Munitions Empire

On the sea between the distant Beiyuan City and the Shen Hai Kingdom, the clouds of war were gathering as well.

Finally, with both sides willing to engage in battle, and one not wanting to retreat while the other eager to advance, the long-brewing battle of the Northern Sea finally erupted.

The participating forces were evenly matched, with the Shen Hai Kingdom putting forth nearly its entire naval assets, and the Tang Imperial Navy deploying its main fleet.

Bernard had a total of three Dongwan-class battleships, 45 cruisers and destroyers, making up a total naval force of 48 warships.

The Shen Hai Kingdom fleet, commanded by Shenhai Yinan, possessed four battleships and 51 cruisers and destroyers, totaling 55 warships.

Both of them knew that what could truly decide the outcome of the naval battle were the battleships in their hands! The other warships were merely there to kick an enemy when it's down after the decision had been made by the battleships, incapable of truly altering the course of the battle.

Thus, both sides naturally formed up with their battleships in the lead and the rest of the warships following, arranging their formations over a distance of more than 30 kilometers.

Both parties were very cautious, for whether it was Bernard or Shenhai Yinan, they were both acutely aware that what they held in their hands was the entirety of their respective nations' naval assets.

Standing on his own bridge, Bernard didn't utter a word out of tension, silently staring at the billowing black smoke on the distant horizon, not even blinking.

On the other side, Shenhai Yinan was not much better off, even making fists unconsciously with both hands to stop them from trembling.

"Enemy ships at 29 kilometers! Moving in the same direction as us!" an officer loudly reported the distance between the two sides.
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The fleets were drawing nearer, with the battle lines roughly parallel; the Shen Hai Navy sought engagement actively, so it was they who were gradually closing in on the Tang Imperial Fleet.

"Maintain course!" Bernard didn't think of anything clever; he decided to use his side's advantage to win this naval battle in an upstanding manner.

He knew that his fleet had a higher speed, so he planned to concentrate firepower on the enemy fleet's lead battleship, and after inflicting serious damage, seize the T-position advantage and bring all his firepower to bear, aiming to sink the enemy ships first and obtain the upper hand.

Meanwhile within the Shen Hai Navy fleet, Shenhai Yinan, sitting on the flagship, was also pondering how to defeat the enemy.

As a seasoned navy veteran, Shenhai Yinan was of course well aware that the Tang Army fleet was much faster than the Shen Hai Navy's fleet. If the other side hadn't been seeking battle, they could have easily retreated, giving the Shen Hai Navy no chance at all.

But the enemy hadn't retreated; instead, they had formed up ready for a decisive engagement, which indicated that the opponent's commander had made up his mind to settle the battle here with him.

Shenhai Yinan knew this was his only opportunity. If he won here, the tremendous pressure on the sea route between Beiyuan City and the Shen Hai Kingdom would be alleviated, and his country could possibly succeed the Tang Country as the new sovereign of the Endless Sea.

And he had at least a few advantages: firstly, he had always been a naval officer, with extensive experience in naval warfare that Bernard couldn't match; secondly, he had a clear advantage in the number of battleships and the number of main guns; thirdly, the destroyers purchased from Shireck by the Shen Hai Navy were slightly better than the cut-down Fengshun-class destroyers, giving the Shen Hai Navy an overall advantage.

However, within the context of the entire fleet, these advantages were not pronounced and could even be said to be nonexistent.

"The enemy ships haven't changed their course! The distance between us and them is getting closer," reported an anxious Shen Hai Navy officer to Shenhai Yinan, who was waiting eagerly.

The Shen Hai Navy's warships lacked precise rangefinding systems, so the officers could only rely on rather inexact estimates to gauge the actual distance between the opposing forces.

Compared to the Shen Hai Navy, the commanders of the Tang Imperial Navy had much more accurate control over distances. At almost the same moment, an officer of the Tang Navy also reported their distance: "Enemy ships at 27 kilometers from our fleet!"

"It seems they're thinking the same as us, preparing to settle matters here," the executive officer said to Bernard as he watched the smoke from the enemy fleet on the sea surface.

Bernard nodded, then immediately issued a command to change the fleet's direction: "Hard to port! Correct course to the west! Increase the distance!"

This sudden turn order drew querying looks from all the officers prepared for a tense showdown.

Bernard, after seeing the enemy fleet, had no intention of letting the adversary escape. However, how exactly the naval battle should be fought was something he had actually been hesitating over.

Previously, he had prepared to clash directly with the enemy ships, to have a thrilling battle with the battleships facing off against each other, and to determine the outcome through sheer strength.

