July 2, 1932.

A huge fleet is slowly sailing eastward in the South China Sea, near the Bashi Channel.

A Hood-class battlecruiser, two Nelson-class battleships, three Iron Duke-class battleships, a Brave-class aircraft carrier, five Kent-class heavy cruisers, four Kariden-class light cruisers, three Cereal Goddess class light cruisers, a Speedy-class destroyer, four fourteen Admiral W-class destroyers, a 20,000-ton fast tanker and a 15,000-ton fast supply ship.

There were 36 ships of various types, sending spectacular formations on the blue South Sea surface and breaking through the waves, which surprised the sailors on the merchant ships passing by. Where did this large fleet with the rice flag go? Is it because of the fierce Japanese and Korean war that was fighting during this period? Could it be that the British Empire is ready to use a war to revive its former glory? It is estimated that as soon as such a powerful fleet appears near the Japanese archipelago, those Japanese monkeys who do not know the height of the sky and the earth and are mixed with the GC Soviet Union should regret what they did!

But Admiral Roger Barkes, inside the bridge of the flagship "Hood", did not think his fleet was so powerful, nor did he think that the Japanese monkeys would be intimidated by the six main battleships here.

Because he knew that the Japanese had three powerful battleships that were enough to overwhelm the Hood and Nelson classes!

To be honest, he didn't want to perform this mission at all, even if it wasn't a real war, it was just a bluffing mission. He didn't want to perform it. If the Navy had not issued a strict order, the Far East Fleet had to go north to serve as a cheerleader for the Chinese, and he would rather stay on the hot Singapore beach to bask in the sun. He wouldn't take this large fleet of strong outside and do anything from the protection of the Singapore Fortress.

But this General Paucher put aside the British naval spirit that would be destroyed when the enemy was destroyed. It was because this "bluff" task was too difficult to grasp, and the target of being scared was GCisman Japan! He had a breath of breath to liberate all mankind, and he brought the fleet to his door. It was so stupid that he would never have done anything! What if those GCisman naval soldiers didn't take this trick and were really driving the "Akagi", "Kaga", and "Tosa" rushed over to find him to fight for his own desperate efforts?

So even with the order from the Admiralty, he was unwilling to drive the Far East Fleet to the door of Japan's house. He only dared to carefully drive the warship into the wide Pacific Ocean. At the same time, he sent seaplanes to search everywhere. Once the traces of the Japanese fleet were found, he would avoid them from coming head-on.

Although he had such seemingly complete arrangements, he still didn't dare to take it lightly. It was really hard to explain such things as naval warfare, and the luck was too great. The fate of the British Empire was obviously on a downward trend. Who knows what unlucky things would happen?

"Where is the main fleet of the Chinese people?" Baccus turned around and asked. When talking about this Chinese fleet, Baccus was also angry. It was not because he was dissatisfied with the Chinese, or because the British Admiralty's order was too a bastard. The Admiralty did not allow his Far East Fleet to merge with the Chinese main fleet. You should know that once the two sides merged, they had four aircraft carriers and twelve battleships, and a huge lineup of battlecruisers. The Japanese even had the courage to come and cause trouble! But the Admiralty disagreed, saying that they wanted to avoid being involved in the "Sino-Japanese War" that had not yet occurred.

What a bastard's order! If you are afraid of getting involved, you can stay in Singapore safely.

"A telegram half an hour ago, they had arrived at the Pacific Ocean about 130 nautical miles southeast of Taiwan, just east of us."

Admiral Paques's eyes swept across the chart. The Pacific Ocean in the southeast of Taiwan is close to the outpost of Japan near the South Ocean, Okinawa. The Chinese fleet appears there with a swagger and will definitely not escape the eyes of the Japanese reconnaissance aircraft of Okinawa, and Okinawa is also within the combat radius of the Chinese fleet's carrier-based aircraft. However, the Chinese seem to have not bombed Okinawa, and they seem to have not started a war with Japan yet. What are these Chinese people doing?

"Your Excellency, the destroyer quickly reported that they found an unidentified submarine, just ahead of the left side of my formation."

"Submarine? Who's it?" Admiral Barkers immediately sweated like a slurry on his forehead. An unidentified submarine... was so staggering. It was definitely not possible to fight. It was close to Taiwan and the Philippines. It was the range of activities of the Chinese Navy and the US fleet in the Philippines. It would be fine if the Chinese Navy submarine was accidentally injured. After all, his fleet was here to help the Chinese cheerleaders to scare Japan. But if the American submarine was blown up and sinked, his admiral would have ended up working! But don't fight... What should I do if this submarine was sent by the Japanese to attack? When he was in a dilemma, the voice of the staff report rang again.

"Admiral, the destroyer of the Quick Report, said that the discovered submarine floated on its own initiative, and it was the American 'gar' class."

"It's okay." Admiral Barkers sighed. Fortunately, the captain of the destroyer, Xunshi, was a cautious guy. If he threw a deep-water bomb, he would be unable to take it. Thinking of this, he immediately ordered loudly: "Send all ships, no orders are allowed to launch any attacks, unless the other party fires first... Britain is still in peace now!"

