The torpedo is not small, and the inner cabin of the submarine is small. It is the limit for a submarine to carry four torpedoes. It is precisely because there are few torpedoes that they must ensure that every time they launch a torpedo, which is really impossible to afford to waste.

On the sea, as the warship sinks, a huge vortex forms on the sea. Even if a soldier who reacts quickly and is lucky enough to jump into the ship to escape, it is difficult to escape the bad luck of being swept into the bottom of the sea by the vortex.

"The naval battle in the era of Iron-clad ships is more cruel than in the era of Sails and warships, and the casualties are greater!" Du Bailei looked at the vortex and sighed, then changed his tone, "If you want to break through, at least more than half of the warships must be sacrificed, and it may even be wiped out..."

"Do you want to surrender?" Hebu asked softly.

"Surrender should be the best choice." Du Bailei did not deny it, but his tone seemed helpless, "Even if he could break through, it would be impossible to turn the situation around. There is no need to continue fighting in South Africa in this battle. The Qing people could easily win the final victory with their naval advantages. We do not need to let so many outstanding soldiers die in this sea area in vain."

As soon as he finished speaking, another loud explosion came from the distance. Du Bailei turned around numbly and looked at the sea. At this time, the coalition warships on the sea were already in chaos, and they were evading all kinds of things on the sea like headless flies, worried that they would be targeted by the Qing submarines.

"This battle can no longer be fought!" Du Bailei said in a silence.

The morale of the army was disintegrated, the morale was dispersed, and it was on the verge of collapse, so it was indeed impossible to continue to fight. However, He Bu did not agree with surrender. Even if he wanted to surrender, he could not surrender at this time. Now there are about 60 iron-clad ships of all sizes left in the coalition fleet. Once he surrendered, the strength of the Qing Dynasty's naval strength would inevitably surge. Not only England, but also the entire Europe could not compete with the Qing Dynasty.

After pondering for a moment, he said slowly: "The army's morale is shaken and its morale is not strong, mainly due to fear of submarines. If you change the style of play, there is still hope to turn the situation around."

"Change another way of playing?" Du Bailei narrowed his eyes slightly, "Chasing the Qing fleet?"

"No," He Bu nodded, "Whether the Qing army retreated or was circling around, we ignored it and went west directly. The submarine had a fatal weakness, slow speed! The speed of sailing underwater was particularly slow! As long as we got rid of the Qing army's submarine, we still had hope of breaking through!"

Du Bailei said: "There is indeed a waterway in the south of Maputo Bay to go out to sea, but how could the Qing army not carry out defense? I am sure that the waterway must be covered with mines."

"We can abandon the ship and land and break through land." Hebu said in a deep voice: "Don't say that the Qing army would abandon the ship and land, even if the Qing army intercepted it on land, it would not be able to intercept it!"

Abandoned the ship and landed? Du Bailei glanced at him and guessed the other party's thoughts. The other party was worried that these warships would fall into the hands of the Qing army, and the Qing Dynasty would have unparalleled combat power, but its foundation was still a little weak. Once these sixty iron-clad ships were seized, their strength would inevitably surge, and England could not breathe.

If it were before the French-Prussian War, he would be happy to see the British defeat, but now France needs to work with England to restrict Germany, and England's strength has been greatly damaged, which is not a good thing for France.

However, what would happen if the ship abandoned and landed on the battlefield? The Qing army would definitely land on the tens of thousands of naval forces that fled relentlessly. Under the pursuit of the Qing army, they would have the opportunity to cross mountains and ridges and flee back to Durban?

Turning around, the army has no fighting spirit and cannot break through the bay entrance. In fact, there are two ways in front of us - surrender or abandoning the ship to land. As for fighting to the death, it is now a luxury.

Seeing that he didn't say anything, He Bu was a little anxious and immediately advised: "No matter what decision is, you must leave here first, and then be sunk by a submarine to several warships, and you will completely collapse."

Du Bailei nodded and immediately ordered a loud voice to order the fleet to retreat to the waters northwest of the Qing army fleet, first break away from the attack range of the Qing army submarines, and then discuss calmly.

The warships of various countries that were on the verge of collapse, which had been attacked by submarines, did not think too much after receiving the order, and rushed to retreat to their designated locations, fearing that they would become the target of the submarine's attack, hiding under the water, and being able to launch torpedoes to sink their warships at any time, had already made them feel strongly afraid.

The coalition fleet was not in a hurry to break through, so Xiao Mingliang naturally ignored it. It was more beneficial for them to delay time. Once it was dark and they could not see the torpedo tracks, the coalition fleet would become fish on the chopping board and be slaughtered.

