There are two different monsoon seasons in the waters near the Nansha Islands, the northeast monsoon blows from December to March of the following year, which is quite humid; From June to September, the southwest monsoon is the driest when it blows. These two monsoon seasons are interspersed by alternating monsoon months, April to May and November to December. During the monsoon months, the ground winds are weak and changeable, and the sun is very hot, resulting in frequent showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening.

On November 12, when the war in Hong Kong was tense, the British political axe ordered the British Asian Fleet stationed in Singapore to escort the expeditionary force to Hong Kong for reinforcements.

Marshal Lyons had always opposed this plan because he felt that Hong Kong could not be defended at all, and that it was better to hold on to Singapore than to waste troops on Hong Kong. Lyons had been in the Imperial Chinese Navy for many years and was familiar with the operational thinking of the senior admirals of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

"If we go to reinforce Hong Kong, the Imperial Chinese Navy will definitely wait somewhere in the South China Sea and say humiliating things to us, such as 'Hello,' 'I've been waiting for you for a long time.'"

In his office, Lyons walked back and forth, opposing the fleet's going to sea, and even more so against reinforcing Hong Kong, believing that it was a conspiracy of the Imperial Chinese Navy and that the Pacific Fleet would ambush them halfway.

Vice Admiral Bill, the chief of staff, frowned and said, "However, if you can't lead the fleet out to sea to meet the enemy, it won't be long before the headquarters will remove you!" ”

Lyons said firmly: "I would rather be removed from my post than let our fleet go out and die in vain!" ”

Bill sighed, "I understand your feelings, but if you are removed, we will no longer have a commander who is familiar with the operational thinking of the Chinese Imperial Navy. The new commander will certainly flatter the High Command and lead the fleet to sea, and I think it would be more appropriate for you to take command of our fleet. ”

Lyons didn't understand the current situation, and said, "But what are we going to do to fight the Chinese Imperial Navy?" Damn the Admiralty! ”

Bill asked, "Your Excellency, why are you so worried about the new concept battleships of the Chinese Empire?" As far as I know, they have only nine ships deployed in the Pacific Fleet. ”

"You don't know," said Lyons, "Fisher and I have watched the sea trials of the battleship Divine Bow and seen her formidable combat effectiveness. None of our battleships will be a match for battleships of this new concept. ”

Bill said: "If Fisher also knows how powerful she is, why hasn't the Imperial Navy been built on a large scale until now?" ”

Lyons sighed: "It's all Fisher, the waste minister, who can't influence the opinion of the Admiralty, and wasted three years, and as a result, dozens of obsolete scrap iron came out." ”

Bill said: "Whatever you think, I feel that the officers and men of the fleet are now dissatisfied with you, and they say that you are a coward and dare not fight. I also think that it is not a way for us to be blocked and beaten at the doorstep of the Chinese Imperial Navy like this, and in the long run, the Imperial Navy will lose face. ”

Lyons smiled bitterly: "On one side is the face of the empire, and on the other side is the gap in strength, do you know? We are following the path of Russia's defeat! ”

Bill continued: "But we can't hold out like this, and when the Imperial Chinese Navy completes a total naval blockade, then we will be too passive." ”

Lyons seemed to be unable to resist the chief of staff, and said, "In that case, we need to plan carefully." ”

Lyons had no choice but to call the officers to discuss the strategy of going to sea to meet the enemy.

In a certain area of the Nansha Islands, the main force of the Pacific Fleet anchored here, and the silver-gray hull paint looked like a splash from a distance.

Located in the center of the fleet is the flagship battleship Diqi, a huge hull of more than 20,000 tons, a huge island of 20 meters high, and the dragon flag of the Chinese Empire waving in the wind above.

The four twin 305mm gun turrets are neatly arranged on the central axis of the hull, and even if the muzzles of Hessesen are covered by the gun jackets, they still cannot hide their murderous silhouette.

On the bridge, Admiral Lin Jianzhang, commander of the fleet, Vice Admiral Ye Zugui, chief of staff of the fleet, and a training staff officer of the fleet headquarters gathered.

"Haven't you moved yet?" Ye Zugui asked the intelligence staff officer.

The intelligence staff officer shook his head and said, "The British fleet has been cowering in the port of Singapore and has not come out. ”

Lin Jianzhang said with a smile: "This Marshal Lyons has been dealing with us for many years, I'm afraid this trick won't work for him." ”

Ye Zugui said: "That's not necessarily! Lyons could have guessed our tactics, but the Admiralty's bunch of rice pails might not have thought so. Now that the war in Hong Kong is tight, I don't believe that the British will sit idly by, they will definitely force Lyons to reinforce Hong Kong! ”

Lin Jianzhang nodded and said, "I hope your idea is right!" However, how did I hear that the Indian Ocean Fleet was sending reinforcements to Singapore? ”

Ye Zugui said: "The main force of the Indian Ocean Fleet has long been assigned to the Asian Fleet, and there must be warships of the Indian Ocean Fleet among the British warships we attacked. I don't think the Indian Ocean Fleet that came to reinforce this time will be very strong, and the old warships are just giving us an extra appetizer. ”

Lin Jianzhang said with a smile: "It seems that the chief of staff is full of confidence!" ”

Ye Zugui smiled: "That's nature!" If it weren't for this sneak attack, I'm afraid I would have been worried, after all, the British have too many warships, and we are tigers who can't withstand the wolves! Well, now that we have a sneak attack and killed a third of the strength of the Asian fleet, we will naturally have the bottom in our hearts. ”

