Seven Seas Beacon Fire

From the perspective of the Victorian Empire, the Federation's victory in this war was a foregone conclusion. Although they suffered some setbacks in Silla, these were only setbacks to a certain extent. They were merely a misjudgment of the strategic direction made by the Federation army after a series of victories. To put it bluntly, they were a bit overconfident.

Now the federal army has refocused its main efforts on the southward advance. The federal navy, which now holds crucial control of the sea, will surely be able to assist the Colombian Federation in winning this war. For the Ming Kingdom, which has experienced a series of upheavals, all they can strive for now is a relatively decent peace.

If the Ming Dynasty were to suffer another military defeat, the domestic turmoil could worsen further, and no one could guarantee that the front lines that the Ming Dynasty had managed to maintain would not collapse even more rapidly.

Just like the Kingdom of Letania in Europe.

The Britons' biggest regret now is that the rapid collapse of the Kingdom of Letania on the European battlefield, with its sudden deaths far exceeding their expectations, has directly led to the situation that the Britons least wanted to see now unfolding in Europe—the Gauls, whom they hated the most, have once again become the dominant power on the European continent, and in the Britons' view, the Gauls will dominate the future situation in Europe in the foreseeable future.

This is absolutely terrible!

Even after the war, some people within Britain raised this existential question: We went to war with the Letanians to prevent the emergence of such a hegemon in Europe, but if we had known that the Gallic people would dominate the European situation after the war, we would have been better off maintaining friendly relations with Letania!

What was the point of fighting this war?

Having learned from the lessons of Europe, the Victorian Empire understood that even if it still disliked the Ming Dynasty, it could not allow the Ming Dynasty to collapse so easily. The United States had already gained too much from this war, not only swallowing up the entire Kingdom of Japan, but now even preparing to directly annex Luzon and Borneo.

Such a rate of expansion only suggests that the United States has a rather insatiable appetite.

The series of naval and land offensives launched by the United States around East City now signifies that the struggle between the two sides for Borneo has entered its most critical and intense stage.

In this situation, the United States, as an ally, asked Britain to come to its aid. The Victorian Empire really didn't want to help, but it couldn't directly refuse the Columbians' request, since they were still allies in name, weren't they?

So it is surprising that the two longest-serving and most experienced British battlecruisers were able to collide in a deep-water harbor like Singapore.

The British explanation was that their officers and soldiers were no longer focused on the war after the war in Europe ended (which was true), so a decline in their quality was inevitable.

By forcibly banning the three battlecruisers they had sent to the East in this way, the British clearly showed their unwillingness to provide much-needed assistance to the Colombians, who were currently facing a shortage of fast battleships.

Of course, were these two battlecruisers really damaged as badly as the British claimed? Anyone with a modicum of common sense would not think so. If the situation changed or if the Royal Navy of Victoria needed them, these two battlecruisers could probably repair themselves even faster than the HMS Yorktown aircraft carrier in another world during World War II, which completed repairs in three days, and quickly forget their injuries and set sail for battle.

Admiral Benson certainly understood the Britons' intentions, but he was powerless to do anything about it. The United States government was now trying to acquire the Leitanian High Seas Fleet's warships as quickly as possible. Whether it was the Dufflinger-class battlecruisers that had earned their reputation in the Battle of Jutland, the Seydlitz-class battlecruisers known as unsinkable, or even the Von der Tann-class battlecruisers, they were all extremely crucial to the Federation Navy at present.

However, the Royal Navy of Victoria, which actually controlled these warships, was unwilling to relinquish them. The British only indicated that they could deliver Leitanian Heligoland-class or Caesar-class battleships to the Columbians, but they refused to budge on the issue of high-speed ships.

Although there are no fast capital ships to assist in the battle, the Federation Navy is still demonstrating the fearless spirit of using Pensacola-class heavy cruisers to fight Kongo-class battlecruisers in another world.

My great Colombia doesn't have any high-speed capital ships right now, but doesn't it at least have high-speed cruisers?

Several new Omaha-class cruisers were assembled into a squadron to serve as a "youthful version of the vanguard fleet." Benson was determined to remain unchanged in the face of any eventuality. Especially after the four Colorado-class battleships of the 39th Fleet heading north joined the 38th Fleet amidst the eager anticipation of the officers and men, Admiral Benson was even more confident in winning the surface warship gun battle against the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy.

