On October 31, 1978, the war that swept the world had been burning for 4 years, 3 months and 3 days.

The midsummer has passed and the autumn wind is gradually rising.

…………

To the east of the Empire's Xuhai, the Strait of Watchers.

This hourglass-shaped strait is the throat of the Imperial Navy, and the North and South Sadou Islands in the north and south of the strait are like two big hands that hold their throats.

More than 400 years ago, the pioneers of the Eastern Navigation led an expedition fleet to enter the East Ocean. In order to facilitate ships to pass through, the Empire built a navigation lighthouse on the nameless reef in the middle of the strait, the Empire then sent troops to the guard islands and the guard islands in the north and south of the strait. The Watcher Strait and the North and South Sadou Islands were included in the territory of the Empire. Xuhai thus became the inner lake of the Imperial Navy, and the East Ocean on the other side of the strait became the training ground for the Imperial Navy.

But now, this strait has become the gates of hell for the Imperial Navy.

The storm that had been rampant for several days had passed, the sky was cloudless, and the sea was calm.

To the west of the strait, six towering giant ships were slashing the waves and galloping eastward at a speed of 25 knots. The leader is the "Beihe" battlecruiser, which was built and put into service three months ago, the latest and most powerful in the world, with a full load displacement of more than 50,000 tons.

The five behind are also battle cruisers.

This is the 21st squadron of the Imperial Navy's local fleet and the strongest battle patrol squadron of the East Ocean!

In the bridge of the commander "Beihe", dozens of officers and soldiers had already taken their place.

Next to the left hatch stands a second lieutenant named Bai Zhizhan. He graduated from the Imperial Naval Academy three months ago and was assigned to serve in the 21st Fleet.

However, you must only get a full-time position after the half-year internship period.

During wartime, the trainee officers were mainly responsible for damaging and rescue, and came forward to maintain order at critical moments, and acted as guards for commanders and other important personnel.

Bai Zhizhan’s current mission is to guard the commander’s bridge.

To put it bluntly, it is the guard standing guard.

This cabin, wrapped in steel plates of hundreds of millimeters thick, is the brain of the squadron. The combat commands are issued by the commander of the squadron standing behind the front porthole, with a telescope hanging on his chest, and wearing a large-brimmed hat and a sleek body.

He stood there motionlessly for four hours.

At two o'clock in the morning, after receiving the telegram from the Fleet Command, the 21st Squadron entered a state of combat and rushed to the Watcher Strait at full speed.

According to the plan, the 21st Squadron took advantage of the chaos caused by the storm to break through the Watchmen Strait before the enemy redeployed the main fleet, eliminated the patrol fleet east of the strait, and covered the subsequent main squadron to advance into the East Ocean, looking for a favorable opportunity to fight the Alliance Group Combined Fleet.

If you fail, the key is to find the 21st Fleet.

"Reported, six warships were found in front of them, suspected to be the enemy's first battle patrol team."

Suddenly, the air inside the bridge seemed to solidify, and the atmosphere became very tense.

Bai Zhizhan swallowed, gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to wipe the sweat on his palms on his pants.

In a state of nervousness, a few minutes passed quickly.

"The report is preliminaryly determined to be six battlecruisers with a distance of 36; the enemy fleet is heading at 255, the speed is not less than 20, and is accelerating."

After a moment, the Major General Commander turned around and nodded to several senior staff members waiting for his order.

The combat orders were passed down in an orderly manner.

"The report confirmed that the first ship was the "Reputation" and the second ship was the "Counterattack". The other four ships are still being identified and are basically identified as the First Battle Patrol Team of the Joint Fleet."

When the combat staff reported, several smoke columns that were not very obvious and could barely be seen clearly appeared on the Zuoqianhai antenna.

You can see it even though you can see it for dozens of kilometers, and the speed of the enemy ship is definitely not slow.

At this time, the combat staff called several subordinates over and asked them to formulate the order of the battle.

Although it was not expected that the First Battle Patrol of the Joint Fleet would appear here, it did not prevent the 21st Squadron from acting as planned.

Eliminating the Combined Fleet Battle Patrol Detachment was originally the number one mission of the 21st Squadron.

"Report, enemy fleet was found on the right front."

Why is it right front?

Everyone thought they had heard it wrong, and some officers and soldiers looked at the combat staff who reported the situation, perhaps thinking that it was a mistake in the combat staff.

The Major General Commander had raised his telescope and looked to the front right of the battleship.

"The report shows that there are five large warships in total. The lookouts compare and identify and speculate that the first ship is the "Queen Isa" class, and it is suspected to be the fast combat team of the joint fleet."

The atmosphere suddenly became extremely tense. Bai Zhizhan clearly saw that the major general's hands holding the telescope trembled slightly.

Facing the six battle patrols, there is nothing to be afraid of, but with the five "Queen Isa" class battleships, there is no chance of winning at all.

That is a fast battleship specially used to restrain battlecruisers!

The Alliance Group used five fast battleships to form a fast battle squad in order to restrain and deal with the 21st squadron of the Imperial Local Fleet.

Under almost any circumstances, five Queen Isa class fast battleships can crush six battlecruisers.

