Seven Seas Beacon Fire

These five dreadnoughts were facing the Federation's four strongest battleships. The first three Sea Thunder-class battleships were engaged in a one-on-one battle with the Federation's three Colorado-class battleships. The former were about 9000 tons smaller than the latter, but their armor protection was not much worse, which was why the Sea Thunder-class battleships were able to hold on for the time being.

Although the main armor belt was only 300 mm thick, which was only average compared to other countries' dreadnoughts, as mentioned earlier, there was a 70 mm thick dome armor behind it. As the engagement distance shortened, the defensive system of main armor + dome armor became even more valuable. Why is the Bismarck jokingly called the strongest battleship of World War I? It's because the Bismarck's protection system was truly perfect in the engagement conditions of World War I.

To some extent, the protection of the main armor belt on the sides of the Seahawk-class battleships was no worse than that of the powerful 13.5-inch main armor of the Federation's standard battleships. Although the shells fired by these Federation battleships using British 15-inch guns were stronger than the 15-inch 2rch shells used by the Britannia in the Battle of Jutland, the early Midwell armor-piercing shells still had some problems with the strength of the shell body. Although the shells could penetrate 300 mm of main armor at this distance, some shells had their chambers damaged after penetrating the main armor belt.

Even those shells that didn't get damaged often ended up in the coal bunkers piled up between the assembled armor and the dome armor after penetrating the main armor belt.

Coal-fired warships are certainly more backward than oil-fired warships, but backwardness has its advantages. Coal has never been used as fuel on warships; it has long been regarded as part of the protection system.

In fact, as early as the 9th century, many torpedo cruisers and ram cruisers could not be equipped with heavy armor due to tonnage limitations, so they used coal bunkers as a means of protection, such as the Chaoyong and Yangwei equipped by the Beiyang Fleet.

Even during the treaty period, Gallic cruisers exploited loopholes in the treaty, because coal was included as fuel and not in the standard displacement. So the Gauls designed 800-ton coal bunkers for their oil-fired warships, and the only purpose of the coal was for protection.

At this point, the coal played a crucial role when facing the Federation's 15-inch heavy artillery. Most shells that penetrated the main armor would explode in the coal bunker, and the coal would absorb the shock wave of the explosion and the damage from shrapnel to the greatest extent.

However, although the core area is temporarily safe, this does not mean that these dreadnoughts can rest easy. After all, neither the 300mm turret front and gun mount, nor the 150mm superstructure, can withstand the Federation's 15-inch heavy guns.

In the half hour or so of the battle, the three dreadnoughts had lost a total of seven 280mm guns, reducing the number of 280mm gun barrels from 36 to 29. Two of them lost their triple-mounted turrets because the armor of the gun mounts was penetrated. Fortunately, the fire doors of the Tang army had been further improved after the Battle of Java, so the ammunition magazines below were not affected. Another ship, the Haiting-class, was hit on the front of the turret, and one of its 280mm main guns was directly cut off. Fortunately, the remaining two guns of the turret were able to resume firing.

Although the Seahawks temporarily held the line, everyone knew that as time went on, it was only a matter of time before these dreadnoughts collapsed in the face of the Federation's super-dreadnought attacks. In fact, in the last part of this battle line, the situation was even worse than the one-on-one battles before, when two Seahawk-class battleships attacked a Colorado-class battleship together.

The reason is simple: from today's perspective, the Haichang-class is simply too small in tonnage and too weak in combat power. The combined tonnage of these two ships is not even larger than that of a Colorado. What's more critical is that while the first three ships can at least ensure that the core area remains intact for the time being, these two ships cannot even guarantee the core area.

Both ships were able to evade shells by constantly performing S-shaped maneuvers, but the Hai Chin was now in dire straits. Its No. 1 and No. 2 main gun turrets were successively penetrated by 15-inch heavy guns, and one armor-piercing shell that penetrated the main armor belt only exploded after entering the refill room. In order to prevent the ammunition magazine from exploding, the sea valve of the forward ammunition magazine was opened. Although the surging seawater prevented a major explosion, it caused the poor battleship to inevitably list bow.

