The British Asian Fleet gave up entering the South China Sea from the north of the Bejara Strait, and Lyons chose to enter the South China Sea from the southeast of the Panjiang Strait in order to avoid night battles and fall into the encirclement of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

As the British Admiral, Lyons' sophistication enabled the British Asian Fleet to escape from the encirclement and interception of the Imperial Chinese Navy again and again. However, no matter how experienced and cunning Lyons was, in the face of the high-tech Imperial Chinese Navy, he still could not avoid the fate of a decisive battle with the main fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

At 5:03 a.m., a maritime reconnaissance plane of the Third Squadron of the Pacific Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy sent back a telegram that had discovered the main force of the British Asian Fleet in the waters north of the Dutch East Indies.

Admiral Lin Jianzhang, commander of the Pacific Fleet, and the officers of the fleet command believed that the goal of the Lyons fleet was to enter the waters near the British Federation of Malaya, and to enter the waters of the Nansha Islands along the coastline with the help of the coastal fortress defense artillery network built by the Federation of Malaya on Belitung Island as a cover.

Once the British fleet is allowed to enter the depths of the South China Sea, it will be very difficult to find them, because the South China Sea will be rainy in the months from November to April next year, and storms of magnitude 7 and above will be almost once every few days, so the reconnaissance planes of the naval aviation will not be able to conduct reconnaissance and control the movements of the British fleet. The threat posed by the large British fleet to the Pacific territories of the Chinese Empire was too great, so Lin Jianzhang decided to intercept the British fleet before it entered the waters of the Spratly Islands.

The fleet of Lyons continued to cross the Belli Ocean, unaware that reconnaissance aircraft from the sky had already reported their location to the Pacific Fleet. Lyons thought everything was fine, but he didn't know that the Pacific Fleet had already figured out his intentions and was taking a shortcut to intercept him.

At 8:19 a.m., the intelligence station of the Chinese Empire in Kuching, Federated Malaya, informed the Pacific Fleet Command in detail of the weather forecast issued by the British: "The weather in the southeastern part of the South China Sea is cloudy today, with winds of level 3 and waves about one meter high. ”

At eleven :42, the Third Squadron of the Pacific Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Empire spotted the British Asian Fleet near the Blue Island and quickly approached. At the same time, the position was reported to the First Detachment of the Pacific Fleet, and the main forces of the Pacific Fleet once again corrected the course and chose the nearest route to carry out the interception.

The British fleet also spotted the Pacific Fleet's reconnaissance cruiser, and Lyons prayed to God not to run into the main force of the Pacific Fleet, constantly adjusting the course and speed in an attempt to get rid of the Pacific Fleet. But most of the warships in the British fleet were built in the early nineties of the last century, especially the flagship Counterattack, which belonged to the first generation of Sovereign-class battleships, and the age of the ship had reached ten years, if it were not for the tension between Britain and China, she would have been retired. Now the maximum speed is less than 17 knots, and it is impossible to shake off the Chinese reconnaissance cruisers, not to mention that there are reconnaissance planes in the sky that fly from time to time, and the British fleet has nowhere to hide.

At 12:17 p.m., the main forces of the Pacific Fleet arrived and assembled at a distance of 18,000 meters from the British fleet. Admiral Lin Jianzhang, commander of the Pacific Fleet, made a general mobilization before the war, and the officers and men of the whole fleet were highly motivated, vowing to oust the British Navy from the world's number one throne.

Beginning at 12:19, the Pacific Fleet of the Chinese Empire and the British Asian Fleet moved in the same direction, constantly closing the distance. On the move, both fleets are making tactical adjustments to the position and direction of the opposing fleet. The fleets of both sides were constantly adjusting their tactical formations, and the atmosphere of the battle was extremely tense.

On the bridge of the battleship Tiqi, Admiral Lin Jianzhang couldn't help but smoke a brand-name cigar from Puerto Rico and ordered all officers and men of the Pacific Fleet to smoke two cigarettes in order to relieve psychological tension. Since this time we are going to have a main decisive battle with the British Navy, the world's strongest navy, all the officers and men of the Pacific Fleet are not nervous, which is false.

Similarly, for the British Royal Navy, which has been arrogant at sea for hundreds of years, has not had a large-scale naval battle for a long time. This generation of British sailors had no experience in naval warfare at all, and did not have any actual combat experience, and was supported by the experience of teaching naval warfare in the age of sails. They faced the Imperial Chinese Navy, which had fought more than a dozen large-scale naval battles and won every battle, and they were also unsure of their hearts, and they were afraid for the first time in the face of the mighty Pacific Fleet.

Especially Marshal Lyons, he was well aware of the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Chinese Navy, which was an elite tempered from many naval battles. Like Lin Jianzhang, Lyons also smoked his cigar nervously.

