More than an hour after the Italian fleet continued its voyage, an uninvited guest appeared on the horizon.

"This is the Italian fleet."

Captain Nakano, who personally boarded the lookout post, looked at the warship in the distance with a surprised expression.

"Those three warships are very large, they should be the Turin-class Turin, Palermo, and Bari, and the next two that look smaller should be Venice and Brescia, as well as one, two, three, four, and five...... Nine other warships,"

Kazuki Nakano excitedly talked about everything he saw with his binoculars, and he was just as excited as several other officers at the sentry post.

"Let's retreat before the enemy finds out, if we are discovered, we will be too dangerous."

"Yes, if the news doesn't get back, Lieutenant General Ito will miss the opportunity."

Don't blame the officers for saying this, because although their Yaeyama is fast, there is no guarantee that there may be faster ships in the Italian fleet. As a qualified naval officer, he naturally knew that the best choice after detecting the target was to send the news back as soon as possible. They have absolutely no reason to worry about themselves, all for the sake of the combined fleet.

Although the other officers are on the side to serve the country, Kazuki Nakano, as the captain of the ship, must not let go of this good opportunity for reconnaissance.

"No, we can't leave yet. Need to be closer and we need more information. ”

Kazuki Nakano, who had more devotion to his country than those officers, completely ignored the danger and ordered to get close to the Italian fleet and observe.

And with his order, the officers and men of the Yaeyama gradually approached the Italian fleet in fear.

Since Kazuki Nakano wanted to get closer to observe, it was very easy for the equal Italian fleet to spot him, and it was discovered immediately before he could take a closer look at the last few warships in Italy with the ship identification map.

"Your Excellency, Lieutenant General, a Japanese warship is approaching."

When the herald informed Lieutenant General Álvaro of the discovery of the Yaeyama, the lieutenant general also saw the Yaeyama through the binoculars.

"Immediately order the Barut and the Gasko to drive the enemy ships out."

The Barut and the Gasco were the two fastest cruisers in the Italian fleet, and the Balut, in particular, had the second highest speed after the Eagle, which could run up to 21.7 knots, and it was not a piece of cake to drive away a Yaeyama, which was no more than 1,000 tons.

Vice Admiral Alvaro didn't want to see the Japanese warship come up to him and drive it away. Although he also knew that this would expose the position of his fleet, the next move would not be seen by the Japanese.

Lieutenant General Alvaro knew that his first priority was to escort the 1st Guards Division 1 to land in Weihaiwei, so the requirements were different.

On the Yaeyama, looking at the two Italian battleships coming with great momentum, Captain Nakano, who wanted to observe for a while, could only order a quick departure under the attention of the officers and men of the whole ship.

But fortunately, Yaeyama found his target, so he didn't lose anything about his life.

Compared with the cautious officers and men on the Yaeyama, the officers and men on the Eagle, its opponent, were much more arrogant.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Several of the ship's guns roared, and their shells were fired at a speeding battleship.

The kinetic power of the propellant can make the cannonball rush towards the enemy at a speed of eight or nine hundred meters per second, but after eight or nine seconds, the cannonball that has consumed the kinetic energy can only reluctantly glance at the battleship that is still eight or nine hundred meters away, and it will be stuck in the sea, making a huge splash.

And on the Eagle, watching the splash of the Japanese ship's artillery shells naturally caused a burst of ridicule from the officers and men.

"They think they are God when they want to hit us so far away?"

"I think the officer who ordered the cannon is definitely not in his senses today, and this is good news."

If Togo Heihachiro and Nomura Sadasaku on the Sholang and Takachiho heard this, they would definitely vomit blood. They didn't want to get close to the Eagle and have a higher accuracy before firing their guns, it wasn't that the Eagle was too fast, and the fastest ship in the Combined Fleet was more than three knots behind the Eagle. To get the opportunity to fire guns in this position, or the Eagle walked around the bend by itself, wanting to harass the Combined Fleet, otherwise everyone could only sigh.

Besides, everyone is an old fur seal, and who doesn't know how much advantage the speed of three knots is.

"Captain, do you want to shoot back?"

In the face of the first mate's inquiry, the captain, Major Pecz, shook his head. "Take it easy, my first mate, this is just a warning from the enemy that we are too close to them, and there is no need to return fire, just let us continue to sail close to them. Don't be nervous, boys, and we'll continue to test the quality of our opponents for the lieutenant general. ”

Following Major Petz's order, the Eagle completely ignored the two ships and continued to circle around the Combined Fleet.

In the face of the Eagle's act of treating the Combined Fleet as nothing, it naturally aroused the unanimous anger of the Japanese officers and men, and the Japanese scolding with their own accents blurted out, and if Major Pests stood in front of them, he would definitely be able to take a saliva bath.

Of course, when the officers and men of the Combined Fleet expressed their anger at the Eagle, there were also people who had different emotions.

As the commander of the Combined Fleet, Ito looked at the Eagle with a sad face.

"Dewa, let's talk about this Italian eagle that appeared."

Faced with the commander's words, the chief of staff, Izuba Shigehiro Osa, immediately said. "The ship Tsukuba, which was pursuing us at 10:48, appeared in front of us, and at 10:59 the battleship Tsukuba was sunk in front of us. After the Italian Eagle sank the Tsukuba, it did not go away, but followed our fleet all the time, so that my fleet had to be vigilant enough. ”

Ito was satisfied with Izuba's answer, and then he continued to ask. "Do you think the behavior of the Italian Eagle is very abnormal?"

Faced with Commander Ito's questioning, Izuwa Osaku nodded and replied. "It is indeed very unusual, it stands to reason that the Italian Eagle should have returned to report after discovering our fleet, but the Italian Eagle stayed around us and never left at all. Could it be that we didn't have time to find out that there was another Italian warship that brought back news of us? ”

"Let's hope so!"

Although the analysis of Deswa Daisa was positive, Lieutenant General Ito was a little unconvinced. There are so many lookout posts in the Combined Fleet, but I can't find that there are still Italian warships, and so many lookout posts in my own house are so incompetent, of course Ito Yuhiro doesn't believe it.

In fact, he still had a thought in his heart, that is, the Italian Eagle must have informed its fleet through a method that he didn't know, so he followed him so fearlessly.

Of course, in his heart, he still hopes that his own lookout post has been negligent, rather than his own guessed thoughts.

And if the Italian fleet could still have communication at such a distance, think about how terrible it would be. This will give the Italian fleet more wings, and it will also make it more difficult for the combined fleet, which is already at a disadvantage.

"I hope I'm thinking too much."

Ito Yuheng's sudden words made Idewa Daisa, who was beside him, feel a little inexplicable.

"Your Excellency, what did you say?"

Ito pointed to the Eagle in the distance and said, "I said that our plan A won't work, so let's consider plans B and C." ”

Previously, the staff officers of the Izuwa Shigeto Belt had formulated three plans, and Plan A was the plan that the Combined Fleet could only implement if it had the priority to discover the enemy. In fact, the three plans were formulated according to the different situations encountered by the Combined Fleet, No. A means that the Combined Fleet will find the enemy first, and No. B will find the opponent at the same time, and No. C will be the most unfavorable, and the enemy will find them first.

Now there is no need for Lieutenant General Ito to remind him, and Dewa Daisa also knows that the No. A plan is useless.

Next, it depends on whether the warships that sent out reconnaissance can bring back the news of the Italian fleet.

Just when the two of them had a headache about this, they suddenly heard a shout from the lookout post. "A warship was spotted in the distance, and it seemed to be the Yaeyama."