At the headquarters of the Third Fleet of the Silver Wolf Empire on Pusha Island, Longra handed Peg the last farewell telegram from the captain of the Aster, Daniso.

"The Aster Flower should have been sunk by the 7 all-main gun battleships of the Zhou family in Ganyang."

Peg took the telegram, read it quickly, and then said with a somewhat heavy expression: "Colonel Daniso is an example to all people in the Imperial Royal Navy!"

We should report the deeds of Colonel Daniso and the Aster to the Admiralty, and even to the Governor's Palace. ”

After a pause, Peg asked Longra, "Is there an island near the sea where the accident occurred where a large fleet can dock?" ”

Before Longra could speak, the deputy commander of the Third Fleet, Gorry, next to him, spoke: "General Peg, we have checked the relatively large islands in that sea area before, and we have not found any trace of the main fleet of the Zhou family in Ganyang.

The sudden appearance of 7 battleships with full main guns is likely to have passed from other seas. ”

Longra then frowned and asked, "Peg, what do you think should happen next?"

Is it to send a battleship formation to search for the opponent's 7 battleships with full main guns in that area? ”

Peg shook his head and said, "It's better to follow the original plan and cooperate with the 14th Army to land on Xiangshi Island first!"

If the other party is deliberately hiding, we want to find them, which is tantamount to looking for a needle in a haystack.

Perhaps the 14th Army's attack on Xiangshi Island will be able to force the opponent's main fleet to show up and have a decisive battle with us. ”

Longa nodded and said: "That's fine, if you hit Xiangshi Island, the other party can continue to endure and not show up, then we will go to Jingsheng City next, I don't believe that their main fleet will always be able to hide."

It's a pity that you can't directly attack the old nest of the Zhou family in Ganyang-Ganyang City. ”

Peg said in a deep voice, "There's one thing that's strange.

Why did the 7 all-main gun battleships of the Ganyang Zhou family have such a high speed?

According to the information fed back by Colonel Daniso, the speed of the seven battleships with full main guns can reach more than 25 knots. ”

Longra hesitated for a moment and said, "Peg, it seems that the Golden Lion Empire is building a new type of capital ship that takes into account both firepower and high speed.

Do you say that the 7 all-main gun battleships of the Zhou family in Ganyang will be the new capital ships? ”

"I have the same guess.

That new type of capital ship, equipped with the main guns of battleships, but not thick armor, can have a very high speed.

However, that kind of new capital ship, even the Golden Lion Empire has not been built, how can the Ganyang Zhou family, as a human family, have it?

Could it be that in the new world, in addition to the other-space-time nodes that connect our spirit world, there really are other-space-time nodes that connect to other civilized worlds? ”

"Maybe only by catching the high-level figures of the Ganyang Zhou family can we solve this question."

On the evening of February 26, 1537, the huge fleet of the Silver Wolf Empire Expeditionary Force came to the sea outside Xiangshi Harbor.

At this time, the scale of this Silver Wolf Empire Expeditionary Force has become a little larger, and many warships of the Third Fleet of the Silver Wolf Empire Navy stationed on Pusha Island have been temporarily incorporated into the sequence of this expeditionary force.

As a result, the number of warships of this expeditionary force surged to more than 100, including 12 battleships with full main guns, 13 battleships with all steel, 16 large armored cruisers, 32 light cruisers and 32 destroyers.

In addition, there are 37 large transport ships in this expeditionary force, carrying more than 80,000 officers and soldiers of the 14th Army of the Royal Army of the Silver Wolf Empire, as well as a large number of combat supplies.

In the bridge of the battleship Talon Eagle, Peg ordered Onusha, the captain of the Devil's Talon Eagle, "Send a telegram to the battleships.

