PS: The second chapter of the supplement, by the way, ask for votes for support!

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Aegean Sea, the waters of the island of Andros.

Andros is the northernmost island of the Cyclades, a group of more than 200 islands that divide the southern part of the Aegean Sea into numerous straits, but it is also the gateway from the Aegean Sea to the Mediterranean.

At this time, a large fleet was carefully navigating this broken sea. This is the Combined Italian-Austrian Fleet, which has been in trouble since entering the Cafirefs Strait between the islands of Andros and Evia on their way back.

Mines everywhere, lots of mines!

The most insidious thing is that these mines have a variety of patterns, not only fixed anchor mines, but also unpredictable floating mines, and the most shameless link mines. Austria-Hungary had already blown up a light cruiser by mines, and Italy also had an armored cruiser seriously damaged by a link-type mine.

Not long ago, the Austro-Hungarian Herzog-Franz Ferdinand dreadnought was also unlucky, and was cut a hole in the side by a group of link mines, and although it was not seriously injured, it also entered hundreds of tons of seawater, causing a drop in speed. The most important thing was that the Ito-Austrian fleet, which was in a hurry to go home, had to slow down, and it was also the purpose of the Entente.

In fact, if they are not in a hurry, these mines will not have much effect on them, because these mines are timed, as long as the time comes, the waterproof hydrant will dissolve, and the medicine room and the fuse will fail due to water ingress. But now the Italian-Austrian fleet is in a hurry to go home and can't afford to drag it out.

"Damn the Turks, I knew it wouldn't be good for their planes to come, how many of these damn mines did they drop?" Admiral Yankel, commander of the Austro-Hungarian fleet, was furious.

He saw another group of Turkish heavy bombers, under the cover of a group of fighters, fly to the front of the fleet. Needless to say, it must have gone to Bray. And the carrier-based aircraft of several temporary aircraft carriers of the Italian-Austrian fleet have almost lost in the air battle some time ago, and the remaining little protection of the fleet is very reluctant, and there is no ability to intercept it at all.

"I heard that this mine was invented by the Japanese...... "said the chief of staff next to him.

Yankel said angrily: "Damn the Japanese, they will engage in this kind of conspiracy and trickery, and they actually returned it to the Turks." Damn, let them clear mines a little faster, the Entente fleet has already left Benghazi......"

In fact, they were mistaken, this batch of linked mines is not a Japanese product, since China obtained the actual "No. 1 mine" in the Battle of the Java Sea, after research, it was found that although this kind of thing is not as easy to use as the Japanese thought, but if it is used to delay the actions of the opponent's fleet, it is still very useful, and a batch of copies have been made, and China has also been inspired by this, and has also adopted automatic failure devices on other types of mines. Now the batch of mines that have been dropped into the Klades Islands are all Chinese goods, and they were urgently airlifted from China a few days ago.

And in addition to mines, submarines and planes also come to harass from time to time. In the waters of the Cyclades, which are full of threats, the Ito-Austrian fleet had to reduce its speed to about 6-8 knots and move forward with difficulty.

At the same time, the Entente Mediterranean Fleet was speeding towards the Peloponnese at a speed of 15 knots, and although there were submarines and planes to help slow down the enemy fleet, they could not take it lightly and had to rush to the Strait of Kythera as soon as possible. If you really accidentally let the Italian-Austrian fleet slip back, it will be difficult to find such a decisive opportunity next time. Italy and Austria are not fools, and they will not run out of a decisive battle in the face of absolute disadvantage.

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Kissilla Strait on the morning of February 25.

After half a day and a whole night's gallop, the Allied Mediterranean Fleet galloped 270 nautical miles, and finally blocked the Strait of Kithera before the Italian and Austrian fleets arrived. According to aerial reconnaissance, the Italian-Austrian fleet had just sailed into the Miltoon Sea at this time, and it was still 90 kilometers away, and now the Italian-Austrian fleet had picked up its speed and was expected to arrive in three hours.

The Allied Combined Mediterranean Fleet is also on standby in the Strait of Kissila, with hundreds of ships led by 16 dreadnoughts and 20 ex-dreadnoughts blocking the 90-kilometer-wide strait.

