At a time when Beijing was brewing an unprecedented grand armament plan, the unpredictable battle between Italy and the Ottoman Empire, after an initial collision without new ideas, finally turned from a unilateral attack by Italy to a full-scale war!

On the night of April 30, 1909, the Second Detachment of the Ottoman Navy, which had set out from the port of Lindos, was secretly passing through the island of Antikythila in southern Greece when it unexpectedly ran into the Greek merchant ship Dominica, which had just returned from France.

After weighing the supposed pros and cons, Admiral Mustafa was clearly unwilling to take on the militarily powerful neighbor, and when the destroyer Sentry Schalk intercepted the 4,000-ton Greek merchant ship, he quickly issued an order to cancel the interception, allowing the Greeks to leave ......

"Marshal, I fully respect your lenient decision, but, as a naval adviser accredited to your country, I solemnly advise you that destroyers must be sent at once to detain the Greek merchant ships, otherwise our operations are likely to lose vital secrecy...... Of course, we can promise some benefits to ensure that this action does not cause diplomatic trouble between the two countries! And Mustafa soon received Yan Sù Jianyì, who served as his temporary deputy, Lieutenant Commander Chen Han of the Chinese Navy.

In this regard, Marshal Mustafa felt a little embarrassed, but his arrogant personality was obviously difficult to accept different opinions, even from the Chinese advisory group with close ties to the empire, considering the concerns mentioned by Chen Han, although he was also aware of the possibility of the news leaking, but. In his opinion. If the Italian Navy provides information as provided by the Chinese side. Already patrolling the East African coastline, his strategic goals can still be achieved!

In the end, he politely rejected Chen Han's proposal, and only agreed to no longer take the Mediterranean shipping lane, but to advance towards the Gulf of Naxos, but he soon saw the consequences of his mistake...... When the morning sun rose on May 2, it was sailing 50 kilometers southwest of Antiquithira in the direction of the South African coastline. However, they were followed by two Greek warships.

Small troubles, apparently have escalated into big troubles...... Mustafa sent the destroyer Skylark to communicate with the Greeks, but he did not get any response, and the only response from the other party was to keep a distance from the Ottoman fleet, which was obviously not a chance encounter! Chen Han immediately came to a conclusion after observing the Greek warship from the lookout.

After fully arming the Ottoman Navy, the Ottoman Empire's fleet combat power has comprehensively surpassed that of the Greek Navy, especially on the capital ships, the flagship of the fleet, the Suleiman Magnificent, is a new type of battleship delivered by China just 2 years ago, in addition to the installation of China's export type shooting director. It also has a series of advanced naval communication equipment such as wireless telegraphy, and only has a former dreadnought Greek navy. Their main battleship was a British-built battleship at the turn of the century, when British shooting commanders were never exported at all, and although they were modernized, they could not change the reality of obsolescence.

But even so, it was already a headache to get rid of the Greek warships in the calm Mediterranean, and although Chen Han immediately proposed to Marshal Mustafa to turn to Egypt to confuse the Greeks, the conservative concept of warfare once again led the Turks to make unconstructive military decisions.

Marshal Mustafa eventually resorted to a compromise and turned to a bypass to Leximon Island and maneuvered towards the coastline of North Africa, trying to unleash the curiosity of the Greeks with such an action...... Unfortunately, the Turks were soon disappointed, and the two Greek light cruisers quickly followed, always appearing far to the southeast of the fleet, and after sailing more than 100 kilometers south of the island of Cresimon, they showed no intention of stopping.

"Lieutenant Colonel Chen, why are the Greeks following our fleet?" If the Greeks had been allowed to follow the fleet, it was clear that any subsequent military action of the fleet would lose its suddenness, and the possibility of carrying out the original plan would be completely gone.

Chen Han was actually surprised by the Greeks' move, knowing that although Italy and the Ottoman Empire were at war, Greece, which was adjacent to the Ottoman Empire, had not made any clear statement earlier, but he immediately remembered the report he had received from the Intelligence Department a few months ago that the Greek military was secretly planning a military operation against the Ottoman-ruled region of Albania.

He immediately realized that the Greeks were apparently very interested in seeing the current predicament of the Ottoman Empire, and that there was a great possibility that this would lead Greece to a more powerful Italy, and that the actions of the Greek warships were most likely motivated by the intent to contain the Ottomans...... It's just that this is just his speculation, and it is completely lacking in intelligence support.

"Marshal, it is likely that our actions have been leaked, so I will build a fleet to return to the shore in order to demand a better chance of attack! I will immediately send a telegram in the hope that our consulate will have more channels to know the purpose of the Greeks! Chen Han made the decision he thought was the most appropriate.

