Fortunately, when Feng Xiaogang was anxious, a light cruiser and a destroyer came to the vicinity of the super dreadnought battleship Corey, and sent a telegram to Feng Xiaogang's destroyer D03, which they would take over the task of guarding the super dreadnought battleship Corey.

In this way, the destroyer D03 can temporarily leave the battlefield and go to find a supply ship to replenish the shells.

The light cruiser and the destroyer were originally following an Edwardian VII-class dreadnought, but now the Edwardian VII-class dreadnought battleship has been sunk.

In the bridge of the D03 destroyer, Feng Xiaogang, who looked tired, said to the first mate Lu Honggang: "Old Lu, you said that after we replenish the shells, the naval battle will not end, right?" ”

First mate Lu Honggang yawned and said: "Captain, the two sides have been fighting for so long, and many battleships' main guns have run out, so I will really have an intermission, but I don't think the combined fleet of the five navies will just withdraw." ”

Feng Xiaogang glanced out from the observation window of the bridge, and said with some emotion: "This naval battle is really tragic enough, the two sides together don't know how many warships have been sunk, although our royal navies of Datang and Ziyue seem to have some upper hand, but the combined fleet of the five navies still has a huge scale, and it should not be easy to withdraw, it seems that our D03 still has a chance to sink a few more enemy battleships." ”

In the bridge of the Yongxiang Super Dreadnought, the flagship of the First Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire, Yuan Fan, the commander of the bloodshot First Fleet, said to Wang Chengliang in a deep voice: "Commander-in-chief, many warships of our Datang and Ziyue Royal Navies are running out of shells, and the same is true for the Yongxiang. ”

Wang Chengliang, who had also not slept all night, looked very tired on his face at this time, but his tone was still very firm, "Let all capital ships pay attention to saving shells, especially the shells of the main guns, and the other non-main warships will immediately return to the direction of Huifeng Port in batches, there are our supply ships there." ”

After a pause, Wang Chengliang sighed and said: "Our royal navies of Datang and Ziyue can't withdraw first, and when it comes to this part, whoever retreats first will suffer, and some warships may not be able to withdraw." ”

In the bridge of the Super Dreadnought Battleship, the flagship of the Royal Navy Expeditionary Fleet of the Sharad, Captain Vesalius of the Bull reported to Commander Janis with a bitter face: "As of eight o'clock in the morning, our Royal Navy of Sharad already has seven super dreadnought battleships, seven battle cruisers, four dreadnought battleships, eight former dreadnought battleships, sixteen ironclad battleships, six large armored cruisers, nine small and medium-sized armored cruisers, twenty-three light cruisers, twenty-six destroyers, Thirty submarines and more than seventy torpedo boats were sunk, and many more were seriously wounded. ”

Commander Denis asked in a hoarse voice, "Are we running out of shells?" ”

Captain Vesalius nodded and said: "Commander, there are many warships that have run out of shells that have withdrawn from the battlefield, including many capital ships, but it is not easy to replenish shells at sea, especially large-caliber shells, and those capital ships that have withdrawn from the battlefield will not be able to return to battle in a short period of time." ”

Commander Denis gritted his teeth and said: "According to the current situation in which the warships of the two sides are mixed together, whichever side can't hold on first, which side will have to suffer a big loss, no matter how difficult it is, it has to persevere, send a telegram to the captains of the capital ships, and let them save shells, especially the shells of the main guns." ”

Captain Vesalius hesitated for a moment and said, "But looking at the telegram sent by Petrus, the commander of the British Expeditionary Fleet, he wants to retreat." ”

After the election of commanders of the expeditionary fleets of the five countries, Petru of the Royal Navy of Yingroba will temporarily serve as the commander-in-chief of the combined fleet of the entire five-nation navy.

Commander Denis snorted coldly and said, "Although Petru is the nominal commander-in-chief, it is not up to him to decide whether to retreat or not!" ”

However, what made Janis unexpected was that not only Petru, the commander of the Yingroba Naval Expeditionary Fleet, had the intention of retreating, but the commanders of the expeditionary fleets of the other three navies also agreed with Petru's opinion, hoping to temporarily allow the capital ships of the navies of various countries and other types of warships to withdraw from the battlefield, replenish the shells, and let the tired naval officers and soldiers of various countries rest and rest, anyway, the main forces of the Datang Imperial Navy and the Purple Moon Imperial Navy could not run.

