After Liu Hai looked at the biochemical man Guandai, he looked towards the side of the Qing Dynasty plane where the indigenous people were Guandai. Although these people had some anxiety on their faces, they were generally calm.
Liu Hai was finally satisfied with these people when he saw this. They were not frightened by the prospect of fighting the Geely people, which showed that they already had a minimum fighting spirit.
In fact, these leaders of the Qing Dynasty did not have any fighting spirit as Liu Hai thought. They had absolute confidence in the four Iowa-class battleships under Liu Hai's command.
After these people returned to the Wusongkou port on the Yihua-class battleship, they all went to visit it. They had never heard of, let alone seen, the new equipment on board.
The only thing that impressed these people was the huge 406mm main gun and the strong armor of the Iowa-class battleship.
After all, these commanders have received formal military training, and they already have a basic evaluation of the Iowa-class battleships.
In the eyes of these people, there is no battleship in the world today that can rival the battleship Iowa.
With these four warships as trump cards, these leaders no longer have any fear of any country.
Liu Hai saw that the commanders below performed quite well, so he continued: "In this battle, I will personally lead the Nanyang Navy southward to find the enemy's main fleet for a decisive battle."
Liu Hai was silent for a moment and said: "The affairs in the Liangjiang area will be left to Liu Zhi as before."
Liu Zhi immediately went out to work after listening to Liu Hai's instructions, "Commander, don't worry, with me, Liu Zhi, I will ensure that nothing happens in the Liangjiang area."
The reason why Liu Zhi has such confidence is entirely because Liu Hai already has 300,000 regular troops in the Liangjiang area.
These armies are not like those in the Qing Dynasty, armed with broadswords and spears, but are equipped with advanced weapons from modern times. With the quality of these people and their superior weapons, if Liu Hai is not too cautious, he can definitely fight with his troops.
Go across the Yangtze River.
Liu Hai was satisfied with Liu Zhi's assurance, "You must remember this sentence. If anything goes wrong in the Liangjiang area when I come back, I will question you."
"yes."
Liu Hai nodded with satisfaction, and then said to the commanders of the warships below: "Go back immediately and prepare for the fleet departure early tomorrow morning."
After Liu Hai finished his instructions, he asked the generals to go back to prepare, and he himself returned to his house in Shanghai.
Waiting for him here are Zeng Yuying holding her child, and Chen Yuting following him.
It turns out that Liu Hai moved his base to Shanghai during this period, and the two women also returned to Shanghai.
After dinner, Liu Hai did not go to the study to study as usual, but left Zeng Yuying and Chen Yuting by his side.
The two women saw that Liu Hai was acting a little strange today, and they understood? Liu Hai must have something to explain, so even Zeng Yuying, who had always been domineering, sat down next to him honestly.
Liu Hai looked at the two people he was closest to in the Qing Dynasty and sighed and finally said: "Tomorrow I will take my eyes to the Nanyang Navy to go south to look for the Geely Navy for a decisive battle. You can take good care of your children at home. If anything happens
Let’s discuss it with Liu Zhi.”
Zeng Yuying felt a little scared when she heard Liu Hai's words: "Master, will there be any surprises during this expedition?"
Liu Hai looked at Zeng Yuying and was so scared that his face turned pale. So he smiled and comforted her, "It's nothing serious? Don't you know that your husband has four giant ships? It's nothing."
Zeng Yuying is still a little worried. She is not a child of an ordinary family. As for the power of Geely, she has heard her father Zeng Guoquan say it several times.
But Zeng Yuying was also born as a general. She knew that before going out to the war, she must not put any mental burden on Liu Hai. So she reluctantly smiled and chatted with Liu Hai about her daily life, as if she was not worried about the war at all.
But Chen Yuting on the side was not as courageous as Zeng Yuying? When she heard that Liu Hai's enemy was powerful this time, she was already anxious with tears in her eyes.
Zeng Yuying burst into tears when she saw Chen Yuting next to her. She looked down on her petty attitude.
"It's getting late, why don't you go back and rest? Master, I will serve you here."
Although Chen Yuting was worried about Liu Hai and didn't want to leave just like that, her wife had already said something and she would never dare to violate it, so she could only leave in one step.
Liu Hai looked at Zeng Yuying's domineering eyes, and the smile on his face became even brighter. With Zeng Yuying at home, he could leave with peace of mind.
Early in the morning of the second day, Zeng Yuying got up early to serve Liu Hai, dressed up, had breakfast, and then took Liu Hai out of the house with her maids. She didn't go back until Liu Hai's cavalry had disappeared.
This time, Liu Hai did not go to the Navy Yamen, but took the people directly to Wusongkou Pier.
The Nanyang Navy here is already ready to go, just waiting for Liu Hai to ship.
