Ahem, ahem!

In the command cabin of the ironclad ship of the Iron Duke, Klaus kept coughing, and he coughed up blood.

This is a phenomenon of chronic inflammation to acute inflammation caused by the fire of the lungs, which is likely to develop into tuberculosis.

But Klaus was stubborn, knowing that the British royal dealer had a Chinese special drug in his hands, but he just didn't buy it, and he didn't want it to be given to him.

Because of Klaus's disease, he was defeated and captured during the Third Yapian War, because he choked on sewage in his lungs when he fell into the water, and was later imprisoned in a concentration camp for a lack of medical treatment.

So Klaus has been hating, he is angry, he wants to defeat the Chinese Shence Army in a dignified manner to take revenge, and then let the Chinese emperor kneel and give him the special medicine.

But this is just Klaus's pipe dream, and the fact that he can't even attack a single Manila Bay, but instead loses his troops, speaks for itself.

"How's it going out there?"

"The morale of the military is fluctuating, and the sailors are very afraid of the small ships of the Chinese Navy, and even many officers say that there is no way."

Fleet staff officer Carter said with a solemn face, the small ships of the Chinese Navy in his mouth are the fish and radium boats, but the Chinese Navy is strictly secret, and they don't know the name.

Klaus coughed for a while and lamented: "Damn Chinese, you know that sneaky, you don't dare to fight with our British Empire in a dignified manner, relying on these little tricks to sneak attack us, it's really pissed me off!" ”

Is this a little trick?

Carter smiled wryly, he knew that Klaus was angry, so he didn't refute, just followed his words and said, "Commander, what should we do now?" The Chinese fleet stayed in Manila Bay unharmed. The radium area we worked so hard to sweep out yesterday has now been re-laid with more radium, and with the cover of their mysterious small ships, we may not be able to attack Manila Bay anytime soon. ”

That's what Klaus worries about the most, and it's what makes him angry the most. It took a lot of effort to lose several capital warships, and in the end it was lost.

As a commander. What a shame!

As the commander of the fleet of the British Empire, what a nest!

No wonder Klaus vomited three liters of blood, how angry this must be!

"I heard that the Chinese Navy has been reinforced again, where is it now?"

"Yes, the Chinese Navy is trying to reinforce it."

When Carter saw how Klaus asked, he knew that Klaus had not been completely carried away by anger, and as a fleet commander, he still had a clear head.

"The clipper ship from the Dutch East Indies last night gave us the latest information. Two days ago, the Chinese emperor ordered the main forces of the Chinese Navy's North Ocean Fleet and East Ocean Fleet to go south and establish a joint command of the four fleets. Known as the Pacific Fleet, it is ready to engage in a decisive fleet battle with us in the Southern Ocean. ”

"Fleet Battle!"

Klaus said this silently, and suddenly said with a bitter smile: "It seems that the Chinese have the confidence to have a decisive battle with our British Imperial Navy, which was unimaginable before." ”

Karl nodded and said, "Yes, China is developing too fast, faster than we imagined. Who would have imagined that ten years ago China did not even have a navy, only the so-called naval divisions of inland rivers, wooden boats of less than 100 tons and a dozen earthen cannons. When you see the Imperial Navy, you will hide far away. But ten years later, the Chinese Navy took the lead in having its own 10,000-ton ironclad ships. Even we have to admit that its design concept is advanced and its weapons and equipment are advanced. It was unbelievable that they dared to engage in a fleet showdown with the Imperial Navy. ”

Being overtaken by latecomers, and even surpassed in some respects, surprised and unwilling to Carter, the dignified British Empire should only be an existence that has always been imitated and never surpassed.

