The British fleet continued to fight under the command of the commander of the battle fleet, Vice Admiral Jeram, and the German fleet was led by the commander of the avant-garde fleet, Paul Brown. Major General Beinke commanded and continued to fight to the death.

Due to the timely return of four battleships of the "Queen Elizabeth" class, the firepower of the British fleet gradually gained the upper hand, and under the hard attack of the British ships, the German battleship "Caesar" was finally unable to hold out, the battleship was on fire, the deck was full of dead and dying people, and in the midst of violent explosions, the battleship finally capsized and sank into the sea.

At this time, the German fleet was left with only four battleships of the "King" class and four battleships of the "Byrne" class (the two unsunk battlecruisers had completely lost their combat effectiveness and were forced to withdraw from the battlefield), which struggled under the rain of bullets fired by the British ships, were hit by large-caliber shells countless times, surrounded by flames and smoke, but simply refused to sink. Their powerful cannons dealt an even more lethal blow to the British fleet, which really made the faces of the German shipbuilders and workers shine.

Seeing that there were few German ships left, and the British fleet had a numerical advantage, Vice Admiral Jeram, who was eager to avenge the fleet commander, was eager to save the victory, and commanded the British battleships to try to surround the German ships, seize the "T" prefix of the German ships, and annihilate all the German ships, but he forgot that the only eight remaining German battleships were the elite of the German fleet, and the main losses of the British battleships were caused by the 350 mm guns of the "King" class battleships and the 380 mm guns of the "Byrne" class battleships, As a result, the British paid a heavy price for this, when the British ship tried to complete the turning maneuver, the German ship gave the British ship a severe blow with accurate artillery fire, and the "British King George V", which had been injured and greatly reduced in speed, was first hit by the 350 mm main gun of the "King", resulting in a fatal explosion, and soon sank with Vice Admiral Jeram and all the crew. Immediately after that, the weakly protected foreign trade ship "Ireland" was also hit by a shot by "Saxony" and sank with a loud bang.

The British fleet, which had lost its command, fell into chaos for a while, and seeing an opportunity, the German battleships dodged the attack of four "Queen Elizabeth" class battleships and four other British battleships, and concentrated their firepower on the "Ajax", "Captain Hundred" and "Orion", these three British battleships could not withstand the blow of the 380-mm guns of the "Byrne" class battleships, and sank in explosions one after another.

The reason for this result is that the British shells with picric acid charges are inferior to the armor-piercing surname Neng, in this close-range hand-to-hand combat, the British gunners also fought quite well, and hit the German ships accurately many times, but because the British shells exploded when they touched the armor, it took a lot of ammunition and time to really tear apart the thick armor of the German ships, and during this time, the British battleships with poor protection were undoubtedly extremely dangerous in the face of the Germans' terrible heavy armor-piercing shells, But the century-old military prestige and honor of the British Imperial Navy did not allow the British [***] ships to flinch in the slightest in such a comparable battle, and tragedy arose.

After dealing another heavy blow to the British battlefleet, the situation of the German battleships also became bad, most of the main guns were destroyed, and only one or two main guns on each warship could still maintain fire, Rear Admiral Beinke realized the danger (the German caution and the British recklessness were in stark contrast at this moment), and decisively led the German fleet to start a breakthrough operation. Seeing that the German battleships were about to escape, the British fleet was in Sissel. Under the leadership of Vice Admiral Bern, they pursued closely, but at this time there were only eight British ships left, and all of them were seriously damaged, especially the four "Queen Elizabeth" class fast battleships led by Rear Admiral Evan Thomas because of the long battle, the power system was damaged, and the speed was greatly reduced, and the "St. Vincent", "Marlborough", "Revenge" and "Hercules" were also badly damaged and could not maintain their original firepower and speed, but the British still refused to give up. With the sea already completely covered in thick smoke, the figure of the German ship quickly became hazy, and the British ship soon lost its purpose.