Leon stood on the bridge of the battleship Xuanyuan, looking out at the nearby sea, in the sea near the Xuanyuan, there were seven Fuxi-class battleships of the same class, further to the left, there were four larger Sunwu-class battleships, the French two Guba-class battleships of France and Paris were on the right, and in a farther direction were 20 former dreadnoughts of Britain and France. At present, these ships are parked in horizontal formations on the surface of the sea, and if the Italian-Austrian fleet is spotted, they can be immediately turned into battle lines.

In the early morning sun, these human-made war behemoths seemed to be gilded with a layer of gold, looking like dozens of golden castles on the sea.

"It's spectacular! 36 battleships, this should be the second largest battleship formation after Jutland......" Leon couldn't help but sigh.

The aircraft carrier formation of the Combined Fleet of the Entente was in the waters west of Crete, about 80 kilometers southwest of the battleship formation. This aircraft carrier group has a total of four Xia Dynasty-class aircraft carriers, two Han Dynasty-class aircraft carriers, a full six regular aircraft carriers, and five temporary aircraft carriers from Britain and France, which can be said to be the most powerful aircraft carrier formation in history, and they are currently being protected by two Taihang-class fast battleships with a bunch of light ships.

Ahem, since the 360 mm main gun was replaced, even with the thickness of Wen Desi's face, he is embarrassed to call the Taihang class a large cruiser. What, you say Niu Niu's "shhhh No matter how you say it, the Taihang class was also built according to the standards of battleships.

However, in the eyes of the Chinese Navy, the armor of the Taihang class is still a little thinner (compared to regular battleships), and it is better not to enter the battle line. This naval battle is not like the Sino-Japanese War, facing a vote of pre-dreadnoughts, but the Italian-Austrian fleet has eleven dreadnoughts, four of which are super-dreadnoughts equipped with main guns of more than 14 inches.

In fact, strictly speaking, the armor of the Taihang class is still very conscientious, and the 305 mm main armament is thicker than the main armament of many regular battleships, at least it is no problem to carry the twelve-inch main guns of the front dreadnought, but in the face of stronger super dreadnoughts, it is more dangerous. Of course, it is possible to fight a dozen, but China does not plan to help Britain and France to die, so naturally it will not risk sending these two parallel versions of Super Dreadnought to the front line, and we are not without genuine Super Dreadnought, a whole dozen.

After the Taihang class was modified with a power system, the maximum speed was increased to 29 knots, which could barely keep up with the aircraft carrier, so Gao Yujie simply incorporated them into the aircraft carrier formation as the backbone of the aircraft carrier guard.

"Detachment leader, it's time for breakfast......" The non-commissioned officer brought breakfast to the bridge with a few soldiers.

"Okay, let's eat first......" Leon walked over to the table and sat down.

Today's breakfast was tofu brain, milk, omelette, grilled luncheon meat omelet, churros, and navy buns.

Everyone knows that tofu brain is sweet and salty, and the chef on the warship has prepared two kinds of seasonings in order to take care of the two tastes, and he likes to eat the one he adds himself.

Comrade Li Ang is a staunch salty party, he packed a bowl of white tofu brain, and he was busy in the condiment plate next to him. Put soy sauce and chili oil, sprinkle a handful of golden fried crispy soybeans and crushed peanuts with a little sour balsamic vinegar, apply a pure salty mustard, and finally drizzle a few drops of sesame oil, add a spoonful of chopped green onion and coriander. Use the spoon in your hand to slowly stir the tofu brain together, so that this bowl of tofu brain has red, white, green, brown and yellow colors, the fragrance of green onion and coriander, and the strong fragrance of crisp beans and peanuts, mixed in the smooth and tender tofu brain, making each spoonful of tofu brain so aftertaste.

Of course, the taste of the sweet party is not bad, they use brown sugar to add roses, osmanthus to boil into a rich floral syrup, and then add chopped winter strips, hawthorn and other preserved fruits, as well as raisins and coconut pulp, which are also mixed with five colors, and the fragrance is strange.

Li Ang ate a spoonful of tofu brain, let out a pleasant breath, looked at a few sweet parties next to him, and said disappreciably: "If you want me to say, this tofu brain is still salty, how can there be any reason to eat sweet." ”

"We have always eaten sweet tofu brains, and the salty ones are not the same!" said the political commissar unceremoniously as a representative of the sweet party.

"No, zongzi should be sweet, and glutinous rice balls should be salty......"

"It's really funny, how can there be salty glutinous rice balls in the world, since ancient times, tangyuan has been sweet......"

