The whistle sounded, the battleship slowly sailed away from the harbor, the people seeing off gradually became blurred, and behind the flagship Makino, the ship that followed the expedition this time, the waves on the bow of the ship rolled to the sides, turning into a white path, a straight road ahead.

The fleet will pass through the Makassar Strait between Kalimantan and Sulawesi, enter the Sulawesi Sea, and then bypass Mindanao and enter the Pacific Ocean, directly into the main island of Japan, a distance of about 5,500 kilometers, and if the fleet is driven at the endurance speed, it will take about 9 days to reach.

The sky is very blue, the blue is transparent and high, the clouds are very white, the white makes people's hearts rise with infinite joy, the sea water is clear, and from time to time there are seabirds chasing the battleship in the distance, picking up the small fish that have been knocked out by the battleship.

The boat was not moving fast, and there were no waves in the strait, Guo Yu and Lin Haichao sat on the deck, smoking and chatting with the sea breeze.

"Look at the mountain in the distance, the highest mountain is called 'Lante Combora', it is the highest peak in Sulawesi, more than 3,400 meters above sea level, in fact, Sulawesi is closer than Java Island to our Kalimantan Island, but Sulawesi Island is too barren, basically all mountainous, there is very little land that can be cultivated, and there is no value."

Guo Yu said with his hand holding a cigar cigarette pointing to the mountains of Sulawesi Island that loomed in the distance.

"Majesty Xià is not interested here?" Lin Haichao asked casually.

(9) ∞ Chang (9) ∞ Feng (9) ∞ Wen (9) ∞ Xue, w◇ww.cfwx.ne⊙t Guo Yu smiled, "How can I not be interested, I sue you, in the future, this South Sea, as long as there is an island, I will occupy it, even if it is useless at all, it is just a way to declare sovereignty, and it cannot be said that it is useful or useless to give up, even if it is the continental shelf and sea area extended by the island." It is a lot of property, not to mention a big island like Sulawesi, which is the tenth largest island in the world, with an area of 190,000 square kilometers, which is almost the area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. ”

Two days later, the fleet sailed out of the Sulawesi Sea. Approaching the vicinity of Mindanao, "Your Majesty, in front of you is the Sanuih Islands, through this archipelago we are about to enter the Pacific Ocean, the fleet is ready to rest and replenish on the edge of the strait of this archipelago, what do you command?" ”

"Just march according to your own plan, don't ask me about everything, remember, you are the commander of the fleet. It's the commander of this fleet, I said when I came, I won't interfere too much in your battle and command, if I have any opinions, I'll come to you directly, now go about your own business. Guo Yu said.

"It's Your Majesty." Lin Haichao saluted and left Guo Yu's room, which was the original captain's room, poor Lin Haichao was squeezed into another room by Guo Yu, who called this the best room on the battleship. Lin Haichao didn't dare to enjoy it himself, so he let Guo Yu live in another room.

Actually, speaking of which. The gap in the conditions on the battleship is not much, and it is not a cruise ship, what kind of comfort, luxury and luxury are pursued, even if it is the captain's room, it is only a small living room more than others, which is a room used to meet subordinates.

In the evening, the fleet anchored on the edge of a small island. A small uninhabited island with an area of less than one square kilometer. The sun is setting, sparkling like a sea full of gold, there is no wind on the sea today, Guo Yu put on a coat and walked on the deck, enjoying a rare relaxing time.

The personnel on the fleet did not stop. Because it is necessary to take advantage of this time to inspect the various parts of the battleship and replenish it, because it is about to enter the Pacific Ocean, it is difficult to find such a quiet harbor in the Pacific Ocean where these warships can dock.

Guo Yu took out a tablet from the space, opened the map, and compared the location on the navigation chart, Guo Yu knew that this was the middle of the archipelago, and the island next to the fleet also had a name, called Arriaga Island, on the navigation chart of the Republic of China, there was no name for these small islands, and it was also thanks to the boredom of the Philippine government in later generations, so they all gave names to these small islands, and marked them on the map in a grand manner.

Now it is almost December, although the temperature on Nanyang Island is still about 22 degrees, but Japan has entered winter, so the farther north the fleet goes, the colder the weather becomes, fortunately, when it sets off, these factors have been taken into account, and the fleet has been issued military uniforms suitable for winter wear, which will not affect the battle of the fleet and soldiers.

With nothing to do, Guo Yu was idle, took out a few sea fishing rods in the space, ran to the edge of the helipad, and began to catch fish. Hang the shrimp on the hook and throw it into the sea just to be harvested.

A recliner was placed on the side, and there were even a few cans of beer on the ground, Guo Yu lay in the recliner, picked up the beer and poured a sip of wine, then closed his eyes and enjoyed the residual warmth of the sun. That is, Guo Yu dared to do this, if it was someone else, it is estimated that Lin Haichao would dare to throw people directly into the sea and let him swim back to Kalimantan Island by himself.

Bell bell ring, the bell on the fishing rod rang, Guo Yu opened his eyes a little worried, damn, I almost fell asleep comfortably just now, this is fishing.