But then General Benson acted like a resentful wife waiting for her husband to come home from his social engagements. She checked her watch 48 times a day, but her "husband" never "came home" when it was time for him to leave work. She had clearly seen him enter the community from upstairs, but after that, he disappeared without a trace.

This situation can only prove one thing: the vixen also bought a house in this neighborhood (that's for sure).

After Admiral Benson employed the strategy of waiting for the enemy to run into his trap, Liu Duncheng's situation improved considerably. The Federation's dozen or so massive warships were constantly circling the South China Sea and the Bashi Channel. The reason for this circling was naturally to avoid submarines. If it weren't for the increasingly active Ming Dynasty submarines, these Federation warships would likely have simply chosen to stop and wait.

Tom's activity range is relatively fixed, so Jerry can run around freely.

-------------------------------------

During the two days of waiting for the rendezvous, Liu Duncheng did not stop and wait idly. Instead, he maintained the rhythm of hiding in Leyte Gulf at night and causing trouble during the day. He led his fleet to wherever there were fishermen or merchant ships. In short, he adhered to the principle of "showing off in front of people" and tried every means to let as many witnesses as possible see the scale of his fleet.

Just like those micro-business owners in the 21st century who like to go to 4S stores to take photos with all kinds of luxury cars in groups, what Liu Duncheng is doing now is basically not much different.

Liu Duncheng's proactive appearance further confirms that this guy must have a dozen capital ships at his disposal; otherwise, you can't explain why he's acting so arrogantly.

While most people's attention was drawn to the Luzon area, the fleet at Surabaya Port quietly began to move. Under the cover of the typhoon, the entire formation quickly sailed westward, which was almost equivalent to sailing against the wind in the direction the typhoon was coming from.

Even though the typhoon hasn't directly affected this area or caused any huge waves, the sea is still crashing against the bows of various ships in the Surabaya Fleet in this weather.

The ships in the Surabaya Fleet that had been damaged in the Battle of the Java Sea and whose damage had not yet been fully repaired naturally attracted the most attention in the fleet. Everyone was sincerely praying to God that these ships could safely complete their journey home.

But as the saying goes, what you fear most is what happens. Perhaps it was fate, but not long after the Surabaya Fleet left port, it collided with a Federal cruiser.

The Colombian cruiser was immediately terrified, imagining a police officer from the lighthouse arriving at the prison on his first day, only to find the prisoners having opened the gates and swarming out to sunbathe.

If you were a prison guard, wouldn't you be nervous?

Such a situation was inevitable and was also within the scope of previous expectations for unforeseen circumstances.

Choosing to depart at this time was not to completely avoid enemy surveillance, as that would be unrealistic. However, the most direct advantage of departing at this time was that when the cruiser started calling for reinforcements, it would find that it had no idea who to call.

With the federal army's existing tiered deployment of torpedo boats and destroyers, if the torpedo boats dared to venture out now, the Ming army's Surabaya fleet wouldn't even need to fire; they could begin making outstanding contributions to the coral reef protection project in Southeast Asia starting tomorrow. As for the latter...

In such weather conditions, let alone a small destroyer of a little over a thousand tons these days, even if you brought over a two- or three-thousand-ton destroyer from World War II, it wouldn't be much better.

Soon a telegram was sent from the federal cruiser: "Two Ming battlecruisers have sailed out of Surabaya Port and are heading towards the South China Sea."

-------------------------------------

That's right, not four, not ten, not twelve or thirteen. The Federation's telegram only mentioned two battlecruisers.

The direct cause of this situation was, of course, that Yang Yuchen had assigned the two best-equipped battlecruisers to lead the way. These two battlecruisers acted like scavengers, clearing obstacles for the main fleet following behind.

Meanwhile, Benson's "waiting for the rabbit" didn't bring the expected rabbit; instead, he received news that some Ming Dynasty ships had broken out of the Sishui port.

Upon receiving the telegram, Benson immediately jumped to his feet from his command post.

Did the Ming army also begin to launch proactive attacks in the south to support their actions on their side?

For the past few days, Benson has felt as if he were in a fog. He couldn't see what his enemy was planning. After passing through the Bashi Channel with a dozen capital ships, the enemy started playing hide-and-seek with him in the Western Pacific. At most, they would occasionally find a couple of places to bombard him. Rather than actually trying to destroy something with cannons, it was more like wild animals marking their territory by urinating everywhere.

