Such conditions were not only attractive to the victims of the Hunhe River, but also to the landless poor in other parts of the country, and in May alone, more than a million people entered the Chinese territory, and these people were quickly resettled in the Far East.

The navy, which has all kinds of electrical equipment, is also much more convenient, not only has it been illuminated at night, but also has searchlights at the lookout posts. At the same time, Fang Xiaoyu used a telephone to connect the command tower, observation post, turret, power room and other departments, and once the captain's orders were transmitted to the whole ship in the shortest possible time in wartime, which was many times better than the copper pipe used for communication in the past.

After equipping these equipment, Liu Junguo's confidence increased greatly, and he even began to have some expectations for the Cossack Imperial fleet coming from afar. As a defender, it is not possible to sit and wait for the other party to come to the door, so Sun Xiaohu and Wan Yong were sent out, they led their warships together to form an advance fleet, and with the help of two supply ships, they began to advance south, they will enter the southern ocean to search for the movement of the Cossack fleet, and at the same time use radio to keep in touch with the headquarters after passing through several intelligence stations, and report the other party's movements to the headquarters at any time.

After ten days of sailing south with the advance fleet, Sun Xiaohu made the last replenishment at Moore Harbor, turned westward and began to enter the Southern Ocean. Sitting in the command tower of the 'Hailin', Sun Xiaohu looked at the chart on the table, he was the commander of this mission, and this was also his first independent action.

The burden on Sun Xiaohu, who was only sixteen years old, was indeed a little heavier, but the captains of the cruiser were all the first batch of orphans who followed Fang Xiaoyu, and they were all about the same age, and Wan Yong, the captain of the "Tongjiang" who came with him, was only one year older than him.

Fang Xiaoyu chose them not only because of their loyalty, they have a great innate advantage because they have been learning culture with Fang Xiaoyu since they were children, not to mention that these orphans who are used to living a hard life are precocious, Fang Xiaoyu is still very relieved to let them come out.

Even so, after all, it was the first time to assume command responsibility, and in the face of such a huge fleet, it was inevitable that there was no bottom in my heart. These days, Sun Xiaohu sleeps only four hours a day, and most of the time he spends his time sitting in front of the charts thinking about where he might encounter the enemy fleet and what measures should be taken.

"Why are you looking at the map every time I come over?" A rugged voice sounded from behind Sun Xiaohu. There is no need to look back, Sun Xiaohu also knows that it is Wan Yong, who came over by traffic boat again. Wan Yong quipped: "Do you have no bottom in your heart, otherwise why do you always look at the charts." ”

Sun Xiaohu glanced at him and said, "Why don't you panic in your heart, why do you always run to me?" Wan Yong said: "Joke, I think that when I took three small gunboats, I dared to attack the entire United Fleet of the Japanese State, at that time, we were all not as big as one warship, and we didn't charge the same way." ”

Sun Xiaohu said: "Don't come to this set, if Zhang Haiyang hadn't told you that the Japanese fleet didn't have many shells, would you rush so fast?" Wan Yong blushed a little and said slyly: "No matter what the situation, I dare to rush." ”

"Don't worry, there is Lao Song coming and dying." Sun Xiaohu looked at it and said with a smile: "Daddy Song, why are you here again, did you see Wan Yong coming and hooking out your wine worm again?" ”

Daddy Song's real name is Song Wu, and he is a well-known sharpshooter of the Third Fleet of the Empire. When he arrived here, the wrinkles that had been relieved because of being laid off were all relaxed, and he never expected that the Chinese Consulate would have such a good warship and such a huge naval gun. After serving as a gunner on the "Hailin", the huge 203-mm main gun made him like it very much, and he wiped it again and again when he had time, and now he is the commander of the former main gun.

There is also an interesting story about Song Wu's name, it is said that Song Wu's family used to be quite shady, but his father was very greedy for money and always wanted to make a fortune, and even named his son Song Qian. However, their family's family situation was getting worse and worse, and later someone told him that his father Song Qian's name was not good. Song Qian, send money, isn't that giving all the money to others?

His father suddenly realized that he added a word to his son's name called Song Wuqian, which means to give me money, and as a result, his family declined even more. Later, someone told him that your name is not good, and it is not good to call Song Wuqian. Song Wu money, even if you don't have money, now you don't even have money to send, and you're not poor.

As a result, his father was so angry that he couldn't afford to get sick, and before he died, he simply asked his son to change his name to Song Wu, dying of his desire to get rich. The down-and-out Song Wu had no choice but to think of the way of being a soldier and eating food, but fortunately, he grew up by the sea, and the water was very good, so he easily joined the navy with higher benefits.

Unexpectedly, Song Wu was very talented in fighting artillery after coming to the navy, and he was promoted quickly, especially after he became a sergeant major after arriving in the Chinese Consulate, the military salary was higher, and the family began to become rich.

