"I heard that the Japanese drove their main battleships to Arthur." The deputy captain, Colonel Shen Honglie, looked at the Japanese former dreadnoughts in the distance and sneered.

Xu Zhenpeng heard the overtones in Shen Honglie's words, and a trace of resentment flashed in his eyes.

Shen Honglie was born in Tianmen, Hubei Province in 1882, he was diligent and studious since childhood, and in 19oo years, Shen Honglie's house examination was won in the show, and he taught in the house. In 19o4, he entered the military academy and later joined the Hubei New Army. In 19o5, Shen Honglie went to study at the Japanese Naval Academy as an official-funded student, and joined the League in Japan in the same year. After graduating in the summer of 11, he returned to China and joined the Qing Dynasty Navy, starting from the Navy's "Chuguan" ship Alternate Pipe Band, and successively served as a staff member of the Qing Political Consultative Office and the Navy Bureau of the General Staff. In November 11, Shen Honglie participated in the Xinhai Revolution, served as a naval commander and consolation envoy, and participated in the instigation of the Qing Dynasty naval uprising in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. In 12 years, Shen Honglie served as a staff officer of the Military Aircraft Department of the Admiralty of the Nanjing Provisional Government of the Republic of China. In 13, he was transferred to the chief of the Colonel Section of the Naval Bureau of the General Staff in Beijing. In March 16, he was sent by the Admiralty to the United States as a naval attaché.

As a naval officer who had studied in Japan and had participated in the League, Shen Honglie actually had a certain good impression of Japan, but these remaining good feelings completely disappeared with the sound of Japan's rejection of the "21 Articles" and then the large-scale invasion of China.

After the 6th Army of the Japanese Navy invaded China on a large scale, Shen Honglie, who was in Beijing, knew that the strength of the Chinese navy was not enough to fight Japan, so he was worried, but then the good news of the Battle of Caofeidian came, which lifted Shen Honglie's spirits. As an officer serving in the Naval Bureau of the General Staff in Beijing, he managed to learn the details of the Caofeidian naval battle by all means, and he had a feeling of admiration for Yang Shuoming, who provided the new type of floating mines.

After the victory of the war against Japanese aggression, Shen Honglie was appointed military attache to the United States, and during his stay in the United States, he heard rumors that the Chinese government had a "package" of ship purchase plans in the United States.

As a naval officer who served in Beijing, Shen Honglie certainly understands the current financial situation of the Chinese government, and it is easier for the current Chinese government to spend such a huge amount of money close to astronomical to purchase warships in the United States.

But what Shen Honglie didn't expect was that this incident really became a reality.

He still remembers how he felt when he received a telegram from the Admiralty in Beijing to go to the New York Navy Yard to receive the battleship "Republic."

At that time, Shen Honglie even had doubts about the authenticity of this urgent telegram from Beijing.

But when Shen Honglie rushed to New York and saw the majestic giant ship that had completed all the outfitting, he couldn't help but shed tears of excitement, and all his doubts disappeared.

After talking with Dr. Lin Yujing, the ship-building superintendent several times, he knew what kind of connection the birth of these giant ships had with the young man named Yang Shuoming.

And now Shen Honglie can't figure out how Yang Shuoming, who is the "National Industrial Supervisor", came here to buy a large amount of money.

But in any case, the upgrading of Chinese naval ships "one step to the sky" is always an exciting reality, and Shen Honglie is not willing to bother with these "details" anymore.

Since then, Shen Honglie has devoted all his thoughts to this battleship.

Since Britain urgently needed large warships to defend its homeland after the Battle of Jutland, in order to make these six new-style battleships work as soon as possible, China, the United States, and Britain completed the relevant cooperation measures with unprecedented efficiency, and the officers and men of the Chinese Navy also knew that they had a heavy responsibility, and began to train hard under the encouragement of the idea of "winning glory for the country." With the help of the old naval power Britain and the emerging naval power of the United States, the Chinese naval battlefleet quickly completed the relevant training subjects, and after arriving in the United Kingdom, it was already initially equipped with combat effectiveness.

Before the Chinese Battlefleet arrived in Britain, in order to prevent the German Sixth Army from boarding the 6th Army in Britain under the cover of the Navy, the main force of the US Navy's Atlantic Fleet urgently stationed in Britain at the request of the British government, and the US Navy successively dispatched four battleships, the USS Nevada, the USS Oklahoma, the USS Pennsylvania, and the USS Arizona, to Britain to carry out maritime defense operations together with the British Navy (the Americans were also frightened by the strong performance of the German High Seas Fleet in the Battle of Jutland). After learning of the arrival of the U.S. Navy and the Japanese Navy, the German Navy once again adopted the "hit-and-run" tactics before the Battle of Jutland, and carried out raids and harassment operations against the British mainland. ,

In order to be able to regain sea supremacy and maintain a naval blockade of Germany, at the initiative of Britain, the Entente set up a naval joint command to coordinate and command the naval operations of China, the United States, Britain and Japan.

