200,000 troops have arrived, and in the barracks, for simple adaptation training, Jakarta and Manila belong to Southeast Asia, not far from each other, and even the climate is somewhat similar, when waiting for the start of the war, the adaptability is good. The reinforced navy also arrived, and the strategy for the Philippines could be opened, and Xiao Jianfeng also made special contact with Scheer, at this time, Scheer's fleet was about to arrive in the Gulf of Guinea.

The Gulf of Guinea, located on the west coast of Africa, is close enough to Europe, and is also the first place where European colonies landed, and is the focus of colonial contention, and the degree of development is high enough, according to the description in the Scheer telegram, they have been careful enough, but they still encountered some ships, and I don't know if these ships have exposed their location.

In this era, the emergence of the cable telegraph facilitated the communication between thousands of miles, and the speed of the radio wave of 300,000 kilometers was enough for the entire earth to be instantly contacted, but unfortunately there was a cable telegraph at that time, because of the British monopoly, the cable telegraph only had an interface in a limited number of large cities, in Africa, that is, South Africa owned, there were few other places, even if these ships saw it, unless they went to South Africa, and stopped in South Africa, otherwise, the news would not be transmitted.

The war in Europe was in full swing, but it did not affect other places, and Schell knew very well that he had deliberately hidden, did not take the main channel, and deviated from the main channel at least 100-150 nautical miles, and encountered here either by hurricanes and deviated from the course, or simply fishing boats.

Out of military pride, he did not choose to sink the ships. It stands to reason that sinking these ships is the best option. Guaranteed secrecy can be among the two types of ships. It is impossible for the fishing boats to ventilate the news, they have no communication with Europe and the Entente countries, but the cargo ships are not guaranteed.

There was a hint of regret in Scheer's words, but in fact, it was lucky enough for Scheer to be able to get here. If we had gone the old way, India might have been able to bypass it and reach the Middle East and it would have been possible to find it, but now, we have almost crossed the east and west coasts of Africa, and even if we did, after crossing the Gulf of Guinea, we might be able to reach Europe in a few days at high speed. Then, as planned, go around the Atlantic, make a detour to Iceland, and return. As long as the high seas fleet is greeted in time, there can be a thrilling return.

Already past the Cape of Good Hope, Xiao Jianfeng was completely relaxed. In the battle plan against the Philippines, the northwest is more likely to be in the evening or early morning. Sneak attacks when visibility is not high, on the one hand. On the other hand, it was also to protect Scheer's fleet, and in the morning and evening, the weather was dark, and even if there was a moon and starlight, the battleships might not be directly visible.

In the middle, the shallow water heavy gunboat's twin 14 inches will play a big role, when not seeing the opponent's battleship, most of the commanders will judge the other party's battleship through the caliber of the gun, more than 10 inches of artillery, most of them will be installed on the battleship, especially in recent years, with the intensification of the military confrontation between the Entente and the Allies, the caliber of the main gun is also rising rapidly, from 11, 12, 13.5, the current 14, 15, 14-inch guns, according to the understanding of the Americans, are already the main artillery, such artillery, must be mounted on the battleship, which will have a certain confusing effect on them.

More than 600,000 tons, up to 100 ships, Yuguan left the port of Jakarta, dense warships, as if covering the sky and the sun, occupied the sea off Jakarta, and then under the command of the whistle, slowly northward, Jakarta is not far from the Philippines, even if it is a night march, it will be at most one night, and in the early hours of tomorrow morning, it will be the first wave of offensive.

Manila City, a calm storm, the US military is careful enough, ready for battle, did not wait for the expected attack, one blow, then decline, three and exhaustion, should have arrived at the German Navy a month ago, until now has not shown up, the US army is more or less relaxed, even in the barracks, it has been rumored that Lan Fang is just a foreign power, the offensive against India and the Indochina Peninsula, has consumed all their energy, there is no way to attack the US army, the Philippines defends.

In this era, reconnaissance mainly relies on the intelligence department, and fleet reconnaissance is also available, but the US military can't do it, their warships in Asia are at an absolute disadvantage, and even the Anglo-French Asian fleet has been annihilated, unless it is the U.S. military, the main fleet, mobilized over, with 10 ships against 9 ships, plus the help of other fleets, may be able to deal with the Scheer fleet.

