King Lu Chenyang of Chu put down the telegram in his hand, turned around and looked towards the south.
"Ge Hongliu is indeed a talented person. This battle plan can preserve the Chu army's strength to the greatest extent when the battle situation is unfavorable.
It's just that Ge Hongliu had no need to temporarily change the battle plan.
If he tells this plan in Changping, I will definitely agree to it.
The Chu army will be more prepared."
King Lu Chenyang of Chu ordered people to immediately attack Ge Hongliu.
The King of Chu and the State of Chu firmly supported Ge Hongliu in fighting this battle.
King Lu Chenyang of Chu knew that things should be prioritized.
The Chu army is about to break out in a naval battle that will determine the fate of the Chu country.
All Chu King Lu Chenyang can do now is to support the Chu army and must not do anything that affects the Chu army.
…………………………
4357 (1660 AD), March 2nd, three o'clock in the morning.
General Ge Hongliu did not rest. He stood on the deck and observed the situation of the fleet.
On the deck of the battleship, a hemp rope as thick as an arm was tied.
The lookout is observing the situation on the sea in the distance through the hot air balloon tied to the battleship.
In the night, the lights on the battleship are very conspicuous and can be seen from a long distance away.
But in order to observe further, the lookout took the risk of falling from the sky and used a hot air balloon to observe the situation in the distance.
General Ge Hongliu explained: "Always pay attention to changes in the sea breeze. If the wind is strong, immediately let the lookout hand get off the hot air balloon."
The Chu Navy was eager to find the location of the Song Navy.
The Chu Navy had a large number of torpedo boats.
These torpedo boats are the main combat force of the Chu Navy.
The Chu Navy was able to prioritize the position of the Song Navy, and Yu Leiting prepared the formation in advance.
The Chu Navy could cause the greatest damage to the Song Navy.
General Ge Hongliu knew that he only had this one chance to achieve huge results.
Once the Song Navy knew the powerful power of torpedoes, they would definitely take every possible precaution against torpedoes.
There is a high probability that the two navies will enter the stage of mutual deterrence that he thought before.
Once this stage is reached, both sides will be afraid of fighting the wolf, and no navy will start a war lightly.
General Ge Hongliu hoped that the Chu navy could detect the enemy's traces in advance so that they could take the initiative in this war.
He tried his best to give the Chu navy a little more hope of victory.
He is prepared for everything and will not regret it even if he fails.
General Ge Hongliu discovered that the lookout post on the hot air balloon did not give a warning signal.
He went to the command hall of the battleship Changping, which was the core of the battleship.
Except for a few people in the fleet, anyone else who wants to enter the command hall needs to go through layers of review.
This command hall not only directs the battleship Changping through telephones and loudspeakers.
It can also command the Chu navy fleet in battle through semaphores, light signals, telegraphs, etc.
General Ge Hongliu came to the sand table and saw a telegram lying next to the sand table. This was the telegram he received last night.
This telegram is signed by Lu Chenyang, King of Chu.
The contents of the telegram praised Ge Hongliu for his quick wit and finding victory in a crisis.
Encourage the Chu navy to fight this battle well. When they returned victorious, Chu King Lu Chenyang personally awarded them honors.
When General Ge Hongliu saw this telegram, he was very moved.
The King of Chu, Lu Chenyang, did not accuse him of suddenly changing the battle plan and remotely micro-managing Chu's naval operations.
He gave General Ge Hongliu full trust.
General Ge Hongliu wanted to repay King Lu Chenyang of Chu for his kindness.
He also wants to lead the Chu navy to fight this battle successfully.
When Communications Staff Officer Meng Keli saw General Ge Hongliu returning, he immediately went forward to report: "General Ge, we really found some clues.
By monitoring the surrounding telegrams, telegraph operators discovered messages that were very different from ordinary civilian encrypted telegrams.
The frequency of these messages is very high. Judging from the signal attenuation we have summarized, this signal source must be within fifty kilometers away from us."
After Meng Keli, communications staff officer, introduced the relevant situation, he sighed: "Our country's technology is still not mature enough.
I heard that the Empire has a technology that can already locate the approximate location of the sender of the telegram.
If our army masters this technology, it will definitely be able to discover the location of the Song Navy fleet in time."
General Ge Hongliu praised: "Commander Meng, you have done a good job now.
Because of your discovery, I can now tell that the Song Navy fleet is near our army.
Considering that the Song Navy fleet is chasing us, we can probably judge his location."
When Communications Staff Officer Meng Keli heard General Ge Hongliu's praise, he said excitedly: "General, I will continue to urge the communications troops to capture the signal of the Song Navy.
After the results appear, report to the general."
General Ge Hongliu summarized the information he collected and judged the position of the Song Navy based on his experience on the sand table.