Liu Hai boarded the battleship Huangdi surrounded by a group of guards. The captain of the battleship Huangdi, Liu Feiwei, had been waiting for him on the bridge for a long time.
"Liu Wei, the captain of the battleship Huangdi, has met the commander-in-chief."
Liu Hai nodded, then led people directly into the command room, and then ordered Liu Wei who was following him, "The fleet will set off immediately. You will serve as the commander of the fleet as last time."
Liu Wei accepted Liu Hai's order and immediately ordered the warship to start blowing the whistle, and then the Huangdi took the lead and slowly left Wusongkou Pier.
Behind the Huangdi were the other three Iowa-class battleships, followed by the ironclad Jiangxi, followed by the heavy cruiser Shanghai, and followed by the captured ship, the Olympia.
After the Olympia was captured, it was immediately sent to the Shanghai Shipyard. After emergency repairs with modern equipment, the Olympia was able to continue fighting.
In order to facilitate identification, Liu Hai named the warship Hefei and appointed Xu Chuanlong, the former captain of the heavy cruiser Shanghai, as the captain of this new warship. Chen Han, the original first officer of Shanghai, took over as captain of Shanghai.
long.
Following them were three Cossack-class light cruisers, and finally five older cruisers.
Now it seems that the strength of Liu Hai's fleet is uneven. Their most powerful ones are the four Iowa-class battleships, and then the ironclad Jiangxi, the heavy cruiser Shanghai, and the heavy cruiser Hefei can all be used reluctantly.
The three light cruisers can also play a certain role, but the remaining five old cruisers have very poor combat capabilities. They used to just make up the number and serve as shields for the battleships when necessary.
There are still a group of warships in the Nanyang Navy that are performing the task of blockading the enemy country, and they will not be able to return in time to participate in the decisive battle as the capital ship.
Liu Hai took this pieced together fleet and left Wusongkou Military Port, searching southward.
The main reason why Liu Hai wanted to go south with the Nanyang Fleet was that this time there were four Yihua-class battleships. The other warships had limited capabilities, and they were afraid that they would eventually be overpowered by the other side.
Therefore, Liu Hai went there this time to provide insurance for the fleet. When necessary, he could release 6 new warships to give the opponent a thunderous blow.
The Nanyang Fleet slowly moved south and did not stop when it reached the coast of Fujian.
Liu Hai did not cross the strait this time, but sailed through the east waters of the big island and then entered the South China Sea.
When he arrived here, Liu Hai did not dare to neglect. In addition to turning on the radars of the four battleships around the clock, Liu Haihan ordered the reconnaissance aircraft on the four battleships to take off immediately and conduct day and night surveillance over a distance of 200 kilometers.
search.
Besides, after Admiral Knut Kron led the navy to leave the Lion City, they slowly moved northward. In order to detect the situation of the Nanyang Navy in advance, he sent ten light cruisers to search near the main fleet.
However, these light cruisers did not dare to go far away from the main fleet. In the era without radio communication, if they went too far, they would soon be lost in the ocean and lose contact with the main fleet.
Therefore, the search range of this navy is still limited.
But things were different on Liu Hai's side. The search range of the reconnaissance plane he sent could advance the warship's field of vision 300 kilometers forward.
Therefore, after the two sides sailed in opposite directions for five days, Liu Hai's reconnaissance plane finally discovered traces of the enemy's main fleet near the Philippines.
After Liu Hai received the opponent's exact whereabouts, he immediately ordered the navy to change its course, completely avoiding the front of the opponent's navy, and making a detour toward the opponent's side and rear.
The navy led by Knut Kron had no idea that they had been discovered by Liu Hai, and they still maintained their formation and headed north.
As the two fleets got closer and closer, Liu Hai's Nanyang Navy finally returned to the enemy's flank and rear. However, since the sky was already dark, if a naval battle was to take place now, many of Liu Hai's cruisers would not be able to exert their combat effectiveness.
Make bangs a little hesitant.
When Liu Wei on the side saw Liu Hai's hesitation, he immediately stepped forward to dissuade him, "My lord, it's getting late now. Although the opponent's warships are cutting-edge, they still cannot accurately aim in the dark night, and we have to rely on the battleship Iowa."
But it has advanced radar and fire control systems, and can bombard it from a distance of 15 kilometers. In this way, we can use our strengths and avoid weaknesses to inflict heavy damage on the enemy tonight. By tomorrow, the enemy will definitely suffer heavy losses. By then we
Then we can surround and annihilate the opponent's fleet with all our strength."
After listening to Liu Fei's words, Liu Hai thought for a moment that this was indeed the case. Now it was time to take advantage of the Iowa battleship's ability to fight at night, launch a surprise attack on it, and try to weaken the opponent's warships as much as possible.
So Liu Hai made up his mind to give the enemy a good look tonight.