Great Warlord: The Second Ancestor of the Empire

Merchant ships can run faster than warships, which means they can deliver goods to their destinations faster.

The John Empire had many overseas colonies, and each colony was inseparable from shipping.

Whether it's goods or people.

In a word, faster shipping brings more benefits.

John Jellicoe didn't want to let this opportunity pass him by.

So he ordered his own fast cruisers and destroyers to surround him.

Judging from the intelligence he received, the opponent was just a merchant fleet without any resistance firepower, so even if it was just a destroyer rushing over, it could be controlled.

After receiving the order from John Jellicoe, two fast cruisers and six destroyers broke away from the formation and surrounded Xu Changxing.

Xu Changxing looked at the several warships that were catching up, and a smile appeared on his face.

"I finally got fooled. Send a signal to all the ships and ask them to follow me and divert to the southeast."

"Over there, the warships of the Hans Empire are already rushing to support us. As long as we merge with the fleet of the Hans Empire, we will be safe."

After hearing Xu Changxing's words, Daxia's entire fleet speeded up again.

This high-speed operation extremely consumes the service life of the ship's engine.

But now, in order to induce the John Empire and the Hans Empire to fight, and to give Daxia a reasonable excuse for war, Xu Changxing will not consider the issue of engine service life at all.

In this way, the two parties chased each other for three hours until the sky turned dark.

Xu Changxing discovered a large amount of black smoke in front of his fleet.

He knew that he had finally met the Hans Empire's North Sea Fleet.

On the side of the Hans Empire, Admiral Reinhard Scheer saw a large amount of black smoke appearing directly in front of him, and he also knew that he had encountered the Daxia fleet.

"Order, split the fleet into two and surround it in a pincer shape."

"In addition, send a message to the Daxia people and ask them to pass directly through our fleet."

As soon as Reinhard Scheer finished speaking, he immediately left to convey his order.

Subsequently, the entire Hans Empire fleet was divided into two. The left side was led by the Hans Empire flagships Bavaria and Baden, with 20 cruisers.

The right side was led by the battleships Württemberg and Saxony, with 25 cruisers. (None of them include the number of destroyers)

Using a left and right pincer offensive, they rushed towards the John warship that was chasing the Daxia merchant ship.

The pursuing John Sixth Ship saw the densely packed Hans Empire warships in front, and was so frightened that it turned around on the spot and fled towards the way it came, without daring to stop at all.

Looking at the dense number of chimneys on the opposite side, any fool would know that what he encountered was definitely the main fleet of the Hans Empire.

Even if he is arrogant, he will not think that he can stop such a fleet with only two cruisers.

And Reinhard obviously didn't want to give up this opportunity to seize John's fleet.

This was the decisive opportunity that Reinhard had been searching for and wanted to fight for.

Therefore, Reinhard Scheer ordered the fleet to continue the pursuit.

The two cruisers, which already felt that they were being bitten by the Hans Empire fleet, immediately reported the situation here to John Jellicoe.

And John Jellicoe felt that since a warship on his side was being bitten, it was unrealistic to abandon his warship and escape.

If so, then fight!

John the Imperial Navy is never afraid of any challenge.

Therefore, John Jellicoe ordered that the fleet's route should remain unchanged and continue to advance.

An hour later, the last light in the sky disappeared, but the two huge fleets met in the waters south of Jutland.

When the two sides met, there was no probing, and they directly attacked each other with the fiercest artillery fire.

Overall, the Royal Fleet of the John Empire is still stronger than the navy of the Hans Empire.

Even in the dark, they relied on the firelight emitted by the opponent's artillery for judgment and shooting. At a distance of 8 nautical miles, they could still guarantee a hit rate of more than 30%.

As for the Hans Empire, under the same conditions, their hit rate was only 25%.

The hit rate is a full 5% lower than John Empire.

But Reinhard is not in a hurry at all, because the main battleships of the Hans Empire have now undergone the latest armor modifications.

All capital ships were replaced with high-carbon alloy steel with added tungsten.

Even if ordinary artillery hits, it can only leave a dark mark on the armor.

Only the main battleship of the John Empire can pose a threat to our side.

After all, the main battleships of the John Empire are equipped with large-caliber naval guns. For example, the flagship of Imperial John's Royal Navy, the battleship Elizabeth, was equipped with a 381 mm (15-inch) gun.

With such a large caliber, even if it is equipped with tungsten-containing high-carbon alloy armor, there is a high chance of being penetrated.

Armor is not invincible, and there is no absolute defense. It just means that the Hans Empire fleet equipped with new armor has stronger defense than before it was replaced.

Just like now, Reinhard found that his hit rate was not as good as John Empire's at long range, so he made a bold decision.

With the defense power of his own fleet that is much higher than normal, he directly closes the distance between the two sides.

At a distance of 3 nautical miles, the ferocity of the Hans Empire fleet was vividly displayed.

Often, a battleship would carry the gunfire of two or three of John's Empire's capital ships and aim at one of them. Soon the John warship was seriously injured and lost its combat effectiveness.

As for the Hans Empire, the battleship still maintains a strong combat effectiveness.

The battleship then turned its guns, aimed at the next target, and continued to pursue the target.

Frequent one-on-three battles gave the Hans Empire a lot of more effective forces, and these effective forces began to outflank the entire John Kingdom fleet.

At this time, John Jellicoe also felt that something was wrong.

The warships on his side were lost too quickly. On the other hand, the warships on the Hans Empire's side basically still maintained their complete combat power. In addition, there were warships preparing to outflank themselves at this time.

As an experienced general, John Jellicoe made a judgment immediately.

"Order all ships to retreat to the northwest!" John Jellicoe made a decision immediately.

Upon hearing Jellicoe's order, John's warships began to turn around and then retreated toward the northwest.

They all knew that they needed to break out of the encirclement before the Hans Empire encircled them, otherwise, the consequences would be disastrous.

At this time, any ship that dares to stop in front of them will be attacked by the entire John Empire fleet.

At this time, John's Imperial Fleet sent word that there were three huge ships in the northwest.

The battleship Giant, acting as the vanguard, turned its guns and attacked the three ships without thinking.

The captain of the Giant, who originally thought that this round of bombardment would have no effect, suddenly saw huge fireballs suddenly emerging from the three warships in front of him.

And under the light of the fire, he could see clearly that the three ships were flying the dragon flag of Daxia!