Opening game, American Tycoon

Chapter 1560 South Pacific (Second update, please subscribe)

When the rainy season in the Central South Peninsula was broken by the sound of the military boots of hundreds of thousands of Tang troops, at the other end of the ocean, after learning that Datang had declared war on Britain and the United States, cheers were everywhere outside the Datang embassy in Daming crowd.

People cheered over and over again, and the voice of "breed compatriots" was heard endlessly. Feeling the excitement outside the consulate, Tan Sitong, the Consul General of the Tang Dynasty in Linhai, stood by the window and let out a long sigh.

"Well, nothing can be changed!"

When his sigh fell, Zuo Xiaoxun, who was sitting on the sofa with a cigar between his fingers, laughed.

"Change? Don't you want a change?"

"Xiao Xun, you know me."

Turning around, Tan Sitong walked in front of Zuo Xiaoxun, took a cigar from the cigar case, slowly lit it with a match, and said.

"All we've longed for all these years is change, even..."

After thinking about it, Tan Sitong said.

"Last year, if the empire hadn't stopped us, we might have acted long ago."

"Yes!"

Zuo Xiaoxun nodded and said.

"It's just that our strength was insufficient at that time. Among the 26 divisions of the army, only 7 divisions belonged to us. Although many regiment and battalion commanders belonged to us, most of the Xuzhou garrison were Li's confidantes. If the empire hadn't come forward to stop it at that time, the possibility of success..."

Zuo Xiaoxun didn't continue. As the leader of everything, he was very aware of his dissatisfaction when he was stopped, but after returning to China and communicating with his father many times, he realized how naive he was.

"There was a lesson learned from a military remonstrance. No matter what it was for, they would keep it in their hearts. So many division chiefs of the army are generals of the Huaixiang Army. It is really difficult to succeed if they cannot be defeated with one blow."

After taking a puff of the cigar and exhaling the smoke, Tan Sitong sneered.

"But it's different now. Last year, the army doubled in size, and 24 new divisions were set up. Among the [-] regiment commanders, [-]% are from us. So what if the division commanders are from the Huaixiang Army? ..."

Tan Sitong didn't continue talking. Everyone knew what would happen then.

"It's too early to say these things. Let the war continue. Isn't the army going to expand to 100 divisions now? By next year, our people will almost be able to control the army, and the time will almost be ripe."

In fact, from the day when the army expanded from 26 divisions to 50 divisions last year, officers from the Liuming faction and young men who graduated from the army academy began to master the officers. actual ruler.

Nodding slightly, Tan Sitong said.

"So, you plan to go back to Haizhou?"

"It's not Haizhou, it's Shenyang."

Zuo Xiaoxun took a puff of his cigar and said with a smile.

"I haven't seen King Liao for more than a year, and I really miss him."

What he said made Tan Sitong laugh out loud.

"You, after all, it's you. The conflicts between King Liao and King Qi have become more and more intense in the past few years, and there are many shadows of you in the middle."

"Look at what you said, I'm still doing it for our great cause. The King of Liao also wants to join the army. Among those veteran Xianghuai generals, there are many people who are inclined to the King of Liao and seize the heir... It is beneficial to us but not harmful, let them mess up first, then we can fish in troubled waters..."

Then, Zuo Xiaoxun took another look at Tan Sitong and said.

"After I leave, you need to keep in touch with King Cheng. King Cheng is the sixth son of the emperor. When the time comes..."

"I know, when the time comes... welcome the emperor back to summer, so as to reassure the people of the world."

Nodding his head, Tan Sitong asked.

"when are you leaving?"

"It's just these two days,"

Zuo Xiaoxun smiled helplessly.

"War has been declared. Datang's cruise ship is being re-registered as a Mexican merchant ship. It is estimated that it will take the past two days."

"When the time comes, I'll see you off..."

Two days later, Tan Sitong standing on the pier watched Zuo Xiaoxun embark on the cruise ship back to China, and when they waved goodbye to each other, when the cruise ship sailed into the Pacific Ocean, they didn't know that the Pacific Ocean had already been ignited by the flames of war.

In the Tasman Sea area in eastern Australia, the sea and sky are dark and dull, and the sea dotted with stars is fluctuating. Behind the telescope, the lookout hand rotates the telescope from time to time to observe the distant horizon.

Staring at the horizon, suddenly a very blurred "fog" attracted the attention of the lookouts, increasing the magnification of the telescope, the blurred fog became clear...

"Smoke column found! Bearing 32..."

The sudden discovery caused the lookout to shout into the megaphone.

"Are you sure?"

Zuo Xiaotong, who hurried up to the command tower, picked up the binoculars and looked in the direction of the target, but because of the distance, he couldn't see the target at all.

"The target is found, and the target is initially confirmed to be twelve ships. The distance is 22 nautical miles, and the nationality of the target cannot be distinguished! But it is estimated that it should be the US-UK combined fleet."

The so-called U.S.-British United Fleet is actually a joint fleet formed by the confluence of the U.S. warships that escaped from San Francisco and the Australian and British fleets. However, there are only 4 pre-dreadnoughts and 5 armored cruisers, plus a few light cruisers. Quite powerful, but in fact... long behind the times.

But the South Pacific Squadron led by Zuo Xiaotong... only had three pre-dreadnoughts and three armored cruisers, and their strength was still weaker than the opponent's.In the past year, the South Pacific Fleet has attacked many times and fought with it in the waters around Australia many times.

But this time the main force collided with them on their own initiative.This is according to the plan of the Admiralty, they realized this sea, instead of sailing in the northern seas.

Obviously, the British should have discovered their traces, so they sent a fleet to intercept them.And that's their purpose.

"Call the Admiralty, my fleet has encountered the combined fleet of the United Kingdom and the United States in the South Pacific!"

This was not an encounter, but a deliberate encounter, which was the first step in all plans in the Admiralty's operational plan.

What will happen next?
He already had the answer in his heart, it was nothing more than a battle. Although there was a huge difference in strength, a naval battle... he didn't know the result until the last moment. Besides, the purpose of this naval battle was not to win some kind of victory, but Some signals were sent through this naval battle. Even so, for Zuo Xiaotong, he still hoped to win this naval battle. After all, soldiers are always eager to win.

"The time is right! Order the fleet to prepare for battle!"

In the next few minutes, Zuo Xiaotong continued to give orders.What is needed now is to maximize the power in your hands to meet the upcoming enemies!
"Order the first team, compress the distance to 300 meters, and keep the speed at 15 knots!"

Although the former dreadnoughts have fallen behind, they have not been eliminated. In the past few years, the former dreadnought fleets of the Imperial Navy have been practicing the tactics of long-range bombardment and multi-ship coordinated attack on the same target.The tactical principle is very simple: it is to concentrate fire on one target in a naval battle.And the core principle of this tactic is to compress the distance between multiple warships, and use the middle one as the fire command ship to command and shoot in a unified manner. Overwhelming firepower destroys the enemy's target.

Although it is inevitable that there will be some mistakes, it can make up for the firepower gap with the dreadnought to a certain extent.

Under his command, the distance between the fleets was compressed, and at the same time, the submarines cruising beside the fleet quietly left the fleet.In just half an hour, the fleet was ready for battle.

While the sailors were in position, Zuo Xiaotong stood on the bridge with cold eyes, staring at him in front of him, just quietly staring at the sea, staring at the enemy ship that had appeared at the end of the sea and sky in the distance.

At this time, the sky was slightly brighter, and the enemy ship was right in front of us...

(End of this chapter)