The Eight-Nation Allied Fleet delayed its eastward advance several times, which made the officers and men of the Hubei Army Fleet angry at all levels, and the Japanese fleet was even more worried about their homeland and country, and all the officers and men looked forward to returning to the Far East as soon as possible to fight against the Chinese imperialists and save the Japanese people who had suffered a great calamity. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Many officers and men of the Otto-Japanese fleet said: "The E-Japanese fleet already has 17 battleships, while the Huaxia Army only has 13 battleships, and even if you add the two or three battleships that have been urgently completed by the shipyard, the number will never exceed 17, and they are not the opponents of the E-Japanese fleet at all. ”

Vice Admiral Makarov, commander of the joint fleet, and Vice Admiral Gonbei Yamamoto, deputy commander of the combined fleet, were originally suspicious of the fleet advancing eastward alone, but they were forced to be indignant and had no choice but to agree to the fleet leaving the Suez Canal and moving eastward.

However, on the way eastward, in order to gain time and wait for the Eight-Nation Coalition to catch up and rendezvous, Makarov and Yamamoto Gonbei deliberately asked the fleet to slow down its speed, and on many occasions took some turns back in the name of holding joint exercises, so that the fleet's advance speed was less than half of the usual speed.

But even so, the Otto-Japanese fleet advanced step by step towards the eastern part of the Indian Ocean, and slowly crossed the Indian Ocean and entered the Andaman Islands.

Makarov and Yamamoto Gonbei ordered the fleet's radio station to desperately call the Eight-Nation Coalition fleet, but the British Empire had no choice but to provide the Otto-Japanese fleet radio station, the effective distance was only 300 kilometers, and many spare parts were damaged, and the radio station was still silent.

Makarov simply ordered the whole fleet to stop under the pretext of replenishing fresh water and food in the Andaman Islands.

However, after stopping in the Andaman Islands for four or five days, although it was learned from India's cable telegraph system that the Eight-Nation Coalition had left the Suez Canal and headed eastward, the wireless telegraph was unable to contact the Eight-Nation Coalition fleet.

At this time, the young officers and men of the Otto-Japanese fleet, who had suffered greatly from the voyage, finally could not stand it anymore and ran to the commander's flagship to ask for instructions, and with tears in their eyes, the commander immediately ordered the eastward march to fight a decisive battle against the evil Chinese imperialism.

Makarov and Gonbei Yamamoto, who were more than cautious, were accused by the officers and soldiers at the grassroots level of being cowardly as rats and fearing the enemy like tigers, and even some middle-level officers complained about this.

Entangled and helpless, Makarov and Yamamoto had no choice but to agree to slowly approach the mouth of the Strait of Malacca along the coast of the Andaman Islands and the English colonies.

According to the general speed of the voyage, under normal circumstances, the Ignorance Combined Fleet and its Eight-Nation Allied Fleet could reach the Strait of Malacca in mid-January 1895, but due to Hu Zhen's layout, the Ignorant Fleet did not arrive at the entrance of the Indian Ocean in the Strait of Malacca until early March, and the Eight-Nation Allied Fleet was still lagging behind.

However, when the Oros fleet finally arrived in Malacca, the officers and men of the Oros and the Japanese fleet began to be both nervous and excited.

The huge fleet, the distance between the ships and the ships is very far, from the outside, the sea is black and oppressive with ships flying the flags of the Oros and the Japanese countries, so that the personnel of the two countries are suddenly full of confidence and throw aside the fatigue of many days.

However, their catastrophe began the moment the fleet entered Malacca.

Suddenly, a violent explosion sounded on the right side of the bow of the flagship of the Hubei army, Emperor Alexander III, which was walking in front of the fleet, and a huge column of water rose into the sky.

The armor of the battleship was very strong, and its vital parts could withstand the bombardment of 305 mm heavy shells of the same caliber as the main guns on the ship, but the underwater armor was relatively weak, and it was not able to withstand the thunderous blow of a mine explosion.