But just now, it seemed he had an epiphany: in naval combat, the side with the speed advantage clearly could make the choice, the choice of how to enter the battlefield!

His fleet had the advantage, so there was no chance the enemy could flee. Therefore, after seeing the sky filled with black smoke, he had been contemplating the method to secure complete victory.

Just moments ago, he had come up with a good idea: since the enemy had also come seeking battle, they wouldn't easily retreat.

He could fully utilize the superior speed of his vessels to change from the current head-on collision course to a more prudent approach of moving in opposite directions and ying to bite each other's tails in the decisive battle.

In this way, his own fleet's destroyers and cruisers could shake off the enemy's battleships with their speed advantage. Meanwhile, his battleships could leverage their speed to clamp down on the enemy's small ships and pound them fiercely.

Once those Shen Hai destroyers and cruisers were dealt with, turning back to gnaw on the tough bone of the Shen Hai battleships would surely be safer, wouldn't it?

Bernard understood that Tang Mo had entrusted the entire Navy's assets to him, showing his trust, and that war was not about being reckless or fierce. It was the most rational tactical choice for a commander to preserve oneself while inflicting the greatest damage on the enemy.

"Hard to port! Change course! Reformation of the fleet!" The executive officer immediately relayed Bernard's command, and the Great Tang's fleet began the turning maneuver. The originally orderly line of battle instantly became chaotic.

If the fleet were to turn collectively, the formation would end up with destroyers at the front and battleships at the rear. This was clearly not what Bernard wanted, so after the turn, the entire fleet needed to adjust, eventually forming an about-face with the formation unchanged.

On the other side, as the Shen Hai Commander watched the Tang Army fleet gradually approach, a flicker of surprise crossed his face upon seeing the disorder of the Tang Imperial Fleet, followed swiftly by a surge of foreboding.

"Could they be turning to flee?" This was the first thought in his mind, and it was pretty much what he feared the most.

He had hardly considered the possibility of the enemy defeating him, so his worst-case scenario was the Tang Army fleet escaping and then continuing to use their speed advantage to harass Shen Hai's supply lines.

That would bring endless trouble to Shen Hai's maritime transport, something the Shen Hai Navy least wanted to see.

However, he quickly dismissed this possibility in his mind. An enemy Navy with speed advantage staying behind deliberately to engage with the main fleet of Shen Hai clearly showed their intent to do battle as well.

The Shen Hai Commander didn't believe that Tang Country's naval commander would suddenly lose courage and turn tail to run. If they were really that timid, they would not have chosen to face the engagement in the first place.

Since the enemy wasn't running, the worst-case scenario had unfolded: the enemy fleet wanted to use their speed advantage to bite the tail of the Shen Hai Fleet.

"Naive!" The Shen Hai Commander scoffed, also starting to order a change in formation. The Shen Hai Fleet began to sweep out a circle to the north with the four leading battleships as the center and the battle line as the radius.

Figuratively speaking, the Shen Hai Fleet was playing a game of eagle catches chicks with the Great Tang Kingdom's Fleet: the four battleships were like the hens blocking the front, with the smaller warships all sheltered behind them.

Because these smaller ships had relatively higher speeds and were taking a shorter inner track, it was virtually impossible for the Tang Army to catch up to them.

By the time Bernard had completed the fleet's turn and was prepared to reorganize the attack aligning toward the Shen Hai Navy Fleet, they found that the Shen Hai Fleet was drawing a giant tai chi symbol along with them.

The two sides had started in a parallel state, but now, using their own battleships as centers, they intertwined to form a large circle continuously rotating towards the center.

Clearly, this formation was too disordered and not suitable for both sides to engage in battle, so the Tang Country Fleet changed course once more, extending their formation in preparation to cut across the "T" head of the Shen Hai Fleet.

However, the Shen Hai Fleet also extended its formation along the Tang battleships, maintaining the parallel position of the two fleets.

After one hour of maneuvering, both sides returned to the parallel course, only the original east-west parallel lines had now become north-south parallel lines.

Obviously, Bernard, with his average experience, couldn't gain an advantage over the experienced Shen Hai Commander in naval battle tactics.

Even more so, relying on his extensive naval combat experience, the Shen Hai Commander compensated for his fleet's technological inferiority with his understanding of naval battles, maintaining a standoff until the end.

After a series of maneuvers, the actual distance between the two sides had shortened to 17 kilometers, and until now, neither had opened fire on the other.

On the Tang Army's side, they were prepared to fire the first volley at a more assured distance and then adjust their trajectory based on this round of shelling.

On Shen Hai's side, it was awkward as they simply lacked the ability to fire at this range. They needed to close the distance further to increase their shells' accuracy.