A few kilometers in front of the fleet, two armored cruisers searched the sea, alerting ships that might appear at any time, and according to the order of the Admiralty, ships found during the voyage were immediately detained. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

This is a war, and there is no room for the slightest suspicion, and on the way to Hawaii, the fleet detained thirteen merchant ships from various countries, and now they are still detained at Pearl Harbor, and it is precisely because of this that until now, the whole world has not known that the main force of the Zhenyang fleet has long since left Asia.

Similarly, I don't know that the main force of the Zhenyang fleet is now heading to the southernmost tip of the world, because they have avoided the conventional route, so there are almost no ships encountered on this way, except for more than a dozen whaling ships of the Beiyang Fishery Company, no other ships have been found, of course, those whaling ships are used as sentry ships and communication relay ships, after all, the fleet needs to communicate with the mainland, and the ship's radio cannot guarantee communication with the mainland from the southernmost point of the world, only through the establishment of telegraph relay ships, Liaise with the local community.

As soon as the fleet crossed the forty degrees south latitude, there were more and more icebergs on the route, and it was the winter in Antarctica, and the icebergs were spread throughout the South Pacific, and although these icebergs limited the fleet's speed, they provided the fleet with good concealment to some extent, and of course the heavy fuel oil fuel ensured that the chimneys of the warships spewed out very slight smoke.

After the intense voyage, the atmosphere on board became more and more tense as the island of Wollaston got closer and closer, and every officer and man in the fleet knew that war could start at any moment.

"Zhenbo" is the flagship of the second squadron, which is an armored cruiser squadron with the "wave" class armored cruisers as the main body, and a cruiser squadron composed of ten wave-class cruisers can be said to be the most powerful cruiser fleet in this era. As the commander of the second battle team, Huang Zhongying has always been a little disappointed, as the oldest officer in the entire Northeast Navy, although he has been promoted to admiral, but for him, what he desires in his heart is to be the commander of the Zhenyang fleet.

And even to a large extent. Similarly, as the deputy commander of the Zhenyang Fleet, he also understands that after the war against Russia, the Zhenyang Fleet, which has been formed for many years, is very likely to be disbanded, after all, the Navy cannot always concentrate the main force of the fleet in one fleet, the mainland, the South Sea, and the Pacific Ocean. All need a fleet.

"It's almost there!"

Standing on the bridge, when Huang Zhongying put down the binoculars, he sighed softly on his lips.

"Yes, Your Excellency, at the current speed, we should reach our destination in twelve hours!"

Wang Wei, who stood next to the commander, although he was only thirty-one years old, was already the captain of the "Zhenbo", although the Zhenbo-class armored cruiser was in the name of "cruiser". But as we all know, strictly speaking. It is equivalent to a "second-class combat ship", it has two twin ten-inch turrets, its broadside firepower has as many as twelve six-inch naval guns, it can be said that it uses 8,700 tons of tonnage to reach the firepower of British 10,000 tons of battleships, of course, its protection is slightly inferior to its armor is only 180 mm. It is also for this reason that it is classified as an "armored cruiser" in the World Navy Yearbook, and not a second-class combat ship, after all, its protection is slightly inferior.

The protection is slightly inferior, which can be said to be a "common problem" of warships in the Northeast Navy. Even the armor of the "Zhenhai class", which is the main ship of the navy, is only 210 mm, which may seem to the outside world as a symbol of "insufficient shipbuilding technology in Northeast China", but in fact, it is due to technological self-confidence.

"Well, that means, it's closer to the war......"

Nodding, Huang Zhongying's gaze looked towards the "Jinghai" in front of him, and from the rear, the single twelve-inch naval guns on the two sides were not very conspicuous, but he knew that in the entire fleet, this seemingly old warship may be the most powerful force in the fleet.

