[Today's second shift, there will be a third shift in the evening]

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On the vast sea, it was pitch black. Over the South China Sea, the east monsoon blowing from the north is particularly cold.

Commander Turner of the Dutch East India Fleet never gave up the pursuit of the Pacific Fleet, whether it was for the treasure of the treasure ship or for the honor of the soldiers, he wanted to defeat the Pacific Fleet.

Sixty-three warships lined up in a row to search and advance to the south, and the horizontal formation spread out for more than a dozen miles, and if it was daytime, such a magnificent scene could be clearly seen, and I was shocked by it. However, in the dark night, only the faint communication lights of the ships 100 meters away could be seen flickering.

Turner thought that the Pacific Fleet was resupplying at Matapura Harbor, but only to find out that it was wrong when he rushed over, Matapura Harbor was heavily guarded, but there was no trace of the Pacific Fleet.

From that moment on, Turner wilted like an eggplant beaten by frost.

He thought that the operation should be a complete failure, and was about to abandon the operation and return to Batavia with his fleet, but the situation changed abruptly.

A schooner quickly approached the flagship Thala Jersey and brought back exciting good news.

"It is reported that a large number of enemy ships have been found on the sea 40 nautical miles to the southeast, and it is preliminarily judged that the enemy fleet is resupplying at sea."

Turner was excited, and suddenly became energetic, and hurriedly asked, "Supplies at sea?" ”

"Yes" Signal Corps Report: "Several giant ships were found, suspected to be the Nuwa-class transport carriers of the Chinese Empire"

"It must be them," Turner suddenly rejoiced, dancing with joy.

Hearing this, Reyoz also woke up from the confusion and said: "Sure enough, it was so cunning that he didn't resupply in the port, but ran to the sea to resupply, no wonder we couldn't find it no matter how we looked for it."

Turner said excitedly: "In the vast sea, we can find them, don't you say that God has blessed us?" ”

"Of course" Rejouz was noncommittal, after all, when this situation appeared, they really ran shit luck.

"Forty nautical miles, it will take nearly three hours for our fleet to rush over, and during this time the Pacific Fleet must have been rereplenished"

Thinking of this, Turner was immediately discouraged again. Judging from the current Dutch East India Fleet, once the Pacific Fleet completed its supply, Turner was not at all sure that it would destroy the other side.

Rejoz waved his hand and said, "If it's in the port, I believe that by the time we pass, the Pacific Fleet will have finished resupplying." But now that the other side is replenishing at sea, the situation is very different, and in less than seven or eight hours, they don't want to finish replenishing the whole fleet."

When Turner heard this, he immediately rejoiced: "That is to say, when we rush over, the Pacific Fleet will be able to replenish at most half of the warships."

Rayoz nodded affirmatively, which immediately made Turner ecstatic, and hurriedly ordered the whole fleet to rush over at full speed.

In the vast expanse of the ocean, the chances of being able to spot the Pacific Fleet are almost zero. However, due to the urgent need for ammunition supply for the Pacific Fleet, it had to carry ammunition under its own control.

In the dark, the lights are very visible. In addition, the Pacific Fleet gathered together, and dozens of warships were brightly lit, causing the nearby sea to be extremely bright, and it was finally detected by the Dutch schooners passing by.

It was inconvenient to replenish supplies by sea, especially at night. Three Nuwa-class transport carriers are docked at sea and can resupply up to six warships at a time, and the replenishment time can take several hours to complete.

At two o'clock in the morning, when the main force of the Dutch East India Fleet approached ten nautical miles, the peripheral sentinel ships of the Pacific Fleet immediately gave a warning.

The sound of the siren immediately made the officers and men of the Pacific Fleet nervous.

Shi Jianfei climbed out of the cabin sleepily and came to the bridge command room.

"Does this Turner have a dog's nose? This will find us."

Wang Nan did not respond, and directly asked the shipmaster next to him about the supply of each ship.

"The ships of the Tianzi have just been replenished"

Shi Jianfei said depressedly: "I knew that Turner's dog nose was so smart, we should have kept up with other warships first."

