A massive shadow moved slowly across the mountainous region of the Kra Isthmus. China had not expelled the local Siamese inhabitants from the Chinese "concession" at the Kra Isthmus. The Siamese people in the mountains watched the behemoth in the sky moving slowly, and the more devout Buddhists could not help but kneel and worship. A behemoth capable of flying in the sky was undoubtedly an object worthy of worship for Buddhists.

Compared to the massive airship, the control device suspended below and the main body of the warship being carried appeared quite insignificant. However, this was the true purpose of China deploying such a big guy. Just like the Ottoman Turks attacking Constantinople in history, the Chinese were transporting a "fleet" from one ocean to another via a non-maritime route.

The relatively easy-to-excavate parts of the Kra Canal had already been completed, shortening the straight-line distance between the two ends to less than ten kilometers. Although construction in the mountainous area was difficult, the quarried stones could be poured with special concrete to form sturdy canal embankments, saving a lot of effort in transportation.

On the Indian Ocean side, the Chinese Indian Ocean Fleet, established to defend the Kra Canal, had been in existence for three years. Large vessels lacked ports where they could be stationed near the Kra Isthmus, while small vessels could not reach the Indian Ocean on their own endurance, coupled with strenuous obstruction by the British. The railway across the Kra Isthmus was being reinforced and expanded into a heavy-duty railway, but even a heavy-duty railway could not carry warships weighing hundreds or thousands of tons. China was building a shipyard on the Indian Ocean side of the Kra Isthmus to assemble equipment and parts transported over into warships. At the same time, they introduced some relatively mature airship technology from Germany and used it to transport small warships from the Pacific side over the distance of a dozen kilometers through the air to the Indian Ocean.

The shipyard at this stage was mainly responsible for installation and commissioning. These warships carried only a hollow main body during transport; everything that could be dismantled was removed to reduce weight, and then installed and commissioned after arriving at the Indian Ocean. The People's Navy Indian Ocean Fleet already possessed over forty small warships, including submarines. These warships, with a maximum tonnage of no more than 800 tons, demonstrated China's presence in the Indian Ocean.

At this moment, the giant transport airships that usually took turns were all deployed together, transporting warships to the Indian Ocean as if their lives depended on it. Accompanying the airships were air formations; the naval battle between China and Britain had not ended long ago. Land-based aviation greatly expanded their reconnaissance range, guarding against a counterattack by the British Navy.

At 12:00 noon on January 29, 1939, a British fleet including three battleships and three heavy cruisers first arrogantly drove away several Chinese warships conducting hydrological surveys more than 300 kilometers from the Indian Ocean exit of the Kra Canal. At 9:00 am on January 30, they approached the anchorage of the Chinese Indian Ocean Fleet.

In recent years, it was a common occurrence for the British fleet to come and demonstrate, but in the past, the largest tonnage was only heavy cruisers. The flagship of the People's Navy Indian Ocean Fleet, the *Zhoushan*, was just an ordinary frigate with a displacement of 800 tons. The finalized destroyer of the People's Party was already a 3,500-ton fellow; compared to this ordinary frigate, the flagship of the People's Navy Indian Ocean Fleet was just a little guy.

Although the ships were small, it did not mean the People's Navy had any fear. Whether it was the airfield at the Kra Isthmus or the airfields in Cambodia, they could directly launch and land various combat aircraft, including four-engine heavy bombers, and torpedo bombers were present on a large scale. In numerous exercises, these aircraft were sufficient to deal with any British fleet.

As usual, the sub-fleet of the People's Navy Indian Ocean Fleet immediately set sail to "expel" the British fleet, and the Air Force also began to take off. Preparations for battle were made. As for the underwater coastal submarine force, it was dispatched urgently. These coastal submarines were the real trump cards; theoretically, six coastal submarines in an encirclement state were enough to sink any British battleship.

In the past, the British fleet basically played the "surfing" mode, using the advantage of their huge hulls to create waves while sailing to impact the Chinese warships. The difference in tonnage between the warships of the two sides was too great, and the Chinese Navy's warships were tossed about endlessly in the huge waves created by the huge British warships. This could be considered a "strike" by the British side against the Chinese Navy.

