That's right, it was indeed an explosion, a very violent explosion.

Zhang Guozhu only stayed in the open-air cloister for a few minutes, not that the wind was strong, but that the commander's bridge was already very low, and the explosion was too far away.

It was 5:35 a.m.

Even the lookout on the mast could see the fireball tumbling into the night sky.

When he returned to the Commander's Bridge, the telecommunications officer delivered the report he had just received.

The explosion occurred on a bulk cargo ship, which, from the power of the explosion, was loaded with either explosives or munitions, and must have exceeded 10,000 tons.

The point is, it's too powerful.

Not only the freighter that exploded, but more than a dozen adjacent freighters were all affected, and the one that followed was also overturned by the huge waves caused by the explosion.

According to the report of Detachment 42.5, it is suspected that the cargo ship was carrying ammunition.

The report explicitly mentions "ammunition", not "explosives".

The point is that after the big bang, there were many small explosions near the explosion point, such as shells and bombs that were detonated after being thrown away.

To put it simply, when you look at it from a distance, it looks like fireworks stacked together and then detonated.

It's just that, whether it's explosives or ammunition, the freighter has been blown to pieces.

A few minutes later, the "Carp" of the 42.5th detachment sent another telegram that three freighters in the same column had capsized and the last one was about to capsize.

The lookout on board the "Carp" clearly saw that at the same time as the big explosion occurred, explosions occurred one after another in the vicinity of the four freighters, to be precise, below the waterline of the hull, but on a much smaller scale. Although the lookout believed that it was a torpedo, the captain felt that it was impossible.

The commander of the 42.5th detachment believed that it was a shell or bomb that had been blown away.

In the third report, it was mentioned that five Nuland freighters may have been torpedoed.

Where did the torpedo come from?

When this suspicion arose, Zhang Guozhu also glanced at his watch.

It's already 6:25.

Because it is the second half of the year, and it is in the northwest and eastward at high latitudes, the sunrise is much later than in the summer, about 6:40.

Fifteen minutes before dawn, what a coincidence!

And the point is, where did those torpedoes come from?

Prior to this, Detachment 42.5 had already sent a report that there were no Nuland Navy warships in the area of the incident, except for a few fast freighters suspected of being armed merchant ships.

Because the main object of engagement was the enemy's broken cruisers, none of the armed merchant ships were equipped with torpedoes.

Could it be that the destroyers of the 42.5th detachment attacked without authorization?

Definitely not.

There were no reports of attack on the destroyers, and there was no possibility of a counterattack, so there was no reason for those destroyers to torpedo merchant ships.

If you really want to do it, artillery is enough.

With artillery, it is possible to fire at the bridge or wheelhouse of a merchant ship to stop sailing, while torpedoes can only sink merchant ships.

Besides, if a destroyer of the Imperial Navy had torpedoed and sunk a Newland merchant ship, the radio channel would have been in trouble a long time ago.

Until now, the radio channel had been quiet, and it was enough to prove that it had nothing to do with the Imperial warships.

Not a destroyer of the 42.5th detachment, is it ......

Submarine!

That's right, definitely submarines.

Certainly not a submarine of the Imperial Navy, though.

As early as the end of last month, the command of the Navy contacted all the ocean-going submarines and assigned new tasks to each submarine.

Now, half of the ocean-going submarines are on the side of the island, while the other half are near the Howai Islands.

That is, there is not a single submarine of the Imperial Navy on the side of the Guia in the Northwest.

Allowing the submarine to evacuate the Northwest and the Guia is to avoid such a thing.

In any case, when the submarine is hiding underwater, it will definitely not have a comprehensive grasp of the battlefield situation, and it is possible to make wrong judgments.

In addition, there are dozens of cruisers to break the diplomatic relationship, and there is an aircraft carrier task force to provide support at any time, so there is no need to use submarines to carry out the task of breaking the diplomatic relationship.

As for the small submarines, they simply cannot reach the Northwest and the Guia.

Not the Reich submarine, whose submarine?

While Zhang Guozhu was thinking about this, the communications staff officer sent a telegram over.

It was 6:35 a.m.

The eastern sky was already slightly bright, and the morning sun was about to rise.

Message from the command of the Navy.

At the beginning, at least three Nuland freighters sent out a clear code telegram through the international maritime communication channel that they had been attacked by a submarine.

Because it was communicating with the destroyers of the 42.5th Detachment and using the fleet communication channel, the "Longxing" did not pay attention to the international maritime channel.

At this moment, Zhang Guozhu suddenly understood.

Obviously, it was a trick.

There is only one point: before the attack on the Nuland freighter, the nearby Imperial warships did not raise the alarm of a possible submarine attack.

Isn't this the mud that fell into the crotch?

Who would believe that the Newland freighter was attacked by a submarine and that it was a submarine from another country?

At this time, the official residence of the first assistant of the imperial capital.

Xue Yuanzheng also stayed awake all night, but he was not worried about the battle ahead, but there were too many things, and he was so busy that he didn't finish it in the middle of the night.

In addition to reviewing the documents, he made minor changes to the speeches drafted by his assistants.

When the secretary sent the news, Xue Yuanzheng had just finished eating supper.

Because it was four time zones late, it was still past two o'clock in the morning in the imperial capital.

"Is there an emergency meeting needed?" When cleaning up the dishes, Secretary Chang Weiguo asked.

"You mean now? No, it's not necessary. Xue Yuanzheng let out a long sigh and continued, "It's scheduled for tomorrow morning, maybe there will be definite news at that time." ”

Chang Weiguo didn't ask much, and left the study with the tableware.

After the secretary went out, Xue Yuanzheng picked up the speech that had not been revised, only glanced at it, and then tore it up and threw it into the trash can next to him.

That's right, a speech declaring war on the Nuland Federation.

It was assumed that the Nuland Federation would have attacked directly or fired a shot in a similar manner, and then said that it was intercepted by the Imperial Navy and forced to do so.

Anyway, it's just to start fighting first, and then get down to business.

It was precisely in this way that Xue Yuanzheng asked his assistant to draft a speech declaring war.

Nothing special, everything is done according to the rules.

Usually, after President Nuland first issued a declaration of war, announcing the severance of diplomatic relations with the Liangxia Empire and entering a state of war, it was the turn of the Imperial Chiefs to make a statement.

Because it was a passive declaration of war, there was no need for the emperor to come forward and make a call.

As for the declaration of war, it is basically a script.

As early as last year, after declaring war on the Sakuyi Empire, the empire had already entered a state of war, and there was no need to declare a state of war again.

It was precisely because of this that Xue Yuanzheng did not take the declaration of war seriously.

Before eating supper, he read the declaration of war drafted by his assistant.

Who would have thought that Lofos was playing a bitter trick tonight, blowing up and sinking several freighters, and also framing the Imperial Navy.

Whether or not Lofos declared war on the Empire on this ground, the speeches prepared by the assistant were useless.

After thinking about it for a while, he also wrote a few beginnings, but Xue Yuanzheng felt dissatisfied.

After tossing for a while, he reluctantly gave up his efforts.

The main thing is that I'm too tired, maybe go to sleep and wake up with ideas.

Besides, Lofus may not declare war tonight, so there is no need to rush into a declaration of war.

At this time, the phone on the desk suddenly rang, and it was a military line.