After tossing for more than an hour, during which he turned and changed speed many times, and ran more than 20 kilometers to the south, not to mention the other Newland battleships, even the four that had been encountered did not come up, and they always lingered 20 kilometers to the east, and there was no intention of coming up for a decisive battle at all.

What are these Nulanders thinking?

Seeing that the sky is about to brighten, is it difficult to wait until after dawn to watch the air force show?

Leave the decisive battle to the aircraft carriers, and the Nuland fleet may not be able to take advantage.

Last night, almost ten hours earlier, Task Force 21 had gone into radio control and had not signaled again.

Theoretically, in one night, Task Force 21 is capable of sailing hundreds of kilometers.

Crucially, only Task Force 42 is now exposed.

Since no news has been received from the other task forces, there is reason to believe that the other three task forces are in a state of concealment.

After dawn, the only thing the Nuland fleet could sneak up on was Task Force 42.

What's the point of taking out Task Force 42?

The four battleships of the Nuland Navy were not far to the east, and after the raid on Task Force 42, could those four battleships escape?

Fighting this kind of head-swapping battle, it takes such a toss-up and turn?

Zhang Guozhu was very confused, or couldn't understand it at all.

Not far to the north, two other groups of warships on both sides are "drying" in full swing.

The four destroyers of the 42.5th Detachment were pursuing a freighter suspected to be an armed merchant ship, and about 10 minutes ago, after seeking Zhang Guozhu's permission, the "Carp" in the lead began firing at the freighter that was still escaping at high speed, but it was only warning fire.

It's just a suspicion, and there's no way to prove that it's an armed freighter.

Perhaps, it was just a fast freighter.

According to the report sent by the flagship of the 42.5th detachment, the "Carp", only an artillery-like object was observed on the freighter, hidden under the canvas. By the time the two destroyers approached, the crew had already lifted the canvas and looked as if they were preparing for battle.

After warning fire, the freighter did not return fire.

Although it is more than 20 kilometers away, you can still see the light that appears from time to time, lighting up the night sky.

It was a flare fired by a destroyer over the freighter so that the lookout could see the freighter.

The command of the Navy had already given an order not to fire on the Newland until it had received the order not to fire on the Newland unless it was directly attacked by the Newland.

To put it simply, it is not to shoot the first shot.

As for the rest, it's easy to say.

To say, the freighter was also very tenacious.

After being caught up by the destroyer, not only did it not slow down, but it rampaged with its huge tonnage, or rather, the Imperial Navy did not dare to fire the first shot, and kept rushing to seize the road.

This clearly shows that the bully destroyer is not big enough.

Although compared with destroyers, even fast freighters, the speed is not much faster, but the tonnage of freighters far exceeds that of destroyers, almost all fast freighters have a load of more than 10,000 tons, and the displacement is almost ten times that of destroyers, which can easily sink destroyers.

Next to the freighter, the destroyer is a small point.

In this way, in addition to firing directly at the freighter, the destroyer could only follow behind.

Rush to the front to block?

That's looking for death!

It's not that you can't win a freighter, but there is a legal problem.

Although the Liangxia Empire had included the western part of the Northwest and Guia Oceans into a war zone, prohibiting third-party ships from entering, and it was in accordance with international law, the Nuland Federation did not recognize the war zone set aside by the Imperial Navy, and claimed that it had the right of freedom of navigation, which was also in line with international law.

In this way, if there is a collision between the ships of the two sides in international waters, it must be handled in accordance with international conventions.

In international maritime conventions, there is a clear fixation for similar situations. The first is that warships have the right of priority, and the second is that they must not maliciously obstruct the free navigation of other ships.

Herein lies the problem.

Who can guarantee that the freighter is not an armed merchant ship?

If it was a freighter, it should avoid the destroyers of the Imperial Navy. If it is an armed merchant ship, there is no need to avoid it, and the Imperial Navy must bear full responsibility after colliding.

In accordance with the relevant international conventions, the imperial authorities were required to surrender the commanders who gave orders.

Although there is no need to be reasonable in times of war, as long as the Nuland Federation has not entered the war, it must abide by international conventions.

The Liang Xia Empire's flagrant violation of international conventions will inevitably be used by Lofus.

It was in this way that the pursuing destroyer did not go to the front to intercept it.

In fact, there is no need to intercept it, just drive it away.

Crucially, before the Nuland ship was expelled, Detachment 42.5 spotted a fleet from the east, one of them to be exact.

There are more than 40 ocean-going freighters, and the sailing speed is about 10 knots.

Unless fully loaded, these vessels sail at significantly lower speeds than the usual fourteen knots.

That is, the Nuland fleet really slowed down.

In addition, it is basically three to five freighters forming a column.

In a column, the distance between the freighters is about 500 meters, and the distance between two adjacent columns is between 3 and 5 kilometers.

The lead ship was all bulk carriers, and a lot of cargo covered with canvas was stacked on the deck.

However, hidden under the canvas may be an anti-aircraft gun, or a deep-shell launcher, or a separately mounted large-caliber naval gun.

There were several fast freighters sailing alone, perhaps armed merchant ships.

As for the crew, I'm afraid it's all Nuland naval officers and men.

The situation could not have been more obvious.

The Nuland fleet was ready to force its way through.

It's just that there is nothing to be afraid of, and the Imperial Navy is also on guard.

A dozen or so broken cruisers were already ready, each with more than two hundred marines on board, and all of them were ready for battle.

The point is that the tonnage of the broken cruiser is large enough.

According to the arrangement, these broken cruisers would rush up after dawn, force the Nuland freighter to stop sailing, including ramming, and then send the marines to the freighter, which would control the freighter and then let the freighter go to Liuhuangdao or Naqiu Port.

According to international law, the Liangxia Empire had the right to seize the ships of third parties in the warring waters under the condition of ensuring the safety of the crew and the protection of the ships and other property from loss.

Crucially, third-party civilian vessels must cooperate unconditionally and must not resist by force.

In other words, if it resists, it is not an unarmed civilian ship, but an armed ship of a non-military nature.

As a rule, "armed vessels of a non-military nature" are pirate ships, and international conventions do not protect pirate ships, let alone advocate the rights and interests of pirates.

The Royal Navy of Bran had been using international conventions against piracy against the Empire's shippers.

All in all, a lot can be done in one day.

For those slow ocean-going freighters, it will take at least two days to reach the port of Sagi, which is far from enough.

It's just that it certainly won't go so smoothly.

"Commander!"

When the navigation staff reminded him loudly, Zhang Guozhu had already picked up the telescope and walked towards the cabin door next to him, because he could see more clearly from the open-air corridor outside.

To the north, a dazzling light suddenly appeared, illuminating almost the entire night sky.

It was an orange glow, and the flares were red.

It's not a flare, it's not as bright as any flare, it's the fire from the explosion!