Off the coast of Dayaceh, on board the British cup ship Donegal. John Fisher withdrew his gaze from the Russian fleet and the three Dutch warships that were pestering in the distance.

As a first-class cruiser built at the same time as the Jinghai class, after seeing the Jinghai class, the Donegal made significant improvements in the design of the Monmeth, for the first time with a full six-inch (152 mm) naval gun as the main gun, and also used a knapsack turret, two twin turrets were installed in the front and rear, plus five guns of the same caliber on the side of the ship, the firepower of the whole ship reached eighteen six-inch, in addition to the installation of 10 12-pounder guns, it can be said that the firepower has reached the extreme, and the displacement has also increased to 11,000 tons.

The British Navy was extremely satisfied with this improvement, and ordered ten ships in one go, but Fisher still felt insufficient, and the key was still to take power and triple assembly technology, and after obtaining the ship gun decommissioning technology at a high price, the triple assembly technology and power became his henchman, and the power secretly developed in power was still difficult, although the oil-fired boiler was progressing smoothly, but the steam turbine still did not meet the standard of loading ships.

Although the Donegal can reach 21 knots, its displacement is only a little more than 10,000, and the caliber of the ship's guns is still too small, and the perfect cruiser of his dream should have the same caliber of main guns as the battleship, and can cross the sea at a speed of more than 22 knots, but at present, this is not realistic.

And Britain has not yet broken through the triple assembly technology, not that the naval guns cannot be triple-equipped, but after the installation of the naval guns has reached an unacceptable level, taking the six-inch gun as an example, the accuracy of the double-mounted within 10,000 meters can reach 50 meters, and after the triple, the accuracy has dropped to 500 meters, which is enough for the enemy to drink coffee and leave.

Fisher didn't know how Li Mo solved this problem, so he decided to take time out of his busy schedule to watch this naval battle with Europe, which is known as the world's great steel collision" Thinking of the Jinghai-level coming out of nowhere last time, he even looked forward to what killer copper Li Mo would come up with this time.

Maybe even he didn't know that unconsciously, the ugly country in the Far East, which was full of opium in the eyes of the world and had big pigtails, had become the leader of the navy.

Fisher turned his head to see Seymour, commander of the Far East Fleet, a forty-year-old vice admiral who had been replaced by Filletman after his dismissal, and who had been slowly recovering under his leadership for three years.

"Lieutenant General Seymour, if you were Roger Steven, which path would you take?"

"Strait of Malacca" without a doubt! ”

"Why? It's too narrow, and there are many exit islands, which is not conducive to maneuvering, and if you get trapped, you may be completely wiped out! Fisher asked curiously. ※※※※※ I ※ I ※ ※

Seymour smiled bitterly and spread his hands, explaining: "Your Majesty, it seems to me that it was a mistake for Nicholas II to let his fleet come here, and his fleet sailed more than 10,000 nautical miles" The speed and condition are already seriously poor, and the Chinese Navy has been harassing them for about a month, and the soldiers are already overwhelmed. ”

"In that case, why would you choose the dangerous Malacca?" Fisher was curious.

"The reason is simple, because of the proximity!" Seymour said: "The Russian soldiers are still insisting" As the commander of the fleet, he must grasp this last trace of courage, although the Strait of Malacca is narrow, but Li Mo will never let his fleet enter the strait to fight" He can only block the exit of the Linga Islands.

However, there are many small islands in the Linga archipelago, and any fleet that enters it will lose speed and mobility, which will allow the Russians to regain their disadvantage in both areas.

Although I am not optimistic about the final victory, if the breakthrough time is chosen at night, relying on the cover of the night and dense islands, and using the capital ships as the arrow, "there is still hope for protecting some warships from rushing over, even if half of the fleet is finally lost, as long as it can enter the south and the middle, the huge sea area will become a good cover" At that time, the southeast coast of the [China] people, Luzon and Borneo will be in fear.

Russia has no chance of victory, but if it can enter the seas of South China and threaten the southeast, Nicholas II may be able to get some back at the negotiating table. ”

"But Lieutenant General Seymour, have you forgotten? Li Mo has a technology that can monitor distant fleets, even if the Russians enter the South China Sea, it is impossible to escape their surveillance, right? ”

"Yes, I've heard about it too, but the sea is too big, and if Roger Steven's fleet is scattered in five, six, or even ten formations, then Ren Nianren will also want to control them all!"

Fisher nodded, Seymour deserved to be a general who could be ordered in danger, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, Seymour, you are an excellent fleet commander, so do you think your fellow Roger St. Winster will take that route?" ”

"I don't know." Seymour shook his head neatly, and just as he was about to continue talking, there was already a report around him. It is reported that the Russian fleet is forcibly entering Banda Aceh. ”

Forced entry?!

