A cruise ship flying the flag of the Tang Empire docked at the port wharf of Xinhaizhou (Georgetown), and the black stern of the hull was written horizontally with several golden characters of "Yadong Ship". On the top of the ship's mast, a huge striped national flag with black letters on a red background symbolizing the Tang Empire fluttered, and a golden dragon emblem symbolizing the Tang Empire was embroidered in the middle.

At this time, the cruise ship sounded three whistles signaling that it was ready to sail, the crew was putting away the gangway, and the band on board played "God Save My Emperor" on the deck, and it seemed that everything was normal.

"Damn Tessie!" When the captain Luo Tianyou stood in the wheelhouse, he looked at the group of coast guard soldiers who were still watching their every move on the dock, and couldn't help but curse in a low voice.

"Captain, the pressure in the boilers has risen to the maximum, do we have a chance to escape? There's a cruiser waiting for us outside! At this time, the first mate Lu Zeming and the chief engineer Dunn walked up from the bilge, and Dunn reported to Luo Tianyou.

When the war broke out suddenly, the Tang Empire's "Yadong Ship" cruise ship was staying in Xinhaizhou Port. After learning of the outbreak of war, Captain Luo Tianyou immediately ordered the crew to light a fire in advance, planning to leave this place of right and wrong immediately.

However, just as the "Yadong Steamer" was about to leave the port, the Xinhaizhou Coast Guard suddenly began to forcibly board the ship and detained the "Yadong Ship" in the port.

Most of these states in northeastern South America are controlled by separatists, but the new states are still in a state of vacillation and have not publicly declared their independence. Later, after strong protests from the anti-separatists, the coast guard reluctantly released the ship after inspecting the people and cargo on board and confirming that it was not loaded with any arms or contraband.

However, more than 10 days have passed in the meantime, and Luo Tianyou has received the news that a cruiser of the Spanish Navy has rushed over after hearing the news, and is now waiting for the sea off Xinhai Prefecture, waiting for the "Yadong Steamer" to leave the territorial waters of the "Republic of America" and seize it.

This is obviously the collusion between the separatists and the Westerners, and what awaits this group of Tang sailors is the fate of being detained by the Europeans with people and ships. The Xinhaizhou Local Coast Guard, which had seized the Tang Steamer, was now impatient to demand that the ship leave immediately, but Luo Tianyou still ordered the crew to delay the departure time as much as possible.

At this time, it was close to dusk, and the "Yadong Steamer" began to slowly leave the dock, and there were only 36 passengers in the more than 240 cabins of this ocean-going liner with a displacement of more than 42,000 tons. Captain Luo Tianyou had told them that the trip would be very dangerous, but these people still insisted on forcibly returning to their homeland with the ship.

In front of this huge ship, the harbor tugboat towing the ship to the channel was constantly honking its whistle, and Captain Luo Tianyou had already ordered the crew to stick to their posts. Lu Zeming held a telescope in his hand and had been observing the sea south of the Brooklyn Channel. A gust of cold wind blew in the face, and a thin layer of light mist rose from the sea, and the buildings in Xinhaizhou City looked a little blurry in the fog.

"What a nice day!" Luo Tianyou stood by the porthole, staring at the sea, "In such a foggy day, where do you guess Taixi will be waiting for us?" ”

"I guess it's outside the territorial waters." Captain Zheng Xiushan said, "Waiting outside the fairway, the question is whether it is north or south? ”

"Don't guess, I've seen it, No, just north of the estuary. It seems that Tessy is afraid that we will get lost, and wants to accompany us out of the channel. At this time, Lu Zeming said suddenly, Luo Tianyou picked up the binoculars, and sure enough, he saw a cruiser flying the Spanish flag waiting for them on the sea in front.

"Tessy isn't going to do it now, is he?" Zheng Xiushan said.

"They don't dare, at least on the surface, it takes a lot of courage to undermine the independence of the new American Republic." Luo Tianyou said in a sarcastic tone, "But as soon as we leave the coast, they will definitely do it immediately." Oh, it should be a 'Carlos III' class light cruiser, the Spaniards sent an old ship built during the last war, it will never exceed 26 knots at its top speed now, here is our chance! ”

Luo Tianyou seemed a little excited, the Spaniards seemed to have forgotten that the "Yadong Steamer" was a fast ocean cruise ship that had won the "Blue Ribbon Award", and its maximum speed could reach 33 knots, which was also a major reason why Luo Tianyou had been planning to escape when he was in Xinhaizhou Port.

It was the high speed of his ship that made him unwilling to be captured.

The "Yadong" sailed at a speed of 12 knots on the channel outside the harbor and passed by the side of the Spanish cruiser.

It was already dusk, the golden sun was shining on the sea, and the Spanish cruiser "Deportivo La Coruña", which had been waiting impatiently on the rough sea, immediately followed behind. At this time, the Tang State mail ship had already begun to accelerate to eighteen knots.

The "Coruña" is a veteran who served at the end of the last war, with a slender hull, it has a displacement of just over 4,000 tons, but it is armed with five 6-inch guns. At this time, its captain, Major Castro, was standing in the bridge, staring at the black smoke rising from the chimney of the huge Tang State ship in front of him - this would be his first prey in this war!

"Speed up to 20, keep an eye on it!" Seeing that the Tang State ship still wanted to escape, after giving the order, Major Castro inadvertently showed a contemptuous smile at the corner of his mouth, he didn't think that the Tang State merchant ship could escape his arrest, he was a cruiser in his hand!

But the problem is that the distance between himself and the Tang steamship seems to be widening!

"Full speed ahead!" Major Castro finally couldn't sit still, and felt a little uneasy in his heart.

Ten minutes later, the distance between the two ships had been stretched for nearly three nautical miles.

"Damn, how could that Tang merchant ship run so fast?" Major Castro, who was standing on the bridge, was stomping his feet, the problem was that the "A Coruña" ran to 27 knots with all its might, and could not catch up with the opponent.

"Captain, it seems that the other party's speed has exceeded 30 knots, and it is turning north!" Another officer on the bridge reported to him, "Are we warning it!" ”

"Wait a minute, this is the territorial waters of the Americas, and it's an international shipping lane, and there are a few ships watching it." Castro frowned and said that the biggest trouble now was that he couldn't open fire, and his own ship couldn't outrun his opponent. Thinking of this, he suddenly felt a little ashamed, a warship under his command couldn't outrun a merchant ship?!

：。 ：