It turned out that the Pacific Fleet first supplied eleven first-class battleships, and then the Sea Lion-class and Beigumo-class ships. Due to the long replenishment time of the Tianzi battleship, the replenishment time of other battleships was delayed. If the other warships were replenished first, then more than forty warships would have completed the replenishment at this moment.

Regret medicine is naturally not taken, Shi Jianfei looked at Wang Nan, the latter said: "We must retreat now, otherwise our fleet will suffer a big loss"

No matter how strong the Pacific Fleet is without ammunition, it can only be beaten, Shi Jianfei knows this very well, but he said worriedly: "The supply fleet is too slow, and there must be a fleet of the palace." If you don't stop the Dutch fleet, the supply fleet will never escape. ”

Wang Nan nodded, understanding that the biggest weakness of the Nuwa-class transport carrier was that it was too slow. At this moment, the Dutch East India Fleet rushed directly over, apparently already knowing the supply fleet's stockpile.

"So what are you going to do? There are more than sixty warships of the enemy fleet, and no matter how they fight, they will suffer"

Shi Jianfei thought for a while and said, "I'll take the first team to block the enemy fleet, and you take the other sub-teams and supply fleets to leave, and go south as much as possible, maybe you will meet the Indian Ocean Fleet that comes to reinforce you."

Wang Nan said unhappily: "How can this be? I'm not leaving."

Shi Jianfei said with a smile: "The fleet command can't do without a command, just like eggs don't fit in a basket. We command separately, even if we are broken by the enemy, we still have a lump, don't we? ”

Wang Nan smiled bitterly and said, "Then you take the other sub-teams away, and I will stay to block the enemy."

Shi Jianfei said with a smile: "Now when I am not humble, I am a commander, good at fighting, and you are the chief of staff and good at organizing evacuation."

“……”

Wang Nan was still holding on, but he saw that Shi Jianfei's face had sunk, and he knew that he could no longer persuade him, so he agreed to his construction.

All supply operations ended immediately, all the battleships turned off their lights, Wang Nan boarded the Haizihao's flagship Sea Lion, and led the Haizihao, Fengzihao, Luzi, Fuzi, and Chenzihao sub-teams to escort the supply fleet away, all the way south.

As the lights went out, the Pacific Fleet was plunged into darkness. In order to allow the supply fleet to escape, Shi Jianfei ordered the Tianzi sub-team to hold the lantern in order to attract the attention of the Dutch East India fleet.

Half an hour later, the Dutch East India Fleet appeared in the northeast direction of the Tianzi Division, and because the Dutch fleet was advancing with the lights out, Shi Jianfei could not see the situation of the enemy fleet clearly.

"Shoot flares, I want to see the situation of the enemy fleet"

The order was issued, and several fast communication ships nearby quickly sailed in the direction of the Dutch East India Fleet, and soon after several communication ships fired a round of flares, Shi Jianfei had clearly seen the situation of the Dutch East India Fleet.

"A long snake formation, it looks like it's ready to surround us"

Soon, the flares burned out, and the sea and sky suddenly became pitch black.

"Turn off the lights"

Shi Jianfei sneered, and immediately ordered the fleet to turn left and attack the right flank of the Dutch fleet.

On the other side, Turner never turned on the lights, just to facilitate the observation of the situation of the Pacific Fleet. However, when the Pacific Fleet fired multiple flares, Turner was dumbfounded, and under the flares, the position and formation of the entire Dutch East India Fleet had been exposed.

"Damn it, they still have it?" Turner took a hard sip, feeling very uncomfortable with the novelty of the Pacific Fleet, which showed that his previous knowledge of the Pacific Fleet was only superficial.

Rayoz sighed, "They have this, we don't need to turn off the lights anymore"

Turner nodded, and the tunnel ordered the entire fleet to restore the lights and prepare for battle.

However, at this moment, the Pacific Fleet turned off the lights, and the Tianzi sub-team suddenly disappeared into the night, and nothing could be seen.

Turner's eyes widened, and he scolded the Pacific Fleet for not having the courage to be a coward and not daring to fight a gentleman.