Bern was still trying to salvage the defeat, knowing what it would mean for Britain to let the eight German capital ships return to Germany safely, and he planned to lead the LinkedIn fleet to intercept the German ships on their way back to the port of Kiel. British sailors hurried to repair the hull and damaged guns, ready to avenge the death of their comrades.

After boarding a destroyer, Scheer came to the battleship "King" and regained command from Rear Admiral Beinck, who had been adrift at sea for a long time, and Rear Admiral Scheer and Rear Admiral Beinke agreed that it was wise to withdraw from the battle now, and in order to be able to return safely, Scheer ordered a telegram to be sent to the Admiralty to verify whether there were any enemy ships in the waterway of Horn Reef. The wireless telegraph of the Germans was intercepted by British intelligence, which was promptly notified to the British fleet. Bern deduced the route of the German fleet's withdrawal and was able to take a shortcut to catch up with the German fleet.

The first to catch up with the German fleet was Evan Thomas's fast battleship detachment, seeing the British fleet suddenly appeared, Scheer was really surprised, because the four "King" class battleships were too seriously injured and were unable to fight again, Scheer led the four battleships out of the battle column, seized the road and fled, the four most powerful "Byrne" class battleships served as cover, and once again launched a fierce artillery battle with the British fleet, the desperate German fleet broke out with the strongest combat power, the British fleet also exerted all its strength, and dispatched light ships to attack the German ships, The battle at this moment had the upper hand in the fire of the German ships, and soon, the "Barham" was hit by the "Byrne", which caught fire and exploded, the "Malaya" capsized in a salvo from the "Baden", the "Brave" was knocked out of the last working turret by the "Saxony", the power system was damaged and was forced to withdraw from the battle, the "war-weary" was heavily damaged by the "Württemberg" and fled in confusion in flames and smoke (the two battleships then completely lost power, was ambushed and sunk by a German submarine on the way back to Scarpa Bay by a cruiser).

When Bern found out that the rapid battleship detachment had been heavily damaged, he realized that the defeat of this battle was a foregone conclusion, and the only four battleships in his hands could not deal with the four "Byrne"-class battleships, and if they continued to fight, they would be in danger of being completely annihilated, so he reluctantly withdrew from the battle with the remaining British [***] ships. The remaining 8 battleships and 2 battlecruisers of the German High Seas Fleet finally returned safely to the port of Kiel.

In this unprecedented naval battle that shocked the world, the British Royal Navy lost a total of 23 battleships, 6 battle cruisers, 12 cruisers, and a large number of auxiliary ships, and nearly 40,000 casualties among officers and men. The German High Seas Fleet lost 18 battleships and 3 battle cruisers, 9 cruisers, 7 destroyers and 15 torpedo boats, 13 other ships suffered heavy losses, and nearly 30,000 casualties among officers and men.

The Battle of the German Sea completely changed the balance of naval power between Britain and Germany, and became a turning point in World War I. After the end of the Battle of Deland, Britain's maritime superiority no longer existed, so Li Yuanhong, the Prince of Wuyi of the Chinese Empire, who was also a naval officer, said that Britain lost the Battle of Deland, and if in terms of losses, the Germans were indeed the victors.

However, Yang Shuoming knew that although the German Navy had leveled the gap with the British Navy, it had not achieved absolute superiority, and the power vacuum caused by the huge losses of the British Navy could be filled by the US Navy and the British Navy, while Germany did not have such conditions at all (Germany's allies Austria-Hungary and Turkey were all small partners that could not be pulled on the table, so it would be good not to hold back). Therefore, although the German navy gained a temporary advantage by virtue of the Battle of Deland, this advantage was not destined to last long. That's why Cai said that Germany failed to achieve a decisive victory.

"Although the German navy had swept the British coast and destroyed many of its shipyards, it did not destroy the foundation of the British shipbuilding industry." "The U.S. Navy has been stationed in the United Kingdom, and I heard that the U.S. Navy is also preparing to send large ships to Britain, so that Germany will still not be able to break the naval blockade."

Yang Shuoming looked at Yuan Shikai, and Yuan Shikai's face was cloudy at this time, obviously worried that he might be on the wrong team.

