At noon on May 10, 1876, on the island of Riau, Zhu Guohui, who was wearing a solid body and bronzed skin, sat on the beach, staring blankly at the black smoke of the northern sea, listening to the dull roar of cannons that gradually subsided, and just prayed for victory over and over again in his heart. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Beside him, more than a thousand equally exhausted men, and a little further away were the wrecks of two stranded Saxony-class battleships. It can only be said to be the wreckage, after the battleship that caught fire ran aground, the captains of the two ships gave the order to abandon the ship, let the fire completely engulf them, burn everything that could be burned, and finally detonated the ammunition - two Saxony-class battleships worth millions, comparable to the second ship of the calm, were actually discarded as garbage! Moreover, no one thought to pursue such a mistake after that, and the officers and men on both ships were rewarded to varying degrees for their combat bravery, even Yu Guibei and Enomoto Takeyang, who were prisoners of war, were awarded medals and promotions after their release, because of their heroic deeds of "leading away three British battleships".

On the other side of the globe, the people of Britain, who did not know the truth, also rejoiced for a while at the sinking of four Chinese battleships and the defeat of a Chinese cruiser, as well as another great victory for the British Indian army. This South China Sea war is really a bit of a happy one. However, at this moment, in the command tower of the Indian Queen, which is on fire, there is no joy at all.

"The fleet must be saved."

This is Arthur. Hood and Ray. The two men shared the same sentiment, and like all the officers and men of the British Royal Navy who participated in the war, they had lost the confidence to win, and even the determination to continue fighting.

All that remains is the idea of escaping from the Chinese's guns.

At 11:45 p.m., the twenty-three Chinese armored cruisers and fast cruisers that were besieging and intercepting the British battleships suddenly stopped attacking at the same time, and collectively turned south, leaving only 13 Chinese battleships and armored cruisers to form five columns, one of which was entangled with three Minotaurs, one column was chasing the Barbarian and one column was chasing Nelson. The remaining three columns at sea were in pursuit of the Ravage and the Brave, and had already smashed the two British battleships to the ground. Overall, however, the fighting on the sea has eased again.

Looking at the Chinese cruiser hurrying south, Arthur. Hood's face was still as blue as black, how could he not guess the intentions of the Chinese fleet? There was already a fleet staff officer next to him who was shouting loudly.

"Sir, the Chinese are going to block the Strait of Malacca and the Sunda Strait, maybe the Lombok Strait will also be blocked!"

"Their armored cruisers and fast cruisers are too fast. Will definitely reach the Straits of Malacca before we do! ”

"It's over, we can't go back to Singapore...... The Sunda Strait, like the Lombok Strait, cannot be crossed. The fairways there are too narrow and can easily be blocked by mines. ”

If before this naval battle, only 26 armored cruisers and fast cruisers were not at all in the eyes of the British naval staff officers with these eyes on their foreheads. Even if the Chinese took out all their battleships, it would be impossible to prevent the British Eastern Fleet from returning to Singapore! But now, their mindset has changed dramatically.

Reports of damage, which can only be described as "heavy casualties", are already in front of them.

The battleship Remilis sank, the battleship Victory sank, the battleship Empress of India was heavily damaged, and the armored cruiser Barbarian was heavily damaged (after the sinking of the Remilis, it became the object of concentrated bombardment by Chinese cruiser columns. 2 rounds of 210mm and 6 rounds of 155mm rounds of blasting shells, 3 rounds of 140mm bursting shells, a large fire broke out throughout the ship, the bow turret was completely destroyed, the bow ammunition depot was flooded, and the speed dropped to 9 knots), the armored cruiser USS Nelson was heavily damaged (the situation was similar to that of the Brutal. It was turned into a floating torch by the overwhelmingly superior rapid-fire guns, and it did not sink by filling the ammunition depot with water in time, and the speed dropped to 8 knots), and the battleship Ravage was hit by Zhongchuang (chased by three Emperor-class ships, and was hit by 2 210mm blasting shells, which is not a major problem for the time being). The Warrior (in a similar situation as the Ravage, was chased by four Emperor-class ships, hit three 210mm blasting shells, and caused a fire in the stern, which was not a major problem), the armored cruiser Orlando sank, and the armored cruiser Aurora sank. The armored cruiser USS Emerald sank, the armored cruiser USS Tourmaline sank, the armored cruiser USS Garnet sank, the armored cruiser USS Opal sank, the armored cruiser USS Turquoise was heavily damaged (already out of power and may soon have to give up), the armored cruiser USS Ruby was heavily damaged, the protective cruiser Leander was heavily damaged, the protective cruiser Amphion was heavily damaged, the Mercury protective cruiser was heavily damaged, and the Mars protective cruiser was heavily damaged......