Although Denis was a little unwilling to do this, if the navies of the other four countries withdrew en masse, only the Royal Navy Expeditionary Fleet of Sharad would be left alone, and it would not work if it was not withdrawn.

In the end, this largest naval battle in history ended temporarily with the first retreat of the combined fleet of the five navies.

The Royal Navy of the Tang Empire and the Royal Navy of the Purple Moon Empire took advantage of the retreat of the combined fleet of the five navies, and they pursued and attacked again, which increased the losses of the combined fleet of the five navies a lot, and even forced down more than a dozen seriously injured warships of the combined fleet of the five navies.

It's a pity that at this time, the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire and the Royal Navy of the Purple Moon Empire also had some strong crossbows, and after taking the opportunity to add some losses to the combined fleet of the navies of the five countries, Wang Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire, also issued an order to retreat in the direction of Huifeng Port.

By the time the two sides completely broke away from the battle, the time had reached one o'clock in the afternoon of January 23, 304 in the Tang calendar.

On the way to retreat to Huifeng Port, Wang Chengliang got the report on the losses of the royal navies of the Tang Dynasty and Ziyue in this naval battle, and when Wang Chengliang hurriedly read it, his face couldn't help but show a little gloom.

In this naval battle, the royal navies of Datang and Ziyue have sunk 14 super dreadnought battleships, 10 battle cruisers, 18 dreadnought battleships, 20 former dreadnought battleships, 17 large armored cruisers, 32 light cruisers and 68 destroyers, and more than 60,000 officers and sailors of the two navies have been killed or missing.

At this time, Yuan Fan, the commander of the First Fleet, sighed and said: "Commander-in-chief, this naval battle is not over yet, and the combined fleet of the five navies is likely to make a comeback after replenishing the shells." ”

Wang Chengliang put down the loss report in his hand and said in a deep voice: "Let the warships fill up the shells as soon as possible, and then seize the time to rest, the combined fleet of the five navies is not likely to make a comeback, but will definitely continue to fight!" ”

On the evening of January 23, in the bridge of the British Royal Navy's flagship Princess Alice Super Fearless Battleship, the atmosphere was very solemn, and the commanders of the expeditionary fleets of the five national navies gathered here at this time.

Petru, commander of the expeditionary fleet of the Royal Navy of Yingluoba, coughed and broke the silence in the bridge, "Although the navies of our five countries have suffered a lot of losses, the navies of the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire have also suffered heavy losses, and the combined fleet of our five navies has not lost this naval battle, and when the warships of each country have finished replenishing the shells, we can continue to fight with the navies of the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire!" ”

As soon as Petru's words fell, the commander of the Royal Navy Expeditionary Fleet of Sharad, Dennis, said in a cold voice: "If the navies of our five countries can't hold the determination to fight to the end, I think it's better not to fight, if we can grit our teeth and persist today, maybe we are already drinking celebration wine now!" ”

Polfi, commander of the Royal Navy Expeditionary Fleet of Noomi, pursed his lips and said: "People are not machines, they have been fighting for more than 20 hours in a row, so we have to let the officers and soldiers rest!" What's more, most of the battleships participating in the war are running out of shells, and I think it is very correct to withdraw them for the time being! ”

Dennis was already holding back his anger because of the retreat of the combined fleet of the five navies, and when he heard that Porfi had the intention of raising the bar with him, Dennis suddenly became angry, "Our officers and soldiers are tired, isn't the enemy tired?" Porfi, don't make excuses for cowardice! ”

"Denis, who do you say is cowardly?"

"Just tell me what's wrong with you!"

Petru, commander of the Royal Navy Expeditionary Fleet in Yingroba, saw Janis and Porfi arguing, and could not help but shout: "The enemy has not yet been defeated!" Let's not say a few words! ”

Pifanu, the commander of the expeditionary fleet of the Monia Royal Navy, also opened his mouth to persuade: "Everyone extinguish the fire, the battle is not over yet, we can't mess up our own people, let's study it, when to fight again with the navy of the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire!" ”

Genesis and Porfi then snorted coldly, but they didn't continue arguing, and they knew that now was not the time to quarrel.

