The sudden appearance of the Chinese battleship strengthened Fisher's idea of escaping, but he was a little dumbfounded when he was suddenly shelled at such a distance, the rangefinder on the Britannia showed that the distance between the two sides was currently close to thirty kilometers, even if it was a three-five-six-millimeter main gun at the maximum elevation angle, it was impossible to hit such a distance, looking at the cannonballs whistling in the sky, he really didn't understand how Yang Feng did it. Ten years ago, when everyone was fighting at 5,000 yards, he was 10,000 yards away, and when everyone was trying to increase the distance to 10,000 yards, he opened fire from 20,000 yards, and now everyone is finally able to fire at 20,000 yards with all their might, but he actually attacked from 30,000 yards away, why everyone tried their best to never close the distance between the two sides.

Not only him, but the entire combined fleet at sea, everyone is looking at the bombs falling overhead and feeling powerless, such a battle cannot be fought, the battle patrol of the Chinese Navy was originally dominated by ultra-high speed, and now with ultra-long range, such an enemy is simply desperate.

Although the accuracy of firing at nearly 30 kilometers must have been greatly affected, when the third round of shells fell, there were still two shells that hit the Britannia at the same time, and the three-hundred-kilogram shells that fell from a large angle in the sky far exceeded the bombs in terms of speed and weight, and the cap-piercing shells with the time-delay fuse easily penetrated the horizontal armor and then exploded inside, although the explosion power was inferior to that of the aerial bombs because of the small charge, but the two shells still caused severe damage to the battleship, In particular, the fire that had just been brought under control was ignited again.

"David, you immediately switch to the New Zealand, and then take over the command of the fleet." Fisher said to Betty as he looked at the smoke billowing from the deck outside.

"Marshal, you are the commander of the fleet." Betty said in surprise.

"I can't go back, and the Britannia can't go back, you're still young, and the Royal Navy still needs you." Fisher let out a long sigh and said he was telling the truth. The elite of the British Navy has been lost in this long war, and only Betty is the remaining young general, as for himself, as the commander of the fleet must live and die with the flagship, the Britannia has no hope, the target of the Chinese is this flagship, and at this time the bomber group in the distant sky has reappeared, and those bombers will not let go of this battleship whose speed has dropped to less than fifteen knots.

Although they still wanted to argue, Betty was transferred to the battleship New Zealand in a dinghy under Fisher's orders, and it was the only remaining Edwardian VII-class ship. Immediately after Fisher gave the order to the fleet to move forward at full speed, and to the sound of a whistle salute to the commander of the fleet, the rest of the Combined Fleet accelerated to twenty-seven knots, threw down the slow Britannia and two other equally damaged cruisers, and fled in a hurried direction towards England.

It's a pity that they have a good idea, but the bomber group in the sky is not interested in the Britannia, which has already reached the mouth, and two hundred eagles and swordfish flew over the head of the Britannia, directly pounced on the fleeing combined fleet, and Yang Yonglin and his Yuan Hunt. The two ships of Chang'an continued to fight violently according to the Britannia, which was powerless to resist.

The end of the flagship of the British Home Fleet and the Marshal Fisher on it was already doomed, and it was only a matter of time before it sank, and the Britannia, with two cruisers, slowly sailed to death alone amid the whistling of falling shells.

And Betty and the Combined Fleet, who fled in the distance, were also in the whistling of bombers and torpedo attack aircraft. Struggling with difficulty, the sun was about to set, and looking at the setting sun hanging low in the sky, how General Betty wished it would set faster. Fortunately, the second round of air strikes lasted less than half an hour, and the Chinese carrier-based planes, which had dropped bombs and torpedoes, returned to the sea below them. Eight warships, including an Italian battleship and a British battlecruiser, were slowly sinking to the bottom of the sea.

"Finally get rid of these bombers." An officer said with a long sigh of relief as he watched the sunset sink into the sea.

"Get rid of? How far can we run in one night? 400 kilometers to the sky, what is the bombing radius of the Chinese' carrier-based aircraft? At least 500 kilometers, not to mention that their aircraft carriers are much faster than ours, we are still nearly 2,000 kilometers away from our homeland, do you think we can survive tomorrow in this state? Betty said with a wry smile.

The officer was also dumbfounded, that is, aircraft carriers are not land airfields that cannot be moved, they can sail at high speed at sea, and the speed is even faster than their battle cruisers, which means that no matter how the combined fleet runs, they will continue to bomb like maggots with bones until all the combined fleets are sent into the sea.

"Don't worry too much, the night still helped us a lot, at least their reconnaissance planes can't search at night, in this case, we won't go back to the original course, order the fleet to turn and go east!" Betty looked at the pale faces of the officers around her and said in relief.

