Captain Liu Xuanjiang said that the night of November 1 was not calm.

At the end of October, the "Wanzhou" missile escort boat commanded by Captain Liu Xuanjiang arrived in the eastern waters of Hokkaido, Japan, with the y011 prefabricated fleet led by the "Zhendong" mother ship, it carried out a total of five "blocking and patrol" tasks, intercepted seven ships preparing to go to Japan, and all successfully completed the task by "dissuading to retreat".

For Liu Xuanjiang and other 12 captains, "blocking the patrol" is not a difficult task.

There are six "visiting helicopters" carried by the "Zhendong" in the sky that carry out patrol missions 24 hours a day. There are six missile escort boats on the sea surface at any time, divided into three formations to patrol on the concentrated routes of merchant ships. Relying on the sea search radar on the helicopter and the radar on the missile escort boats, it can accurately and promptly discover ships within a radius of hundreds of kilometers. As long as the missile escort boat arrives in time, the merchant ships will "consciously" avoid it.

The situation changed overnight.

Liu Xuanjiang led 211 mother boats to rest and enjoyed delicious food. The crew members who took a hot bath boarded the Wanzhou at 230, and went with the 5-quarter sister boats including the Daxian to replace the other 6 missile escort boats that had been patrolling 24-meters at the sea.

At 22:30, the "Wanzhou" and "Daxian" arrived at Tokyo 1, the Qiandao Trench Sea Area at the north latitude.

As before, the Wanzhou and Daxian started the sea search radar in turn to monitor the surrounding waters. Another missile escort boat activated the tactical data link system to obtain the surveillance information provided by the alert helicopter. The main reason is that the mother ship lacks the necessary tools to repair radar. In order to extend the mission time, the missile escort boats that conduct patrol missions must use radar as little as possible. Because in the last patrol mission, the Daxian first used radar, so this time when it comes to the Wanzhou first used radar.

At 23:15, the "Daxian" sent a message, and the alert helicopter sent a fleet sailing west.

2 The missile escort boat immediately turned and followed the information provided by the alert pickup to intercept.

The exact news was received only at 23:20. The fleet of ships sailing westwards had at least 12 large merchant ships!

The captain does not need to worry. The helicopter has sent the relevant information to the mother ship and nearby ground missile escort boats. All ground missile escort boats are coming. Returning to the mother ship to rest and recuperate the ground missile escort boats will also end the rest and recuperate in advance and participate in the interception operation.

12~ Merchant ships. Not a small number!

The Wanzhou quickly increased its speed to 70 knots and faced the fleet of ignorant ships.

At 23 o'clock, the search radar of the Wanzhou ground discovered the transport fleet.

Liu Xuanjiang issued a combat order and asked the communications officers to connect to the satellite communication channel and sent battlefield information to the Navy Command and General Staff Department thousands of miles away.

Liu Xuanjiang didn't know why he did this, nor did he want to know.

In his opinion, as long as the missile escort boat arrives, the merchant ship will "consciously" turn around and give up his action to Japan. But he never expected that the situation this time was completely different.

At 1:30 am on the 11th, the "Wanzhou" and "Daxian" were the first to approach the fleet.

According to the combat order issued by the Navy Command, the "Wanzhou" and "Daxian" issued warning messages to the ships moving westward through the International Maritime Communication Channel, requiring the ships to turn to leave the combat waters designated by the Republic or stop ships for verification by the Republic's Navy. The so-called "ritual first and then troops" did not receive any effect. After the warning did not receive any effect, Liu Xuanjiang ordered the "Wanzhou" to fire a gun to indicate that the missile guard boats had a fatal blow. In the past, even the boldest captain would immediately order the turn. What Liu Xuanjiang was a little unbelievable was that the warning of fire guns still had no effect, and the fleet of 12-merchant ships was still sailing west.

This situation was transmitted to the General Staff through the satellite communication system.

Pei Chengyi had long expected that this night would not be calm, so he not only kept it himself and let all the staff who had been resting for several hours in the afternoon stay.

When the "Wanzhou" and "Daxian" issued warning signals, the first warning helicopter that arrived dropped flares over the fleet and sent back the image of the scene.

It took less time to do so, intelligence analysts sent by the Military Intelligence Bureau determined that there were three VLCCC "super tankers", 5,500-box-class "cape of good hope" container freighter, 150,000-ton three-loading freighter and 1 large roll-ro-cargo ship capable of carrying vehicles on the carrier.

Is this a fleet of ships that occasionally break into the "no sailing zone"?

Although I don’t know what cargo these ships are carrying, Pei Chengyi is almost certain that this fleet is extraordinary.

After the cross-level order to issue another warning order to the missile escort boat and the alert helicopter that was performing the interception mission, Pei Chengyi sent someone to call Xiang Yinghui out of the bed.

A few days ago, those who entered the "banned flight zone" were all freighters who had not received the news, but this time it was different.

According to the order sent by the General Staff, the "Wanzhou" commanded by Liu Xuanjiang was at the front of the fleet.

The location of Mi emitted a light signal again, and then a cannon fired to warn.

