Chapter 133: The Navy's Defects

"Is that ship still behind us?" Blake asked with a frown of his brows, looking at the huge fleet of hedgehogs around him, and asked with some concern in his tone.

"Yes, General! It is thirty nautical miles from the rear of our fleet, and it is following us at a cruising speed of eight knots!" replied Munch solemnly.

"I still don't know which country's warship they are!"

"Yes, General! Although we have sent them a flag of inquiry, we have not received a response so far! Moreover, we have sent a cruiser to drive out this warship of unknown origin, but every time it will catch up in time! Although the secrecy of this military operation will not be very high, but following such a warship of unknown origin and not listening to greetings behind his own fleet, no matter which country's naval commander will not like it!

"Have you asked the Englishmen who are following us?" Blake continued.

"I've asked, but the British don't know, and we've asked the French and Germans, but they don't seem to know too much!"

Hearing his words, Blake shook his head a little irritably, walked out of the somewhat sullen captain's room, grabbed the iron railing on the side of the ship, and looked at the undulating blue sea behind the fleet with sunken eyes, the blue sè's pupils were maximized, and his thoughtful and curious eyes seemed to cross the distance of thirty nautical miles to see the steel battleship that made him feel a little uneasy!

However, his actions were doomed to be futile, and even if one stood on a thirty-meter-high pole with the naked eye, he could only see fifteen nautical miles at most!

With a long exhalation, Blake said as if talking to himself: "Munch, which side do you think they will be warships? Russia, the United States, or the Qing Kingdom and Rìben in the Far East?" Shaking his head, Blake sighed!

"General, the Russian Empire and the United States lack bases in the East Indies, and their country is too far away from here to get here without supply ships! As for the Qing Kingdom and Rì, it is even more impossible, these two countries without too little industry cannot even build the most basic steel on their own, let alone such ironclad warships of more than 1,000 tons! In addition, with their national strength, they cannot have the courage to provoke the kingdom!"

"So there's only one country left, oh no! They haven't founded a nation yet, they're just a Chinese force entrenched in the East Indies!"

"General, do you mean the Chinese People's Army? But they have only been rising for two years, and in two years they will be able to build ironclad ships? How is this possible, I will definitely not believe such a thing!" Munch seemed to have seen the most incredible thing, shook his head in disbelief and said negatively!

Hearing his words, Blake shook his head with a wry smile and said: "General, I don't want to believe it, but now we are in a hostile relationship, and they are so interested in us attacking the East Indies, and they are not willing to reveal their identities, it seems that the only forces that are our old opponents, the Chinese People's Army that occupied the entire East Indies!

"General, you know that if this assumption holds, I'm afraid our fleets will be in danger now!" asked Munch solemnly.

Looking at his appearance, even if Blake doesn't understand naval warfare, he also knows that without destroying the enemy naval warships, he launched a landing operation with so many troops, and it is okay if he does not encounter enemy ships, but if he really encounters the sea interception fleet of the People's Army, then the combat strength of the combined fleets of the two countries that want to be distracted to protect the transport ships will be greatly weakened! Moreover, because the enemy's navy was not taken into account, the fleets sent by the Netherlands and Portugal at present were under the command of the admirals sent by their respective countries, and they did not form a joint command like the army at all! Therefore, in the event of an enemy ship, their huge fleet would be divided into two parts that were not subordinate to each other! This would weaken their combat strength!

Thinking of this, Meng Ke suddenly stood up, and said with a serious expression: "The general should go to those Portuguese now, and tell them our speculation, and unify the fleets of the two countries for unified command!"

"Munch, you don't have to go! the Portuguese won't listen to us!" Blake shook his head with a wry smile and stopped the Dutch rear admiral who was about to leave!

"Why, Commander! Now we are in a very dangerous situation! Moreover, if our current speculation is true, then even if our fleet is strong this time, it will suffer heavy losses after being attacked by the enemy! At that time, what will we use to provide sufficient artillery support for the military operation of the army landing in Batavia and occupying the island of Java!" After deducing that the Chinese People's Army occupying the East Indies has the ability to build warships, Munch is really in a hurry this time!

Looking at the young and vigorous Munch, Blake reproached because of the disrespect in his tone, but said with a sigh: "Munch, don't forget! All this is our speculation, and we have no factual basis to prove our inference! Moreover, we did not have a deep relationship with the old knight, and although we had come together because of our interests in the East Indies, how much trust could we have between us! Moreover, the Portuguese had sent far more soldiers than we had on this expedition, so they had long been resentful of my appointment as commander of the expeditionary force! So at this time, the Portuguese will not have any cooperation with us at all, unless you can send the news back to the country, and let the prime minister come forward to persuade the stubborn Portuguese, and let their zhèngfǔ directly give an order, the two countries can form a joint fleet before it can be formed......!" Blake shook his head and sighed deeply!

Munch looked at his slightly sunken eye sockets and the furrows tattooed on his forehead in a daze, and now he suddenly found that the commander who was supposed to be high-spirited had so much bitterness and dissatisfaction behind him! This couldn't help but make him lose his previous confidence in this sea expedition that spanned tens of thousands of nautical miles!

Perceiving the silence of the atmosphere between the two, Blake suddenly smiled and said comfortingly: "Munch, in fact, we don't have to worry too much, according to the intelligence we have collected during this time, the real rise of the Chinese People's Army is only nearly two years! And an armored warship of more than 1,000 tons from design to construction, to the completion of sea trials, and really join the navy service! It may take more time than this, so even if they can build warships, then they will not have too much now!" Therefore, with the strength of our current fleet, even if it is difficult to exert all its combat power, there is no problem in repelling those Chinese navies who have just learned to drive warships!"

Hearing his words, Munch was stunned, and then quickly reacted, as a former global naval power, even if they have declined now, but the tradition retained by the century-old navy also makes them understand the importance of the quality of soldiers to the navy!

And the short-lived rise of the People's Army Navy is undoubtedly a shortcoming that is difficult to make up for in this regard!