On the afternoon of January 18, about 200 kilometers east of Guguan Island in the central part of the North Malaysia Islands, the battleship "Jingang".

After the Type 97 boat disappeared into the depths of the clouds in the north, Lan Yun withdrew his gaze, and then raised his hand to look at his watch.

It was already four o'clock in the afternoon.

If all goes well, this time tomorrow will be time to prepare for battle.

Hope all the best!

At this moment, Lan Yun's mood was extremely complicated.

In just over 20 days, the changes before and after are so great that even the "vicissitudes of life" are not enough to describe, it feels like falling from the clouds into the abyss.

More than 20 days ago, after the destruction of the mobile fleet, to be precise, the four fleet aircraft carriers of the First and Second Air Fleets were sunk one after another, Lan Yun originally planned to apologize for his crime with his death and die with the "Jiahe". It is a pity that the staff officers of the Mobile Fleet Command did not let him succeed.

After that, after receiving the news of the destruction of the main team and the martyrdom of Admiral Gao Ye in Mara Bay, Nanzhu Country, Lan Yun once again had the idea of thinking. Unexpectedly, his most trusted subordinate, Kitamura Daisa, actually took the lead. The guy committed suicide by seppuku on the deck of the "Golden Steel", but because of his lack of courage, he was finally sentenced to cut off his head. The bloody scene made Lan Yun directly give up the idea of seppuku.

Arriving at the Tuke Fortress, Lan Yun prepared to be martyred for the third time.

This time, he got a bottle of poison.

Unfortunately, the telegram sent by the Military Command Department once again kept him alive.

The Prime Minister has officially appointed him commander of the permanent fleet and has been promoted to admiral, responsible for commanding all the warships of the fortress.

This is a direct resignation, and there is no room for negotiation at all.

If Lan Yun goes to seek death again, it is to evade responsibility, and he will definitely not be able to enter the temple after death.

Although after this, several good news were received, such as the Nuland Federation promised to provide the equipment needed to repair the warship, as well as more important war materials, including new armor-piercing shells that had been planned to be sold to the Narrow-Wing Navy and stored on the island, as well as fuel that was in short supply at the fortress of Tuk. But in Lan Yun's opinion, these are not good news at all, because the Nuland Federation will not provide fleet aircraft carriers anyway.

With a few battleships, what can be done?

In the telegram replying to the Military Command Department, Lan Yun repeatedly emphasized that he would strive to let the Newland Federation send troops to participate in the war, otherwise he would not consider returning to the mainland for the time being.

It is more valuable for the permanent fleet to stay in the fortress of Tuk.

The reason is that it can flank the enemy, and it can also force the Liang Xia Navy to divide its forces.

Of course, this is actually an excuse for cowardice.

To put it mildly: whether the Liang Xia Navy wants to divide the troops or not, is it up to him Lan Yun to decide?

What happened next has actually proved this, the Liang Xia Navy did not divide its forces into the West and East because of the four fast battleships in the Tuke Fortress, but still concentrated all its forces to support the army to sweep the Ice Storm Peninsula and cover the capture of Jedo by the marines.

This situation was not until Tian Shi entered the Military Command Department, to be precise, he grasped the command of the Military Command Department.

Don't look at him as a major general, relying on Takano's handwritten letter, he won the high trust of Prime Minister Wenwei and became the prime minister's spokesperson in the military command department.

Besides, the Military Command Department really can't find a talent who can replace Gao Ye.

After Tian Shi entered the Military Command Department, the first thing he did was to give Lan Yun an order for the permanent fleet to prepare for departure as soon as possible.

In the telegram, Tian Shi also clearly told Lan Yun that when the permanent fleet returns to the battlefield, the winner will be decided!

Although he was very apprehensive in his heart, Lan Yun still had some confidence in Tian Shi. If you really want to say that the thing he regretted the most was that he put Tian Shi on the seaplane on the night of the 25th and did not let him stay. If he had spoken out at that time, Tian Shi had not returned to the flagship, and continued to serve as a guest staff officer in the mobile fleet, I am afraid that the battle on the 26th would have been a different result, at least not so badly.

