Seven Seas Beacon Fire

Therefore, we were ultimately forced to choose to consolidate our forces, shifting our forces from the Pacific and Bharat Ocean directions towards the South China Sea, preparing to seek a fleet-based decisive battle with the Federation in the Pacific.

"The Navy wants to pull back its fist and then fight a decisive battle with the Federation, relying on its training and tactical advantages to defeat the main force of the Federation Navy, and then use the freed-up forces to conquer the Balat Ocean?" Although Li Zongdi's words seemed to be guessing the Navy's strategic intentions at the time, his tone was not like a question, but rather like a statement.

“Yes.” Sa Dingming nodded.

“Even if some changes have been made, to put it nicely, it’s being hesitant and indecisive; to put it bluntly, it’s still being indecisive.” Li Zongdi couldn’t help but shake his head: “On the battlefield, this will lead to trouble.”

Seeing that Sa Dingming looked like he was about to crawl under the table, Li Zongdi took the initiative to change the subject: "So how is the navy preparing for the decisive battle with the Federation?"

"The vanguard and central armies of the Ocean Fleet are stationed in Kaohsiung Harbor, defending against the Federal Pacific Fleet to the east, and blocking the Victoria Army's Balat Ocean Fleet to the south."

The right wing, consisting of eight newly equipped cruisers, was designated as a guerrilla fleet in the Burma Sea to protect the Strait of Malacca, while the left wing, consisting of four older battlecruisers, was designated as a guerrilla fleet in the Luzon Sea (Philippine Sea) to protect the eastern side of the South China Sea and prevent the Federation fleet from intruding.

The Prince of Jin's offer gave Sa Dingming a slight sense of relief, and he briefly described the navy's deployment at the time.

After mentally constructing the map and comparing it to the map, the Prince of Jin nodded slightly: "At least from the perspective of us laymen, it can be considered quite meticulous."

"Unfortunately, we didn't realize at the time that we had actually lost the crucial window of opportunity to defeat the Federation. An important event occurred that month, but it went unnoticed by us..."

萨鼎铭说到这忍不住攥紧了拳头：“在17年8月的时候，在合众国军增援舰队约2个战列舰分队8艘战列舰于斯卡帕湾到位后，维多利亚军2艘声望级、1艘虎级、1艘狮级、5艘女王级及4艘铁公爵级战舰秘调前往巴拉特洋舰队。”

When Sa Dingming said this, everyone at the table widened their eyes. They only knew that the Battle of the Java Sea was lost to the combined forces of Colombia and Victoria, but due to various reasons, including information control, most people thought that the British had only deployed the Balat Fleet to help in the battle—after all, the Balat Fleet was right next to them.

But who would have thought that the names that came out of Sa Dingming's mouth were practically an all-star team of the Royal Victoria Navy's fleet? Except for the Revenge-class, almost all of the Royal Victoria Navy's 15-inch gunboats were present!

Li Che couldn't help but blurt out, "So, our navy was completely unaware that the British navy had moved its fleet to the East?!"

Li Che was momentarily at a loss, unsure whether to berate the intelligence services for being incompetent or to condemn the British for their exceptional strategic deception and intelligence secrecy. Meanwhile, Sa Dingming was so ashamed he practically wanted to crawl under the table.

"The reasons for the unexpected mobilization of the British fleet were multifaceted, but the most important one was our own problems. On the one hand, the internal divisions between the northern and southern factions within the naval leadership led to organizational chaos, and frequent personnel changes resulted in the inefficiency of the naval intelligence department."

Furthermore, our ingrained thinking led us to believe that the British Navy wouldn't risk mobilizing the main force of its Grand Fleet, especially since the main force of the Leitanian High Seas Fleet was still intact, and had even held a slight advantage in the exchange ratio against the Royal Victorian Navy during the Battle of Jutland. We hadn't expected the British to dare to risk drawing away some of the Grand Fleet's most elite rapid deployment units and main force under such circumstances.

Sa Dingming's tone conveyed both regret for the navy's own problems and admiration for the Royal Victoria Navy's bold and meticulous strategic style.

Chapter Eleven: Prelude to Failure 2

"The British were able to launch a surprise attack by taking advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness. No wonder their navy suffered heavy losses in the subsequent Battle of the Java Sea."

