The gentle sea breeze blew away the haze of the night, and hundreds of sailors crowded onto the deck, looking at the half-revealed red in the east, and began to pray devoutly.

Gonbei Yamamoto stood in the bridge and did not disturb the movements of the soldiers, for a fleet that had already sailed tens of thousands of nautical miles, both mentally and physically, had been squeezed to the extreme, and no one knew when that string would break.

But apparently this is not the end of the year, there is still a little half of the way home, which sounds like a lot, but the distance is more than 4,000 nautical miles, and it takes twelve days to sail at full speed.

The problem is that the fleet can no longer go at full speed, and the tens of thousands of nautical miles have caused the bottom of every warship to be covered with parasites, and these little things have seriously delayed the pace of the fleet, so that the average speed of the fleet has dropped from seventeen knots to fifteen knots.

This is not the most serious, what is more serious is that before departure, everyone has learned the news that Luzon was captured by the Pacific Fleet, if everything goes well, then at this moment the Caroline Islands and other islands in front of the original Spanish occupation have probably been occupied by the Pacific Army, fortunately, these islands do not have the ability to dock the fleet, otherwise he must continue to detour with the fleet.

As soon as you pass through the Caroline Islands, you will reach the Northern Mariana Islands, and then you will enter the waters of the Ogasawara Islands, which are the most dangerous and should have belonged to the Osawara Empire.

When he thought of this archipelago that Li Mo forcibly bought for hundreds of thousands, his heart ached, who would have thought that one day this island, which was reluctantly abandoned, would become the biggest obstacle to the return of his fleet?

He stuffed a slice of unpalatable black bread into his mouth, and the slightly musty smell of the bread made him frown, but fortunately he could return to Yuben in ten days, and the delicious rice wine would moisten the throats of these warriors.

Yamamoto clapped his hands, shook off the crumbs in his hands, and looked at the small black warship in the distance. He knew whose warship it was, but he wasn't too worried, and although the fleet's speed had slowed down a lot, it was still able to run hundreds of kilometers before they arrived with the Pacific Fleet.

Hundreds of kilometers, on this sea is enough for any fleet to disappear without a trace.

On deck, more and more soldiers gathered, huddled together to talk about their hometown, smoke cigarettes, eat breakfast, and enjoy the last part of the journey.

The officers did not prevent this break, but happily joined in.

The rising sun brought hot and comfortable sunlight, and even Yamamoto Gonbei stretched his waist and walked towards the flybridge at the top of the bridge, and when he stepped on the flybridge with the bows of several officers, the corners of his eyes suddenly twitched.

In the distance, the black warship that had been following from the Andaman Sea suddenly accelerated, like a black lightning bolt, stinging everyone's eyes.

Boom Boom!

What was even more surprising was that the small black warship actually opened fire, and the small single-barreled 105-millimeter naval gun in the bow continuously sprayed out three huge fireballs, and the thick smoke of gunpowder suddenly covered the blue sky.

The soldiers who were squatting on the deck all stood up to find cover as if they had blown up a pot, and they were also very nervous and wondered, is this little warship crazy? With a size of less than 1,000 tons, challenge the complete and huge fleet of the Great Imperial Empire?

The crisp sound of shelling continued, and the water column rose from all sides of the ships, and because of the distance, and the other side's shelling did not have any purpose at all, it was aimed at the battleship for a while, and then at the cruiser, and the last few guns even rushed towards the torpedo ship, but nothing was gained.

Damn it!

Obviously, this is a provocation, naked flirting and juggling!

Although even if the other side let go of the artillery bombardment, the 105-mm naval guns could not cause much Shanghai to the fleet, but for a fleet that had sailed tens of thousands of nautical miles and was always nervous and uneasy, this kind of teasing was enough to release all the anger that everyone had held back in their hearts, so Yamamoto Gonbei and the officers were immediately enraged, they didn't expect that this small warship would dare to open fire on the huge fleet formation, and they were so angry that they jumped to their feet. Fortunately, he didn't burn and didn't waste the precious main gun shells, so he ordered the Chitose and Kasaki to pursue and drive them away with three torpedo ships.

After receiving the order, the two light cruisers and three torpedo ships located in the center of the fleet immediately accelerated out of the main formation, and these small warships were originally born for speed, so they quickly caught up.

The small black warship was obviously not slow at a low speed, and when it saw five warships surrounding it, it immediately retreated and shelled, two of which almost hit a torpedo ship.

This sudden situation, not to mention the fleet, even the four warships that came from thousands of miles to watch the battle exploded, whether it was Britain, France, or the United States and Germany, the naval officers and soldiers, in addition to admiring the courage of this small black warship, also felt amused by its inadequacy.

As the three torpedo ships of the Yue Ben Mine class became faster and faster, and when they were about to catch up with each other, the black warships suddenly circled the bay and sped out like a frightened horse.