The shells that hit the engine room destroyed one-third of the boilers. Within half an hour, the Haiqin was on the verge of collapse because the ship's speed could not keep up with the formation speed. Before long, the ship would inevitably be separated from the battle line. At that time, could the remaining Haitao hold out for 20 minutes against the enemy's 15-inch heavy guns with the reduced distance?

As another round of shells rained down, this time, in addition to the waves stirred up by the shells hitting the sea and the explosions on the warships, a tremendous explosion erupted, sending a mushroom cloud hundreds of meters into the sky. Both sides were familiar with this scene, which meant that some unlucky ammunition depots on the battlefield had been blown up by the enemy.

After the explosion, the highest commanders of both fleets immediately looked in the direction from which the explosion came, all wanting to find out which side the unfortunate victim belonged to as soon as possible.

At this very moment, on the battlecruiser Hai Rong, the entire crew erupted in cheers, for they had taken the first crucial kill in this naval battle where they were outnumbered!

Opposite them, the Kearsarge-class battleship, HMS Kearsarge, with its six turrets, had already disappeared from the sea.

The 330mm/L50 naval gun once again proved in actual combat that although it is the smallest caliber among the super-dreadnought naval guns, in terms of armor-piercing capability, it is no less than the British 13.5-inch naval guns and some 14-inch naval guns!

Chapter 156 The Veteran's Charge (5) Flagship Hit by a Bullet [5K Long Chapter, Seeking Votes]

As different countries entered the super-dreadnought era, they adopted different gun calibers. The Ming Dynasty Royal Navy, having prioritized rate of fire in the pre-dreadnought and dreadnought eras, consistently used 280mm main guns. This style, which was one inch smaller than the gun calibers of mainstream battleships in other countries, was inherited in the super-dreadnought era.

因此在高卢人选择340毫米、不列颠人选择13.5英寸、哈布斯堡选择350毫米（当然哈布斯堡的超无畏并没有建成，但是火炮开发成功了）、联邦、乌萨斯人等选择14英寸舰炮的情况下，东大的超无畏和莱塔尼亚人一起选择了330毫米口径。

The cannonballs that were deployed on a large scale during the Ming Dynasty weighed 530 kilograms and had a muzzle velocity of 890 MPs. At this time, the power of the 330 mm naval gun was actually better than that of the British 13.5-inch naval gun without the use of explosives.

After the Battle of the Java Sea, the Ming Dynasty did not continue to be limited by geographical factors and engage in battles at distances of 10,000 meters, as the Leitania did. The navy realized that the combat distance in the future would be longer and longer, so the weight of the cannon shells was very important. Heavier shells would have better velocity retention. Therefore, compared with the Leitania's choice of light shells, the Ming Dynasty chose heavier shells for the new generation of armor-piercing shells.

The new armor-piercing projectile under development is a heavy projectile weighing 580 kg. When fired with a full 190 kg propellant charge, the muzzle velocity can reach 850 m/s.

In terms of ballistic performance, this gun is not far from the M1931 330mm naval gun used by the Gallic Navy on the Dunkerque-class battleships, which fired a 560kg shell at 870m/s. After taking the shell into account, the actual armor-piercing capabilities of both sides are basically in the same category.

Viewers should not be surprised by this. Although the Gauls' 330mm naval guns had long enjoyed a high reputation in naval circles and were hailed as having the power of many 14-inch naval guns and even comparable to some 15-inch naval guns, according to the formula, they could penetrate 713mm of homogeneous steel armor at 0 meters and still penetrate 342mm of armor at a range of 23 kilometers.

However, since the Gallic 330mm naval guns were primarily used to attack German-class armored ships or other cruisers, they carried a relatively large amount of explosive and had a relatively fragile projectile structure. Therefore, their actual armor-piercing capability was much worse than that of large-caliber armor-piercing projectiles of the same era, and in some respects, they could even be considered among the worst armor-piercing projectiles of World War II.

It is precisely because of the poor performance of the Gauls' 330mm gun shells that the 330mm naval guns in the hands of the University of Tokyo can now confidently and intelligently declare that our armor-piercing capabilities have reached the level of the cutting-edge armor-piercing shells of World War II.

Of course, the joke about the Gauls' shells being inferior is only in comparison to the cutting-edge artillery of World War II. In the present day, the Kearsarge-class battleship, a minor upgrade of the Wyoming-class battleship, only slightly increased in tonnage and length, with adjustments to the secondary gun layout to improve the firing arc, while the 280mm vertical armor on the sides was inherited intact.

This thickness is actually considered acceptable for a dreadnought. At least a few years ago, the maximum penetration depth that a 12-inch naval gun could achieve in actual combat was only 10 inches. With a slight heading angle, even 9 inches of armor was difficult for a 12-inch naval gun to penetrate.

However, with only 280 mm of vertical armor, lacking both angulation and rear armor dome, it is truly vulnerable to 330 mm naval guns.

Many officers and sailors of the Federal Navy nicknamed the Wyoming and Kearsarge, two dreadnoughts equipped with six 12-inch main guns, "bomb trucks." After all, these two capital ships had four twin-mounted turrets placed at the stern of the ship, and they were arranged together like cargo in the bed of a truck. As a result, these two battleships had a huge ammunition magazine projection due to the large number of turrets.

Especially at the rear of the ship, the main gun ammunition magazines and the secondary gun ammunition magazines were stacked together. The armor-piercing shells fired by the Hai Rong exploded in the secondary gun ammunition magazines after penetrating the armor belt. A large number of five-inch shells exploded first. The power of the hundreds of shells exploding was simply not enough to be blocked by the two one-inch partitions between the main and secondary ammunition magazines - especially since these two one-inch partitions were made of shipbuilding steel rather than armor steel.

So when the deadly flames began to pour into the main gun magazines, the moment arrived for the battleship Kearsarge to be smashed to pieces.

Unlike the British battlecruisers that were blown in two during the Battle of Jutland, this poor Federation battleship had its entire stern section completely destroyed. The remaining bow section disappeared from the sea within two minutes, so when the smoke from the explosion gradually dissipated, there were no large pieces of wreckage floating on the sea.

The two battlecruisers at the stern of the battleships were probably the most comfortable Tang warships on the battlefield at this moment. Their 250mm armor was already beyond the penetration limit of the Federation's 12-inch guns, not to mention the dome armor behind the main armor. Against these Federation dreadnoughts, these two Ming battlecruisers could definitely be described as being able to penetrate and defend against them!

After the sudden death of the Kearsarge, the Federation dreadnoughts at the end of the column were clearly thrown into chaos. After all, these Federation dreadnoughts had not actually engaged in combat with the enemy's capital ships before. In the early stages of the war, most of the clashes between the Ming and Federation forces took place between battlecruisers. Therefore, these dreadnoughts were essentially "greenhorns," while the two battlecruisers of the Tang army were already veterans who had seen countless battles!

Therefore, under such circumstances, some Federation dreadnoughts chose to increase their distance without orders from their superiors. This was indeed a way to protect themselves as much as possible when the situation was unfavorable, since as the distance increased, not only would the probability of being hit decrease, but the penetration of the shells would also decrease.

As for the few Federation dreadnoughts that chose to keep their distance, the Tang army immediately let them go and instead concentrated its firepower on the Federation battleships that were still maintaining their current distance.

That's how it often is on the battlefield: those who choose to survive survive. After three battleships distanced themselves without permission from their superiors, the Federation effectively lost their numerical advantage in the final stages—now it was a 6-on-6 fight, and what's worse, two of the Tang's six ships were super-dreadnoughts.

Why did one of the two Seamaster-class battleships facing off against the Federation Colorado-class battleships continue to fight to the death, even though it was already half-dead? Because once you leave the battle line, the pressure will fall on your comrades. As a capital ship, unless the situation is extremely critical and you are on the verge of death, you must stay on the battle line to share the firepower, even if you are almost completely destroyed!

The Federal Army was not unaware of this principle, but it was clear that after more than a year of smooth sailing in the Java Sea naval battle, many officers and soldiers of the Federal Navy were not psychologically prepared for this, while the Chinese Navy, which had been walking on thin ice all along, was always preparing for it.

The defeat in the Battle of the Java Sea was both a disgrace and a tragedy for the Ming Dynasty navy and for the Tang Dynasty navy today, but also an indescribable treasure. Before this defeat, the Ming Dynasty navy, although well-trained, was only comparable to the Gallic and Syracuse navies in terms of fighting spirit and the morale of its troops, making it a second-rate naval power below England and Germany.

However, it was precisely through the trials of this defeat, and by not being defeated by it, that the reborn Tang Dynasty navy has truly reached the level of a world-class navy.

Clearly, the Federal Navy also needs to pay such a price before it can transform itself.

Soon, the situation for the USS Florida and USS North Dakota, which were facing off against the two Ming battlecruisers, began to deteriorate rapidly. These two battlecruisers were even weaker in firepower, each with five twin 12-inch gun turrets, three of which had been removed in a short time.

The captains of both battleships were terrified. It seemed that not only the 11-inch side armor couldn't withstand it, but the 12-inch gun mount armor couldn't either. These battleships could probably only withstand the sloping 12-inch turret fronts. However, in terms of armor projection area, the probability of enemy shells hitting the gun mounts or penetrating the upper armor and hitting the lower gun mounts was much higher than hitting the turret fronts.

At that moment, two massive explosions occurred almost in succession in front of and in the middle of the battle line. The first explosion occurred at the front of the Tang army formation, where the battleship Haitao, which had been struggling to hold on, was hit by a 15-inch shell that rammed into its boiler room.

Because some boilers in the boiler room had already been damaged by shrapnel and forced to shut down, the remaining boilers were providing steam at almost an overload level in order to maintain power. This 15-inch shell hit one of the boilers directly.

It's not just ammunition that can explode on warships; high-pressure boilers can also explode. As an early type of dreadnought, the Seamaster-class's underwater protection structure was not perfect. Therefore, the boiler explosion in the boiler room not only destroyed the engine room but also blew through the TDS from the side and below, creating a huge gap of more than ten meters underwater.

Thousands of tons of seawater surged into the dreadnought in a short time. Within minutes of the boiler explosion, the ship's tilt became uncontrollable. Although the captain ordered the ship abandoned less than a minute after the boiler room explosion, the ship was overturned too quickly, and the boiler room explosion itself took away many officers and men from the engine room. In the end, only a hundred or so people were successfully rescued from the Haitao, while the remaining seven hundred or so officers and men died heroically.

However, before the Federation Navy could even rejoice for a minute, an explosion from the midsection of a Federation battleship signaled the forced withdrawal of yet another Federation battleship from this brutal battlefield. This time, the Federation lost yet another dreadnought – the third ship of the Kearsarge-class battleship, the USS Oregon. The No. 3 turret in the midsection of the ship had been penetrated by the Zhenyuan, causing the propellant in the refill room to explode, and the fire spread directly to the bottom of the ammunition magazine.

The fire doors used on the New York-class battleships were similar in structure to those used by the Royal Navy in the early stages of the war. These fire doors did not have the tipping buckets used for transporting ammunition, allowing ammunition to be transported out without opening the fire door. In other words, when transporting ammunition out, the fire door needed to be opened to send the ammunition out and then manually closed.

Early in the war, the British Navy found it too troublesome to keep fire doors closed, as they were heavy iron lumps weighing several tons, and opening and closing them was physically demanding. As a result, several ships were set on fire.

The officers and men of the Federal Navy, having learned from the lessons of their British counterparts, were quite honest. They remembered to manually open and close the doors each time. However, Lady Luck was clearly not on their side. Just as the dressing room was breached, the fire door below happened to be open, supplying ammunition and propellant.

The fire relentlessly poured into the ammunition magazine. Although the Federation's ammunition magazine also used brass containers, the same as those used by the Ming and Letania, to store the propellant, preventing it from exploding rapidly at the slightest spark, unfortunately, due to the fierce fire and the absence of a brave officer in the battleship's No. 3 ammunition magazine to flood it like the officer in the battlecruiser HMS Lion who risked his life to open the sea valve during the Battle of Jutland, the brass containers could no longer keep the propellant "cool" after the fire had raged for several minutes.

After the earth-shattering explosion, the USS Oregon broke in two. The stern section sank quickly, while the fore section, thanks to its intact watertight compartments, remained afloat for a time. The Union battleships following behind had to maneuver around the severed wreckage, further exacerbating the chaos in the Union battle lines behind them.

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Hundreds of kilometers away in the underground command post of the Song army in Dongdu, those who had been following the progress of the naval battle via radio erupted in cheers once again. When news came over the radio that the Tang army had sunk Federation warships, they were overjoyed. When news came that their own warships had been sunk, they would beat their chests in despair.

Overall, the current battle situation is better than they had anticipated, with the fleet fighting against overwhelming odds. So far, not only has the outcome been a two-to-one ratio, but more importantly, in terms of ship losses, the two Federation ships lost are larger and stronger than the one lost by the Tang army.

"The navy is fighting exceptionally well!" Yu Fugen, the only senior naval officer in the command post and commander of the Yanping Navy, exclaimed with some delight, "If this continues, perhaps when the four battlecruisers arrive, the Celestial Empire will be able to achieve another great victory! General Liu has done an excellent job in arranging the order of engagement!"

"Order of engagement?"

Wu Yushan, being a peasant from the army, obviously didn't understand this, so Yu Fugen explained it to him. When naval ships engage in combat at sea, they need to follow the order of engagement. For example, if the number of ships on both sides is equal, they can engage in one-on-one combat, or some warships can concentrate their fire on a single enemy warship, or a certain warship can fight against multiple enemy warships. By arranging the order of engagement in this way, they can seek to gain an advantage in a local area and open up the situation.

“When numbers are roughly equal, it’s not easy to arrange the order of battle. General Liu was able to arrange the order of battle well despite being outnumbered, and even gained the upper hand after the battle began. This is a combination of strength and luck. It’s truly a blessing from Mazu.” Yu Fugen was well aware of the risks involved, which is why he exclaimed so sincerely.

"So we can win, right?"

"should..........."

Before Yu Fugen could finish speaking, the telegraph operator in front of the telegraph machine suddenly took off his headset and reported loudly in a somewhat flustered manner: "Send a telegram from the Dingyuan, and have the Zhenyuan take over the flagship's duties!"

what?

Upon hearing this, everyone in the underground command post immediately became restless. Li Yaguang pressed for details, asking, "What's going on? Why the sudden change of flagship? What happened? Is there a problem with General Liu?"

His barrage of questions obviously couldn't get an immediate response, since the messenger only had this one telegram at the moment.

"We don't know the specifics yet, because the Dingyuan has only sent out this short message so far, and there has been no further communication from the entire fleet. I think the Zhenyuan probably hasn't reacted yet either."

Wu Yushan asked, "Then whose name was this telegram sent? If General Liu had nothing to do, he wouldn't have issued such an order himself."

That's true. Although the army and navy are different, from a command perspective, a commander who is in good physical condition would not voluntarily hand over command to someone else without a reason.

The correspondent was able to answer the questions he raised.

"Judging from the signature on the telegram, this telegram..." The telegraph operator looked at the signature and said in a somewhat incredulous tone, "It was sent by... His Highness the Crown Prince."

"The Crown Prince?"

"Is the Crown Prince currently at the front lines?"

"What is His Highness the Crown Prince doing on the Dingyuan?!"

Chapter 157 Command Alternation

When Li Che was told that the bridge had been hit while he was in the command tower, he was somewhat bewildered.

The bridge was hit? When was it hit?

It's not fair to blame him for being slow to react; it's just that in this chaotic battlefield, a shell had just hit the front of turret number 2. Although the shell didn't penetrate the frontal armor of turret number 2, for the people in the command tower behind turret number 2, some even suffered eardrum bleeding from the explosion. Even Li Che felt that his hearing was temporarily affected, and he had been hearing a buzzing sound in his ears since earlier.

Under such circumstances, the people in the command tower naturally did not realize that the enemy's volley of shells had actually hit twice, and one of them even hit the bridge.

Li Che tapped his head in anguish. Why was he so unlucky? Had he been possessed by the battleship HMS Prince of Wales?

After listening to the report, Li Che immediately went to the bridge to check the situation, but the people around him naturally stopped him from leaving the command tower. Li Che understood that they were thinking of his safety, after all, inside this 350mm command tower, even if the Federation's 14-inch cannon hit, it would not be able to penetrate.

Currently, the only weapon in the world capable of penetrating the command tower of the Dingyuan is probably the 15-inch Greenboy shell recently deployed by the British. Even the British Greenboy shells, due to quality control issues at the time, cannot reliably penetrate 350mm armor at normal engagement distances. The Federation's even inferior 15-inch Midwell armor-piercing shells probably can't penetrate it either, not to mention the 14-inch ones. Staying inside the command tower is obviously safe enough.

However, Li Che was now very clear about how critical the situation was. If the Dingyuan was just an ordinary battleship, then it would be fine for him to stay in the command tower. But the Dingyuan was the flagship of the entire Tang Dynasty Dragon Flag Fleet, and the bridge housed the command center of the entire fleet.

At this moment, as the highest-ranking officer in the command tower, he had to immediately go to the bridge to check the situation, because they didn't even know how many people were still alive on the bridge.

"I know you are all thinking of my safety, but on the battlefield, the first thing to consider is the outcome of this naval battle, not my personal safety. Not to mention, from a probabilistic point of view, it is almost impossible for two shells to hit the same place at the same time on the battlefield. The bridge has already been hit by a shell once, and it is almost impossible for it to be hit again."

After saying that, he crawled out of the command tower. The command tower of the Dingyuan was located in front of the navigation bridge. After walking out of the entrance of the command tower, he could look up and see the navigation bridge directly. When the navigation bridge came into view, Li Che breathed a sigh of relief, because at least from his perspective, the entire bridge structure was quite intact. Although there was a clear damage on one side of the bridge, it was obviously left after a shell passed through it.

That makes sense. Naval bridges have almost no armor protection and are basically built of thin steel plates and structural steel. For most armor-piercing shells, it is difficult to trigger them when they hit such a part. So the shells penetrated the bridge completely and fell into the sea on the other side.

However, this does not mean that the shell is like the over-penetrating ammunition in a certain Magic Thunder game, which dyes the crew, turns the Anton aliens into a golden crew, and then everything is fine.

During the Battle of the Denmark Strait, the bridge of the British battleship HMS Prince of Wales was also hit by a Leitanian 380mm armor-piercing shell. In World War II, the British adopted a rather radical design style for their new battleships, namely, the absence of a heavily armored conning tower. The thickest armor on the superstructure of HMS Prince of Wales was only 76mm. The armor-piercing shell fired by Bismarck also did not explode inside the bridge. However, the fragmentation from the heavy armor-piercing shell after passing through the bridge had already taken away almost everyone except the captain at the time.

After all, the shrapnel from such a large-caliber shell is far greater than that from a 9mm peanut.

The elevator inside the bridge had been destroyed by the shell and was no longer usable. Li Che could only climb up the spiral staircase, floor by floor, to reach the upper navigation bridge. As he climbed, he encountered medics carrying the wounded down from above. These medics had arrived at the bridge immediately. Li Che grabbed one of them and asked, "How is the commander now?!"

The military doctor who had been pulled away recognized the Crown Prince and immediately saluted: "Your Highness, the commander is not under my jurisdiction. When I went up just now, I saw that the commander's abdomen had been hit by shrapnel, but he was still conscious before I came down. My teacher was already treating the commander's wound."

