"I heard that I drove their main battleships to Lushun." Deputy Captain Shen Honglie looked at the 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, and was diligent and studious since childhood. In 1904, he entered the military academy and later joined the Hubei New Army. In the spring of 1905, Shen Honglie went to study at the Yueben Naval Academy as an official-funded student, and joined the League in the same year. After graduating in the summer of 1911, he returned to China and joined the Qing Dynasty Navy, starting from the Navy's "Chuguan" ship Alternate Pipe, and successively served as a staff member of the Qing Dynasty Axe Military Advisory Office and the Navy Bureau of the General Staff. In October 1911, 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 1912, Shen Honglie served as a staff officer of the Military Aircraft Department of the Admiralty of the Provisional Political Axe of the Republic of China in Nanjing. In 1913, he was transferred to the Colonel Section Chief of the Navy Bureau of the General Staff in Yanjing. In March 1916, he was sent by the Admiralty to the United States as a naval attaché.

Shen Honglie, as a naval officer who had studied in Yueben and had participated in the alliance, actually had a certain favorable impression of Yueben, but these remaining favorites completely disappeared with the sound of the cannons that forced him to sign the "21 Articles" and then invaded China on a large scale.

After the large-scale invasion of China by the Benhai Army, Shen Honglie, who was in Yanjing, knew that the strength of the Chinese Navy was not enough to fight against Yueben, 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 Navy Bureau of the Yanjing General Staff, he managed to know the details of the Caofeidian naval battle by all means, and he had a sense of admiration for Yang Shuoming, who provided a new type of floating mine.

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

As a naval officer who once served in Beijing, Shen Honglie certainly understands the current financial situation of China's political axe, and it is easier for the current Chinese political axe 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 Yanjing to go to the New York Navy Yard to receive the battleship "Republic."

At that time, Shen Honglie even had doubts about the real surname of this urgent telegram from Yanjing.

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", got the large amount of money for the purchase of ships.

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 Deland, in order to let these six new, well-organized battleships play their role 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 very well that they had a heavy responsibility, and began to train assiduously 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 Army from landing 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 political axe, and the US Navy successively dispatched four battleships, the "Nevada," the "Oklahoma," the "Pennsylvania," and the "Arizona," to Britain to carry out naval defense operations together with the British Navy (the Americans were also terrified of the German High Seas Fleet's strong performance in the Battle of Tereland). After learning of the arrival of the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Navy and the Allied Navy, which had regained a certain strength, the German Navy once again adopted the "hit-and-run" tactics before the Battle of Tereland, and carried out a sabotage attack and harassment operation on the British mainland.

In order to regain sea supremacy and maintain the naval blockade of Germany, at the initiative of Britain, the Allied countries set up a joint naval command to coordinate and command the naval operations of the four countries of China, the United States, and Britain, with Betty, commander of the British "Grand Fleet," as the commander-in-chief.

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.

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

"I have also heard the news, but I have not taken any adverse actions against China yet, so we should not worry about this matter." 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 awesome 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, to the cheers of the crowd who saw them off, six Chinese battleships sailed out of Portsmouth and headed northeast.

"The British are out, General."

In the commanding tower of the battleship "Byrne", a staff officer said as he handed over a translation of a telegram intercepted by a correspondent to the commander of the German High Seas Fleet, Scher.

At this time, eight capital battleships of the German High Seas Fleet, four battleships of the "King" class and four battleships of the "Byrne" class were breaking the waves on the sea.

"There were six British battleships, and the call sign was issued from the 'Revenge'." "Our preliminary judgment is 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 Delan was called "the gold of Skagerrak" by the Germans, and in the German dictionary, "Skagerrak" was no longer the name of a small strait, but the glory and pride of the German Navy. The Battle of Delan 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 did not want to spoil Scher's happiness, but in the spirit of conscientiousness, he reminded Scher, "I think they are most likely decoys." ”

"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 of Chinese battleships, as they did the last time they did with Admiral Hipper's fleet, 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 Yue himself in the last century." "If they really dare to drive those battleships out, it will give us a chance to destroy them." ”

"But, General, it's a 406-mm cannon and a giant battleship of nearly 50,000 tons." "And they are said to be fast, even comparable to battle cruisers." Another staff officer reminded him when he saw that Scheer didn't care.

"And what about a 406-mm cannon? The Bismarck-class battleships we are building are much more powerful than these shoddy things made by the Americans! 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 Deland, although the German navy won the 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 accordance with the lessons learned from the naval battle and the instructions of the German Emperor Wilhelm II, the German shipbuilding technicians also revised the caliber of the main guns of the "Bismarck" class battleships under construction, raising them from the original 380 mm to 403 mm.

For such a huge caliber of artillery, the overjoyed Wilhelm II did not seem to think enough, and in order to satisfy his vanity, he even asked to equip the newly designed "Wilhelm the Great" class battleship with a 420 mm caliber gun!

"However, if there is a coincidence between today's situation and the situation at Skagerrak, we will be in danger," the staff officer reminded Scheer again, "the last time Admiral Hipper could have been relieved by the High Seas Fleet, and this time if the same thing happened, who would relieve us?" ”

"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 be 30 nautical miles ahead of us now." 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 rapidly.

In order to lure the Germans to attack as much as possible, Betty came up with almost the same method as the British used in the Battle of Tereland, that is, to have the British main fleet of six British battleships and their direct escorts 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 thought that this was the main British force under Betty's command.

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 asked Vice Admiral Bern to fight hard with the Germans before turning around and escaping was on the one hand to make the drama real and lure 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 a super-dreadnought battleship for only 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' has spotted an enemy ship!" A British [***] officer suddenly reported loudly, his voice full of indescribable excitement, "The Germans are coming!" ”

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

(To be continued)