"We have all read The Theory of Sea Power, and we know that any European power that wants to be supreme must build a navy after a certain period of time, and must challenge the sea power of the British, whether it is Napoleon or Germany. But no one succeeded. The myth that the Royal Navy of Britain is the best in the world has been passed down for hundreds of years......"

For some reason, Huang Zhongying seemed a little emotional at this time, and it may be this kind of challenge that he is feeling.

"We all see that in Europe now, when Germany's industrial power begins to catch up with Britain, Alfred? Feng? Count Tirpitts, like Napoleon, began to try to challenge the British, and he wanted to build the second largest fleet in the world, because the British were the first in the world. So they're going to take it one step at a time......"

At this point, Huang Zhongying was silent for a moment, and then said.

"However, it seems to me that the German Navy cannot occupy the top position in the world, and this is not something that can be changed by individual power. Germany is a continental country, with Russia in the east, France in the west, and a few other second-rate powers. This forced them to put the main manpower and material resources on the army. As a result, there is a limited amount of manpower and resources available for the navy. And so it is. The French, the Spaniards, the Dutch and the Russians faced the same problem......"

"So do we!"

Wang Wei said such a practical problem in extremely calm words.

"Since the sinking of the German High Seas Fleet in Scapa Bay, almost no one has dared to relive the old dream of old Tirpitz. Who knew that the land of Prussia was endless, but there was another Raeder.

"yes, so do we...... Minister Yung ......"

After a slight pause, Huang Zhongying said in a calm voice.

"Perhaps, he is not a regular naval professional, but he knows the navy very well, and he knows how to develop the navy. Therefore, he wants to build some of the best warships year by year, and at the same time continue to train officers, build a navy in ten years, and then, in another thirty years, to expand a navy, this path is undoubtedly extremely appropriate, and more importantly, the reality of war has forced the marshal to spend more budget to build a navy...... "In the past ten years, the military expenditure of the navy has been exceeding that of the army, which is for a continental country. It is almost unimaginable, but this makes it possible for the Northeast Navy to surpass the old naval powers.

"For many people, this war means personal success, but they don't know ......"

After a moment of silence, Huang Zhongying sighed.

"This war is also the future battle of the Navy. Only by winning this naval battle can the people realize the importance of the navy to the country, and only in this way can the navy seek a place in this continental country......"

After Huang Zhongying's words fell, the bridge immediately fell silent, and these officers did not know that the future of the navy in this continental country was full of too many uncertainties. This naval battle is about the future of the country, and it is also about the future of the navy, and the position of the navy in this country in the future.

Suddenly, an extremely strong light flashed outside the porthole, and several young officers in the porthole immediately exclaimed.

"Look...... Aurora. ”

The aurora is not unique to the North Pole, the South Pole also has the Aurora, which is no less beautiful than the Northern Lights, and the appearance of the Southern Aurora attracts everyone. Together with Huang Zhongying and Wang Wei, they were also drawn outside the cabin to enjoy the breathtaking Southern Lights.

On the horizon of the East. A few vertical green lights lit up first, fluttering there lightly, gradually fading. In an instant, the entire eastern sky lit up, and a waterfall of infinite emerald and lake-blue light slowly poured down from the high sky. Settle for a few minutes. Then it began to twist, crumple, shake, and change, as if a group of huge and friendless mountain spirits were dancing in the primeval forest of light. The most fantastic scenery in the world shocked everyone. Like a group of dolls, they have been intoxicated with the passion of beauty for a long time, forgetting the huge fleet in the night voyage, completely exposed to the South Aurora light of the United States, naked, and becoming one of the most ideal target ships for the enemy.

If there is an enemy at this time!

Of course, this was only a moment of silence, and soon the flagship "Jinghai" raised the flag of combat readiness, which, despite the radio silence maintained by the fleet, woke people up from shock at the beauty with a combat alarm. The officers and men rushed to their posts one after another, and all the secondary and main guns lowered their muzzles and stared vigilantly at the sea.