The bell on the fishing rod was still thinking, Guo Yu hurriedly got up and grabbed the rod and picked up the fish, how could it be regarded as a sufficient shelf, if he didn't catch a few fish, it would be so faceless.

Damn, the strength is quite big, Guo Yu took the fishing rod and turned the wheel to reel in the line, according to the strength of the fishing rod, he is definitely a big guy, but now Guo Yu's strength is inhuman, even if he catches a great white shark, he can pull it up.

The boat gang of the battleship is much higher than that of the sea fishing boat, and there is no one around to help catch fish, Guo Yu can only use his own strength and directly drag the fish onto the deck, fortunately, these fishing rods and fishing lines are really strong, otherwise they really can't stand Guo Yu's toss like this.

It is indeed a big guy, Guo Yu doesn't know much about fish, looking at the black guy on the deck who keeps tossing, he shouted to the guards in the distance, "Go and call the head chef on the ship to see if this guy can eat it." ”

After a while, wearing a white coat, the chubby head chef ran over, "Your Majesty, you call me." "This guy is so fat, Xu ran in a hurry when he came, and now he can't breathe.

"Let's see what kind of fish it is, and if you can eat it." Guo Yu pointed to the black guy who was lying on the deck not far away, who was already out of breath and out of breath, leaving only the black guy who opened his mouth slowly.

"Yo, such a big grouper, your majesty is really powerful, this guy has a lot of strength, you can pull it up." The head chef stepped forward and patted the wide head of the fish.

"Can you eat it?" Guo Yu asked again.

"Of course you can eat it, this is a good thing, the taste is absolutely not good, your majesty, don't worry, I'll get you a few good dishes in a while, I'm sure you'll feast on it, I'm a veteran of making fish before, this fish is a grouper, also called a pig lamb grouper, look at this guy's one meter and six long, estimated to be two hundred catties, enough for one hundred and ten people to eat." The fat chef is quite capable, which is why Guo Yu usually doesn't put on a shelf.

"Okay, you make a whole fish feast in the evening, I'm going to feast all the captains of the warships, go get it, make it better." Guo Yu said.

"Your Majesty, look at it." As he spoke, the fat cook called two soldiers and carried the big fish to prepare dinner.

Guo Yu called his secretary Han Cheng and asked him to inform Lin Haichao to call all the captains to come to the Makino ship, and Guo Yu invited them to dinner.

This is a great honor, although these people are all Guo Yu's subordinates, but these people usually regard Guo Yu as the head of the meeting, as their spiritual leader, and now they are still their own kings, no matter which identity they are, they will make these people very excited.

As a superior, although you don't have to be happy with the people, you can't be too alienated from your close subordinates, and the necessary wooing is still needed, maybe a word, a meal, can make these people remember for a lifetime.

Today's Huafu fleet, the captains of these warships, are definitely the elites selected by Guo Yu, and they are all the implementers of Guo Yu's fleet plan in the future, and they are a group of people that Guo Yu focuses on cultivating.

The place where the dinner was set on the deck, and the evening sea breeze did not cool the enthusiasm of the people, and these young captains sat together, talking freely about ideals and war, and no one had any fear or even anticipation of the upcoming naval battle.

Guo Yu drank a lot, everyone wanted to give a glass of wine to his beloved King Xià, Guo Yu was not afraid, all of them were clean, and the transformed body made Guo Yu a thousand cups not drunk, but he was a little drunk in the end.

After all, they have to hurry tomorrow, and these captains will accept it when they see it, this meal can be regarded as a joy for the guests and hosts, and Guo Yu is also very happy.

On the morning of the second day, the fleet continued its departure and sailed into the wide Pacific Ocean.

At this time, Japan was also making preparations before the war, and at the Yokosuka Military Port, Japan's main warships were gathered, and large and small ships were moored in the harbor, and at this time, Japan's three expeditionary cruisers in service abroad also returned to Japan yesterday and officially joined the ranks of the First Fleet.

Previously, the Japanese ambassador to the Netherlands lobbied the Dutch government, and achieved satisfactory results, and the Netherlands agreed to send troops jointly with Japan to dispatch four protective cruisers, all of which were light cruisers with a displacement of 3,800 tons.

Don't laugh at the Dutch being stingy, after all, now the Netherlands has only 6 cruisers, and a couple of coastal defense ships, and it is already very rare to be able to come up with four cruisers.

Yokosuka Naval Port is Japan's largest naval base and one of Japan's leading natural harbors, with an open water area, slow currents, excellent hydrology and depth, so it has been gradually built into Japan's largest naval base since it was assigned to the Admiralty in 1872.

After several decades of construction, Yokosuka Naval Port now has three docks, several warship construction stations, and six dry docks at the Navy Repair Yard, which can berth warships of more than 10,000 tons. It was also the most important supply base for the Japanese Navy.

At this time, Admiralty officials were holding a meeting at the naval base to study the battle against Kalimantan. (To be continued......)