One or two high waves are urgent, and the suspense has not reached the level of stormy waves, and it does require high skill to drive a warship in Zhongsu Chuan Chuan, and it also requires a correct chart.

Now, there is such a chart on Lupin's desk, which was given to him by the German Navy, and it is written all over German, and Rupin's German level is very average, so he has to check the chart drawn by the German Navy while comparing the chart that is publicly circulated by the International Maritime Organization.

There are many differences in detail between civilian and military charts, which can be seen at a glance from the two charts in front of you, some of which are clearly marked as "dangerous sea areas" on civilian charts. of the sea area is marked on military charts with the words "Sail with caution." This shows that the sea area is not navigable, but it is necessary to be vigilant so as not to hit the reef.

The German Navy's exploration of the Far East in recent years has indeed been fruitful, although it may not be as good as the Dutch and British navies that have been exploring the South Seas for hundreds of years, but it is undeniable that at least the charts drawn by the German Navy are more accurate than those published by the International Maritime Organization.

When will the Chinese Navy be able to draw such detailed charts?

In this regard, Lu Ping is somewhat lacking in confidence, this is not like buying a warship, as long as there is enough funds, the world's advanced warships are at your disposal, "a century-old navy." "It's not, through this period of time with" Green Forest. With the run-in of the ocean-going assault ship "Chimei", Lu Ping truly realized the difficulty of building an ocean-going navy.

Armament is still secondary, the main thing is a matter of talent, even if it is a "green forest." and "Red eyebrows." The officers and sailors on board were carefully selected veterans of the navy, but many of them were still not able to adapt quickly to the handling of these two large ocean-going assault ships, which directly affected the effectiveness of the sortie, so that so far the ocean-going assault fleet had achieved few successes, only a few lone Japanese merchant ships.

Originally, according to Lu Ping's meaning. He wanted to lead the fleet to search the area around Shanluo Bay to see if there was any Japanese fleet worth attacking, compared to Singapore, Shanluo Bay could basically be said to be defenseless, even if there was a battle in the territorial waters, it would not cause too much trouble. After all, Shaura is only a small country, although Britain and France have supported it, but now that the war in Europe has broken out, Britain and France are too busy to take care of themselves, how can they care about a naval attack war born in the coastal waters of Shaura?

But just yesterday, Lupin received a telegram from the Commander-in-Chief, according to the contents of the telegram. He must immediately lead the raiding fleet south to Singapore to search for the Japanese fleet, but at the same time, he must avoid direct conflict with the British convoy.

This task gave Lu Ping a bit of a headache, a large number of Japanese merchant ships were anchored in Singapore Harbor at this time, this information Lu Ping had already received, but at this time, the British government had made it clear that it was ready to provide escort for Japanese merchant ships, and Singapore Harbor has always been an important base of the British Navy in the Far East, where the fortification is tight, and the coast is covered with heavy coastal defense artillery, it is too rash to venture to such a place.

Lu Ping replied to the telegram at that time, asking about the intentions of the commander-in-chief. to confirm that the telegraph operator did not misinterpret the code. But the commander's callback was very clear, that is, "carry out the order." "Besides, I didn't say half a word of nonsense.

Lu Ping was a little puzzled, on the one hand, he went to Singapore to search for and attack the Japanese merchant fleet, and on the other hand, he forbade a conflict with the British fleet escorting the ship, which inevitably required some horses to run fast. It is difficult for a strong man to have the feeling that horses don't eat grass. Couldn't it have been that when the British convoy escorted the Japanese merchant fleet back to Japan, it followed the fleet all the way to Japan?

After pondering for a while, Lu Ping suddenly got his senses. He seemed to understand what the commander's hall meant.

That's right, the Chinese attack fleet can't touch the British escort fleet, but this doesn't mean that the German attack fleet can't touch the British fleet. and "Red eyebrows." Acting as the eyes and ears of the German raiding fleet, and then having the German assault fleet ambush in the path of the British convoy, then. This is not a direct clash between the Chinese fleet and the British fleet.

Linked to the telegram that came a few days ago, Lu Ping was even more sure of his judgment. According to the ambiguously worded telegram, he could assist the German fleet as he deemed necessary, but not directly intervene in the armed conflict between the German Navy and the British Navy in the Far Eastern Seas.