This made everyone's mouth open as they watched the battle with their binoculars, especially a naval officer like Fisher, who was proficient in the construction and design of warships, because they found that the small black warship had accelerated from the original twenty knots to thirty knots at once with almost no effort, and the speed continued to increase!

God, is it full of boilers?

Persey's eyes widened, pointing at the black warship in disbelief, seeing that the three fastest torpedo ships were about to catch up with each other, and suddenly the black warship changed its tactics, maneuvering in a serpentine shape to avoid artillery fire, while releasing a large amount of thick black smoke.

The billowing smoke suddenly covered the horizon, and the vision suddenly became blurred, because it was at the downwind outlet, whether it was the main fleet of the main fleet that was moving slowly or the four cruisers watching the battle, they were all obscured by this thick smoke.

The small black warship seemed to be full of smoke-generating materials, and thick black smoke continued to emit out, coupled with its continuous maneuvering and turning, making the sky seem to be blackened, and the five warships were quickly engulfed in thick black smoke......

One after another, the not too dense cannon sound, made Persey suddenly feel a little strange, it stands to reason that the small warship can escape with speed, why should he?

Before Persey could finish thinking about it, his pupils suddenly shrank into a little cold star, because he found that in the dense black clouds on the sea level in the distance, several different clouds suddenly rose, that is!

Before Persey could shout, dozens of fire balls suddenly lit up in the billowing smoke, and then the rumbling cannon sound came from the sky, making the hearts of everyone who accompanied the main fleet of Yuben suddenly stir.

"Enemy attack!"

Piercing sirens sounded from every warship, and they were watching a good show, waiting for the black warship to be surrounded and then sunk and then celebrated.

Even the cruisers of Shikoku, who were watching the battle, quickly turned their bows and distanced themselves from the fleet, and at the same time raised several national flags, after all, no one wanted to be injured by mistake in such a situation.

At this time, Persey finally knew why the small warship did not run away but frequently released smoke, and it was obvious that the other party's special equipment that could release a large amount of black smoke was carefully prepared. Because of the effect of the earth's curve, the human eye can only see about 20,000 meters at most, beyond this distance, there is nothing to be done, and at this time, the six warships fighting 20,000 meters away are just at the end of the line of sight, plus the thick smoke obscure, it is easy to block everyone's sight and cover for friendly ships to get closer.

Of course, Persey was sure that there were not many warships coming, and that they were in a special tight formation, and most importantly not at full speed, because the plumes of smoke coming out at full speed would certainly be thicker and darker than the smoke.

A few minutes later, when the smoke in the sky gradually faded, the entire main fleet and the warships watching the battle were all dumbfounded, some rubbing their eyes, some tugging at the back of their hands, as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

What is that?!

A hull of about 10,000 tons, a tall pagoda-like bridge, and a deck?

God, triple turrets!

Piggyback central axis installation, and the number of 12 doors!

In the line of sight, the fleet composed of four strange warships and two three-thousand-ton protective cruisers had completed the turn, and blocked the two cruisers and torpedo ships, and countless fire balls were bursting out from the gun barrels that seemed to be inserted into the deck, and the rumbling cannons were denser than the beat of drums, and in the blink of an eye, a large number of water columns appeared around the five pursuing warships.

"The speed of the enemy ship is 25 knots, two degrees to the left."

One minute of rapid firing was enough to test and adjust the shelling of Zhuyuan, and in the shelling control tower above the bridge of the navigation ship, the observer shouted to report the data to the gunner behind him while observing the effect and error of the first round of shelling through a 15-meter-long periscope rangefinder.

The gunner will immediately pass a set of numbers through a telephone line to the fire control calculation cabin under the bridge command tower, which is protected by thick armor, and with the help of five hand-cranked computers, the shelling elements that collect all kinds of data from the whole ship are quickly calculated, and then transmitted to each turret through the telephone line.

The process may seem cumbersome, but in fact it is only a few tens of seconds, and by the time the first round of shelling is over, the correction data from the observations has already been transmitted to the various gun positions.

"Five minutes, shoot quickly!"

As soon as the gunners shouted into the phone that they were ready, the newly recruited gunners had already given a thumbs up to Le Fei, and the latter did not give the two Yuben light cruisers and the three torpedo ships that had been beaten up any chance at all, and immediately gave the order to shell at full speed.

Twelve 52-caliber 152-mm naval guns fired six rounds per minute, four 47-caliber 130-mm naval guns fired eight rounds per minute when firing rapidly, plus the same twin 130-mm naval guns in front and behind the Cossacks and Dragich in the formation, the light patrol formation could throw 480 shells in one minute!

