In the early morning, the sea of the eastern Indian Ocean is immense.

A large fleet was scattered across the blue seas, and it was the combined fleet of expeditions to India that had been dispatched for a month.

On an ironclad ship led by the leader, Wei Jun, commander of the newly formed Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Empire, and Yang Zaifu, deputy commander, stood on the deck, looking at the blue sky and sea in the distance.

Neither of them spoke, caught up in the dazzling sight.

Behind them, Buchanan, chief of staff of the Indian Ocean Fleet, was emotional.

Buchanan is an American, like other naval chiefs of staff of the Chinese Empire, also of Irish descent, when he followed Admiral Perry's U.S. Pacific Fleet to attack Japan, he was defeated by the Chinese Empire, he was captured and returned to the Chinese Empire, and then he found that the Chinese Empire had recruited a lot of foreigners, especially many Irish people to serve him, he slowly calmed down, took his family to the East, and became a naval officer of the Chinese Empire in peace.

This time, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the newly formed Indian Ocean Fleet, and it was his second real expedition at sea since the defeat of Japan many years earlier, and this time against the British Empire's Ceylon colony, a mission that alone would make him proud for the rest of his life.

Looking at the group of warships behind him and the large fleet, he was also proud, and silently said to himself: "I am now a Chinese, a Chinese with golden hair and blue eyes. I want to help my country, my own fleet to complete the combat mission and get the greatest victory! ”

At this time, Wei Jun, who was separated from the beautiful sunrise on the sea, walked over with Yang Zaifu, patted Buchanan on the shoulder, and said, "The chief of staff doesn't look at the spectacular sunrise, what is he muttering to himself in the back?" ”

"Yes, Chief of Staff. This sunrise over the Indian Ocean, although seen many times, is still majestic and spectacular! Yang Zaifu also said.

"Commander Wei, Deputy Commander Yang, it's nothing. Just sigh at the strength of my Indian Ocean fleet. Buchanan replied.

Wei Jun and Yang Zaifu looked at each other and smiled, and a sense of pride surged in their hearts.

With the establishment of the Chinese Empire, inland river transportation began to develop on a large scale, coupled with the construction of railways and official roads, the transportation is becoming more and more convenient, the people are getting richer and richer, and the entire Chinese Empire has a scene of national peace and security, and the water bandits and river thieves on the Yangtze River who originally robbed and mixed life have gradually decreased, and the inland river sailors have become more and more idle.

Just when Wei Jun slowly wore out his ambition, he suddenly recommended to His Majesty that he should be the commander of the newly established Indian Ocean Fleet, and His Majesty actually agreed. I had never even seen the sea, and I thought that the sailor was like that, but these days, I found that the sailor of the inland river is the difference between an earthworm and a dragon compared to the ocean-going fleet with the wide sea that day! It is rare for His Majesty to write a letter saying that he values himself, saying that he is one of the few old brothers in Guangxi, not only has the experience of leading the sailors, but also is a fierce general on land, but also a wise general who can think, he is not worried about the strategy of naval warfare, let himself be familiar with the tactics of naval warfare as soon as possible, and he can rest assured that he will hand over the Indian Ocean Fleet to himself.

Every time he thought of this, Wei Jun became excited.

Yang Zaifu is similar, as the general of the Hunan army, he can be personally appointed by the Chinese Emperor Feng Yunshan, and he immediately gave birth to a kind of ambition that it is difficult to protect the grace of the saint in all deaths, and the death of a confidant is a soldier.

"Chief of Staff, Deputy Commander Yang and I are not good at naval warfare. How to capture the island of Ceylon next, please talk about it first, let us have a little bottom. Wei Jun is already very familiar with Yang Zaifu and Buchanan, and they all know that these two people are also straightforward people, and he was directly appointed by the emperor as the commander of the fleet, and he belongs to the emperor's lineage, so he is not afraid that the two of them will have any ideas, so he speaks very directly.

Buchanan said politely, "The commander is too humble. You and Deputy Commander Yang are both experienced generals, and the warship operations on this sea actually seem to be more complicated and spectacular than the inland river operations, but the actual command is not so troublesome, and it is much simpler and more direct than the inland river division operations. ”

As soon as he said this, Wei Jun and Yang Zaifu were stunned.

Seeing this, Buchanan continued to explain: "The naval battle is open, and the so-called formations are arranged in advance, but in actual combat, there is actually only one principle, to concentrate on attacking the weakest enemy warship with the greatest firepower, or attacking the enemy warship with the strongest firepower first. The simplest way to say it is to win more than few, and to beat the weak with the strong.

Even if the overall strength of the entire fleet is weaker than that of the enemy fleet, as long as it can outcompete the enemy's firepower in the most intense local battlefield through the temporary dispatch of the battlefield, it will be victorious. ”

Wei Jun and Yang Zaifu nodded with understanding, it is true, just like land warfare or inland water warfare, as long as you can form a local advantage, you can win more and less, this is the most reasonable.

Wei Jun said with a smile: "According to the intelligence of the Secret Service Division, the British now only have two fleets in the entire Indian Ocean, one East India Fleet is stationed in Calcutta, and the other is a small Ceylon fleet. The two fleets are actually one Indian Ocean fleet, because the last naval battle of the East Indies was defeated by our South Ocean Fleet, and it has declined and has not been replenished, with a total of only 1 battleship, 4 cruisers and less than 10 small frigates, gunboats, etc. In this way, in terms of warships, our Indian Ocean Fleet is much stronger than the British army! ”

Buchanan nodded and said, "Yes, Commander!" In naval operations, there is no interference from major weather and other aspects, and the decisive factor is the strength of the fleet itself. In other words, with the lineup of 24 warships of our Indian Ocean Fleet coming to Ceylon this time, including 2 ironclad battleships, 2 ordinary wooden-hulled steam battleships, 10 large and medium-sized cruisers, 6 small and medium-sized frigates, and 4 gunboats, although not all of them came to Ceylon Island this time, it was enough to sweep the British Ceylon fleet, and they were only 2 cruisers, 2 frigates, and 3 gunboats. However, the port of Colombo on the island of Ceylon was a little more troublesome to forcibly attack and occupy it. ”

At this, the lookout at the bow shouted, "See land!" Twenty kilometers ahead, it should be the island of Ceylon! ”

Hearing that Ceylon Island was coming, Wei Jun and the others became a little nervous, and Wei Jun shouted in a low voice: "All personnel, immediately take their places, stay vigilant, and prepare for battle!" ”

Yang Zaifu hurriedly hugged his fist at Wei Jun, preparing to take a small rowing boat back to his own command ship "Dingyuan No. 2" ironclad ship.