After maintenance and refurbishment at the Victoria Naval Base in Hong Kong, the Chinese fleet (not only the oceanic fleet, but also part of the warships of the coastal defense fleet. Heading south to Singapore, China is almost invincible as long as it can win this strategic point, and even if the British government still stubbornly refuses to admit defeat, China has nothing to fear.

However, due to the long distance and the fact that the previous maintenance and repair in Hong Kong had also consumed a lot of time, it was impossible to completely keep the enemy in the dark as in the previous battles, and the Ocean Fleet would face the British army in the south this time.

Although it was certainly too late to transfer troops from the mainland, Sir Mitchell, the British Governor of the Straits Settlements, still tried his best to strengthen Singapore's defenses, and reinforcements from British India, Australia and New Zealand increased Singapore's garrison to 70,000 or 80,000 men, and the proportion of white officers and soldiers was very high, and the combat effectiveness was close to that of the elite army on the mainland.

Through the agents sent to Singapore a long time ago, Li Hui knew this key information in advance, but he didn't care much about it, because everything was expected by him, "The movement of the British army is really fast, and it is unrealistic to attack by land like a devil, but the number of troops has increased so much, and the consumption of food"

That's right, Li Hui was not prepared to forcibly capture Singapore from the beginning, but planned to give full play to China's naval superiority, so that Singapore, an isolated island that could not even be self-sufficient in fresh water, would be cut off from water and food, and force the British troops on the island to surrender themselves. Although the forts would normally have enough fresh water and food, the British were suddenly involved in the war without any surprise, and the material reserves were certainly not so sufficient, and the sudden increase in troops greatly accelerated the consumption of living materials, and they could not hold out for long

However, the British Governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir Mitchell, was also aware of this danger, and on the one hand, they desperately asked for help from the mainland, and on the other hand, after having enough army and ammunition reserves to ensure that it was difficult for the enemy to forcibly seize Singapore as in the case of Hong Kong, he immediately ordered the focus of transportation to shift to food and other necessities, and at the same time used the returning transport ships to forcibly dismiss those Singaporeans whose occupations were not indispensable to reduce the consumption of water in the city. He also ordered the Royal Navy ships from India, Australia and New Zealand to find ways to block the southward movement of the main fleet of the Chinese Navy and buy time for the rush to transport supplies.

By this time, the British had fully realized the strength of the Chinese navy, and although there were many British warships assembled in Singapore, there was not even a single capital ship in them, and going to sea to meet the enemy was like sending them to death. However, in order to preserve Singapore, an overall strategic point that must not be lost, the officers and men of the British Royal Navy still boarded the ship without hesitation, and the churches in Singapore were crowded with worshippers praying for the officers and men of the navy, but no one really believed that they could return safely

"The disparity in strength is too great, and we will definitely not be able to win, but I still hope that their sacrifice can buy us a little more time." , Sir Mitchell looked at the cruisers that sailed to the sound of military songs, and his eyes showed deep sadness, "Alas, our British Empire will be bullied like this at sea, and it is actually Chinese!" God, have you abandoned the British Empire? ”

Due to the extremely strong Haitian-class patrol, it was pointless for the British fleet to fight directly, and it could not even slow down the speed of the oceanic fleet moving south. The British commander understood this, but he racked his brains and came up with a tactic that might work

"Here we go again, these Brits are so troublesome!" , Liu Buyun frowned slightly after receiving the report, this is not the first time this situation has appeared, the British cunningly sent out one high-speed cruiser after another, once the Chinese warships opened fire on it, they immediately turned around and fled, because the distance was often far away at that time, and the speed of the new anti-patrol was very fast, so even if it was a Haitian-class patrol pursuit, it was often in vain, wasting time and burning coal.

However, Liu Buyun is not a rookie to be played, after being fooled twice, he understood that this was a British strategy, and ordered that unless the enemy ship drove within 3,000 meters, it was not allowed to open artillery and waste ammunition, and unless the enemy ship drove within 2,000 meters, it was not allowed to pursue and waste coal. He adjusted the focus of the telescope and stood on the bridge to watch the reaction of the British cruiser with interest, "How will the British take it?" ”

The pride of the British Royal Navy drove the captain to order the huge formation of the Chinese Navy (including six Haitian, 12 10,000-ton supply ships specially designed and produced by Li Hui, six minelayerers, six minesweepers, and the Dingzhen Jinglai Zhijing six ships of the coastal defense fleet, a total of 36 ships, more than 80% of the navy's active personnel were dispatched). At first, the captain didn't particularly care, but when the calibration was completed, countless shells came overwhelmingly, and the protective cruiser with a displacement of more than 4,000 tons was torn to pieces almost in the blink of an eye, let alone escaped, and didn't even have time to complete the U-turn

"No wonder the Far Eastern Fleet, with two Centurion-class second-class battleships, would be wiped out so quickly, the Chinese Navy is indeed powerful, far beyond my imagination. I'm afraid, even if the home fleet comes here, it will have to take some effort to defeat it", the commander of the British fleet suddenly became extremely grim after listening to the lookout's report, not only because his strategy was seen through by the enemy, but also because he found that the threat of the Chinese navy to the British Empire was far beyond his expectations.

"It is impossible for the main fleet to be transferred to the Far East, at most half of the capital ships will come, and then there is no chance of victory, unless we can now sink some Chinese warships and reduce the pressure on the main fleet," the commander of the fleet thought with a grim face, and in the case that the plan to lure the enemy was ineffective and it was difficult to delay the southward movement of the Chinese fleet, it was necessary to knock out as many Chinese troop carriers as possible (at this time, there were no special supply ships in the world, so the British mistook the huge supply ships for troop carriers). ）

Seeing that many young men on the flagship were too young to start a family, the fleet commander's face showed a little unbearable, but he still forced himself to harden his heart after all, "There is no other way, for the sake of the British Empire, we can only fight hard!" (To be continued.) )