Almost in the blink of an eye, the distance was only five thousand meters, and the three torpedo ships that had just rushed to the front at a speed of thirty knots were beaten into a sieve.

In such a close proximity, even if there is no new rangefinder and fire control command system, even if the torpedo ship targets are small, mobile and flexible, and the Pacific Fleet gunners who have been tested for many years and have received high-intensity training for many years, they can ensure a hit rate of 20 percent, which is equivalent to nearly 30 shells on each torpedo boat.

The shells exploded around them, and the small hull and hull could not withstand such a dense rain of bullets, and soon a raging fire ignited, and when two violent explosions exploded almost at the same time, the bow of the two torpedo ships whose names Le Fei did not know until now exploded, and the scene of the torpedo being hit and detonated suddenly made the eyes of both warring sides wide!

The sailors and officers of the Pacific Fleet did not expect that with the newly developed rangefinder and the rudimentary fire control system, the power and accuracy of the naval guns could be brought into full play.

However, the main fleet and the cruisers watching the battle did not expect that it would take only two minutes for this strange warship filled with 152 mm naval guns to sink three torpedo ships!

In the violent explosion, brownish smoke rose into the sky, and by the time the gunners began to aim their guns all at the two light cruisers, the three small torpedo boats had already begun to sink.

Two minutes.

Led the Honolulu to test the new fire control system and triple naval guns for nearly a year, and even the power of their combination, Le Fei was not surprised at all that he could sink three torpedo ships in such a short time, with the powerful rapid-fire gun configuration of four Jinghai-class and two light cruisers, it was not a credit to kill three torpedo ships at close range, so he didn't even twitch half of his face, and his attention was all focused on the two light cruisers that were dragging behind, about 10,000 meters away.

The Chitose and the Kasaki are both Chitose-class second-class cruisers of the same batch, with a full load displacement of 4,850 tons, equipped with two single-mounted 40-caliber 203-mm naval guns, in addition to ten single-mounted 152-mm guns, 12 single-mounted 76-mm rapid-fire guns, and six 47-mm Habekaith rapid-fire guns, with a speed of 21 knots.

Both the displacement and the firepower have exceeded the scope of the general second-class protection cruisers, and have even reached the standard of being able to fight against the determination class, so from the beginning of accepting the task, he listed the two British-built light cruisers and the other two light cruisers built by France, with the same main guns but different secondary guns, as the focus of the attack.

Merely!

Le Fei looked at the two ships that had been approached to nine thousand meters in the distance, but had never fired a single shot, the corners of his mouth suddenly opened an upturned arc, and when the corner of his eyes swept farther away, the main fleet of Yuben and the four third-country cruisers that were speeding up to watch the battle, his eyes were even brighter, and he made a gesture to the artillery staff.

He still didn't learn his lesson, and desperately chose large-caliber heavy artillery in an attempt to enhance his firepower superiority, but he wanted to maintain his speed, so he made these four thin-skinned dumplings, according to intelligence, the thickest part of the four light cruiser armor is only two inches, and this thickness of armor, even in the maximum range of the new 152 mm naval gun, does not even need to use the cap-piercing shells just installed!

What's more, at this moment, they have taken the initiative to close to nine thousand meters, and because of the angle of fire, the secondary cannon cannot be aimed at all!

"Keep a distance of 10,000 meters, armor-piercing bullets!"

Le Fei calmly gave the order, the captain immediately tossed the rudder, and at the same time that the bow began to deviate slightly, the main guns of the four Jinghai-class roared again-

10,000 meters!

Fisher, who had already been fascinated by the sudden appearance of the four Jinghai-class light cruisers of the Pacific Fleet, seemed to feel that his eyes were about to explode, and before he could take a closer look, he saw that the other party took the initiative to open the distance between him and the two second-class cruisers, and then the forty-eight main guns spewed out blazing fireballs at the same time.

If it is normal for more than 60 naval guns of 130 mm caliber to fire at the same time and kill three torpedo ships within 5,000 meters, then it is very abnormal for them to take the initiative to retreat to a distance of 10,000 meters and open fire.

In particular, Fisher, a professional artillery expert, knows very well that although the naval guns of various countries can theoretically hit more than 10,000 meters, the problem is that the shooting is too small, and once the naval battle distance exceeds 10,000 meters, the requirements for the gunner are very high, so all countries basically regard 5,000 meters as the best artillery battle distance, once this distance is exceeded, the hit rate will drop significantly, as for 10,000 meters away, it is simply a matter of luck.

So he knew very well the power of the guns of the two second-class protection cruisers, if they were to get closer to five thousand meters, with two single-mounted 203 mm naval guns, they could easily tear apart the opponent's armor, but what did he see now?

Nearly 10,000 tons of hull but only four triple 152 mm naval guns are arranged, even if it takes the initiative to open up to 10,000 meters away to shoot, is it possible that the gunners of the Pacific Fleet are clairvoyant?

