Chapter 80

Boom—

Accompanied by a loud blast that rang before Belfast, a towering water column shot up on the sea, and the spot where Nengdai stood was already flooded with red.

The outcome was obvious—all four torpedoes hit, and Nengdai was declared sunk!

Seeing this, Belfast reached out forward. A puff of smoke rose from around her, and the thick smoke quickly obscured Fushun's advance, making it impossible for her to pinpoint Belfast's exact position.

But Fushun did not keep searching for Belfast's position; instead she swiftly skirted the smoke and lunged at the rearmost Banrenma.

Because Banrenma takes a long time to reload, it needs a full twenty to thirty seconds before it can finish loading the second round of carrier aircraft.

So, to Fushun, the current Banrenma is a defenseless sitting duck.

Sure enough, when Fushun turned her attention to Banrenma, Belfast in the smoke could no longer remain hidden.

After all, as a light cruiser, her duty is to shield the aircraft carrier from threats, and now Fushun's target is clearly Banrenma, so she must fulfill her role and draw Fushun's fire onto herself.

Thus, amidst the smoke, Belfast fired a shell at Fushun and dropped a spread of torpedoes.

A blue shell with a wavering tail flame was fired toward Fushun's rear. When Belfast's gun fired, Fushun immediately turned toward her, rapidly fired two shots, and then paid no further heed.

It was obvious that Fushun had great confidence in those two shots. And as she expected, the shells precisely hit Belfast, who had revealed her position in the smoke.

Red flared across Belfast's uniform; she could only smile ruefully as she watched Fushun charge at Banrenma from afar. Once the red light hit her, her whole body turned red, and she was deemed out of the fight.

Facing the defenseless Banrenma, Fushun easily secured the final victory.

After watching everything unfold at sea, Qin Ge lowered his binoculars and said, 'As expected, the ship girls' combat still needs a commander's direction; otherwise this kind of tactic could never bring out their full potential.'

'Then, Commander Qin Ge, have you figured out how to counter Elder Sister Fushun's method?' Taiyuan asked him from the side.

Qin Ge shook his head. 'Fushun's method is entirely based on her own combat experience and attributes, overwhelming Nengdai, Belfast, and Banrenma.'

'When Nengdai, Belfast, and Banrenma haven't reached a certain level of proficiency, this method is nearly unsolvable, for the superiority of proficiency is simply too overwhelming.'

Taiyuan nodded in agreement. Earlier, when they first faced the beginner Siren Fleet, they had struggled greatly. But once their proficiency increased, against that low‑level Siren Fleet they found it very easy.

This, then, is the all‑around boost that increased proficiency brings, and also the total overwhelm that increased proficiency exerts on low‑level units.

Such overwhelm can be turned into victory by tactics, but the cost is also huge, and achieving it requires leveraging some terrain or even equipment advantages.

That is precisely why Qin Ge shook his head at Taiyuan: Nengdai and her ilk are like students just entering a martial arts school, wanting to defeat the martial‑arts instructor Fushun; under these exercise rules they still have a long way to go.

While the two were chatting, Nengdai and her companions, together with Fushun, also glided toward the shore.

After they all came ashore, Belfast, Banrenma, and Nengdai apologized to Qin Ge.

'Sorry, Commander (Master), we lost too quickly.'

Qin Ge shook his head. 'Didn't I tell you before? This is just a test, and if you could now defeat Fushun, that would be a miracle.'

'What Commander Qin Ge said is right—you don't need to be so discouraged. I've fought many, many battles, and faced opponents far stronger than you. So losing to me isn't surprising; if you could beat me, that would truly be strange.' Fushun said to Nengdai and her companions.

Qin Ge smiled at Fushun's words, then turned to Nengdai, Banrenma, and Belfast and said, 'Let's not talk about the loss for now; having just watched your entire battle, I'll summarize the mistakes you made in this fight.'

'Yes!' Upon hearing Qin Ge's words, everyone perked up their ears and listened attentively.

'First, your initial formation is wrong.' Qin Ge told them directly, 'The single‑column formation is meant to slice through the enemy's depth, but against a single Fushun it's useless.'

'Second, Banrenma was overly tense, releasing all its carrier aircraft at once and launching an attack with them all together; the usual practice of controlling the aircraft separately had been almost forgotten.'

Third, Belfast clearly has the Smoke Shell skill, and can fully cooperate with Nengdai to delay Fushun's steps, but you didn't adopt it.

Fourth, you are too eager to show your own abilities, so during battle you have no coordination whatsoever.

Imagine, if the Banrenma's fighter aircraft, within the range that Fushun's anti-air guns cannot reach, keeps harassing back and forth, and Nengdai and Belfast, you two are simultaneously within the smoke, using the smoke's coverage range, from time to time start attacking Fushun, does she still have that quick pace to rush toward Banrenma?

After Qin Ge finished speaking, looking at the three with their heads down, he said, "Don't be discouraged; this is exactly the result I wanted to see. Because any experience comes from failure and lessons, and the problems exposed by your failures are precisely the aid for your future progress."

"Please, Commander, teach us what we should do!" Banrenma lifted his head at this moment, said to Qin Ge, with a very firm tone.

Qin Ge nodded with a smile, "This is also exactly the new tactic I am going to tell you about next, called the Triangle Tactic."

"Triangle Tactic?" Nengdai and the others glanced at each other, and even Fushun and Taiyuan nearby looked at Qin Ge with great curiosity.

"Well, as everyone knows, a triangle is the most stable, and the Triangle Defense Formation possesses the stability of its defense, the mutual responsiveness and coordination between points, and other advantages." Qin Ge said to Nengdai and the others.