Before 1 o'clock in the morning, Zhang Guozhu received a message from Colonel Luo Dingbang, commander of the 42.3rd detachment, from the light cruiser "Jiangcheng".

Luo Dingbang is Zhang Guozhu's old subordinate.

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

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

When Zhang Guozhu was the commander of the Fourth Fleet, Luo Dingbang went to the 42nd Task Force as chief of staff and concurrently served as the commander of the light cruiser detachment.

It was not that Zhang Guozhu was reluctant to carry heavy cruisers, and the four "Zizhou" class ships were temporarily incorporated into the 42nd Task Force.

Previously, the four "Zizhou" class ships belonged to the 21st Task Force and were responsible for providing cover for the aircraft carriers, and the detachment headquarters were all in the original team.

According to Luo Dingbang's report, the escort battleships covering the transport fleet have already moved forward, most likely heavy cruisers.

It's just that there is clearly something wrong with this report.

The Nuland Navy's Guia Fleet consisted of ten heavy cruisers in total.

According to the information obtained earlier, these 10 heavy cruisers were all sent to cover the aircraft carriers after increasing their anti-aircraft firepower and were organized in the aircraft carrier task force.

Other heavy cruisers?

Two "Pengke" class ships were in the South of the Pearl River and went to Austria a few months ago in the name of joint training. According to the latest information, the two heavy cruisers had gone to the Van Yan Ocean a few days earlier to assist the Royal Navy in the search for three hidden Riman armored cruisers.

Six of the "Bei'an" class ships were in the Sunset Ocean Fleet, and four of them went to the Kingdom of Bran and were incorporated into the home fleet of the Bran Royal Navy. The other two, in Mowan and the Galle Sea, were the flagships of the two detachments, escorting the convoys to and from the east coast of the mainland and the Wangxi Canal.

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

Subsequently, Luo Dingbang corrected his mistake and judged that it was four light cruisers.

Light cruisers vs. light cruisers, what else is there to say?

For the next few hours, Mr. Law sent a report every half hour.

Say, there's nothing to report.

Both sides exercised restraint and were maneuvering tactically as they approached, as if trying to make it difficult for the other side to retreat.

In the words of Luo Dingbang, the two fleets are like two male guinea fowl in heat.

As the distance shortens, it becomes a restless bull.

At about three o'clock in the morning, the "Jiangcheng" began to shout to the Newland battleship through a loudspeaker, demanding that the Newland battleship leave the warring sea area demarcated by the Imperial Navy.

Instead of taking it seriously, the Nuland fleet claimed that it was on the high seas, and that the Nuland warships had free passage on the high seas.

After fifteen minutes of unsuccessful negotiations, the "Jiangcheng" opened fire for warning.

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

The Nuland fleet did not withdraw, but sailed north at full speed, as if trying to get rid of Detachment 42.3 by speed.

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

Judging by this, these Newland battleships were trying to lure the 42.3rd detachment away so that the flotilla behind them could continue to advance, or cover the capital ships behind.

According to intelligence, the First Fleet of the Guia Fleet of the Nuland Navy had arrived, and it must have been not far to the east.

If this is the case, after the departure of Detachment 42.3, the Nuland First Fleet will strike at full speed and attack the four "Longxing" class battleships.

The next plot development is a bit unexpected.

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 to the 42.3rd detachment.

At about four o'clock in the morning, the 42.3rd detachment encountered the Nuland First Fleet, a battleship formation to be exact.

It's just that there were only four battleships, not ten.

Even at night, one could tell by looking at the tall bridge that they were two Tenna-class and two Binfa-class battleships.

Fortunately, the 42.1st detachment commanded by Zhang Guozhu had arrived.

Upon the discovery of the 42.1st detachment, the Newland battleship formation immediately turned.

Although they are also former treaty-type battleships, they were all built during the last war and have not been deeply modernized, but the four Newland battleships cannot be compared with the "Longxing" class at all, not only the tonnage gap is very obvious, but even the caliber of the main guns is not at the same level.

If it really starts, the four Newland battleships don't want to take advantage of the slightest.

It's just that Zhang Guozhu is not concerned about the four battleships.

Prior to this, several Nuland light cruisers had been sailing south and had not slowed down.

After more than an hour of sailing, the Nuland light cruiser was already more than 20 kilometers ahead.

In this more than an hour, the 42.1st detachment also followed the Newland battleship to the south, but at a much slower pace.

As for the 42.3rd detachment, it was in front of the 42.1st detachment, maintaining the same speed, and it would not accelerate until after the 42.2nd detachment arrived.

What exactly does the other party want to do?

Actually, there's no need to guess at all.

The convoy is definitely still behind, only it has slowed down before. After discovering Task Force 42, the four battleships moved forward and turned south after encountering Task Force 42.1, clearly trying to divert Task Force 42 away from the convoy.

In addition, it is necessary to force out the 43rd Task Force!

This is also the key to the fact that the three "Xinmo" class and the three "Kola" class did not appear.

However, the whereabouts of the other six battleships depend on how the commander of the Nuland fleet speculates about the whereabouts of Task Force 43.

If the commander of the Nuland fleet believed that Task Force 43 was following Task Force 42 and would have caught up with speed after the encounter, it was likely that the six battleships would have followed behind, to the east of Task Force 42, but not in radar range.

If the commander of the Nuland fleet had determined that Task Force 43 was to the south or southwest of Task Force 42 and was ready for a decisive battle, the other six battleships would probably be to the southeast, perhaps not far south of Task Force 42.

In Zhang Guozhu's view, no matter what the situation is, when the battle starts, the Nuland Navy will first seek to annihilate the 42nd Task Force.

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

Although compared with the four fast battleships of the 43rd Task Force, the four "Longxing" class look old, but compared with the battleships of the Nuland Navy, they are very powerful, and even in the face of the "Kola" class, which is not weak in firepower, it has a very obvious advantage in speed.

The "strongest of the former treaties" of the "Longxing" class was not blown out.

The point is that if the 42nd Task Force cannot be killed in time, then when the 43rd Task Force arrives, the Nuland Fleet will have no chance of winning.

In terms of combat effectiveness, the ten battleships of the Nuland Navy were inferior to the eight battleships of the Imperial Navy.

For example, the firepower delivery capability, even if the range of the main guns is not taken into account, only the mass of the shells is calculated, and the eight battleships of the Imperial Navy are one point and four times that of the ten battleships of the Nuland Navy.

It's just that it is so easy to destroy the 42nd Task Force?

The value of Task Force 42 is to act as a meat shield in front and create opportunities for other task forces.

If you want to say it, if it really starts, the Nuland fleet may not dare to come up for a decisive battle.

Zhang Guozhu had been mentally prepared for a long time, but the development of the situation was completely different from what he imagined.