Every time, the officers and soldiers of the Chinese warships were soaked through by the huge waves, and the triumphant laughter of the British Navy could be seen through binoculars. It was only after the Chinese Air Force used the British fleet as imaginary enemies and went through a comprehensive tactical exercise that the British fleet would choose to leave. Both Britain and China were satisfied with their respective needs.

The Royal Navy naturally believed that firing a few casual shots could overturn those Chinese "small sampans." As for the "flies" buzzing in the sky, the Royal Navy's anti-aircraft gunners also conducted countless exercises, including loading live ammunition but not firing it.

As for the Chinese side, while the surface fleet of the Navy certainly felt stifled, the underwater submarine force accumulated a lot of new experience, and the Chinese Air Force repeatedly practiced various simulated tactics.

If you walk often by the river, how can your shoes not get wet? When both sides entered the stage of intimidation with live ammunition, an accidental discharge became an inevitability. Since Britain had dispatched a massive fleet, the Chinese side was also quite tense. As a result, Comrade Zhu Yao, Commander of the Kra Military Region and Commander of the People's Navy Indian Ocean Fleet, ordered the entire Air Force to fly at ultra-low altitude.

This deterrence was very real. When the British Navy saw planes loaded with bombs and torpedoes flying over, almost grazing the masts of the British battleships, and the bombs and torpedoes were clearly visible to the naked eye, the psychological pressure can be imagined. Facing the Chinese planes screaming past as if they would never stop, the British anti-aircraft gunners spun around like tops, their waists harnessed to the machine gun mounts at the rear of the anti-aircraft machine guns.

It must be known that both sides were loaded with live ammunition, and the British side was actually quite worried that the Chinese Air Force would suddenly launch an attack on the British fleet. The machine gunners were dizzy from spinning, and their fear and anger gradually overwhelmed their sanity amidst the close-range flying of the screaming Chinese planes. At 14:22 in the afternoon, a machine gunner on a British destroyer actually began to shoot.

The bullets hit a Chinese plane, but obviously, a panicked machine gunner could not have any particular accuracy. The right engine of a Chinese Air Force plane emitted a few puffs of black smoke.

The Chinese Air Force did not get agitated, or rather, the commander very calmly ordered a withdrawal. The Chinese Air Force, covering the sky, retreated cleanly in a short time. The British, of course, could not receive the Chinese Air Force's communications, so they could not hear the roars of the Chinese Air Force pilots on the Chinese radio channels at all, nor could they hear the Chinese Air Force commander shouting: "Retreat first. When we come back later, we will send all the British to the bottom of the sea."

What the British saw was that as soon as their anti-aircraft machine guns opened fire, the Chinese Air Force all ran away. The commander of the fleet obviously misjudged the situation; he thought the Chinese Air Force had been scared away, and the commanders of the British fleet thought the same. So when the signal officer received a signal from the flagship of the Chinese Indian Ocean Navy, a small sampan of less than a thousand tons, demanding that the British fleet hand over the perpetrator's information, laughter even rang out in the command room on the British flagship, HMS *Prince of Wales*.

When the Chinese fleet signaled again, "If you do not stop within thirty minutes and hand over the perpetrator, our side will consider your side to have taken hostile action against us," most of the British naval officers still thought the Chinese were bluffing. Even the few naval officers who felt things were not right did not think there was any reason to hand over a British naval serviceman to the Chinese. It was just that the British also felt things were not quite right, and they began to move away from the coast, heading towards the Andaman Islands.

Thus, at 16:13 on January 30, 1939, the Chinese Air Force launched an attack on the British fleet. This was the first time the Royal Navy had suffered a large-scale aerial attack, and it was also the first real war the Royal Air Force encountered after World War I.

Real war was completely different from the intimidating flight of the Chinese Air Force just now. The reason intimidating flight was intimidation was firstly because China knew Britain could not truly carry out a strike against the Chinese Air Force. So during the flight, the fighter planes got completely close to the British fleet, and those bold pilots even controlled their planes to bank sideways, flying past in the same direction as the British warships at a distance of only fifty-odd meters from the British battleships. Such a flight attitude clearly displayed the wings and the bombs carried under the fuselage to the people on the British warships.

Actual combat was far less thrilling than this intimidating flight. The planes opened up the distance from the British warships, but the torpedo bombers flew straight towards the British warships. First flying at sea level, they released their torpedoes at the distance they had trained for many times, then the pilots pulled up the planes with all their might, striving to climb rapidly before entering the British air defense circle, and then tried their best to turn the nose around to escape the danger zone.

