In response to the Japanese tricks, Zhang Meng made two preparatory strategies.

When the two Japanese ships Tenryu and Longtian approached the baseline of the territorial waters of the Tang Empire, Li Haichen was ordered to lead the only six main warships of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire to intercept them.

On Li Haichen's flagship, the Leander light cruiser, unlike in the past, there are dozens of military attaches and reporters from Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Spain, and more than a dozen other countries in Europe and the United States. They were all invited by Zhang Meng, Minister of Defense of the Tang Empire, to observe the military exercises conducted by the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire.

Of course, except for the British, the military attaches of other countries were all invited by Zhang Meng at the expense of Zhang Meng, otherwise people would not have paid attention to Zhang Meng at all, and it would be impossible for them to come to the Tang Empire, a place where birds don't in their minds.

They thought they should have come to the Central Pacific for a vacation, but anyway, the Tang Empire fully reimbursed them for their food, drink and entertainment, and sent a special plane to pick them up, which was what prompted them to agree to come to the Tang Empire to visit its naval exercises.

But what they didn't expect was that Zhang Meng's drunkards didn't mean to drink, and invited them purely to use them to help the Tang Empire win the sympathy and public opinion support of the international community in the upcoming military conflict between Tang and Japan.

Zhang Meng is confident that he will seize the commanding heights of international public opinion before the war, but he still has to rely on strength to truly reject the enemy outside the country.

Although Japan's military strength was much stronger than that of the Tang Empire, they really despised the Tang Empire too much, and only sent a fleet that lacked air cover, so Zhang Meng was not afraid at all, and immediately made careful deployments, and he was sure to make the little devils go and never return.

Whether it is in terms of public opinion or preparations for military struggles, the Tang Empire has done quite well, which is also something that the arrogant Japanese devils did not expect.

In the early morning of the 15th, as the sea fog gradually dissipated, the Tang Empire, which was located on the daily change line, ushered in a new day.

The Tang Empire, as the first country where the whole shijie can see the sunrise, is also the only factor that can attract all shijie tourists to visit so far.

It is precisely because it is the first country in the whole country to see the sunrise that military attaches and reporters from various countries will be extra interested in attending the sunrise viewing banquet held by Lieutenant Commander Li Haichen, commander of the First Cruiser Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire, on the foredeck of the Leander.

Miss Christina, a famous singer from the United States, personally sang and performed for the banquet, she is a Shijie celebrity invited by Zhang Meng for 600,000 US dollars and sent a special plane, the purpose is very simple, that is, to create more and greater international influence, if the Japanese dare to invade the Tang Empire at this time, then what awaits them will be the criticism of unprecedented and powerful international public opinion.

Christina's melodious singing voice and her hot and sexy body immediately attracted everyone's attention, making the atmosphere of the banquet extremely warm.

And all this was seen by Lieutenant Colonel Li Haichen in the bridge.

At this moment, the telecommunications staff officer hurriedly sent an urgent telegram.

The two Japanese warships, the Tenryu and the Longtian, were sent to provoke the Tang Empire and create a pretext for the Japanese Navy's task force to conquer the Tang Dynasty behind them.

At this time, the two Japanese ships were still more than 400 kilometers away from Yanjing, the northernmost part of the Tang Empire.

The commander of the Japanese ship, Kotaro Aso, thought that he would not be able to approach the waters near the mainland of the Tang Empire until at least tomorrow to carry out the provocation, but unexpectedly, he found the light cruiser Leander flying the eagle flag of the Tang Empire in the sea area about 370 kilometers away from the mainland of the Tang Dynasty.

Originally, the legal scope of the territorial waters of the Tang Empire was a baseline of 370 kilometers. This is because the Tang Empire has a small land area and lacks strategic depth on land, so it has to rely on expanding its territorial waters to build strategic depth at sea.

In the twenties and thirties, the territorial waters of Shijie countries were basically based on the range of coastal artillery, which was generally about 22 kilometers. However, there are some countries that do not follow this method to define the distance of territorial waters, such as Central and South America, because of their dependence on fisheries, so their territorial waters exceed more than 350 kilometers or more.

Strictly speaking, the Tang Empire's 370-kilometer territorial sea range was not a special case, so it was recognized by the British Commonwealth, and the League of Nations also made a record.

However, Kotaro Aso didn't take the Tang Empire seriously at all, so he didn't inquire about where the baseline of the Tang Empire's territorial waters was.

He realized that the Tang Empire only had about 20 warships, and the only ones that could pose a threat to the Tianlong and Longtian were the six Leander-class light cruisers leased from the British, and the others were small gunboats and torpedo boats, which were not vulnerable at all.

