiben.

The commander of the eighth formation was Shi Shan.

The other two British Invincible-class battlecruisers, Yongning and Yonghui, directly joined the fourth formation, bringing the number of invincible-class battlecruisers in the fourth formation to six.

Xue Tai, Liu Tiecheng, and Shi Shan are all old men of the Ganyang City Coastal Defense Fleet, and before they were reorganized into the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet, all three of them had already become formation commanders.

Today, the eight major formations of the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet together have 38 all-main gun battleships and 26 battle cruisers, as well as 9 all-steel battleships, 17 large armored cruisers, 30 light cruisers and 48 destroyers.

Hu Yi said with a wry smile: "Marshal, even before February, a large number of warships were transferred from Crescent Island to other ports to garrison, and the number of naval officers and soldiers who need to be investigated may be thirty or forty thousand.

If we were to find out who had close contact with these 30,000 or 40,000 naval officers and men, we might have to increase the number tenfold, so ......"

Before the fox finished speaking, Zhou Rui waved his hand, "Forget it, anyway, the matter of Crescent Island will be exposed sooner or later, and the 'ghost' does not need to continue to investigate this matter." ”

Then Zhou Rui sighed, "After the Crescent Island is exposed, some orc countries should not sit idly by and ignore the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet, and even our Zhou family. ”

Zhou Rui's estimate was not wrong, not long after the newspaper of the Silver Wolf Empire reported on the Crescent Island Naval Base, the Red Tiger Empire announced that it would send 6 more battleships with full main guns, 6 large armored cruisers, 10 light cruisers and 10 destroyers to Fengsha Island to enhance the strength of the Fifth Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Red Tiger Empire.

Obviously, the Red Tiger Empire's dispatch of additional warships to Fengsha Island this time was aimed at the Zhou family's southwest coastal defense fleet.

In fact, after the end of the Battle of Shark Island, the Red Tiger Empire has already sent a batch of additional warships to Fengsha Island, and if you add this additional batch of warships, the number of battleships of the Royal Navy of the Red Tiger Empire has reached 14 with only the number of battleships with all main guns.

In addition, there are 12 battleships with full main guns, 16 large armored cruisers, 32 light cruisers and 28 destroyers, which are no weaker than the four main fleets of the Royal Navy of the Red Tiger Empire.

The Royal Navy of the Red Tiger Empire has a total of six main fleets in this world, of which the Fifth Fleet and the Sixth Fleet are stationed on the islands off the coast of the Han and Tang Empires, and their strength is much weaker than the other four main fleets.

In order to deal with the threat posed by the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet, the Red Tiger Empire not only added many warships to the Fifth Fleet, but also added many warships to the Sixth Fleet stationed on Yumen Island.

Yumen Island is an island off the coast of Shuonan Town, one of the six towns in the southeast of the Han and Tang Empires, with an area of about 335 square kilometers, which was occupied by the Red Tiger Empire more than 60 years ago and built a naval base.

What made Zhou Rui feel even more that the storm was coming was that the Red Tiger Empire actually leased an island with an area of about 130 square kilometers off the coast of Boting Town in the Han and Tang Empires to the Golden Lion Empire for 99 years.

And this island, known as High Snail Island, originally belonged to the jurisdiction of the Fifth Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Red Tiger Empire, and there was also a dock built on the island, which can be regarded as a sub-base of the Fifth Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Red Tiger Empire.

You must know that the Red Tiger Empire has always regarded the coastal areas of the southwest and southeast regions of the Han and Tang Empires as its sphere of influence, and for this reason, a war broke out with the Silver Wolf Empire.

This time, the Red Tiger Empire was able to lease Gaoluo Island off the coast of Boting Town to the Golden Lion Empire, and it must have reached some kind of secret agreement with the Golden Lion Empire against the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet.

The power of the Royal Navy of the Golden Lion Empire entered the southwest coastal area of the Han and Tang Empires, which was definitely not good news for the Zhou family's southwest coastal defense fleet.

In a small building near the dock on Phongsa Island, Flaso, the logistics chief of the Red Tiger Empire's Royal Navy's Fifth Fleet, was entertaining the Red Tiger Empire's Sixth Fleet's logistics chief, Gridye.

Gridye touched the wine glass with Fraso, then took a sip of the wine in the glass, nodded and said: "It is still the Golden Noble brand ice wine produced in the Golden Lion Empire, the taste is more sweet and mellow, and the taste is better than several famous ice wines in our Red Tiger Empire." ”

Frasso said with a smile: "Last time I went to Ganyang City, Zhou Rui gave me more than a dozen cases of this brand of ice wine.

I have quite a few left, and when you leave, you can take two boxes back to High Snail Island. ”

Hearing Flaso mention Zhou Rui, Gridye said with some emotion: "I didn't expect that Zhou Rui to be able to build a naval fleet of such an astonishing scale.

It even forced the Governor's Office to introduce the power of the Royal Navy of the Golden Lion Empire into the southwest coast of the Han and Tang Empires. ”

Frasso frowned at this time and said, "It's easy to ask God to send God."

Even if the naval fleet in Zhou Rui's hand has many battleships with full main guns, as well as many of those new battle cruisers, with the strength of our Royal Navy, it can completely wipe out this human naval fleet. ”

"Frasso, there's one thing you don't know, right?"

"What's the matter?"

"The Flying Leopard Empire is negotiating with the Black Bear Empire to form a military alliance, and the Silver Wolf Empire is also discussing the formation of a military alliance with the Wild Bull Empire."

"Could it be that the Flying Leopard Empire and the Silver Wolf Empire want to pull the Black Bear Empire and the Wild Bull Empire into this war as well?"

"Regardless of whether the Black Bear Empire and the Wild Bull Empire will join this war between the Flying Leopard Empire and the Silver Wolf Empire, once any of the two Spirit Race countries form a military alliance, it will not be good news for our Red Tiger Empire.

This time, the lease of Gao Snail Island to the Golden Lion Empire not only hopes to use the power of the Royal Navy of the Golden Lion Empire to deal with the human naval fleet in Zhou Rui's hands, but also shows favor to the Golden Lion Empire, a potential ally.

In addition, the strength of the human naval fleet is quite good, if we rely on the strength of our Red Tiger Empire's Royal Navy alone, even if we can defeat them, our Red Tiger Empire's Royal Navy will have to pay a considerable price.

Introducing the power of the Royal Navy of the Golden Lion Empire into the southwest coast of the Han and Tang Empires can also share the risk. ”

Frasso then shrugged his shoulders and said, "Forget it, don't mention this."

These big things, let the big guys above think about it!

Come, let's keep drinking. ”

Gridee touched his glass with Frasso again, "Actually, I have a good impression of Zhou Rui, but unfortunately I shouldn't be able to be friends in the future." ”

When Grideye said this, he didn't notice that Flaso's eyes suddenly dodged, but Flaso quickly returned to normal and continued to talk with Grideye.