Klaus shook his head. "If we talk about the overall national strength and military strength, China is still inferior to our British Empire, after all, China is too young to be founded for a few years, and the British Empire has gone through hundreds of years of tempering and beating, and it is by no means something that the new China can surpass in a short period of time." But China has a strong decision-maker. He can use some foresight and technical advantages to create a local lead over us, and thus create an illusion of superiority around the world. ”

Carter thought for a moment and said with some realization: "You are right, in the second commercial war, the Chinese soldiers could not defeat us without advanced rear-loading rifles. In the Third Commercial War, they wouldn't have won as easily as we had not had the Gatling Gun. Now that the Fourth Commercial War has broken out, and they have secretly made a fast warship that we can't guard against, it is not difficult to see that they are indeed opportunistic. ”

Klaus shook his head again and said: "In the past, it could be said that it was opportunistic, but as China became more and more powerful, this kind of opportunism will soon change, and when one day they no longer like to be opportunistic and ready to fight with us, it means that they have enough strength and courage, and then it will be our nightmare." ”

Carter agreed: "That's right, so the policy of the empire is to strangle China in the cradle while it is not strong enough to do so, but it is a pity that some nobles are blinded by some small interests and oppose the war, which is really infuriating." ”

"Report, something is wrong!"

"What's so alarming? Could it be that the Chinese overseas Chinese fleet came out of Manila Bay? ”

An officer barged in, ignored Carter's questioning, and said directly to Klaus: "Commander, the cruiser we put on guard in Annam has discovered the main force of the Chinese fleet heading south. ”

"What?"

"It can't be!"

"They only set off two days ago, and even if they have wings, they can't fly so fast!"

Klaus and Carter stood up at the same time, looking shocked.

"It's true! The cruiser Calvin was attacked and suffered heavy damage and fled to Annam, but our consul in Annam sent someone to take a shortcut to inform us that the main force of the Chinese Navy was less than 100 nautical miles away from us. ”

A hundred nautical miles, only half a day, is indeed not far away.

Klaus and Carter looked at each other, and although it was hard to believe, it shouldn't be fake.

"The four fleets of the Chinese Navy cannot be allowed to converge!"

"We can't stop the Chinese fleet from coming to help, but we can stop the Chinese navy in Manila Bay from coming out."

"Didn't they rearrange a lot of radium? Very good. We're going to keep them inside and not let them out. ”

Carter frowned and said: "Although we also have some water radium, but this time we didn't carry it, now go back to get water radium, I'm afraid it's too late." ”

Since the Third Yapian War, the British Navy has long known about China's water radium weapons and began to develop water radium in China. Since just developed and produced. The production capacity was insufficient, the amount of radium rationed to the Far East was not much, and this time the Klaus fleet was the attacking side again, so it was not brought.

"Find a few big ships and sink them in the main channel!"

"Got it!"

Reminded by Klaus, Carter immediately went down to make arrangements.

Soon, British ships swept a dozen merchant ships around Manila and sank in the channel, blocking the main channel into Manila Bay.

Klaus and Carthus then convened an emergency military meeting. Discuss countermeasures.

"According to intelligence, at present, the main forces of the Chinese Navy's North Ocean Fleet and East Ocean Fleet have been dispatched, and there are only six ironclad ships, four cruisers, and 10 frigates.

"At present, we have only seven ironclad ships, 10 cruisers, and 17 frigates in our Asian fleet......"

In the end, Carter was also sad, yesterday all day fighting. The powerful British Navy lost three main ironclads and a number of cruisers and frigates, while the Chinese Navy, which was considered the weaker, was unscathed.

This huge contrast is in the meeting. It caused complaints and dissatisfaction among all the officers of the British army.

"Blockade Manila Bay, and then the main fleet meets the main fleet of the Chinese Navy!"

"This time, you don't have to worry about the sneak attack of water radium and small warships, our two sides will compete head-on on the wide sea, and no matter what small moves the Chinese Navy has, we will find out and stop it in time."

"Now I'll deploy combat mission ......"

Klaus gave the order to fight directly. Then the entire British Asian fleet was quickly mobilized.

The British Navy's action of sinking into the main channel with a large merchant ship naturally could not be concealed from the guard post of the Chinese Shence Army on Fortress Mountain, and soon Deng Zhilong and Lin Changlong knew about it, and even Weng Tonglong smelled the unusual smell and rushed to inquire.

"We were worried that there would not be enough time to delay, and the British had blocked the channel with a sunken ship. What kind of drama is this? ”

"When things go wrong, there must be demons, and the British must be hiding unspeakable secrets!"

"If you don't let us out, then the British won't be able to get in, are they trying to trap us?"

