The sky above the Gulf of Siam was gloomy, and the sea breeze howled and rolled up a thousand waves.

The Imperial Chinese Pacific Fleet engaged the Dutch East India Fleet in the northeastern part of the Gulf of Siam in fierce battles that lasted from the afternoon to the evening. Nearly several hundred warships of the two sides engaged in the battle, affecting a sea area of more than 100 square kilometers.

As far as the eye can see, the sea is like a deep forest fire, and the flames are flying and the smoke is billowing.

The Pacific Fleet deliberately avoided a melee with the Dutch East India Fleet to prevent a sneak attack by the main force of the Dutch East India Fleet.

The rumbling of cannon fire also moved with the shift of the main force of the fleet, and countless shells rained out, and on average every twenty heavy shells could destroy or severely damage the Dutch battleship, which a single salvo of broadside fire could easily do for a battleship.

Of course, this is only for the "cannon fodder battleships" sent by Turner, and if it were a battleship formation, it would not be easy to sink the opponent.

As time passed, Turner began to be a little frightened, because he was always watching the loopholes of the Pacific Fleet, and it only took a small mistake from the other side for Turner to launch a sneak attack. However, his hopes were disappointed, and Shi Jianfei certainly understood that the enemy ships in front of him were just cannon fodder, and the real killer was the main battleship formation that had been eyeing the periphery.

Shi Jianfei also stared at Turner's main fleet, and carefully gave orders to the Pacific Fleet to prevent a sneak attack on Turner.

However, Turner still insisted on waiting, he did not expect Shi Jianfei to leave him a loophole, because he had done a lot of intelligence gathering work on Shi Jianfei, and knew that he was an excellent naval commander in the Imperial Chinese Navy, with rich experience in naval warfare, and it was difficult to exploit his loopholes.

In Turner's eyes, it is supreme glory when fighting a good admiral, and the stronger the opponent, the higher his fighting spirit.

At this moment, Turner was calculating the firepower output of the ships of the Pacific Fleet, and he was waiting for the moment when the ammunition reserves of the Pacific Fleet were exhausted.

With a loud bang, the ammunition depot of a Dutch frigate was pierced by shells, causing an instant detonation. The entire battleship was torn into countless pieces in an instant, and the wreckage fell to the sea hundreds of meters away. A huge cloud of fiery red mushrooms rose into the sky, and the dim sky suddenly turned fiery red.

It was the first ship to be killed in the six hours of the battle, and the huge explosion slowed down the attack of the Dutch cannon fodder fleet.

Up to now, the cannon fodder fleet has lost hundreds of warships, the first echelon has been disabled, the second echelon has been severely damaged, and the third echelon's attack strength at the moment is directly proportional to fear.

The firepower of the Pacific Fleet was still very fierce, and the first-line warships on the periphery were hit by the shells of the Dutch warships during the engagement, and the hull was also scarred, but it did not affect the combat effectiveness.

"How long are you going to wait?"

Rejoz on the side was a little breathless, and he had already lost more than a hundred warships, although they were all small and medium-sized warships, but they couldn't be consumed like this.

Turner looked at the two fleets in the fierce battle in the distance, snorted coldly, and said: "It's been six hours of fighting, and the ammunition of the Pacific Fleet should be almost exhausted."

Rayoz frowned, "However, I haven't noticed any loss of firepower from them."

"It's just a strong fight to save face," Turner smiled slightly, and said: "I have been calculating the number of salvos of the Dingyuan, and according to the ammunition reserves of our battleships, it should be seventy-seven eighty-eight at this moment. Of course, the Dingyuan is a first-class battleship, and the ammunition reserve should be more than ours, but the Dingyuan also has a large number of guns, and it is not much different in comparison, besides, a gun has been shelling continuously for so long, and its life is almost the same"

Rejouz nodded, agreeing with Turner's analysis, but he saw that the Pacific Fleet's firepower was unabated, and it didn't look like a situation where ammunition was running out.

"The artillery manufacturing technology of the Chinese Empire is advanced, and the life span is definitely longer than that of our naval guns"

Turner smiled: "That's right, that's the case, but, don't forget, their naval guns have a range two or three times higher than ours, which means that they have more gunpowder than us, which increases the consumption of gunpowder."

Rejoz thought about it, but wondered: "Then their ammunition reserves should be close to the critical line, why is the firepower still undiminished?" ”

"That's not easy" Turner looked at the sky and said, "Although there is no sun today, it will be dark soon, Shi Jianfei is waiting for the night to come"

It was only then that Rayoz noticed the sky, it was cloudy today, and the battle had been going on until now, so Reyoz couldn't tell the time.

Looking at Turner's calm expression, Reyoz suddenly felt that Turner in front of him was no longer the subordinate he had been years ago. Now Turner has obviously grown into an excellent commander, but Reyoz has been a civilian all these years, and his military command ability has greatly declined, or it is not an exaggeration to say that Turner's military command ability has surpassed him.