"To the east?" One of the officers said suspiciously.

"Yes, to the east, the Chinese have determined that we are returning to the homeland, there are no reconnaissance planes in the dark and it is difficult for them to search for us with the reconnaissance fleet alone, in this case we will simply sail east back to the Mediterranean, and then as long as Gibraltar is also blocked with mines, then the Chinese aircraft carriers will definitely not be able to enter, so that the safety of the fleet can be guaranteed." Betty said that he had to say that this was the best option for him at the moment.

"But the native," said one of the officers hesitantly, he meant what to do with the British? Obviously, as long as the Chinese drive the combined fleet back to the Mediterranean, then they will rub the British mainland as much as they want, whether it is bombing or shelling, it all depends on their mood, at this time the British mainland only those old steam-powered warships and small destroyer torpedo boats, the former is the target of the Chinese battleship, and the latter cannot block even a bomb.

"Homegrown? What if we go back? Betty said with a bitter smile, he is also telling the truth, even if he goes back, he is hiding in the military port waiting for bombs, only by hiding in the Mediterranean Sea and then closing the Strait of Gibraltar can he block the entry of the Chinese fleet with land protection, and then, and then there is nothing to follow, continue to control the sea control of the Mediterranean, as for this war, when to fight when it counts, to be honest, even Betty has understood at this time that the Entente's insistence is of no use except to increase losses, the enemy is too strong, So strong that any resistance is self-defeating.

In this way, the Combined Fleet, which was originally bound for Britain, quietly turned to Gibraltar, which was more than a thousand kilometers away, under the cover of night, but unfortunately they thought they were unaware, but in front of the radar of the Yongchang battle patrol of the Royal Chinese Navy, which was already approaching less than fifty kilometers away, it was meaningless.

"Turned?" Cheng Biguang was surprised, but then understood the goal of the combined fleet.

"Immediately inform the friendly battlefleets, tell them that the combined fleet is ready to flee to the Mediterranean, let them rush to the front to intercept, as for us to follow the British, how many ships can be destroyed, and each ship can choose its target freely." He said immediately.

Immediately after that, all four battle cruisers, including the Yongchang, with a group of cruisers and destroyers, also turned to chase after him, and after receiving his notice, the four Spanish battleships, two Brazilian battleships and one Argentine battleship that were rushing to participate in the battle also turned and copied to Betty's front, but they had no radar, and they could only use searchlights in the night battle at sea, of course, according to the route given to them by Cheng Biguang, they would not encounter the combined fleet before dawn, But after dawn they will be like a wall of steel across the enemy's escape path.

At this time, in the back, Marshal Fisher's life had come to an end, this legendary figure in the history of the Royal Navy, was seriously injured by a fragment of steel stirred up by a 280 shell that exploded near the command room, and was already dying at this time, as for the Britannia, the sea water had already flooded the main deck, and the two cruisers were in a similar situation, and in the distance, there were already Chinese destroyers who had come to check the situation, of course, if the Britannia had not sunk yet, they would not mind coming to replenish their guns.

Marshal Fisher suddenly shouted in a flash of inspiration when he was dying: "Quick, send a message to Betty, tell him to go east, not to the mainland, to the Mediterranean." ”

"Marshal, General Betty is already doing this." The captain of the Britannia next to him said with tears in his eyes.

"That's good, and save the last bit of vitality for the Royal Navy." His Excellency the Admiral let out a long breath and closed his eyes peacefully.

Unfortunately, on the sea more than a hundred kilometers away, General Betty did not think that he was capable of bringing the fleet into the Mediterranean.

"What's going on? Why are they still targeting us at night? The last famous general of the British Royal Navy roared indignantly, and on the sea around him, 280 shells whistled and fell, and then accurately exploded dazzling fireballs on one battleship after another, and not only battleship shells, but even cruisers and destroyer guns joined the battle, and in the dark sea in the distance, only the fire sprayed from the muzzles could be faintly seen, but the light columns of the searchlights on the British battleships could not illuminate the outline of the enemy ships at all.

"The night is truly our world." Cheng Biguang looked at the firelight and lights of the Combined Fleet in the distance and said with great satisfaction, on the sea to his left and right, the thirty-six 280 main guns of the four battle cruisers were constantly spewing flames, and the huge cannonballs were whistling across the sea and flying towards the enemy ships, while those destroyers and cruisers were speeding towards the Combined Fleet under the guidance of radar, preparing to launch a torpedo attack under the cover of night.

Also at this time, Yang Yonglin, who had completely solved the Britannia, was also coming. (To be continued......)