"Probably not, they should know that Manila has been occupied by us, and they can't trap us. Besides, it's been two days, and the Northern Ocean Fleet and the Eastern Ocean Fleet should be almost there, and soon the outside will be able to work together to destroy the British Asian Fleet. ”

When he heard that the reinforcements would arrive soon, Deng Zhilong suddenly woke up and said, "It's not good, I'm afraid the British are going to intercept our reinforcement fleet!" ”

"The British fleet was consumed by us with some capital ships, but the number of capital ships remaining still exceeds the capital ships of the Northern Ocean Fleet and the Eastern Ocean Fleet, Klaus is afraid that he is desperate to have a decisive battle in the fleet, so he will block the channel, this is not to let us go out for reinforcements!"

Lin Changlong and the others all understood, and they all became nervous.

"Assemble your fleet and get ready for battle!"

Weng Tongyi suddenly asked: "Could this be a conspiracy of the British, they just let us think that this is the case, and when we open the water radium area by ourselves, they suddenly kill us and catch us off guard?" ”

This inference seems to make sense, and many officers nod their heads in agreement.

Deng Zhilong and Lin Changlong glanced at each other, and they were suddenly in a dilemma.

"If we judge correctly, then the reinforcement fleet is in danger!"

"But if we make a mistake in our judgment, then once we get out, we will be surrounded by the main force of the British fleet, and we will be in danger, and the danger factor is much higher than that of the reinforcement fleet."

"But there's always a decision!"

"There are no telegraphs at sea, and if you extrapolate from the time, the reinforcements of the fleet are indeed coming soon."

Everyone couldn't make up their minds, and finally Deng Zhilong thought about it and made a decision.

"When you go to war, just be careful, if there is an ambush, just escape in time."

"What if the British fleet comes in after them?"

"We only take the capital ships out, and after we leave, you rearrange the water radium, and we won't come back, and we will directly look for reinforcements to converge."

Deng Zhilong's proposal was safer, and everyone agreed.

Here's the problem, though.

After the withdrawal of the British fleet last night, the Water Radium Battalion deployed a large number of Water Radium on the main channel, which was very dense and filled the entire channel.

Once the radium is deployed, it will be too difficult to dismantle. It was supposed to prevent British sailors from dismantling the radium, but now it has become a cocoon, blocking the passage of the Chinese navy itself out of the port.

Detonation is the only way.

The officers and soldiers of the Water Radium Battalion knew the location of the Water Radium arrangement, which saved a lot of time.

After several hours of arduous radium clearance, a narrow and safe passage was finally cleared, allowing only the battleship to pass alone, and only by other small boats towing it.

As for the shipwrecks outside the radium area, the officers and soldiers of the Shuilei battalion were also responsible for cleaning them up, and blasted the sunken ships one after another with slag. Thanks to the fact that the British sank at least the unarmored merchant ship, it was not the ironclad ship that sank here, otherwise Deng Zhilong estimated that he would have to buy a piece of tofu and die of it.

It took half a day before and after, and finally cleared the channel and guided the eight capital ships Weiyuan, Pingyuan, Laiyuan, Haiqi, Haitian, Haichen, Haiyang, and Haiji to pass safely.

In the distance, several British warships were secretly watching, and they also came to harass them at first, but soon the Chinese navy ran away.

During the half day of cleaning the channel, Deng Zhilong was not idle, but sent a frigate with a shallow draft to go out to investigate, and sure enough, he found that there was no shadow of the British fleet in the surrounding waters.

"Sure enough!"

Deng Zhilong did not dare to delay time, and immediately led the fleet to search and advance in the northwest direction, because the reinforcement fleet must be in that direction.

It's just that after a delay for half a day, Deng Zhilong didn't know if he could catch up with the decisive battle of the fleet.

Thousands of miles of stone ponds, thousands of miles of Changsha.

Somewhere north of Scarborough Shoal, the main force of the Chinese Navy's Pacific Fleet is rapidly moving south.

The entire fleet is formed in five formations, and four communication ships and reconnaissance and alert patrol ships are deployed in the front, rear, left, and right directions to provide regional reconnaissance and early warning to the main fleet of the central government.

Just after noon, when the fleet was preparing for dinner, the beacon suddenly noticed that black plumes of smoke appeared in the sky 20 nautical miles southwest of the country. (To be continued.) )