Chapter 83: Our Entire Mediterranean Fleet Combined Probably Couldn't Win

Wang Wenwu stared at him for a few seconds, then turned: "Captain Li Te."

"Here."

"Open shipwide broadcast, maximum volume."

"Yes, sir."

A few minutes later, the broadcast horns of the Restoration Ship sounded. Not toward the docks, but toward the directions beyond the harbor where the Chinese had gathered.

Wang Wenwu's voice carried through the loudspeakers, echoing over the skies of Colombo Harbor:

"Fellow citizens of the Lanfang Republic! We have heard your voices and seen your flags! Today we cannot come ashore, but please remember—"

He paused, letting the sea breeze carry his voice farther:

"Lanfang still stands! If Lanfang's warship can sail to Colombo, it can sail to any place in the world where Chinese people suffer humiliation! Please take care of yourselves, live well, and stand tall! One day, we will walk onto this land with dignity and shake your hands!"

Outside the harbor, silence fell for a moment.

Then, long-suppressed shouts erupted. Even from hundreds of meters away, people could be seen jumping, waving, and crying.

The Governor's face turned livid: "Mr. Wang, this is incitement!"

"No," Wang Wenwu said calmly, "I am merely stating facts."

He turned and walked down the gangway, stopping before the Governor, lowering his voice:

"Your Excellency the Governor, I know you received orders from London to give us a show of force. But I also hope you understand one thing—"

He pointed at the giant warship behind him:

"This ship has eight 381-millimeter Main Guns. A single Shell weighs as much as all the rifle bullets of your soldiers combined. If we are unhappy, we don't even need to come ashore—we can paralyze Djibouti Harbor for a month."

The Governor's face went white.

"Of course," Wang Wenwu's tone softened, "we are here to reason, not to fight. Once our fresh water is replenished, we will leave. As for our fellow citizens on shore... if they receive any unfair treatment because of today's events, I guarantee that next time it will be more than one ship."

After he finished speaking, he turned and returned to the ship.

Fresh water resupply took only two hours. Upon departure, the Yingguo cruiser followed again, but this time the Distance was greater—fifteen nautical miles.

Li Te watched the increasingly distant Yingguo warship from the bridge and said: "They're afraid."

"Not afraid," Wang Wenwu stood beside him. "Reassessing. The Yingguo are doing the math: how much it would cost to provoke us."

"Have they figured out the result?"

"We'll know soon enough."

The chase in the Gulf of Aden became a classic episode of this voyage.

That afternoon, the Restoration Ship cruised at 20 knots. Three Yingguo cruisers paralleled on the port side at ten nautical miles, having followed for four days.

Li Te suddenly said: "Let's play with them."

He ordered: "Engine room, increase speed to 28 knots, sustain for twenty minutes. Then suddenly drop to 15 knots."

The order was carried out.

The Restoration Ship surged forward, her bow rising, her wake abruptly widening. In just a few minutes, she left the Yingguo cruisers five nautical miles behind. The Yingguo ships chased desperately, black smoke pouring from their funnels, but the Distance kept growing.

Twenty minutes later, the Restoration Ship suddenly decelerated.

The Yingguo cruisers were caught off guard and overshot. By the time they struggled to turn around, they were twenty nautical miles behind.

On the bridge, the young sailors couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Stay serious," Li Te said, but the corners of his own mouth were also turned up. "Signal them: does our ship need to wait for them?"

This time the Yingguo reply came quickly and was very simple: "No need. Wishing you smooth sailing."

Then, the three cruisers turned and headed toward Aden Harbor—they had stopped following.

"They conceded," Wang Wenwu said.

"Not conceded—saving face." Li Te watched the receding silhouettes of the ships. "If they kept following, their boilers would have blown."

A communications sailor ran over again: "Captain, we just intercepted a Yingguo fleet telegram. Addressed to London."

"Contents?"

"Very long, but summarized in one sentence: the Restoration Ship's actual speed far exceeds estimates, and her tactical advantage is insurmountable. Recommend reassessing overall strategy."

Wang Wenwu and Li Te exchanged glances.

"This is exactly the effect we wanted," Wang Wenwu said. "Let them tell London themselves: force won't work, they need to change their approach."

When the Suez Canal transit fee bill arrived, even Wang Wenwu raised an eyebrow.

"Fifty thousand pounds?" He looked at the telegram. "Five times the standard fee?"

"The Canal Authority's explanation is: 'Special transit fee for oversized vessels,'" the communications sailor said. "They also said that if we don't accept, we can detour around the Cape of Good Hope."

Li Te sneered: "Detouring around the Cape of Good Hope means eight thousand more nautical miles and twenty more days. They've calculated that we must pass through here."

"Do we pay?" Wang Wenwu asked.

"Pay," Li Te said. "Young Master said that the money spent now, they'll pay back tenfold in the future."

He signed his approval, then added: "Tell finance to set up a separate ledger. The entry shall be called 'Suez Transit Fee—Debt.'"

More troublesome was the transit arrangement.

The Canal Authority demanded: the Restoration Ship must pass through alone at midnight, with the waterway cleared for ten kilometers ahead and behind. All other vessels must dock and wait, and their losses would be compensated by the Lanfang side.

"This is deliberate obstruction," Wang Wenwu said after reading the terms. "Night transit, poor visibility, a canal this narrow—one careless moment and she runs aground."

"But they didn't count on one thing." Li Te pointed at the blueprints. "The Restoration Ship has a full set of electric searchlights and side-mounted rangefinders. At night, she sees more clearly than during the day."

He ordered: "All hands, set Condition One readiness throughout the ship. Double manpower at all stations, engine room ready for reverse at all times, helmsman replaced with the most experienced veteran. We will show the Yingguo what modern naval seamanship looks like."

The transit time was set for midnight.

At eleven o'clock at night, the northern entrance of the Suez Canal had already been cleared.

Searchlights on both banks blazed at full power, illuminating the waterway bright as day. The Yingguo garrison troops were all at their posts, with a sentry every fifty meters, soldiers standing with rifles in hand, eyes fixed on the colossal shape growing ever closer on the river.

"My God..."

Inside the sentry post, the young Lieutenant Charles lowered his telescope, his voice dry.

He had attended the launch ceremony of the Dauntless, and at the time thought it was the most majestic warship in the world. But now, the thing before his eyes made the Dauntless look like a toy.

Its length was at least a third greater. Its width nearly matched the canal itself. The superstructure towered high, and the silhouettes of four main gun turrets under the searchlights looked like four steel castles. Most terrifying was the quiet — such a colossal hull approaching, yet the engine sound was low and steady, with none of the roar of coal-fired boilers.

"Lieutenant," the soldier beside him asked in a low voice, "did the Chinese really build this?"

"That's what the intelligence says." Charles raised his telescope again. "The Persian Gulf, a place called Lanfang."

"How... did they do it?"

"I don't know." Charles spoke honestly. "But I do know one thing — if this ship is the enemy's, our entire Mediterranean Fleet combined probably couldn't beat it."

The soldier fell silent.