On the flagship "Sevani", Du Bailei felt relieved when he saw the Qing fleet still moving. The coalition fleet was in chaos and retreated like a swarm. If the Qing fleet followed and chased like before, it would definitely be an unimaginable disaster!

"The Qing army did not follow and pursue, and the fleet could take the opportunity to widen the distance." He Bu reminded him without missing the opportunity: "Once we have the distance wide and persist until dark, we can calmly abandon the ship and land... This is a rare opportunity!"

Du Bailei looked at him angrily, "Get away the distance, do you think the speed of the fleet can be faster than the torpedo boats of the Qing army?"

He heard this, He Bu smiled and said, "The Qing army may not dare to send torpedo boats to follow and pursue." He himself did not believe this. The Qing army would never allow their fleet to escape from sight. The speed of the torpedo boats should be above twenty-five knots. It is impossible to get rid of the Qing army's tracking!

"Whether to surrender or abandon the ship to land, it can be said that it is a life-and-death choice. It is better to ask the opinions of the navies of various countries." Du Bailei said in a deep voice: "Even as the commander of the coalition forces, I have no right to decide their life and death."

"Report—." The communication officer quickly walked up to the two of them, "The 'Yingfu Lai Xibai' asked, have you given up breaking through the bay entrance?"

"How do you think you should reply to Bendman?" Du Bailei asked in a calm tone.

After pondering for a moment, He Bu said: "It is impossible to forcibly break through the bay entrance. We will temporarily leave the attack area of ​​the Qing submarines, and then convene a meeting of naval generals from various countries to discuss the next action plan."

Du Bailei said without hesitation: "According to General He Bu's reply."

On the flagship of the "Engfort Xibai", after listening to the communications officer's report, Bendman looked at the warships of various countries that were already in chaos and were scrambling to escape. To be fair, Du Bailei's order should be said to be very correct. In this case, if you do not retreat one after another, the fleet may collapse at any time.

However, this retreat will have a fatal blow to the morale of the military. If you want to break through, it is probably impossible. This is the reason why he asked whether he had given up breaking through from the entrance of the bay.

After a while of silence, he spoke: "Contact General Albini of Italy and say I want to talk to him."

The five-nation coalition was actually divided into two major camps, one was Britain and France, and the other was Germany and Austria. The reason why Benderman wanted to contact Albini was naturally to compete for the right to speak to protect his own interests. When the coalition fleet could not break through, it actually had no choice but to surrender.

Judging from the current situation of the coalition fleet, even the qualification to fight the Qing army to the end was lost. He did not object to surrender. In this situation, surrender can be said to be the most helpless, but it is also the wisest choice. If you continue to fight, it will definitely be the result of annihilation of the entire army!

However, he was worried that the British would not agree to surrender. After this battle, the strong rise of the Qing navy was unstoppable. Britain would not only lose the throne of the "maritime overlord", but also lose its vast overseas colonies. Even with his toes, the British would not agree to their surrender to the Qing people with so many ironclad ships.

Although Italy completed its unification lately and developed its industry for a short period of time and a weak foundation, it attached importance to naval construction and was not inferior to Britain and France in terms of design and construction of ironclad ships. In terms of total naval strength, number and total tonnage of ironclad ships, it was second only to Britain and France in Europe.

Lieutenant General Albini, who participated in the Battle of Lisa, stood on the bridge with a little lonely expression. In this battle, the Italian Navy suffered the greatest losses. As soon as the war started, he lost three warships at the entrance of the bay. In the subsequent half-hour fierce battle, he lost four warships, which can be said to be the most unlucky.

"General——, the 'Everlake Xibai' sent a flag slogan, General Bendman invites you to talk to you."

Albini only thought for a moment and understood what Bendman wanted to talk to him. He raised his telescope and glanced at it, searched the position of the 'Everlaxibai', before he put down the telescope and said, "Slow down-."

Soon, the number "Everlake Xibai" fell on, and after waiting to set up the springboard, Albini quickly boarded the number "Everlake Xibai". Bendman quickly stepped forward and asked directly: "What do you think about the current situation?"

Albini asked back, "Are you planning to surrender?"

"This battle can no longer be fought, and surrender is the wisest choice." Bendmann said directly: "However, Britain and France may not want to see the Qing navy grow rapidly."

Albini said: "Are there any other choices besides surrender?"

"If—." Bendman said slowly: "If Britain and France make other requests, such as slaughtering or blowing up warships..."

"I don't think anyone will agree." Albini said: "Destroying warships will only anger the Qing people. It is extremely unwise to anger the Qing people in this situation, and it will also destroy the possibility of us redeeming the warships, right?"

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Chapter completed!