In the kingdom of Lieji on the southwest continent, about a hundred nautical miles west of the port of Beauva, a large fleet is maintaining a speed of about ten knots.

The battleships in the fleet are flying the peony flag of the Great Heng Empire!

At the head of the pack was a light formation, with a Yuchi-class cruiser, followed by three Yuanlin-class destroyers.

These four warships formed the third squadron of the Southwestern Fleet.

And in the rear direction of the north side of the detachment, there is another Yuchi-class cruiser as the leader, and three Yuanlin-class destroyers as the auxiliary second squadron.

These two sub-fleets, one forward and the other north, were deployed not only to expand the perimeter reconnaissance, but also to shield the perimeter and block the approach of the enemy's possible light ships.

And in the rear, there were four Crane-class armored cruisers and two Charlin-class second-class cruisers.

Because of their relatively strong firepower and large tonnage, the two Charlin-class cruisers had more than 4,000 tons and were equipped with four 150-millimeter rapid-fire guns and eight 120-millimeter rapid-fire guns.

At the same time, because of the low speed, even under strong ventilation, it only has a speed of about 22 knots, and it is impossible to cooperate with the Yuchi-class cruiser and the Yuanlin-class destroyer, two warships with a maximum speed of 25 knots.

Therefore, Lieutenant General Ren Zhongping incorporated these two Xialin-class cruisers into the first squadron, and formed the main formation with the four Crane-class armored cruisers.

At the same time, there are two Yuanlin-class destroyers that accompany the main formation, mainly acting as close protection for the main formation, hunting and killing the torpedo boats of the enemy fleet that break through the outer barrier, and also carry some other miscellaneous tasks.

As for the more than a dozen torpedo boats, most of which were only more than 100 tons, and a few larger ones were only more than 200 tons, they were temporarily divided into three torpedo boat formations and slowly followed behind.

When the entire Southwest Fleet hoisted the battle flag with red peony on a white background and advanced in battle formation, it immediately attracted the attention of the warships of various countries in this sea area that were following and observing.

One of the cruisers of the Krull Kingdom Navy was bold enough to get closer to observe, and its captain was also a second man, and he even had the leisure to say hello to the nearby Daheng Navy fleet of the Second Detachment.

It's a hello, but in fact, it's also a sign of goodwill, on the surface, we are just getting closer to watch the battle better, but we don't want to intervene in the battle between you and the Gafia Imperial Navy, you are fighting by yourself, and we are watching from the sidelines......

A cruiser of the Valya Imperial Navy and the cruiser of the Kekel Empire on the side also followed from a distance, but it was not as bold as the captain of the Krull Kingdom Navy to dare to break into the outer warning area of the Southwest Fleet of the Great Heng Imperial Navy.

For these followers, the officers and men of the Southwest Fleet of the Great Heng Imperial Navy naturally ignored them, and even Ren Zhongping, the lieutenant secretary of the navy, was too lazy to take care of them.

Anyway, these ships of the navies of various countries that came to watch the battle were all light ships.

In order to avoid suspicion, they would not say that they would directly send the main fleet, and even armored cruisers and second-class cruisers with larger tonnage would not be sent over to watch the battle, otherwise it would be easy for the Daheng Imperial Navy or the Gafiya Imperial Navy to misunderstand.

So all that was sent out were some seemingly inconspicuous light ships, mainly cruisers of the third rank.

It's clear that they're here to watch the game.

After all, although there have been many naval battles on the Blue Star in recent years, there are actually few really large-scale naval battles.

The largest of the previous battles was the two successive naval battles of Ian, and the later naval battles in the eastern part of the Mongol Khanate involved many ships, so it can barely be regarded as a medium-sized naval battle.

And these naval battles have brought great changes to the navies of the Blue Star countries!

The First Battle of Ian made low-freeboard warships completely withdraw from the mainstream, and the Second Battle of Ian made countries begin to pay attention to the development of large-tonnage torpedo boats and the development of secondary guns.

The Eastern Naval War announced the arrival of the era of rapid-fire artillery.

But!

The technical content of the Eastern Naval War was still too low, and although both sides of the war had rapid-fire guns involved, the ships of both sides were still some old ships, and even most of them were low-freeboard ships that had already withdrawn from the front line among the naval powers.

Although there is reference value, the reference value is very limited.

At this time, the situation in the Liej Kingdom was tense, and the Daheng Empire and the Gafia Empire were ready to fight because of the Bowa military base, and the naval powers naturally would not let go of this opportunity to observe at close range.

Not to mention naval powers, even the navies of some small and medium-sized countries will send ships over as long as they have the conditions.

When the Southwest Fleet of the Great Heng Empire set sail from the military base of the Orr Kingdom, it was followed by the ships of the three traditional powers of the Krull Kingdom, the Kekel Empire, and the Walia Empire, as well as the ships of the Orlan Kingdom, the Ibean Kingdom, and the Orissa Empire, and even the four countries on the east coast and the Orr Kingdom also sent ships over.