Although everyone calls him Daddy Song, in fact, he is not very old, he is only thirty-six years old, but he looks old and has a beard. Because he likes to drink and Wan Yong has the same smell, he likes to mix with him in his spare time, and today he is not on duty, and when he saw Wan Yong on the ship, he naturally came over.

Sun Xiaohu smiled and said to Song Wu: "I said Daddy Song, you and Wan Yong are so good, just transfer to his 'Tongjiang'." ”

Listening to Sun Xiaohu's words, Wan Yong said with a flattering smile: "Of course I am willing to have such a sharpshooter as Father Song come over, but I don't have any good wine there, otherwise I won't bother you if you support me for a long time in the future." Sun Xiaohu pointed at Wan Yong and smiled: "You see the fox's tail exposed, you still think about my wine." ”

Although Sun Xiaohu drinks alcohol, he is not addicted to alcohol, but the night at sea is wet and cold, and it is still necessary to drink less to drive away the cold. The upper echelons of the navy also knew the situation at sea, and it was allowed to drink alcohol in the navy, but not too much.

Although Sun Xiaohu doesn't drink much, he has a lot of good wine, and this is because Lin Feng, who works in the Department of Industry and Commerce, is courting his sister Sun Xiaomei. Lin Feng's salary is high, so he will naturally honor Sun Xiaohu, the eldest brother, with a lot of good wine, so he has so much good wine.

Song Wu also looked at Sun Xiaohu with a smile and said, "How is it?" Captain. Bring out a bottle of wine to satisfy our cravings. Sun Xiaohu said: "No, there is no place for supplies on this sea, how can I have so much wine for you two drunkards every day?" I had to go to the canteen and drink the sweet potato wine that the army had rationed. ”

Wan Yong smiled bitterly: "I said Xiaohu, we all grew up together, you can't bear to let me drink such inferior wine?" Song Wu also nodded and said, "The ration of sweet potato wine is too low, and it tastes like boiled water." Sun Xiaohu said: "Where is there such an exaggeration, sweet potato wine is at least twenty degrees." ”

Although he said this, he still took out a bottle of 52 degrees of thyme from the cabinet and said, "This is the last bottle, you are not allowed to drink with me next time." Song Wu said with a smile: "Certainly, after drinking your wine, I promise to sink a few more warships." ”

At this moment, the alarm on the warship sounded. The lookout post reported the discovery of an enemy ship to the captain's office by telephone. Song Wu didn't care about drinking, so he immediately ran to the front gun, and before going out, he didn't forget to instruct: "Captain, you have to keep that wine for me, and I will drink it after the battle." ”

No one dared to delay when he got down to business, and Wan Yong hurried back to his warship. Wan Yong had just returned, and a large area of black smoke had already risen from the sea level in the distance, apparently a large fleet was approaching.

Since the Chinese Territorial Navy is expected to have a long-range scope and can detect the enemy situation as soon as possible, and now that the other party has obviously not discovered itself, Sun Xiaohu immediately let the supply ship divert and avoid it in the distance, while the two cruisers met it.

The two fleets slowly approached, and Sun Xiaohu finally saw the eye-catching double-headed eagle Cossack military emblem on the opposite warship from the telescope. He immediately ordered: "The right rudder is full, and we sail north." ”

"Full rudder right." The helmsman repeated the command to knock the wheel to the end. The two cruisers, traveling at a speed of fifteen knots, made a big turn and turned north.

Sun Xiaohu ordered: "Send a report to the headquarters, my advance fleet has discovered the Cossack expeditionary fleet in the waters of Ceylon Island at the southern tip of the Zhanxi Kingdom. Hearing Sun Xiaohu's order, the dispatcher immediately got busy. The first mate leaned over and said, "Captain, since we have discovered the target, we just need to follow it from a distance." Sun Xiaohu said: "No, I still have to find out the number and model of the enemy, and we must get close to reconnaissance." ”

After drawing a large circle, the advance fleet and the Cossack expeditionary fleet were separated by twenty kilometers and entered a parallel channel, and Sun Xiaohu took the opportunity to begin to observe the type and number of opposing warships with a telescope.

The Cossack expeditionary fleet finally discovered the existence of the advance fleet, and immediately a formation of cruisers headed towards them. Sun Xiaohu smiled slightly and ordered: "Three-quarters full speed." The two Tongjiang-class cruisers immediately began to accelerate, and the graceful bow of the two warships split the waves and moved forward quickly, and the speed quickly increased to fifteen knots.

The Cossack expeditionary fleet, which could only maintain a speed of eight knots to protect the supply ships, had to send four cruisers of a cruiser fleet to chase after it. Although the Cossack warships were at full speed, they were only fifteen knots, and the two fleets always maintained a distance of ten nautical miles and could not catch up.

Sun Xiaohu looked at it with a telescope for a while and said, "Write it down, the speed of the Cossack expeditionary fleet cruiser is fifteen knots." After speaking, he looked at the thick black smoke that kept coming out of the chimney of the opposing warship and added, "It's full speed." ”