"What now?" Rejoz said worriedly: "The enemy is dark and I am clear, it is too unfavorable for us, or we will all turn off the lights."

Turner's mind spun around quickly, and he suddenly said, "It's okay, I'll let them come over obediently to die."

Turner then ordered the entire fleet to change formation and split into two echelons. The first echelon turned off the lights and hidden, and the second echelon of about twenty warships picked up the lights and went directly to the south.

In the dark, on the bridge of the flagship Dingyuan, Shi Jianfei watched the movements of the Dutch East India Fleet, and secretly nodded in his heart and praised Turner for being an excellent guy.

It turned out that Turner already knew the weakness of the Pacific Fleet, which was a supply fleet with a speed comparable to that of a snail. Shi Jianfei led eleven capital ships to stay, which was nothing more than a broken rear. Turner knew that Shi Jianfei in the dark was difficult to deal with and quite dangerous. Therefore, he ordered an echelon of open fire to go south at full speed to pursue the supply fleet of the Chinese Empire, and if Shi Jianfei wanted to save the supply fleet, then he had to intercept this southbound Dutch detachment.

However, once Shi Jianfei flew over to intercept this Dutch detachment, its position would be revealed at the moment of firing the cannon, and then Turner, who was in the shadows, would take care of Shi Jianfei's Tianzi sub-team with full firepower.

Shi Jianfei instantly figured out the joints and stakes, but he had to step on Turner's set.

"Full rudder on the right, intercept the enemy fleet on the right"

When the order was issued, the Dingyuan quickly turned right, and the ten Tianzi battleships behind it also turned right, and followed the Dingyuan to intercept the Dutch detachment heading south.

In the dark night, on the sea, even if there is light, the range of light is only one or two hundred meters away, and the view is very blurry.

Twenty Dutch warships were divided into two formations to go south, and Shi Jianfei commanded the first squadron to sail from the west to the east, just stopping at the front of the enemy fleet, and occupying the "T" horizontal position for the best shooting.

The First Sentai was in a state of stealth, and the sentries on the Dutch battleships heading south could not observe the First Sentai and therefore could not prepare for defense in advance.

"Palm lamp ready for shelling"

In the gun decks of the ships of the Tianzi sub-team, oil lamps were lit one after another. As soon as the lights came on, the gunners on the gun deck prepared to fire their guns.

"Prepare"

When the order was issued, all the guns on the port side of the first team were raised, and the lights inside suddenly shot out, looking like fire spirits in the darkness from a distance.

As the cannon came out of the gun gate**, the black hole muzzle was aimed at the Dutch battleship heading head-on.

"Spot enemy ships"

"Open the gun"

When the Dutch warship spotted the oncoming lights, they immediately shouted in panic, and at the same time the first team had already given the order to bombard.

Knock knock

In the night, thunderous cannons rang out. The dull sound of cannons resounded through the sky, spread for dozens of miles, and echoed for a long time.

The battleship Dingyuan was the first to open fire, but saw the fire flickering on its port side and spewing thick smoke. Shells shot into the night sky, making bright curves, and then roared towards the enemy ships.

Less than 300 meters away, the shells flew in an instant, and suddenly stirred up huge columns of water, and the sea water boiled in an instant.

The Dingyuan fired a salvo, and several of the fifty shells hit the enemy ship at once, inflicting heavy damage on the enemy ship.

After firing, the Dingyuan continued to sail eastward, and the Sky Dome behind followed, and after a few minutes, it entered the attack range and immediately opened fire on the enemy ships.

Suddenly, another fifty shells were fired at the enemy ship, and five or six shells hit the enemy ship directly. As a result, the enemy ship was flooded in many places, and sporadic fires were ignited on the deck.

Then, the Sky Dome sailed away, and the Sky Trench came up to continue the shelling. At this moment, the lead ship of the enemy fleet was already scarred, and when multiple shells hit the ship again, it immediately caused even more damage. There were many damages near the bow of the enemy ship, and the sea water poured into it through the breaches, and the Dutch sailors filled the hole on the left, and the hole on the right was broken, and it was soon impossible to remedy.

