The sky and sea are vast, the crescent moon is like a hook, and a few stars are quietly flickering in the blue sky, looming.

The night wind is howling, the waves are rolling, and more than 100 large searchlights are pouring out dazzling pillars of bright yellow light, crisscrossing and crisscrossing to illuminate the dark sea surface extremely clearly. In a not wide sea, the main force of the Russian Pacific Fleet, which is anchored underground, is quietly waiting under the wash of the waves near the sea; When the transports flying the blue and white naval flags of St. Andrew's appeared in the columns of searchlights, the fleet erupted in a tidal wave of cheers.

"Look, General, that's our convoy, 1, 2, 3...... A full 22 large and medium-sized ships, a lot! On the foredeck of the battleship Prince, Captain Lipatov pointed obliquely with his arm to the shadow of the ship in front of him, and said to Makarov next to him with excitement on his face, "The most valuable fleet of ships in the Russian Empire is already under the protection of our powerful fleet, and we no longer worry about what harm the Japanese will do to them." If the Japanese dared to come, the formidable firepower of 10 battleships would immediately tear them all to shreds! ”

The machine chirped and cheered, and it was only then that the apprehension on Makarov's face faded and was replaced by a look of relief and happiness. He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It seems that the merciful God has heard my prayers, and the convoy has not suffered any losses, so that I can rest half of my heart." Fortunately, the Germans did not make it too difficult for us, and let the fleet stay in the harbor for an extra day, otherwise they would have had to venture through the South China Sea to Cam Ranh Bay in France to try their luck. ”

"In just four days, we came from Dalini to Manila, and I couldn't believe how fast we were." Lipatov sighed, then turned his head to look at Makarov and said: "General, there is something I don't understand, please tell me why." Makarov nodded slightly, "Say it." ”

"In order to ensure that the power of the three Petropavlovsk-class battleships did not go wrong when operating at full power for a long time, the fleet sailed at a speed of only 15.5 knots; in addition, in order to be able to hide the eyes and ears as much as possible on the road and avoid being intercepted by the Japanese fleet, we did not take the nearest conventional course, but took a longer route on our own, with a total range of 1,700 nautical miles. It stands to reason that we should not be here until tomorrow when the sun rises, but now we are half a day ahead of schedule? Lipatov said puzzled.

Makarov smiled slightly, and his majestic face had a somewhat mysterious feeling in the dark night, and said hesitantly: "That's because I have fully borrowed the power of God." ”

Seeing that Lypatov was still at a loss, Makarov explained in detail: "Since the navy entered the age of steam, smoke-spewing chimneys have replaced sails, which has greatly increased the speed of warships; However, it is not only the speed of the battleship itself that determines the speed of the battleship, but the current in the sea is one of the most critical factors affecting the speed of the ship. If we can gain insight into the cold and warm ocean currents in the target sea area and make it work for us, wouldn't it be possible to achieve twice the result with half the effort? ”

"More than half of the southward route we took this time had fast or slow southward surface currents, and some of the fastest sections even reached as many as 4 knots. The fleet sailed in this kind of water, and the speed naturally got quite a bonus, which is why we were able to reach Manila so quickly. In addition, in March, the route was close to the docking point of several small streams of warm and cold air, and the result of their contact with each other was that the area was cloudy and rainy; In this way, the black clouds not only sheltered the fleet from the soot generated during the voyage, but also did not cause the wind and rain to affect the speed of the fleet. After all, at a speed of 15.5 knots, the soot produced by the fleet was so thick that it could be seen from 17 or 8 nautical miles from ships with higher masts, and I had to be cautious. Therefore, I chose this route. Makarov said lightly.

