Smoke billowed from the ship's hull amidships, and the firefighters on the deck were running in that direction in a panic with a few water pipes, spraying water with all their might towards the smoke.

The plane that hit the "Xing'anling" actually escaped interception by anti-aircraft artillery. It flew too low, almost clinging to the sea, and escaped from the range of the short-range anti-aircraft artillery before the Tang gunners had time to turn their guns sharply. Disaster continued to struck, and a West Francian plane that was hit was planted on the foredeck of the "Xing'anling," but the bomb that it had not had time to drop in a hurry was detonated due to the violent impact, and the front deck of the "Xing'anling" was torn open with a big hole, and even the anchor chain on the right side was blown away.

The high-intensity battle lasted only five minutes before it was quickly over.

After the battle, only nine of the more than 20 West Frankish planes remained, and the Tang people did not have a good time, and the "Sayanling" was also covered in smoke, as if it had suffered heavy losses.

The result of this battle made Ling Wencha and Zeng Chusheng feel like they were drunk, and their original optimistic mood dimmed suddenly.

The "Xing'anling" had a miserable appearance, a large piece of the bow was blown off, a large hole was also broken in the rear chimney, and two lifeboats were blown away and fell into the sea. Fortunately, there were no problems with the underwater cabin, which did not affect the voyage.

After lunch, the sea was still calm in the sun, and the fleet sailed against the wind in the Mid-Atlantic. After handing over the shift with the captain of the ship, Colonel Zeng Chusheng, Chief of Staff Ou Chen, prepared to go back to his cabin to sleep—he had not slept well since yesterday evening, and now he felt a little tired.

"Colonel, a domestic telegram from the North Atlantic Fleet!" Just as he was about to leave the command tower, he saw the communications officer on duty come out of the telegraph room. Ou Chen stopped, stood in place and looked at the communication staff officer with Zeng Chusheng.

The communications officer took a telegram in his hand and reported loudly to the two of them: "Colonel, the commander of the Navy has sent a secret telegram that the enemy's fast task force has left the Gibraltar base and entered the Atlantic, and their target is West Africa, including two aircraft carriers!" ”

"Huh?" Ou Chen took the telegram from the communications staff officer and read the contents of the telegram himself as usual. Although it is a cipher, its main content has been expressed very clearly in short words. He handed the telegram to Captain Zeng Chusheng, "It seems that we need to change our plans, and we will have a meeting to discuss it later." ”

The sailors on the deck were making a lot of noise with sledgehammers and mending curled steel plates.

After a few words of communication with the captain of the ship, Colonel Zeng Chusheng, Ou Chen took the telegram and personally went to the captain's cabin and conference room in the stern compartment.

At this time, Ling Wencha was wearing a pair of pajamas and was about to rest, when he saw Ou Chen coming, he took the initiative to ask, "What's going on?" ”

Ou Chen handed the telegram to the fleet commander, "I just received a telegram that a Spanish fleet is coming towards Dakar, and they seem to want to stop us off the coast of Africa. ”

Ling Wencha yawned and leaned down on the chart for a while, "Taixi really looks down on us, and almost moved half of the royal fleet, and the strength they dispatched can be described as powerful, isn't it?" Reconnaissance planes, fighter planes, bombers, maybe submarines in the water, in the sky and under the water, and even in the core of the home fleet, I think they used everything they could think of. They should have set a trap somewhere in the Atlantic, just waiting for us to crash headlong into it. He gestured his finger at the chart, "We can't let them do that." ”

"So, General, where will we go next? I recommend going to the southern seas of the Americas, where the sea is wide and it is easier to return to base. Ou Chen said.

Ling Wencha stared at the chart for a while, and then raised his head: "Well, that's right, but let's go to the West African coast to get a ticket now, and then go directly back to South America." Now we are like a red cloth that teases the bull, and we want to make that John bull completely angry, and we will only have a chance if they lose their minds! ”

Then Ling Wencha said his thoughts in detail: Anyway, the North American coast can't go back, and the risk is too great, so he will first go to the West African route to do a few big deals, and then quickly go south and return directly to the base in South America. In any case, the South and South Atlantic Ocean is large enough and there are few islands, and after attracting some of the enemy's naval encirclement forces to the waters of the South Atlantic, it may find various opportunities for the Imperial Navy to break through. The fleet ships in his hands were faster than the old battleships of the enemy, which was their advantage, and as for the cruisers of the West Francians, it was just some soy sauce characters.

While the two were chatting, the ship's chief communications officer came over to report that the North Atlantic Fleet had sent a second secret message about the European Combined Fleet: two King-class battleships and two aircraft carriers of the Kingdom of East Francia had appeared in the waters east of the mouth of the North River (Amazon).

This confirmed Ling Wencha's suspicion that the enemy was indeed preparing to intercept in the South Atlantic.

"Order the fleet to turn at once and target the Cape Verde Islands! In addition, a secret telegram was sent to the High Command to report that we had temporarily abandoned our plans to return to South America and were heading for the province of South Africa! ”

The communications officer jotted down these instructions on paper as quickly as he could, and then quickly repeated the order Ling Wencha had just given. Ling Wencha signed his name on the manuscript paper after confirming it, and after saluting, the communications officer immediately went to the bridge to convey the order of the supreme commander of the fleet.

At the same time that the European Combined Fleet was actively deploying troops and preparing to round up this Tang attack fleet in the Mid-Atlantic, Ling Wencha had already commanded his own fleet and completed a major strategic detour. After intercepting several European freighters off the southern waters of the Canad Islands on 13 August, the fleet then circled the Cape Verde Islands and headed south for the coast of South Africa.

Five days later, the fleet was sailing along the equator.

The senior commanders of the fleet were more worried about the enemy's aircraft carriers than the enemy's battleships, and a cruiser could actually only search a sea area with a radius of about 20 nautical miles, while an aircraft carrier could expand the search range to a large area of nearly 300 nautical miles, and if the aircraft carrier was equipped with a long-range special reconnaissance aircraft, its search range would be expanded.

In other words, once their fleet falls under the control of the West Francian aircraft carriers, it is basically impossible to get rid of it. The longer they stay at sea, and the more they are counterattacked and entangled by the opposing shore-based aircraft after several shore attacks, the more profound their understanding of this point becomes. Now, including Rear Admiral Ling Wencha, many people in the fleet suffer from "aircraft phobia".

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