In this way, after a salvo from the port side of the Celestial fleet in the horizontal position of the "T", more than 500 shells poured onto the two Dutch battleships at the front, sinking one of them and damaging the other.

The hit rate of the night shelling was extremely low, and the fleet of the Tianzi opened fire at a distance of about 300 meters, hitting only 30 shells. If in the daytime, at this distance, a battleship alone of the Dingyuan could do it.

Immediately after the shelling, the Dutch detachment evaded it, and the whole fleet turned to the left. When Shi Jianfei saw the enemy fleet turn left, he immediately ordered the first team to turn right, because he knew that there was still a Dutch fleet hidden in the darkness on both sides.

Sure enough, at the moment when the Tianzi sub-team opened fire and attacked, Turner in the dark had already seen their position clearly, and immediately mobilized the remaining battleships to outflank them left and right.

After a salvo of the Tianzi fleet, Turner had already led the remaining forty or so warships to outflank it.

The fire flickered in the dark, and Shi Jianfei secretly said that it was not good, so he hurriedly ordered to avoid it. In the blink of an eye, the roar of cannon was heard, followed by a whistling of shells. The sea water was boiling, and columns of water rose into the sky, and many shells were fired in the starboard company of the Dingyuan, injuring many sailors.

The Dutch East India Fleet was numerous, and the left flank detachment attacking the Celestial fleet had twenty-three battleships, including three second-class battleships and twenty third-class battleships, and the firepower was quite fierce.

Shi Jianfei knew that this was inevitable, the two sides had already opened fire, and each side had exposed the position of the other party, so he could only fight with all his might.

The cannon roared, and the smoke of gunpowder filled the air. In the sea at night, lightning and thunder roared, and the warships on both sides shuttled through the smoke of gunpowder, and every time they fired fire, the hull of the ship under the light loomed in the thick smoke, like a ghost.

The two sides are quite close to each other, the farthest is no more than 400 meters, and the closest is only 100 meters. As soon as the battle began, the two sides immediately fell into a white-hot fighting state. The shells pierced through each other's hulls in an instant, and even directly through the hull, piercing the shells from the other side.

Thick smoke rolled, flames flew, officers and soldiers had blood-red eyes, they kept loading ammunition and firing artillery, and their mechanical movements had forgotten their comrades who were constantly falling, and they didn't even care about their own injuries and bleeding.

The sound of artillery was deafening, and the commander's orders were already difficult to convey to the ears of the gunners at this time. The gunners, their ears were buzzing at the moment, and they couldn't hear anyone talking, just a belief, that is, as long as there was an enemy ship in their sight, they would not hesitate to fire and fire again until the opponent was sunk.

At this time, the quality of the battleship came to the fore. The warships of the Pacific Fleet are structurally quite strong, and the most prominent thing is that there are many watertight compartments. Even if the shells of the Dutch battleships pierced the armor of the waterline, the sailors could isolate them before they had time to repair them, making it difficult to sink them. Dutch warships, on the other hand, generally did not have watertight compartments, and their crescent-shaped hulls were extremely vulnerable to hitting, and if they were shattered, they would soon sink if they were too late for the sailors to repair them.

In terms of firepower, the battleship Tianzi of the Pacific Fleet was a first-class battleship, with more guns than the Dutch battleships, and the range, rate of fire and power of the Shenwu cannons were all stronger than those of the Dutch battleships.

The two sides fought at close range, and the Pacific Fleet had the absolute upper hand. This was something that Turner did not expect, and it caused the Dutch East India Fleet to sink six ships in the first round of fierce fighting, and four ships were heavily damaged and forced to withdraw from the battle sequence.

However, the Tianzi team also suffered a great blow, and the Dutch battleships were numerous, and they were attacked from the left and right, causing many damage and scars to the hulls of each ship. Especially the battleship Tianqiong, he has been helping the flagship Dingyuan block shells, and the hull of the ship was damaged, if it weren't for the sailors desperately repairing the loopholes, I am afraid that it would have been sunk at this moment.