Li Che sighed at this moment. Although, in hindsight, the Federation did send some of its capital ships to Scapa Flow to "replace" the British, the combat strength of the Federation's replacement fleet was definitely inferior to the fleet that the British had transferred.

Li Che knew the current state of the Leitanian Navy in the other world. After the Battle of Jutland, the Leitanians had basically stopped building most of the large surface ships. However, the Leitanian Navy kept this a secret very well, so the outside world was unaware of it.

In another timeline, the Royal Navy of Victoria was even worried in 17 that it did not have enough battlecruisers, because in the Royal Navy of Victoria's calculations, the behemoths such as the Mackensen-class and York-class battlecruisers of the Leitanian High Seas Fleet should have been completed by then.

It can only be said whether the Royal Navy of this era is the same as the one in another world who is in a sorry state, "How much sorrow can one have, just like 45 balls". As the world's strongest naval force, the RN is not only strong in its unparalleled naval size, but also in the bold and daring style of the Royal Victorian Navy.

They dared to decisively divide their forces under such circumstances, breaking away from conventional military thinking and launching a classic battle that was no less impressive than the surprise attack on Taranto in another timeline of World War II. Although they were the enemy, they were truly admirable.

"Yes, because we didn't know that the British fleet was already on its way, our victory in the Battle of Sulu, which we won while the British were on their journey to the East, actually became the cause of our defeat in the Battle of Java."

Sa Dingming couldn't help but sigh at this moment, but Li Che, who had been listening attentively to his speech, immediately asked:

"General Sa, is it because after annihilating the Federation's rapid deployment flotilla, the Navy felt that it was safe and sound after dealing with the Federation's vanguard fleet, and therefore had absolute choice of engagement with the Federation fleet's main force in the next operation, and thus became complacent because it felt the advantage was in our hands?"

At this moment, Li Che was completely absorbed in the naval combat experience described by Sa Dingming, so the question came out almost involuntarily.

Li Che's consciousness experienced many things in another world, the most prominent of which was the Internet, because the Internet can be said to be the fastest way to obtain the most knowledge and information. In this process, Li Che also "accidentally" infiltrated the military enthusiast circle, and even joined the reader group after reading a novel about a fictional Ming Dynasty in the Jin Dynasty.

How popular would a beautiful girl with a tough personality, a good temper, and no foul mouth be in a group like this? In short, Li Che developed a strong interest in the navy by chance. For the other members of the group, the weapons, equipment, and battles they discussed were history, but for Li Che, they were the present and even the future.

Sa Dingming was somewhat surprised by Li Che's question, because it was a very professional one and pointed out another reason for the navy's defeat.

But why would the grandson know these things?

As far as he knew, the Crown Prince had not received any professional education related to the navy, but he clearly understood the difference between the vanguard fleet and the main force, and the resulting impact on the battle situation.

It's 18 now, but in fact, the concept of the vanguard fleet has only been clearly defined for 10 years.

To give an analogy, it's like randomly meeting someone in 2024 and discovering that they have a very clear understanding of the distributed strike concept proposed by the Federation 10 years ago—although this is something that is not difficult to understand if one is willing to learn, how many people would actually learn about such things?

In this pre-internet era, the barriers between different areas of knowledge are extremely high. Many military officers in this era are completely ignorant of the technology related to the equipment they use, and most ordinary people outside the navy are already quite capable of understanding the classification of ship types such as battleships, cruisers, and destroyers.

Although such a question arose, Li Che was, after all, someone who had grown up with the halo of a child prodigy, so Sa Dingming was only surprised but not overly alarmed.

“Your Highness is absolutely right, that is indeed the case.” Sa Dingming bowed to Li Che from his seat, which can be seen as Sa Dingming’s recognition of Li Che’s professionalism.

"Does that mean our army never noticed anything amiss? Even if the British were very secretive about their departure from Scapa Flow, such a large fleet couldn't have been completely undetected along the way, could it?"

"To maintain secrecy, the British did not choose the Mediterranean route, but instead chose to go around the Cape of Good Hope and enter the Bharat Ocean from there." At this point, Sa Dingming had begun to treat Li Che as someone who was relatively professional or at least had a sufficient understanding of basic naval theory: "However, we once had the opportunity to detect the danger, but I did not seize that opportunity."

