The sky is clear and the blue waves are surging. On the endless ocean, more than 40 ships of various types spewed soot and sailed quickly. On one of the battleships, which was full of French flavor, Makarov was standing in front of a nautical chart with his head bowed and groaning; The lines drawn in the red pencil on the chart clearly indicate that they had traveled more than 400 nautical miles.

"General, it stands to reason that we should return to Dalini day and night as soon as we join up with the convoy, but why do you want to go south? Wouldn't that be farther away from the destination? The captain of the Prince, Lipatov, opened his mouth slightly, and his words were full of incomprehension.

Makarov gave him a blank look when he heard this: "Colonel, this is the reason why I am the commander of the vice admiral fleet, and you can only be the captain of a battleship." Have you ever wondered how sure we would be that if we were to return to base directly north and be intercepted by the main forces of the Japanese fleet, we would be able to bring the convoy back to Dalini (Dalian) without any damage? Of our battleships, the Borodino and the Emperor were too new, and the 3 Perryvestres were armed with only 4 10-inch (254 mm) cannons; Coupled with the fact that the strength of the two sides is not at all proportional to the strength of the cruisers, our disadvantage can be imagined. In the event of a war, the fleet will not be able to protect itself, and it will no longer be able to spare the strength to ensure the safety of those transport ships. Therefore, we had to avoid the main forces of the Japanese Combined Fleet, especially with this large number of cumbersome transport ships with us. ”

Makarov paused slightly, and then said: "I can be sure that the Japanese were actually preparing to concentrate the main force of the fleet to intercept when we were heading south, but because we left the port immediately at night, and the action was a step faster, their plan did not succeed. We spent a lot of coal on the long journey, and we stayed outside the port of Manila for 18 hours to refuel, and the merchant ships had already seen us through; Even if the Japanese are slow to react, they will surely know that we have arrived in Manila one step ahead of schedule. Colonel, if you were Japanese, then what would you do? ”

Lipatov pondered for a moment and said cautiously: "Maybe they will gather the main forces and stop our fleet head-on?" ”

Makarov said lightly: "That's right. The South China Sea is not vast, and Japan has a large number of inferior warships for reconnaissance, and if we return to Dalini directly north, it is highly likely that the soot from nearly 50 warships will be spotted. Although we had succeeded once before, it was done without the Japanese being on guard, and now we could only reach a maximum speed of 11 knots, so it was undoubtedly several times more difficult to avoid the Japanese again. Under these circumstances, therefore, after filling up the coal at noon the next day, I had the fleet sail slowly northward in front of the Germans, and made it appear that I had planned to return northward, but after nightfall I ordered the fleet to turn south and pounce at full speed on the sparsely shipped central part of the Philippines. Speaking of this, Makarov's face flashed a slight smugness, and he said: "Now the Japanese should deploy a large number of warships in the South China Sea, and they are anxiously looking for our traces; However, we have gone around to the east of Luzon through Leyte Gulf, completely out of their search! ”

Lipatov suddenly said yes. He thought for a moment, but there was still a hint of puzzlement on his face, and said, "But our fleet hasn't shown up for nearly two days. The Japanese have not moved for so long, and it is difficult to guarantee that they will not find anything from it. ”

Makarov smiled, "Taking a step back, even if that guy from Heihachiro Togo now has insight into my intentions, it will be difficult for him to make a difference. To the east of Luzon is the Pacific Ocean, how can he find our fleet in the vast sea? And the next order I am about to give will completely deprive him of his chance to catch us. He turned around, raised his voice an octave, and said loudly to the adjutant: "Order, change the destination of the fleet, abandon the planned plan to return to Darini, and go directly to Vladivostok to rendezvous with Essen!" ”

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Just as the Russian fleet was changing its destination, a large fleet was making a rapid turn on the ocean 200 nautical miles away; A large white splash of water stirred up from the stern of the ship, slowly drawing a magnificent arc circle with a radius of nearly a thousand meters on the sea surface. From a distance, its huge ships and heavy artillery are like forests, all of which are far superior to Makarov's Russian ship group.

"Really, thanks to your cleverness, otherwise I would have fallen for the evil of Makarov's traitor and become a sinner of the Japanese Empire." Feeling the tilt of the hull caused by the rapid turn of the battleship, the diminutive white-bearded old man leaned against the wall and said in a tone full of joy and anger, "This guy deliberately sailed north in front of the Germans, causing our intelligence officers in Manila to send back the wrong information, and then he immediately turned south and bypassed our net from Leyte Gulf!"

