"It's over." Essen muttered to himself as he looked at the Jinghai coming at high speed from a distance. At this time, Essen has no longer returned to the ambition and conceit of war, and all that remains is remorse and despair, and even a hint of fear! At this point in the war, Essen has already spelled out the last trace of mobility of the Russian Far East Fleet! The Parada will definitely not be able to go back, even if the Vostok is lucky enough to reach a neutral colony, it is estimated that it will be disarmed and then detained until after the war to return, so that the Far East Fleet will only have 4 large warships in the end, and this is the result of being able to bring back the two fast capital ships safely!

Before the Jinghai could enter the battle, Essen immediately ordered the Prince and the Russian to release smoke and evacuate the battlefield, and if they continued to fight, it would not be a battle, but a death! But even so, the Jinghai and the Pinghai still used the time of the other side to turn, maneuver and accelerate, and left several memorials for the Russian at the end of the team!

When Essen had just ordered a retreat, the Russian was hit by a 12-inch shell from the Pinghai in the process of turning, which directly cut off the corner of the tail and directly caused the vibration of the propeller shaft. In the process of pursuit, the Jinghai smashed a shell into the rear turret of the Russia, which was a high-explosive shell, although it certainly could not penetrate the main armor on the rear main turret of the Russia, but it broke a gun barrel by mistake. The last gift was a 12-inch shell that hit the side chord of the hull, after blowing up a 6-inch gun and the 12-pounder rapid-fire gun on top. A fire was lit inside the hull.

This is thanks to the excellent power systems of the Prince and the Russia, and also thanks to the fact that the two Russian warships have caused some losses to the Pinghai, Liu Buyun did not choose to continue to pursue the Russian warships that had left at high speed. Instead, he continued to maintain a medium-speed voyage and slowly pressed the opponent, Beiyang had laid out too many blockade lines for the Russians in front, and Liu Buyun was completely confident that the Russian fleet would shed the last drop of blood on the long route!

For the next day, the Russian fleet was withdrawn in the direction of the open sea, and the Vostok's southwestward direction was naturally aimed at Vietnam, which was under French control. The Parada and the Essen fleet, on the other hand, sailed eastward, meeting at a predetermined assembly point before seeking their next move. During this day, the Russians did not find the sneaky camouflaged reconnaissance ship, but since the encounter with Liu Buchan's fleet. The Russians could no longer relax their tense nerves. A calm sea gate does not mean security. God knows where the Beiyang Fleet is waiting for the Russians to throw themselves into the net. With the defeat of Lien Zhan, a mood of panic and despair spread throughout the fleet, and even cruel military law could not stop these rumors from being in private, and the morale of the entire fleet was on the verge of collapse. Surviving and returning home has become the most desired topic for the vast majority of Russian officers and soldiers.

As the saying goes, blessings do not come together, and disasters do not go alone. Just as Essen and his officers were planning a route for the evacuation, the news from Parada added a touch of despair to Essen's already gloomy face. Part of the steam pipes and boilers of the Parada finally collapsed under the double blow of a long voyage and war, and the entire battleship sailed at a speed of 12 knots at most, and such a speed is tantamount to looking for death in the face of the Beiyang Fast Fleet that may appear at any time, and more importantly, it doesn't matter if Parada dies himself, don't drag down the Prince and the Russia!

"Give up the Parada, it can at least serve as a time to attract the attention of the Beiyang Fleet and win a breakthrough for the main fleet." An officer hesitated and then said.

"No, I can't. After all, the Parada is a 7,000-ton main armored cruiser, so it can't just be gone. Another officer said with a lot of pain. However, I saw some cold eyes from my companions. He hesitated for a moment and continued: "I'm afraid the amount of coal burned on the Parada is no longer enough to go to Southeast Asia, and there are hundreds of compatriots on it, we can't let them go to death senselessly." ”

"What's more critical is that against such a battleship that has no combat effectiveness, Beiyang will not dispatch the capital ship at all, and any Guiyuan-class can clean it up, and it is impossible to use it to attract Beiyang's attention." Essen glanced at the second officer and spoke to help him out of the siege.

"So what do we do? Waiting to be dragged to death by this broken ship? General Essen, your mission is to at least ensure that the Prince and the Russia return safely to Muroran Harbor, but the situation now is that if we don't abandon the Parada, we will all be doomed! One of the officers asked aloud, the fear of death had dominated him, and he spoke out loud even in front of the Supreme Commander of the fleet.

"The Parada is going to give up, but the crew and supplies on it can't be given up, especially the fuel. The fuel tanks of the Russos have been somewhat damaged, and these have lost some of the coal, so we must make up for our losses with the coal of the Parada, and as for the crew on it, it is the wealth of the Empire, and we must do our best to preserve it. "As for the Parada, I suggest that it depart with dignity, and that we sink the ship ourselves." At this point, Essen's heart twitched. For Russia, it is a very painful decision to abandon a capital ship of more than 7,000 tons, especially in the Far East, where the strength is already out of balance, and the loss of each capital ship is one step closer to Russia's loss of Hokkaido!

"Okay, hurry up, we have some equipment for refueling at sea, but don't have too much hope for the speed of refueling, transfer most of the people to the Prince, the Russian has been hit by more bullets, and the cabins above are seriously damaged." At this time, the Russian officers were unexpectedly united and prepared for the transfer of personnel.

After a day's hard work, most of the useful materials on the Parada were transferred, from supplies to useful equipment, to almost all the crew, the Parada was basically emptied of all the useful and dismantling parts, and finally, under the gaze of almost all the remaining Russian naval officers and men, the Parada's sea valve was opened, and slowly sank to the bottom of the sea. By now, all 3 armored cruisers of the Azov type of the Russian Far Eastern Fleet have been sunk. And the Russian Far Eastern Fleet now has only 5 warships left.

"Sailing southeast, we enter the Pacific Ocean and then turn northeast back to the port of Muroran." When the Parada's mast sank completely below the waterline, Essen ordered, and then secretly wiped away the tears that flowed from his eyes. In just a few days, the Russian fleet sank 3 battleships, and this blow was too great for both the Far Eastern Fleet and himself!

Thank you for the monthly ticket support of the little pig that the book friend is running away ~~~. (To be continued.) )