At seven o'clock, east of the Watchman Strait.

The artillery battle had been going on for more than two hours, and it was fierce, but it was not tragic.

From beginning to end, five Queen Isa-class ships blocked the exit of the labyrinthine passage, keeping the engagement distance at a distance of more than 10 kilometers. As soon as the 21st Squadron approached and tried to grab a T-head, or tried to rush into the labyrinthine channel with speed, the fast combat detachment took on a decisive posture through a tactical turn and forced the 21st Squadron back. No matter how much the 21st Squadron tosses, the fast combat detachment always responds to all changes with the same.

It must be admitted that Betty was a strong-willed and very purposeful fleet commander.

The fast battle detachment refused to come out, and the 21st detachment did not take any chances.

It's not time to break through to death.

After dark, unless it is blocked, the fast combat detachment will definitely not be able to block the labyrinthine channel from ten kilometers apart, and use artillery fire to prevent the 21st Squadron from breaking through in the dark.

Because the main detachment of the home fleet is in the Watcher Strait, as long as the fast combat detachment is blocked, it will inevitably be attacked from both sides.

If you can annihilate the fast combat detachment and kill five fast battleships, even if you lose the 21st fleet, you will not lose it.

The home fleet is pouring out, just preparing to fight with the combined fleet!

However, the situation changed half an hour ago.

First, a telegram was sent from the armored cruiser "Guangyang", the flagship of the 33rd Squadron. Immediately afterward, the lookout saw four enemy ships that had appeared to the north.

That's right, that's four battle cruisers of the 2nd Battle Cruiser Detachment!

Then, the fast combat detachment to the south turned and attacked the 21st Squadron at high speed.

Now, it's troublesome.

There was still half an hour before dark, and even if He Yongxing immediately sent a telegram and the commander of the home fleet in the 11th Squadron immediately began to act after receiving the telegram, he would not be able to enter the Guia Ocean within half an hour. Arriving after dark, even if the 21st Squadron had not been annihilated, it would not help. When the time comes, more than a dozen capital ships will be withdrawn, which will definitely block the channel and cause more trouble.

Besides, the 21st Squadron was flanked by two enemy fleets and might not be able to hold out until dark.

At this point, Betty's tactical intentions are very clear.

If the 21st Squadron continues to bite the bullet, it will join forces with the 2nd Battle Patrol Detachment and avenge the 1st Battle Patrol Detachment before dark. If He Yongxing retreats in the face of difficulties, he will let the mountain bite up, and Betty will stay to block the labyrinth channel. When the main reinforcement detachment arrived, the fast combat detachment joined the pursuit and cooperated with the second combat patrol detachment to send the 21st squadron to the bottom of the sea.

Fortunately, He Yongxing had expected it.

When the fast combat detachment turned to kill, the 21st Squadron did not evade to the north as before, but chose to turn east.

Now, the problem is in Betty's hands.

If the fast combat detachment continues to move north to avenge the 1st battle patrol detachment, then before the great power of the 15-inch naval guns can be brought into full play, it will inevitably be treated by the 21st squadron, especially the sixteen 400-mm main guns of the two "Beihe" class.

Having already lost three battlecruisers, Betty dares to risk the home of the Royal Navy with Bran?

If you follow the 21st Squadron to turn, the fast combat detachment will have to leave the exit of the channel.

If the fast combat detachment had remained near the exit of the fairway, the 2nd Combat Patrol detachment might not have continued to pursue the 21st Division.

Betty isn't stupid, and Yamashita isn't stupid.

Since Betty doesn't want to touch the mold, why did Yamashita let the ace of the narrow navy send him to death?

The four "Golden Steel" ships are all battle patrols, and their protection is not much stronger than that of the "Lion" class that was sunk in the morning, and they are also just over 400 mm cannons.

With the urine nature of the narrow navy, even if there is a brave young Zhuang faction officer like Gao Ye, an old faction general like Yamashita may not dare to smash the 21st Squadron to the death.

The key, again, is time.

If it disengages before dark, then the 21st Squadron may not be found after dark.

Of course, Betty had to think first of all about not allowing the 21st Squadron to occupy a T-shaped position.

As a result, shortly after the 21st Squadron turned, the fast combat detachment followed suit. However, in order to block the exit of the labyrinthine channel, the fast combat detachment did not accelerate with the 21st Squadron, and after completing the tactical turn, it still maintained a long enough engagement distance.

This is a reflection of Betty's mentality of gaining and losing.

They wanted to achieve a major victory and avenge the 1st Battle Patrol Detachment, but they did not want to take risks and did everything they could to avoid possible losses.

If you are still like this, how can you be qualified to ask others?

To the north, the 2nd Battle Patrol Detachment also turned to the east, but did not approach the 21st Squadron, still honestly staying out of the range of the main guns.

After half an hour of running wildly, the 21st Squadron was already "ahead" of about fifteen kilometers.

Unless the fast combat detachment was ready to leave beyond the exit of the labyrinthine passage, it had to turn before seven o'clock instead of continuing to follow the 21st Squadron eastward. It was precisely because of this that the 21st Squadron was able to bypass the fast combat detachment when it headed south after seven o'clock, to be precise, to the south of the rapid combat detachment. Then sail northwest at full speed, not only can you go straight to the maze of waterways, but you don't have to worry about being pinched.

To put it simply, it is to rely on speed, take advantage of the situation of the enemy's separate formation, and circle around the fast combat detachment for most of the time.

The key is still time.

As long as the timing of the turn is right, the 21st Squadron will always be able to stay behind the day-night line, that is, hide in the night.

If all goes well, the 21st Squadron will be able to use the cover of night to slip out under the noses of the Rapid Combat Detachment and the Second Battle Patrol Detachment.

Unfortunately, the situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, and there are too many unforeseen factors.

For the officers and men of the fleet, who had been fighting all day, it was too tired, and the afterglow of the setting sun could easily give the lookouts a false impression.

Besides, the fast battle detachment and the second battle patrol detachment are both twenty kilometers away, so what is there to worry about?

Disaster struck.

Just after seven o'clock, the "Guijiang", which was at the rear of the formation and was the last to turn, was shot, and three large-caliber armor-piercing shells hit the front and rear bridges almost simultaneously. From the captain downwards, more than 100 officers and men were killed, and the officers and men of the two observation groups in front and behind were either killed or wounded.

Half a minute later, the "Jihe" in front of the "Guijiang" was shot, and at least two armor-piercing shells hit the hull and detonated inside the hull. Although the hit point was above the waterline, which did not endanger the engine room, it also slowed down as the amount of water inlet increased.

Over the next minute or so, all six battleships were subjected to intensive shelling.

Before and after, in fact, it is only a hundred seconds.

What happened in these hundred seconds almost rewrote the fate of the 21st squadron.

In fact, in these short 100 seconds, no one understood the situation, and it seemed that the thousands of officers and men of the entire fleet were stunned by the sudden artillery fire.

It was not until three minutes after seven, that is, after being overtaken by the line of day and night, and being shrouded in darkness, that the lookouts on several battleships figured out the situation.

The artillery fire came from the east, southeast to be exact.

At least eight capital ships, just ten kilometers away, were divided into two dense formations, from which the lookout deduced that they were the main detachments of the Combined Fleet.

Now, it's too bad!