"You can't fight like this" Shi Jianfei thought that it was not cost-effective to fight like this, a Sky Dome-class battleship was quite expensive, far from being something that a few Dutch battleships could exchange for.

In the dark night, artillery fire flickered and gunpowder smoke filled the air. Most of the time, it is difficult to see the whole body of the battleship, either hidden in the smoke or hidden in the shadows. The visibility was only a hundred meters away, and except for the nearby battleships, it was not even known whether the battleships behind them were following, and it was impossible to distinguish between the enemy and the enemy.

"Order all ships to use two gun decks to fire, and make all efforts to break through in the southwest direction"

Shi Jianfei's order made the staff officers puzzled for a while, but they soon understood his intentions. It turned out that Shi Jianfei was going to use the night and gunsmoke as a cover, and the reason why the enemy fleet was able to distinguish between the enemy and the enemy was mainly because the Tianzi sub-team was a first-class battleship with a three-story gun deck. When the cannon is fired, the light of the fire can distinguish friend from foe.

Shi Jianfei ordered the whole fleet to only use two gun decks to fight back, so that a large number of warships in the Dutch fleet had two gun decks, and it was difficult to distinguish between the enemy and the enemy in the night.

On the contrary, three of the Dutch East India Fleet were second-class battleships with three gun decks, and once Shi Jianfei's side ceased fire, their three main ships would be attacked by Dutch warships on the other side.

Fighting his own battleship with his own battleship, this is what makes Shi Jianfei happy.

Sure enough, the ships of the Tianzi gave up their formation sailing, and after fighting independently, the ships of the Dutch East India Fleet also abandoned their formations, and the two sides entered the melee stage.

The ships of the Tianzi took refuge in hiding, used the darkness and smoke to cover their tracks, and from time to time only fired on two gun decks to mislead the Dutch warships.

Turner didn't notice the problem, and his ship and the other two second-class battleships were still at full firepower, and the three-tier gun deck opened fire fiercely, striking the opposing Imperial Chinese warships.

The Dutch battleships that came to reinforce nearby found that Turner's warship had three layers of firepower, while the opposite battleship only had two layers of firepower.

Night naval battles, the oolong situation is inevitable, which is also the main reason why the navies of most countries avoid night battles.

In accordance with Shi Jianfei's order, the ships of the Tianzi broke through separately, and then sailed to the southwest for convergence.

At about 5 o'clock in the morning, the ships of the Tianzi converged in the sea area 20 nautical miles away from the battlefield, and after counting, only three warships were seriously damaged, and the rest were slightly damaged, and their combat effectiveness was basically intact.

In the distance, on the sea, there was still a roar of cannons, thick smoke billowed out, and the firelight reflected the red sky, and the fighting was very fierce.

The officers and men of the ships on the Tianzi sub-team couldn't help but laugh heartily at the battlefield in the distance, laughing at the Dutch fighting in the nest.

An hour later, the overcast sea began to light up, and the Dutch fleet, which had been fighting in the middle of the night, suddenly ceased fire.

Turner's uniform was torn, and his face was like a beggar, and Rayoz next to him also had a calm face, eager to eat people.

The sea was littered with the wreckage of warships, and the flames and smoke were billowing into the sky. There were corpses floating everywhere in the water, and if you looked closely, most of them were Dutch sailors.

Turner looked around, where there was a warship of the Chinese Empire, all of them were his own warships.

By this time, everyone understood that the Dutch had been fighting themselves for a long time, but they had fought very hard, because thirty-two of the sixty-three warships brought by Turner had been sunk, and the remaining warships were all scarred, with heavy casualties, and their combat effectiveness was already less than two percent. Two of the three second-class battleships had been sunk, and during Turner's time, the Tara Jersey had been completely incapacitated, with ruins and fires everywhere, and a good flagship had been turned into a junkyard.

"Ah~"

Turner roared in the sky, his anger soaring into the sky, and everyone nearby shrugged their heads, afraid to look or speak, praying quietly, or remembering the warships that had sunk several of their own men last night. V