Richardson also knows that this is impossible, the reason is very simple, not to mention the British leased the past 6 ships, even if there is no lend, the millions of US troops are gathered in Europe, the most important strategy at present is also in Europe, it is impossible to put a large number of warships in Asia, that is, this is destined to be a beautiful expectation. For Lan Fangguo's actions, in addition to the intelligence departments of Britain and France, as well as the intelligence bureau of the United States itself, Richardson can only wait patiently, but no matter how serious he is, it is impossible to represent everyone, bullying and concealment abound, and the same is true for the army, he cannot supervise it all, so on the surface, Jakarta is strictly guarded, but in fact, there is no one on the lighthouse by the sea for a long time.

The lighthouse in the port can be said to be the easiest place to find the enemy in this era, but this place, the sea breeze blows, it is very hard, before Richardson pressed it, and he could barely hold it down, and now, there has been no reaction for many days, everyone is relaxed, this drudgery, no one is here at all. It was this laxity that made them lose the best warning time, and also made Lan Fang's first wave of attacks work perfectly.

The fleet entered the sea off Manila at about 4 o'clock in the morning, Manila was pitch black, this city that the United States has been operating for a long time and has built a large number of high-rise buildings, in the night, like a huge beast, lying there, not seeing anything.

It was more than four o'clock in the morning, the darkest time before dawn, and the visibility was quite low, but in Lan Fang's hands, there was a detailed map of Manila, marking almost all the locations, and the high-altitude reconnaissance plane flew over Manila without hindrance.

With the fast battleships on the side, along both sides of Manila, they would bypass the batteries and attack the barracks on the outskirts of Manila, which were the few barracks that were not within the protection of the batteries, and the remaining 21 heavy cruisers, including 8 cutting-edge heavy cruisers, and 8 shallow water heavy gunboats, were all in formation outside the land-based batteries in Manila, and they checked the time and opened fire at 4:30 in the morning.

21 heavy cruisers, a total of more than 150 guns of more than 200 mm, plus 8 shallow water heavy gunboats 16 14-inch guns, when fired together, it is simply earth-shattering, against a fixed target, and will not run, what they use is to aim at the target according to the previous plan, brainless attack.

The early hours of the morning are always the most exhausting and sleepiest time of the day, and the United States did not expect that it would attack in the early hours of the morning, and when the artillery rang out, it would react, but it was too late.

The heavy patrol may be in the caliber of the main gun, and the caliber of the battleship's main gun is far behind, but the development of materials science in the Northwest has made the artillery in the northwest quite powerful, not to mention the cutting-edge army 155, I don't know how much more powerful than the old 155, the firing range is at least twice as high, 220 and 254 Although they are not as exaggerated as double, they are also far enough, the most important thing is that while ensuring the power, the rate of fire is also taken into account, 254 mm guns 3 rounds a minute, is already a world-class main gun speed, However, the 200 mm one can reach 8 rounds a minute, anyway, there is no need to adjust the caliber, the main gun is aimed at a target, and it is enough to carry out intensive attacks, and the 200 mm armor-piercing projectile, in the long range, the power of hitting the past at high speed is worth guaranteeing.

The artillery fire sounded intensively above the fort position, and the bright firelight lit up the sky, but at this moment, the American troops stationed in the fort seemed to be in hell, they were caught off guard by the sudden artillery, and they didn't know where the artillery came from.

After more than 5 minutes, almost every gun fired 15 to 40 rounds, and the wave of attacks finally stopped, and all the ships in the open sea, including those of the shallow water heavy gunboats, began to turn, taking advantage of the lack of light in the sky and sea, and went deep into the depths of the ocean, leaving behind a mess of American batteries.

The day gradually brightened, and the artillery did not fire for almost half an hour, and only then did people gradually move on the fort position, count the casualties, check the losses, and finally report to Richardson

Richardson looked at the battle damage report with a blue face, in just 5 minutes of rapid attack, the American batteries were hit by a huge blow, of which 54 batteries were damaged, of which 18 batteries were seriously damaged, to put it bluntly, they were almost razed to the ground, 5 minutes of time, so that the entire Manila land-based batteries, the loss of almost one-third, of which two percent is irreparable losses, this point, it makes Richardson want to cry without tears, this battle has not yet started, first lose so much, how to fight, That Scheer fleet is really strong, 9 capital ships are overwhelming their land-based batteries, they can't be so restrained, they have to be like a way.

A series of emergency messages were transmitted directly to the United States through an undersea fiber optic cable near the Philippines, and Richardson asked for help from home on the grounds that the Philippines was in danger. (To be continued.) )