"Okay, I'll go back, you watch, let everyone be vigilant, Du Ge's rebels are not ordinary rebels, they know our Huaxia Kingdom better, don't be sneak attacked." Zhang Qiang said to the guards around him.

"Yes, Your Majesty, we will send six six-hundred-ton warships to guard the fleet within a radius of twenty nautical miles. In some cases they would pass in flags, or in sound and light to transmit signals, and they would carry carrier pigeons on board. The guards comforted Zhang Qiang.

Zhang Qiang nodded, did not speak, there is only so much that can be done on the sea.

He used all the means he knew could spread news on the sea to the Huaxia army.

Zhang Qiang nodded and went down.

The fleet sailed westward as it wished.

On the third day of the voyage still did not reach Saigon, and the fleet sailed at a speed of six knots per hour for three days, but only five hundred nautical miles, and the wind was really weak these days, just enough to meet the speed of the sails at six knots, and sometimes it was a little less.

And to Saigon, there are more than 600 and nearly 700 nautical miles.

It's going to take three days.

In the evening, the wind was stronger, the speed began to increase, the speed of the whole fleet reached eight knots, these are all new ships after seven years, basically can run out of 8 knots of speed, some can run out of nine knots of speed, but ten knots is their maximum speed, in the strong wind can reach the speed of twelve knots, but relatively speaking, it is about to disintegrate, the shipbuilding timber of the Huaxia Navy Division is not completely air-dried, and the service life is not as high as the service life of the ships of the Taixi people, about 20 years, Or it will not take 20 years, more than 10 years of improper maintenance and a strong wind can disintegrate, because the air drying is not sufficient, so that the ship board begins to expand and deform after absorbing water, and the consequences are serious.

The Huaxia sailors did not have time to wait, so all the ships were air-dried for a year or two to start shipbuilding, so the longest service life was only about twenty years, some were stronger for twenty-five years, and the ships that Zhang Qiang sold to the third prince were basically ships of less than twenty-five years.

Most of the ships that Zhang Qiang sold to Zheng Keshuang were from 21 to 11 years. When Zheng Zhi came, there were no more ships that were less than eleven years old, only ten years, and a batch of ships were transferred from merchants to him for more than 20 years, yes, Zhang Qiang just wanted to pit the Zheng family.

Because the money they gave was not sufficient, either they owed it on credit, or they bought it cheaply, how could Zhang Qiang not cheat them.

If there are still people to buy it, Zhang Qiang doesn't mind taking out the patrol boats that he used to get to the coastal naval division garrison, that is, the former city shipping division, and selling them to them, so that the Huaxia Military Naval Division can change to a new boat.

Sell the old ship to the Coastal Marine Division Garrison.

"Your Majesty, do you have to sail at night? We can find a place to anchor for the night, and the boat may run aground at night. The fleet commander said to Zhang Qiang.

"No, I'm going to go to the Fifth Fleet early, let's go, be careful, we trust you." Zhang Qiang said to the commander of the fleet.

In the early morning mist, the whole fleet soared for nearly a hundred nautical miles in the fierce sea breeze at night, and the wind force could reach seven winds when it was at its highest, so that the speed of the whole fleet reached a speed of 11 knots per hour.

Six 1,000-ton warships, eight 800-ton warships, 15 600-ton warships, plus a new 780-ton warship, Huaxia 310, broke through the fog and appeared on the sea less than 500 nautical miles from Saigon.

The commander-in-chief of the Third Fleet, Pei Lan, stood at the bow of the ship and gave instructions to the crew in a loud voice, "Order all ships, with Huaxia 310 as the flagship, to escort the left and right, send 600-ton warships scattered around ten nautical miles to search the ocean, pay close attention to the surrounding movements, not let the enemy rush to the front of the Huaxia, maintain the speed of six knots, and target Saigon." ”

The sound of the bell ringing came from the bow mast, which was the beginning of a new day for the crew every day, and soon the crew who had just fallen asleep were rubbing their sleepy eyes again in a scolding atmosphere and walking to their posts, wiping the deck of the deck, sorting out the cables, the kitchen began to prepare food, the cries of chickens, ducks and pigs behind the deck were endless, and the rows of crew members opened their minds and poured the excess water in their bodies against the slightly undulating sea, the situation was really spectacular.

There are toilets in the bow and stern of the ship, and they don't go to it, but they have to solve the problem on the deck on the side of the ship, and Perrin doesn't care about their arrogance at all, anyway, there are no women on the sea, and no one will be shy.

Perrin climbed into his foremast lookout pocket and looked around with a telescope, and three of the fifteen 600-ton warships turned away from the group, one headed northeast of the tail of the fleet toward Luzon, one headed for Haiphong Harbor, where the Fourth Fleet was stationed, and the other accelerated in the direction of Saigon ahead.

Three ships were getting farther and farther away, and were out of the ten nautical miles he had ordered, while the other twelve six-hundred-ton warships were scattered in three, and three were protected on all sides of the fleet, about five nautical miles from the fleet.

Just broke free from the morning fog, this formation and search method must be there, who knows that the enemy will not rush out of the morning fog on the other side and break directly into the center of the fleet?

Probing the situation around the fleet must be fast, and it must be figured out.

The ship that had probed to the southeast was soon submerged in the morning mist in the distance, while the sea in the direction of Saigon was cloudless and unusually clear, and could still be seen faintly at forty nautical miles, and if it were not for the curvature of the earth, perhaps something could have been seen in this direction sixty nautical miles.

And half of the hull of the ship heading towards the South China Sea has been hidden in the green fog of thirty nautical miles.

The ship had slowed down to about four knots due to the slowing of the wind, and it was far from being able to keep up with the speed of the probing ships.

Perrin said to the soldiers beside him: "Let the frigate move closer to us, three nautical miles away, not so far, otherwise it will take us at least half an hour to support them." ”

An hour and a half later, the ships on the other side of the bay returned, and there were still ten nautical miles away from them, they put down a small boat, rowed quickly, boarded the Huaxia 310, and informed Perrin of the situation in that direction, "Basically nothing happened, they made contact with a small fleet patrolling the bay, the Fourth Fleet was basically fine, no enemy was found, and the merchant ships and patrol ships were all right." ”

Perrin said to the team leader who delivered the news: "Let them catch up quickly and go to the southeast to see where the reconnaissance frigate is." He's been gone for too long. ”

"Yes, Commander-in-Chief." As the captain of the Marine Corps equipped on the ship, he saluted the fleet commander vigorously, and then led several subordinates to grab the sling and go down to the dinghy and row away quickly.

After a while, the ships that were scouting in the direction of Saigon came back quickly, thirty meters away from them, and reported to him across the sea, "The direction of Saigon towards the bow of our fleet is a headwind, the wind speed is thirty, and the speed of our return voyage is eight knots, and as we move further to Saigon, the stronger the wind speed, the speed of the fleet will drop sharply, and the maximum time the ships can only travel against the wind at a speed of three knots." ”

Perrin continued to listen to the report, and then shouted loudly: "Go to the southeast Manila direction immediately, the reconnaissance frigate over there has not returned for two hours, and has not contacted us, and the ship that went behind has not been in contact, it has been gone for nearly an hour, you go to chase it immediately, remember that if there is a situation, come back and report it immediately, and leave nothing else behind." We are responsible for the safety of the fleet. ”

(End of chapter)