At the same time as an old medium armored cruiser of the Salad Royal Navy exploded, the commander Victor, who was inside the bridge of the Forester, the flagship of the Salad Royal Navy, shouted loudly in a trembling voice: "The navy of the Tang Empire has opened fire on our Salad Royal Navy, pass on my order, the main guns of all battleships will fire a salvo at the enemy, and at the same time, the matter of the Tang Imperial Navy first firing at our Salad Royal Navy and damaging the Swan River armored cruiser will be reported to the Imperial Admiralty!" ”

Under the deliberate arrangement of Commander Viktoro, the distance between the battleships of the two sides at this time was only about less than seven thousand meters, which basically entered the effective range of the 35 times caliber 305 mm main guns of the thirty ironclad battleships of the Royal Navy of Sharad.

At this time, the captain of the Forester, Graxia, knew what the commander Victor said was arranged, which made Graxia feel a little relieved, even if it was framed, presumably the navy of the Tang Empire could not say clearly, after all, the Swan River armored cruiser did seem to have been hit by a shell before exploding.

In the bridge of the Edward-class former dreadnought battleship Jianwei, Guan Xiong, commander of the First Battleship Formation of the Fifth Fleet, and Song Haoqi, captain of the Jianwei, saw a medium-sized armored cruiser of the Shalad Navy suddenly explode, and their faces showed surprised expressions, and then their faces became gloomy.

Guan Xiong gritted his teeth and said: "The Salad Navy is trying to frame our Tang Empire's Royal Navy, is the Seven Nations Alliance going to declare war on our Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire?" Sound the battle alarm, prepare for battle, and immediately send a telegram to Commander Wang to explain our situation here! ”

Song Haoqi was just about to say something, when the main guns of the thirty ironclad battleships of the Salad Royal Navy launched an artillery bombardment of the eleven Edward VII-class dreadnought battleships of the Fifth Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire.

Guan Xiong immediately shouted loudly: "Pass my order, the main guns of each battleship immediately launch a counterattack against the enemy's battleships!" At the same time, keep in formation and grab the T-head! ”

The Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleships were equipped with two twin 40-caliber 305 mm guns and four 45-caliber 234 mm secondary guns, one of which was almost equivalent to the firepower of the two ironclad battleships of the Salad Royal Navy, and the defense of the Edward-class pre-dreadnought battleships was much stronger than the thirty originally mothballed ironclad battleships of the Sharad Royal Navy.

As soon as the battleships of the two sides fired a few salvos, one of the ironclad battleships of the Salad Royal Navy was sunk, two ironclad battleships of the Shalad Royal Navy were seriously damaged, and only a few of the eleven Edward VII-class dreadnought battleships of the Fifth Fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy were slightly damaged.

Graxia, the captain of the Forester, immediately suggested to the commander Viktoro: "Baron Viktoro, these eleven former dreadnought battleships of the Tang Imperial Navy are much stronger than the ironclad battleships on our side, and if we continue to bombard, we will suffer, so it is better to immediately let a hundred new torpedo boats launch a torpedo attack, and cooperate with our ironclad battleships to encircle and annihilate these eleven former dreadnought battleships of the Tang Imperial Navy!" ”

Commander Viktoro immediately said: "Let forty escort cruisers and a hundred new torpedo boats attack together, the other side does not have many small and medium-sized warships except for eleven former dreadnought battleships, leaving ten old medium armored cruisers and twenty escort cruisers, which are enough to protect our ironclad battleships from being attacked by the opponent's small and medium-sized warships." ”

Seeing the dense escort cruisers and torpedo boats of the Salad Royal Navy, rushing towards his own battle line, Guan Xiong, the commander of the first battleship formation of the Fifth Fleet, frowned, and immediately asked the 152 mm secondary guns on the eleven Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleships, as well as the 76 mm and 47 mm rapid-fire guns, to suppress the escort cruisers and torpedo boats of the Sharad Royal Navy as much as possible, and not let these escort cruisers and torpedo boats get close to the eleven Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleships.

In addition, Sekio ordered eight light cruisers and eight destroyers of the Fifth Fleet to protect as much as possible from the torpedoes of the eleven Edward VII-class dreadnought battleships from the frigate cruisers and torpedo boats of the Royal Navy of Sharad.

Then Guan Xiong asked Song Haoqi, the captain of the Jianwei, urgently: "When will the Seventh Garrison Fleet return, the number of small and medium-sized warships in the Royal Navy of Sharad is too many!" ”

Song Haoqi said in a deep voice: "The two ironclad battleships, one medium armored cruiser, two light cruisers, two destroyers, four gunboats and ten torpedo boats of the Seventh Garrison Fleet have all left the port, but it will take at least half an hour to reach the battlefield. ”

After a pause, Song Haoqi suggested: "Commander, why don't we retreat in the direction of the port of Xingang City, then we can get the fire support of the sixteen batteries in the port." ”

When Guan Xiong heard this, his face showed a hint of hesitation, facing a group of Salad Royal Navy fleets with ironclad battleships, old medium armored cruisers and escort cruisers as the main force, if he ordered a retreat, it would be too embarrassing for the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire.

