According to the observation of the cruising Chinese destroyers, the French Far East Fleet dispatched the battleship Martel, as well as the 8,000-ton cruiser Teller, the 5,000-ton cruiser Durendal, and four large mine-strike boats escorting the periphery, while the number of the entire French fleet reached an astonishing 30, almost all of which were large merchant ships of more than 3,000 tons.

Soon, Vice Admiral Spee, who was training in Tominy Bay, received this astonishing news from the Chinese intelligence officer, escorted by 7 French warships, including a former dreadnought battleship with 6 280mm heavy guns, such firepower that the original German Far East Fleet, even the 210mm rapid-fire guns of the flagship Scharnhorst, could only be beaten.

However, the two Queen-class battle cruiser 343mm main guns, tonnage and speed directly crushed the French flagship, the only problem is that Vice Admiral Spee does not have much experience in skillfully controlling this new warship equipped with steam turbine power, and more than half a month of sea trials is just able to go to sea...... It is not a small trouble to fight in the windy and rough Indian Ocean.

However, when the Chinese casually mentioned that there might be more than two Marine brigades in the French fleet preparing to return to France to fight, Spee had already made up his mind at the first moment of hearing the news, and he ordered Colonel Melkel, who had been promoted to captain of the Scharnhorst, to return to the Subic naval base to continue to maintain contact with the Chinese side, and at worst to project the army to the French Cochinchina on the opposite shore to destroy the enemy's overseas territories.

He personally led the main fleet, including the Queen, Hans, and Gneizenau, as well as four light cruisers. It is planned to enter the Indian Ocean from the Sunda Strait and then around Sumatra. Finally completed the volley of the French fleet in the Indian Ocean...... Taking into account the speed of a large merchant fleet. He predicted that he might intercept the French in the waters near India!

However, all of these plan-based assumptions proved to be wrong, because less than 12 hours after passing through the Sunda Strait, a British-made Nautilus submarine belonging to the Australian Navy was returning from Christmas Island when it accidentally spotted the German fleet.

And the size of the German fleet was beyond the understanding of submarine commanders. After following the exploration, the submarine finally determined that this was indeed the German Far East Fleet, but the Australians had never seen a small number of Qin-class battle cruisers, not to mention that the old fox Speese had already tossed the camouflage of two more fake chimneys in the middle of the Queen-class battle cruiser, so the important features of the four chimneys of the Scharnhorst heavy patrol were successfully copied.

Considering the cruising speed, there was no way that the Australian submarine could catch up with the German fleet, which was advancing at full speed. In addition, to report to the fleet. The Nautilus B submarine was not equipped with a radio at all, so the Australian captain very decisively gave up the implementation of the tailgating plan, but quietly dived and evacuated after observation, however, the ports of North Australia belonged to the Republic of South China, and the British submarine had to sail all the way south to Perth to find the telegraph office to report to the Sydney and Indian squadrons.

On the morning of July 12, three days after the passage of the Speese fleet through the Sunda Strait in the middle of the night, the commander of the Australian Admiralty and the British Indian Squadron had learned of the news and sent an urgent telegram to the Indian Ocean Squadron, which immediately shocked the entire Indian Ocean waters, and the Indian Squadron of the Royal Navy and the Australian Navy immediately ordered the warships cruising in the sea to begin to assemble.

"The submarine Sol discovers the Grand Fleet? Didn't this damn captain stay underwater for a long time, dizzy, where did the Germans come from the Grand Fleet! They also have two cruisers with 210mm gun barrels, which are also worthy of being called the Grand Fleet!? "When the Indian detachment sent the news to the formation of the Royal Navy battlecruisers, which had just entered the Arabian Sea, as the commander of the fleet, Dofton? Lord Dieters frowned and discussed aloud with his staff.

"Sir, according to the course of the Germans, they may still be preparing to enter the Indian Ocean to attack, there are not many land targets worthy of the Germans' attack, they have already attacked Cox Island last time, presumably this time they will choose the territory of the southern Indian Ocean...... Or the Indian coast of the Bay of Bengal...... However, it is difficult to imagine that they will be able to circumnavigate the Indian Ocean without supplies! Lieutenant Colonel Staff Officer Phil reported very seriously

"Then report to Lord Persson, commander of the Indian Ocean Detachment, that we will intercept the German fleet around the British Southern Indian Ocean territory to ensure that they do not run across the Indian Ocean to Africa, and at the same time let them keep an eye on it, and report to us as soon as they discover the intelligence of the German fleet!" Lord Dieters quickly came up with the safest plan, and his task was to ensure the destruction of the Germans in the Indian Ocean, first and foremost, not to let the Germans run away without a trace.

At the suggestion of Lord Fisher, the Minister of the Navy, Churchill, transferred two of the latest battle cruisers, the Invincible and the Fortitude, from the Grand Fleet as Lord Fisher's most proud battle masterpiece.