As the flagship, the "Jinghai" split the waves in the brilliant aurora, like a flagship on a ship-watching ceremony, entered Chile's territorial waters, and now, the fleet has arrived at the southernmost point of the world -- the Tierra del Fuego Islands, through which you can clearly see that among those islands, huge fjords can be faintly seen.

As the fleet sailed past several small islands and reached the mouth of the nameless fjord of Wollaston, the peaks of which appeared on the sides of the warships, the aurora gradually died out, and the sea and sky returned to darkness, as if they were darker than before, except for the reddish stars that shivered in the cold night sky.

"It's so beautiful, I can't find the right words to describe the aurora."

Wang Wei said with some excitement that although it was not the first time he had seen the aurora, everyone admired its beauty, and in his opinion, it was perhaps the most beautiful scenery in the world, and to some extent, he was more willing to regard the aurora as nature's reward for the Northeast Navy - only by sailing to the end of the world can he enjoy the beautiful aurora.

After the heavens and the earth were once again plunged into darkness, the alarm was lifted.

"Although I have led a fleet here more than once, this is the first time I have seen the aurora, and there is no such blessing in the Northeast."

"I've seen it twice, the last time was during a fleet exercise, when I was on the Jinghai. Every time I see it, I feel like I'm admiring the most magnificent wonders of nature. ”

Wang Wei, who had been unable to calm down for a long time, looked at the commander beside him and said after this exclamation.

"Sir, I don't think we're going to stop on the ocean road no matter what, and the navy will be further expanded in the future. I heard that now the Beiyang shipbuilding industry has planned to build the world's largest warship? ”

Although it was just hearsay, Wang Wei knew that there was no wind and no waves, and since such news came, there must be that possibility.

"I do have this tendency, I heard that ......"

Huang Zhongying's voice was lowered and he said softly

"I heard that the new warship is a new epoch-making army, and as soon as he launches it, all warships, including the "Jinghai class", will be eliminated, including our" Zhenbo ", well, will become outdated. However, we must see that in China's history, we have no ambitions on the ocean. We are building the Navy to some extent to counter the threat from Russia, fortunately, we are not bad in the construction of the Navy, but in the future, will the country gamble on the bottomless pit of the Navy? That's what I'm worried about......"

Because of the lessons of Beiyang, Huang Zhongying worries about whether the construction of the navy can be sustained, just like Beiyang, once it won the so-called "first in Asia", the construction of the army was stopped, and it was not until the Russian threat was imminent, that it was hurriedly built again, but several years have been wasted.

"Sir, the marshal is not Guangxu, we are not the Manchus, the Manchus will ignore the sea, but we will not, I believe that the marshal will not, we will build a more powerful fleet in the future, this is not only because of the threat, even if there is no Russian threat, we also need to take into account the threat of the United States, the United States is 15 battleships that are under construction at the same time, perhaps, we are not neighbors with the United States, but we are neighbors in the Pacific, I believe that even if the war with Russia ends in the future, we face the threat of the United StatesWhen the time comes, if they are really that advanced, this may be a good opportunity for us to catch up with other maritime powers, after all, this will lead us to be on the same starting line with them again, I think, when the time comes, the marshal will never miss this opportunity! ”

Not only the commanders, but also them, the full-bodied navy soldiers, will not miss this opportunity, and even no country will miss this opportunity.

"That'...... It's so far away......"

Suddenly, Huang Zhongying let out an exclamation.

"Now, the most important thing is to win this naval battle, otherwise, this naval battle may be our last swan song!"

"Sir, I will do my best to win this naval battle, just like you!"

The sky is starting to turn white, the shadows of the mountains are showing on both sides of the fjord, and the rendezvous point has arrived. Wang Wei was dressed and gave a series of orders with a solemn expression: the main engine stopped, the cable was thrown, the two auxiliary anchors were thrown, the camouflage net was laid, and the artillery was on duty...... (To be continued.) )