The losses were unexpectedly large, although there were only two sunken battleships, which looked a little smaller than the losses of the Chinese. But one of them is a 14,000-ton Indian Queen-class, and one is a 10,000-ton Victory-class. In addition, the Empress of India has also lost its combat effectiveness, and the two armored cruisers, comparable to battleships, have not only suffered heavy damage but have slowed down to less than 10 knots, and it is very likely that they will be caught up and sunk by the Chinese fleet. In addition, two 10,000-ton battleships are being pursued by six Chinese battleships, and even if they can escape, most of them will suffer heavy losses.

Looking at the long list of battle damage reports, everyone knew that the entire British Eastern Fleet had lost the strength to continue fighting, and could only flee in embarrassment under the encirclement and interception of the Chinese.

"We can't go to Singapore!" Arthur. Hood said with some pain, "If we don't want to have another decisive battle with the Chinese fleet outside the Strait of Malacca!" ”

If there is another decisive battle, the whole army will be destroyed!

"Admiral, where should we go if we don't know Singapore?" Thunder. Asben asked feebly.

"Let's go to Australia," Arthur. "Port Moresby and Port Jackson also have large shipyards where we can repair warships. ”

"There are so many broken warships to be repaired, when will they be finished!" The British Royal Navy officers in the Commander Tower of the Empress of India all sighed inwardly. If the fleet is withdrawn to Singapore, then there is still a chance to go to war again. But if you go to Australia, then you can only wait there for Queen Helena to come......

"Commander, if the fleet leaves Singapore, what will happen to the fortress?" Thunder. "There were 150,000 defenders in the Singapore fort and 30,000 on several islands at the entrance to Sumatra and the Straits of Malacca. Without a fleet, they are alone! ”

If in a few decades, it is also possible to fight with aircraft deployed on fortified airfields. But now, once the Singapore fortress loses its navy, it can only be trapped. The defenders of the fortress could not even block the Strait of Malacca with artillery! Because the southeast outlet of the Straits of Malacca is still relatively wide, but there are many islands scattered around, except for the main channel near Singapore, most of the sea area has a shallow draft, and there are more reefs and sand ridges. Naturally, no ships would want to pass from there in peacetime, but in wartime it is not a problem at all. Moreover, once China controls the sea supremacy around the Strait of Malacca and occupies the islands of Sumatra and Java, their transport ships can go through the Sunda Strait to bypass Malacca.

A Singapore fortress without a fleet station, militarily meaningless! It can be said that once the British Eastern Fleet retreated to Australia, the passage of the squadron to the east into India was completely opened. And if Britain does not want to send the Atlantic and the continental fleet to the East, then it will not even be able to maintain the sea supremacy in the Indian Ocean!

"That's the only way...... There's no way around it! Even if we go to the Strait of Malacca, it will only be a death. Send electricity to London and ask to give up Singapore! "Arthur. Hood sighed, "Let the 180,000 people in Singapore and Sumatra evacuate to India, and now ...... The whole of the East can only rely on Will. Admiral Hemming! Hopefully, hopefully, he will keep India for the Empire! ”

Hear Arthur. Hood's order, all the people in the command tower were silent. Because they know that the British Empire has lost world hegemony! (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )