After successfully receiving the two ships of Jiangzhou and Lanxi, the two ships Taishan and Yuheng had a short exchange of fire with the Royal Navy Blake at a long distance, but the cramped terrain in the Xingzhou Strait made it obvious that both sides did not want to be caught in a battle that could not be turned back and quickly broke away.

Of course, the encounter between the cruiser of the first class of the Blake and the Chinese navy immediately aroused the great attention of the navies of both sides, and Chen Ying immediately relayed this important news through the ship's radio, although the Jiangzhou had already completed the exploration of most of the channels in the Xingzhou Strait, but, considering the sudden change in the opponent's strength, the originally planned frontal breakthrough operation was likely to turn into a war of attrition between the two sides' military strength, and he also suggested to the fleet commander Xu Shoushan to extend the scope of the operation, and complete the vast South China Sea behind him, which could become a decisive battlefield.

Throughout the day of July 3, British warships continued to appear in the northeastern section of the Sin Chau Strait, and the second squadron under Chen Ying's command made full use of the favorable terrain at the mouth of the strait to completely block the British idea of entering the South China Sea from here.

Of course, in all the battles, there was no reappearance of the strong Blake-class protective cruisers, and the other type of Royal Navy's main protective cruiser Orlando-class battleships appeared in the strait many times, although the artillery battles between the two sides occasionally hit, however, there were no decent results, the British battleships were obviously also intended to control the strait, and Chen Ying hoped to prevent the British from attacking before Xu Shoushan made a decision, and both sides tacitly did not directly fight hand-to-hand.

Edward, who got the news the same day? Vice Admiral Simon was also a little surprised by the speed of the Chinese fleet's reaction, and declared war on his side. The other party blocked the Sin Chew Strait. And the Royal Navy engaged the Chinese at the mouth of the strait. The number of Chinese battleships was also roughly figured out - 4 battleships, including 7 large battleships, which is clearly a main force of the Chinese!

At this moment, his expression was calm and carefully examined the nautical chart in the command room of the battleship Hood, and a telegram on the table still made him feel quite pressured, according to the "continuous strike" plan formulated by himself, naturally relying on the strong maritime force to advance layer by layer, compressing the activity range of the Chinese. However, although the Prime Minister of Salisbury in London has made a decision on the war in the Far East, he still has doubts about the scale of the battle.

As the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, he was ordered to come to the East to fight this emerging Far Eastern maritime power, and he naturally understood the reason, and before the war, he naturally understood and paid attention to the relevant reports of the former commanders of the Far East Fleet, Rear Admiral Tauwell and Rear Admiral Salman, both of whom were strongly opposed to the Far East operation.

And the reasons they give are also very straightforward. Both men believed that the Chinese could defeat France at an extreme disadvantage. Later, in the absence of obvious superiority in armament, it almost perfectly defeated Russia, and as for the defeat of Japan, it is not worth mentioning, the biggest variable of which is that the Chinese Navy has a secret hole card that the Royal Navy does not understand, and this will lead to the Royal Navy suffering the most serious threat since the Battle of Trafalgar.

What secrets do Chinese have in their hands...... This question apparently makes Edward? Vice Admiral Simon was very confused, of course, the layout of the Royal Navy in the Far East over the years, the understanding of the Chinese Navy is still relatively clear, this time to expand the scope of naval patrols in the Xingzhou Strait, but also to deal with the rumored Chinese frogman troops to defeat the Russians, after all, relying on manpower The combat range is limited!

However, such early warning has brought some bad consequences, and the Royal Navy, which has never experienced such a covert attack, obviously feels great pressure on such a threat, and on July 3, more than six false threat alerts occurred in a row in Sin Chew Harbor, causing panic.

In addition, the artillery battle between Chinese and British warships in the Sin Chew Strait continued, and the government of the Straits Settlements announced that they would enter the first level of wartime alert on the same day, and all port cities would implement curfews, and local Chinese would be prohibited from entering the ports and other sensitive facilities.

The destroyer Nanchong of the Pacific Fleet, which received the news at the point of contact in the open sea, quickly spread the news, and in a situation that the British did not expect at all, Edward? Vice Admiral Simon's first objective of the strategic plan was leaked out by the unscrupulous naval sergeants in the harbor.

"What...... The British are preparing to attack Bintan? Instead of attacking the South China Sea in search of a decisive battle? Xu Shoushan, who got the news, was also a little surprised by the British move, Bintan Island is indeed an important stronghold in front of the Pacific Fleet, but the fact is that this military port, which originally had a temporary transformation of a cargo port, could not complete the supply of Dayu and Chiyou warships because of the water depth of the port, and could only rely on the Zhanjiang-class supply ships to complete.

Therefore, Xu Shoushan's first goal was to seize the Xingzhou Military Port and control the Xingzhou Strait, but after receiving information from Chen Ying, the second squadron was obviously unable to achieve the combat mission immediately, and the enemy's strength was somewhat unexpected.

After all, if the British fleet had completed its assembly in the Straits Settlements, it would have marched to the southeast, instead of going north and directly into the South China Sea, which obviously indicated some kind of strategic need, and he immediately summoned the fleet staff.

Under the current situation, Xu Shoushan has already planned a big situation of attack + siege, but now is obviously not an opportunity for any decisive battle, the 10 big guys of the British are placed there, and the pressure is really not small...... What's more, the navy is not alone, on the island of Sumatra, the South Chinese Army is mobilizing forces to surround the fortress of Palembang, which is heavily defended by the Dutch, and at the same time, the army has not stopped attacking, and the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd South Chinese Division has attacked in the northwest and quickly recovered the weakly defended South Sumatra region.

Once Sumatra is fully occupied, this means that China has the same right to speak as the British in the entire Strait of Malacca, the only problem is that it is said that because of the topography, it is said that this broken island has not been able to build a large deep-water port, which is worth a little more than the Straits Settlements with many good ports, but even so, the Far East gateway will be in their own hands.

"I think the British want to replace defense with offense and force us to fight a decisive battle on the outskirts of Bintan Island!"

"How is that possible? Bintan Island is weakly defended, and it is of some value to us, it can close the distance to the Straits Settlements, but for the British, it is not much value, they can drive straight into the South China Sea! ”

“……”

The staff officers were also surprised by the direction of the British attack, but soon, Lu Zhiyuan, the new deputy chief of staff of the fleet, expressed his opinion, "Commander, I don't think the British want to fight a decisive battle with us immediately, but attack South China to the southwest...... This Pentan Island is just a springboard, but they don't want to see a harbor behind them where destroyers and torpedo boats can be infested, so they must attack here first! ”

"Lao Lu, what do you mean...... The British are going to fight a decisive battle with us in South China, not the South China Sea......" Xu Shoushan touched his bearded chin and looked at his chief of staff thoughtfully, this judgment is indeed quite consistent with what he thought, but once the judgment is wrong, the British will not turn to the southeast, but drive straight to the northeast, and when the time comes, whether he will pursue or attack the Straits Settlements is really a big problem.

"Commander, what would you do if you had such a powerful fleet at your disposal? The British may not know us completely, but they should have enough confidence in the Grand Fleet operation...... But their strength also gives them great concerns of their own...... The British can't afford to lose! Lu Zhiyuan knocked lightly on the table very confidently, and then pointed to Pontianak Port, "If it were me, the safest tactic would be to use the port of the Dutch East Indies as a springboard, make full use of military power, and suppress the opponent in our own port with a thousand forces!" ”

Lu Zhiyuan's analysis, Xu Shoushan is obviously quite satisfied, indeed, this is undoubtedly the best way to play after taking advantage...... The British obviously think that they have the advantage, but in fact, they have a lot of trump cards in their hands, and they have no intention of giving up the right to speak on the sea!

"Where is Tang Qingshan? Is there a telegram? He abruptly turned away from the subject of the meeting and turned to the intelligence officer next to him.

"Report...... The location of the Xuanyuan is unknown, the mountains running through the north and south of Sumatra have affected the reception of the telegram, and there is no news so far, and a telegram has been sent to the 1st Division of the South China Army, and they will pay attention to General Tang's telegram in the northward advance! ”

"How long have they been on their way? Estimated to be there? Xu Shoushan frowned, although today's shipborne wireless telegraphy has achieved short-distance communication, and the communication distance can be greatly improved by using the airship platform, but the farthest distance cannot exceed fifty or sixty nautical miles, which is undoubtedly a rather helpless thing, but compared with the British, who are still using the original flag language, they undoubtedly have a great sense of superiority.

Lu Zhiyuan took out the steel ruler next to the chart, surveyed and mapped it on the map a few times, and quickly marked a location near Engano Island in the south of Java Island, "Commander, it should be around here, it will take at least 2 days before Tang Qingshan can enter the combat area!" ”

"2 days...... It's good, we need to buy them two days in the Straits Settlements! Xu Shoushan stared at the chart for a moment, and waved his hand, "The British don't want a decisive battle, so let's find them for a decisive battle!" (To be continued......)