"General, the Japanese on the other side have raised the white flag, are they going to surrender?" General Glaise's aide-de-camp, Morse, looked at the two dozen or so boats that had remained with some surprise.

Gleith sneered: "Hehe, they don't pretend now, how can any fishermen raise a white flag to the warship, wouldn't it be better to leave just now, so that their identity will be further confirmed." ”

Morse said: "Does that mean that the Japanese really want to surrender now?" ”

Grace shook his head and said: "Don't jump to conclusions, since it is a surrender, then the main force of the Japanese who evacuated just now must be the main force of the Japanese, and now only a very small part remains, think about it carefully, why don't they keep in line with the big army?" ”

"Maybe they want to stay and negotiate, after all, we also know the purpose of the Japanese, and it is certain that the thief will not die, and it is impossible for them to give up the interests of the South Ryukyu Islands as soon as we come."

Grice: "No way, if it's a negotiation, there's no need to start withdrawing, and it's not too late to retreat if the talks can't be reached." ”

He didn't know that the Japanese soldiers had a tradition of the following grams, so he couldn't understand Morita's intentions with a high fever.

"Shall we let them get on board and see what they want?" Morse asked.

Well, Grace thinks so too, after all, now the advantage is mine, and I don't worry about what kind of moths are being done on the other side, and at the same time, Grace also wants to know what kind of wishful thinking the commander on the opposite side is playing.

So Glaish ordered: "Send out communication boats and let our men get close to them......"

When it came to approaching, Grace suddenly had a flash of inspiration in his mind, "Close, close......" What did he seem to think of?

"Wait a minute, Morse, do you think those little fishing boats can be a threat to us?" Grace asked Morse.

"Your Excellency, of course this is impossible, unless we stand still and don't fight back, let them shell it is almost the same, and their artillery, threatening and threatening merchant ships, we are armored cruisers, even if they hit the key parts of the ship, I am afraid they will not be able to cause us losses immediately, we would have sunk them a long time ago."

"You're right, but artillery is unreasonable, and we can't afford to take any risks, if we capsize in the gutter, then we will become the biggest joke in the world!" Gleith said solemnly.

Morse heard what Grice was saying, and asked, "Your Excellency, do you notice something?" ”

Instead of answering this question directly, Gleith asked rhetorically: "Do you think the Japanese have a way to do what you just said that we should stand still and be beaten, or that there is no way to counter them?" ”

Morse knew that Grice would not be untargeted, and there must be something he didn't take into account when he said this, so he also pondered.

Soon he had an idea: "General, are you saying that it is possible for the Japanese to surrender by fraud?" ”

Grace saw that Morse followed his train of thought and said with satisfaction: "That's right, our warships are indeed advanced, but as the saying goes, it's easy to turn around when the ship is small, so this is our disadvantage, but it is the advantage of the Japanese." ”

Morse continued: "So if the Japanese approach our ship, our reaction speed may not be as fast as their boat, and this is our flaw, especially if they are close to us, our weapons are not easy to use against them, but may cause accidental injury to our own people." ”

Gleish: "Is that a bold guess?" You must know that the success rate of this kind of thing is probably only 1 percent, do you think the Japanese really dare to do this? ”

This is almost the same as sending them to death, even if they can cause damage to the ironclad ships, other warships in East Africa can make up for it, and there may be losses in East Africa, but the other side will definitely be destroyed.

"It's not a question of you dying or dying, it's a matter of paying a disproportionate price, in my opinion, even if we lose one ship in our fleet, it will be more than the total annihilation of the other side, even if it is the most backward sail warship, it is a serious warship, and these Japanese ships are temporarily converted from fishing boats and merchant ships." Morse said.

Since the annexation of the Sultanate of Zanzibar in East Africa, the shipyards of Zanzibar have naturally become an industry in East Africa, and the Zanzibar Navy has also been completely incorporated into the East African Navy, so now the East African Navy still retains many sail warships, these ships may be a little backward to other countries, and there are still some advantages for Portugal, a declining maritime country, the main opponent of the Omani Navy was Portugal, with new technical support, it can be regarded as a resurrection, of course, now wooden ships belong to the sunset industry, But it is possible to produce a mature group of workers, which is a good thing for East Africa.

This is also the reason why there are two sail warships in this expeditionary fleet, although they are sail warships, they are also equipped with a lot of new technologies, so it is naturally impossible for the Japanese to calculate.

"What should we do, General Glais? Accept the surrender of the Japanese, or how to accept it. ”

"Of course we have to accept it, but we have to give them hope at the same time, and then kill them fiercely, of course, if they don't have that mind, it is better, otherwise let them sleep forever at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean!" Gleith said viciously.

Soon, the East African communication ship was put down, and then negotiated with Morita's people with a high fever: "We accept your surrender, but according to the East African Navy regulations, you can only stop in an area of 500 meters. ”

Morita with a high fever thought about it carefully, this distance is not very good, but it is not too bad, and he mainly wants to hit East Africa by surprise, East Africa should not have thought that he would dare to challenge the big warships of East Africa with small fishing boats.

So he said: "I agree to the conditions of returning home, but I also have one request, which is to meet directly with your Supreme Commander. ”

"You're not qualified enough!"

"This is my ID, I am the Japanese Navy Major Zo High Fever Morita, don't worry, I'm the only one, follow you on your boat, our ship won't follow."

"Alright! But we have to seize the documents first. ”

"No problem!"

Then Morita followed the East African sailors on the East African communication ship and headed for the "Partridge", and before leaving, he signaled his subordinate Nakata Jiro to act according to the plan.

Morita risked his life in order to continue to paralyze the East African Navy, after all, no one would joke with their lives at will.

But Morita with a high fever did not notice, and after he got on the ship, after driving for a while, the East African Navy also began to move, the gunboats began to move towards the "Partridge", and the other two ironclads began to disperse on both sides.

Jiro Nakata was the first to notice the anomalous behavior of East Africa, but now that the governor had left East Africa, he could only bite the bullet and continue to act according to the plan, while trying to convince himself that it was impossible for the East Africans to see through his own plan.

The Japanese also began to maneuver their ships closer to the "Partridge", but the target changed from three parallel ironclads to gunboats.

After the deployment of East Africa, Morita with a high fever also discovered the flaws in East Africa, and under the weird smiles of the East African sailors around him, he knew that something was wrong.

At this time, the Japanese fleet had already begun to move, and they began to accelerate towards the "Partridge", but the East African gunboats seemed to have known their movements, and went head-on towards the Japanese ship, and held in front of the "Partridge".

The two sides opened fire almost at the same time, and the Japanese boats, which were opponents of the East African gunboats, although they also had shells hit, were basically blocked by the gunboats.

Knowing that the plan was exposed to the high fever, Morita's face was like ashes, and he could only watch his men being sent into the underworld one by one by East African artillery.

"The Japanese Navy's sneak attack on the East African Navy is a fait accompli, and I order that the Miyako Strait be blocked from now on and Japanese ships will be prohibited from entering!" Gleith said excitedly.

(End of chapter)