The situation still has not changed, 12~ The merchant ship is moving westward without any reconciliation!

When Xiang Yinghui came to the tactical command center, the atmosphere was already very tense. According to the combat order, after two rounds of warnings failed, the missile escort boat could sink the ships entering the "No Waiting Zone" at any time. If Pei Chengyi had not issued an order in advance and required the ships and aircraft that performed the interception mission to not open fire for the time being, the battle might have started.

“It’s a tough situation.”

Xiang Yinghui nodded, indicating that he understood Pei Chengyi's meaning.

12~The merchant ships all fly the American flag, and there are three full-loaded VLCCs. Oil tankers are not ordinary freighters. Although all tankers built in the 211th century use safer double-layer shells, the double-layer shells of the tankers are used to prevent the oil from leaking out of accidents, rather than dealing with missiles and artillery on the warships. If they really want to start fighting and sinking 3 VLCCs will cause nearly one million tons of oil leakage, causing devastating environmental pollution in the nearby waters of hundreds of thousands of square kilometers or even millions of square kilometers. There are at least 300 crew members on the 12 ship. If the missile escort boats fire, even if they actively salvage the people who fell into the water after the battle, it will not be ensured that there will be no casualties.

Fight, or not?

Xiang Yinghui breathed a sigh and looked at Pei Cheng.

"Wait a minute and inform the Head of State."

"Call the Chief Executive and send the news to the prime minister through video call." Xiang Yinghui sighed and said, "It's a blessing or not a disaster, it's a disaster. Let the missile guard boats warn again. If the American ships continue to go their separate ways, they will issue a combat preparation order."

Pei Chengyi nodded and said nothing more.

When Wang Yuan received the news from the General Staff, he had not yet rested and was discussing with Gu Weimin, Zong Yingren and Ye Zhisheng about the possible impact of the breakdown of the armistice negotiations.

After arranging a frequency meeting, Wang Yuanqing asked Jiao Shan to notify Li Cunxun by phone.

The problem was handed over to the head of state.

Fight, or not?

"How long will it take for the fleet to reach Japan?"

"It will take eighteen hours at the fastest."

Wang Yuanqing nodded slightly and said, "Order the missile escort boats and helicopters to closely monitor the whereabouts of the fleet and make an interception plan. I will issue the latest instructions as soon as possible."

Pei Chengyi seemed to have guessed the decision of the head of state and immediately nodded and agreed.

After the video conference, Ye Zhisheng immediately said: "No question, this is the United States testing our attitude."

Wang Yuanqing smiled, suppressed his hand, stopped Ye Zhisheng's words, and said to Jiao Bashan next to him: "Send someone to the Military Intelligence Bureau as soon as possible and ask Li Cunxun to come over immediately to report the situation."

Jiao Wushan nodded, got up and left the study room.

"Lao Wang, what are you going to do?" After returning to the decision-making circle, Gu Weimin's attitude towards Wang Yuanqing changed a lot.

"Xiao Ye is right, this is the United States testing us." Wang Yuanqing picked up the cigarette box, dispersed one for everyone, and then lit it for himself. "We talked about the breakdown of the negotiations and the United States and Europe are the most disappointed. We gave the EU enough face. The EU will not make reckless measures. Only the United States, which was left aside, is dissatisfied and will take the opportunity to cause trouble. You have also seen that there are twelve merchant ships and three tankers.

According to the embargo list we have published, crude oil and various finished oil materials are embargo materials. If I am not mistaken, the other freighters are also embargo materials. Of course, there will be no similar information on the U.S. departure list, but it is marked as humanitarian aid materials. If we sink these ships, we will inevitably be criticized by the United States, and it may even give the United States a reason to join the war."

"At present, the United States has no reason to join the war."

"If you don't participate in the war, you will also cause trouble for us in the armistice negotiations." Wang Yuanqing looked at Ye Zhisheng with an excited look and said, "The purpose of the United States is to preserve Japan, at least to enable Japan to maintain its status as a regional power, so as to use Japan to restrain us after the war and achieve the goal of checking and balanced us. To this end, the United States must create favorable conditions for Japan during the negotiations, putting us in an unfavorable situation."

"The Head of State is right. The incident happened suddenly, and we must be careful to deal with it." Zong Yingren did not make any useful indirect statements.

"The key issue is that we cannot let it go, otherwise the strategic blockade will be in name only."

"Releasing is a secondary issue. The key is how to avoid the situation from expanding. Now the whole world is looking forward to stopping the war through a truce negotiation. If we take a wrong step, it is likely to lead to a reversal of the situation." Gu Weimin still acted cautiously and was not very optimistic.

Hearing Gu Weimin's words, Wang Yuanqing nodded and said, "It's true, we must take action. What should we do? I think it's better to listen to the opinions of the Military Intelligence Bureau and figure out the situation. Anyway, the fleet will have more than ten hours to arrive in Japan, so it's also a hurry."

The Head of State said this, and Gu Weimin, Zong Yingren and Ye Zhisheng didn’t have much to say. (To be continued,)
Chapter completed!