The Invincible battlecruiser, once the most outstanding first-generation battle cruiser in history, however, due to the emergence of the Chinese Xuanyuan-class battle cruiser, there is naturally no such epic name, but the displacement of 16,000 tons of Invincible, with 4 twin 305mm main guns of powerful firepower, even compared to the dreadnought, is not too inferior, in addition, 16 105mm high rate of fire side guns, 8 barrels of 38mm anti-aircraft guns, reflecting the battleship's strong defense capabilities and advanced design concept.

Of course, driven by 31 Yarrow water-tube boilers and two light steam turbines, with 48,000 horsepower, the Invincible ran an astonishing speed of 26.7 knots in sea trials, which obviously undoubtedly explains the three functions that Lord Fisher pinned on the battle patrol at the beginning: "breakthrough, reconnaissance, and pursuit".

The battle patrol of the Fortitude fighting with Lord Dieters is an improved version of the Invincible, the overall performance has been slightly improved, but the firepower and protection are generally equal, and the battle patrol with two 305 gun barrels to bully the heavy patrol of the two 210 gun barrels of the Germans is originally a contest of poor rank, and Lord Dieters is very disdainful of the telegram sent by the Indian Ocean Detachment, but it is understandable.

On the evening of the 12th, Lord Dieters unexpectedly received an urgent telegram from Lord Persson, who was tasked with fighting China in the Far East and had little military strength at hand, and ordered in a very stern tone that the Dieters fleet must immediately turn to Sri Lanka and assemble with the Indian detachment already assembled there, and coordinate the interception of the German fleet that might attack the Indian seaports.

Obviously, Lord Persson's judgment of the Germans was very different from that of Lord Dieters, but it is not known whether the situation was too urgent or whether it was the negligence of the staff officers of the command of the Indian detachment, and Sir Persson's telegram did not mention the task of the Indian detachment to escort the French convoy in transit...... Perhaps, in the eyes of the British, their own troubles have not been solved, and the French should not let the British Empire worry about that little matter at all, let alone a pig teammate.

Lord Dieters did not immediately reply to the request of the Indian detachment, but reported his plan to the headquarters of the Grand Fleet at home, and received an order from the Grand Fleet at noon the next day, agreeing to the plan of the battle patrol formation to first circumnavigate the British South Indian territory, after all, in the overall war situation, the Germans really robbed the South Indian territory by the way, then they were fully capable of crossing India to reach the German colony on the African coastline.

At that time, what was originally just a small fight in the Far East turned into an African naval war, which was more likely to endanger the important South African territory of the British Empire...... Although the probability is very low, London does not want such an outrageous situation to happen, as for the Indian Ocean, it is almost impossible for the Indian detachment to confront the Chinese, but to besiege the six or seven German ships, it is absolutely possible to beat them to death.

But the wishful thinking of the British clearly underestimated the determination and IQ of the old man in Pace......

On the afternoon of the 13th, the Spee fleet had taken advantage of the night to bypass the busy western channel of the Strait of Malacca, and quietly entered the bay on the east side of the small Andaman Island in the Burma Sea, which is nearly 50 nautical miles away from the main channel, and it is not a channel to the coast of India.

What's more, stretching south from the island of Andaman to the exit of the Strait of Malacca, there are a number of small islands, which are very suitable for the fleet to hide, and at this moment, the huge battle cruiser Queen is temporarily anchored behind an unnamed island reef, while the light cruiser Leipzig has removed the German flag and hung the British flag, and even the Iron Cross symbol has been changed to the Royal Navy's rice flag pattern, and quietly slipped to the western side of the Strait of Malacca to cruise.

This German light cruiser, an improved version of the new generation of German destroyers, has slightly more guns and armor, and has a displacement of 2,200 tons, but maintains a slender body of 105 meters, has 7,000 horsepower, and can easily run at a speed of 30 knots, which is enough for him to shoulder the role of a scout.

Spee's almost bold entry into the Bay of Bengal was obviously completely beyond everyone's expectations, and the Leipzig Light Cruiser encountered dozens of British, French, American and other ships near the Malacca Channel, none of them doubted his identity, and even saluted with flags from afar, and when the sun set in the afternoon and shone on the ocean outside the entire strait, the patient Leipzig finally saw the opportunity.

Led by a British light cruiser, a huge fleet of nearly 30 French warships and merchant ships slowly sailed out of the Strait of Malacca and along the course to Sri Lanka......

The speed was 12 knots, a compass point south-west of the direction, 24 French merchant ships, 4 British merchant ships, 1 American merchant ship, and the escort fleet included 2 British light cruisers, 1 French battleship, 2 heavy cruisers, and 4 light cruisers......

Vice Admiral Shi Pei stood calmly in front of the chart, less than 80 nautical miles away from the marking point of the ship, his prey was happily walking, waiting for them would be his own fatal blow! (To be continued......)