This was due to the concern of the Allied naval hierarchy about the lack of troops, fearing that the current strength of battleships would not be enough to confront the German Navy, but after the arrival of six Chinese battleships, this concern ceased to exist.

With the strength of these six new battleships, it did not seem to be a problem to destroy the entire German high seas fleet.

Now, Betty, as bold as ever, was ready to make a bold move against the Germans with these Chinese battleships. To this end, he developed a bold plan to take the initiative, but the generals of the Chinese navy, who were the protagonists of this plan, were worried.

The first time they went into battle, they might have to face the German "Byrne"-class battleships that had changed the color of the British Imperial Navy, and this test was too difficult for the Chinese naval officers and men who had never had experience in naval warfare.

What especially made the officers and men of the Chinese Navy feel angry was that instead of sending capital ships to the European battlefield, the Japanese drove the capital ships to China's doorstep, while the most powerful battleship of the Chinese Navy could not respond accordingly at this time, but had to cooperate with this once ferocious enemy to fight an unprecedented fierce battle in the waters of Europe!

"I've heard the news too, but the Japanese haven't taken any unfavorable actions against China yet, so let's not worry about it." The captain of the ship, Colonel Schneider, may have sensed the danger of his Chinese comrades-in-arms, and said with a smile: "Let's think about how to complete this combat mission!" ”

"There is no need to think much about this, as long as the warships of the Germans dare to come out, we are sure to beat them into parts." Shen Honglie smiled confidently and said.

"I'm worried that the Germans will not be willing to come out if they know the news this time." Xu Zhenpeng said.

Shen Honglie is still quite confident in the skills of the Chinese gunners who have undergone a short period of high-intensity training.

"Your men have a lot to learn, my dear friend." Captain Schneider smiled, looked at the Chinese sailors on the deck, and said, "I also hope that these Bang boys can grow up as soon as possible." ”

After listening to the words of the American captain, Xu Zhenpeng and Shen Honglie stopped talking, and their eyes were invariably focused on the red, yellow, and blue three-color "human" flag fluttering on the mast, and their faces also showed an eager look.

The meaning of "standing up to the sky and standing up to the Chinese" given by this banner has been recognized in their hearts.

"This time, I just want the world to see what the Chinese who stand up look like!" Shen Honglie let out an angry roar in his heart.

At this time, amid the cheers of the crowd who saw them off, six Chinese battleships sailed out of Portsmouth and headed in the direction.

"The British are out, General."

In the commanding tower of the battleship "Byrne", a staff officer said and gave a translation of a telegram intercepted by a correspondent to the commander of the German High Seas Fleet, Schell.

At this time, eight main battleships of the German High Seas Fleet, four battleships of the "King" class and four battleships of the "Byrne" class were breaking through 1 ang on the sea.

"There were six British battleships, and the call sign was from the 'Revenge.'" The staff officer said: "We have a preliminary judgment that the six battleships are 'Marlborough', 'Revenge', 'Resolve', 'Remilis', 'Hercules' and 'St. Vincent'. ”

"What do the British want to do?" Scheer looked at the telegram, his brows furrowed little by little, "This doesn't match their performance some time ago." ”

"We all agreed that the British would probably want another 'Skagerrak' naval showdown with us." The staff officer replied.

Hearing the word "Skagerrak", a smug smile appeared on Scheer's face.

As the most proud and brilliant result of the German Navy, the Battle of Jutland was called "the gold of Skagerrak" by the Germans, and in the German dictionary, "Skagerrak" is no longer the name of a small strait, but the glory and pride of the German Navy. The Battle of Jutland was the pinnacle of Scheer's naval career, and whenever the word "Skagerrak" was mentioned, Scheer would always smile with such a happy smile. ,

"This is what we can't ask for, let's send all these guys who don't know whether they are alive or dead to the bottom of the sea!" Scheer waved his arm and said loudly with some excitement.

"However, we all felt that there was something unusual about the actions of the British this time." The staff officer didn't want to spoil Scheer's happiness, but in the spirit of conscientiousness, he reminded Scher that "I think they are probably bait." ”

"Just say what you think, don't be so rambling." Scheer waved his hand impatiently and said.

"That's it, General, I don't know if you noticed, since those battleships built by the Americans for the Chinese came to Britain, the courage of the British seems to have regained." "If they want to lead us into an ambush circle of Chinese battleships, as they did with Admiral Hipper's fleet last time," said the staff officer, "I think we will be in a very dangerous position." ”

"The Americans have built the Chinese the most powerful battleships in the world at the moment, but the Chinese may not know how to use them." Hearing his subordinates express their worries, Scheer couldn't help but look up to the sky and laugh.