The British fleet had absolutely not expected the Chinese to actually play for real. White trails formed by torpedoes on the surface of the sea lunged fiercely towards the British warships. This was no longer an exercise, but a real war. Even though they harbored great confusion in their hearts, the well-trained British Navy still began emergency turns, attempting to dodge the Chinese attacks.

The destroyers on the periphery suffered first. Perhaps it was bad luck, or perhaps the Chinese Air Force still remembered that warship that opened fire on the Chinese Air Force. That firing destroyer was the first to be hit by a torpedo. Amidst a huge explosion, a massive column of water and fire rose from the middle of this destroyer. Moments later, a huge fire rose from the middle of this destroyer; the destroyer's armor was completely unable to withstand the torpedo attack, the ammunition depot was detonated, and the destroyer instantly broke into two pieces and sank into the sea.

"Send a telegram to Singapore, China has attacked our warships!" In the deadly silent command room, the fleet commander howled.

Almost at the same time, in the Kra Military Region Headquarters, the Political Commissar frowned and said to Commander Zhu Yao: "Starting the war now, isn't it a bit too hasty?"

"The British have already fired the first shot, are we supposed to wait for them to fire the second?" Zhu Yao's face was full of murderous intent. "The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army has never been afraid of war. Since the British refuse to hand over the perpetrator, then we can consider that it was the British commander who ordered his subordinate to open fire."

Seeing the Political Commissar still hesitating slightly, Zhu Yao said loudly: "We have all studied the history of the First Sino-Japanese War. Before the war broke out, the Japanese army not only had no mental preparation to fight to Shanhaiguan, they didn't even have an operational plan to fight across the Yalu River! Against a large country like China, although they knew its weakness, the fear left by Toyotomi Hideyoshi dying of illness amidst the cannon fire of the Great Ming hundreds of years ago still prevented Japan from taking the steps of aggression. Who let the Japanese army kill their way into China?"

The Political Commissar fell silent. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had discussed this many times, and the content was even more profound than Japan's own analysis.

The Japanese records were somewhat absurd. Because a large amount of equipment abandoned by Ye Zhichao was captured in Pyongyang, Japanese morale was greatly boosted. The field guns and repeating rifles of the Qing Army were even more advanced than Japanese equipment, yet they collapsed at the first touch, giving the Japanese army a "new understanding" of China. However, they still obeyed orders and stopped at the Yalu River, not daring to cross easily.

At this time, a troop of Qing cavalry came from the opposite bank—this was the so-called "Iron Cavalry of the Eight Banners." A Japanese vanguard unit of only thirty men opened fire across the river and prepared to dig trenches for defense on the spot. Unexpectedly, the cavalry troop of hundreds of Qing soldiers immediately fled in a swarm, throwing away their helmets and armor! So the Japanese squad leader took it upon himself to cross the river in pursuit... and the subsequent Japanese troops followed immediately.

What about disobeying orders? Victors are not blamed. To be precise, these Japanese soldiers who disobeyed orders simply discovered a fact.

From that moment on, China's dignity was completely gone in the hearts of the Japanese.

Zhu Yao was naturally very clear about this. Seeing that the Political Commissar no longer attempted to object, he continued: "If we let the British retreat unscathed after firing the first shot at us, what will the British think? What they see is a China that dares not use force to maintain its own dignity. What is the difference between that China, for which so many revolutionary martyrs sacrificed their lives, and the weak Manchu Qing? If the Military Commission wants to punish someone after the war, then punish me. I would rather win the battle and then bear the responsibility for starting hostilities unauthorized, than ever disgrace the military flag!"

"Are the Chinese crazy?" In the command room of the British fleet flagship HMS *Prince of Wales*, the fleet commander howled. He had not come to fight a war originally; even Churchill, the hardliner, was not prepared to launch a war against China so unpreparedly. The purpose of this fleet was to demonstrate and to constantly probe China's bottom line. But obviously, that burst of gunfire had indeed probed out China's bottom line.

Under a fierce attack of torpedoes, all Chinese warplanes lunged madly at the British fleet. The destroyers and light cruisers on the periphery were constantly hit. The flames of explosions and thick black smoke painted a scene of war over the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.