If you are attacked, you will have no chance of winning.

"How long will it take?" The major general finally spoke.

"The distance from the enemy fleet in front of the left is 25, maintaining its current speed will enter the fire exchange distance within fifteen minutes. Even if the course is now..."

When the major general saw it, the nautical staff immediately closed their mouths.

"In five minutes, enter the maze channel," the combat staff took a few steps forward and said to the navigation staff. "If you retreat, you have to turn before that."

There are tens of thousands of mines in the Watchmen Strait, and there are three safe channels in total, but only the depth of the "maze channel" can allow the main ship to pass through. In order to obtain the intelligence of this channel, the naval intelligence agency worked hard for two years, and dozens of spies were killed or disappeared before and after.

Because it is too narrow, after entering the channel, the main battleship can only turn in place with the help of a barge.

This means that after entering the maze channel, there is no way to retreat.

But where to retreat?

After retreating, how long will it take to wait for the next chance to fight?

Can the empire still last for two years in the cruel war with tens of thousands of officers and soldiers who died or died every day?

Now retreat to save your life, but fortunately, in the future, he surrendered humiliation, suffered from the enemy's humiliation, and lived a life of the scolding of thousands of people!?

The Imperial Navy only had soldiers who died in battle, and there were no cowards who retreated.

"Send all ships to fight in a state of battle, and hang the red blood battle flag!"

"In combat state, sound the alarm and hang the red blood battle flag!" The combat staff hesitated for a moment and conveyed the Major General's order.

The battle alarm sounded, and a red battle flag rose to the top of the main mast.

That is the signal flag that represents a decisive battle!

Seventy-five years ago, the first-time Imperial Navy stationed troops at Nanjiangkou to fight the invading fleet of great powers. The fierce battle lasted all day. At sunset, the fleet commander ordered the raising of the battle flag that had been stained with blood from the soldiers. The flagship rushed to the middle of the river in artillery fire, and then drilled through the bottom of the ship and sank itself at the mouth of the river, blocking the waterway. The inspired fleet officers and soldiers fought bravely to kill the enemy and wiped out the enemy ships in the river that night.

This is the "Nanjiangkou Victory" that rewrites the empire's national destiny.

Since then, the Red Blood Battle Flag has become a battle signal flag symbolizing "a decisive battle".

Amid the sharp alarm, Bai Zhizhan locked the watertight door.

Through the porthole, Bai Zhizhan saw that all the five battle cruisers behind were hung with red blood battle flags and also used the flag saying "Seeking to the death".

"The Empire fleet has advancement but no retreat; fight bravely to fight the enemy and move forward; sacrifice one's life for justice and achieve one's own good deeds; do not care about my duty..."

Amid the military singing, the six warships sounded their whistles at the same time.

From a distance, the six warships were like six heavy armored knights holding long spears and wearing steel armor, running wildly towards the enemy formation with swords and swords.

…………

The western border of the empire, the Emerald Rivers and Valleys.

Thousands of years ago, the ancestors of the empire had already arrived here, transforming this wild land of overgrown weeds and wild beasts with their hard-working hands into fertile fields, and along the rivers originating from the eastern snow-capped mountains and winding westwards, reclaiming lush oasis after lotus roots.

This river is therefore named "Emerald".

But now, this place has become a burial place for thousands of imperial soldiers.

After four years of fierce battle, more than one million soldiers died here. In the offensive battle last year alone, at least 600,000 officers and soldiers stayed here forever.

Under the devastation of the war, the town turned into ruins, the oasis turned into scorched earth, and the once passionate and indignant soldiers also turned into walking dead.

Victory is like the stars in the sky, visible, but never reachable. It is more like the grass hanging in front of the donkey, it seems that you can bite it as long as you take a step forward, and every time you strive forward, the distance has not been shortened. The only change is that the desire for victory is no longer so strong.

Last night, the first snowfall of the year fell.

Overnight, the valley completely changed, just like a thick and colorful oil painting suddenly turned into a Chinese painting with beautiful mountains and rivers, with only black and white colors left between the world.

In the east of the valley, the Tibetan Bing Valley.

This valley was named after the war that changed world history more than a thousand years ago. In the first duel that broke out between the strongest empires in the East and the West in history, the Zhenxi Jiedu of the former dynasty used 20,000 soldiers and horses hidden here to defeat the strong enemy with 200,000 troops, and established the dominant position of the Eastern Empire in the hinterland of the mainland in one fell swoop. This dark and hidden canyon was also named.

Now, this is the starting position of the First Cavalry Division of the Imperial Guards.

In the canyon, ten thousand war horses and ten thousand cavalrymen were ready.

Ten thousand soldiers were divided into ten thousand-person brigades, each thousand-person brigade was divided into ten hundred-person squadrons, and each hundred-person squadron had ten ten-person squadrons.

As usual, officers are at the forefront of the team.

Except for the unexpected snowstorm, everything else went according to the plan.

I blew up the bed at four o'clock in the morning, had dinner at half past four o'clock, fed the war horses at half past five o'clock, sorted out weapons and equipment at half past six o'clock.
To be continued...