And then there is also the navy of the landlord Lieji Kingdom.

It's also funny to say, the Great Heng Empire and the Gafia Empire are ready to fight for the ownership of the Beauwa City of the Liej Kingdom, but the Liej Kingdom is out of the way.

Or rather, they don't dare to meddle in it.

Of course, secretly they are still partial to the Daheng Empire, the Lend-Lease agreement of the Bowa military base, but they made it themselves, and the Lieji Kingdom also promised the landing force of the Daheng Empire to land in the port of their Liej Kingdom in advance, and then take the train to Bova City by land.

But they didn't have the courage to directly stand with the Great Heng Empire and fight against the Gafia Empire.

How to say it, if war is really declared, it is difficult to say who wins or loses between the Daheng Empire and the Gafia Empire, but their Liji Kingdom will definitely be unlucky, once war is declared, the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Gafia Empire will be able to kill along the coastal strip immediately!

They introduced the Great Heng Empire to balance the Gafia Empire, and they wanted the Great Heng Empire to rush forward to take the lead, not to involve themselves, otherwise, they would not have leased a large area of the port of Bowa City to the Great Heng Empire as a military base.

And the development of things was indeed as they expected, the behavior of the Great Heng Empire sending troops to Bowa caused a strong backlash from the Gafia Empire, and even did not hesitate to send a fleet to conduct some naval exercises off the coast of Bova City, trying to prevent the Daheng Empire from landing in Bova City.

But will they be able to stop the Great Heng from entering the Beauva military base?

The Riejians don't know!

People in other countries don't know that even the other side of the party, the Gafian Empire, has little confidence.

But at this time, it is related to the major interests of the two countries, and the top leaders of both sides have given relatively tough instructions to the fleets that go forward!

On the side of the Daheng Empire, the appointment of Ren Zhongping, a hardline commander within the navy, as commander of the Southwest Fleet, is a very obvious signal.

The Great Heng Empire is bound to win the Bowa military base!

Now, Lieutenant Secretary Ren Zhongping, as expected by the high-ranking members of the Great Heng Empire, faced the obstruction of the Gafians, and took the strongest posture to force forward.

More than 10 warships and more than 10 torpedo boats of the Southwest Fleet formed a huge formation and gradually advanced.

Admiral Gerald, commander of the Second Fleet of the Gafia Imperial Navy, who was in front, also quickly gave the order for the fleet to prepare for battle after receiving the notification from the communication ship in front, and began to list the battle formation.

After giving the order, Admiral Gerald stood on the bridge and looked at the west: "Hmph, these constant barbarians are used to being arrogant in the Central Continent, I'm afraid they think they can do whatever they want when they come to the Southwest Continent!" ”

"The Southwest Continent is the Southwest Continent of our Gafians, not their constant barbarians!"

"This time, if the Heng Barbarians dare to come hard, we have to let them know that in this place of the Southwest Continent, even they Heng Barbarians have to lie down obediently!"

The bearded man on the side, Rear Admiral Bede, chief of staff of the Second Fleet, also said confidently: "Yes, now that the main force of our Second Fleet is exhausted, if they don't want to die, they must obediently withdraw from this sea area!" ”

"Our Second Fleet has two new battleships, two armored cruisers, and four old battleships!"

"We have as many as eight capital ships alone, not to mention that we have three cruisers of the first class, six cruisers of the second class, and four cruisers of the third class!"

"Although we followed up a little late with rapid-fire guns, through emergency modifications in recent months, we have also replaced most of our ships with 120mm rapid-fire guns!"

"In terms of fleet size and strength, we far surpass them!"

"As long as the commander on the opposite side is not stupid, they will know that the difference in strength between the two is huge!"

Admiral Gerald also nodded slightly!

In order to deal with the Bowa incident, the Gafia Empire is not unprepared at all, since it was rumored that the Great Heng and the Liedi Kingdom signed a lease agreement for the Bowa military base, the Gafia Empire has made both diplomatic and military preparations.

Diplomacy aside, but militarily, the army has begun to station troops in the Republic of Kean, and its native troops, together with the servant army of the Republic of Kean, have begun to move frequently, stationing more than 100,000 troops on the border with the Kingdom of Liej.

Navy, they transferred two cutting-edge battleships and three cutting-edge cruisers from the First Fleet to supplement the Second Fleet.

The main naval force of the Gafia Empire is concentrated in the First Fleet, which is also known as the Eastern Fleet, which is stationed in the eastern ports of the Gafia Empire, with the main task of controlling the Edith Strait, controlling and defending the eastern coastline of the mainland, and guarding against the Krull Kingdom and the Ibean Empire, which is the core maritime defense line of the Gafia Empire.