At this time, the commander of the expeditionary fleet of the Royal Navy of Ruierland, Yuric, said with a wry smile: "I didn't expect the naval strength of the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire to be so strong, and the main forces of the navies of our five countries combined, even suffered losses, our Ruierland Royal Navy already has four super dreadnought battleships, three battle cruisers, seven dreadnought battleships, eight former dreadnought battleships, eleven ironclad battleships, five large armored cruisers, fourteen light cruisers, Nineteen destroyers and forty-eight torpedo boats were sunk, losing almost half of the strength of our Royal Navy of Rareland, and to be honest, our Royal Navy of Rareland was somewhat overwhelmed. ”

Yuric's words of cowardice did not cause any accusations from the commanders of the expeditionary fleets of the other four navies, but made the faces of the other four commanders look ugly, if they could choose, none of them would be willing to continue to fight with the navies of the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire, and a series of loss data made the hearts of these commanders seem to be dripping blood.

Petru, commander of the Royal Navy Expeditionary Fleet of Yingluoba, finally sighed and said: "Since we have paid such a big price, we should continue to fight with the navies of the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire, so that our five-nation naval combined fleet can achieve the final victory, otherwise the five of us should not be able to explain to our respective countries!" ”

At eight o'clock in the evening of January 23, in the palace of Merseca City, the capital of the British Empire, Emperor Penelope listened to the loss report of Prime Minister August, and couldn't help but say with a painful face: "It was indeed too tragic, in less than a day and one night, the capital ships of our Royal Navy of British Rogba lost fifteen super dreadnought battleships, eight battle cruisers, ten dreadnought battleships, Thirteen former dreadnought battleships and twenty-four ironclad battleships, and other types of warships have lost nearly three hundred, Prime Minister, do you think we should continue to fight? ”

Prime Minister August immediately said: "Your Majesty, according to the telegram report sent by the commander of the expeditionary fleet, Marquis Petru, in this large-scale naval battle, the navies of the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire also suffered a lot of losses, and even according to the proportion, the loss ratio of the navies of the Tang Dynasty and the Purple Moon should be greater, after all, in terms of overall scale, the combined fleet of the navies of the five countries occupies an absolute advantage, and the minister feels that it is better to defeat the main naval forces of the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire in one go. It's worth paying some price for it. ”

Emperor Penelope said with a hesitant expression: "I didn't expect that the main forces of the five navies of Yingluopa, Sharad, Noomi, Monia, and Rillland would fight so hard, and the expeditionary fleet led by Petru is almost all the foundation of our Royal Navy Yingluopa!" ”

Prime Minister August then said: "Your Majesty, I can't bear the child to trap the wolf, now our Royal Army of Yingluoba and the armies of Noomi and Sharad, because the Tang Empire suddenly came up with a large number of fighters and bombers with very good performance, which made the attack on the Tang Empire come to a stalemate, if the main naval force of the Tang Empire and the Purple Moon Empire can be completely defeated, then the coastal cities of these two countries with a large number of will be exposed to the guns of the combined fleet of the five navies, At that time, maybe that Su Yi would directly choose to bow his knees and surrender to the Seven Nations Alliance. ”

Emperor Penelope waved his hand helplessly and said, "Then let Petru continue to fight with our expeditionary fleet of the Royal Navy of Yingluoba!" By the way, when will the Tough-class super dreadnought battleships with 38mm guns and the Ambush-class battlecruisers enter service? ”

"Your Majesty, there are ten Tenacity-class super dreadnought battleships and ten ambush-class battlecruisers, which will be able to join the active service of our Royal Navy in British Roba before July this year, and the other twenty Tenacity-class super dreadnought battleships and twenty ambush-class battlecruisers should be able to complete the construction by the end of this year."

"Let the Admiralty continue to design super dreadnought battleships and battle cruisers with larger main gun calibers, Petru sent back the news that the navy of the Tang Empire already has super dreadnought battleships with main gun calibers of more than four hundred millimeters, it seems that this money-burning naval arms race, our Yingluoba Empire has to continue."