After several more rounds of shelling, the ammunition depot exploded, and within a few minutes the treaty-type heavy cruiser with a standard displacement of more than 10,000 tons disappeared into the sea. The cruiser "Jiangzhou" then rescued only 17 lucky West Francian sailors on the sea, and more than 650 West Francian sailors, including the captain, were killed in the battle.

The Royal Navy of West Francia naturally paid the price in blood for the weak defensive design of their heavy cruisers, and this was just the beginning. Under the limited displacement limit, they wanted to install larger caliber guns, which made the protection of this class of heavy cruisers extremely weak, and its battlefield survivability was even inferior to that of some light cruisers, which was also a major reason for the heavy cruisers of the Royal Navy to suffer heavy losses throughout the war.

After the sinking of the "Pencent", Ou Chen sent a telegram to Ling Wencha asking if he would continue the pursuit, and the answer he received was "Close!" ”。

Before dark, the four warships of the Tang Empire had already converged with the supply ships of the "Sanggan River" and "Daling River" in front of them on the sea.

Admiral Ling Wencha ordered the fleet to continue westward at a speed of 20 knots, and made two more turns during the night voyage, and the fleet headed for the area around Trindaddi.

Admiral Ding Guozhen telegraphed that his fleet would arrive in that area in three days to join them.

The news that two West Franked cruisers sank and were heavily damaged immediately caused quite a stir in the European Union after being hyped up by the press agencies of the German Tang Empire. People were all shocked by the strength of this Tang attack fleet, and the pressure from the people and the government also made the Wang navy like a bull that had been teased by a piece of red cloth, and a large number of ships from all over the country rushed to the waters near South America, trying to encircle and suppress this Tang fleet with all its might.

On September 1, Ling Wencha led the fleet to finally join the main fleet of Admiral Ding Guozhen in the vicinity of Trindadi Island in South America, which is still the world of the Tang Navy.

Due to the limited forces deployed in this area, the European Union concentrated all the warships in this area in the area around the mouth of the Beidahe River, and at this time they were even more afraid that the Tang people would launch an attack on their base in northeastern South America. Admiral Ding Guozhen had no such intentions, and his fleet was short of marines to capture the naval base, which was heavily guarded by West Francians.

The day after the rendezvous, the fleet sailed to the east of the Great South River.

Ling Wencha stood on the bridge of the "Xing'anling" and watched the sailors on the ship conducting an air defense exercise, the fleet had just experienced a fierce naval and air battle, and more than 40 planes taking off from the two West Francian aircraft carriers launched a round of attacks on the Tang fleet, but these backward "Gaodron" bombers and "Swordfish" torpedo planes were simply unable to break through the defense line of the Tang carrier-based fighters - they were all shot down before entering the air defense circle of the fleet.

However, the performance of the Tang carrier-based aircraft pilots was not very good, and the two squadrons of attack aircraft that took off from the aircraft carrier did not find the incoming West Francian warships, so they had to drop all their bombs in the sea on the way back.

This is how the duel between the aircraft carriers of the two sides ended hastily.

What annoyed Admiral Ding Guozhen even more was that his flagship battleship "Huashan" was actually hit by a torpedo by a sneak attack East Francian submarine, and several escort light cruisers kept throwing depth charges on the sea, and it was not known whether the damned West Francian submarine had been sunk.

If the West Francian torpedo had not hit a heavy battleship with strong defenses like the "Huashan," but the "Sakhalin" sailing inboard, Admiral Ding Guozhen would have lost his face this time.

Admiral Ding Guozhen was annoyed that his carrier-based aircraft had not been able to find the traces of the two West Francian aircraft carriers. Therefore, he was not in the mood to entangle with the West Francians now, and ordered the fleet to return quickly.

Through a series of secret telegrams sent from the naval base at Hekou Port, Admiral Ding Guozhen had a general understanding of the latest disposition of the West Frankish Navy, which would pose a certain threat to his fleet, but it was also the situation he most wanted to see. Now he has the upper hand and is more than capable of inflicting heavy losses on his opponents in one fell swoop, but to his surprise and pride, the West Francians have behaved quite wisely and have not acted recklessly in the face of their inferiority.

In winter, the Nanda River (La Plata) waterway was an important shipping route for the Tang Empire in South America, where the fleet also caught up with several Tang freighters transporting iron ore, and the crew of the steamer cheered on the deck when they saw their fleet.

When the two fleets met on the sea, Admiral Ding Guozhen ordered the first telegram in four days: "This fleet has returned smoothly with the attacking fleet!" ”

After receiving the telegram, the command of the Estuary Port Naval Base immediately burst into cheers.

When the huge Imperial fleet, escorted by two destroyer fleets, slowly sailed into the mouth of the harbor, it was greeted with more enthusiasm than when it returned from a naval battle in the North Atlantic.

On the pier, flowers and cheers drowned out everything.

The emperor of the empire, who was far away in Luoyang, also sent a congratulatory telegram, in which he praised the fighting spirit of the entire fleet in defying the strong enemy and their immortal feats on the sea.

It was only a matter of time before the Imperial Fleet, led by Admiral Chen Shiying, entered the Gulf of Mexico through the Canal of the Americas and would soon be planning a series of counteroffensives in the Caribbean.

……

The focus of the war was on the narrow hilly terrain of Donets and the eastern highlands of Kievan Rus in the north, and the new campaign strike forces of both sides were concentrated between the Donets Ridge and the Kievan Rus Heights on the southern flank of the front, and then gradually expanded northward. Due to the lack of oil resources, East Francia began to fully aid the Byzantine Empire, and the purpose of the offensive was also to pin down the main forces of the Don Army to the north of the Caucasus and create conditions for the seizure of the Baku oil fields and the oil fields in the Gulf region.

In the summer of Republic 307, Army Group East Francia, under the command of Marshal von Brücher, launched an all-out offensive on the Crimean Peninsula. After paying a huge price, the Crimean Peninsula was completely occupied, flanking preparations for the attack on the Caucasus and the Don region.

Both sides are actively mobilizing troops, and the three railway lines from the Western Regions to the Caspian Sea and the Urals are full of trains transporting military personnel and equipment. Around the Donets region, a big war gradually unfolded......

Read the URL: n.