Thirty minutes later, on the battleship Soryu, a Marine Corps lieutenant walked into the cockpit and reported: "Reporting to the captain and first mate, our Marine Corps has completed the salvage work of the prisoners of war who fell into the water in the naval battle just now. Now Do you want to set sail for Zhangzhou Bay?"
Jing Hongyou was slightly curious: "The four light cruisers should theoretically have 1,500 to 1,600 Fuso sailors. How many prisoners did the Marine Corps salvage in total?
The lieutenant took out a small notebook: "First officer, many Fuso sailors died in the gunfire just now, and it seems that our Marine Corps arrived a little late. We only picked up 28 prisoners who were half-dead from being choked by seawater..."
"Okay, it's getting late now. You should disperse those prisoners into the confinement cabins first, and keep them for use when they return to the base." Xu Yunfeng glanced at his watch, and at 2:35 pm, he continued:
"We are very pressed for time. We order the fleet to set sail immediately and change course. We will deploy in a predetermined combat formation and head to Zhangzhou Bay 70 nautical miles away. Let me increase the speed to 28 knots!"
"Yes, Captain!"
As the order was issued, the eight heavy oil steam boilers in the battleship's power room roared, driving four compound gear turbines, reaching a maximum horsepower of 121,000 horses, pushing the steel bow to lift up the sea water and raise the snow-white sky higher and higher. spray.
Not long after, Cang Long and Zhu Yan led the remaining six cruisers to quickly complete a 90-degree turn, form two columns, and sail towards Zhangzhou Bay in Fujian Province at a speed of 28 knots.
Of course, many people will wonder whether the battleships Canglong and Zhuyan are North Carolina, can they soar so fast?
In fact, this is not the case. North Carolina’s speed is only set at 27 knots because of the London Naval Treaty.
In fact, the speed of this kind of battleship is more than that. During the sea trials off Philadelphia that year, the North Carolina-class battleship reached a speed of 28.2 knots.
At the Jinling Security Headquarters, Yan Shenying was reporting a special situation to Lu Xiaojia.
"Yan Shenying, are you saying that the representatives you sent have secretly negotiated with the generals of the Youth Army of Guangdong Province, Tan Wuyuan, Cai Bukai, Jiang Zhongzheng, and Cheng Biguang, and that they are willing to lay down their weapons and surrender?"
Seeing that Lu Xiaojia had misunderstood what he meant, Yan Shenying coughed lightly and continued:
"Commander, you seem to have misunderstood what I meant. When that gentleman was alive, he heard about your deeds of vigorously developing education, industry, transportation, and people's livelihood in Yuhuai provinces. He approved of your actions."
"In addition, the powerful force of our Patriotic Army may have made that gentleman feel that the Patriotic Army under your command is the army most likely to end the warlords' melee in China, and you are also quite friendly to the people, so he plans to Let you inherit his mantle."
"The 40,000 young people in Guangdong Province did not surrender to our National Guard Army, but followed that gentleman's last wish, joined our National Guard Army and accepted your leadership."
"Hey, let me touch it..."
Yan Shenying's words made Lu Xiaojia stunned on the spot, and he felt like his scalp was exploding.
It is really outrageous to know which gentleman founded this youth army. Its idea is to defeat the Chinese warlords, but now it wants to surrender to him.
Yan Shenying saw that Lu Xiaojia didn't seem to believe it, so Hai took out a letter from his pocket: "Commander, this is the letter that gentleman left for you. It was General Cai Bukai of the Youth Army who personally handed it to our envoy. Please read it. ."
"Oh, did you leave me a message?"
Opening the unopened letter, Lu Xiaojia unconsciously smiled on his face after reading it. He did not expect that this gentleman would trust him so much.
The letter stated that he had issued a decree that the 40,000 young people in Guangdong Province and the 7 ships of the Guardian Fleet would be unconditionally integrated into the Patriot Army.
He also believes that Lu Xiaojia can unify China and lead China to achieve national independence and national prosperity as soon as possible. He also firmly believes that China will definitely become a world power in the future, and Chinese people can also live a happy and beautiful life...
Lu Xiaojia pressed Yan Shenying's shoulder and praised him with a smile: "Yan Shenying, your MI6 Bureau has done a very good job in this matter, allowing us to win the Guangdong Province without a single blow. We have also added more than 40,000 high-quality soldiers to our National Guard Army."
Why do we say they are high-quality soldiers? This is because this young army is not just an ordinary person.
Most of their soldiers are the same as the Patriot Army. Not only do they accept political ideas and religious blessings, but the army is also filled with a large number of knowledgeable and ideal young people.
There are also many outstanding military talents, and in terms of spiritual morale and military literacy, the Youth Army is by no means comparable to those warlord troops with lax military discipline, no faith, and collapse at the drop of a hat.
As for the more than 40,000 young troops, Lu Xiaojia has already figured out how to place them.
Establishing a professional Marine Corps and adding some system soldiers to these ready-made high-quality soldiers will not take long to form combat effectiveness.
"This is what we should do." Yan Shenying looked a little shy and continued:
"But Commander, I still have something to report to you. General Cheng Biguang of the Guangdong Province Guardian Fleet is the old boss of Sun Chuanfang Kewei Fleet Commander Luo Bingquan.
"This old general Cheng said that he was 100% sure that Luo Bingquan would lead the Kewei fleet to defect before the battle. He just hoped that you could retain the old ships of the Kewei fleet. After all, they are the coastal defense force of our Chinese people."
"It doesn't matter. I'm sure about this. As long as that old general Cheng can convince the Kewei fleet not to fire the first shot, Xu Yunfeng's troops will not fire the first shot without permission."
Lu Xiaojia naturally wanted this kind of thing. No matter how small a mosquito was, it was still a piece of meat.
Although they are all old ships, it is not impossible to get them to the shipyard for some modification and maintenance, and then use them as coastal patrol ships and naval training ships.
After all, there is no shortage of oil now. You can create 1 billion tons of crude oil resources at will, not to mention that there are nearly 10 billion tons of oil stored underground in China.
Look at the Fuso Country next door. Due to the lack of various mineral resources, in order to support a joint fleet, it has to spend a lot of foreign exchange, begging grandpa and grandma to go to the Sam Country, otherwise it can't even refuel.
The Patriot Army has no control over it. Navy sailors and officers are trained in military academies. There are shipbuilding departments for ship research and development and manufacturing. There are also well-equipped military ports for ship repair, supply, and maintenance...
At this moment, Zhuang Yan came in with joy and reported: "Commander, Xu Yunfeng of the East China Sea Fleet has good news, saying that they encountered four cruisers from the Fuso Kingdom in the Baodao Strait and sank them all."
Lu Xiaojia was a little confused. He took the message and opened it, and couldn't help but muttered:
"Yes, the entire Nagara-class light cruiser was sunk. The Fuso people are probably in pain again."
After several rounds of hammering, the combined fleet, built with a heavy investment by the Fuso Kingdom and with a total tonnage of 680,000 tons, has sunk more than 220,000 tons, including absolute capital ships such as Nagato, Kirishima, and Hosho...
This kind of damage is a serious blow to the combined fleet. Even if they have the ability to build ships, building ships requires a lot of money, resources, and time.
