In the Andaman Sea, two warships are sailing at high speed. This is the Zhiyuan and Jingyuan that have just been replenished from Yangon, but the atmosphere on board is very depressing, because they got the news from the British in Yangon, just five days ago, the French fleet raided the port of Mawei, and the Fujian naval division was almost completely annihilated, not only that, but the Mawei shipyard was also shelled by the French fleet, and the losses were mixed.

Of course, let the French fleet speed up the action against the Fujian sailors in Mawei, and Carlo is also responsible. The news that Italy sold two Venetian-class ships to the Qing State for patrol was known to the French.

In addition to expressing their protest to Italy at the first time, they also telegraphed the lone French Far East Fleet to immediately prepare to intercept it. After thinking about it, Gu Ba decided to immediately eliminate the Fujian Navy Division first, so that the two ships that came from afar would become alone.

With the help of Fujian officials (at this time, Fujian officials blocked the news of the officers and men of the naval division and forbade them to invite the officers and men to "act rashly"), the Fujian naval division was completely beaten up without defense.

With the fall of the Fujian Naval Division, Zhiyuan and the commanders on the Jingyuan had a heated discussion. First of all, they need to think about where to enter the South China Sea. There are currently two options for entering the South China Sea, the most recent is to go through the Strait of Malacca and go straight through. Another option is to bypass the Sunda Strait and enter the South China Sea.

Both have their advantages, Malacca can allow two warships to enter the South China Sea as quickly as possible, while it takes more time to go through the Sunda Strait.

Of course, if you go through the Strait of Malacca, you may be blocked in the strait. Walking through the Sunda Strait takes more time and is also likely to be blocked.

Faced with these two options, the three commanders had a heated discussion.

Among them, Liu Buyun, as the commander of the nominal fleet, supported the Sunda Strait, and the reason for him to support the Sunda Strait was very simple, that is, to seek stability, after the Fujian Navy Division was annihilated, he wanted to bring the fleet back home safely.

As for the two captains, they supported the passage of the Strait of Malacca, in the words of Captain Lefel, that is, even if the French Far East Fleet blocked them in the Strait of Malacca, with the firepower, protection and speed of the two ships, they could not block them.

The main thing that gave them confidence was the strength of the French fleet, which was currently under the command of the French Far East, and the ships were basically at a speed of 13-15 knots, and even the five armored ships in its fleet were five or six thousand tons of cargo. With a speed of up to 18.6 knots, the two Venice class are not able to catch up with them at all, and the powerful firepower on their own single ship naturally makes the two bold Italian captains have the idea of trying.

So on the issue of this line, none of the three of them was convinced.

Just as they were at a stalemate, a visitor broke the deadlock by an unexpected intruder.

On the watchtower, the sailors in charge of reconnaissance shouted loudly. "Two ships were spotted ahead."

Upon hearing of the discovery of the ship, the three commanders immediately stopped arguing.

At this time, as the captain of the Zhiyuan, Captain Leyfer immediately gave the order. "Drop the boat and let Captain Gomes return to Jingyuan."

Because they are already close to Southeast Asia, they must be on sufficient alert. Captain Gomez understood this equally and immediately boarded the transport boat. The boat was then lowered and rowed towards the Jingyuan, which it commanded.

After the Jingyuan sent the flag that Captain Gomes had boarded the ship, the two warships immediately headed for the discovered ship.

The Baron Yocko, a new freighter of more than 4,000 tons, has been running the sea transport from Saigon to Colombo since its launch in 1879, and the ship and its crew have a wealth of sailing experience.

This time, the Baron Yoko was ordered by the colonial government of Indochina to receive a shipment of coal from Colombo for the fleet under the command of His Excellency General Lone, accompanied by the Sigg freighter, which was also a new freighter of more than 2,000 tons.

When they were spotted by the two Venetian-class ships, they were also spotted by the two French merchant ships.

However, the discovery of the two warships did not attract their attention, as France was not at war with other countries.

I'm sorry you said that you were at war with the Qing Kingdom, can this also be counted? I didn't see that these two warships were at least more than 5,000 tons, it was impossible for the Qing people to have such a large warship, and those warships of the Qing State could only travel in the coastal sea, and they were all wiped out by the lone general, so these two cargo ships didn't care about the warships that appeared.

But then, the actions of the two warships were confusing. I saw two warships quickly approaching them, and when they approached a certain distance, the sailor in charge of observation showed a hellish expression.

"The warship of the Qing people."

I saw that the two warships quickly raised a yellow dragon flag, although the sailors of the two cargo ships had not seen the Qing navy, but the yellow dragon flag had seen a lot, which was the logo of the Qing country.

And the two battleships raised this flag, definitely not for the sake of good looks.

Two warships approached them at a gallop, which frightened the crew of the cargo ship.

"Boom, boom."

The two shells hit the front and back of the cargo ship, which made them even more afraid to move. This is not the Age of Discovery, merchant ships can carry enough artillery for self-defense, and the pirates that have been rampant for centuries have long since disappeared, and the development of modern development has long since left pirates with no room to survive. It may still exist in some unknown corner, but the major traffic arteries have been cleaned up.

And now the two freighters, facing the threat of large-scale loading and patrolling, have no better way than to surrender. You can't run and run, it's impossible to fight, don't surrender and wait to feed the sharks?

After forcing the two cargo ships to stop, several transport boats were rowed from the warship, loaded with sailors armed with weapons.

After boarding the cargo ship and taking control of the steering and power room, two officers who looked different at first glance boarded the ship.

"Who's the captain?"

As soon as the boarding officer opened his mouth, he asked the captains of his cargo ships, and the captains of both cargo ships were brought up at the identification of the captured sailors.

At the same time, the cargo on board made the officers who boarded the ship feel the difference in the interception of the ship.

"Say, why transport white coal."

After learning for the first time that the ship was transporting white coal, the expression of the officer leading the team became serious.

You must know that white coal is not available on ordinary ships, and generally only on warships or fast freighters transporting valuables, combined with thousands of tons of white coal on board, then the goal is very clear.

"We are civilian ships, we only know the purpose of transportation, and we don't know the purpose at all."

The captain who was questioned wanted to defend himself, but the officer who led the team did not give him a chance at all.

"Since you don't want to say it, then throw it down and feed the sharks."

The officer's words made the sailors immediately escort him to the side of the ship, and when he saw the sea in front of him, his own life was more important.

"I say, I say."

"Say, to whom?"

The captain who was questioned again was honest this time.

"We transported Saigon, and I heard that it was to replenish the fleet with coal."

The captain's words shook the spirits of the leading officers, this news was too important to them.

Immediately the news was transmitted to the warship, and such important news was obtained from the captured captain. Then their next choice is easy, since the fleet of the commander of the lonely command still needs to replenish coal, then it means that it is either not in Malacca, or it is still on the way.

Immediately, the three of them made a decision to go to Malacca, which should be safe now.

Now that the decision has been made, the fate of the two cargo ships has already been decided, and after replenishing some of the coal, the crew of the cargo ship is caught up in the lifeboats, and then the sea valve is opened, and the two freighters, which are ready to supply the French fleet, are thus sunk to the bottom of the sea.

Since this is a nautical passage, there are many ships passing by, so the crew of the cargo ship has no need to worry about their safety.

The two Venetian-class cruisers then sprang into full force and swooped down directly on the Strait of Malacca, where they needed to pass before the arrival of the French fleet.