"Discover the outpost ships of the Ottoman fleet!" Several knights got off the Malta warship and brought back a big news, alarming the joint fleet stationed on the island of Malta.

The Grand Leader Castella immediately ordered the knights who had found out the news to come and report.

The Fourth Fleet, the Royal Fleet, the Far West Expeditionary Force, and the senior executives of the Knights of Malta temporarily set up a command center in the cathedral and spread out three-way charts to confirm the location of the Ottoman fleet.

"Why do you confirm that it is the outpost of the Ottoman fleet?" Castella asked.

"The Barbary pirates active near us either pirate flags from Tunisia or pirate flags from Tripoli. They rarely hang the imperial flags, but we have seen three ships with the imperial star and moon flags in the nearby waters! According to records of previous commanders of the great regiment, when the Barbary pirates fight in the name of the empire, they will be temporarily incorporated into the imperial fleet to participate in the battle!" The knight who went out to explore the intelligence in the sea replied.

The senior leaders of many joint fleets looked at each other, and it seemed that the Ottoman fleet that they had always wanted to duel with was finally here.

As long as the Ottoman fleet is destroyed, they will have plenty of time to wash the pirates' nests along the Ottoman towns along the Mediterranean coast, and then calmly leave the Mediterranean.

"Which water did you find three ships flying Ottoman Empire flags?" Castella asked.

The knights who came back pointed out the locations where they met the Ottoman Navy in three places on the chart.

Castella is a local tyrant here, and is very familiar with it: "If their outpost ships are nearby, it is very likely that the purpose of sending ships is the same. We are looking for their traces, and they are looking for our traces. If I expected it to be right, they should be in this place, Tripoli. Tripoli is one of the three important strongholds of the Barbary pirates who were loyal to the Ottoman Empire, one of which Algiers has been captured by us, and if we can defeat the Ottoman Navy, we can come to Tripoli and blackmail them gold and silver."

"Grand Commander, when we found them, they must have discovered us. Their fleet might arrive at our island of Malta soon!" The knights were worried.

If the Ottoman Navy really took the initiative to attack the island of Malta, the fear brought by the Turks seventy years ago would reappear.

"We can take the initiative to attack and burn the war to other places, not the Island of Malta. If we stick to the Island of Malta, they may not dare to take the initiative to attack the strong fortress here. Because winter is coming, they will definitely not be able to afford the long siege. When they find that the situation in front of them is difficult, they have a choice to withdraw from Constantinople." Sun Xu stood up to judge the intention of the Ottoman fleet.

He was worried that if the United Fleet retreated to the fortress on Malta, the Ottomans would fear the fortress that the Knights had spent decades building and dared not launch an attack.

Sun Xu did not expect that Vizier and others would be so afraid of the imperial emperor's crimes, and were eager to find them to fight to the decisive battle.

"You mean our joint fleet is heading to Tripoli and taking the initiative to challenge their fleet?" asked Sir Pennington.

"It's not exactly the case. For example, we can make an attack on Tunisia, let the fleet gathered in Tripoli come out in full swing, and then we turn the voyage halfway, so that they can rush to fight without any defense, and then defeat their fleet in one fell swoop!" Sun Xu drew a curve on the chart with his fingers.

"At this time, all the pirates in Tunisia should have been summoned to Tripoli... If we attack Tunisia, they are indeed likely to support it. The capture of Algiers would have embarrassed the Ottoman Empire. If Tunisia was also removed, then the Ottoman Empire would be completely disgraced, which is equivalent to slapping the left and right faces of the Ottoman Emperor at the same time!" Castella agreed with Sun Xu's plan to lure the enemy.

This naval battle will not affect the war on the island of Malta, nor will it be in Tripoli, the enemy's home court, so the battlefield will be...

"Tunisia Strait! We are here to solve the fleet supporting the Ottoman Empire!" Castella pointed to the huge strait between Italy and North Africa.

"I didn't expect the decisive battle to approach so soon. I thought it would take some time to find their fleet. I didn't expect that they arrived in Tripoli and were just under our noses. Speaking of which, our Knights Hospital had not fought a decent war for a long time. But we have never forgotten that the Ottoman Empire wanted to kill us. We can send 12 ships this time, which is our limit. Our Knights and the civilians on the Island of Malta together have only a few thousand people, and someone needs to stay on the Island of Malta." Castella said to his allies in embarrassment.

The three forces, the Knights of Malta have the smallest power, only one-third of the area of ​​Hong Kong Island and a population of several thousand. They are an organization rather than a country, so they have relatively little say in the joint fleet. Their contribution is more of a judgment on the navigation conditions around the Mediterranean.

"Twelve ships are enough, and the 10 pirate ships we seized from Algiers can barely gather a fleet of nearly 50 ships. In this battle, we gave up some supply ships without combat effectiveness and ships seriously injured by artillery in Algiers last time, and streamlined the fleet to 41 ships. We need to supply the fleet within two days. Once the supply is completed, we set off from Malta Island and expose our whereabouts to the other side's reconnaissance ships. We want to fight a beautiful naval battle to make the coastal towns of the Ottoman Empire afraid of us!" Sun Xu, as the commander of the Fourth Fleet with an armored cruiser and three sail battleships, naturally became the commander of the joint fleet.

He has the right to make a decision on strategic deployment.

Castella was familiar with the climate and hydrology here and served as the staff of the Joint Fleet.

As for the Royal Navy fleet, they followed them, occasionally giving advice, and it was completely a paddle.

"In order to avoid declaring war on the Ottoman Empire, we in Britain will lower the flag of our Royal Navy before this maritime war," said Sir Pennington.

"During the sea battle, the cannons are filled with smoke, and lowering the flags is easy to be accidentally injured by friendly ships. It is better for the ships of your Royal Fleet to hang our Chinese flags first to distinguish between enemies and us?" Sun Xu suggested.

"This..." The officers and nobles of the Royal British Navy were silent. Isn't it a bit strange that as a British warship, but the Chinese flag was hung...
Chapter completed!