He immediately picked up the phone and informed the fleet to adjust its direction. At the same time, he asked the lookout on the hot air balloon to concentrate on observing the situation around the fleet.
General Ge Hongliu had arranged everything. He stood by the window and looked at the stars in the sky.
Shortly after the clock struck three-thirty in the morning, General Ge Hongliu heard the phone ring.
He immediately walked quickly to the phone, picked up the receiver and said, "I'm Ge Hongliu."
An excited voice came from the other end of the phone: "General, we have discovered traces of the Song Navy fleet.
He is in the northwest of our army, about 16 kilometers away from our army."
General Ge Hongliu heard that the lookout had observed the position of the Song Navy.
He hammered the sand table with his fist. God bless Chu State.
He said excitedly: "Continue to track the position of the Song Navy fleet and report the coordinates of the Chinese Navy fleet at any time."
He picked up the phone again and informed the battleship Changping to turn off its lights.
After the battleship Changping sets an example, other ships will follow suit and take corresponding actions.
The Chu fleet turned off its lights in order to slow down the exposure time and allow the torpedo boats to get closer to the Song naval fleet.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The cooperation between the ships in the fleet not only relies on the experience of the captain, but also calls each other through the loudspeaker.
Light can travel very far, but sound decays very quickly.
If the Song fleet could hear the sound of the Chu fleet, then he would have been able to see the Chu army with his eyes.
After General Ge Hongliu hung up the phone, he then commanded the Chu Navy fleet to start re-forming.
The battleship and cruiser were at the forefront, and the destroyer shuttled between the two large warships.
The torpedo boats were hidden behind the big ships, reducing the vigilance of the Song Navy fleet.
The Chu fleet kept its lights out and surrounded the Song fleet.
Ge Hongliu stood by the window and looked out.
There is a crescent moon and a few sparse stars in the sky, guiding the Chu warships in the direction.
It's dawn, the darkest hour in the day.
General Ge Hongliu could already see the lights of the Song fleet.
The Song fleet has four huge light sources, which are the four battleships of the Song Dynasty.
The situation that Ge Hongliu had been worried about did not appear.
He was about to face half the strength of the Song fleet.
The strength of Song Dynasty's navy was already half that of many European countries on paper.
While Ge Hongliu was somewhat fortunate, he also actively responded to the threat from the Song Navy fleet.
He would not place all his hopes on the torpedo boats.
Even if the torpedo boat tactics were far different from the previous training, he still wanted to let the Song Navy see the strength of the Chu Navy.
The Chu navy slowly approached the Song navy fleet under the cover of night.
General Ge Hongliu prayed in his heart that the Song Navy fleet must discover the Chu Navy fleet later.
When the sky slowly turned blue, the Chu naval fleet was approaching, and the Song naval fleet was on guard with destroyers outside.
The destroyers of the Song Navy fleet were not very vigilant.
But as the Chu navy fleet gets closer and closer to the alert destroyers, their identities will definitely not be concealed.
General Ge Hongliu knew that he could no longer hide it, so he immediately issued an order.
"Target the Song Dynasty naval fleet, and attack with the entire army.
Each piece follows the established plan to find opponents of the same level, while creating an environment for the torpedo boats to attack."
General Ge Hongliu issued an order, and a single shell from the secondary battery of the battleship Changping directly sank the destroyer on guard ahead.
The fire and huge roar produced by the firing of naval guns.
This directly attracted the attention of the Song Navy, who were very familiar with the sound of naval guns.
These men sounded the alarm to wake up their sleeping comrades, and they rushed to their respective posts at the same time.
Shi Tianyou, commander of the Song Navy fleet, was immediately awakened by the sound of cannons.
He jumped up from the bed, opened the door and asked, "Where is the artillery fire going? What happened?"
The staff officer on duty, when he saw Commander Shi Tianyou, immediately found his backbone.
He stumbled a bit and said, "The Chu navy is attacking us."
When Commander Shi Tianyou heard the news, he snorted coldly: "The Chu Navy is preparing to fight to the death.
But he completely doesn’t understand the huge gap in strength between the two countries.”
Shi Tianyou commanded the somewhat chaotic fleet, and he found that some fleet captains had begun to waver.
He immediately took tough measures and even asked the Military Justice Department to take it down.
Under the command of Shi Tianyou, the Song fleet slowly restored order.
At this time, the sun in the sky had also risen, and both the Chu fleet and the Song fleet could clearly see each other's situation.
When Shi Tianyou saw the shabby state of Chu's fleet, he laughed and said: "Chu wanted to rely on this few warships, but chose to take the initiative to attack our army.
The Chu State is completely out of their depth, let me teach them a profound lesson."