...

At the same time, the "Akagi" battle cruiser was 150 nautical miles southeast of Okinawa.

Yamamoto Iroji looked up at several I15 modified carrier-based fighter jets hovering in the air. An hour ago he had landed on the "Sora Suolong" aircraft carrier. Because he found that the Chinese naval fleet appeared in the waters near Okinawa, he did not dare to take a destroyer to meet with the main force of the joint fleet, for fear of being sunk by the Chinese carrier-based aircraft, so he could only fly the aircraft himself to find traces of the joint fleet in the vast sea, and finally found it for himself. However, when landing

But there was an accident. The plane crashed into the blocking network and almost injured itself. The cockpit of this type of aircraft is not very good. It is really a technical job to drive them to land on the deck of the aircraft carrier. It also has a slow speed, has a small range, has weak firepower, and cannot carry bombs. The engine's service life is very short. There are many shortcomings. How could the Japanese Navy use this aircraft to compete for maritime hegemony? It is frustrating to think about it. I hope the P.7 provided by the Poles can be more useful.

"Chief of Staff Yamamoto, the commander asked you to go to the bridge quickly. We found the general location of the British fleet." The voice of the fleet aviation staff member Takijiro Oshiki suddenly rang in Yamamoto's ears, interrupting his thoughts.

Yamamoto turned around and nodded to his right-hand assistant. Then he walked towards the bridge and asked Oshi: "Where is the British fleet? Can it launch an air strike?"

Although the performance of Japanese carrier-based aircraft is unreliable, the Joint Fleet still brought four "Canglong" class aircraft carriers during this attack, equipped with 280 Iranian-15-type and Type 92 carrier-based light bombers (developed jointly by Japan and the Soviet Union).

"They can't reach them." Oshiki Takijiro shook his head: "According to the deciphered US Navy telegram, the British naval formation has not yet passed the Bashi Channel, and is more than 400 nautical miles away from us."

"Do you know their strength?"

"I know, there are 6 battleships, 1 aircraft carrier, 5 heavy cruisers, 7 light cruisers, and 15 destroyers. The Americans' report is detailed enough, right? This time the information provided to us by the Soviets finally started to work."

While the two were talking, they had already walked into the bridge of the Akagi. The commander of the Joint Fleet, Hidesuke Yamamoto and the commander of the Japanese Red Navy, Kantaro Suzuki, were whispering in front of the chart table. Hearing the reports of Yamamoto Ioruru and Oshiki Takijiro, they called them forward.

"This is the Chinese fleet, which is about 200 nautical miles away from us, and is sailing south. The British fleet is about 100 nautical miles west of them, and is sailing east." Yamamoto Hidesuke pointed to the two ship-type signs representing the Chinese-British fleet on the chart and asked Yamamoto Izuru: "Yamamoto, who do you think we should fight first?"

"One goes south? The other goes east?" Yamamoto Iroku looked at the two signs on the chart and said in surprise: "Don't they plan to meet? Also, what are the Chinese doing all the way south?"

"Who knows?" Suzuki Kantaro smiled and shook his head and said, "It's really inexplicable. I thought the Chinese fleet would appear in the East China Sea or the Yellow Sea, but who knew that they would actually run to the Pacific Ocean. Could it be that they wanted to go around in circles to attack the Japanese mainland?"

"By the way. Is there a declaration of war now?" Yamamoto Iroku suddenly thought of something and asked.

"No one declared war." Suzuki Kantaro smiled bitterly: "The Chinese do not recognize that there is a Soviet country in the world. They still hold the "Japan-China United Nations Treaty" in terms of law. How do they declare war? We do not recognize that North Korea is a country of **, and of course it is impossible to declare war on them. As for the fact that there is no war between us and Britain, the British also expressed that they would mediate the Japan-South Korea war."

"What did you say above?" Yamamoto Izuru asked.

"I didn't say anything, I'm probably asking for instructions from Moscow." Yamamoto Hidesuke replied.

"That's right, whether to fight or not?" Yamamoto Iroku smacked his lips and smiled, "I didn't expect that the fuse of the world war was in the hands of a few of us!" As he said that, he took out a file bag from the briefcase he brought with him, and handed it to Yamamoto Hidesuke with both hands. "Commander, this is an order jointly signed by Chairman Takeda of the Revolutionary Military Commission and the People's Committee of Labor and National Defense, Mr. Muto, authorizing our Red Navy Joint Fleet to launch a strike against the Sino-British Joint Fleet!

The commander, the subordinate advises to divide the troops into two groups, and the main force of the joint fleet goes south to intercept the main fleet of the Chinese Navy, and strive to intercept them to the night battle in the waters south of the Ryukyu Islands tonight!

At the same time, submarine forces set up an ambush in the waters south of Okinawa to ambush the British Far East Fleet!" Yamamoto Iroku slapped the Navy table hard: "Let us make full use of the suddenness of the undeclared war and strive to defeat the navies of China and Britain in one fell swoop!"

...

In the outskirts of Moscow, a weapon test site of the Soviet Red Army.

