Before 1 a.m., Zhang Guozhu received a message from Colonel Luo Dingbang, commander of the 42.3rd team, from the light cruiser "Jiangcheng".

Luo Dingbang is Zhang Guozhu's old subordinate.

Back then, when Zhang Guozhu was the captain of the "Beihe" battle cruiser, Luo Dingbang was the second mate.

For more than 20 years since then, Luo Dingbang has been following Zhang Guozhu, and he is simply Zhang Guozhu's right-hand man.

When Zhang Guozhu became the commander of the Fourth Fleet, Luo Dingbang went to the 42nd Special Fleet to serve as chief of staff and also served as the commander of the Light Cruiser Detachment.

It’s not that Zhang Guozhu is reluctant to pay attention to the cruiser, the four "Zizhou" class were temporarily incorporated into the 42nd Special Mixed Fleet.

Previously, the four "Zizhou" class were affiliated with the 21st special mixed fleet, responsible for providing cover for aircraft carriers, and the team headquarters were all original teams.

According to Luo Dingbang's report, the escort warships that cover the transport fleet have already left, and are likely to be heavy cruisers.

However, there is obviously something wrong with this report.

The Newland Navy's Viagra fleet has a total of ten heavy cruisers.

According to the information obtained before, after strengthening air defense firepower, these ten heavy cruisers were all sent to cover the aircraft carrier and organized into the aircraft carrier special mixed fleet.

Other heavy cruisers?

Two "Pengke"-class squadrons in the South Zhu Kingdom and went to Austria a few months ago under the name of joint training. According to the latest information, the two heavy cruisers went to Fanyanyang a few days ago to assist the Royal Bran Navy in search of three hidden Tsuman armored cruisers.

The six "Bei'an" class were all in the Xiluoyang Fleet, and four of them went to the Kingdom of Bran and were incorporated into the local fleet of the Royal Bran Navy. The other two, in the Mo Bay and the Galle Sea, are the flagships of the two squadrons, escorting the fleets that traveled back and forth with the local East Coast and the Wangxi Canal.

After receiving the report, Zhang Guozhu asked Luo Dingbang to re-determine the nature of the enemy ship.

Then, Luo Dingbang corrected the error and determined that it was four light cruisers.

What else is there to say about light cruisers vs. light cruisers?

In the next few hours, Luo Dingbang sent a report every half hour.

There is nothing to report if you want to say it.

Both sides maintained restraint and were performing tactical maneuvers during the approaching process. It seemed that they wanted to use this method to make the other party retreat.

In Luo Dingbang's words, the two fleets are like two male guinea fowls in the estrus.

As the distance shortens, it becomes a restless bull.

At around three o'clock in the morning, the "Jiangcheng" began to shout to the Newland warship with a tweeter, demanding the Newland warship to leave the battle area designated by the Imperial Navy.

Not only did the Newland fleet take it seriously, but instead claimed that it was the high seas, and the Newland warships had the right of freedom to pass on the high seas.

After fifteen minutes of negotiations failed, the "Jiangcheng" fired a fire warning.

After that, the Newland fleet turned away from visual contact.

The Newland fleet did not evacuate, but was sailing north at full speed, as if it wanted to rely on speed to get rid of the 42.3rd team.

Affected by this, the 42.3rd team had to sail north at full speed.

Judging from this, these Newland warships wanted to lead the 42.3rd team away so that the fleet behind could continue to advance or cover the main battleship behind.

According to the information, the first fleet of the Newland Navy's Eastward Fleet has arrived, and must be not far from the east.

If so, after the 42.3rd team left, the First Newland Fleet will assault at full speed and launch an attack on four "Longxing"-class battleships.

The subsequent plot development was a bit beyond expectations.

After sailing north for about half an hour, the Newland light cruisers suddenly made a 180-degree turn and took the opportunity to shorten the distance from the 42.3rd team.

At around four o'clock in the morning, the 42.3rd team encountered the 1st Fleet of Newland, or to be precise, a battleship formation.

However, there were only four battleships, not the expected ten.

Even at night, you can tell through the tall bridge that they are two Tennessee and two Binfa class battleships.

Fortunately, the 42.1st team under the command of Zhang Guozhu has arrived.

After discovering the 42.1 team, the Newland battleship formation immediately turned.

Although they were also former treaty battleships, they were all built during the last war and had no deep modernization improvements, the four Newland battleships were unable to compare with the "Longxing" class. Not only was the tonnage gap very obvious, but the caliber of the main gun was not on the same level.

If you really fight, you can't take any advantage of the four Newland battleships.

However, Zhang Guozhu is not concerned about four battleships.

Before this, several Newland light cruisers had been sailing south and had not slowed down.

After more than an hour of sailing, the Newland Light Cruiser has been ahead of more than 20 kilometers.

In more than an hour, the 42.1 team also followed the Newland battleship to sail south, but the speed was much slower.

As for the 42.3 team, it is right in front of the 42.1 team, maintaining the same speed, and it will only accelerate after the 42.2 team arrives.

What exactly does the other party want to do?

Actually, there is no need to guess at all.

The transport fleet must be still behind, but the navigation speed was slowed down before. After discovering the 42nd Special Mixed Fleet, four battleships left front and turned to sail south after encountering the 42.1 team. It was clear that the 42nd Special Mixed Fleet was to lead the 42nd Special Mixed Fleet away from the front of the transport fleet.

In addition, we must force the 43rd Special Mixed Fleet out!

This is also the key to the failure of the three "Xinmo" class and the three "Kora" class.

However, where the other six battleships are, it depends on how the commander of the Newland Fleet speculates the whereabouts of the 43rd Special Mixed Fleet.

If the commander of the Newland Fleet determines that the 43rd Special Mix Fleet is following the 42nd Special Mix Fleet and after encountering it, they will catch up with speed, and the six battleships are likely to follow behind, just to the east of the 42nd Special Mix Fleet, but they have not entered the radar detection range.

If the commander of the Newland Fleet determined that the 43rd Fleet was prepared for the decisive battle to the south or southwest of the 42nd Fleet, then the other six battleships were likely to be in the southeast direction, perhaps not far south of the 42nd Fleet.

In Zhang Guozhu's view, no matter what the situation is, when the battle begins, the Newland Navy will first seek to annihilate the 42nd Special Mixed Fleet.

Even if it will cost a huge price, it will sink four "Longxing"-class ships.

Although the four "Longxing" classes seem old compared to the four fast battleships of the 43rd Special Mixed Fleet, they are very powerful compared to the battleships of the Newland Navy. Even when facing the "Cola" class with strong firepower, they have a very obvious advantage in speed.

The "longxing" level "the strongest former treaty" is not something that can be heard.

The key is that if the 42nd Special Mixed Fleet cannot be killed in time, then when the 43rd Special Mixed Fleet arrives, the Newland Fleet will have even less chance of winning.

Judging by combat effectiveness, the ten battleships of the Newland Navy were not as good as the eight battleships of the Imperial Navy.

For example, the firepower delivery capability, even if the main gun range is not considered and the shell mass is only calculated, the eight battleships of the Imperial Navy are one-four times that of the ten battleships of the Newland Navy.

But, is it so easy to destroy the 42nd Special Mixed Fleet?

The value of the 42nd Special Mixed Fleet is to act as a meat shield in front and create opportunities for other Special Mixed Fleets.

If you want to say something, if you really fight, the Newland fleet may not dare to come up and fight to the decisive battle.

Zhang Guozhu had already been mentally prepared, but the development of the situation was completely different from what he imagined.
Chapter completed!