"And the attitude of Russia and France, which is also very worrying. Vice Admiral Seymour was even more worried when he thought of this, but he soon realized that such worries were meaningless, "However, it is true that winning may not be able to solve the problem completely, but if you lose, the situation will definitely be worse!"www.biquge.info Besides, I'm just an admiral, and the only thing I can do for the British Empire now is to fight this crucial decisive battle! ”

Due to a series of previous failures of the United Kingdom, the current British government is under unprecedented pressure, and the verbal and written criticism of public opinion is just that, what is even more terrible is that the credibility of the pound has also been questioned, if it were not for the fact that Britain previously held three-quarters of the world's gold reserves, I am afraid that the value of the British pound would not be able to hold up before the expeditionary fleet arrived in India.

Since the outbreak of the Sino-British War, more than 500 tons of gold have been thrown out for this purpose, and the longer the Sino-British War drags on, the greater the losses. Therefore, long before the expeditionary fleet set off, the British government gave Seymour an order that after the fleet completed maintenance, it should go to sea as soon as possible to find the enemy, and Seymour did not dare to disobey, so in early October he led all the main forces south, preparing to recapture the strategic Colombo and make a good start to his expedition.

Although the British Empire claims to have naval bases all over the world, there are not too many that are really protected by strong fortresses, after all, the cost of building a high-grade coastal defense fortress is worth several, or even a dozen of the world's top capital ships.

The top of these (no matter how strong the fleet is, can not be conquered from the sea) are only Dover and Gibraltar, two coastal defense fortresses that are extremely critical, close to the mainland (or not at all at all), and have suitable natural cliffs to take advantage of, and the third is the mainland where there are naval shipyards and need to be protected, such as the Portsmouth military port, and Singapore, Alexandria, Cape Town, Mumbai and other strategic points that are far away from the mainland. Colombo's defenses were even worse than that, and with the strength of the British Expeditionary Fleet, it would have been easy to regain the port, and once it was taken, the British Royal Navy would have regained control of the war.

While Colombo is not as valued as Mumbai because of its port and the size of the city, Colombo is even more important when it comes to location. Because although there is a Paulk Strait between Ceylon and the Indian mainland, it is the shallowest strait in the world, with an average water depth of only two or three meters, and large ships cannot pass through it at all, so large ships must bypass Ceylon Island if they want to travel between the eastern and western Indian Oceans, and after controlling Colombo, the only large port on the island, it is like choking the throat of this route, and its strategic significance is obvious.

Of course, no matter how great the value of Colombo is, it cannot be compared with the main fleet of China, but the sea is vast, and it is impossible to disperse the ships to look for the enemy under the current technical conditions (there is no radio), even if it is a reconnaissance detachment, it is at most dozens of kilometers away from the main fleet, and the search range is very limited, so you have to have some luck if you want to meet it.

However, to Seymour's surprise, he was really lucky, and before the fleet reached Colombo, the lookout reported that a suspicious smoke had been found on the sea level, and according to the old sailor's rich experience, he thought that it must be at least a fleet of more than 10,000 tons or a larger civilian ship, and Seymour was suddenly excited......

"In this situation, it is impossible for civilian ships to sail here, either Chinese warships or their transport fleets, which are good prey." , Vice Admiral Seymour thought of this, unconsciously licked his lips and immediately sent two cruisers over to further understand the situation.

Vice Admiral Seymour didn't have to wait long, and the two cruisers reappeared on the horizon, and after getting closer, they told the main fleet through the flag that "two seas and sky (Note 1) are coming", and Seymour couldn't help but have mixed feelings. Naturally, he was able to touch the Haitian-level patrol, and there were not many of them, and the odds of winning were great; I am also worried that there are not many of them, but I am afraid that the enemy will be scared away after seeing the main force of the expeditionary fleet, the Haitian-class patrol is too fast, and the Sovereign-class battleships will not be able to catch up in any case, and the six large cruisers are all weak defensive protective cruisers, and catching up with them will also be killed......

"This warship is really beautifully designed!" Seymour couldn't help but express his sincere admiration, and now he can only hope for the Chinese Navy's winning streak. Of course, no matter how proud you are, you will not dare to challenge six battleships with two cruisers, that is not pride, but stupidity; However, the two Haitian-class patrol ships had the advantage of speed after all, and if their commanders were brave enough, they would probably follow the British expeditionary fleet far away to see if there was a chance to sneak up and sink a few troop carriers.

Thinking of this, Seymour decided to sacrifice a few troop transports and the army on board as bait to lure the two Haitian-class battleships into the effective range of the main guns of the six Sovereign-class battleships. Compared with the two world's top 10,000-ton armored cruisers, the lives of several thousand army forces are obviously much lighter, especially since most of them are Indians......

The two Chinese warships were the "Chaoyong" and "Yangwei," which had only recently arrived from East Asia for reinforcements, and since the fleets of Tsarist Russia and France and Spain could not completely ignore them, Li Hui only transferred these two ships westward to the Indian Ocean, while the other four remained in East Asia and the South China Sea respectively just in case. However, it is precisely because of this that the new "Chaoyong" and "Yangwei" have assembled the most elite officers and men of the coastal defense fleet, and the quality of personnel is not inferior even compared with the previous six.

Yang Yonglin, the former first officer/captain of the Zhenyuan Gang, who was once praised by Lang Weili as the "Nelson of the East", has gained greater importance after the disbandment of the coastal defense fleet, and he is now the captain of the new Chaoyong and the commander of the fourth detachment of the Ocean Fleet.

Note 1: The flag language could not express such accurate information, but because the Haitian-class patrol has already shocked the world, and the strength of the Chinese Navy is now on this new type of patrol, Seymour is planning to destroy this type of warship, so after arriving in Mumbai, he specially designed a special flag to represent the Haitian-class patrol. (To be continued.) )