To the south, a huge fleet is gradually moving away, and Chang Zhixin is standing on the bridge in the south, looking at this fleet, and his heart is not a good feeling. After learning about the battle of the German Home Fleet, Chang Zhixin admired the heroic fighting spirit of the German naval officers and men, but it was only a personal feeling, and he could not command the fleet with his own personal feelings.

"General Tan Renhao, they're here."

Hearing the staff officer's words, Chang Zhixin looked south, and the first task force and the second task force were approaching, and the battleships were slowing down and preparing to drop anchor. When the aircraft carrier "Longganhu" stopped, a fireboat was put down, and two people got on the fireboat. Because the distance was too far, Chang Zhixin didn't bring binoculars, so he couldn't see the appearance of the two people clearly, but he guessed that it should be Tan Renhao, maybe Hao Dongjue also arrived at the first task force and came over with Tan Renhao.

"Chang, what are you still doing in a daze, come down, let's go to the fortress together!" Hao Dongjue was really with Tan Renhao, and his voice was louder than anyone else.

Chang Jianxin waved his hand at Hao Mingjue, instructed the staff officer to go to the chief of staff to arrange the supply of the fleet, and then left the commander's bridge. Soon, the fireboat carried the three of them to the fortress of Gibraltar.

The fortress was built on a jutting peninsula connected to the Iberian Peninsula by a land bridge. The expeditionary force that had arrived earlier had already set up a post and a defensive line here, and further north, Spain proper, and the occupied territories of the Persian Empire. The area of the fortress is not large, perhaps less than one square kilometer, and the fortress is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the east and the Gulf of Algeciras to the west. It is a natural deep-water bay that can anchor hundreds of warships. There is also a small port city with a population of about 100,000 people on the other side of the bay, but in general, the bay is part of a fortress. There are several large docks in the bay, as well as several docks, and warehouses are concentrated on the fort. There is no doubt that this is a modern military base, and much of the infrastructure was built or expanded by the British. Right now. The fleet was parked in the bay, and supply ships loaded with fuel and ammunition were approaching the battleship.

The three of them soon came to the highest point of the fortress, a classical fortress. From this place, the warships in the interior of the bay are very clear, and if the weather conditions are good, you can even see the port of Ceuta to the south. It's just that today is a cloudy day, and the water vapor on the sea surface is relatively heavy, and the visibility is less than 10 kilometers, so you can't see the continent to the south. The two guards on the watchtower left on their own initiative, leaving only Tan Renhao and the three of them here.

"Chang, do you know the history of this fortress?" Tan Renhao leaned against the parapet.

"As long as you are a soldier of the Imperial Navy, you will know the history of this fortress." Chang Jianxin took out a cigarette, and when he came to the Gibraltar fortress three days ago, he was in a heavy mood. Because he was the first Imperial Admiral to come to the fortress of Gibraltar as an occupier in hundreds of years.

It was the Persians, not the Tang Empire, that originally established the Gibraltar fortress. More than 1,000 years ago, the Persian general Ziad set out from Tangier and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, where the 7,000 Persian expeditionary force defeated 100,000 Spanish defenders and performed a great miracle. Subsequently, Ziyad ordered the construction of a castle at the site of the landing, and named it "Zob Tariq", which means "Tariq Mountain". Its English translation is "Gibraltar". Now Tan Renhao, the fortress where they are located is on the foundation of the castle built by Ziad back then. The fort was built by the expeditionary force of the Tang Empire during the more than 900 years of the Tang calendar. It was later destroyed by fire several times. Several more reconstructions. After the Tang Expeditionary Force withdrew from Europe, the British occupied the fortress of Gibraltar and expanded the fort area on the basis of what the Tang Expeditionary Force had built. In addition, a relatively complete port facility was built, making the Gibraltar fortress a veritable military port.