Even if he wants to lose, as long as he can take out a few more aircraft carriers of the Liangxia Navy, the situation will be very different.

Unfortunately, there is no regret medicine to take.

It wasn't until four days ago, on the 14th, that he received a telegram from Tian Shi, that Lan Yun knew that the time had come for him to die.

The special group of the Liang Xia Navy has already left Xuhai, and it is very likely that on the way to Liuhuang Island, it is not very fast, and it may have reached the vicinity of Liuhuang Island.

Judging from the overall battlefield situation, there is a great probability that the Liang Xia Navy will switch to the West and East after completing the combat operation of assisting the army in sweeping the Ice Storm Peninsula.

Attacking and occupying Liuhuang Island can only say anything else after completing the strategic encirclement of the Narrow Imperial State.

In any case, the Samusaki Navy must defend Liuhuangdao to the death.

The battle plan was that while the army was stubbornly defending Liuhuang Island, the permanent fleet would set off from the Tuke fortress and rush to the landing site to destroy the landing fleet and the landing force.

Battle damage?

Don't think about it at all.

Tian Shi clearly told Lan Yun in the telegram that if Liuhuang Island was lost, what awaited the Narrow Imperial State was complete defeat. The best outcome is to surrender to the Liangxia Empire before it is completely defeated, or burned to ruins by the war, so as to save the capital of the comeback.

And then there are decades of humiliation.

It's just that it is still unknown whether it will be able to make a comeback in a few decades.

With the lessons of the past, when the Liang Xia fleet once again entered the Eastern Capital Bay, and when the Liang Xia army once again ruled the Eastern Imperial Capital, it would inevitably impose heavy punishment on the Narrow Imperial State.

At the very least, they will castrate the ambitions of the Narrow Imperial Kingdom and make them subservient minions.

If that's the case, it's better to die a heroic battle!

The implication is that the battle of Liuhuang Island determines the final victory or defeat.

Can it be held?

In this regard, Tian Shi also gave a clear answer.

It's not about holding on, it's about holding on for half a year, at least three months.

In other words, as long as you hold it for three months, it's a victory!

The reason is also very simple, it only takes three months to get enough assistance from the Nuland Federation to complete the deployment of the homeland's defense.

Three months is the minimum amount of time required for the Army to mobilize and allow recruits to complete basic training.

The implication is that after three months, even if Liuhuang Island is lost, it will be able to fight a defense battle on the mainland.

In this way, there is hope of victory.

To be precise, it is expected to hold out until the day when the Newland Federation sends troops to war.

All in all, it is necessary to defend Liuhuangdao and fight until the last moment, not to mention the loss of the permanent fleet, even if it loses the entire navy!

If you lose Liuhuang Island, you can only retreat to the mainland.

To fight a war to defend the homeland, you don't need a fleet at all.

At that time, Lan Yun was indeed full of confidence.

At least from the telegram sent by Tian Shi, we can see the hope of repaying the country with death.

If you can achieve the final victory, even if you are martyred, you can enter the temple and be worshiped by the subjects of the Sayi Imperial Kingdom for thousands of generations.

After the Battle of Yanhai, Lan Yun only wanted to die, as long as he could die as he deserved.

Unexpectedly, the situation developed faster than he expected.

In fact, it also exceeded Tian Shi's judgment.

On this day, the morning of the 15th, the Liangxia Navy bombed Liuhuang Island and killed the garrison commander, turning the defending officers and soldiers into headless flies.

Otherwise, the permanent fleet would not have left the port overnight, let alone headed north at full speed.

I sailed at full speed for nearly three days, but fortunately I didn't run into any trouble.

Perhaps, the Liang Xia Navy did not know that the permanent fleet had left the Tuke Fortress, or that it did not expect that the permanent fleet would kill towards Liuhuang Island at full speed.

Either way, just stick with it for another day.