Daily life with the ship girl

"Good idea, maybe we can also popularize Chinese culture in this world, haha, let's go, let's go find Sigsby."

"Yes, of course. Tang poetry and Song lyrics are the most beautiful." Pinghai said proudly.

"of course."

As Li Ran and Ping Hai talked, they entered the forest and headed towards the iron mine in the forest.

Chapter 50: Deep Sea Attack

A few minutes later, Li Ran and Pinghai arrived near the Linjian Iron Mine. The name was too simple, but it was built very neatly by many goblins. Many goblins were operating engineering machinery that were dozens or hundreds of times larger than them. The huge contrast made Li Ran feel a little weird.

The goblins saw Li Ran coming. The one in charge of iron mining in the forest was an elder among the goblins.

There is a social system structure among the elves, and they implement the Council of Elders system. The leaders of the elves are the elders among them, but the chief of the tribe is the young elves.

It was the first time that Li Ran saw this goblin. He squatted down and said with gratitude:

"Thank you for your hard work over the past half month."

Most of the names of fairies are basically single-word, and a few are double-word. In fact, this is just because the fairy language is too obscure and difficult to understand. In order to communicate with humans and ship girls, the fairies simplified the names of the fairy language into easy-to-understand characters and used them as their own names. He looked at Li Ran and asked:

"You are too polite, Admiral. My name is Na, and I am an elder of the Ruoduo Elders' Council. I heard from the tribe leader that the Ruoduo fairies are honored to be able to return to the ocean and not have to live in seclusion in the forest for the rest of their lives. This is all thanks to the power of the Admiral. By the way, why are you here today?"

"I'm here to look for Sigsby. I heard she came to your place to help."

"Sigsby? She is in the mine, but I'm afraid your Excellency the Admiral can't get in. I'll go and notify her. Please wait a moment, your Excellency the Admiral." Na nodded. Fairies are creatures similar to elves, so their appearance will not age with time. Therefore, Na looks about the same age as Ruo Duoruo.

Li Ran nodded. Indeed, the mine cave opened by the goblins was only about 1.45 meters high. As a little girl, Sigsby could go in. As for him, it would be a bit difficult. He nodded and said:

"Then I'll trouble you, Elder Na."

Na nodded, adjusted the small mining lamp on his forehead, and walked towards the entrance of the mine:

"It's a small matter. I will go and inform them. Your Excellency, please feel free to visit. Elder Lin is in charge of the summary of the raw ore. She is over there and you can go and see her."

Li Ran watched Elder Na walk away before he stood up. He and Ping Hai walked to where Elder Lin was. He looked at the little man standing on a mine cart and directing the people. The more he looked at him, the more he looked like a miniature Gudako. This felt very strange. He walked over and asked:

"Excuse me, is this Elder Lin?"

When Elder Lin heard what Li Ran said, she nodded and said:

"It's the Admiral. How come you have time to come here today?"

"I'm ashamed to say that the port area has been busy with planning, and I haven't had time to come and see you all. Thank you all for your help over the past half month."

"You are too polite, Admiral. The fairies are meant to serve you and the ship girls. Moreover, you are able to hand over such a good open-pit mine to our Ruoduo tribe, which solves the food problem of our tribe. Don't worry, Admiral. As long as the mineral refining equipment of our fairy tribe is officially completed, these high-quality raw ores will continuously provide the best quality steel resources for your port area." Elder Rin said confidently.

Li Ran smiled and said quickly:

"Then I would like to thank the fairies for their help."

"You are too polite, Admiral. By the way, I forgot to mention one thing to you, that is, there is too little special steel needed to manufacture large equipment. I hope you can import a batch of high-strength special steel so that the mineral refining equipment can be completed faster. In addition, many tools can only be made by large human equipment, such as alloy drills for prospecting, small ore transporters, large hydraulic devices, etc."

Li Ran felt somewhat helpless, but he also knew that the lack of tools the fairies mentioned must be solved. He listened patiently, thought for a while and said:

"How about this, when Elder Lin returns, he can list the equipment, resources, tools, etc. he needs and ask Patriarch Ruo Duoruo to give them to me, and I will go and buy them, how about that?"