"What opportunity are you talking about?"

"In late August, six Pennsylvania-class and four Tennessee-class armored cruisers of the Federal Navy frequently broke into the South China Sea at night from the direction of Luzon Sea to harass merchant ships sailing alone. Admiral Liu Duncheng ordered the organization of the Luzon Sea Campaign Plan, which planned to concentrate 10 battlecruisers of the vanguard and left flank to encircle and annihilate the Federal armored cruiser force. The battlecruisers moved south to the vicinity of Manila Bay to take action as appropriate."

On September 2nd, Federal patrol forces entered the Sulu Sea through the Sibutu Pass from the Celebes Sea region, where Ming reconnaissance was weak, and intercepted our merchant ships, obstructing our maritime transport routes. We later learned that this action by the United States Army was carried out under the command of the Victoria Army.

"Next up is our great victory in the Sulu Sea, right?" someone asked. After all, this was the greatest victory the Ming Dynasty's Royal Navy had achieved in the World War. After the news of the victory reached the country, the propaganda machine went into full swing to publicize it, so the victory in the Sulu Sea was basically known to everyone.

"That's right. That night, the veteran general Deng Zhengqing, who was in charge of commanding the patrol detachment, ordered the troops to move south to prepare to annihilate the United States Army. At the same time, he telegraphed the Kaohsiung Command of the cruiser fleet, requesting the central and rear armies to assemble in Manila Bay to provide support."

Just as our army was consolidating its reconnaissance forces and concentrating them in the Sulu Sea to prepare for the battle, the Victoria Army launched an attack from Sri Lanka, seized our ocean fleet's Burma Sea branch in the Bharat Sea, and sank three Ming Dynasty armored cruisers in one fell swoop.

Almost simultaneously, Deng Zhengqing led his battlecruiser force to capture the Federal armored cruiser force in the Sulu Sea, sinking all two Tennessee-class armored cruisers and two Pennsylvania-class armored cruisers. Using these as bait, he lured and annihilated four Federal Pacific Fleet battlecruisers that rushed to their aid in the twilight, almost in the darkness.

Following this resounding victory, Deng Zhengqing received a warning from the Burmese naval fleet. However, due to the swift annihilation of the Ming fleet by the Victorian forces, the telegram was only partially sent, resulting in a vague warning.

"So this half-sent telegram didn't receive enough attention?"

"At the time, the Navy believed that the Victoria Army's attack on the Ming Dynasty's Burmese naval fleet was intended to land on the Malay Peninsula or Sumatra, disrupt the integrity of the South China Sea island chain defenses, and obtain the key to unlocking the South China Sea defenses. Therefore, the patrol fleet was ordered to pass through the Strait of Malacca and quickly annihilate the Victoria Army's landing force with a large force to ensure the security of the South China Sea defenses."

We guessed it was the British doing, but we thought the loss of contact with those armored cruisers was only related to the British Bharat Fleet. We didn't expect the British to transfer so many of their elite capital ships from Europe.

While this should indeed be considered a decision-making error by the Navy, it is perfectly normal to draw such a conclusion given the information available to the Navy at the time, if we don't look at it from a hindsight perspective.

Sa Dingming let out a long sigh: "Up to this point, although our army has achieved a series of victories, we have already begun to walk into the trap set for us by the enemy, and we haven't been able to climb out of it yet..."

Chapter Twelve isn't it? Dude...

Li Zongdi's brows furrowed even more. Clearly, in the eyes of the Prince of Jin, the naval decision-making body had indeed been somewhat rash in the past.

Crown Prince Li Renzhi, who had been carefully observing his father's expression, didn't want his father to develop a negative stereotype about the navy. While he wasn't that narrow-minded, he knew that relations between the army and navy of any nation were rarely harmonious. Therefore, he quickly changed the subject, taking over from Sa Dingming's earlier discussion.

"That being said, I don't think the Navy should bear the blame alone. His Majesty and the Privy Council at the time seemed to be in a hurry and even a bit short-sighted in their strategic decisions. Father, have you forgotten? When you were on the front lines, the higher-ups tried many times to bypass you to move troops and launch an offensive operation ahead of schedule."

