"Two armored cruisers, two protective cruisers, it's not difficult to eat them with our strength, the problem is ......" Spee looked at the chart and frowned.

Sailing from Subic Bay and joining up with the Ferdinand and Emden in Palawan, the fleet has been in hiding. This sea area is really full of dangers, occupying Singapore, the British guarding the Strait of Malacca have a very strong force here, the southwest is the Indian fleet, the northeast is the Chinese fleet, once the five cruisers under their command are discovered, in this closed sea area is very likely to be blocked by the British, Spee, who has been in the Far East for several years, knows that a Qing proverb is very suitable for the situation at that time - to catch a turtle in an urn.

However, Speeze decided to take the risk and do it under the noses of the British, although the British were strong in the Far East, but those slow-moving former dreadnoughts were not a threat, and if the few cruisers of the British could be misguided, then the danger of his own fleet being bitten by the British would be even less.

However, neither the Indian fleet nor the Chinese fleet could gnaw on their own, so Spee chose a soft persimmon - the Far Eastern Fleet of the French.

The decline of the French naval power in the Far East was too rapid, and after the Sino-French War, the strength of the French Navy's Far East Fleet suffered a heavy blow, and because the French Navy's thinking on military construction was influenced by the youth school, and the construction of large combat ships was neglected, the strength of the French Far East Fleet has been difficult to replenish. By the time the French finally looked up from their own world and saw that the Anglo-German navies, both in technology and power, had only just woken up to the naval race, they were already too late.

Although the company began to catch up, building six Danton-class pre-dreadnoughts, four Kolbe-class dreadnoughts, three Brittany-class superdreadnoughts, and a total of six new armored cruisers of several classes, this was still not enough to meet the needs of the French. As the life of the hundreds of torpedo boats built in the early years and the torpedo boat cruisers used in conjunction with them expired, the void created by the decommissioning of a large number of ships was simply not able to be filled by the French. And so it goes. France's naval presence in the Far East has shrunk dramatically, and in this sea area, where the naval forces of Great Britain and Germany are concentrated, the French Far East Fleet is simply being rounded by the other two.

For this reason, the French Far East Fleet concentrated all its main forces in Cam Ranh Bay, which had better conditions but was farther away, and even the Keelung port base on the island of Taiwan, which was extremely important, was surrounded by the navies of Britain, Germany, Japan, and Qing. It had to be used only as a foothold, where a bunch of torpedo boats transferred from China that were about to be decommissioned were placed to declare the existence of France.

Such a target naturally became Spee's best prey. For the main force of the French Navy's Far East Fleet in Cam Ranh Bay, Spee is already familiar with it, the French only have a few ships, and this sea area is extremely busy, the French fleet goes out for a walk, and the merchant ships coming and going on the route can be seen clearly in groups.

The Marseille and Sully armoured cruisers, two Glorious-class first-class armoured cruisers launched ten years ago. With a displacement of 9,800 tons, it is equipped with two 190 mm guns, 12 152 mm guns, and a speed of 21 knots.

The other two 20-year-old Frionte-class protective cruisers. The Friant and the Robart with a displacement of 3630 tons. Armed with 10 152-mm naval guns with a speed of 20 knots. Although there were a lot of guns, the old-fashioned erection guns with manpower loading, plus no side armor belts, were equipped with three twin turrets, and the mechanically loaded Corburg was still crushed.

Although there were still about thirty torpedo boats and ten auxiliary ships in the harbor. But those are old stuff. Torpedo boats, although fast, could not enter the open sea, so there was nothing to worry about. As long as the French can be lured out, then the French fleet will become the first victim of its own naval artillery.

The only thing that worried Spee was the fleet of the British. If it drags on for too long and gets entangled in the British patrol that arrives, the consequences are unimaginable. Spee stared at the chart in front of him, his gaze wandering over the line where the British might appear. It wasn't much time for him to take out the French before the British arrived, but it was the Scharnhorst and the good lads......

Spee's pocket watch on his chest was pulled out, and the intricately decorated lid was engraved with two rows of words - "Superior German Navy Gunnery, 1909", Spee's determination was firm, no problem, it can be done!

"Contact the Ferdinand, it's time to do it! Get ready, we'll be off in half an hour! Speece closed the lid and held the watch tightly in her hand.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the three cruisers Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Kolburg quietly left the Spratly Islands and headed for the mouth of the Mekong River to the southwest.

On the bridge of the Emden, Major Müller looked out the porthole at the bow turrets, the moonlight shining on the two twin turrets, the barrels reflecting a cold light, and the three French cargo ships with flashing navigation lights on the sea not far away did not know that behind them, two German cruisers were following.

The three targets in front are extremely rare, this is the sea area of Malacca, the British patrol ships are everywhere, they can only hide in Tibet with the help of dense islands, and they do not dare to sail into open water during the day, so they can only let the seaplanes on the ship reconnoiter near the route. Although there are a lot of ships coming and going, it is not easy to find suitable targets. First of all, you must choose a ship to sail together, and you must have eyewitnesses; secondly, it was necessary to choose the French ships bound for Cam Ranh Bay, and they needed someone to bring news to the French; Finally, sail at a speed that is easy for you to catch up with at night. There are not many goals that meet such conditions, and the perfect goal like the one in front of Muller has been waiting for a long time.