However, this decision was obviously not satisfactory to Marshal Mustafar, and the secret voyage of several days ended with a return voyage, although he was thoughtful and aware of the great possibility that Chen Han had deduced that there was a great possibility, but he seemed reluctant to admit the defeat of the military operation for the first time, and finally he decided to take advantage of the darkness of the night to make a wide maneuver to get rid of the Greeks, and then follow the coastline of North Africa to Tripoli.

The next morning, Chen Han received an urgent telegram from the telegraph room from the intelligence ship Will, and the Italian fleet, which was in the north of Tripoli, had suddenly assembled and left the port of Medenin the previous night, while the intelligence ship intercepted and deciphered a telegram from the Italian destroyer Whirlwind, and the commander of the new destroyer reported to the fleet that the cruising Rethymnon was the target of interception.

Three hours later, at 11:27 a.m., the destroyers Schalke and Aiden, which were in front of the fleet, were attacked by an Italian cruiser and three Italian destroyers.

An hour and a half later, when the destroyer Schalke saw Italian warships emerging on the horizon at the end of its field of vision, it had to rush and send the news to the flagship that the main Italian force had been discovered.

That night, when the telegram sent from the Ottoman naval fleet was sent to Istanbul, the news of the failure immediately triggered a heated discussion in the coalition ruling committee, and the news of the unfavorable naval division obviously put the Turkish Al-Shabaab in an awkward position, and General Enver could not wait to meet with He Xiaohai, the military attache of the Chinese consulate in Istanbul.

"Your navy must abandon the conservative officer system, although the Imperial Navy has powerful Chinese warships, the commanders' operational concepts are still stuck in decades ago, not to mention, you are fighting against a powerful Italian navy, not a small fleet!" After a brief communication, He Xiaohai immediately took out the battle report sent back by the Chinese officer corps, and the incompetence of the Ottoman naval system still disappointed the Chinese officer advisory corps.

When the news reached the Ministry of Military Affairs in Beijing, Xu Shoushan went to Qin Kai's official residence very safely to report the next step of the battle between Italy and Turkey after the cabinet put forward a plan, and the cabinet made a decision to increase military assistance to the Ottoman Empire to ensure China's rights and interests in the Middle East, but for the combat effectiveness of the Ottoman Empire, to be honest, Xu Shoushan and a large number of officers from the General Staff Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs were obviously disappointed.

After hearing this, Qin Kai also had to sigh with emotion, with the support of China's armaments, the relatively radical Turkish Shabaab has achieved an extremely important political position, although the Ottoman Sultan has retained his status, but his power has been replaced by the coalition ruling committee, and his own support for the two military forces of Enver and Kemal is completely based on the ability of these two, as the famous Turkish generals who will be famous in later generations, these two people will obviously be far more proficient in resisting European attacks than the stupid Sultan.

Supporting a military force that could ignite explosives and was incompatible with European culture was obviously a good deal, and Qin Kai did not think about the possible defeat of the Ottomans......

The loss of the North African territory is not unacceptable, but because of the sovereignty issue of the North African territory, the rise of the old conservative forces is absolutely unacceptable, "Yushan, the existence of an Ottoman Empire with combat effectiveness is enough to disturb the balance of power of European countries, and if countries want to intervene in the Balkans, they must accept the existence of the Ottoman Empire, and we support the Ottoman with a gun, Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Britain will have to buy an additional gun for their respective military forces, It would be a huge quagmire that would consume the wealth of Europe! ”

Xu Shoushan obviously understood Qin Kai's judgment, the close relationship with Germany was to strengthen the arms race in Europe, and the support of the Ottomans was obviously also to escalate the confrontation in the Balkans.

On 6 May, the same day that the Ottoman naval fleet returned to the port of Antalya for replenishment, Istanbul dismissed Marshal Mustafa from command, appointed Rear Admiral François of German origin as commander of the fleet, and issued a military order to the Chinese advisory group, requiring Rear Admiral François to consider the establishment of the Chinese advisory group.

On the 7th, the Ottoman Navy, which had just completed its adjustment, left the port again and sailed for the Mediterranean Sea in the darkness of night, and this time, the Chinese advisory group headed by Chen Han appeared next to Rear Admiral François, who had just been promoted to commander of the fleet, and the Austro-Hungarian admiral with Al-Shabaab status had a strange look...... Because, Chen Han showed him an incredible combat case, the fleet will sail 1,600 kilometers in 4 days to carry out an unimaginable naval strike on Italy.

But the question is, what about the Italian Navy...... The Italian Navy, which had been holding the Ottoman Navy before, would it stand by and watch! (To be continued......)