Lin Jianzhang said with a smile: "Oh, this time the British old man is probably crazy, maybe how to scold us behind his back!" ”

Ye Zugui smiled: "The soldiers are treacherous, what can they say? ”

Lin Jianzhang said: "That is the art of war of our ancestors, Westerners are not popular with Sun Tzu's art of war, they think that sneak attacks are shameless acts." ”

Ye Zugui snorted coldly and said, "What do they think? We can win this war, and it's easy to say that we won! ”

Lin Jianzhang said: "That's right! I agree with that! History is written by the victors, no matter how you say it, it makes sense! I believe in His Majesty's famous saying, 'Justice and justice are only valid within the range of a cannon'. ”

Ye Zugui stroked the white bulkhead made of stainless steel and said, "I really want to see her power, but Lyons doesn't give us this face!" ”

Lin Jianzhang smiled: "Don't worry! No matter how old and cunning the fox is, he always has to obey the orders of the tiger, as long as the British command can't bear it, the old fox Lyons will have to come out and die! ”

At this time, the communications staff officer suddenly reported: "Report, intercepted that the British High Command sent a wireless telegram to the British Asian Fleet." ”

"Read!" Lin Jianzhang turned around, and Ye Zugui and other officers also listened attentively.

"The British High Command ordered the commander of the Asian Fleet, Lyons, to rush to reinforce Hong Kong, and the Indian Ocean Fleet will pass through the Strait of Malacca on the morning of 20 July, and will cooperate with the Asian Fleet to carry out a breakthrough operation."

Lin Jianzhang laughed and said, "Look, what do you want!" ”

Ye Zugui took the telegram and read it, signed it and returned it to the intelligence staff officer, and then said to Lin Jianzhang: "This is already the third urging order, there is a way that everything is only three, this time Lyons will definitely have to do it." ”

Lin Jianzhang let out a long breath and said, "Do you say that the British are too stupid, or are we too shrewd?" The intelligence of the British has no secrets to us, and it doesn't seem interesting to fight this battle, does it? ”

Ye Zugui smiled: "You are cheap and good!" ”

The two laughed a few times, and Lin Jianzhang said: "I heard that this radio decipherment technology was made up by the one named Tesla?" Why do you think he's so capable? ”

Ye Zugui smiled: "You have to ask him about this?" ”

Then Ye Zugui said: "But then again, if there is no Tesla, I'm afraid we still have to rely on the flag language to command." ”

Lin Jianzhang nodded, suddenly thought of something, and asked: "The communication notification jamming ship Pipa Jing sent to us by the Admiralty this time, I am cautious just by hearing this, can it be done?" Don't be serious, she drops the chain for Lao Tzu! ”

The pipa essence in Lin Jianzhang's mouth is the result of the latest research of the Beiyang Science and Technology Radio Laboratory of the Chinese Empire. Due to Tesla's ultra-high capabilities in the radio field, after Wang Chenhao, the emperor of the Chinese Empire, told him his ideas about radio detection, listening, interception, shielding, jamming, etc., Tesla immediately began to study.

As an expert in radio, Marconi was appointed as Tesla's deputy, and the two worked together to study technical issues such as radio interception, listening, detection, shielding, and jamming.

After several years of research, a breakthrough has been made in the simplest wireless jamming technology, which can interfere with radio signals in a certain area, making it impossible to communicate. At the same time, in order to prevent interference from its own radio in this area, Tesla has divided a series of bands and only interfered with each band. When the enemy communicates in the A-band, the A-band jamming is enabled, and the own side uses the unaffected B-band.

Of course, this is only the most rudimentary jamming technique, but the Admiralty appreciates it. To this end, the Admiralty commissioned the Navy Shipyard and Beiyang Science and Technology to jointly build a communications ship, equipped with a high-power radio jamming system.

During the sea trials, the Admiralty officials humorously called it Pipa Spirit, and as a result, the members of the Naming Committee thought it was a good name, so they named it after the Pipa Essence.

Ye Zugui said: "You can rest assured! I have confirmed with the Admiralty, and they say that the Pipa Essence has been tested for more than two years and can intercept any radio signal within a radius of five hundred kilometers, and can interfere with its frequencies to interrupt its radio communications. The British Asian Fleet was equipped with a radio system that would be paralyzed in wartime. ”

Lin Jianzhang nodded and said, "If there is really what they say, then God is a good thing!" At the most critical moment of the battle, suddenly interfering with its radio command can have a miraculous effect. I'm afraid this thing is not reliable, don't interfere with our communications! ”

Ye Zugui smiled: "You can rest assured!" The high-power radio jammers of the Pipa Spirit do not interfere with the internal communication channels of our fleet and do not affect our command. ”

Lin Jianzhang nodded and said, "That's good!" In recent years, we have more and more new equipment, and to be honest, I was dazzled! ”

Ye Zugui agreed: "Yes! Beiyang Science and Technology has an annual funding of up to 90 million, and top scientists and engineers from all walks of life from all over the world are there. I heard that this radio jamming technology is also the work of Tesla. ”

Lin Jianzhang was surprised: "Isn't this guy a sperm?" ”

Ye Zugui laughed and said, "I heard that this guy only sleeps two hours a day, and he is not close to women, but he is really a sperm?" ”

(To be continued)