"So it seems," Rejouz nodded, agreeing with Turner. He continued: "I don't think their ammunition reserves will last until dark."

Turner nodded confidently, noncommittal.

Here, on the battleship Dingyuan, the flagship of the Pacific Fleet, Shi Jianfei kept an eye on the battlefield at all times. As the commander of a powerful fleet, his decisions were at stake for the lives of tens of thousands of naval officers. The slightest negligence can cost everyone's lives and futures. For this reason, Shi Jianfei's every decision was repeatedly thought and deduced, and he paid a lot of effort to make his sideburns appear a trace of gray hair.

"Report, there are still six bases left in the ship's ammunition reserves"

With the report of the logistics staff officer, the captain Li Yunbing hurriedly informed Shi Jianfei of the situation.

"Commander"

Li Yunbing stepped forward and asked, "Please make a decision."

Shi Jianfei raised his eyes and looked at the Dutch East India Fleet in the southwest direction for a while, then looked at the sky again and asked, "Where is the supply fleet?" ”

A bridge staff officer stepped forward and said: "The four transport carriers of the supply fleet will arrive at Cam Ranh Bay Naval Base at eleven o'clock in the evening"

Shi Jianfei nodded, turned to Chief of Staff Wang Nan, and said, "Do you think we can resupply ammunition at the Cam Ranh Bay base?" ”

Wang Nan glanced at the main force of the Dutch East India Fleet staring at it in the distance, and replied: "I think Turner must be planning to wait for our ammunition reserves to run out before making a move, that will be twice the result with half the effort, and it is possible that if I were him, I would definitely do my best to blockade the two bases closest to us, Cam Ranh Bay and Matapura, and prevent us from supplying."

Shi Jianfei nodded and said, "That's right, I also think about this again, Turner won't give us a chance to replenish, so the supply fleet can't dock in Cam Ranh Bay."

Then, Shi Jianfei ordered: "Notify the supply fleet and let them stand by in the waters east of the Shankou Ocean and prepare for replenishment at sea."

"Supplies at sea?" Wang Nan asked worriedly, "Will it be too slow?" The sky is not good and the sea conditions can be very bad at night"

Shi Jianfei sighed and said: "There is no way, we can only do this, Turner will not let us resupply in the base with peace of mind, instead of that, it is better to do the opposite, resupply in the mountain pass ocean, even if the supply fails, it is the direction of the Indian Ocean fleet, which just attracts Turner over"

Wang Nan didn't have any other way, but said: "Then let's save this little bit of ammunition."

Shi Jianfei smiled: "Don't worry, I think Turner must have thought that we were still using black powder, so we would underestimate our ammunition reserves when judging"

Wang Nan thought about it, the Imperial Chinese Navy has been replaced with TNT high explosives, compared with black powder, the power has increased, and the amount of propellant is also decreasing. Therefore, the amount of propellant reserves on each ship has doubled, but it is necessary to look not only at the gunpowder reserves, but also at the shell reserves. The weight of gunpowder was not as large as that of shells, and the space freed up did not double the shell reserve, but only increased shells by about a third. Therefore, even if Turner underestimated the Pacific Fleet's ammunition reserves, the error would be only two or three bases.

Wang Nan's words reminded Shi Jianfei, causing him to suddenly have a new thought, and suddenly said: "Order all ships to reduce the number of salvos, create the illusion that our fleet is short of ammunition to paralyze the enemy, and wait until Turner's main fleet comes out to fight with us."

Wang Nan paused for a moment, immediately understood the trick, and immediately began to prepare.

After receiving the order, the ships of the Pacific Fleet quickly saved ammunition, most of the guns rested, and the firepower of the battleships quickly decreased to the fire of cruisers.

Although the firepower of the Pacific Fleet weakened, the cannon fodder battleships of the Dutch East India Fleet still did not dare to get too close, and could only shell from a distance. The firepower of the two sides is equal, but the hit rate is very different. The scales of the warring waters are still tilted in favor of the Pacific Fleet.

As the Pacific Fleet's firepower weakened, Turner, who had been keeping an eye on them, thought the time had come, knowing that the Pacific Fleet's gunpowder reserves had bottomed out and had to be used sparingly.

However, it is obviously not possible to attack the Pacific Fleet with a cannon fodder fleet alone. By the time the Pacific Fleet's firepower is exhausted, it will already be dark.

Turner understood that it was impossible to annihilate the Pacific Fleet once it was dark. Visibility was extremely low at night, and the speed of the ships of the Pacific Fleet was generally higher than that of the Dutch East India Fleet.

Of course, Turner's worst plan was to blockade the Cam Ranh Bay and Matapura bases to prevent the Pacific Fleet from resupplying there, but then he would be passive, and obviously Turner didn't want to be passive, he had to take the initiative.

As a result, Turner ordered the cannon fodder fleet surrounding the Pacific Fleet to be withdrawn, and he led the main fleet to meet it. V