However, at this time, the Indian Ocean was basically controlled by the British Combined Fleet of the Chinese Conquest, and from time to time there were sentinel ships or simply troop carriers monitoring the sea between the major ports, and the news that this fleet in Rangoon had been routed and captured soon became known to the main force of the British fleet in the Ganges Bay of the Bay of Bengal.

Admiral Hope, commander-in-chief of the British invasion of China, was taken aback. He never imagined that the enemy fleet, which had been lost in the entire Indian Ocean, would dare to come out and take the initiative to attack. And once the detachment he envisioned was attacked, even if it was fought and withdrawn, how could it hold out for a few days until he led the main force of the combined fleet to support, but this idea did not work at all, and the fleet in Rangoon would be defeated and surrendered in a short time.

Because he did not know the specific situation, he could only deduce that the guns of the Chinese Imperial Fleet in the east were too sharp and more accurate than he imagined. In this regard, he no longer dared to take it lightly, and the fleet of the Chinese Empire had already appeared at war, and he was ready to gather all the warships and engage in a large-scale decisive battle in one fell swoop.

To this end, Admiral Hope sent for the swift gathering of another small fleet still in the vicinity of Madras and Ceylon, as well as a fleet at the port of Calcutta, and hurried to the mouth of the Ganges. At the same time, British merchants were sent as emissaries to send an invitation to Wei Jun, commander of the Imperial Chinese Fleet in Yangon, and a decisive battle was scheduled to be fought in the waters east of the Bay of Bengal 15 days later.

Of course, Admiral Hope did not think that the other side had the courage to really fight, and he did not intend to really fight with him in the agreed sea area, he was just playing a pretense, in fact, he believed that the enemy army was very strong, and was ready to wait until all the warships were gathered to fight, and then defeat the enemy head-on with overwhelming superiority. And sending the war letter is just a matter of delaying the time so that you can better gather your troops.

In fact, Hope faintly regretted that he could not break through the Strait of Malacca and enter the Far East as soon as possible, and made a desperate attempt to directly capture Hong Kong and the enemy's homeland Guangzhou, and even Fuzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing and other places, maybe now the other side has begun to collapse and even surrender directly to sue for peace.

However, if that is the case, there is also a big hidden danger, and the supply of the back road is likely to be cut off, which is too risky.

As the commander of the Combined Fleet of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, he is still willing to fight steadily, even if the enemy's Krupp artillery is sharp, but in terms of naval warfare, after all, there is still a gap with the British Empire, and naval warfare is not a simple artillery superiority that can dominate the outcome of the war. And Hope is ready to gather all the warships, that is, he is ready to use the number of warships to rush up, surround the enemy on all lines, even if he loses some charging warships, he must rush closer, fight with the enemy fleet, narrow the gap in artillery range and defeat the opponent.

Fourteen days later, the British Combined Fleet for the Expedition to China, with a total of 160 warships and 93 logistical support and reconnaissance vessels, set off from the mouth of the Ganges River outside Chittagong in the Bay of Bengal to the port of Yangon in Burma, hundreds of nautical miles to the south.

For this expedition, Hope has made full preparations. Fewer than 10 warships were left to guard the 200 troop carriers docked in Calcutta's harbor, and all the rest were mobilized into the fleet. Hope also decided that if he did not encounter the Chinese Empire's fleet along the way, the enemy would still resort to evading delay, so he would directly order the recovery of the Straits Settlements, control of the Strait of Malacca, and then enter the East Indies and the Chinese Empire mainland.

It was a quiet morning.

Hope was about to enjoy bread and beef jerky boiled in boiling water when an assistant came to report: "General Hope, four miles to the south, two enemy warships have been spotted, which appear to be outposts of the enemy fleet. ”

"Did the other party notice us? Can you rule out a few clippers to intercept them behind and prevent them from returning to warn? Hope asked.

"The other party has also discovered us and has begun to report back to the flight. Their speed was about the same as that of our fast sailing boats, and it was difficult to intercept. ”

"Then don't bother with it, the enemy's main fleet must be not far ahead. Pass the order down and get ready for battle! Hope ordered.

The British fleet immediately changed formations, and in order to discover the enemy fleet, the battle line was opened as much as possible, and the entire fleet was lined up for several nautical miles. Hope divided the entire fleet into five subfleets, with the 1st and 2nd fleets as the right flank, the 3rd and 4th fleets as the left flank, and the 5th flotilla and a group of reconnaissance ships, transport ships, troop carriers and other logistics support ships in the middle, heading south-east.

At this time, several merchant ships and several small warships appeared in front of them, flying the military flag of the yellow star on a red background, which was the ship of the Chinese Empire. The British 3rd Fleet increased its speed and began to pursue, and the 4th Fleet also began to pursue. Hope had no choice but to give the order to pursue.

Because the fleet platoon was too open, it took hours just to convey the order. But what Hope didn't expect was that although the whole fleet was lined up in a horizontal line, it became an oblique column when it sailed south. As a result, some warships composed of fast steam sailing ships rushed very quickly, especially the two battleships of the barrier class, and the heavy-tonnage main warships such as the "Royal Oak" and the "Wangfu" were far behind because of their slow speed.

As a result, the entire British fleet was in chaos, and even several sub-fleets were seriously disconnected from each other, and by noon, the fast warships had pulled away from the slow warships for several nautical miles.

By the time Hope realized this problem, the enemy's fleet group had already appeared in front of him, and at this time, he could only hurriedly order to immediately adjust the formation, so that the warships at the front would retreat a little and meet the warships behind. But such an order, which had just been conveyed to the warships at the forefront, the fleet of the Chinese Empire, had been inserted into the British 3rd Fleet, which was at the forefront, and the two sides were at war.

Several other detachments that received Hope's order ordered the fleet to be grouped together, and the warships at the front retreated back in formation. As a result, the more than 10 warships of the 3rd Fleet rushing to the forefront were suddenly abandoned, dragged by the warships of the Chinese Empire's Nanyang Fleet, which had already begun to rush into the fleet, and were soon wrapped in dumplings.

At this time, the other British detachments also discovered this situation, and the mistakes of the commander and the defeat of the battle caused by the fleet's first appearance caused them to lose morale.