The enemy seemed to be avoiding a decisive fleet battle, which was somewhat counterintuitive given the situation of both fleets. Therefore, Admiral Benson could only assume the enemy's perspective at this point.

In his view, the Ming army's ultimate goal was still Luoyang. To support Luoyang, he had to use his own fleet as part of his forces. They would eventually have to find a way to fight him, and if they didn't drive him away, they wouldn't be able to relieve the siege of Luoyang.

In that case, these two battlecruisers are probably similar to the four Colorados I drew from the 39th Fleet; they are both enhancements made for the upcoming fleet battle. The only difference is that I chose to enhance the main fleet, while the enemy chose to further strengthen the vanguard fleet.

Yes, that must be it. Otherwise, why would they bring out so many battleships just for a picnic?

Chapter 111 "Devastating" (1)

Benson's brow furrowed as he stared at the dense network of navigational aids drawn in red and blue pencils on the nautical chart.

Over the past few days, he personally led the 38th Fleet to carry out the mission of protecting the landing sites around Dongdu. The Federation's offensive against Dongdu was not limited to the advance of ground troops. Due to the slow advance of the Federation's ground troops over the past month, the battle lines advanced at a snail's pace as the fighting between the two sides intensified in the city.

In order to catch up with the original offensive schedule, which was already far behind schedule, the Federation Army chose to conduct a landing operation in the south of Dongdu with the Marine Corps. Its purpose was naturally to completely cut off the connection between Dongdu and the south. Although the ranger units that the Federation Army had previously deployed performed quite well, their limited size was not enough to undertake the task of cutting off Dongdu's supply lines.

In addition, the Federation forces also have port fortresses that allow landing troops to advance from the south to the north along the coastal counties and cities of Dongdu. If the fortresses can be captured, the Federation surface ships can launch artillery attacks on targets deep inland from a distance of less than 10 kilometers from the coastline.

For this reason, the waters surrounding Dongdu are of paramount importance to the Federal Army, both in terms of naval artillery positions and the protection of the landing zone. Therefore, Benson believed that if the Ming army was coming to relieve Dongdu, no matter what actions they took in the early stages, they would eventually have to come here to meet him.

Especially regarding the landing operation that began the day before yesterday, Benson believed that the Ming army would not allow them to open a landing zone south of the Eastern Capital and threaten the flank of the Eastern Capital with impunity.

However, in fact, judging from the current nautical charts drawn based on the reports of encounters between the Federal Army's merchant ships, submarines, and some destroyers and cruisers and the Ming fleet in the past few days, the Ming fleet that previously passed through the Bashi Channel is still operating east of the Luzon Islands. It seems that their large-scale operation was really just to cut off the sea lanes in the Southwest Pacific.

The fleet turned a blind eye to the Federal Army's current operations in Dongdu.

The red tracks on the nautical chart mark the enemy's activity patterns observed from sunrise to 3 PM, while the blue tracks mark the enemy's activity patterns observed from 3 PM to sunset.

It is certain that the enemy had a temporary anchorage east of the Luzon Islands to conceal themselves. They left the anchorage at dawn, searched for targets at sea, shook off their pursuers as the sun was setting, and then returned to the anchorage for resupply under the cover of darkness.

But that's where the problem lies. There are 12 battleships! And they're accompanied by more than a dozen cruisers and destroyers. How much fuel does such a large fleet consume every day?

Although capital ships can carry a lot of fuel and have excellent range and endurance at sea, even the Federation's standard battleships, known for their long range, could only travel 10,000 nautical miles at economical speed for a few days. They certainly needed to carry enough fuel to return. Not to mention, the enemy fleet had maintained a relatively high cruising speed at sea for the past few days. How did they resupply?

The staff of the Third Fleet racked their brains but couldn't think of any place east of Luzon that could provide them with supplies. Surely the British couldn't have secretly defected to Darwin and provided them with supplies?

And even if your battleships have a longer endurance, what about your destroyers? Your battleships mainly run on coal, while your destroyers run on oil. Where do these destroyers get their fuel?

