Before agreeing to the request of the German envoy, Xu Jie now thought of how to make himself invincible first. If you do this in your daily life, you will be despised, but in the exchange of interests between countries, you must always take your own interests as the core. Don't care if you can contain the opponent or not, the most important thing is to ensure that the Chinese Navy can be invincible in the Far East! And if you want to be invincible, what the prime minister wants to ensure is how to quickly destroy the combined Russian-Dutch fleet entrenched in the Dutch East Indies, as long as the Russian-Dutch fleet is disabled, even if Jericho's fleet is in place? Xu Jie did not believe that when the Russian fleet had collapsed, Britain and France still had the courage to start a war with the Chinese Navy.

To crush the Russian fleet is not to defeat or wound. Rather, it means that the opponent will be completely destroyed, or that the blow will not be repaired for a long time. Otherwise, what if you go to the ports of Britain and France to repair and then come out to fight? However, after careful consideration, apart from Singapore and Hong Kong, it seems that there is really no dry dock in the British and French colonies in the Far East that can accommodate 20,000 tons of warships. Therefore, as long as the other side is prevented from escaping to Singapore and Hong Kong, it can prevent the Russian side from regaining its combat effectiveness in a short period of time.

According to the principle of neutrality, "theoretically" neutrality would be for the warships of the belligerent countries to enter the port, stay for a maximum of three days, and then disarm if they do not leave after three days. But there are no rules for what to do after disarmament. What if, under the cover of the Anglo-French fleet, these "disarmed" battleships were sent to Singapore?

So after thinking about it, the best way for the Huaxia Republic to do so is to eliminate the other party before it enters the port. Or just block it before the other side sails out of the port of Batavia. Then storm. Either that, or lure the other person out and beat him again. However, the latter is indeed a bit more difficult. At this time, Xu Jie didn't know that the Russian-Dutch fleet was about to go to the coastal waters of China to hang around. So at this time, Xu Jie was thinking about how to let the other party come out. I thought about it for a long time, but I didn't think about it, and it was impossible for me to go to Taiwan again. So leave this task to Yang Yonglin and them. He has always formulated the course of action for every major battle for the Huaxia Fleet. Now it's time to let go, and I don't understand the situation. It's not good to command blindly.

And when Yang Yonglin received Xu Jie's instructions to deal with the Russian fleet as soon as possible, he also began to operate actively. At this time, the Huaxia fleet was divided into two parts, one part of the fleet was in Taiwan, this fleet had 3 Longtai-class fast battleships, 2 Longteng-class battleships, and the Germans' 2 Scharnhorst-class pocket battlecruisers. 2 more Longxu-class battlecruisers. 2 Longxing-class battleships and 3 Ninghai-class ex-dreadnoughts were in Shanghai. At this time, the two Longxu-class battlecruisers were already preparing to leave Shanghai for Taiwan.

Considering that the Russian fast fleet actually exists in name only. The slag of the Varyag, which has a combat power of only 5, can be gouged out. There were 3 fast battleships left, and Yang Yonglin didn't bother to look for them. Now Yang Yonglin is thinking about how to bite the main fleet led by Makanov, and now Makanov's main fleet should have 7 battleships, and the combat effectiveness is still relatively strong. If you want to fight a battleship, you have to use a battleship. At least in the age of dreadnought. Long Xu-level obviously had no way to draw against the opponent on the battle line. In terms of speed, the speed of all warships of the Chinese Navy is higher than that of the Russian Borodino class, except for the three former dreadnoughts. Now the fleet is divided into two parts, and before the fleet is regrouped, Yang Yonglin decided to wait for the time being.

But that's the time. The Russians moved! One day ago, a submarine was cruising near the port of Batavia when it spotted the Russian-Dutch fleet slipping out of the port of Batavia in the evening. The exact whereabouts are unknown! In the evening. The submarine was unable to keep track of the fleet with the lights in place, and the radio on the submarine was so limited that it was not able to transmit the information in the first place. In this way, the Russians had almost a day more to maneuver, even if it was only 12 knots. It can also run 280 nautical miles in a day. That's almost 550 kilometers. No one knows where the Russians are going!

The actions of the Russians made Yang Yonglin and others scratch their heads, it is said that they have been beaten like this, and they still come out to hang out? Not long ago, Xu Jie was thinking about how to lure the Russian fleet out, but the Russians came out on their own. But I don't know where the road went. Do you want the Russians to break diplomatic relations? It's absolutely impossible. Although the Russian auxiliary warships are almost dead. But even if the diplomatic relationship is broken, just let a few fast warships go out. The Russian-Dutch fleet is pouring out, does it mean?

Have they been dispersed to other military ports? This possibility was also rejected. The Dutch East Indies had few military ports that could accommodate large warships. After being swept by the Chinese navy, there was no military port that could accommodate it except for Batavia. If it really comes to a military port with no defense and no maintenance conditions, will the Russians wait for death? Obviously not. And the submarines cruising near the island of Java did not detect the whereabouts of the Russian-Dutch fleet. So this possibility was also dispatched.