Listening to the old man's words, the handsome young man next to him, who was called Mayuki, did not show any smug look, but a trace of guilt crept up on his face, and said softly: "We seem to have underestimated this newly sent fleet commander from Lucia from the beginning. I thought that he had not been familiar with his generals and the situation in the Far East for a long time when he first arrived in Manchuria, and that it would take a long time for him to get used to it. But he didn't expect that he would be able to command this completely unfamiliar fleet when Fang Fu took office, and he also had an extremely clear understanding of the situation in the Far East and his own advantages and disadvantages. In addition, he was a very cunning enemy, and this detour from Leyte Gulf could be said to be a stroke of genius, and he suddenly turned passive into active, completely reversing the unfavorable situation he had been in for two days. ”

"Really, do we still have a chance to kill them now?" The old man asked.

Akiyama Shinyuki nodded affirmatively, "Of course there is a chance." Now that the Russian fleet had more than 20 transports in it, it was no longer possible to run at full speed as they had gone south a few days earlier to reinforce them, and now they were only about 10 knots; And because of our timely response, and the fact that the whole fleet can move at a high speed of 18 knots without pressure, we must have blocked this fleet that has not gone far east of Luzon. However, the problem now is that it is difficult for us to determine their route and location, although the Philippines is far away from Liaodong, but it can still allow Makarov to make some tactical maneuvers; With our reconnaissance force of more than 50 merchant ships and auxiliary ships, it will still be difficult to find him. ”

"One thing is certain, no matter how cunning the traitor may be, his ultimate goal must be to return to their naval base called Dalini next to Arthur. That is to say......" The old man picked up a pencil and a large ruler, quickly and accurately brushed and traced on the chart, and after a short time drew a circle among the various horizontal diagonal strips, "If we send the auxiliary reconnaissance force and the fleet avant-garde to this sea area now, then there is a more than 60% chance of searching for the fleet of the Lu country." ”

Akiyama Shinyuki nodded slightly. After a few breaths, his eyes suddenly flashed, and he blurted out, "Please wait a minute." The final destination of the Lu Nation Fleet may not be their starting point! ”

The old man's eyes were full of surprise, and he said, "Why is this?" ”

At this time, Akiyama Mayuki had already fully reacted, and the luster in his eyes became brighter and brighter: "Togo-kun, please think about it carefully, what is the purpose of this Luguo fleet coming out of the nest at the beginning of the declaration of war between the two countries and coming straight to Manila overnight?" Just to keep their convoy from being taken captive by us! Now that the troop carrier has been taken over by them, there is no need for them to venture back to Dalini Port through the Ryukyu Sea, where our ships are frequented, as long as they ensure that the fleet can be unloaded safely! Therefore, it is highly likely that their final destination will be Vladivostok, which borders the Sea of Japan. If they choose this as their destination, they will be walking deep into the western Pacific Ocean before reaching the Japanese archipelago, which will be extremely difficult to spot, and it will be too late to find them near Honshu. Moreover, it has been run by the Russians for decades, and it is far better than Dalini, which has been occupied for less than five years, in terms of facilities and reserves. If I were Makarov, I would have chosen this ocean-going route, which is a little farther away, but much safer than that. ”

Togo Heihachiro's lips opened slightly, and then he gasped and said, "Categorically! If it weren't for your reminder, I would have almost fallen into the trap of stereotyped thinking again. Previously, he had to take the South China Sea in order to gain time; And now that the convoy is in his hands, a detour to the ocean is clearly the best option. ”

"So, the most likely location for the Russians is in such an area." Akiyama Shinyuki took over the mapping tool from Togo, and within a few minutes he drew another route map that was completely different from the previous one, "Makarov would never have imagined that we knew that he had bypassed the blockade and at the same time guessed his intention to divert to Vladivostok; What's more, this long road is more than 2,700 nautical miles long, and there is nothing fuel that will allow him to make too many tactical maneuvers. All we have to do is send the search ship to this area and wait for the rabbit to find out where this old fox is! ”

Dongxiang sighed softly and said, "Really, it is really a blessing for the Japanese Empire to have a chief of staff of the Combined Fleet like you!" ”