With a dull sound, a flame flashed through the muzzle of a 45mm gun made by China. A tungsten alloy armor-piercing shell flew to a t28 tank parked 1,000 meters away at an extremely fast speed. With a "clang", the shell smashed a white pit on the armored steel plate on the front of the t28, but it did not penetrate! Two Soviet Red Army soldiers jumped out of the bunker next to the tank, carefully observed the front of the t28, and waved a small green chess piece in their hand.

"No breakdown! It's great, no breakdown!" Tukhachevsky in the stands in the distance put down his telescope and reported to Trotsky beside him with a smile: "Comrade Chairman. The t28 equipped with 30mm bulletproof steel plate has withstood the blow of the Chinese 45mm cannon!"

"Very good! It seems that we have gained something in the Korean War." Trotsky looked back at the happy Tukhachevsky. "How much time will it take to modify all our 3,500 T28s? It won't delay the process of the world revolution, right?"

"No, please rest assured by the Chairman. The comrades from the Red Army Armored Forces Command promised me that by the end of September, the modification of 3,500 T28s can be completed. In addition, we can produce another 800 T28 tanks with a front armor thickness of 60mm."

Hearing that 4,300 T28s could be available by the end of September, a joyful expression finally appeared on Trotsky's face. He nodded with satisfaction and said, "Very good. With 4,300 T28s, we have more confidence. However, we must work harder on the development of new tanks. In this Korean battle, the t28 exposed many defects. It seems that this is not a very excellent tank. We must develop alternative models of t28. There are also aircraft... We must also seize this aspect, and the intelligence says that China and Germany are stepping up the development of new fighter jets and bombers. Soviet countries cannot lose to them in this regard!"

Speaking of aircraft, Tukhachevsky seemed to have changed his personal opinion, with helplessness: "We have concentrated aircraft engineers from the Soviet Union, Poland and Japan to fully develop new aircraft, but our aviation industry still lags behind Germany and China. Western countries have imposed a blockade on us in terms of basic raw materials technology, so our engine technology is far inferior to China and Germany..."

"Okay, okay, I know our aviation industry is not as good as our opponents, but the Red Army of Workers and Peasants will definitely win the battle without good aircraft!" After hearing the bad news, Trotsky also showed a little frustrated expression. "Let's talk about the good news. I just saw a Red Army staff officer giving you something?"

As soon as Trotsky reminded him, Tukhachevsky immediately took out a telegram from his pocket in the military uniform and handed it over with his hands. "It was Comrade Buluhell's telegram. The Japanese discovered the Chinese fleet in the waters near Okinawa Island, with six battlecruisers and three aircraft carriers, which should be the so-called main fleet. In addition, through the intercepted US Navy telegram, it was learned that the British Far East Fleet also appeared in the Bashi Channel. It is estimated that the full-scale war between China, Britain and Japan will begin soon!"

"Really? That's good news!" A smile of excitement flashed across Trotsky's face, but was quickly replaced by a worried look. "Can the Japanese Navy win this battle? If there is another land battle with the Korean Peninsula, it will be a little troublesome. By the way, where is the Japanese fleet?"

Tukhachevsky shook his head: "I don't know, the Japanese fleet began to implement radio silence after leaving Wu Jun Port, and even the Japanese Red Navy Command did not know their specific location."

Trotsky's face was already serious. "This naval battle is very critical!" He thought for a while and said: "If Japan wins, the flames of revolution in the entire Southeast Asian country will be ignited, and China will be trapped in the strategic encirclement between us and Japan. If Japan fails again, the situation of the world revolution will become serious. Comrade Tukhachevsky, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army must be prepared to launch a war in advance!"

At this time, the People's Commissar Yue Fei suddenly came to Trotsky and Tukhachevsky. "Comrade Lev Davedovic, just received the news that the UK is preparing to evacuate from parts of India, the Middle East, Myanmar and Malaya!"

"What?" Trotsky was stunned. "British wants to give up India? How is this possible?"

It would be fine if Britain evacuated from the unmatched South Ocean region, but even India gave up the jewel on the crown of the British Empire! This was far beyond the expectations of the revolutionary prophets.

"No, we can't let the British escape so easily!" Trotsky gritted his teeth and turned his head to Tukhachevsky and said: "The war must be started in advance! GCD must become the liberator of India and the Middle East!"

"But... Comrade Trotsky, we are not ready yet! The modification of the t28 tank has not been completed, and the Red Army's mobilization to Persia has only been half completed. Now only one million troops are in place. Reza Khan's Persian army has mobilized less than 300,000, and the supplies are not complete. The submarine troops of the Red Navy are not in place..."

"No need to say it!" Trotsky waved his hand and interrupted: "1.3 million troops are enough to liberate India and the Middle East. Before the end of July, the Red Army must invade India and Iraq! Comrade Tukhachevsky, you cannot just consider military issues and ignore political issues! If Britain evacuates from India, India will become one or two countries! When we go to liberate, we will be regarded as invaders by some Indian nationalists. Do you know that there are strong nationalist sentiments within those countries that have just escaped from colonial and semi-colonial status! The setbacks we have encountered in China illustrate this point, so... we must not let India become the second China! Otherwise, our world revolution may fail!" (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!