Of course, the gunners of the Pacific Fleet are not clairvoyants, but the rangefinders on the high bridge can accurately provide data such as the speed, distance and shelling deviation of the two light cruisers.

"Boom, boom."

As a light cruiser, the Jinghai-class is different from the battleship heavy cruiser of the main force, neither pursuing unified artillery bombardment nor line tactics, the only key is to be fast.

Quick response, fast firing, fast sailing!

And when these are gathered together, a terrible whirlwind of steel is formed, although the range of 130 mm naval guns is also more than 10,000 meters, but they are not equipped with special armor-piercing shells, so at a distance of 10,000 meters, they can only watch the main guns at full speed of six shells per minute, roaring and pouring bullets on the enemy.

According to tests conducted in the past few months, the hit rate at a distance of 10,000 meters can reach 15 percent, and theoretically more than 10 shells can be hit in 72 armor-piercing shells in one minute.

What made the two captains despair the most was that no matter how they increased their speed, those warships that were obviously much larger than themselves still maintained a distance of 10,000 meters, could it be said that the speed of the other party exceeded 22 knots?

The 10,000-ton warship has more than 22 knots, how many boilers do you have to load!

With the shells accurately hitting the hull, the two cruisers finally couldn't hold on, and were ready to turn around and turn to the main fleet, but how could Le Fei let the prey fly away, and decisively ordered the left rudder to go around the left flank of the two light cruisers, and continued to bombard indiscriminately, and at the same time ordered the Cossacks and Dragich to approach and shell.

After replacing the steam turbine and using a new generation of oil-fired boilers, the two light cruisers, which had accelerated faster and could soar to twenty-five knots, rushed out like wild horses, and under the cover of a dense rain of bullets, they quickly narrowed the distance to seven thousand meters.

At this distance, the 130-millimeter naval guns they carried could already be fully utilized, and the speed of eight guns per minute was faster than that of the main guns of the Jinghai ship, and the accuracy was also higher, and they hit the hull of the ship that was already emitting thick smoke one after another.

Under such a dense rain of bullets, especially after those new armor-piercing shells continued to penetrate the armor, the Chitose and the Kasaki finally couldn't hold on, and the frantically poured sea water caused the speed of the two ships to drop sharply to fifteen knots.

Once it loses speed, no matter what kind of cruiser it is, it will be like a tiger with its teeth stripped away, leaving only sharp claws, but the claws are obviously not sharp enough to reach the enemy at a distance of 10,000 meters.

When the boiler room in the middle of the Chitose hull exploded first, the flawed Yamamoto Gonbei finally rushed to within 10,000 meters with the main fleet, but unfortunately it was too late.

Less than a minute after the Chitose explosion, the Kasaki was also damaged by a large amount of water in the boiler room, causing all the boilers and power, and the hull began to tilt, and finally capsized and sank an hour later.

And when the Chitose exploded, Le Fei saw the capital ship pair that had rushed closer, and gave the order to retreat.

Watching the six warships disappear again beyond the horizon at a speed of more than twenty-three knots, John Fisher and Philettman, who had finally recovered from the shock, glanced at each other, took out their pocket watches and looked at the time.

Thirty minutes!

Fisher gasped, just twenty-five minutes, only enough for a twenty-knot warship to run 10,000 meters. But it is these 10,000 meters that have become the moat of the main force of the fleet.

No one can deny that this was a successful tactical sneak attack.

From provoking the opponent to rush forward, to constantly widening the distance between the pursuing warship and the main force, to releasing a large amount of smoke to cover the approach of friendly ships, and finally destroying the two second-class protection cruisers that are considered to be the best, in addition to the perfect tactical design, it is also inseparable from the four 10,000-ton warships equipped with a large number of six-inch rapid-fire naval guns.

Fisher was almost certain that the Honolulu shipyard had been closed for two years to create a new warship, with its novel shape, towering bridge, and refreshing turret arrangement, and its jaw-dropping ability to deliver a large number of projectiles in a short period of time, all of which shocked the officers on the four cruisers who were watching the battle.

Although everyone is still skeptical about the efficacy of the 10,000-ton warship with only 152 mm naval guns and the utilization rate of displacement tonnage, no one can deny that this new warship that they have never seen before, and even shockingly, will become the nemesis of all second-class cruisers in the world, and even many first-class cruisers cannot withstand so many six-inch shells!

In the dull gaze of the sailors and the long-unquenchable heartbeat of the four cruisers watching the battle, the small black warship appeared out of nowhere and hung far behind the fleet as if nothing had happened at all.

Persey returned to the cabin, slowly opened the notebook, and paused for a moment before picking up a pen and writing down a line.

"Speed will change naval warfare!"

(To be continued)