Crown Prince Li Renzhi's words clearly stirred up some unpleasant memories in Li Zongdi's mind. In large-scale military operations, military discipline must be strict, and orders must be obeyed without question. Most frontline commanders do not like orders that are given by superiors from the rear, especially since some inexperienced novices always like to micromanage themselves.

Emperor Yongning was such a person, except that his only advantage over a certain bald man who liked micromanagement was that... this emperor did not devote his main energy to military affairs most of the time.

It can be said that the young master's method of turning conflict into friendship is already masterful. Sharing a common hatred is always the fastest way to turn two sides into friends.

However, Prince Jin quickly realized that Li Zongdi was not so easily fooled. He glared at his eldest son and said, "It's not your place to play the good guy. Do you think I'm senile and can't distinguish right from wrong? The country has become like this, and the blame for this should not be placed solely on the navy."

Li Zongdi then turned his gaze to Sa Dingming: "General Sa, don't hold back, continue. Since we are going to continue fighting against the West, everyone should at least know how we lost before. As the saying goes, only those who know shame can speak of courage."

"Yes, Your Highness. After the Battle of the Sulu Sea, we had no way of knowing exactly how the fleet in the Bharat Sea was lost. However, the Privy Council and the Navy Department were relatively consistent in their judgments at the time—the Victorian Army's attack on our Burmese Fleet was intended to land on the Malay Peninsula or Sumatra Island, destroy the integrity of the South China Sea island chain defense, and obtain the key to open the South China Sea defense."

The Privy Council considered that although the Leitanians had not broken the blockade of the British High Seas Fleet during the Battle of Jutland, they had achieved a certain degree of tactical victory. The main force of the British Navy would definitely continue to remain in the North Sea to monitor the High Seas Fleet. The Victoria Fleet that appeared near the Burmese Sea should be the original Bharat Ocean Fleet, which had been reinforced by the Mediterranean Fleet, and therefore its size was limited.

Therefore, the Admiralty ultimately decided to capitalize on the victory in the Sulu Sea naval battle and swiftly transit the Strait of Malacca to destroy the Victoria Naval landing force with overwhelming force, thus ensuring the security of the South China Sea.

"In other words, the Battle of the Java Sea was not a passive attack after the Battle of the Sulu Sea. On the contrary, we were also preparing to launch another large-scale naval campaign immediately after the Battle of the Sulu Sea?"

"That's why Deng Zhengqing led his troops back from Sulu Sea to Cam Ranh Bay Port in Annam. He originally planned to carry out maintenance and replace the main gun barrels of the warships, but before he could do so, a military order from the Privy Council was delivered, requiring all fleets in the South China Sea to immediately proceed to Surabaya Port to assemble."

Because the Privy Council's order was issued very urgently, General Deng Zhengqing could only hastily replenish some fuel before joining up with the main force of the Central Army, which had departed from Manila Bay, in the Spratly Islands. They then headed south to Surabaya Port to patrol the outskirts of Sumatra and Java. The one who assumed command of the entire fleet and was entrusted with this heavy responsibility was…

When Sa Dingming said this, everyone present showed a solemn expression. The name was almost obvious – it must be Deng Zhengqing, who else could it be?

After all, he was one of the most senior active-duty admirals in the navy at the time. The greatest naval victory ever achieved by the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy—the Battle of the Sulu Sea—was led by General Deng Zhengqing. He was the most senior and had the strongest record.

Moreover, although the official attitude after the Battle of the Java Sea was somewhat ambiguous, in the public eye, General Deng Zhengqing's status was almost on par with that of Yu Shaobao.

Besides his military achievements, Deng Zhengqing was also the highest-ranking Ming Dynasty soldier to have died on the battlefield in this war, and the only naval admiral to have died since the start of the war—equivalent to a Grand General in the army. (The naval and army rank systems differ; the army's system is more traditional, while the navy's is more Westernized.)

So who else could this commander be but Deng Zhengqing?

"...It is General Liu Duncheng."