However, Müller was not excited or expectant about what would happen next, and in his opinion, it was no honor to fire a helpless cargo ship, and if possible, he would have preferred to force the French to surrender and let the French board the lifeboat. Then open the sea-opening valve of the cargo ship and sink itself. But today, he had to use the 6 150mm naval guns on the Emden to break the French to pieces, because his mission was to lure the French Far East Fleet out!

Muller turned his head to look at the night behind starboard, and not far away, the heavy cruiser Ferdinand was faintly visible in the night, and the six 240mm naval guns above her were terrifying this time. The shelling of civilian ships, which is contrary to the honor of military personnel, has to be done by themselves.

Mueller sighed slightly, and then gave the order: "Turn on the searchlight!" Burn the wind! Get ready to fire! ”

4 dazzling bright lights pierced the night, and then 4 strong lights on the Ferdinand also shot across the sea, 3 French cargo ships were invisible under the strong light, and the French crew couldn't open their eyes when the sudden light pierced, not knowing what was going on, they fell into a panic. Finally regaining his vision, the French were horrified to find that not far behind, revealing their figures in the bright light. But the shadow of the ship that looked even darker and more terrifying erupted four orange-red fireballs, followed by the rumbling of cannons, and then in the roar, the water column rose into the sky.

"Who the hell are they! Signal them that we are a French freighter! ”

"It must be the Germans, the Far Eastern Fleet of the Germans!"

"Oh God, they fired! We're done! ”

"Hurry up and signal, we surrender!"

"It's useless! Hurry up and run! The Germans are going to kill us all! ”

Fireballs kept flashing, and the German warships not far away did not send any signals. It's just that the shelling is continuous, and the water columns rise into the sky. The Germans had no intention of stopping, this was not a warning, it was not a threat, these Germans were going to put themselves to death! When the French crew realized this, it was as if the end had come, and the freighter would never be able to outrun the warship!

At this moment, two larger orange fireballs erupted from the shadow of the ship farther away, and an even more shocking cannon sound came. This time, the French crew was even more frightened, and their faces turned white! Large-caliber naval guns! We're just cargo ships, do you need to bombard us with large-caliber naval guns?!

The Germans were very relaxed at this time, the Emden did not use all its strength at all, and the 150 mm naval guns mounted in the rotating turret were equipped with semi-automatic loaders, and the maximum rate of fire could reach 8 rounds per minute. Although the night hit rate suffered, chasing to a distance of 27 yards at a speed of 5000 knots could tear the French apart in a matter of minutes. But now, in order to add fear to the French, the speed of the German gunners can even be described as slow.

After about 10 minutes of playing with rats and cats, a French cargo ship was finally shot, and a 150mm high-explosive bomb set the cargo ship on fire, turning the ship into a good target and allowing the other two ships to clearly see what was happening to her. The Emden began firing at full speed at the target, and the Ferdinand, who was not far away, also posed for a six-gun salvo, so that the French could enjoy the beautiful muzzle flame.

A small cargo ship was shelled by two cruisers with more than 40 shells, and the continuous explosions and debris flying in the light of the fire made the French on the other two cargo ships almost frightened, and then ran wildly against the complicated coastline. When they came back to their senses and found that the murderous demons had not caught up, they did not think much of it, but thought that the Germans had wasted too much time to sink the cargo ship, so they let themselves run away. Then he mourned for 3 seconds in his heart for the compatriots who "sacrificed themselves to save others", and then the increased horsepower of "Dead Friends Do Not Die Poor Roads" fled at full speed.

When they arrived at Cam Ranh Bay the next morning, and saw the French flag fluttering and the French warships in the harbor, they cheered and burst into tears for the rest of their lives. So that the torpedo boats patrolling by didn't know what was going on with these people.

However, after seeing the French captain's colorless face, red eyes, and a pitiful look of shock, and hearing the news that a German warship had been attacked and a freighter had been sunk, the commander of the French Far East Fleet was furious!

There were large-caliber naval guns, and that was apparently 240-mm naval guns on the main Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers of the German Far East Fleet! Not only did these Germans not run, but they also hit their own doorstep! It's too much to take the French Navy into account! The country has already asked itself to cooperate with the British Royal Navy in the search for the German fleet, and now it is simply looking for death to deceive the door!

"Send a report! Inform Vice Admiral Phillips of the Chinese fleet of the British Royal Navy that we have discovered the German Far East Fleet! Let them come to reinforcements quickly! The French were not stupid, knowing that the little strength they had in their hands was not enough for the Germans to plug their teeth, so they immediately asked the British for help. After receiving the news that the British would send 4 armored cruisers to the sea area where the incident occurred, the main force of the French Far East Fleet sailed out of Cam Ranh Bay and began the encirclement and suppression of the Spee fleet at sea! (To be continued.) )