After more than an hour of constantly adjusting their tactical formations, both sides tried their best to prove their strength to each other. Soon, however, the speed of the two fleets was different, and the Pacific Fleet was prepared for battle, and the speed was uniform, and the formation adjustment was very smooth, with an average of no more than 12 minutes at a time of deformation. However, the speed of each ship of the British fleet was different, and it was impossible to effectively unify it, and during the third transformation, some British battleships delayed the transformation due to insufficient speed, causing a certain amount of confusion.

At half past one o'clock in the afternoon, when the two sides were approaching 13,000 meters, the Pacific Fleet changed its battle formation for the fourth time, and when the British fleet was adjusting its formation, the second battleship squadron and the sixth cruiser squadron were not deformed, causing confusion in the formation of the entire fleet.

On the bridge of the Pacific Fleet's flagship Deqi, Lin Jianzhang keenly captured this weakness of the British fleet. I suddenly had a plan in my heart.

At 13:39, the British fleet entered the visual range of the Pacific Fleet, and Lin Jianzhang gave the battle order.

"The whole fleet is at combat speed, ready to meet the enemy!"

When the order was given, the flagship Emperor Qi quickly increased its cruising speed from 15 knots to 21 knots, and the four huge chimneys emitted rapid black smoke, and the bow split several meters high and broke through the waves. After receiving the order, the other detachments followed the Emperor to do the same.

Seeing that the Pacific Fleet was speeding up suddenly, Lyons on the battleship Counterattack also knew that the decisive battle had begun, and immediately ordered the entire fleet to fight at speed.

At 13:55, the two fleets were 12,000 meters apart. It is located about 80 nautical miles north of Blue Island and 77 nautical miles from the Zengmu Shoal of the Spratly Islands.

On the Emperor, Lin Jianzhang threw away the cigar and smashed it on the soles of his feet. He let out a long breath and said, "Ship sergeant! Pick up the Fleet Channel! ”

"Yes!" The sergeant dialed the fleet channel and handed the walkie-talkie to Lin Jianzhang.

Lin Jianzhang picked up the walkie-talkie and said earnestly: "I'm Lin Jianzhang!" The rise and fall of the empire is in this battle, and I hope that the time has come for all the soldiers to work hard to kill the enemy, serve the court, and be loyal to the empire! I'm on the bridge, watching you fight your way! Complete! ”

Lin Jianzhang put down the walkie-talkie and ordered: "Order, inform the communication jamming ship Pipa Jing to immediately carry out radio jamming of the maximum power against the enemy fleet." The first squadron followed the flagship, and the other squadrons carried out according to the No. 6 combat plan. ”

The order was issued, and the cruiser Pipajing, which was located on the periphery of the fleet's combat zone, immediately activated a high-power radio jammer to carry out maximum power interference on the radio communication frequencies of the British Navy.

At the same time, Lin Jianzhang made a huge "L" shaped movement with his left hand.

Rear Admiral Shen Shouchang, the captain of the Emperor, understood, and immediately ordered: "Left full rudder!" ”

"Yes! Left full rudder! The second officer at the helm repeated Shen Shouchang's order.

The Emperor Qi quickly turned left, the bow split the huge waves, the hull of the ship tilted to the right more than 70 degrees, and all the officers and men of the ship tightly grasped the handrail to prevent it from falling.

At this time, the Pacific Fleet (heading southwest) was sailing parallel to the British Asian Fleet (heading northeast). When Lyons discovered the fourth tactical transformation of the Pacific Fleet, he immediately ordered the British fleet to change formation, but the British fleet, which was not fast enough, changed formation too slowly. The Pacific Fleet, which had an absolute superiority in maneuverability, quickly changed to the fifth tactical transformation while the British fleet had not yet completed the fourth transformation.

At 14:05, the Pacific Fleet made an "L" turn, and in the five minutes that the turn was not completed, the flagship of the Pacific Fleet and the first squadron behind it would be in the T-shaped vertical position, that is, the British fleet would be in the T-shaped horizontal position, which would be beneficial to the British fleet.

Seeing the Pacific Fleet deformed like this, Lyons was immediately overjoyed and said: "Lin Jianzhang is still so bold, but unfortunately we are not Russia, and the British Navy will use artillery to tell you, 'This is a wrong decision'." ”

Chief of Staff Bill was also excited, and said: "It will take them five minutes to complete the L turn, and we must strive for this golden five minutes to defeat the flagship of the Pacific Fleet and strive for the strategic initiative." ”

Lyons nodded, and immediately gave the order: "Order all ships to stop turning, and all main guns are aimed at the enemy ships and fire." The First Sentai gave me all the flagships of the Pacific Fleet to sink her in five minutes. ”

"Knock knock!"