"Although the British navy had the help of the United States, the losses were too huge to recover for a while, and now the French state has been lost, Russia has been defeated in successive wars, and domestic riots are everywhere, and it is impossible for the Entente to defeat Germany." Li Yuanhong continued, "Our country should not continue to participate in the war and fall too deep, otherwise the Entente will be defeated and our country will inevitably suffer greatly." ”

Listening to Li Yuanhong's words, Yuan Shikai's face became even more ugly, and his eyes swept back and forth at the ministers, as if he was a little unwilling.

"We must not withdraw halfway through now." Navy Minister Liu Guanxiong said, "If China withdraws from the Entente now, it will be discredited by its friends and will be despised by the whole world, and second, it will give the country an opportunity to take advantage of, and if it is said to be guilty of another attack on China after the war, no country will be willing to help." ”

"What President Liu said is extremely true." Prime Minister Yang Du said, "With the strength of the six major powers, it is impossible to defeat Germany." ”

"The Art of War: With 100,000 armor, thousands of miles of food, then the internal and external expenses, the use of guests, the materials of glue paint, the dedication of car armor, the cost of thousands of gold, and then the division of 100,000 will be lifted. Our army now has no less than 200,000 soldiers fighting on the European continent, and although Britain, France, the United States, and other countries have received help from Britain, France, and the United States, the cost is still incalculable. Li Yuanhong's voice became high, "Even if we can win in the end, what good will it do to our country if we fight the people out of poverty?" ”

"In any case, we have to grit our teeth now and persevere, and finish this battle!" Yuan Shikai said with some annoyance, "As long as you get through this most difficult time, it will be the time for me to take off in China!" ”

Seeing that Yuan Shikai was really angry, Li Yuanhong's face was flushed, he held back his anger and didn't say anything more.

The imperial meeting ended in such a depressing atmosphere, and when Yang Shuoming got up and was about to leave with everyone, a female official of the inner palace stopped him.

"Supervisor Yang, please stay, the emperor summons you."

Yang Shuoming nodded, sat down again, and waited until the ministers withdrew in turn, and the female official took him to Yuan Shikai's study in the harem.

Yuan Shikai, who took off the generalissimo's military uniform, put on a golden Hanfu with dragon patterns, which looked very simple, and when he saw Yang Shuoming coming in, he smiled and swept away, and a tall thin young man with glasses standing next to Yuan Shikai took a rosewood chair and asked Yang Shuoming to sit down.

Yang Shuoming immediately recognized that the young man in front of him was Yuan Shikai's fifth son, Yuan Kequan.

Yuan Kequan, like Yuan Keding and Yuan Kewen's brothers, are Yuan Shikai's very important sons, and when Yuan Shikai held the emperor's enthronement ceremony, he once asked the three brothers to wear the same prince's dress, and the intention couldn't be clearer.

Yang Shuoming and Yuan Shikai sat down on the chair after the father and son saw the ceremony. Unlike the courtiers of the Chinese dynasties who had to kneel and kowtow when they saw the emperor Yanjing, Yuan Shikai's Hongxian Dynasty completely abolished these old rituals, and did not kneel and bow when he presided over the ceremony of worshiping Confucius, so that the monarchs and ministers were more equal and close, which was undoubtedly a great progress for China that had implemented the old feudal ritual system for thousands of years (Kang Youwei, who was once the pioneer of the "Wuxu Reform", was extremely dissatisfied with this, and openly shouted "The masters of the Rites of All Nations do not kneel, and the Chinese people do not worship God, Jesus, and Confucius, what is the reason for leaving this knee?). ”）。

Unlike the previous emperors of Chinese dynasties, Yuan Shikai did not wear dragon robes at all times after ascending the throne (Yuan Shikai's dragon robes have two sets, which are Han Dynasty dragon robes designed by Tao Zhu, and the dragon crown is also a flat-topped Han crown, but he usually does not wear it, and only wears it when presiding over traditional ceremonies), which seems to be high and dare not look up. When receiving the courtiers, they also sat at the table face to face and talked like ordinary people.