"Huh?" Some people couldn't help but make this sound of doubt. It wasn't that they hadn't heard of General Liu Duncheng, nor that they had any prejudice against him. It was just that... he didn't seem to have participated in the Java Sea naval battle, did he?

It's like you hear someone describe the Battle of Midway, and they tell you that the Union Navy is going to entrust the important task to General Halsey. But if you are familiar with history, you know that General Halsey was in the hospital at that time because of his skin disease. He did not participate in the Battle of Midway. How did this battle get involved with him?

"Wasn't General Liu Duncheng ill at the time? How did the command end up in his hands?"

Seemingly noticing everyone's puzzled expressions, Sa Dingming shook his head somewhat awkwardly: "General Liu Duncheng is not ill. The actual situation is... Shortly after General Liu Duncheng's flagship set sail, the No. 2 turret of the battleship 'Ningyuan' exploded, and Liu Duncheng, who was on board the 'Ningyuan,' was seriously injured as a result."

"It seems that the reason for announcing that General Liu Duncheng was ill was to cover up this explosion accident?" Li Che immediately understood the key point. Such a thing happened on the flagship before the outbreak of the war. No matter what the purpose was, it was clear that the navy and the Privy Council at the time were preparing to suppress the news.

In wartime, it is perfectly normal to suppress such information. Whether it is to prevent the enemy from knowing the status of their fleet or to prevent the information from spreading and affecting the morale of more participating troops, it is necessary to do so.

Li Che had learned in another world that after the British battleship HMS Daredevil sank due to an accidental mine strike, the British had excellent secrecy measures that kept the news perfectly under wraps, so that the Leitanians did not know for a long time that Britain had a super-dreadnought that sank in such a ridiculous way.

"An explosion occurred just after leaving port? Could there be spies involved?" Li Zongdi naturally first thought of a potential spy causing the flagship's explosion, but Sa Dingming shook his head at this speculation: "The Navy Ministry organized multiple rounds of investigations into the Ningyuan incident afterward. If any clues of espionage could be found, they would be reported to the Privy Council immediately. If it were really a spy, many people could keep their official positions, but in the end, nothing was found."

"Just an accident?"

Clearly, this answer is hardly convincing, especially considering that such a thing happened at this critical juncture... No matter how you look at it, it reeks of a conspiracy.

However, Li Che felt that the chances of it being an accident or a conspiracy were probably fifty-fifty. Judging from the performance of the naval intelligence department mentioned earlier, it was not impossible for spies to infiltrate. But in this day and age, it was not surprising at all for naval ships to self-destruct. Many countries had such unpleasant experiences, and the Japanese had blown up more than one ship.

Sa Dingming could not give a definite answer, but now everyone understands that the reasons at the time are no longer important.

In terms of the outcome, it was not simply a matter of the original commander being seriously injured and losing his command ability, and the Navy losing a valuable combat capability of a super-dreadnought.

"The Chinese fleet escorted the damaged ship to the Gia Dinh Naval Base (now the Ho Chi Minh Naval Base). After General Deng took over command, he and the rear fleet that I was leading at the time followed him to Surabaya Port. The Chinese fleet left the Gia Dinh Naval Base in the early morning of the second day."

"So you've split your forces?" Li Zongdi thought from the perspective of the army and felt that there was a big problem here. Whether or not to split forces can often play a crucial role on the battlefield, but sometimes the effect is positive and sometimes it is negative.

At this moment, Li Che interjected before Sa Dingming, whose face was somewhat embarrassed, explaining, "Grandpa, it's not surprising that General Deng made the decision to split up the forces from his perspective at the time. Searching for each other on the open sea is like finding a needle in a haystack. Moreover, judging from the previous actions of the Navy Department and the Privy Council, they probably felt that the South China Sea was relatively safe. With most of the Federation's fast capital ships already destroyed in the Battle of the Sulu Sea, splitting up the forces wouldn't be a problem, as long as they didn't engage in frequent radio communications..."

As Li Che spoke, he noticed that Sa Dingming's expression had become even more unpleasant.

No? Dude... you didn't let me guess right, did you?

Chapter Thirteen: General Deng's Mighty Spirit

As expected, after the flagship exploded, General Deng Zhengqing immediately sent a telegram to the Navy Ministry, providing a detailed report on the damage to the warship.