As for why the commander-in-chief's speech suddenly became slurred, Lu Ping thought that this might be out of the need for caution, after all, these telegrams were compiled in ciphers, and it was difficult to guarantee that they would not be debunked by the British or Japanese, and even if they were not debunked, if the British government was angry with China because of the attack on the convoy, then the commander-in-chief could also excuse himself without directly confronting the British government's questioning.

In the final analysis, now the commander's hall is putting all this burden on Lu Ping's shoulders, no matter what happens, Lu Ping will take care of it alone, don't involve the center, this can be seen as the center's practice of shirking responsibility, but it can also be seen as the center's absolute trust in Lu Ping.

Now the lead warship of the Far Eastern Fleet of the German Navy "Scharnhorst." Armored cruiser and "Gneisenau." The armored cruiser was stationed in the German Pacific Islands, along with other auxiliary vessels. It was also a maritime force to be reckoned with, but because he was worried that the British Far East Navy was too strong, the commander of the German fleet, Spee, asked the German Navy Staff to go to South America and return home by way.

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However, the German naval staff seemed to be still hesitating, so it did not immediately agree to Spee's request, and took advantage of the opportunity to return Qingdao and Jiaozhou Bay to "Nuremberg" stranded in Jiaozhou Bay. Light cruiser, light cruiser "Emden", "Leipzig. The light cruiser and a number of auxiliary warships formed the 2nd Far Eastern Detachment, together with the old Austro-Hungarian cruiser "Empress Elizabeth." At present, that detachment has sailed to the waters south of the Taiwan Strait and is on its way to the German Pacific islands, and once it reaches its destination, the strength of the German Spee fleet will be greatly strengthened.

As for the ocean-going assault fleet of the Chinese Navy led by Lu Ping. It has sailed less than 50 nautical miles from Singapore, and at its current level, it will be possible to see the port of Singapore before noon.

Lu Ping has decided to follow the meaning of the commander's hall to "sound the east and attack the west". He commanded the fleet to the Singapore base of the British Navy?

Lu Ping walked up to the bridge from the captain's room and ordered to slow down. to save fuel. Therefore, by the time the strike flotilla of two ocean-going assault ships and six armed supply ships arrived off the coast of Singapore, it was already one o'clock in the afternoon. And, in this near sea, they came across a British light cruiser.

The British captain hurriedly sent a telegram to the Angkapo Naval Base while directing the sailors to enter the battle positions and prepare for battle.

Seeing that the British warship made a posture of starting a war, Lu Ping only let the sailors enter the battle position, but did not order to turn the muzzle, but ordered the fleet to continue to sail slowly, and at the same time used the crane on the deck of the warship to put down a traffic boat, and sent an adjutant to take the traffic boat to the British light cruiser, and brought a note written in English for the British captain, telling the British that the Chinese naval fleet was only here to look for the Japanese merchant fleet, and hoped that the British friends would not misunderstand.

This is nothing short of a blatant provocation! Also a disregard for the power of the British Navy!

The letter was soon sent back to the Singapore Naval Base by the dedicated British captain, which not only angered the British Naval Base Commander, but also disillusioned the Governor of the Straits Settlements, who had long been in a state of disarray.

Just yesterday afternoon, the arrogant Mr. Governor rejected the petition of the Chinese expatriate, he did not agree to an immediate ceasefire with the Koreans, and he did not agree to the evacuation of the Chinese and overseas Chinese from the war-torn Singapore Port, which angered the Chinese bridge people's groups, so an order was issued, the seamen, dock workers went on strike, the Chinese shops went on strike, and the Chinese patrols also left the patrol houses one after another.

As a result, the entire port of Singapore immediately became a dead port, the wharves were empty, the streets were empty, there were only gunshots, no horns, and as a result, all the ships in the port of Singapore could not load and unload cargo, and even the British warships had to rely on British sailors and Indian soldiers to load coal.

At such times, a hostile Chinese naval fleet came from outside the port, and needless to say, the Governor General must not be able to sit still.

Fortunately, the telegram worked, so Mr. Governor sent a telegram to London, England, and reported the situation to the government and the navy, and attached a request from the commander of the Singapore naval base, which was also very simple, just one sentence: "Request permission to go to war." ”

Soon, the British government called back.