Some staff officers suggested that the Ming army might use merchant ships to secretly rendezvous with them and provide supplies. Of course, this possibility is very small. It's not that the Ming army couldn't find a few merchant ships to resupply them. Although the Federal Army has the advantage of naval supremacy in the Western Pacific, it's not so easy to deal with merchant ships that are constantly on the high seas.

Because classifying a merchant ship by country is a very complex matter. For example, a merchant ship registered in Brazil, purchased by an Iberian captain, mainly with Argentine crew, carrying Chilean goods, flying a Mexican flag, and claiming to be heading to Italy—in wartime, which country would you classify this ship as?

If this ship is carrying a shipment of smuggled goods destined for the Ming Dynasty, and you encounter it deep in the ocean, how would you determine if it is secretly heading to the Ming Dynasty?

The British were able to blockade Letania because Letania's maritime geography was very unfavorable, with a short coastline and a relatively closed North Sea. But how can you be sure that a random merchant ship at sea isn't headed for the Ming Empire, a large country with a long coastline?

Indiscriminately attack every merchant ship you see?

Therefore, it was not impossible for the Ming navy to make advance contact and prepare one or two disguised merchant ships to provide supplies—in fact, the Ming army's previous commerce raiding fleets at sea often used this method to extend their resupply activities and increase their attack range.

The problem is that there are 12 big-bellied ships! You can't just feed 12 capital ships with a few merchant ships. These days, most merchant ships at sea are under 10,000 tons. How many of them can such small ships feed?

The idea of ​​a loli healer only exists in 2D games. In 3D, to be a good healer, you have to be an older sister (which is why I've always thought that the 901 supply ship girl would definitely be a K-cup beauty, and definitely more voluptuous than the 055 girl).

For the Federal Army, no matter how they reasoned based on flawed intelligence, they would never arrive at the correct conclusion. They racked their brains but probably never imagined that the Ming army's fleet consisted of four battleships, not twelve, and that the two oldest and slowest of these four never moved after reaching Leyte Gulf anchorage.

What they didn't expect was that the other eight "battleships" were actually 20,000-ton high-speed cruise ships. When these cruise ships were disguised and modified on the outside, it did not affect the cargo hold volume inside. These cruise ships were fully loaded with fuel and various supplies. It can be said that all consumables except for shells could be effectively replenished. The entire fleet was equivalent to having eight half-baked supply ships.

Although these ships cannot replenish friendly forces while sailing due to the lack of professional supply facilities, they can replenish coal and refuel after reaching their anchorage at night.

Of course, doubts about the Ming army's operational capabilities are one aspect, but another is—why haven't they come to rescue Luoyang yet? In Benson's view, after learning that they had opened a landing zone, the Ming army should have tried every means to rush over and blow up the landing zone with cannons.

To this end, he also prepared several destroyer squadrons in the Bashi Channel, intending to let the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy experience what torpedo rhythm is like.

But the enemy seems to have forgotten that the Federation forces were opening up the landing zone. Even if the enemy considered that they had a numerical advantage, if they didn't dare to come during the day, wouldn't they dare to come at night?

Benson then turned his attention southward—before the hurricane arrived, a cruiser reported spotting two enemy battlecruisers outside Surabaya harbor, and predicted that the two battlecruisers were heading towards the South China Sea.

However, with the arrival of the hurricane, radio communications from the south were cut off until today, when the hurricane was finally "given a courtesy" to leave the country. But obviously, after the hurricane's devastation, restoring communications is not so easy. Not only were many communication facilities on land damaged, but the radios of all the capital ships in the port of the entire 39th Fleet were completely wiped out. The birdcage-shaped masts of the Federation forces were really not very resistant to storms. The 39th Fleet had so many battleships in Makassar port that they couldn't even put together three intact masts.

This was naturally another piece of terrible news. Although the damage to the mainmast did not mean that these battleships had lost their combat capability, in those days, losing the mainmast was at least equivalent to a tank having its commander's panoramic sights destroyed in battle.

Although tanks can still fight using the gunner's scope, everyone knows that losing the commander's panoramic sight will inevitably affect their combat effectiveness.

As for the two battlecruisers, it's unclear where they've gone, let alone why the Ming fleet, which has been in Sishui Harbor for so long, would suddenly send out two battlecruisers. Are they trying to break out in this bad weather? However, the escape of these two ships won't have a significant impact on the overall situation—the Federation's strength in fast battleships is already zero, and they don't have a good way to deal with the Ming's few last-generation armored cruisers. If you send out two more battlecruisers, the Federation will be completely unfazed.