After breaking through the periphery of the British fleet, the Chinese Air Force began to launch fierce attacks on the battleships and heavy cruisers in the center of the formation.

Several bombers lined up in a row and took the lead in attacking the battlecruiser HMS *Repulse*. Subsequently, 18 torpedo bombers also dropped torpedoes one by one, carrying out attacks on the *Repulse* and the *Prince of Wales*. The anti-aircraft guns of the *Prince of Wales*, the *Repulse*, and other warships opened fire in unison, and several torpedo bombers were hit by shells and crashed into the sea. But the remaining Chinese planes still did not dodge or evade, continuing to lunge fiercely at the *Repulse*.

The British fleet could no longer figure out how many Chinese planes were in the sky. Rows and columns of torpedo bombers lunged down from the clouds, constantly releasing torpedoes at the British fleet. And the bombers, in even neater formations, dropped dense clusters of bombs on the British fleet. The screech of bombs tearing through the air was like the whistle of the Grim Reaper. Huge columns of water were blown up on the sea surface, and from time to time bombs hit the decks, immediately blasting out patches of fire and death.

And in the eyes of the Chinese Air Force, the British warships very cleverly began to release smoke screens, attempting to obscure the Chinese Air Force's vision. This stuff might be relatively useful for naval battles, but it was not quite enough against attacks from the air. Because of the "repeated exercises" with British warships as opponents these days, the tactical level of the Chinese Air Force had improved very quickly.

Looking down from the air, tracks of white torpedoes were like blooming white spider chrysanthemums, and the center of the chrysanthemum was the British fleet shrouded in smoke. The British Air Force's air defense thinking was really too backward, or perhaps because of the Chinese Air Force's surprise attack, after the British peripheral fleet was eliminated, they relied on a few large warships and simply could not construct an effective air defense system.

It must be admitted that the traditional naval combat strength of the British Navy was indeed very powerful. Facing such fierce torpedo attacks, the British Navy's battleships and large vessels still evaded most of the torpedoes. It was just that any evasion has a limit. After attacks by two consecutive waves of nine torpedo bombers, the battlecruiser *Repulse* was hit by 4 torpedoes and several heavy bombs. The bow tilted up, and the stern sank rapidly. Subsequently, the next wave of nine torpedo bombers launched torpedoes at this shadowy warship in the smoke. This time, the 9 torpedoes were not dodged by the *Repulse*. All nine torpedoes hit the hull. The *Repulse*'s ammunition depot exploded moments later, and it sank completely a few minutes later.

After losing the *Repulse*, more than 30 torpedo bombers and bombers began to fiercely attack the British fleet flagship *Prince of Wales*. The air defense net, which was already powerless, could not stop this kind of saturation attack at all. In just two rounds of attacks, the *Prince of Wales* was hit by a total of 8 torpedoes and countless heavy bombs. The *Prince of Wales*, known as the "unsinkable battleship," sank into the sea along with Phillips and all the officers and men on board.

The last turn fell to the battleship *Warspite*. This warship, temporarily transferred from the Mediterranean Fleet, was very lucky. Even when the other two battleships had already sunk, it continued to persist. And a bomb falling from the sky plugged straight into the *Warspite*'s funnel, but it turned out to be a dud and actually did not explode.

However, with the funnel blocked, the *Warspite*'s boilers began to be unable to withstand the huge pressure, and power output encountered significant problems. This slowed down the *Warspite*'s speed.

Attacks from the air failed to cause damage to the *Warspite*. However, the underwater Chinese submarines had already caught up, risking friendly fire. A submarine numbered Q047 determined the position of the *Warspite* via sonar and fired four torpedoes in succession at a fifteen-degree angle. Because it dared not show its head, the submarine began to evacuate after firing the torpedoes. And the *Warspite*'s good luck ended here; all four torpedoes hit the *Warspite*. Four large holes were blown in the hull of this warship, and the ship tilted rapidly to the left. The Chinese Air Force seized the opportunity for a fierce attack, and the *Warspite* only persisted for less than twenty minutes before sinking.

At 18:22 on January 30, 1939, the British fleet that had come to intimidate the Chinese Indian Ocean Fleet was entirely buried in the sea near the Kra Isthmus.