First, it denied the commander of the Singapore Naval Base's request for war, "It is not allowed to fire on the Chinese fleet unless the other side fires first, or the other side enters the territorial sea line." ”

Secondly, the first convoy order was issued to the Commander of the Singapore Naval Base, according to which the British Naval Fleet in Singapore was to formally launch the convoy of the Japanese merchant fleet in the afternoon of the same day, and to set sail by the evening of the same day to escort the first Japanese merchant fleet back to Japan, and as to how much British naval forces should be used, this "should be at the discretion of the Commander of the Fleet, as the case may be"

As a result, the British Navy's Singapore base immediately became busy, and due to the lack of sufficient dock workers, the British Governor of the Straits Settlements had to use British officials from the colonial office, and later, even Mr. Governor himself went to the docks to push a few carts to load the British warships with coal.

This was a busy affair until it was almost dark, and in the meantime, all the British were a little weak-minded, and they were worried about the sudden attack of the Chinese fleet, so the commander of the base ordered all coastal artillery to be ready to fire, and at the same time, Mr. Governor decided to temporarily conclude a ceasefire with the Korean armed men, so as to deal with the critical situation at hand.

Fortunately, the Chinese fleet never showed any signs of firing artillery shells, and it did not enter the territorial sea line, and all the British breathed a sigh of relief.

"The bluffing Chinese, let them see the strength of the British Far East Navy!"

With this in mind, the British base commander decided to send all the main warships of the British Navy in the port of Singapore to escort twenty Japanese merchant ships back to Japan, on the one hand, to protect the maritime lifelines of the Japanese allies, and on the other hand, to show off force.

So, in the darkness of the night, the dead silence of the port of Singapore finally blew its whistle, and in the darkness of the night a huge fleet set sail, which deliberately turned a corner, and carried the suspicious Japanese fleet around from under the nose of the Chinese attack fleet to show contempt for this unfortunate guest.

The Chinese Navy's assault fleet still did not fire, but silently followed behind this mixed Anglo-Japanese fleet, following in steps, like a lone lion on the African savannah, facing a huge herd of bison but with nowhere to speak.

It seems that the Chinese did not dare to provoke the British Empire, the glory of the British Empire was enough to envelop the Far East, and all the British people in the British Straits Settlements Office laughed very happily.

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However, the British happiness did not last long, and late that night, a British gunboat patrolling the open sea reported to the harbor that the Chinese Navy's ocean-going assault fleet had returned to the waters off Singapore and was slowly swimming close to the territorial sea line.

At this moment, all the British people were shocked again, because the commander of the base had sent all the main warships of the British Far East Navy in the port of Singapore to escort them, and it was impossible for the current fleet in the port to resist the two large ocean-going attack ships in the Chinese naval fleet.

Despite the protection of the coastal forts, the Governor General of the Straits Settlements always felt that it was better to be safe, after all, the Singapore Naval Base was vital to the British Empire, and there was no room for error.

So, an urgent radio telegram from Mr. Governor was immediately photographed, and in the early hours of the next morning, several capital warships of the British Far East Fleet finally returned to the Singapore naval base in time, deterring the Chinese ambitions with the black hole of the guns, and all the British in Singapore Harbor were jubilant.

Although the Chinese fleet went and returned, in consideration of the safety of the Japanese merchant fleet and the unbreakable friendship between Britain and Japan, the British escort fleet still decided to insist on sending warships to escort the Japanese fleet back to Japan.

However, in the midst of the confusion, the British did not see that the Chinese fleet that had returned to Singapore was missing an armed supply ship, and just as the British capital warships were returning to Singapore, a wireless telegram was taken from one of the supply ships of the Chinese fleet.

Ten hours later, while several of Britain's main warships were monitoring the Chinese Navy's ocean-going assault fleet heading for the Indian Ocean, in the Pacific Ocean, a German assault fleet quietly set sail from a military port on the German Pacific islands and sailed for the northern waters of the Philippines under the command of Fleet Commander Spee.

Thus began the first naval battle of the Anglo-German fleet in the Far East, and history changed dramatically once again.