The Hubei army was still in shock before they came to their senses, and in just a few minutes, the bilge of the Emperor Alexander III pierced through a large hole of more than two meters, and thousands of tons of seawater poured into it at once, and the huge hull quickly tilted to the right.

This did not need to be ordered by the commander of the fleet, Makarov, and the experienced captain immediately ordered: "Immediately fill the watertight compartment on the left side to maintain the balance of the hull, and the turbines will slow down and reduce the speed!" ”

The Emperor Alexander III had a reserve buoyancy of more than 3,000 tons, and at the same time 2,000 tons of seawater poured in, without any problems, and ten minutes after the explosion, it seemed that the situation was under control.

However, the left side of the Emperor Alexander III, which had been reduced to less than eight knots, was gently glued up by a mine drifting from nowhere, and another violent explosion occurred.

This time, the Emperor Alexander III, with a displacement of 15275 tons, could no longer withstand such a heavy blow and leaned badly to the right, various components of the ship made a tooth-aching click, and even the commander Tari Makarov was unsteady on his feet and fell on the deck.

The officers, who had all fallen, exclaimed: "Your Excellency, Commander! ”

Makarov was hit by the steel bulkhead in the command tower and his head was bleeding, but he stood up with a hand, shouting: "I'm fine, hurry up and take emergency measures to save the battleship!" ”

However, the mines on the sea seemed to be alive, and when they saw the explosion of the Emperor Alexander III, they stuck to it and caused it to explode one after another.

After six mine explosions, the Emperor Alexander III could no longer bear it, and the captain, seeing that this place was not far from the shore, ordered: "Quickly rush to the shore and run aground!" ”

The grounding may have been the last resort to save the flagship, and Makarov did not stop the captain's actions.

The captain's second order was: "Except for the necessary personnel, all the ships should abandon ship and escape." ”

Makarov did not object to this order either, and with the help of the personnel of the fleet command, the first to board the lifeboats and quickly slide into the sea to escape.

The surrounding Hubei and Japanese warships approached to rescue the Emperor Alexander III, but there was a logistics supply ship, whose watertight compartment and underwater armor were very weak, and after being hit by a mine, it immediately exploded and sank into the sea.

This frightened other ships into becoming more cautious in their rescue operations, which slowed down the rescue operations considerably.

No sooner had Makarov's lifeboat left than the Emperor Alexander III, which was still heading toward the shore, sank in the bow, and the propeller propellers in the stern of the ship left the water, cocked high and completely lost power.

The E-troops who remained on the ship desperately activated the pumping machine to drain the water and closed the watertight compartments in the amidship and bow of the ship, but they could no longer stop the seawater from surging into the amidships.

"The flagship is sinking!" Under the watchful eyes of the officers and men of the ships, the bow of the Emperor Alexander III was quickly plunged into the sea at a speed visible to the naked eye, the buttocks were raised high, and finally turned to the right side, and poured into the water, splashing huge waves.

At this time, at a depth of more than 100 meters in the sea water, which was imperceptible to all the Japanese army, the supercomputer of the nuclear submarine recorded a cold line of words, and sent it to Hu Zhen, who was far away on the shore of Borneo, through a communicator:

"In the year 4591 Huali, at 13:40 on March 11, 1895, the flagship of the Hubei army, Emperor Alexander III, and a logistics ship were sunk by seven magnetic mines towed by a nuclear submarine!"

After receiving this short message, Hu Zhen immediately announced to the officers and men of the navy and army of the Chinese Empire: "The combined fleet of Hubei and Japanese has arrived on the Indian side of the Strait of Malacca, but the special forces of the Chinese Army who have been killed have opened the record in the Strait of Malacca, using mines to sink one of the enemy's battleships and one of the logistics ships. ”

In the minds of the Huaxia Army, Emperor Hu Zhen has always been elusive with soldiers, and no one knows how he used special forces to sink the enemy's battleships, but no one will dare to ask Hu Zhen which force he used and who the specific action list is, because special forces mean that they must be kept secret. (To be continued.) )