Chapter 555: Nanyang (7)

"To live or to perish? That's a problem."

This phrase from "Hamlet" also came to the mind of Major General Bertja.

Turning off the boiler means that the ship will lose power completely, leaving a group of fighters in the sky to fight it, and continuing to move forward means that the boiler will explode at any time, with unimaginable consequences.

Sweat welled up on Rear Admiral Bertja's forehead, and now the fate of the entire battleship depended on his whim.

"Order the boiler to stop running, immediately turn off the fire, all weapons are fired into the air," Major General Bertja quickly decided.

Under the orders of Rear Admiral Bertja, the battleship "Prince of Wales" lost power and taxied for some distance before slowly stopping, and then the ship's ten ten-inch guns also began to fire at the air.

Seeing that the British had finally lost power and stopped, without the commander saying a word, all the torpedo planes and bombers gathered around and prepared to enjoy this sumptuous meal.

However, at this moment, an order reached the ears of all the pilots, "Attention to all units, all units to pay attention to all fighters to immediately stop attacking, all to return to home, repeat again, all fighters to return immediately."

"What?" Everyone, including the commander of the flight formation, could hardly believe their ears. What kind of international joke, the battleship below that has already been beaten down by them has been slaughtered by them like a dead fish, and it only takes two or three more heavy torpedoes to send it to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish, why did it stop instead?

The commander of the fighter formation, who couldn't believe it, immediately asked him by radio, but what he received was a personal reply from the commander of the fleet, Zheng Xin, "Repeat it again, return to the ship immediately, and there must be no pause

The "bastard" flew under the rage of the flight commander who could only burst into a foul language, and then stupidly flew towards his own aircraft carrier with all the unwilling fighters.

Major General Bai Tejia and others, who were already waiting for death with their eyes closed in the war room, couldn't believe their eyes when they saw the fighter planes hovering in the sky giving up such a big goal of their own and flying back. It wasn't until they didn't know which officer sang the song "God Save My Emperor" in excitement that they believed that they had escaped this catastrophe with their lives.

"Quick, order the "counterattack" to drive back quickly and tow us back to the port" Bai Tejia, who had escaped death, did not dare to slack off at this time, and immediately ordered the battle cruiser not far in front to drive over and tow the "Prince of Wales" back to the port.

In a piercing sound of friction, a "Hellcat" stopped steadily on the deck, and the team leader, Colonel Huang Haoran, jumped down from the fighter plane and ran towards the war room. The ground crew, who had been waiting for a long time, immediately rushed up, skillfully folded the wings of the fighter, and then sent it to the hangar for maintenance and inspection.

"Commander, why don't you let us continue the attack, we have already seriously injured the British battleship, just give me ten more minutes and we can send it to the bottom of the sea to feed the sharks, why don't you continue to attack" Huang Haoran's voice resounded in the small space of the war room, buzzing.

Zheng Xin put her hands behind her back and looked at this brave general with bright eyes: "Why? I'll tell you why, it's because the British agreed to repeal their 5072 bill, so the president specifically ordered us to stop attacking and let the British guys go. ”

"Huang Haoran, a soldier's duty is to obey orders, if you can't even do the basic common sense of obeying orders, then I advise you to take off your military uniform and go home."

Zheng Xin's sharp gaze pressed on Huang Haoran's heart like a mountain, although he was very depressed in his heart, but under the pressure of the big hat of obeying orders, Huang Haoran could only salute and leave the war room.

Seeing that the seven dissatisfied and eight dissatisfied subordinates went out, Zheng Xin's serious expression eased, and he shook his head with a smile, this Huang Haoran, he has achieved the position of captain, why still don't he understand the truth that the military always serves politics.

A destroyer was sunk by the British Third Squadron, and reports of heavy damage to the battleship "Prince of Wales" soon reached the heads of government of the two countries. Shocked and angry, Churchill lodged the strongest protest with the Chinese government through the ambassador of the Republic of China to China. The reply of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headed by Zhou Tiecheng was that the South China Sea Fleet at that time was suddenly attacked by shore-based fighters stationed in Malaysia, and the South China Sea Fleet launched a counterattack for the purpose of self-defense, and the South China Sea Fleet also lost five fighters.

This imminent naval battle once again told the European countries that in the far east the lion had straightened its waist, and although its body was not very strong and agile, it was not afraid of threats and blackmail from any country, and would not hesitate to bite down on anyone who dared to stretch out its black hand to it.