At this time, a naval officer in the bridge took a telegram and ran to Guan Xiong and Song Haoqi's side, "Commander, captain, the emperor sent us a telegram directly!" ”

Guan Xiong dragged the telegram over, only to see that only one sentence was written on it: "The truth is only within the range of the cannon, order a resolute counterattack!" ”

Guan Xiong handed the telegram to Song Haoqi, and said viciously: "Relay the emperor's telegram to all warships, let the eleven battleships continue to maintain formation, and seize the T-prefix!" ”

The forty frigate cruisers and one hundred new torpedo boats attacked by the Salad Royal Navy, although they suffered heavy losses in the process of approaching the eleven Edward VII-class dreadnought battleships of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire, but they also achieved considerable results, and soon one Edward VII-class dreadnought battleship was torpedoed and sunk, and four Edward VII-class dreadnought battleships were damaged.

At 12:20 p.m. on September 20, the Seventh Garrison Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire joined the battlefield of naval warfare, and at this time, the Fifth Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire had sunk a former dreadnought battleship, two light cruisers and two destroyers.

The addition of the Seventh Garrison Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire slightly relieved the pressure on the remaining ten Edward-class dreadnought battleships of the First Battleship Formation of the Fifth Fleet by slightly relieving the escort cruisers and new torpedo boats of the Shalad Royal Navy, and then this naval battle became more and more tragic.

By five o'clock in the afternoon, the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire had sunk three dreadnought battleships, one ironclad battleship, five light cruisers, six destroyers, one gunboat and three torpedo boats, and the remaining eight dreadnought battleships and one ironclad battleship were also scarred.

The losses on the part of the Royal Navy in Sharad were even worse, with fourteen ironclad battleships, three old medium armored cruisers, twenty-six frigate cruisers and fifty-eight new torpedo boats sunk, and almost all the remaining ironclad battleships were damaged.

In the bridge of the Forester, the flagship of the fleet of the Royal Navy of Sharad, the captain of the Forester, Gracia, held a telegram in his hand and said to the commander Viktoro with an anxious face: "Baron Victor, this is the sixth telegram from the Admiralty to get us out of battle, let's withdraw!" These warships don't have anything, but the naval officers and sailors on these warships are prepared for the next expansion of our Royal Navy in Sharad! ”

Commander Victoro said with red eyes: "This fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy is almost unable to hold on, as long as we hold on any longer, we will soon achieve the final victory in this naval battle!" ”

As if to slap Victor in the face, as soon as his words fell, an ironclad battleship of the Royal Navy of Sharad, which was already on fire, suddenly exploded violently, and then the ironclad battleship was blown into two pieces and quickly sank to the sea.

The captain of the Forester, Gracia, saw that another of his own ironclad battleships had sunk, his face changed instantly, and then with a wave of his hand, two naval officers on the bridge quickly rushed towards Commander Victor and controlled Commander Victor.

"Let go of me! Gracia, what are you going to do? ”

Graxia smiled bitterly and said, "I'm sorry Baron Viktoro, I can't let you destroy the entire fleet, we have already sacrificed too much today." ”

Then Grasha Lang shouted to a communications officer in the bridge: "Gore, immediately convey the order to all ships to retreat to the eastern seas, and release smoke and mines while retreating, so as to stop the pursuit of the Tang Imperial Navy!" ”

In the bridge of the Edward VII-class former dreadnought battleship Jianwei, the captain Song Haoqi said to the commander Guan Xiong with a wry smile: "The Jianrong sent a telegram, because of the serious water ingress, the speed of the Jianrong cannot even reach 8 knots, and the Jianrong must be immediately separated from the battle line, so that there are only five battleships left on our battle line that can continue to fight." ”

Guan Xiong's face showed a slight gloom, "I didn't expect that the first battle of our Tang Empire's Royal Navy after its official establishment would be fought so fiercely, and it seems that we can only retreat in the direction of the port of Xingang City." ”

At this time, an officer in the bridge suddenly shouted excitedly: "Look! The Salad Navy couldn't hold it and was about to escape! ”

Guan Xiong and Song Haoqi immediately picked up the binoculars and looked at the Salad Royal Navy fleet in the distance, Guan Xiong slowly put down the binoculars in his hand, and said with a sigh of relief: "It's okay, it's okay, it seems that our Royal Navy of the Tang Empire is the winner in this naval battle!" ”