On the night of January 19, north of the Xunfeng Strait.

After seeing the destroyer in front of him turn again, Bai Zhizhan returned to the bridge.

For the sake of safety, Li Mingbo went to the navigation bridge, while Zhou Yongtao arranged night patrol tasks for the pilots at the aviation combat command center.

The staff officers were all busy, and Bai Zhizhan didn't bother them.

Four days earlier, after making a bold judgment, Bai Zhizhan ordered the fleet to move south at full speed, heading straight for the Java Sea north of the Xunfeng Strait and the Longyan Strait.

At the same time, the two destroyer detachments headed south at full speed and rushed to the Xunfeng Strait and the Longyan Strait ahead of schedule.

It's just that whether to go to the Xunfeng Strait or the Longyan Strait, Bai Zhizhan did not make a decision at that time, but it depends on the actual situation.

Yesterday evening, the 11.5th detachment was the first to rush to the Xunfeng Strait.

Subsequently, 4 destroyers began to drop depth charges in the strait, dropping hundreds of them in one go from north to south, as if a submarine had really been discovered. It's just that after passing through the strait, the four destroyers did not penetrate deep into the Fanyan Ocean. It made a circle around the Krakatoa volcano and returned to the Java Sea through the strait. For the next ten hours, the four destroyers ran two round-trips in the Xunfeng Strait in a similar manner.

During this period, several patrol aircraft were always hovering south of the Sunkaze Strait.

Detachment 11.6 arrived a few hours late in the Longyan Strait, so it only had time to make two round-trips, but it also used up a lot of depth charges.

As for the bet, Bai Zhizhan has already lost.

Shortly after Detachment 11.5 passed through the Sunfeng Strait for the first time, a patrol aircraft from Saigon Port spotted a submarine in the waters southwest of the Strait, which was also judged to be an ocean-going submarine of the Royal Navy of Buran. Just as ordered, the patrol plane did not attack.

Since it did not carry anti-submarine bombs, it was not possible to launch an attack.

In the next few hours, two more Bran submarines were discovered on the Fanyan Ocean side of the Xunfeng Strait.

Obviously, these three submarines were all lurking in or near the Xunfeng Strait before, and when the destroyer dropped depth charges indiscriminately, they were frightened and carried out evasive maneuvers, using up the already small amount of electrical energy, so they had to float up and recharge after leaving the Xunfeng Strait.

On the other side of the Longyan Strait, the 11.6th detachment also blasted out 2 Bran submarines and 1 Nuland submarine.

In the early hours of this morning, the fire support fleet covering the landing fleet entered the Shiquan Strait and cleared the channel by shelling Shiquan City and covering the minesweepers.

The point is, it is the main channel that is cleared!

If it is to attack Lion Spring City and clear a sea area for the landing fleet, there is no need to spend effort to clear the main channel.

Objectively speaking, the sea area east of Shiquan City is relatively open, so it is more suitable for a landing site.

Besides, if you don't take Shiquan City, you can't go to the Throat Strait, and there is no need to clear the mines laid by Bran's army in the Shiquan Strait.

Prior to this, the Imperial Army Air Force focused on bombing the eastern part of Lion Springs, carrying out five large-scale bombing of Changi Airport alone, dropping more than 3,000 tons of bombs.

Of course, the minesweeper was sent to the Shiquan Strait, in fact, in order to deceive the enemy.

In all three straits, warships of the Imperial Navy appeared, and all of them made great movements.

So, where is the Imperial Navy's task force?

Or, from which strait the task force will enter the Fanyan Ocean.

What is certain is that after making such a big move, the Eleventh Task Force will definitely enter the Fanyan Ocean and find the Bran fleet for a decisive battle.

If you want to say that, this is exactly the purpose of the White Stop War.

If Cunningham had already led the fleet to kill, and it was in the northeast Fanyan Ocean, after these things, he could only retreat temporarily.

The fleet has been withdrawn, and can you still hold Lion Springs City?

As for whether he could fight the Bran fleet, or when to fight the Bran fleet, Bai Zhizhan didn't care about it.

At present, the number one task is to quickly take Lion Springs City.

If anything, the 11th Task Force made a strategic feint to allow the Bran fleet to escape, which was the best strategy to attack Lion's Springs.

It would be great if we could win without a fight.

So, can you win without a fight?

Bai Zhizhan is not sure yet, but so far, the situation is still under control, and what happened is not much different from what was expected.

"Commander!"

When the telecommunications officer came over, Bai Zhizhan realized that Li Mingbo was not in the bridge of the commander's ship.

Otherwise, the telecommunications officer would not have approached him directly.

A telegram from the Navy Command was only signed by Zheng Jiangming.

Up-to-date information.

After only looking at the beginning, Bai Zhizhan tightened his brows.

More than ten days ago, the convoy that had entered the narrow sea through the Syphane Canal had been identified as a flotilla, because the intelligence officers of the Sixth Directorate had confirmed yesterday evening that the convoy was hiding in a remote bay in Cyprus and that the crew was all on board.

The point is that the 2 fast battleships of the home fleet have not appeared so far!

Because there were no fast tankers to follow, and the "Prime Minister" had been heading south at a speed close to 20 knots, if the two fast battleships were pursuing the "Prime Minister", they would have run out of fuel long ago, and they would definitely have to go to a port or naval base in the sunset a few days ago to replenish their fuel.

But the problem is that there are only a few ports that can provide support for battleships in the South Sunset Ocean and reserve tens of thousands of tons of high-quality marine heavy oil!

Intelligence analysts at the Sixth Bureau speculated that the two fast battleships probably did not go south, but quietly entered the narrow sea through the Xifan Canal.

That's right, it was disguised as a merchant ship and passed through the Shivan Canal at night, deceiving the spies lurking in the area.

If this was the case, the 2 fast battleships would have caught up with Cunningham's Bran fleet.

The key is that there are enough Bran freighters on the Fanyan Ocean, many of which are oil tankers, so it is not difficult to get fuel supplies.

In addition, the Imperial Navy has not yet invaded the Fanyan Ocean, and has not sent submarines to the Fanyan Ocean to carry out the task of breaking diplomatic relations, so the Bran battleship can safely and boldly move around, including refueling in the open sea, at least without worrying about exposing its whereabouts because of encountering the Imperial submarine.

Also, before leaving the port to deal with the "Prime Minister", both fast battleships were maintained.

As long as fuel is not an issue, the two warships will be able to operate in the open sea for several months, and there is no problem of returning to port for maintenance in the near future.

Even if there has always been a problem with the main gun of the "George V", it has never been solved, but when it comes to Fanyanyang, whether the main gun can be used is a problem.

Comparatively speaking, hundreds of anti-aircraft guns are worth more!

For this reason, Zheng Jiangming issued a warning.

With 3 fleet carriers, 2 fast battleships and 2 battle cruisers, as well as a large number of cruisers and destroyers, it is likely that the Bran fleet has reached the northeast and is on standby in the Andaman Sea or the Bay of Bengal, ready to meet the incoming Imperial fleet.

Obviously, Zheng Jiangming's move was to stop the war in vain and strengthen vigilance.

Unfortunately, he did not know that the 11th Task Force had entered the Java Sea, and was preparing to enter the Fanyan Ocean through the Sunfeng Strait this evening.

At least, according to the original plan, the fleet's early entry into the Fanyan Ocean was not within the scope of options.

Zheng Jiangming is indeed well-intentioned, and the information he provides is also very valuable.

It's just that it's not comprehensive enough.