"It's a shame that if the British repealed that ridiculous bill five minutes later, we would have one more powerful ally in the German Reich," said the Berliner Zeitung.

"A thrilling naval battle, the decision of the British saved the newest battleship of the 40,000-ton class," commented the Washington Post.

"Shame on the British Empire, lament for the "Prince of Wales", our battleship was almost sunk by a few small planes, has the once invincible battleship been reduced to a floating target at sea? The British Times also issued a comment.

Regardless of what the outside world commented, the morning after the naval battle, the dusty South China Sea Fleet still resolutely approached the port of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, and sailed into the dock under unfriendly eyes.

"What? Let me hang a bunting and fire a salute at these devils, so I would rather shoot myself" On the bridge of the battleship "Prince of Wales", Rear Admiral Bai Tejia, whose head was still wrapped in white gauze, flew into a rage. For this Chinese fleet that almost sent itself to the bottom of the sea, Rear Admiral Bai Tejia always looked at him with hostility, and now Vice Admiral Percival actually ordered himself to hang the colorful flag and fire a salute to salute the opponent, which made Bai Tejia, who had just escaped death, unable to figure it out.

"Major General Bai Tejia, you have to remember that you are a soldier, and the duty of a soldier is to obey orders, if you can't even do the basic common sense of obeying orders, then I advise you to take off your military uniform and go home" Coincidentally, the same words came out of the mouths of the two lieutenant generals in Britain and Huaxia.

"This is an order from Prime Minister Churchill himself," the words that came out of Lord Wilson's mouth broke through the last shred of reserve in Major General Bertja's heart.

"These politicians, they should go to hell en masse" Rear Admiral Bai Tejia, who once swore to defend the honor of the Royal Navy, finally had no choice but to give in and hoisted the colorful flag towards the fleet that was still firing at him yesterday.

The quality of the British Navy was evident at this moment, and in just five minutes, all the British warships in the dock hoisted the bunting to pay tribute to the fleet that had been fighting desperately with them yesterday.

Out of courtesy, at this time, all the warships of the South China Sea Fleet also hoisted colorful flags, and all sailors, except for the officers and soldiers on duty, stood in a neat queue on the deck of the ship to salute their opponents.

"Boom"

"Boom"

Salutes began to be fired from both sides, as if they were about to be sunk yesterday, and the ten-inch main guns on the battleship "Prince of Wales" also began to roar, and the huge sound of cannons could be heard even in the center of Kuala Lumpur, twenty miles away.

But at this time, the loudest sound was not the cannon sound on the Prince of Wales", but the shouts of tens of thousands of overseas Chinese on the dock.

"Warship, that's our warship"

"Long live the Motherland"

The wanderers who were far away from the motherland finally looked forward to their warships, watched the mighty warships sail into the harbor and the heroic officers and men standing on the bridge and deck, and the overseas Chinese who greeted the arrival of the warships on the docks shouted with all their strength, and their voices even drowned out the roar of the cannons.

"Uncle Wang, our warship, this is our big warship" Zhou Zihao, who helped Uncle Wang to the dock, and all the overseas Chinese looked at the towering trick pole and the cannon muzzle that exuded cold air, as well as the blue sky and white sun full of red flags flying high on the trick pole, and danced happily.

Hundreds of years later, following the huge fleet led by Zheng He, the fleet flying the Chinese flag has once again come to this land.

The first to dock was the aircraft carrier "Han Signal", and he gently approached the third pier in the middle and the largest with the guide ship.

As the warship docked, Vice Admiral Zheng Xin, commander of the fleet, was the first to disembark, and he was accompanied by Colonel Ren Ran, commander of the 2nd Marine Brigade, and the chief of staff of the South China Sea Fleet. Soon Lord Wilson was greeted by Lieutenant General Percival and Major General Pertega.

Lord Wilson stretched out his hand from afar and said loudly: "Welcome, friends from afar, welcome to Malaysia for a friendly visit, and I welcome you on behalf of the British Government and the people of Malaysia."

"Hello and Lord Wilson, I am also honored to pay a goodwill visit to Malaysia on behalf of the Chinese government and 450 million Chinese people, and I would like to express my sincere greetings to you and your government on behalf of our President Su."

As soon as the leaders of the two sides met, they said polite words that made everyone behind them feel goosebumps, and the degree of numbness made people feel that it was a pity that these two people didn't act.