"Your Excellency the Admiral is right. Okay, I will calculate the missing materials as soon as possible. By the way, I also want to congratulate the Admiral. The oil mine on the island has been proven to have reserves of at least several million cubic meters. However, there is still the same problem. Due to the lack of large-scale oil extraction equipment, the amount of crude oil that can be extracted and refined into finished gasoline every day can only be maintained at about 100 standard units."

"I understand. As long as it's a problem with the equipment, I will solve it as soon as possible. However, will there be any problems with your operation of large equipment?"

Honesty is the virtue of fairies. Although the magical fairies have their own pride, they will not look down on others. Elder Lin, as the oldest fairy in the tribe, has cooperated with senior human engineers. However, due to some reasons, the garrison of this island was abandoned in an instant. It was not until Li Ran appeared that many fairies were able to resume their old business. She thought for a while and said:

"Don't worry, Admiral. Fairies are born to be friends with machines. However, if we have senior human engineers join us, I'm sure it will improve efficiency to a certain extent."

"Well, as long as it is necessary, you go back and discuss with Chief Ruo Duo Ruo, and then organize the necessary requirements into a report for me, and I will arrange for a solution as soon as possible."

"Admiral, Admiral." Sigsby's voice came, and she trotted over and threw herself into Li Ran's arms.

"Why do you look like a little cat?" Li Ran looked at Sigsby, whose clothes were all stained and her face was black. He smiled and wiped her face.

"Hehe, Admiral, the fairies are amazing. The iron mines in the forest are all high-quality ores that are easy to mine. Now we don't have to worry about steel for the battleships."

"You, didn't cause any trouble for the fairies?"

"No, Sigsby is very well behaved. By the way, Admiral, why are you here?"

"I miss you. How are you? Are you tired?"

"I'm not tired. Sister Pinghai came at the right time. I need your help with something."

Pinghai was concentrating on watching the raw ore being transported out of the mine tracks. Sigsby's call brought him back to his senses. He said in a somewhat strange tone:

"What's the deal?"

"Well, there's a piece of equipment malfunctioning in the mine, and I'm afraid I can't fix it. The goblins are very worried."

Pinghai glanced at Li Ran, waiting for his opinion. Li Ran smiled and said:

"Why are you looking at me? Go ahead, I'll go around by myself."

"Hehe, Admiral, I'll borrow Sister Pinghai." Sigsby smiled and pulled Pinghai towards the entrance of the mine.

"Well, be careful." Li Ran warned, watching Sigsby and Pinghai enter the iron mine in the forest. He glanced at the sky, and saw dark clouds in the distance, and it looked like it was going to rain again.

At this moment, Li Ran heard an urgent call coming from the admiral's personal network channel.

Li Ran answered the call, and then heard Lexington's voice, full of anxiety:

"Admiral, the Deep Sea Fleet is heading towards the port area. You are not in the Deep Water Harbor, are you?"

"No, where have you been?" When Li Ran heard that the deep sea was coming, his face became a little serious, thinking that what was coming would finally come.

"That's good. We are already on the sea near the port. We will go around from the east coast. By the way, if Pinghai and Sigsby are here, have them notify the fairies working at the docks to evacuate as soon as possible."

Li Ran quickly replied:

"I see. The west coast may be the focus of the deep sea fleet's attack. Be careful."

"Admiral, please be careful too."

"Got it." Li Ran took a deep breath and hung up the phone.

Sigsby and Pinghai also heard it, and they immediately ran out of the mine and waited for Li Ran's order.

Chapter 51: Sigsby prepares to strike back

Pinghai and Sigsby just stood quietly in front of Li Ran, looking at him with firm expressions, waiting for his instructions.

Li Ran frowned. Although he had expected that there would come a day when he would have to face off against the Deep Sea, the Deep Sea's attack still came too fast.

He looked at Pinghai and Sigsby, took a deep breath, and as the sky became increasingly gloomy, his face finally turned grim and he said:

"Pinghai, you go to the port immediately to inform the fairies to take refuge in a safe area to prevent air raids from the deep sea. Sigsby, you and I will do it."

"Understood, Admiral." Ping Hai nodded, stood at attention and saluted, then immediately ran towards the port terminal.