At this time, Captain Lipatov's mouth was wide enough to stuff a duck egg, his jaw trembled, and he said for a while: "But general, how do you know that there is a sea current to the south in these places, and that there are clouds in the sky that can hide the soot for us?" ”

Makarov folded his arms in front of his chest, and his majestic face faintly revealed a bit of pride in the darkness, and said: "Colonel, have you forgotten? In addition to being a vice admiral and commander of the Far East Fleet, I am also an oceanographer, and I have some superficial research in this field. If I don't even know the climate, ocean currents, how can I be one of the Imperial Academy of Sciences? Moreover, if an admiral is not well versed in the climate and hydrology of the oceans, then he is not qualified to be the commander of a fleet. ”

Lipatov exhaled, his face full of amazement; He saluted Makarov and said convincingly: "General, I now finally understand why His Majesty the Tsar sent you to command this naval fleet, which condensed all the elite of the Russian Empire; It is a great honor in my life to serve under the command of the general. As long as the general is here, we will definitely be able to escort the convoy back to Dalini (Dalian) safely! ”

Makarov waved his hand slightly, his eyes flashed with solemnity, and he said in a deep voice: "It's too early to say this. From what I have learned, the commanders and chiefs of staff of the Japanese Combined Fleet are both resourceful and resourceful, and although we have seized a slight advantage by virtue of the advantage of leaving the port first, they cannot be ignorant of the situation forever, and they will certainly react after all. After that, the way back was the real battlefield between us and the Japanese. To our disadvantage, the maximum speed of the transport fleet can only reach 12 knots, which greatly limits the maneuverability of the fleet; Once you are entangled by the Japanese, it is almost an unsolvable situation. ”

"So what are we going to do?" Lipatov asked.

Makarov said slowly: "Now we can only expect Essen's performance. Before the main force of the fleet departed, I ordered him to attack, and gathered all three large cruisers together to attack the Tsushima Strait, the choke point through which Japan would launch a war and increase its troops on the mainland. If the Japanese were under pressure to separate some of their warships and entangle them with Essen, the pressure on us would be greatly reduced, and we would be able to escort the convoy back safely. Lipatov thought for a moment, then nodded yes.

Speaking of this, Makarov glanced at the time on his watch and said: "Although the Germans did not allow us to enter the port, they still prepared coal for us according to the agreement, which is also expected by me. I have already sent the Germans to divide the 15,000 tons of coal on as many ships as possible, so that they can refuel our warships at the same time. Pass on my order to gather all the idle officers and men of each ship on the deck and prepare to carry out the coal handling operation overnight! We don't have much time and we have to get out of here at short notice. ”

Lipatov was stunned and said: "General, you mean to carry out night coaling on this sea?" ”

Makarov smiled bitterly and said, "Then what else can I do?" The fleet sailed at sea at an almost furious speed for four full days, and the coal consumption of each ship was extremely huge; The coal bunkers of the least expensive ships were half empty and had to be replenished in a timely manner. The Germans, on the other hand, refused to let us into the port because of their neutrality, so we had to refuel at sea. Tell our boys that the British set a world record of 102 tons of coal per hour for a battleship, and I'm sure they will be able to break it. ”

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Just as the Russian fleet was anchoring and grounding its searchlight beams and coaling overnight, somewhere in the sea more than 300 nautical miles away, a behemoth fleet of even greater scale broke through the waves and quietly moved forward in the infinite darkness. In the conning tower of one of the warships, the lights were dim, and a short old man in a black suit was looking down at the telegram in his hand; There was a slight look of disbelief on his yellow face, and then a cold smile crept up his lips.

"It's amazing how you arrived in Manila in four days without a short distance." The old man's hoarse voice echoed in the small command tower, which was particularly harsh and ugly, "However, the situation is completely different now. You have avoided my sight day and night, and the boiler machinery must have suffered considerable wear and tear; Now that there are more than twenty more transports on the team, I'd like to see how fast you can run now? ”

"Glara ......" accompanied by the sore sound of the iron door opening and closing, a man with a sword-eyed eyelid walked in. He let out a long yawn and said weakly, "Dongxiang-kun, you woke me up at 1 o'clock in the morning, but what happened?" ”

The short old man known as Togo-kun glanced at the young man in his early thirties, then handed the telegram in his hand to his eyes, and said, "Really, that Makarov guy has arrived in Manila and joined his convoy of convoys. ”