Li Che felt a little relieved. He nodded and said "thank you for your hard work," then quickened his pace and climbed up the bridge. When he finally reached the top of the navigation bridge, he felt as if he were in the aftermath of a gunfight. The bridge was in complete disarray. The chart table, which had been in the path of the incoming shells, was now gone, leaving only scattered fragments of unknown origin.

The opening where the shell entered was not large and was quite regular, but where the shell flew out from the other end of the ship's gun, there were obvious open damages to part of the bridge floor and the side wall of the next level, and the nautical chart hanging on the bridge wall was stained with sprayed blood.

Several lifeless bodies were already laid out at the eastern corner of the bridge of the naval ship, while Li Che saw Liu Duncheng sitting on the ground with his back against the wall on the west side.

Indeed, as the military doctor had just said, Liu Duncheng was still alive and conscious. However, even Li Che could see that the situation was not optimistic at all, because blood was flowing out of his abdominal wound and had even stained a large area of ​​the surrounding floor red. There was no doubt that a large blood vessel in his body had been damaged.

His face was deathly pale, and the military doctor beside him had three bottles of plasma being administered simultaneously to establish three intravenous access lines to replenish his blood. However, such blood loss would be extremely dangerous even in a hospital on shore, and the plasma stored on the warship would obviously not last long. Therefore, Li Che heard the military doctor request that the officers and soldiers with type A and type O blood on the warship immediately donate blood.

"Commander!" Li Che knelt down beside Liu Duncheng: "How are you feeling now?"

When Liu Duncheng recognized him, a bitter smile appeared on his face: "It feels better than last time; at least this time I was wounded on the battlefield..."

Li Che knew that Liu Duncheng had always been resentful about the fact that he had been seriously injured in a ship's ammunition explosion before the Battle of the Java Sea, causing him to miss that naval battle. He knew that Liu Duncheng could lose consciousness at any moment, and he had to quickly ask the veteran what should be done while Liu Duncheng was still conscious: "Who should take command now?"

Li Che didn't even ask Liu Duncheng if he could still command, because such a question was meaningless. After all, he knew the old general's obsession, and he was really afraid that the old general would insist on making a show of strength at this moment.

Liu Duncheng's expression darkened further. He also realized that his current condition made it impossible for him to command the fleet to complete the next battle. Of course, he was not feeling sorry for his physical condition. What he was worried about was the fleet that was currently engaged in battle.

"Among the senior officers on the bridge, I'm the only one still breathing..." Liu Duncheng shook his head and said, "Your Highness, you are now the highest-ranking officer on the warship."

"I absolutely cannot have the ability to command a fleet."

Li Che knew his own limitations very well. He had read some novels where the protagonist was given command in a critical situation and then wreaked havoc in battle. Such plots were very classic and exciting, but he knew that had nothing to do with him.

He knew very well how he got the naval rank on his cuff. Although many naval officers, including Liu Duncheng, might subconsciously believe that their grandson of the emperor was a genius who knew a lot about the navy, he knew very well that he was actually a military enthusiast from another world, and absolutely did not have the ability to command an entire fleet.

People have self-knowledge.

This fleet carries the future of the entire nation and people; it is a burden far too heavy for him to handle as a game.

Without further ado, Liu Duncheng said, "Let the Zhenyuan take over command... Maintain the current engagement, and wait for Cheng Hengqi to return... After it rendezvous with the vanguard fleet, Cheng Hengqi will take over command."

After saying these words, Liu Duncheng's face visibly turned even paler. He barely managed to raise his head and look at Li Che: "Your Highness, the Dingyuan is temporarily entrusted to you."

Li Che did not refuse Liu Duncheng's request. He nodded heavily and said, "Commander, please rest for a while. We will drink to celebrate your victory together after you wake up!"

"Alright..." Liu Duncheng nodded with a smile, "Let's drink...to celebrate our victory!"

After saying this, Liu Duncheng immediately went into shock. The military doctor in charge of Liu Duncheng quickly ordered someone to continue the blood transfusion while cutting open the commander's abdomen with a knife. Under Li Che's somewhat horrified gaze, the old military doctor directly put his entire hand into the abdominal cavity.