Empire Conquest
Chapter 168 - 164: The Wrath of the Giant Cannon

Chapter 168: Chapter 164: The Wrath of the Giant Cannon

The Domestic Fleet’s Heavy Cruiser Squad also consisted of four vessels, approximately ten kilometers behind the Main Force Squad.

At eleven past ten, the lead ship of the Heavy Cruiser Squad, "Zizhou", after receiving a light signal from "Longxing", responded with a light signal as well.

At this time, the Fifth Cruiser Corps was about twenty kilometers southeast of the Heavy Cruiser Squad.

That is to say, the Main Force Squad was to the left front of the Fifth Cruiser Corps, a little over ten kilometers away.

Due to the cloud cover, the lookout of the Fifth Cruiser Corps only saw the light sent from "Zizhou" and failed to notice the closer Main Battle Corps.

Critically, the lookout accurately judged that the battleship opposite was using light signals.

To whom were the light signals sent?

Although the lookout didn’t see clearly, he roughly read that the battleship was replying to commands, phrases like "Order received" and "Ready to execute" that are commonly used. Since light signals are used only for internal communication within the fleet, there was no concept of encryption.

The light signals used by navies of various countries are basically similar.

According to the later disclosed battle report, at that time Vice Admiral Takeo, commanding aboard "Myogi", made an accurate judgment, ordering the lookout to closely monitor the nearby waters and to report immediately upon spotting any suspicious targets, yet he did not inform Vice Admiral Takatoku of this critical judgment.

The reason was simple: It was just his concern, and as a corps commander, he couldn’t report his worries as discoveries to his superior officer.

Moreover, his relationship with Takatoku was very poor, essentially like fire and water.

Now, things escalated.

Takatoku received the report: "Myogi" had spotted an enemy battleship, yet twenty kilometers away, preliminarily judged to be a cruising cruiser operating alone.

What would one think upon receiving this reconnaissance report?

Not just Takatoku, but Takano, too, would consider it a cruiser performing scouting patrols on the periphery and deduce that the main force was behind the cruiser.

That is to say, the Main Force Squad of the Domestic Fleet was even further away!

Interestingly, Takatoku neither replied to Takeo’s report nor issued any new orders to him.

At eleven-thirty, after waiting for about ten minutes and concluding that Takatoku was not going to adjust, Takeo made a very bold decision to break the deadlock.

He accelerated toward that enemy vessel.

Obviously, Takeo had definitely misunderstood the situation.

Since the lookout had not spotted the Domestic Fleet’s Main Battleship, Takeo assumed that the battleship opposite was signaling him. In simple terms, that ship’s lookout had spotted "Myogi" but hadn’t recognized it, hence sent inquiry signals.

From Takeo’s perspective, he surely knew it wouldn’t be long before that Liangxia Navy battleship would determine it had discovered an enemy ship.

Furthermore, it wasn’t necessarily a cruiser from the Domestic Fleet.

Perhaps, it was just a patrol ship.

It was for this reason that Takeo felt he should seize the opportunity to quickly close in.

This rash action effectively sounded the battle horn.

At eleven-forty, "Myogi’s" lookout reported that the ships ahead were not one but four, and likely cruisers.

By now, the distance between the lead ships of both sides had narrowed to thirteen kilometers.

For "Myogi", this distance was still a bit far.

Although the eight-inch armor-piercing bullets could penetrate the armor of a heavy cruiser, in a nighttime gun battle, it was challenging to accurately measure the distance from the enemy ship.

Critically, the four heavy cruisers opposite under the clouds couldn’t maintain visual contact continuously.

The opponents clearly had no intention of giving the Fifth Cruiser Corps any more chances.

Three minutes later, led by "Zizhou", the four heavy cruisers that had completed their turn fired their first salvo, officially commencing the battle.

One had to admit, the Saiyi Navy’s lookouts were really formidable.

After only a few rounds of shelling, at about 11:45, the lookout on the "Myogi" determined that the incoming shells, based on the sounds they made, the distribution of flashes from the enemy’s gun ports, and the number of shells that landed each time, came from four Zizhou-class heavy cruisers.

Actually, identifying them as heavy cruisers would have sufficed.

The Domestic Fleet had only one heavy cruiser squadron, consisting of four Zizhou-class vessels.

At this point, Takeo dared not act recklessly.

Although the Zizhou-class’s main guns had only nine compared to the Myogi-class’s ten, when it came to combat power, they were actually much stronger than the Myogi-class.

Moreover, the 200mm armor-piercing bullets fired by the enemy posed a fatal threat.

Before 11:50, Takeo issued a command to turn left and also instructed the staff officer to assign combat targets.

By then, the distance between the two forces had closed to about ten kilometers.

Truthfully, in just a few more minutes, the lookout on the "Myogi" would be able to see the main force squadron to port. Not because the distance had closed, but because if the "Longxing" did not change course, it would leave the cloud cover in a few minutes and be exposed under the bright moonlight.

At that time, Gui Boyong was hesitating whether to turn or not.

The main issue was that the clouds were drifting too slowly; hence, to continue staying beneath them, one would need to make a right turn and then head northeast, toward the direction of the fifth Cruiser Corps. After closing the distance, it was likely they would be discovered by the fifth Cruiser Corps.

Or should they not change course and instead open fire directly on the second main battle corps more than ten kilometers away?

After Takeo had ordered to fire at the four Zizhou-class vessels in the heavy cruiser squadron, Gui Boyong felt relieved.

Those Saiyi Navy heavy cruisers had obviously not yet discovered the main battle squadron.

One shouldn’t forget that Gui Boyong was previously worried whether the four fast-attack heavy cruisers would launch an attack with heavy torpedoes as they closed in.

Around 11:53, after receiving a telegram from the "Zizhou," Gui Boyong ordered a turn to starboard.

This turn was met with no objections.

The enemy’s actions, without exception, indicated that none of their ships, including the four advanced heavy cruisers, had detected the four "Longxing"-class battleships hidden under the clouds.

At that time, the only real threats were the four light cruisers, which had turned south after entering the Xu Sea.

Affected by the previous maneuver, none of the battleship lookouts, including those on the "Longxing", could see those four light cruisers.

To maintain secrecy, Gui Boyong did not issue orders to the following light cruiser squadron.

There was simply no need for telegrams then, because the decisive battle was about to erupt within minutes.

Before twelve o’clock, specifically at 11:58, after completing the starboard turn, Gui Boyong ordered the Red Blood Battle Flag to be raised.

Combat tactics?

They had already been distributed an hour earlier.

Besides, the four battleships of the second main battle corps were still arranged in column, charging straight ahead. Thus, the initial volleys would definitely aim at the enemy’s lead ship.

As expected, it was likely the flagship "Yishi" of the second main battle corps.

When not in combat readiness, there was no reason for other warships to act as the lead ship.

At twelve o’clock sharp, the "Longxing" broke radio silence and issued the firing command.

Subsequently, the communication advisor sent out a series of orders.

In the half-minute that followed, the four battleships, now lined up in formation under the flagship’s leadership, fired their first simultaneous salvo.

The first naval battle of the great war, precisely the combat phase of the main battle ships, thus commenced.

It was now the dawn of the 28th.