Li Ran thought about it. Although the Linjian Iron Mine was deep in the center of Xiguang Island, he didn't know whether the attack range of the deep-sea carrier-based aircraft would extend here. Besides, there were a large number of fairies gathered at the port docks, and there were also fairies working in other places on the island. He had to inform all the fairies to prepare for evacuation as soon as possible. So he walked up to Elder Lin who was still directing the transportation of the raw ore and said:

"Elder Lin, the deep sea is approaching Xiguang Island. You should quickly notify all the fairies to prepare for evacuation."

"Deep sea?" Elder Lin frowned and nodded:

"Understood, Admiral, don't worry. I will ask the children of the tribe to notify the tribesmen in each mining area. By the way, Admiral, since you are going to fight against the deep sea, this thing will surely be very helpful to you. Please wait a moment."

Although Li Ran was anxious to go to the port, he knew that it was too dangerous for him to go there with his flesh and blood body. However, as a soldier, there was no reason to hide behind. This time, he was determined to see what the so-called deep-sea fleet was like.

Elder Lin spoke to several tribesmen in the goblin language, and then many goblins immediately scattered away, presumably to inform the tribesmen to take refuge, while a goblin ran into the entrance of the mine. Not long after, Elder Na and several other goblins came out carrying an alloy box. Li Ran hurriedly went up to them and asked:

"This is?"

Elder Lin climbed down from the height at this time, walked beside Elder Dana, patted the alloy box and said:

"This is a telescope that we, the Ruoduo fairies, have tried to make. However, the accuracy is not high. Limited by the lack of high-quality crystals, the maximum viewing range is only about 10 nautical miles. I originally wanted to make it more perfect before giving it to the admiral. However, the war is urgent now, and the Ruoduo fairies also hope to be able to help the admiral. I hope the admiral will accept this thing."

As they spoke, Elder Lin and Elder Na looked at Li Ran with nervous expressions.

Li Ran looked at the expressions of the two goblin elders, smiled bitterly and said:

"I will definitely accept it. Your expressions make me feel guilty. You have been the ones who have helped me the most in the past half month. I really don't deserve this."

Elder Na said seriously:

"Admiral, in my memory, humans are all greedy, but you are an exception. This is just a prototype. When you can provide better crystals, we will definitely make better products. This is also a token of gratitude from the fairies for taking you in, so you don't have to worry about it."

"Okay, I won't be pretentious. The situation is urgent now, let's act separately." Li Ran did not refuse. He had heard from Lexington that the craftsmanship of the elves was of higher quality than that of human military products. He took the alloy box, opened it, and saw the telescope.

The telescope was engraved with fairy characters, and the body was made of brass with extremely delicate patterns on it. It was also telescopic. He rubbed and played with the telescope for a while, then thanked him again.

Elder Lin added:

"This telescope can adjust the viewing distance through the aperture in the front."

Li Ran nodded, and as Elder Lin said, he used the telescope and adjusted the aperture. As expected, he found that the viewing distance range could be adjusted by the aperture. He exclaimed:

"You have helped me a lot. Without further ado, I will go to the port first. The deep sea is coming with great force this time, and I really want to see it for myself."

When Sigsby heard what Li Ran said, she gritted her teeth and wanted to tell him not to go, but seeing her commander's determined face, she could only silently give up the idea.

Li Ran took the telescope in his hand, took Sigsby's hand with his other hand, and then said goodbye to Elder Lin and the others.

Just as Li Ran and Sigsby were rushing to the port dock, Lexington and others finally encountered the deep-sea fleet in the waters near Xiguang Island, on the northwest coast.

"One deep-sea battleship, two deep-sea light carriers, one deep-sea heavy cruiser, and two deep-sea destroyers. These should be the vanguard of the deep-sea fleet."

Helena's ship equipment is complete and has a golden radar equipment. She has to expose it this time. However, compared with Li Ran's safety and the safety of the port, there is nothing she can do if the secret is exposed. She can only find a way to explain it at that time.

Helena put down her psychological burden and continued, reading the information from the radar:

"Oh, right, the deep-sea light carrier's aircraft have all come over. There are eighty-six propeller-type carrier-based bombers and thirty-six deep-sea delta-wing fighters. They are approaching us. They want to seize air superiority."