The Gibraltar Fortress was also the last colony and military fortress of the Tang Empire in Europe. Before the British arrived, 2,500 officers and men of the Imperial Marines were stationed here. These 2,500 officers and soldiers held out for a month against at least 150,000 Spanish rebels, until they ran out of ammunition and food, and only when the last soldier fell, did the fortress be captured. None of the 2,500 officers and men fell with their backs to the enemy, and every soldier who fell was facing the east, which was the direction of their homeland and the direction in which reinforcements arrived.

There are still some bullet holes left in the wall of the fortress, and the round hole in the huge ashlar in the center of the fortress is still there, which is the place where the Zhenhai flag was planted, and the last Marine soldier fell here, until death, he still guards the Zhenhai flag, and still guards his mission and duty. Tan Renhao stopped in front of the ashlar and took off his hat. When the British drove out the Spanish rebels, they found the mutilated bodies of 2,500 Imperial Marines and at least 30,000 Spaniards on the battlefield. Later, the famous British female writer Austen also wrote a long story about this battle, describing the heroic deeds of the 2,500 Imperial Marines.

The hearts of the three people were quite heavy, and there was a statue dedicated to the 2,500 Marine Corps officers and soldiers in the Imperial Marine Corps Headquarters. The main body of the statue is the last group of soldiers at the ashlar to fend off the overwhelming enemy, and one by one they fall. This battle was not only a rare defeat in the history of the Imperial Marine Corps, but also inspired all the officers and soldiers of the Marine Corps after that, telling every Imperial soldier that on the battlefield, there is only the difference between honor and shame, but not between life and death.

"Perhaps, we should erect a statue here to let everyone know that there were once 2,500 Imperial soldiers who fell here, and 2,500 soldiers who died heroically here to defend the Empire, and they are the representatives of all Imperial soldiers and an example to all Imperial soldiers."

Tan Renhao turned around. "Let the government worry about these things, and this is a military fortress. It's not a tourist attraction. ”

"But who knows? Maybe in 10, 20, 50 years, it will become a tourist attraction rather than a military fortress. Hao Dongjue chased after him.

"Forget it, we shouldn't care about these things" Chang Jianxin breathed a sigh of relief, "Renhao, when should we leave?" ”

"Two days later." Tan Renhao walked to the enemy wall. Look at the battleships in the harbor. "Have you all read the battle report of the German Home Fleet?" (Fastest update: n).

"Fought valiantly, but lacked reasonable tactics, and Lukins made a serious mistake in judging the situation, besides, this was Raeder's order?"

"It's true that Raeder gave the order, but it wasn't Raeder who really asked the fleet to attack. It's the German Prime Minister. Tan Renhao leaned against the enemy wall, "Anyway, the German home fleet has been defeated, I heard that the German prime minister was very annoyed, and the next night called Raeder and several other senior generals, and reprimanded these people fiercely, and then asked Raeder to send a telegram to Scher, so that the "Far East Fleet" would be busy returning to the German mainland. ”

"Has the German Chancellor pushed his senses?" Hao Dongjue was very surprised. The loss of a native fleet was enough to make the Germans feel painful, and now it is necessary to send the "Far Eastern Fleet" to death, isn't this self-destruction of the Great Wall?

"Who knows?" Tan Renhao sneered.

"Maybe it's a dog jumping off the wall?" Chang Jianxin also walked over, "I heard that the losses of the British home fleet are not small, one "avant-garde" class has been heavily damaged, two have been moderately damaged, and the other one has not been slightly damaged, and these are the four best battleships of the British Navy. The victory in Satsumville was also not easy to come by, and the British Home Fleet would not be able to hold back the "Far Eastern Fleet" with only eight Grandpa-class battleships. Perhaps the Germans simply wanted to return the "Far Eastern Fleet" to their homeland. ”