Kotaro Aso believes that the training time of the officers and men of the Tang Empire Navy is less than three years, and the combat effectiveness is obviously not worth mentioning compared with the officers and men of the Japanese Navy, and he is fully confident that he can defeat the so-called Royal Navy of the Tang Empire with two Tenryu-class light cruisers.

Not only did he think so, but everyone on the two Draco-class warships thought so.

Kotaro Aso was anxious for quick success, and seeing that the flagship of the Tang Imperial Navy, the Leander, was in front of him, he categorically decided to immediately take excessive military provocations.

The Tenryu and Tatsuda quickly approached the Leander, and under the pretext that they were catching the fleeing pirates, they demanded to board the Leander for inspection.

In the face of the rude behavior of the Japanese side, Major Li Haichen naturally sternly refused, and at the same time immediately reported the situation to the Ministry of National Defense.

Zhang Meng has been sitting in the military conference room of the Ministry of National Defense, and in front of him is a sand table of the 400-kilometer territorial waters of the Tang Empire and radiating outward, on which are the models of the various units of the army, navy and air force of the Tang Empire.

When Li Haichen sent back the telegram, the training staff officer immediately placed the two small models of the Japanese light cruisers on the sand table of the corresponding scale.

Zhang Meng has been waiting for the provocation of the Japanese ships, and it is not a coincidence that the Leander appeared directly in front of the two Japanese ships, but Zhang Meng has deliberately placed the Leander there through the information sent back by the submarine that has been monitoring the movements of the Japanese ships, just waiting for the Japanese devils.

"Call back! Act according to the original jihua! ”

"Yes!"

After Li Haichen received Zhang Meng's order, he immediately acted as planned.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry to disturb your banquet."

In accordance with Zhang Meng's instructions, Li Haichen immediately made a notice to the military attachés and journalists of various countries attending the meeting, as well as the wealthy fans brought by Christina, informing them that two Japanese warships had suddenly intruded into the territorial waters of the Tang Empire, and rudely framed them for taking in pirates, and asked to board the Leander for inspection.

"Where are our pirates here? Are the Japanese saying that we are pirates? ”

"Actually entered the territorial waters of another country, and dared to forcibly board another country's warship to conduct a search? When did the Japanese become so bold? ”

"Damn the Japanese, they're simply getting more and more presumptuous!"

The deck suddenly became lively.

Undoubtedly, when everyone was on the rise, the Japanese suddenly came to disturb them, and naturally they could not please them. Especially Christina accepted Zhang Meng's money, so she naturally had to speak for the Tang Empire. Her influence undoubtedly caused a huge reversal of speech among military attachés and journalists from various countries, and the rude behavior of the Japanese immediately aroused strong disgust and disgust among everyone.

But that's not enough.

According to the jihua formulated by Zhang Meng, Li Haichen sternly refused Aso's rude request, and even warned the Japanese ships not to enter the territorial waters of the Tang Empire.

But Kotaro Aso was so arrogant that he simply ignored Li Haichen's warning. The Tenryu and Tatsuda were ordered to continue to approach the Leander and make extremely militarily provocative moves.

When the two Japanese ships took off their gun jackets and turned their guns to the Leander, the military attaches of various countries immediately frowned, and the reporters quickly set up their cameras and began to take pictures and collect evidence under the instigation of Christina and Li Haichen's special arrangement.

Kotaro Aso was so arrogant that he quickly issued an ultimatum to the Leander.

But Li Haichen did not show weakness, he said to everyone: "Although our Tang Empire is just a small country that has just been established in your hearts, although we are weak, we are also dignified. As the commander of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire, I, Li Haichen, will never succumb to the obscenity of the Japanese Navy, and for the sake of everyone's safety, please hide immediately. The Japanese ships are invading the territorial waters of the Tang Empire, as a warning, this ship will carry out air gun fire warning on the Japanese ships, if the Japanese ships do not listen to the advice, please be a witness, we are forced to defend ourselves and fight back. ”

Li Haichen's words immediately won everyone's sympathy and support, and this is what he wanted.

"Shooting warning!"

Li Haichen gave an order, and the main guns in front of the Leander aimed at the Japanese ship Tianlong and quickly fired three shots. Since there was no warhead, there were only three cannon shots.

Everyone on the ship understood that this was really just a warning to the Japanese ship, and it was an international practice.

But Kotaro Aso didn't realize that the other party was firing an empty cannon, he was too arrogant and arrogant, and the moment he saw the Leander's main gun aimed at the Tenryu and opened fire (the muzzle fire), he couldn't hide the excitement in his heart, and he couldn't wait to order the attack.