Kai Fu Han

Chapter 608 The Battle of Xinghua
"I agree." Ruan Xiaoqi nodded.

"Okay, let's do it." Li Cang agreed.

The new battle plan was quickly implemented, the fleet was divided into two parts, and the sailing battleship continued northward.The steam-powered warship circled eastward, around the eastern tip of the crescent formation, and came to the side of the enemy ship formation.

The sky quickly darkened, the weather was not good, and strong winds began to blow on the sea at night.

All the warships in Nan Zhao had to lower their sails, sink their anchors, and stop to wait for the wind to subside.However, the night with only wind and no rain has become the best "weather time" for Xinghan Alliance warships to fight.

The warships of the Xinghan League quietly sneaked to the east of the Crescent Moon Formation under the cover of night. The sea breeze was blowing, and the noise of the steam engine was obscured by the howling wind.

The waves are a bit big, but that’s okay.

Get closer, and you can still aim and shoot.

Two miles ahead are Nan Zhao's ships. The warships of the Xinghan Alliance fleet have been lined up in a row, and the side cannons are aimed at Nan Zhao's ships.

"Shoot!" Ruan Xiaoqi ordered.

boom!
The roar of an artillery piece was like the opening ceremony of a concert, and artillery music suddenly played on the sea.

boom!boom!boom! …

Nan Zhao's warship was hit by a cannonball flying from the darkness. The solid bullet directly smashed a big hole in the hull. The cannonball that did not hit the keel even penetrated the entire warship.

There are very few explosive shells, because they consume too much ammunition, but if they are lucky enough to hit the Nanzhao warship, the result will be great. The entire ship will be ignited by the explosive shells, turning into a huge torch, providing visibility for the warships of the Xinghan League.

boom!boom!boom! …

The artillery continued to sound without stopping for a moment, and Nanzhao's sea ships were sunk one after another.

Some smaller ships were directly cut into two sections.

The Nanzhao ship formation was in chaos. Some warships ignored the windy weather and forcibly raised their sails in an attempt to escape. They were immediately blown to and fro by the strong wind, and those that were not controlled in time were even blown down on the sea.

Some ships were far apart from other ships, and one ship rolled over on its side on the sea and then sank to the bottom of the sea. For ships that were docked densely, the top of their masts caught other ships, causing the ships that were caught to tilt together.

At this moment, the steam engine-powered battleship gracefully entered the stage of history.

Starting tonight, sailing warships will officially withdraw from the stage.

Because they are the targets of the artillery at night, if there is a strong wind, the targets will still be fixed targets.

"Refreshing!" Ruan Xiaoqi roared happily after running away for a whole day. All the anger he had felt was vented at this moment.

The one-word formation began to advance, and the attack range of the artillery extended deeper into the crescent formation.

The cannonballs that were fired almost flatly had a greatly improved hit rate in the dense formation of ships. Only a few cannonballs crossed the sea for five or six miles without touching a single ship. They fell into the sea and made a big splash.

"General Ruan, the gunpowder is less than half." An hour later, a subordinate came over to report.

It was previously agreed with the other two fleet captains that tonight's battle would end when the gunpowder reserve dropped to half.

Nan Zhao's ships are still far away from the territory of Xinghan Alliance, and the road ahead is still long, so sufficient supplies must be ensured.

"Order to stop shooting and we return to Yuzhou Island for supplies." Ruan Xiaoqi ordered.

"Yes!"

As bundles of signal flares rose into the sky, the roar of artillery gradually stopped.The fleet gathered together again and began its return journey.

The three captains planned well. On the way to the north of the Nanzhao fleet, they bombarded them like this night every night until the Nanzhao fleet couldn't hold on.But the reality is always very skinny.

At dawn the next day, drizzle began to fall in the sky, and Ruan Xiaoqi received intelligence from the front line. "The Nanzhao fleet was completely disintegrated, with only more than 200 ships parked in the southern waters of the Huaihe River estuary."

"Is this the end?" Ruan Xiaoqi couldn't believe it.

"It's almost over."

The remaining [-] ships were no longer a threat to the Xinghan League.

(A lot could have been written about this naval battle, but I can’t stand it anymore for the sake of love.)
……

After crossing the Huaihe River from Lianshui, the Second and Third Brigades went straight south and did not take the official road from Lianshui to Shanyang in Chuzhou.

The road along the coast is not easy to walk. On the one hand, there are relatively few people here and there are no serious official roads.On the other hand, there are too many rivers here, and the rainfall along the coast is heavy. There are springs flowing out of any hill, and then forming small rivers, flowing eastward into the sea.

These rivers nourished the people on Huainan East Road and allowed the people on this land to grow high-yielding rice (the yield of rice was greater than that of wheat and barley), but they greatly hindered the marching speed of the Xinghan Alliance field army.

Local residents have built bridges on the river, and some sections with wide rivers also have ferries. However, these bridges and ferries are all set up at nodes where local people communicate with each other, and are not set up from south to north.

If you take the existing bridge, you have to take a lot of detours.

As a last resort, the field army had to open roads through mountains and build bridges over water.

After learning that the 20-strong army from Southern Zhao and Zhao's troops marching northward had bypassed the army along the coast and headed south, they immediately detached a [-]-strong army from the Chinese Army to pursue them, while the remaining [-]-plus troops continued to move northward.

The Southern Zhao army had canals to transport supplies, and their marching speed was slightly faster.The Xinghan Allied Forces marched much slower because the navy was fighting at sea, and supplies could only be transported by land.

Soon, the two sides met in Xinghua County, Taizhou.

The [-] troops of the Southern Zhao Dynasty stationed between Sandun Town and Lingting Town (just south of Xinghua City) in the southwest of Xinghua City, blocking the only way for the Xinghan Allied Forces to advance to Yangzhou.

This decisive battle had to begin.

Sun Li sent troops to raid Xinghua City, replenished the army's supplies, and arrived at the north of Sandun Town on April [-]th.

One hundred thousand troops, with camps stretching all over the area between Sandun Town and Lingting Town, dug a large number of trenches in this area, and used the spoil produced by digging the trenches to build an earthen wall that was more than half a person high.

He looked like he was going to defend to the end.

"I can guarantee that Han Zhong will definitely be on the opposite side." Liu Xinjun said confidently.

"It doesn't matter whether he is there or not. How can we break through the trench array in front of us?" Sun Li asked.

"What's the point? They didn't add barbed wire and they didn't have muskets. If we find a spot and rush in, the Southern Zhao Army will definitely not be able to stop us." Liu Xinjun replied.

In the Xinghan League's drill operations, barbed wire, trenches, bunkers and other fortifications that would only appear in the First and Second World Wars had all appeared. As brigade commanders, the two of them had certainly mastered them.

"Forceful attack? We are fighting anxiously. What should we do if the enemy troops surround us from both sides?" Sun Li asked.

"Then we will attack Sandun Town, which is located to the west of the trench array, so that we will not be surrounded on three sides." Liu Xinjun replied.

It can be considered a method, but using trench formation will definitely cause a lot of casualties.

Who knows what weapons were hidden in the trenches or what traps were dug.

(End of this chapter)