On the vast sea as far as the eye can see, the mechanical beauty of the huge battleship formation and the black smoke that covers the sky and the sun make Liuhetu, who calmly sits on the top floor of the flagship Guangdong Command Tower, also full of interest, and he stepped step by step from a surveying and mapping officer to the position of a shooting officer on the Huangshan, although he was full of spirit and confidence at that time, he never thought that one day, he would become the commander of the Grand Fleet.

However, the impassioned impassioned of the past has long become history, and today he has to assume the heavy responsibility for the country and the nation, so that he has long ignored the glory brought by the so-called military rank, compared to the Huangshan through the horse attack on Vladivostok, today's China has completely become a giant in the Pacific, even the powerful American and British empires, need to unite to dare to come to the competition.

However, the Americans and the British obviously do not know that even in the dormant period of nearly ten years in the past ten years, the Chinese Navy has never stopped deducing the possible outbreak of a conflict in the Pacific, and it is this continuous sense of crisis that maintains the Navy's unrelenting fighting spirit......

"Hetu, the Second Fleet called Tangzhen, the Abel fleet did not follow them, according to the deciphered telegram, the Abel fleet is ready to abandon the battle at sea and attack Guam!" Chi Zhaoyao, chief of staff of the Grand Fleet, rushed to the platform, waving a telegram in his hand, briefly reporting the current battle situation, and then added, "I suggest that the Second Fleet send a few destroyers to confirm the formation of the American fleet!" ”

Although the platform is not small, Liu Hetu obviously heard every sentence of the report clearly. However, he didn't directly respond to Chi Zhaoyao's suggestion, but pondered for a moment, "Old Chi." Will the Yankees know that we are ready to volley them? ”

Chi Zhaoying took off her white navy hat and touched her bald head, then said with a smile: "Hetu, we have been operating this Pacific Ocean for less than 20 years, and north of the Cronia-Marshall line, more than 40 destroyers and submarines have been arranged, plus rented neutral country ships as eyeliners. I couldn't figure out the old man Albert's maneuver...... Moreover, the Yankees are in our own territory and want to confirm our existence. The probability is almost zero! ”

Liu Hetu picked up the teacup beside him and took a big sip, smiled, and patted his old partner on the shoulder, "Lao Chi." Even if it's zero probability. We must also be cautious...... I think your proposal is very necessary, and immediately send a telegram to Tang Zhen, I am now curious to know, what hole cards does this old man have? ”

"Yes!" Chi Zhaoying nodded, turned his head and was about to leave, when he suddenly turned around and asked, "Hetu, there are still 300 kilometers to Wake Island, do you think you are going to prepare for a sea supply operation?" That's the case. Delay for at least 24 hours! ”

"Yes! The sooner the better! Without hesitation, Liu Hetu immediately made the decision to go from Hawaii to Wake Island. After nearly 4,000 kilometers of voyage, the destroyer formation in the fleet with insufficient endurance is already approaching the limit, and the flagship Guangdong, the latest advanced battleship, cruising at a speed of 18 knots, has also consumed more than 50% of heavy fuel.

Wake Island, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Lorengau, Guam, a series of Pacific islands besieged by the closed sea area, is the Pacific Fleet Command planned the battle area, but this can be a huge sea area of 2,000 kilometers from north to south! Moreover, once in the theater of operations, the logistics supply ships in the fleet, despite the escort of destroyers, will still face a huge threat, including the oil tiger sandwiched between the Guangxi battleship and the Jiangsu aircraft carrier at the moment - the 12,000-ton Qingdao supply ship!

Late at night on the 23rd, the South China Theater Command received a telegram from the First Fleet in the Pacific, Lu Han stood in the tactical command room and stared at the charts for two hours, a group of staff officers on the side were holding a bunch of wooden models and were conducting intense deductions, and even busier were several surveying and mapping officers, and the news obtained from various channels was plotted on the charts one by one.

The price of victory...... These words echoed repeatedly in the mind of Lu Han, who closed his eyes and recuperated! Declaring war on the United States and Britain is undoubtedly a challenge to the extreme military power of the West in this era, and this is also an inevitable war for China's rise! Both sides have invested their most extreme forces in the Pacific Ocean, and the strength of the combined fleet of the United States and Britain has reached the level of enough to destroy the country, but this is their home turf after all!

"Send a telegram to Rear Admiral Wu Hongyuan of the Guam Base Command, ordering the garrison fleet to delay the US Navy's attack on ground targets at all costs! At least until ......," Lu Han said here, looking up at the calendar hanging on the side, "Before sunset on the 25th, the U.S. fleet can't be allowed to attack the core defense area of the Guam base!" ”

In the early morning of 24 July, in the Guam Navy Headquarters, Rear Admiral Wu Hongyuan summoned the high-ranking officers of the base to announce the order from the theater command, and the defense capability of the base is naturally beyond doubt, but to delay the attack of the US fleet and delay the decisive battle between the two sides on the periphery of the coastline, this means that the fleet must be dispatched!