"Since I listened to Hanzhi's words, I no longer eat deer antler lingzhi or anything as food, and my body is indeed much stronger than before." Yuan Shikai smiled and personally took a cup of tea and put it in front of Yang Shuoming, "Everything is too much, what the ancients said still makes sense!" ”

"What Your Majesty said is very true." Yang Shuoming smiled and nodded.

"Since you Yang Hanzhi presided over the national industry, the results have been remarkable, not to mention, this 'people and hospitals' alone are many times stronger than the previous Tai Hospital." Yuan Shikai said, "I heard that Cai Songpo has been recuperating there, and he also went for a comprehensive examination a while ago, and used some Western medicine, and many chronic diseases have been removed. Now the palace only knows 'people and hospitals' and doesn't know too many hospitals. ”

"The prescription of the Tai Hospital is actually very precious, but there are too many impurities in the medicine, and now it has also cooperated with the 'people' to use the Western method to purify it, called 'Chinese Chinese medicine', there are some tonic prescriptions, if Your Majesty is interested, it is better to try it." Yang Shuoming said with a smile.

"Okay, I'll take a look." Yuan Shikai said, the words suddenly changed, and asked, "How did you investigate the corruption of private fund-raising case of Chuanlu Company?" ”

Listening to Yuan Shikai's question, a trace of resentment flashed in Yang Shuoming's eyes and nodded.

"The truth has been basically clarified, and the behavior of those ink-greedy people is simply outrageous."

"So, the Sichuan Road Company embezzled the people's funds to transfer them to the stock market for profit, not to strengthen the capital of road construction, but to enrich their own pockets?" Yuan Shikai heard Yang Shuoming's answer, and his eyes became focused.

"Yes. The Sichuan Road Company invested a total of 5 million yuan in the Shanghai stock market, which was half of the remaining available funds of the Sichuan Road Company at that time, you know, the total funds of the Shanghai Stock Exchange at that time were only tens of millions of yuan, and the funds that were successively transferred into the Shanghai Stock Exchange were equivalent to one-tenth of the total funds of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. ”

Thinking that his father-in-law Huang Shiyao almost lost his surname in order to find out the truth, Yang Shuoming's fists couldn't help but clench.

"How unreasonable is such audacity!" Yuan Shikai couldn't help but be furious.

Moreover, Chuanlu Company's use of this money to speculate in stocks is by no means a public decision of the company, but a secret plan of a small number of its executives. The public decision at the corporate level was to authorize executives to deposit the money to earn interest, so the limit of deposits in each bank was set at a limit of 200,000 yuan, in order to prevent financial risks, but all the money was used for stock speculation. Yang Shuoming said, "After the matter was revealed, the person in charge of it also quibbled in many ways, saying that it was necessary to revitalize the funds and make money with money, but in fact, judging from the behavior of the total revenue and expenditure personnel of the Sichuan Road Company who was responsible for the specific business, it can be said that it is a real 'rat warehouse', and there are serious corruption behaviors in it." During the clean-up and inventory, many problems in the accounts were also discovered. ”

"They want the political axe to take over in the name of 'railway state-owned', and the purpose is to want the political axe to be the big culprit." Yuan Kequan suddenly said on the side, "That's what they did in the former Qing Dynasty, and now they're taking out the old trick again." ”

"I'm not going to give them this shit hole!" Yuan Shikai said angrily, "They are simply robberies!" It's a robber! ”

"Collecting countless taxes in the name of the political axe, to this day, but not an inch of the railway has been repaired, and they still want the political axe to pay off their debts, and the matter is exposed and they do not hesitate to buy murder and kill people, which can be described as vicious." Yang Shuoming said in a deep voice, "I have always believed that embezzlers and those rogue patriots are the real traitors. ”

Yuan Shikai and his son may have heard the word "rogue patriot" for the first time, and they couldn't help but be stunned, but they immediately understood the meaning of Yang Shuoming's words.

"A corrupt criminal is a traitor, Hanzhi said it well!" Yuan Shikai sighed, "It's a pity that now, few people can realize this. ”

(To be continued)