"Woo-woo......"

The sudden sound of the alarm frightened Takano and the others.

Submarine attack!?

The alternating sound of the siren is an artillery siren!

Where did the shelling come from!?

Don't talk about Tian Shi and Kuroshima, even Takano is confused.

The task force engaged in the battle with the mobile fleet, even if it had been sailing at full speed, was now more than 300 kilometers to the west. In other directions, the only one who is qualified to come and shell the first main battle team at night is the home fleet that must be in the Asahi Sea at this time.

Could it be that the submarine made a mistake, and the two fast battleships did not go north, but went south!?

However, even if it were to go south, it would not be possible to sail hundreds of kilometers from the northeast of Ashishima to the Shuangche Strait in just a few hours.

Kuroshima was the first to react, and immediately returned to his post and grabbed the phone microphone.

When he asked the captain about the situation, Tian Shi had already fetched the binoculars.

It's just that the night sky is full of dark clouds, and the sea is dark and oppressive, and it is useless to hold a telescope.

Soon, the situation was cleared.

The enemy ships were directly in front of the fleet, and the lookout observed four enemy ships firing, and according to the distribution of the muzzle flashes, all four enemy ships had three triple mounted main gun turrets.

This feature is in line with the main gun layout of the newly built fast battleship of the Liangxia Navy.

Crucially, according to the size of the fast battleship, the lookout compared the spacing of the front and rear main gun turrets, and measured the distance of more than 28 kilometers.

This distance is not just far, but very far, almost the ultimate range of a 400 mm naval gun!

Firing at such a distance, not to mention whether it is a waste of shells, how did the gunners on the enemy ship see the "Gate"!?

Even if you can see it, you can't aim at it!

In addition, the "Damin" must have strictly followed the lighting regulations when sailing, and did not emit any light that could be detected by the enemy from a distance.

The lighting in the Commander's bridge was dim, and the charts could barely be seen.

Liang Xia's lookout of the navy, could it be that he has owl eyes?

After this thought, Takano suddenly thought of a very funny thing.

Last year, after the fleet's exercises, several newspapers in the Liangxia Empire reported on the fleet's night combat training, and emphasized that in order to improve the ability to fight at night, the navy equipped the lookouts and observers with special nutritious meals to improve their night vision. As a result, the warships of the Liangxia Navy fired nearly fifty percent more at night than in the past.

These reports immediately aroused the great attention of the narrow navy.

Because the size of the fleet was not large enough and the combat effectiveness was not strong enough, the Sagai Navy always attached great importance to night battles, and once regarded night battles as the secret of defeating the enemy.

If the night combat capability of the Liang Xia Navy is greatly enhanced, will there be a way out for the Narrow Yi Navy?

For this reason, the Samuel Navy spent a lot of effort and sacrificed several intelligence officers to figure out the secret of the Liang Xia Navy's ability to improve its night combat capabilities.

A carrot from the southwestern region of the Liangxia Empire, plus refined cod liver oil.

To put it simply, the soil in which this carrot is grown is very special, rich in an ingredient that helps improve night vision, which can be absorbed by the carrots that are planted, and the carrots produced are particularly nutritious. Because there is no such soil anywhere else, only carrots from this region have this miraculous effect.

Subsequently, the Narrow-Yi Navy spent sky-high prices to import tens of thousands of tons of carrots from the Liangxia Empire, and also bought dozens of tons of cod liver oil.

Needless to say, the results are true.

In that year, when there was a bumper harvest of carrots in the southwest of the Liangxia Empire, several farmers came up with the idea of using the navy to advertise and find newspapers to publish news.

Anyway, in the months that followed, almost all the officers and men of the Navy became red-eyed rabbits.

Probably because he didn't want to lose face, after sending a few officers in charge of intelligence to a desert island to guard the lighthouse, no one mentioned this matter again.

As for having to eat carrots for every meal, who doesn't have a few acres of radish land?

It's just that now it seems that the Liang Xia Navy has indeed found a way to improve its night combat capabilities.

Just as Takano was thinking about this, there was the whistling sound of cannonballs passing through the air outside, and a few seconds later there was a dull explosion.

"What? I know! ”

Putting down the microphone, Kuroshima strode over. "The lookout reported that based on the power of the shell explosion, it was speculated that it was four heavy cruisers."

Takano's brow twitched a few times.

Kuroshima didn't delay much, and then said: "According to the same scale, the distance is about twenty kilometers. ”

"Are you sure it's a heavy cruiser?" Tian Shi asked, and it was obvious that he also found it too hard to believe.

What kind of heavy cruiser can challenge a battleship?

If a battleship is compared to a lion, then a heavy cruiser can be counted as a jackal at best. Even in packs, jackals can only flee for their lives when they encounter a male lion.

Kuroshima glanced at Tian Shi before he said to Takano: "Judging from the sound of the shells flying in, it is indeed the two-hundred-millimeter naval gun of the Liang Xia Navy. ”

Tian Shi wanted to say something, but held back.

It's very simple, Kuroshima participated in the last war and had the experience of fighting with the Liang Xia battleship, and Tian Shi is a newcomer who emerged after the war.

If nothing else, Tian Shi had no idea what kind of sound the two-hundred-millimeter shells would make when they flew by.

Just then, a call came from the nautical bridge.

The lookout had already remeasured the distance according to the dimensions of the heavy cruiser, and it was indeed twenty kilometers.

"Commander?"

"Maintain the speed and course, and before the distance is reduced to 10 kilometers, you don't need to waste the main artillery shells, just use the forward secondary artillery to return fire."

Kuroshima didn't say much and immediately gave the captain an order over the phone.

The Daimon rebuilt it three years ago still retains its 140 mm guns, so the secondary guns are more powerful against cruisers than the Treaty and post-Treaty fast battleships with five- or 130-mm high-level guns.

It's just that there are not many secondary guns that can fire at the front.

Luckily, I don't have to worry about anything for the time being.

A 200-meter shell simply could not penetrate the thick armor of the "Gate", and even if it was lucky enough to hit the bridge, it would only scratch the itch.

What's more, from such a distance, the shelling is not accurate at all.

It's one thing for a lookout to see an enemy ship, but it's another thing to aim at an enemy ship at night when there is no moonlight or starlight, and you can barely see your fingers.

Traditionally, night artillery battles are fought at a distance of more than 10 kilometers, which is a waste of shells.

In fact, this is also the key to the special attention paid by the narrow navy to night battles.

Within ten kilometers, that is, the flat firing distance of the battleship's main guns, no battleship's main armor belt could withstand the new armor-piercing shells.

That's right, it's the combat distance of each other's instant kills!

In the case of a single shot into the soul, protection and speed, almost all of them have to be helled, what is fought is the will, and it is the fighting spirit of the officers and soldiers who regard death as home.

And, of course, all-important luck.

In addition, less than 10 kilometers can make destroyers and light cruisers with heavy torpedoes useful.

Destroyers and light cruisers are added, and the scales of luck will tilt.

Anyway, four heavy cruisers at a distance of twenty kilometers are not a cause for concern at all.

In fact, what Takano is thinking about now is not the four heavy cruisers that are having a good time.