In the following hours, General Deng Zhengqing conducted multiple rounds of radio communications with the Navy Department, sending a total of more than 3500 words in telegrams.

This is no longer a short essay; it's almost equivalent to a day's worth of updates from a struggling writer.

It is clear that General Deng Zhengqing did not have a particularly deep understanding of the importance of maintaining radio silence, and in this respect he can be said to have made the same mistake as Lü Yanst.

After the Battle of the Denmark Strait, the Bismarck had managed to escape the British pursuit, but after sinking the HMS Hood, the overly excited Lü Yanst sent a telegram to Hitler that was more than 3000 words long.

It was this telegram that allowed the Britons to roughly pinpoint Bismarck's location using radio direction finding and eventually track her down, directly leading to the Bismarck's eventual encirclement and sinking.

But can we now criticize General Deng Zhengqing for his mistakes?

Even without considering the principle of respecting the dead, it's impossible to expect a veteran like General Deng, who is over sixty years old, to accept new things as quickly as younger officers.

Just as we can't blame our grandparents for not being able to use smartphones well.

Rather, the real question is why, in this world war, the Ming Dynasty's Royal Navy was still commanded by these veterans on the front lines, and why these old guys were still fighting on the front lines against the enemy. That's the question we need to think about. British generals of that age would have long since retired or were sitting in offices in the rear.

From the perspective of the traditional experience of generals like Deng Zhengqing, even a large fleet composed of capital ships is just a drop in the ocean, and it is extremely difficult to find traces of such fleets in the depths of the sea.

Prior to this world war, the Royal Navy of Victoria had always pursued a strategy of coastal blockade. In addition to absolute confidence in the strength of its own fleet, the most important reason was that if a coastal blockade was not implemented, it would not be so easy for enemy warships to find their tracks after they ventured deep into the ocean.

How much British resources and manpower did the Leitanians expend on the Emden at the beginning of the Great War?

However, conversely, the British, after learning from their painful mistakes in the early stages of the war, innovated their tactics and methods for searching for the enemy at sea, which also caused the Ming Dynasty's Royal Navy to suffer a setback.

"Our military was indeed rather slow to react to some of the more advanced technological developments before this battle. It was only after this battle that we learned that the Victoria fleet had secretly resupplyed in Darwin and then headed north to the Bandar Sea. At this time, it secretly entered the Java Sea, looking for an opportunity to fight our fleet."

The fleet's frequent radio communications were intercepted by Victoria Navy reconnaissance ships, which used high-frequency radio direction finding to roughly pinpoint the direction of our fleet. To make matters worse... the fleet encountered a severe typhoon en route to Surabaya.

The strong typhoon that hit the South China Sea in early September, which was at level 13, caused communication difficulties between Deng Zhengqing and Surabaya Port, and they almost lost contact.

Under such extremely unfavorable circumstances, the Battle of the Java Sea broke out on September 17, 917.

“当时维多利亚军以4艘战巡、6条快速战列舰的强势兵力同合众国军最后幸存的2艘战列巡洋舰会师之后迎击我军6艘战巡和8艘老式战列舰。”

A lieutenant general who had been listening attentively nearby let out a surprised "Eh?" upon hearing this. This was because, according to General Sa Dingming's account, all sorts of unfavorable circumstances for the navy had been listed one by one before the Battle of the Java Sea, and everyone knew that the result of this naval battle was that our fleet suffered heavy losses.

Therefore, people subconsciously believe that the Battle of the Java Sea was a battle in which General Deng Zhengqing led his fleet under extremely unfavorable circumstances and encountered the main force of the British and American combined fleet, and suffered heavy losses while being outnumbered.

But if you do the math, we're 14 against 12, with two extra ships! The Colombian and Victorian allied forces only deployed their battlecruisers? They didn't even use the main battleship fleet of the Federal Navy's Pacific Fleet?

Li Zongdi also noticed this. When the Prince of Jin led his army to fight against the Russian Ursus Empire in the northwest battlefield, the army was limited by the epidemic. Therefore, the northwest border army actually emphasized the strategy of elite troops. When fighting against those gray beasts of Ursus on the battlefield, they often won with fewer troops.