Soon, breakfast became a debate forum for the sweet and salty parties, and the camp became incredibly complicated when other food items were added. It was the same as the previous result, which ended in a draw, and none of the camps won the victory.

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After breakfast, the Entente fleet began its final preparations, the deck was cleared of all combustibles, the cannons' armor was removed, and the gun stoppers were uncovered. Officers and soldiers in the ammunition depot were also busy sorting out the ammunition.

Now the Allied navy was looking forward to the arrival of the Allied fleet like the stars and the moon, but until nine o'clock in the morning, there was no shadow of the other side.

Then a staff officer said: "What if the Allied fleet does not go here? Will they bypass Crete and take the Strait of Kasos?"

"It's unlikely," the chief of staff said. The Allied fleet has been out for more than half a month, and they are now in a hurry to go home, and it is unacceptable for them to go around a few hundred kilometers. Even if it did, it didn't matter, we could still stop them. Besides, just now the reconnaissance planes have confirmed that their route has not changed, and now they have at least a dozen reconnaissance planes on their heads, and if they change their route, we will know as soon as possible......

At this time, the communications non-commissioned officer suddenly said: "Report, the forward reconnaissance detachment reports that the Allied fleet has been discovered." The other side still maintains the same course at a speed of 14 knots......"

Li Ang hurriedly ordered: "Okay, everyone is in place, it's time for us to play soon!"

Ten minutes later, Li Ang and the others saw that the reconnaissance detachment arranged in front of them was rapidly withdrawing, and more than 20 light cruisers and destroyers were like a group of light cavalry, passing through the gap between the capital ship arrays at a high speed of about 30 knots and running to the rear. After a while, I saw hundreds of pillars of smoke rising from the junction of sea and sky.

The flagship, the Sun Wu, began to raise the battle flag, and at the same time, invisible radio waves sent the next order to each capital ship. Alarm bells were raised on each battleship to alert the officers and men of the ship to enter the combat position.

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Andrea Doria, the flagship of the Allied fleet.

The Duke of Abruzzi was the commander-in-chief of the Italian navy and the commander-in-chief of the Allied fleet. The naval commander from the royal family was looking at the sea ahead with a worried face.

In fact, the Duke of Abruzzi was strongly opposed to the so-called "demonstrations" in the Aegean Sea, which in his opinion were not only useless, but also very risky. However, the military must obey the government, and when he encounters this kind of political task directly pressed down by his superiors, he has no way to oppose it.

Although he did not have definite information at present, with his many years of experience, it was already certain that the Entente fleet was most likely blocked in the Strait of Kithera in front of him, as evidenced by the sudden disappearance of the previous harassment with all kinds of tricks. The previous harassment was nothing more than delaying their speed and creating an opportunity for the arrival of the main fleet, but now that the harassment has stopped, it means that the main force of the other party has arrived.

If they continue to advance, they will definitely encounter the main forces of the Entente holding the strait, and in the event of a decisive battle between the two sides, the Allies will have no advantage. But if you detour through the Kasos Strait, you will still be blocked. And the consequences will be even more severe, don't forget, the Entente also has a large number of aircraft carriers.

The opponent's aircraft carrier has not launched an attack so far, it is nothing more than waiting for the best opportunity. And when the main forces of the two sides are in a decisive battle, it is the best time for air strikes, but if you make a detour, it will be different, the opponent's aircraft carrier will definitely attack immediately, and it will also enter the attack circle of the Turkish Air Force. In that kind of air raid, losses are almost inevitable, and if a decisive battle is going on in that situation, the consequences are even worse.

After thinking about it, the Duke of Abruzzi still decided to follow the original route, since this battle is unavoidable, it is better to take advantage of the fact that the capital ship is intact now to carry out a decisive battle, so that there is still some chance.

At this time, the communications staff officer reported: "Report, reconnaissance detachment report, the main forces of the Entente fleet were found ahead, 34 battleships were found, 26 armored cruisers were found (Chinese heavy cruisers were also counted)......"

The Duke of Abruzzi did not hesitate to issue an order: "Order the entire fleet and prepare for battle......"

Eleven dreadnoughts and seven former dreadnoughts of the Central Powers immediately formed a horizontal formation and began to move forward. Duke Abruzzi knew very well that if they really resisted the Entente, they would definitely die. Their battle plan was to prepare to force their way through the blockade while most of the capital ships were in good condition, so that they could have a glimmer of life.