Feel like you can't go on and go to Britain and France to seek asylum? Or did Britain and France intend to join forces with Russia against the Huaxia Republic? This may not be very big, Britain and France themselves have not dealt with Europe, so they came to fight a national war with the Republic of China? It's not very likely, but it's too scary. Therefore, the Huaxia Navy still asked the Ministry of Intelligence to pay attention to the movements of the British and French fleets. Two days later, the result came that the British and French fleets had not moved. Those who remained in the harbor remained in the harbor, and the fleet was scattered throughout East and Southeast Asia, and there was no movement of assembly at all, so this possibility was also denied.

With the possibility of being dispatched one by one, the doubts of Yang Yonglin and others have not been alleviated but have become heavier and heavier, where did this Russian fleet go? It is impossible to say that the Russians did not try, and it is impossible for Makanov to go out with the whole fleet without nothing. So what is the purpose of the Russians? Yang Yonglin hesitated. At the same time, Yang Yonglin also ordered the addition of sentinel ships to expand the entire cordon to the open sea. At the same time, it tightened the defense of the coastal seas, and ordered torpedo boats and gunboats in various places to put them on alert, because after the start of the war, it was always the main attack of the Huaxia fleet, so the coastal areas of China were still relatively lax. But with the threat of the possible entry of the Russian fleet into the region. The Chinese Navy must readjust its defense and reconnaissance network in the coastal waters.

But strengthening the defense of the near sea is only a stopgap measure. Although the Russian-Dutch fleet was choked enough, it was definitely not something that gunboats and torpedo boats could cope with, bleeding was almost inevitable, and there would definitely be losses in merchant ships in the major coastal ports, it was just a matter of how much. However, this also gave the Huaxia Navy a chance, a chance to completely eliminate the opponent on its home turf.

Now Yang Yonglin does not have a lot of fleets, only 7 capital ships and one auxiliary warship. The Longxing-class battleships with the highest combat effectiveness and the Longxu-class battlecruisers with the highest speed are both in Shanghai, and the other three Ninghai-class quasi-dreadnoughts have not yet been finally renovated. But now obviously we can't wait, and when the main fleet of China is all assembled, maybe the Russian fleet has already pulled out.

In addition, because Xu Jie mentioned on the telegram that the Russian-Dutch fleet might join forces with Britain and France, Yang Yonglin must inflict heavy losses on the opponent as soon as possible. And at the same time be prepared to prevent Russian warships from entering British and French ports. Relatively speaking, the latter is relatively easy to do, and Huaxia has already arranged submarine forces near British and French ports in the previous stage, and in the next half a month, submarine forces supported by camouflaged supply ships will not leave these ports. And it is expected that this naval battle should not last that long.

As for the first question, well, if the Russian fleet is not separated. Yang Yonglin could only wait for the Longxing-class battleships and Longxu-class battleships to be in place. But if they are separated, their own 7 warships can still find trouble with one of the subfleets. Of course, the specific situation needs to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. After a brief exchange with his officers, the Huaxia Navy's fleet stationed in Taiwan will set sail the next day. At the same time, the telegram ordered the detachment stationed in Shanghai to immediately set off for the waters near Guangdong, and if there was one, it would be counted as one, and the Ninghai-class would not wait for them until it was completed. Two Longxu-class battlecruisers and two Longxing-class battleships were also to leave Shanghai on the same day, heading south with a fleet of frigates. Before the Russians reached the coast of China, the entire Chinese navy was already moving. Perhaps no one could have imagined that the third large-scale battle in the Sino-Russian War would break out in the coastal areas of China.

Because the Longxing-class battleships were not in place, Yang Yonglin was transferred to Deng Shichang's Longtai during the period. The entire fleet was divided into 3 parts, three Longtai in a group, two Longteng-class in a group, and two Scharnhorst-class Xiuzhen battlecruisers in the German Far East Fleet. In addition, there are up to 2 detachments, a total of 8 light cruisers and more than 10 mine-striking ships to form an auxiliary fleet. Purely from the point of view of the number of capital ships, the Huaxia fleet is only half of the Russian fleet, and the two German pocket battlecruisers are at most secondary capital ships. And the light cruisers and mine-striking ships of the Russians are either dead or simply not suitable for ocean-going operations. So this battle still has to be fought.

And when the Chinese Navy left the Taiwan anchorage, it did not receive any information about the appearance of the Russian fleet in the near sea. This can't help but make Yang Yonglin wonder if Makanov has made another move? For example, to arrive at the ports of Britain and France for supplies, or to hide somewhere and wait for yourself to fall into the net? The former was proved impossible by intermittent intelligence, for the simple reason that the submarine forces did not find any trace of the Russian fleet when they were cruising in various places, and it was important to know that this was the main fleet of more than ten ships, and the black smoke from the combustion alone was enough to be discovered at a distance. As for the ambush? It is possible to consider the Russian fleet if it has sufficient reconnaissance power, but it is also unlikely now. So what exactly is the Russian fleet doing now? Yang Yonglin couldn't figure it out.

Thank you for the reward from Brother Lianying~~~. (To be continued......)