Sir, weather forecast. The communications officer on duty entered the captain's cabin in the stern and said respectfully to the fleet commander.

Admiral Chen Shiying lay on the bed and rested for a while after dinner, and then he just woke up, glanced at the telegram and newspaper sent from Xinhaizhou, and then raised his head and asked, "Is there any latest news on the 'Yadong'?" ”

"No, sir! They have been silent, but just now Lieutenant Colonel Ouyang Lin thinks that it has now entered the north of Dongzhou Point, with the speed of the 'Yadong', if it travels at full speed, it may be able to enter the safe sea area south of Dongzhou Corner in another day and a half, but the lieutenant colonel thinks that in order to save fuel, maybe the 'Yadong' will sail at cruising speed, so the time for it to enter the safe sea area should be the 17th. Demirel is the captain of the "Yunling", and his prediction should be quite reliable, if the captain of the "Yadong" is not too stupid, he will not sail at full speed all the time.

"What is the cruising speed of that mail ship? And its battery life. Tang Jinchao, chief of staff of the fleet, looked down at a chart on the table.

"Its cruising speed should be 15 knots, and if it sails at this speed, it has a cruising range of 12,600 nautical miles, which is enough for it to run from the Songjiang River to South America in one go. The Imperial Mail Company, which ran the Far East route, sailed directly from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa to Canton without any fuel on the way. "But the Yadong will definitely sail hundreds of nautical miles at full speed, and you know that the ship consumes at least three or four times as much raw material as usual when it travels at full speed, and it certainly won't be able to travel that far now." ”

"Then there's no problem, the captain sent a message that they would go south along Dongzhou Point, and we will go to Dongzhou Point to meet them." Chen Jinchao said in an unquestioning tone, "The Europeans must have also deployed warships there to intercept them, and we want to destroy them!" Well, at least two days of haze...... The weather was not bad. ”

After a night's voyage, the Tang fleet had sailed close to the waters of the eastern corner, and now their course was north-northwest. As we were getting closer to the equator, it was not until about 5 o'clock in the morning that the sky began to lighten.

In addition, there is good news: just yesterday night, a submarine of the submarine force took advantage of the darkness to sneak into Cherbourg, the anchorage of the Frankish kingdom's home fleet, and fired several torpedoes at the warships parked in the harbor, sinking at least one enemy battleship. After confirming the news, the propaganda apparatus of the empire naturally began to trumpet it to the whole world by radio.

"A howling cold wind blows from the north,

Evoke endless nostalgia in your heart.

When we become close comrades-in-arms,

It's also a time to go to hell together.

The sailors know how to die,

You can't get rid of the tricks of impermanent fate.

The drums of war have been broken,

Only the north wind was left to sing lamentations for us.

On the graves of sailors,

There are no delicate roses.

On the graves of sailors,

There are no blooming flowers.

Only greetings from the white seagull,

There was also a weeping girl standing at the head of the grave.

We've seen the call of death,

But no one will grieve and cry.

Slipping from the steep abyss to destruction,

The ship is embracing the Grim Reaper at the bottom of the sea.

The icy sea is lapping against the hull of the ship,

We will say goodbye to this beloved world.

When the Grim Reaper leaves,

We're singing this song softly.

When the Grim Reaper leaves,

We're singing this song softly......"

Music was playing in the dining room, a sad old naval anthem. When the "Yunling" received the news of the submarine sinking the East Frankish battleship in Scapa Bay through domestic radio broadcasting, Admiral Chen Shiying, commander of the fleet, Vice Admiral Tang Jinchao, chief of staff, and Huo Xunchi, commander of the Screen Fleet, and several other senior officers were enjoying breakfast in the dining room.

"That's great news!" Admiral Chen Shiying wiped his mouth, left behind only a small half of breakfast, and returned to the bridge with the chief of staff and Lieutenant General Huo Xunchi. After a while, Admiral Chen Shiying, Vice Admiral Tang Jinchao, Captain Hoffman, and a large number of staff officers were now gathered in the war room of the "Yunling," and on the chart table was a huge chart of the northern waters of the North Atlantic, which marked the route that the raiding fleet had now taken.

"Sir, I still don't see any need for the 'Yadong' to take a long detour." Captain Liu Mingliang said.

"The problem is that the Spaniards don't have so many cruisers now." Tang Jinchao raised his head, he has always been known for his strict personality in the navy, but he is not sociable and unapproachable, although he has outstanding personal ability, his popularity in the navy is not good. "We should have the 'Liuzhou' send a telegram to the Admiralty and tell the merchant ship to go to the outskirts of Kohnbuco Island!"

The Empire's merchant ships also had a cryptographic system, but it was not the same as the one used by the naval fleet, which currently used a new type of cipher system handed down from the Western Regions Army, which used a rare Turgish dialect, which was difficult to decipher, but required each warship to be equipped with more than two specially trained interpreters.

"Sir, the sight range is still bad, and our plane can't take off properly." A staff officer reported.

In fact, you only need to look at the sea outside the warship to know the situation. The sky was overcast, the sea was dark, and there was a heavy fog, and the visual distance was only more than 100 meters. The Yunling undulated through the rolling black waves, relying only on the lights to keep in touch with the other ships in the fleet.

While they were discussing, a telegram was sent from the communication room. A captain opened it and handed it to Rear Admiral Wu Zhichao, the chief of operations, and the former captain of the flagship took a look at it and said, "Sir, this is from the Xinsongjiang base." He then read out the transcript of the telegram: "The 'Yadong' will begin to enter the waters of Dongjiao tomorrow afternoon, please pay attention to the response." You are right, General, it seems that the captain is a cautious man, and although the waters are wider on the outskirts, it is easier to encounter the patrol ships of the Tessians, whose destroyers can actually run to patrol the area. ”

"There's nothing wrong with that, we should be there tomorrow morning." Lieutenant Colonel Levino picked up the two-legged gauge, made a gesture on the chart, and said, "There are about 400 nautical miles left, and if we maintain a speed of 20 knots, we can even reach the East Cape at night." ”

"Yes!" Chen Shiying leaned over the chart table, nodded in agreement, and said, "We need to enter the waters of the North Atlantic, and after receiving that ship, let it follow us, that ship can carry 1,600 passengers, and can allow us to contain enough prisoners." Has any intelligence been received now on the activities of the European fleet? ”

"No, sir. Bad weather was bad for our aerial reconnaissance. ”

"It's also very bad for the enemy, isn't it?" "I don't think the Europeans will act easily until they get our exact information, they don't have enough troops." But judging by the situation with the attack of the submarine forces on the Bay of Biscay, the main forces of their fleet really left the base. ”

……