Lexington had already reunited with Saratoga halfway. They had just reunited after sending Quincy and Juno out for a distance. When they were returning, they found that a large number of deep-sea fleets from Island C had been dispatched, so they rushed back to the port area. Unexpectedly, they encountered the vanguard of the deep-sea fleet. However, after hearing that Helena had figured out the enemy situation, she took a deep breath. As the secretary ship of the Xiguang Naval Base and the flagship of the First Fleet of Xiguang Island, she was not afraid at all, but said to her sister:

"With Gaga and I here, we will be responsible for ensuring air superiority."

Bismarck's face was grim, and she nodded:

"Leave the fire suppression to me and Richelieu. Helena, you, Vauquelin, and Firefly will be responsible for protecting them."

"Understood." Helena nodded solemnly. Although this was only a full-strength deep-sea vanguard fleet, the enemy also had battleship units. The enemy's firepower could still cause huge damage to their own aircraft carrier units. She thought for a moment and said:

"Walkeran, Firefly, you guys take charge of the left wing, and I'll take charge of the right wing."

"Got it." Walkerlan and Firefly looked at each other and responded in unison.

"Form a wheel formation!" Lexington knew what Helena meant. She was reminding him to change the formation. Originally it was a double vertical formation, and now she gave the order to change the formation.

The First Fleet consisted of eight people. Lexington became the center of the formation, Richelieu was responsible for the rear, and Bismarck was responsible for the front. Behind Bismarck was Saratoga, and on both wings were Vauquelin, Firefly and Helena.

When the formation was stabilized, everyone began to move forward at a constant speed. Lexington and Saratoga began to launch carrier-based aircraft. Carrier-based aircraft continued to take off from the armored plates of the Lexington sisters and then disappeared into the clouds.

The battle between aircraft carriers for air supremacy began before the two fleets even met.

As the two fleets got closer, a few deep-sea carrier-based aircraft occasionally broke through the air fire interception of Lexington and Saratoga.

However, it was obvious that Helena's anti-aircraft machine guns were a powerful weapon against these carrier-based aircraft. From time to time, deep-sea propeller bombers were shot down and fell into the sea, exploding.

Seeing this scene, Bismarck had to look at this light cruiser with a new respect, and Richelieu also showed admiration in his eyes.

Without any suspense, Lexington and Saratoga joined forces, easily seized air supremacy, and began to shift air firepower towards the deep-sea fleet.

"Attention, we have entered the enemy's firing range!" Helena detected through the golden radar that the deep sea was less than 15 nautical miles away from them. If it were not for the weather, the artillery battle might have already begun.

However, Helena just looked at the radar and saw that the six red dots of the enemy were slowly disappearing. She said in shock:

"The Deep Sea Fleet's signal has disappeared."

Saratoga smiled and looked at Helena who was in charge of guarding and searching for enemies behind her, and said,

"Of course it disappeared. My sister and I sank the entire deep-sea fleet with a single bombing."

"All sunk?" Helena was stunned for a moment. Just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief, she found that the number of red dots began to increase where the red dots disappeared. They were so dense that Helena's face suddenly changed. She said in a bitter voice:

"Fifteen miles away from us, six fully staffed deep-sea fleets suddenly appeared. I failed to locate the enemy and could not determine their lineup. They must be the main deep-sea fleet."

Lexington sat in the center and glanced behind her. That was the port area, everyone's port area, the admiral's home. No one was allowed to harm this home. She didn't care about the heavy losses of her carrier-based aircraft, but for the first time gave an order with a cold tone:

"Everyone, form a single horizontal formation. Bismarck and Richelieu will suppress the enemy with firepower. Don't save resources. This battle concerns the future of the port. Please go all out!"

This was the first time Saratoga saw her sister like this. Unlike her usual gentle style, her sister at this moment was too strong and too charming. Gaga's eyes became blurred. It was so great to have such a sister.

"Jia Jia!" Lexington called out. Seeing her sister still in a daze, she was a little angry and said in a serious tone:

"Pay attention to the carrier-based aircraft bombing cover and provide landing support for the Bismarck and Richelieu bombardments."