"The Chinese have no navy since they lost to the Japanese in the last century." "If they really dare to drive those battleships out," Scheer said, "it would give us a chance to destroy them." ”

"But, General, it's a 4o6mm cannon after all, and a giant battleship close to 5oooo tons." "And it is said that they are very fast, even comparable to battle cruisers," said the staff officer. Another staff officer reminded him when he saw that Scheer didn't care.

"And what about a 4o6 mm cannon? The Bismarck-class battleships we are building are much more powerful than these things that the Americans have shoddyly made! Scheer sneered, "At Skagerrak, the main guns of the British battleships are larger than ours, but they have not been sent to the bottom of the sea by us?" ”

After the Battle of Jutland, although the German Navy achieved victory, but also suffered a lot of losses, in order to replenish the lost capital ships as soon as possible, the Germans strengthened and improved on the basis of the design of the "Byrne" class battleships, and began the construction of the "Bismarck" class battleships, a total of four ships, named after the "Bismarck", "Scharnhorst", "Gneisenau", "Blucher" four famous people in German history.

In the Battle of Jutland, because the caliber of German guns was generally lower than that of British ships, they also suffered a lot of losses in the naval battle, and according to the lessons learned from the naval battle and the instructions of the German Emperor Wilhelm II, the German shipbuilders also modified the main gun caliber of the "Bismarck" class battleships under construction, and increased it from the original 38o mm to 4o 3 mm.

For such a huge caliber of artillery, Wilhelm II, who was so overjoyed, seemed to feel that it was not enough, and in order to satisfy his vanity, he even asked to equip the newly designed "Wilhelm the Great" class battleship with a 42o mm caliber main gun!

"However, if there is a coincidence between today's situation and the situation in the battle of Skagerrak, we will be in danger" The staff officer reminded Schell again, "the last time Admiral Hippel could be relieved by the High Seas Fleet, and if the same thing happens this time, who will relieve us of the siege?" ”

"Okay." Scheer thought for a moment and said, "Let's be careful, if the British still imagine the last time they escaped, we must be careful when pursuing." ”

As soon as Scheer's words fell, the gray sky outside the porthole flashed with light, followed by a low rumble of thunder and lightning.

"Such visibility is a kind of torture for both the British and the Chinese." Scheer muttered to himself, "Of course, we're no exception. ”

"General, the British should now be 3o nautical miles ahead of us." An officer using a newly developed German radiolocator reported to Scher.

"Looks like there's another scuffle." Scheer said softly.

"Will the Germans be fooled like the last time?"

Almost at the same time, on the battleship "Revenge", an officer in charge of observation asked himself about his concerns.

"Of course, for them, it's a good opportunity to eat us in one bite."

Vice Admiral Bern stood on the bridge of the ship, looked at the flag of Admiral Betty, commander of the "Grand Fleet", hanging on the mast, and replied quietly.

At this time, the six battleships of the British Navy were moving forward quickly. ,

In order to lure the Germans to attack as much as possible, Betty came up with an almost identical method to the one used by the British in the Battle of Jutland, that is, to have the British main fleet of six British battleships and their direct escort ships led by Vice Admiral Bern sail to the German coast, and fly Betty's flag on the flagship "Revenge", and the radio station on the ship also used the call sign of the main flagship of the fleet, so that the Germans mistakenly believed that this was the main British force commanded by Betty.

Betty judged that after learning that he had personally gone out again, Schell would definitely lead all the main forces of the German High Seas Fleet to meet him, because in order to deal with the British fleet, which was dominated by three "Revenge" class battleships, the German High Seas Fleet basically did not think twice except for four "King" class battleships and four "Byrne" class battleships.

According to the plan, Vice Admiral Berne, pretending to be Betty to lead out the main force of the German fleet, would do his best to fight the Germans, turn the rudder and flee when he was unable to support it, and lead the German ships to the guns of six Chinese fast battleships with devastating firepower, and let these sea monsters from the United States tear the German ships and smash them.

The reason why Betty demanded that Vice Admiral Bern must fight hard with the Germans before turning around and escaping was on the one hand to make the script real and lead the Germans to take the bait without suspicion, and on the other hand, to retain a trace of doubts about the combat capability of the Chinese battlefleet.

After all, the Chinese have such dreadnought battleships only for a few months. It can be said that it is a great risk to let such a group of sailors with no combat experience carry out such a battle that is related to the future national fortunes of the British Empire.

"The 'Champion' is now an enemy ship!" A British officer suddenly reported loudly, his voice full of indescribable excitement: "The Germans are coming!" ”

Just as he finished speaking, under the gray sky in the distance, on the somewhat dark horizon, a few flickering bright spots suddenly appeared, followed by a few low crisp sounds.