Soon, one order after another was issued, the defense of the Guam base was rapidly raised to the highest level, the coastal patrol boats and minelayers in the harbor were immediately dispatched to expand the minelaying area, and several naval reconnaissance planes were also sent out to conduct uninterrupted reconnaissance to ensure that the US fleet could be informed as soon as it entered the reconnaissance range.

And the task of the combat commander of the sortie that day has become the most concerned topic of the naval officers in a room, but it is obvious that Wu Hongyuan did not give anyone else any chance, "I have participated in the battle of the Xuanyuan, no one here is more familiar with maneuvering and raiding than me, and the defense task of the Guam base will be handed over to Deputy Commander Lin Yongsheng!" ”

Two hours later, Wu Hongyuan boarded the armored cruiser USS Ryukyus, the flagship of the left-behind fleet, and several melodious whistles sounded, and two Shanghai-class destroyers, two Kunlun-class destroyers, and three Changbaishan-class destroyers also sounded the assembly call, and the main force of the Guam Naval Base had all sorted, and at this critical moment, this was already the last mobile force that could be freed up in addition to the garrison force.

Lin Yongsheng, deputy commander of the white-haired base, stood neatly on the dock with dozens of senior officers of the base, saluting his colleagues in the fleet who traveled in formation one by one.

At 10:11, when the last Sanming destroyer disappeared outside the harbor, Lin Yongsheng immediately jumped into the military truck with several staff officers and went straight to the fortress standing on the No. 1 hill in front of the port......

At 4:15 p.m., in the northeast direction, 90 kilometers away from the Guam Naval Base, the garrison fleet under Wu Hongyuan's command ushered in a naval reconnaissance plane that had taken off from Guam.

After this news corroborated with the information obtained from the Second Fleet, the Grand Fleet, and the South China Theater Command in the morning, it made Wu Hongyuan suspicious, the distance between the US Grand Fleet and the Second Squadron before was 700-800 kilometers away from Guam, of course, considering that the Yankees might not sail straight to Guam, so the route of the other side's surprise attack would be extended!

But now a full 30 hours have passed, and this should have entered the detection range of the Guam Air Force, and now the information is contrary to expectations, and he will not think that the Americans have temporarily slipped their feet...... It is clear that the Yankees will only be more cunning! Moreover, the Ryukyu did not have the ability to carry a maritime reconnaissance aircraft, so he immediately sent a telegram to the Guam Command that it was necessary to start a night maritime reconnaissance!

The only large battle ship in the fleet has been modernized and refitted, the armored cruiser USS Ryukyu, which was originally used to carry out joint ocean-going relations with the Xuanyuan, was originally equipped with a 10-inch 40-diameter main gun with 2 front and 1 rear 1, which can be said to be easy to use to deal with light cruisers.

However, with the large-scale cruisers of the navies of various countries, the cruisers of the Royal Navy have also appeared 10,000 tons, and the Germans even have the 12,000-ton sea heavy cavalry such as the Scharnhorst heavy cruiser, in contrast, the armored cruiser of the Ryukyus has rapidly fallen behind at the beginning of the new century in terms of tonnage and firepower.

Naturally, the navy had long had a plan to purchase a heavy cruiser replacement, but in the end it was abandoned in the alternative option of new battleships and aircraft carriers, and the armored cruiser USS Ryukyu was modernized four years ago and incorporated into the home fleet, taking into account the good ocean-going escort and cruising capabilities that the USS possessed, and then transferred to the Guam base.

Due to the change of tasks, the Ryukyu has dismantled the 10-inch main guns in the bow and stern and converted them into three 210mm large-aperture rapid-fire guns, and the original 120mm rapid-fire guns have been removed from the side firepower, and all have been replaced with 100mm rapid-fire guns with long times diameter developed by Mawei Heavy Industries, and the more significant changes come from the transformation of the armored compartment at the bottom of the battleship, after increasing the displacement of 300 tons, the overall protection and sinking resistance of the battleship have been enhanced.

However, the increase in displacement also reduced the speed of the battleship from the original 26 knots to 24 knots, considering that the Ryukyu combat object should be a light cruiser with faster speed but relatively weak firepower, it was impossible to run the light cruiser with a speed of basically close to 30 knots, and then reducing it by two knots is a small bug that breaks the jar and falls, but after all, the protection and firepower are better than the opponent, and there is no problem with the head-on bar.

However, now that he has to face an absolute giant opponent in comparison, any slight mistake will be fatal! (To be continued.) )