The British fleet's flagship counterattack immediately opened fire after receiving the order, and two twin 343-mm main guns on the starboard side and three 152-mm secondary guns opened fire quickly, opening the prelude to the decisive battle between the Chinese and British navies in the South China Sea.

The cannonballs whistled and fired at the Diqi 9,000 meters away, landing on the sea less than 100 meters away from the Diqi. The shell exploded violently, instantly stirring up huge waves several hundred meters high, and the waves splashed violently, and the sea fell on the bridge of the Emperor Qi, drenching Lin Jianzhang and other officers.

"It is worthy of being the navy of the first power, and the error of the first gun does not exceed 100 meters."

Lin Jianzhang praised the enemy on his lips, but he was beating the drum in his heart, and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous. But soon he smiled, because only Lyons' flagship was firing at the Emperor, and the other ships did not seem to have received the order to fire, and continued to change formation.

Chief of Staff Ye Zugui shouted: "Great, it must be that the radio jamming of the Pipa Jing has been successful!" ”

Lin Jianzhang nodded, very happy.

The commander of the Counterattack Tower, when he saw that the first round of shelling was very close to hitting the Emperor, Lyons couldn't help laughing, he knew that the British Navy's gunnery was still excellent, and there was no shame. However, after waiting for a minute, only the counterattack fired, and the ships of the other fleets not only did not fire, but continued to change formations.

The ships of the British Navy, which were absolutely obedient to orders, turned into fools at this moment and took the initiative to give up the "T" horizontal position to the enemy.

"Damn it! What are they doing? Didn't hear my orders? ”

Bill's smile also froze, and he immediately asked the bridge staff officer on the side, and soon the communications staff officer replied: "Report to Your Excellency Marshal, our radio contact has suddenly been interrupted, and we cannot contact the various detachments. ”

Lyons said angrily, "Why can't you get in touch? What does a broken contact mean? Is the radio broken? ”

The communications staff officer looked dazed and said, "It may be a radio failure, we are trying to figure out a way." ”

Leonston had an angry expression on his face when he was about to eat people, and Bill next to him said, "Five minutes of gold, half of it has passed!" Instead of seizing this opportunity to attack the enemy, our warships are giving up a favorable T-shaped position to the enemy, and they are ramming into the enemy's guns! ”

"Damn it!" Lyons hurriedly said: "Immediately change to the flag language to contact and inform the detachments to stop their stupid behavior immediately." ”

The counterattack immediately switched to flag language for communication, but because the fleet was too large, dozens of warships stretched more than ten kilometers on the combat plane. The commanders on the various British battleships complained that the flagship had given a stupid order, which had to be carried out because the servicemen had to obey the order. It wasn't until the flagship switched to flag language that they learned that there was a problem with the flagship's radio.

However, the British fleet had already lost this golden five-minute opportunity to attack. Not only that, but the British fleet, because it did not receive the latest orders from the flagship, kept changing formations, and as a result, sent itself in the direction of the Pacific Fleet's firepower salvo.

At 14:08, the two fleets were 8,000 meters apart, and the flagship of the Pacific Fleet, the Tiqi, completed the L turn. The battleship Revelation began shelling the British fleet's flagship Counter Attack with four twin 305mm guns.

"Knock knock!"

As the battleship Revelation shuddered, eight huge projectiles weighing 400 kilograms burst out of the barrel. The shells arced neatly in the air, roaring and slamming into the Counterattack.

"Boom!"

The shell landed on the sea less than 80 meters from the side of the counterattack and exploded, instantly stirring up eight huge columns of water several hundred meters high. The height of the water column is uniform, and it is distributed on both sides of a straight line with an error of less than 1 meter, as if the large pillars of the sea god temple are floating out of the sea, which is very spectacular.

Lyons and the others on the Counterattack were stunned, in terms of explosive power, the opponent's 305 shells were not much worse than their 343 mm shells. In terms of ballistics, eight shells from the opponent's main guns fell in an almost straight line. Not only can it provide the opponent with accurate correction data for the next fire salvo, but if it hits, it is almost eight shells at the same time.

Lyons couldn't help but gasp, and for the first time, Bill and the other officers realized the great threat to them from the new concept battleship.

At 14:10, the two fleets were 6,400 meters apart and entered the high-precision firing range of the Pacific Fleet. At this time, the 1st and 2nd Squadrons of the 1st Detachment of the Pacific Fleet all completed the L-shaped tactical maneuver.

At this time, the starboard side of the Emperor Qi was hit by a 343-mm shell from the Counterattack, and the No. 4 turret of the 7th sector was destroyed, and all five people in the turret were killed. Fortunately, the battleship was strong enough to have its armor robust, and the shells only knocked out a three-stage rapid-fire gun emplacement, failing to penetrate further into the deck below the turret, and the No. 7 ammunition depot below was unharmed.

(To be continued)