"It shouldn't be that simple." Tan Renhao shook his head. "The Germans are not stupid. Why should their native fleet rush to attack? It was clear that the Germans already knew that we were planning an attack on the British mainland, with so many ground troops. There was also the movement of convoys that could not be concealed, and even the Germans already knew that we were in secret contact with the British. Under these circumstances, the actions of the German Home Fleet had only one purpose, to seize control of the English Channel, and to land on the British mainland while the British Home Fleet was busy dealing with us. The return of the Far Eastern Fleet alone was also part of Germany's strategy of attacking the British mainland. When the time comes, as long as we go north, then Satsummerville will come to stop us, and the 'Far East Fleet' can take the opportunity to enter the North Sea, seize the control of the English Channel, cover the German Army to cross the Channel, and land on the British mainland before our ground forces arrive! ”

Chang Jianxin and Hao Dongjue's expressions sank, this is not good news. The Reich has made so many tosses this time, the purpose is to slow down the pace of the Germans, and strive to capture Britain before Germany, if the German Army is allowed to take the lead, the British Army may not be able to stop the surging German armored corps.

"I don't think it's that simple, though." Tan Renhao was not too nervous. "I read the battle report carefully, and among the four 'avant-garde', except for the 'Valiant', the other three were not seriously damaged. Britain was already building the second batch of 'Avant-garde', because of the continuous bombing, the construction progress was quite slow, but most of the spare parts had already been manufactured, so it was relatively easy to repair the other three 'avant-garde', probably just over ten days. It was impossible for the German 'Far East Fleet' to go north directly through the English Channel, or even too close to the British mainland, to avoid the British Air Force ground bombers. As a result, the Far East Fleet would have to circumnavigate thousands of nautical miles and spend fifteen or even twenty days before it could return to the German mainland. As long as the British have intelligence and hurry up, they can still intercept the 'Far East Fleet' in the North Sea. ”

"But the 'avant-garde' is not necessarily the opponent of the 'new provincial capital', and if it really fights, Scheer will not be as desperate as Lukins, and Raeder will not let him fight hard."

"It's up to Samoville to command." The 'avant-garde' was not much worse than the 'new provincial capital', and the 'new provincial capital' that we sold to the German Navy had a lot less necessary equipment, a little weaker armor defense, and a little worse ammunition for the main guns, which simply could not be compared with the models we used ourselves. Also, let's not forget, the British Navy still had eight old battleships, and if Summerville could make use of them all, Scheer's return home would not be easy. ”

Chang Jiexin was silent, this is a fact. The Empire's principle of exporting vital ordnance and equipment has always been to never sell the best, even to the allies. The battleships of the "New Provincial Capital" class were the best battleships of the Empire, especially from the second batch, with a large number of new technologies, and their performance can be said to be world-class. At the beginning, when Germany proposed to purchase the "new provincial capital", the empire did not want to sell it very much, and when it was sold, it naturally had to make a fuss about performance. Take the armor steel plate used in the battleship as an example, although the armor thickness of the export and self-use models has not changed, but the imperial navy is the latest special alloy steel plate, and its bullet resistance is definitely the best in the world, while what is sold to Germany is only ordinary alloy steel plate, which is even a little worse than the first batch of "new provincial capitals", and its bullet resistance is naturally much worse. In terms of ammunition, the Imperial Navy has begun to use Type 27 armor-piercing shells, which use new tungsten alloy and have very strong armor-piercing capabilities, while only Type 23 armor-piercing shells have long been eliminated by the Imperial Navy that have been exported to Germany. To be exact, the performance of the "new provincial capital" exported to Germany was not even comparable to that of similar warships exported to the Persian Empire!

"Emotionally, I admire the Germans, but the problem is that we must now put the national interest first." Tan Renhao straightened up, "It's not my personal will to let the 'Far East Ship Yin' set off alone this time, you should understand this." If Scheer can get Summerville to lose a few more ships, it will be a good thing for us as well. ”

Chang Jianxin sighed helplessly, this is not something that a soldier can decide.

"Lao Chang, how are you getting in touch with Gu Zhenyun?"

Chang Jianxin turned his head. "I've met a few times in the past few days and talked about the past, but you also know that Gu Zhenyun is a person who doesn't have many opinions, don't expect too much from him."

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, he also thought of this, it seems that cooperation with the Second Fleet is still a big problem.