Commander Shi Tianyou was full of self-confidence and immediately asked the Song Navy fleet to maintain its formation and press directly towards the Chu Navy Fleet.
General Ge Hongliu stood on the ship island. He watched the Song navy fleet being suddenly attacked, and the fleet looked slightly confused.
Then the chaotic fleet was immediately restored to order.
General Ge Hongliu sighed with emotion: "I cannot help but admire the capabilities of the Song Dynasty's naval fleet."
The Chu naval fleet and the Song naval fleet quickly entered the range of the naval guns.
The Chu navy fleet was well prepared, and they shelled their respective targets one after another.
Many soldiers in the Song Navy fleet had just woken up, and a large number of naval guns were unmanned.
Their guns fire slower, but their shots are more accurate.
Shi Tianyou, the commander of Song Dynasty's navy, said happily: "Song Dynasty not only has many warships, but also the officers and men of the fleet, all of them have unique skills.
These rookie navies from Chu State are no match for us."
Commander Shi Tianyou ordered: "The battleship Conqueror and Unity are responsible for containing the two battleships of the Chu Navy.
For the rest of the battleships, aim for cruisers or destroyers.
It would be better to cut off one of his ten fingers.
I will take care of all the Chu Navy escort fleets, and the Chu Navy cannot win."
Commander Shi Tianyou prepared to surrender Shihui with one force and directly use his strength to crush the Chu navy.
He believed that if the Chu navy dared to take the initiative to attack the Song navy, it would definitely have support.
Commander Shi Tianyou decided that the Song navy fleet would overwhelm others with strength.
The Song Navy fleet was so powerful that he was not afraid even if the Chu Navy fleet had a conspiracy.
The huge roar of naval guns rang in General Ge Hongliu's ears.
He saw that the armor of the battleship Changping had been hit by several shells, but was not penetrated.
The situation on the battlefield was already very intense, and the navies of the two countries began to shoot at each other.
On the real battlefield, it can be seen immediately that the skills of the Chu navy officers are not as good as those of the Song navy.
They are basically the same type of warships. The hit rate of the Chu Navy is very different from that of the Song Navy.
The number of warships of the Chu Navy was not as good as that of the Song Navy, and they gradually fell into a disadvantage.
Especially the battleships Zheng He and Black Coffee of the Song Navy, they were not restrained by battleships of the same level.
The two battleships rushed in like sharks, and no warship could resist them.
Cruisers are typically high in attack and low in defense. In order to maintain speed, the armor is very thin.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! It can withstand cruiser shells of the same level and barely hold on.
When a cruiser is attacked by a battleship's main gun, as long as it hits, there is a high probability that the armor will be penetrated.
General Ge Hongliu saw that two cruisers of the Chu Navy had tilted, and another cruiser was damaged and parked at sea as a living target.
The Chu warship was severely damaged, but the distance between the two navies had begun to close from several kilometers away to only a few hundred meters away.
When Commander Shi Tianyou of the Song Navy saw the battle situation, he curled his lips and said: "The Chu Navy is completely commanded by idiots who don't understand naval warfare.
The Chu navy could not even maintain its formation and did not want to leave the battlefield to reduce the damage it suffered.
Instead, they plunged headlong into our encirclement.
This general, I have a great chance to completely annihilate the Chu navy."
Commander Shi Tianyou immediately gave orders to all ships, asking them to start encircling and suppressing the Chu Navy, and they must not let a single warship go.
General Ge Hongliu waved his hand and ordered: "Let the torpedo boats move out."
Now he can only hope that the torpedo boat can make a difference.
Otherwise they would be so close to the Chinese naval fleet.
The torpedo boats cannot disrupt the lines of the Song Navy fleet. It will be very difficult for these warships to evacuate.
After Guan Shi received the order, he immediately commanded torpedo boat No. 66 to come out from behind the battleship Changping and rush towards the battleship Conqueror in front of him.
There were very few people on the torpedo boat. He was the only captain in charge of the command, as well as a helmsman, two gunners to operate the torpedoes, and three porters to transport the torpedoes.
The torpedo boat rushed towards the enemy ship at high speed, preparing to arrive near the warship and launch a torpedo attack.
The Song Navy had never seen a torpedo boat, but they knew they must not let these small boats rush over.
A massive amount of shells hit the torpedo boat directly.
Many torpedo boats were hit and their hulls were damaged, making them unable to continue charging.
A small number of torpedo boats also exploded, forming a large fireball on the sea.
Commander Shi Tianyou saw that most of the small boats sent by the Chu army were eliminated by them, and a smile appeared on his face.
He mocked: "The Guizhou donkey has no skills. These fragile boats cannot cause harm to our army. You have become a turtle in a jar."