“Fourth round, straddling shot!” The observer noticed that the last two shell impacts bracketed the Suma, forming a straddling shot—also known as a “bracketing shot”—indicating correct firing data.
“Hold course! Commence salvo firing!”
After four rounds of single-turret firing, Chu Qing ordered the four main gun turrets to fire a broadside to starboard at maximum combat rate, and the booming cannon fire on the sea naturally attracted the attention of the refugee ships.
“Is that… a dreadnought?” The captain stared wide-eyed at the eight gun muzzles flashing with huge fire.
Super-dreadnoughts, considered decisive weapons by various nations, would not be deployed lightly. Therefore, in these waters, dreadnoughts, represented by the Dreadnought-class battleship, were a dominant force. He had been in shipping for over 20 years and had only seen the dreadnoughts of the Imperial Guard Fleet from afar in the core area of the Qian Cang Empire.
How could the Qian Cang Empire’s Imperial Guard Fleet possibly cross nearly 4500 nautical miles in half a month to appear in the Cangdong Sea Area? The captain’s thoughts were in a complete mess…
“The other side sent a telegram! It’s our Navy!” The first mate’s joyful shout echoed across the entire deck. “We’re safe!”
..............................................
Due to the influence of rolling period and loading angle, Taixi’s main gun combat rate dropped to one round per minute, but even so, the battleship-level firepower was not something a small protected cruiser like the Suma, classified as a third-class cruiser by the East Sakura Navy, could handle.
Yellow-green waves continuously crashed onto the Suma’s deck, scattering the gun crew, and the toxic mist filled Shimamura’s mouth with a bitter taste.
As the broadside reached its second round, two 400kg-class high-explosive shells struck the Suma’s starboard side. This protected cruiser, less than three thousand tons, had no side armor belt—of course, even if it did, the result would be the same. The shells, carrying immense kinetic energy, smashed through the thin hull, and the over forty kilograms of cordite explosives instantly detonated.
The internal armored deck offered no protection whatsoever. The massive shockwave from the simultaneous explosion of the two high-explosive shells almost snapped the Suma’s keel, tearing two huge holes.
Seawater surged in rapidly from the side. Before the engine room crew could react, it poured into the high-pressure boilers through damaged pipes, triggering a terrifying steam explosion. After a thunderous roar, the Suma was no longer visible on the sea.
“Protected cruiser x1 of the East Sakura Navy sunk, temporal point income 2400.”
“East Sakura Navy Colonel Shimamura Haya and 300 East Sakura sailors killed, temporal point income 600.”
......
The intelligent brain’s prompt sounded in Chu Qing’s mind. One protected cruiser and its crew provided Chu Qing with 3000 temporal points.
Although it was foggy, the intelligent brain’s detection function was unaffected, so Chu Qing had actually discovered the Suma long ago, just waiting for the opponent to enter effective range.
“The Taixi’s long-range gunnery capability is at least equivalent to three to four Fuji-class ships…”, commented Xu Zhonghu, the Taixi Navy Ordnance Director, after putting down his binoculars. “But it lacks medium-caliber firepower. If it were to face a complete fleet alone, it might struggle to stop medium-sized vessels attempting close-range torpedo attacks.”
“We need some screening vessels,” the Ordnance Director warned, worried that Chu Qing, young and impetuous, might take the Taixi to directly confront the East Sakura task force.
This was indeed true; the Dreadnought-class’s secondary armament was criticized from its inception. The 76mm quick-firing guns could basically only intercept torpedo boats and early small destroyers, with poor effectiveness against targets above 3000 tons.
However, Xu Zhonghu could think of this point, and Chu Qing, as a transmigrator, naturally knew it too.
“Garrison Commander, a telegram from Liu Feng, Liu Jinglue of Yanling,” Li He returned from the radio room to the bridge. “The fleet from the Yanling Archipelago has already rendezvoused with the Flying Whale and Huantai. The main fleet is still 70 nautical miles from us.”
Chu Qing took the telegram and handed it to Xu Zhonghu. The latter, after a quick glance, showed a slightly surprised expression, realizing that Chu Qing had already made arrangements, and then bowed and excused himself.
Yanling and Taixi were close neighbors, separated by a narrow strip of water. Garrison Commander Liu Feng and Chu Qing’s father, Chu Xiong, also had a life-and-death friendship, so the two autonomous territories had a very close relationship and a secret communication frequency, agreeing to watch out for each other.
It was just that when East Sakura invaded the Cangdong Sea Area earlier, the Yanling Fleet happened to be undergoing maintenance in the Fengzhou Archipelago of the Cangnan Sea Area, missing the decisive battle. Afterward, it had been performing escort missions for refugee ships heading to Yanling for refuge.
Its fleet flagship, the Yanling, was a Miracle Battleship, with a displacement of 2400 tons, a speed of 23 knots, and quick-firing guns—Chu Qing easily identified its historical prototype: the Pinghai of the Ninghai-class light cruisers!
Pinghai, three main gun turrets, one forward and two aft.
The Type 3 140mm quick-firing naval gun had a maximum rate of fire of 10 rounds per minute, and its semi-armor-piercing shells could easily pry open the hull of any protected cruiser. Coupled with advanced fire control equipment more than a decade ahead of its time, such as a 3-meter base rangefinder, a fall-of-shot timer, and a ship speed resolver, its effective combat range exceeded 9000 yards—already surpassing early 10,000-ton pre-dreadnoughts like the Fuji-class!
Therefore, as soon as Chu Qing took control of the Taixi, he immediately ordered contact with Yanling via a secret frequency, stating that they had acquired a Miracle Battleship capable of overturning the Cangdong war situation, and requested the dispatch of vessels to assist in the operation. The Yanling Archipelago responded by sending its flagship, the Yanling, and two Hai Rong-class protected cruisers.
“One Pinghai and two Hai Rong-class should be enough to tie down East Sakura’s protected cruisers. The armored cruisers and battleships will be handled by the Taixi,” Chu Qing mused.
In any case, the Taixi Archipelago was currently his best starting springboard; he must hold onto it tightly and never give it up.
.....................................
The Taixi slowly approached the cargo ship, pointed it in the direction of Yanling, and then disappeared into the evening sunset…
On the other side, Kawara Youichi silently removed the marker representing the Suma from the map in the yashima’s command room.
Upon receiving the telegram about the Suma’s encounter with a battleship, he urgently ordered the yashima, Asama, and Tokiwa to withdraw from the Taixi offshore waters, and other vessels to immediately return and rendezvous with the flagship.
Now the entire task force was temporarily stalled. The immediate priority was to confirm the enemy’s identity. If it was a battleship of the Cangdong Inspection Fleet, the yashima would be sufficient, but if it was an opponent of Dreadnought-class level or higher…
“Commander! Urgent telegram from the Navy Department!”
Kawara Youichi opened the telegram handed to him by the staff officer and confirmed his conjecture—since the covert agents planted within the Qian Cang Empire had confirmed that all of Qian Cang’s dreadnoughts were in the core sea area, the battleship appearing here could only be a Haisui-class battleship of the Cangdong Inspection Fleet, which was also of the pre-Dreadnought-class.
The Haisui-class is set as the pre-dreadnought plan for the Haitian-class in Blue Star history.
Kawara breathed a sigh of relief. With just the Cangdong Inspection Fleet, it was unlikely the enemy could defeat him.
“Order! The entire fleet will deploy according to the predetermined operational plan, form up, and head north to seek the enemy!”
