Start shelling! ”

The four main turrets on the "Southridge" rumbled with brown smoke and large orange fires, and the deck was shaken and jolted on the sea.

Ling Wencha still felt the rumbling sound with a tampon in his ear.

At this moment, behind the stern of the "Nanling", the main guns of the "Qinling" also began to fire fiercely, and two strings of shells were clearly visible from the huge muzzle of the 330-millimeter caliber in the telescope, and the black warhead flew along the bow-shaped trajectory towards the target ship being towed on the sea near the naval base on Socotra Island.

On the sea in front of the starboard side, a red rising sun jumps out on the sea level, rendering the entire surface of the sea in a dazzling dappled color.

Two light cruisers of the "Nanchang" class and four destroyers on alert, flying battle flags on their masts, forming columns, were conducting anti-submarine drills around the two capital ships.

Huo Xunchi stood on the bridge of the ship, the telescope in his hand looking in the direction of the target ship.

After the main guns of the two battleships completed the test firing, they actually deviated from the target by several hundred meters in the first salvo. The vice admiral simply spared no expense in indiscriminate firing shells, hoping to teach the ship's crew some lessons from failure, or to practice how to quickly load shells from the ammunition depot into the stern, and listen to the deafening sound of gunpowder and smell the smoke of gunpowder in the turret.

The shelling lasted for nearly half an hour, and the two battleships finally smashed the target ship 12,000 kilometers away.

After ordering a ceasefire, Huo Xunchi's face was like an iron plate, and he left the bridge.

"All officers who are not on duty go to the conference room for meetings." He said to Ling Wencha as he left.

In the conference room, the vice admiral asked the officers of the ship to stand and listen to the lecture. He was stern and sharply criticized, which surprised all the officers on the warship.

There were not many experienced veterans on the warships, most of them were transferred from light cruisers and destroyers, and it turned out that they had never operated such a large-caliber main gun. Moreover, in peacetime, the navy rarely conducts actual combat target shooting in ordinary training, after all, this round of salvo is equivalent to throwing more than 100,000 yuan into the water.

The continuous target shooting just now made the muscles on the faces of the quartermaster on the ship jump, and he didn't know how to apply to the Navy Logistics Department for replenishment after he went back. Just now, it was not just a coach bullet, Huo Xunchi actually ordered three rounds of live ammunition, and this round of salvo was more than a dozen tons of tungsten alloy warheads thrown into the water.

As the chief of staff of the fleet, Ling Wencha was responsible for summarizing the problems.

Since he was on board, the two captains have complained to him about the fact that the navy conducts too few live fire targets every year.

It's a pity that there are so many funds given above, and just now, Huo Xun was in a fit of rage, and basically wiped out the construction funds for a destroyer.

After the meeting, he accompanied the commander of the fleet to the aft deck, where he walked and chatted.

When the two battleships were modernized, two seaplane catapults were added to the fore and aft decks: two between the forward bridge and the B turret, and two between the rear chimney and the C turret. Carrier-based seaplanes are usually fixed to this catapult, while lifeboats and transport boats move slightly to the sides. Between the two chimneys, the boom that used to hold the lifeboat was replaced with a large crane for the recovery of the seaplane.

"The freeboard height is insufficient, and the foredeck is badly scorched when the battleship is sailing against the waves in slightly harsh sea conditions!" After returning to the cabin, Ling Wencha was sorting out some of the problems found in the sea trials. These old battleships were all low-freeboard types, and although the freeboard height was increased during the refit, it still seemed to be somewhat inadequate.

With the continuous maturity of the power plant, the speed of large warships is getting higher and higher, and the seaworthiness requirements for hull design are also relatively high.

After this live-fire training, the fleet left the Socotra base and continued its patrol mission in the Gulf of Aden. The ports of the Great Food Empire on the Red Sea coast were the main source of weapons for the Fangtianjiao rebels of the Samanid Kingdom, and they were also the main targets of interception and search by the Tang Navy.

It's winter, but the waters around the Gulf of Aden seem to have a pleasant climate, with a warm sun and a gentle breeze on the sea. If you are not on a combat mission, the sea voyage in this weather is quite pleasant.

The fleet met two destroyers of the Abysian Empire on joint patrols at sea, and the ships of both sides greeted each other in a friendly manner. This empire, with the support of the Tang Dynasty, unified the entire Northeast Africa and has always been a hardcore ally of the Tang Empire. Because their naval warships are basically half-sold and half-sent by the Tang Empire, and the personnel are also trained by the Tang Empire, they are nicknamed the East African Detachment of the Tang Empire.

Shortly after the encounter with the Abysian fleet, the internal communication telephone of the Commander Tari rang loudly. Qiu Yimin, the deputy captain in charge of the duty, picked up the phone, and the voice from the communication room came from the other end of the telephone line: "A signal has been sent from the port of Aden, and the fleet has two hours to arrive at the destination port!" ”

"Keep on your guard!" After a brief explanation, Qiu Yimin orally conveyed the report of the communication room to Ling Wencha. Ling Wencha only nodded slightly to indicate that he knew, and now the fleet was carrying out a blockade operation with an arms embargo, and in terms of the method and purpose of the battle, it basically did not cause a battle, but there was a very delicate relationship between potential attackers and defenders.

No one dares to attack the warships of the Tang Empire and provoke the result of a war with the Tang Empire, and no country in this world can withstand it.

For the corrupt and corrupt ruling group of the Samanid Kingdom, Ling Wencha has no good feelings.

The royal family and nobles of this kingdom built their palaces to be splendid, made of gold and silver tableware, and liked to gather any shining precious diamonds, but their poor people lived in desolate mountains, struggling to live among cows and sheep dung, and were extremely poor.

However, their ruling class is extremely subservient to the Tang Empire, and from a political point of view, the Tang Empire will obviously support this group of desolate guys, rather than the Fangtian Sect, which has been suppressed by the empire all along. As several "uprisings" in Central Asia have killed millions, the empire has made this sect a priority for governance.

This "arms embargo" was also directed against the Fangtian Sect rebels supported by the Great Food Empire and the Byzantine Empire. Although it was not a direct combat mission, the fleet did not dare to be careless from top to bottom, and orders from the top of the empire also made them have to be careful in this sensitive sea area......