Under the condition of maintaining a certain safe distance, all ships immediately used their main guns to carry out a covering artillery bombardment on the port of Xiangshi City, so as to clear the obstacles for the landing operation of the 14th Army as much as possible. ”

The Devil's Claw Eagle belongs to the Fire Pigeon-class all-main gun battleship of the Silver Wolf Imperial Navy, and is the latest all-main gun battleship in the Silver Wolf Imperial Navy, with a full load displacement of 27,500 tons, a maximum speed of 20 knots, and five twin 45 times caliber 340 mm main guns.

This time, the 6 all-main gun battleships transferred to the expeditionary force by the Second Fleet of the Silver Wolf Empire Royal Navy were all Fire Pigeon-class, and Peg used the Devil's Claw Eagle as his flagship.

At this time, in a transport ship with a full load displacement of up to tens of thousands of tons, Prato, the deputy commander of the Fourteenth Army of the Royal Army of the Silver Wolf Empire, was a little puzzled and asked Commander Bullitt: "Why didn't we choose the landing site of the 3rd Marine Division before?"

In that case, it should be possible to reduce a lot of losses in the process of landing. ”

Bullitt said with a relaxed expression: "I very much hope that the human army of Xiangshi Island can hold this port.

In this way, in the process of landing, our 14th Army can use the navy's large-caliber naval guns to kill and injure a large number of the living forces of the human army, so as to reduce the pressure on our 14th Army to capture the entire island. ”

"It turns out that the commander has such a plan.

So do you need to seize this port overnight? ”

Bullitt stretched, "Let the soldiers rest for another night, and tomorrow morning, start the beach-rushing landing." ”

When the 12 all-main gun battleships and 13 all-steel battleships of the Silver Wolf Imperial Navy began to shell Xiangshi Port and Xiangshi City with their main guns at a distance of more than 10,000 meters.

The 22nd Independent Brigade of the Fengwu Army, the 2nd Infantry Brigade of the Garrison Division, the Xiangshi Garrison Brigade, and the more than 100,000 people on Xiangshi Island have all withdrawn to the central area of Xiangshi Island.

After Ma Tiezhu, the brigade commander of the 22nd Independent Brigade, put down the binoculars, he said to Wang Biao, the commander of the 2nd Infantry Brigade of the garrison division, with some emotion: "Biaozi, thanks to us for giving up on holding on to Xiangshi Port, otherwise we will not be able to carry it no matter how many troops we deploy to bombard like this." ”

Although the two batteries in Xiangshi Harbor had been destroyed by the large-caliber naval guns of the Third Fleet of the Silver Wolf Imperial Navy before, the all-steel battleships Weijia and Weiyi, the large armored cruisers Tonghai and Jiehai, and the light cruisers Feiting and Feijie still had a large number of naval guns that could be used.

If they held on to Xiangshi Harbor, their 3 brigades would be supported by fire from 6 stranded warships.

Of course, the premise is that these 6 stranded warships can withstand the onslaught of many battleships of the Silver Wolf Imperial Navy.

Wang Biao said in a deep voice: "Since the opponent's battleships are bombarding Xiangshi Port like this, then the Fourteenth Army of the Silver Wolf Empire is likely to directly choose to land in Xiangshi Harbor.

It seems that we have to focus our defense in the direction of Xiangshi Harbor. ”

Then Wang Biao said to Ma Tiezhu and Li Shengjun, the commander of the Xiangshi Garrison Brigade: "Tiezhu, Junzi, the next battle to defend Xiangshi Island will inevitably be very difficult.

But no matter how great the sacrifice, our three brigades must also be nailed to Xiangshi Island.

Only if our side can hold out for a long time, can the coastal defense fleet make some fuss on the other side's supply lines. ”

Li Shengjun said with a serious expression: "After our previous propaganda, the officers and soldiers should have a deep understanding of this.

However, the proportion of recruits in our three brigades is very high, so we must once again emphasize the battlefield discipline to the officers below, and we must not be soft-hearted at critical times! ”

Ma Tiezhu nodded and said, "I agree!" No order to retreat was received, anyone who evacuated the position without permission was shot on the spot! ”