As long as the main force of the Ming fleet in Surabaya harbor hasn't escaped, it's fine. But to confirm this, it would be necessary to send the battleships of the 39th Fleet out in damage – simply and brutally cut off the birdcage-shaped mainmasts that were blown down by the hurricane, and then fight without mainmasts. In any case, the main rangefinders of the Federation battleships are not only located on the top of the mainmast, but also on the top of the bridge, which should not have a significant impact on the shells.

In any case, given the quality of the Federation Navy gunners, they are unlikely to hit anything accurately at long range anyway.

In the current situation, hoping that the radio communications in Sumatra and Java, which are controlled by the British in the south, can be quickly repaired is not as effective as sending a few cruisers south to conduct reconnaissance. He has already sent out a few cruisers this morning, but they are still on their way. Right now, the south is like an intelligence black hole for the Federation forces.

However, just when he thought he might need another day or two to get news about the south, about the two battlecruisers that had slipped out of Surabaya, a telegram from the Bashi Channel woke him up.

The Ming fleet attempted to cross the Bashi Channel again, but was forced back by the Federation's destroyer force in the Bashi Channel. Now, several Federation destroyers and cruisers are tailing the Ming fleet. Although the Ming escort ships are trying their best to drive away these Federation ships, this time there are enough Federation warships to follow, and they can be driven away one group only to be followed by another.

"We've finally caught you! I knew you wouldn't give up attacking the landing site!" After confirming by telegram that there were more than ten Ming capital ships in the Bashi Channel, Benson immediately decided to lead the 38th Fleet northward. He left two dreadnoughts at the landing site to guard against the two Ming battlecruisers that might sneak there, and then led the remaining ships northward toward the Bashi Channel to catch up with the Ming army.

As he set off, he gave a death order to the destroyers and cruisers that were tracking the Ming fleet: they must follow the Ming fleet to the death, even if it meant chasing until dark or after sunset with their searchlights on, they could not let the target escape. If one ship was driven away or sunk, they would simply switch to another ship. Under no circumstances could the target be let go!

The Colombian Federation now needs everyone to fulfill their duties!

Meanwhile, the Federation destroyers and cruisers that were tracking the Ming fleet had already split into several formations, taking turns sticking to it like glue. They were now certain that the two Dingyuan-class battleships were at the very back of the Ming fleet. If they tried to get close, it wouldn't just be the escorting cruisers that came to stop and drive them away; the two battleships would also open fire on them.

The Ming army's gunners were very skilled; even at distances of 15,000 meters or more, they could achieve strafing fire through multiple volleys.

The Ming Dynasty Royal Navy's dreadnought gunnery had a unique "semi-salvo" firing method during test firings. Instead of each turret firing one cannon at a time, each turret would fire another cannon at a time during the next test firing.

Instead, all the gun turrets at the bow would fire simultaneously, and then all the gun turrets at the stern would fire simultaneously during the next test firing. This unique method of firing simultaneously was to avoid the entire ship being affected by muzzle smoke and to ensure that at least one observation post at the bow or stern could better observe the impact point of the shells.

When straddle firing occurs, it means that a hit has been achieved in the artillery sense. At this point, the only difference from a true hit is a bit of luck. For the warship that is straddled, if it does not immediately begin to evade and continues to sail blindly, then being hit is only a matter of time.

Chapter 112 "Devastating" (2)

Although the Federation battle fleet led by Benson did not have any high-speed capital ships, at the beginning of this world war, the sea routes from the Federation homeland to the hotspots they wanted to intervene in, whether in the Pacific or the Atlantic, were too long. Therefore, the Federation battleships had a range that was second to none in the world.

Although the Colombian battleships could only reach a maximum speed of 21 knots, they could maintain that speed for longer than any other nation's capital ships. In those days, the economical speed of battleships was often just over 10 knots, and the standard battleships of the Federation Army still had a longer range at full speed of 21 knots than some battleships at cruising speed.

Therefore, Benson could maintain a speed of 21 knots for a sustained pursuit, just like the Homo sapiens who chased prey on the African continent in ancient times. Although they could not outrun buffalo and antelope in short-distance races, the terrifying upright ape could chase its prey for tens of kilometers under the sun, until the target was exhausted and could no longer run before launching an attack.