Not to mention Fisher, even Seymour has straight eyes, is Roger Stevent crazy? Could it be that he, like that idiot Wertherft, knows that under the nose of others, he wants to occupy the base?

Looking at the Russian ships that were constantly waving the banner of "if attacked, shoot back immediately", under the gaze of three dumbfounded Dutch cruisers, Fisher sighed in his heart, Roger Steinster was not crazy, but he had no choice!

From here, whether it is to Dili or Luzon, his coal burning is not enough to support it, not to mention that the front will enter the war zone, the road is difficult, if you don't fill up the coal at this time, I'm afraid you don't have to fight the Russian fleet will become an iron coffin.

"Colonel Steven, send someone into the port of Banda Aceh at once, I want to know everything that is happening there!" Before Fisher could finish his sigh, Seymour had already begun to give orders.

Facing the puzzled gaze of the First Minister of the Navy, Seymour raised his head and said coldly: "Your Majesty, please forgive my directness, if the Dutch are finally forced to add coal to Russia, then they will violate the Neutrality Act, and Dili will be very overwhelmed by the Chinese Navy, so delete it"

"You want to occupy the island of Dutch Guinea!" Fisher's eyes widened suddenly.

"Do you think we still have a choice? Li Mo will never give up this good opportunity! Seymour spread his hands and smiled bitterly, if the Dutch violated the Neutrality Act to add coal to the belligerents, the Far Eastern arsonist would definitely not give up, after Dili was cut off, the island of Dutch Guinea had been cut off, in this case, it was better for Britain to occupy it than to cheapen Limer!

Fisher took a deep breath, maybe this is the reason why the Admiralty chose Seymour, he is more decisive and pragmatic than his predecessor Fei to Temanga, which can't help but make him reverie, if Russia really forces Malacca and finally causes the Chinese army to suffer a certain heavy loss, can Britain take the opportunity to break the control of the Pacific established by Limer?!

Roger Stewinster didn't know how many people had caused his move, but even if he did, he wouldn't hesitate, as Fisher said, he was cornered!

After departing from Colombo, due to fear and attack, he ordered to cut the cables of those small warships that were originally held behind the capital ships, and let them act on their own, although those small warships did not consume much coal, but the number added up to a large burden is not a small burden, after arriving in Banda Aceh, the fleet's coal has been consumed by nearly half, and there is no ability to reach Luzon or Dili far away, so after the Netherlands sent warships to block him from entering the port, it is worth gritting his teeth and ordering to force his way in, and also told the ships, If you are attacked, you can fight back immediately!

After receiving the news that the Russian fleet had forcibly entered the military port, the Dutch East India Governor was stupid and hurriedly ran to negotiate with Roger Stewinst, but the latter's sailors had gone crazy looking at the hill-like coal piles, how could they withdraw again, and then he had to order the coal bunkers to be opened to fill the Russian ships with coal.

The governor may not have known what his order brought to what would become Banda Aceh. On the afternoon of 2 April, after seeing that the Russian ships had begun to refuel, one of the two cruisers that had been following the Russian fleet from Colombo to watch the battle met up with two other British ships that had just come out of the Strait of Malacca, and immediately set off the coast of Sumatra for Guinea.

At the same time, an electric wave was also emitted from a strangely large warship off the coast of Banda Aceh, and three hours later, two Duke-class battleships with four destroyers suddenly broke away from the main formation and headed for Dili.

At the same time, 3,000 marines urgently set out from Pontianak, and in order to make up for the lack of ships, they even recruited several civilian freighters there and quickly rushed to the island of Dutch Guinea.

Perhaps the whole world did not expect that after Roger Steinster ordered to forcibly enter Banda Aceh, Britain and China would target the island of Dutch Guinea at the same time, just like a small butterfly in the Brazilian rainforest flapped its wings and caused a hurricane.

While Britain and China were simultaneously engaged in a race against time on the island of Dutch Guinea, Rogers Winster sent a telegram of inquiry to Wittheft in Dili, and after receiving all safe answers, began to wait for news of the two Russian cruisers heading for the Strait of Malacca.

While Roger Stevenster was waiting, Long Guozhang was not idle, under his order, he hid under the surface of the water and set off at the same time, and the six gray spine sharks that had been hiding more than a hundred kilometers in front of the fleet, avoiding everyone's attention, quietly passed through the Makassar Strait, passed through the Bali side in the southeast of Java Island, and immediately dived west after entering the Indian Ocean.