Benson believed that his fleet, like the Homo sapiens of old, was able to achieve victory through this seemingly foolish method.

And indeed this was the case. The Ming army formation being pursued initially maintained a speed of 20 knots for a while, but then gradually slowed down to 15 knots. This action shows that the fuel consumed in their activities over the past few days had indeed affected their current maneuverability.

In this respect, Benson's judgment was indeed half right. The Ming army reduced its speed to save fuel, but this was not because the Ming army was out of fuel.

In fact, the cargo holds of those disguised merchant ships were filled with coal. With eight large ships carrying supplies, four main warships, and a number of escort vessels, how could they be completely consumed so quickly?

However, although there was plenty of fuel, refueling at night was extremely inefficient. Li Che's idea of ​​using camouflaged ships as supply ships was indeed groundbreaking, but the problem was that all the coal had to be manually transferred from the cargo hold of one ship to the coal bunker of the other ship by sailors after the two ships were alongside each other at night.

When warships of this era were docked, the most arduous task for the entire crew was refueling the ship. This refueling work often required the entire crew to work together for several, or even dozens of hours to complete.

At sea, the two ships replenishing each other between temporary anchorages poses a severe test to the physical fitness of the officers and soldiers on board over a long period of time.

During the day there are combat missions and at night there is also the hard work of resupply. Even if the crew members on the warship can take shifts to some extent, there are always those who cannot get enough rest. Moreover, as the resupply work continues and the mission goes on, the crew members' fatigue increases day by day.

In this situation, even if there are only four battleships, and even if only two of them work overtime like model workers all day long, the coal load on those two battleships is still often "famine-stricken".

Compared to battleships that needed coal, cruisers and destroyers that needed refueling had a much easier time replenishing their oil supplies. They could simply plug in a hose and heavy oil would be pumped in continuously, a fact that made the officers and men on those battleships extremely envious.

Just like Homo sapiens chasing their prey, Benson's reinforced 38th Fleet, in order to intercept the Ming fleet retreating eastward from the Bashi Channel, first sent the fleet through the Palawan Channel, around Mindoro Island, and across the Sibuyan Sea. From the moment they received the news in the morning until evening, they finally succeeded in blocking the Ming fleet sailing southeast at the mouth of the San Bernardino Strait at 5:40 pm after passing through it.

At this moment, the two Yongchang-class armored cruisers at the forefront of the Ming fleet saw the large federal fleet ahead. On the one hand, they immediately sent a warning to the Ming "main fleet" 25 nautical miles behind them, and on the other hand, they immediately began to turn at sea. The two Yongchang-class armored cruisers had a normal displacement of just over 1.5 tons and a full load displacement of 1.7 tons.

When faced with the four Colorado-class battleships, each displacing 30,000 tons, leading the charge of the Union forces, the only option was to turn around and run away—even if the 240mm naval guns were pulled within 10,000 meters, they would hardly pose any substantial threat to the Colorado-class battleships' 13.5-inch side armor.

In fact, let alone these two last-generation armored cruisers, even the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy's battlecruisers equipped with 330mm guns would have no choice but to turn around and run away when faced with the Federal Navy's Colorado-class battleships, which were "maritime heavy infantry" with full armor and bullet resistance in this era.

After all, this was the king of standard battleships, even surpassing the Leitanian Navy's Bavaria-class battleships in terms of protection. Compared to the Colorado-class battleships in another timeline at the beginning of their service, although their firepower seemed to have been downgraded from 16-inch guns to 15-inch Britannia Mark I guns, the power of the Britannia's heirloom guns now using hard-capped shells wasn't necessarily much weaker than the 16-inch guns that used soft-capped shells at the beginning of their service. (Of course, the quality of shells produced by different factories in Britain during this period varied; I'm referring here to the good quality 15-inch green shells.)

Seeing the two armored cruisers that turned tail and ran, Admiral Benson was furious. This was the annoying thing about high-speed capital ships. If the Ming army didn't have these few last-generation armored cruisers, they would be like him, without battlecruisers to support their main fleet. Then, after he broke out of the San Bernardino Strait, he could have intercepted the main force of the Ming fleet in a very ideal situation, spread out in an ideal T-shape at sea, and wait for the enemy to run into him.