The world of counterfeit magistrates competes in the world

Chapter 676 The War Begins

As time went on, the situation became more tense.

Cao Ziyan has already realized that the Tianhua army will formally declare war on him next spring.Today, within the three states of Yan Minghua, there are more than 50 troops gathered, and its intentions have been clearly revealed.

In this regard, Cao Ziyan was not to be outdone, and gave up the war with the two states of Leihai, and instead agreed to the independent status quo of the two states, but the two states must submit to him.

In order to get a respite, the Gu family in Haizhou immediately agreed to Cao Ziyan's request, and demoted the supported puppet emperor to King Jinghai, and he called himself Pingnan Gong.At this point, the Cao and Gu families finally stopped fighting, and the two sides retreated with Qingping River as the boundary.

As for Leizhou, Feng Chongyi resolutely disagreed with Cao Ziyan's request for him to become a minister, but agreed to the suggestion of a strike and truce.After several years of chaos in Leizhou, it was already dilapidated. If it weren't for Tianhua's help, the Leizhou Army would have been wiped out by Cao Jun long ago.Now that he can temporarily cease the war, he can only wish for it.

After stopping the two-sided battle, Cao Ziyan could finally transfer most of his troops to the north for defense with peace of mind.30 troops were stationed in the area of ​​Tianjingguan, 15 troops were stationed in Longyang City, and 20 navy troops were stationed along the river to prevent the Tianhua army from crossing the south of the Yangtze River.At the same time, 60 troops were deployed in Qingzhou, and [-] naval divisions were deployed along the river.With a total strength of more than [-] troops, it can be said to be an overwhelming force.Now Haizhou and Leizhou have only about [-] troops each, barely able to maintain the defense.

In the blink of an eye, it was February of the next year, and Lin Yifan drove out of Huayuan City, heading towards Tianjingguan.

However, within a few days, Lin Yifan came to the garrison barracks and formally took over the command of the entire army.At the same time, an imperial edict spread across the world, and the Tianhua Empire formally declared war on the Cao bandits.

On the ninth day of February, the Tianhua Army in Yanming and Mingzhou finally moved.The newly built navy has a total of more than 500 people, more than 1000 warships, and more than [-] artillery pieces.They set off from the port of Jiangdong County, Mingzhou, and went eastward along the river.Hundreds of warships, ten in a row, straddled the river and went down the river.When they arrived in Longyang County, Zhongzhou, the battle with the Longjiang Navy began.

The strength of the Longjiang Navy is comparable to that of the Tianhua Navy, with more than 600 warships and nearly [-] artillery pieces.

But Cao Jun's cannons are not a tiny bit different from Tianhua Army's cannons.The range of their artillery was only over one mile, while the artillery of the Tianhua Army started firing two miles away.As soon as they fought, Cao Jun lost one warship and injured five ships.

Since the long-distance attack is not the opponent of the Tianhua Army, General Cao Jun is also an experienced man, and immediately ordered the whole army to speed up and approach the enemy with all their strength.

During these hundreds of meters, the artillery of the Tianhua Army became more and more fierce. Originally, only ten warships in the front row could fire shells. After the enemy approached, the warships behind immediately opened their mouths, and countless shells fell into the sky. It hit the river heavily, stirring up a jet of water that soared into the sky.There are also some that directly hit the enemy ship, smashing a big hole in it, and many ships leaked because of this, and slowly sank.

Finally, at the risk of heavy casualties, Cao Jun finally arrived within one mile.The ships could not wait to fire shells, and many shells directly hit the Tianhua warship, making a big hole.The river water kept pouring into the hull, and just when Cao Jun thought the enemy ship was about to sink, he saw that the opponent's ship only sank a little, then stopped the sinking trend, stood firmly on the river, and persisted in fighting .

It turned out that Cao Jun didn't know that the Tianhua Army had set up a sealed compartment on the ship. Once the ship leaked, it would immediately seal the bilge to prevent the river from flooding the hull.

However, thinking that the draft was serious, the speed of these ships was greatly reduced, so they could only stop on the river and serve as fixed forts to launch counterattacks against the enemy.

The two sides were getting closer and closer, the accuracy of the artillery was getting more and more accurate, and the casualties on both sides began to rise steadily.

The moment the two ships crossed, many ships collided violently. Even the hulls made of solid wood could not withstand such impacts.

However, compared to Cao Jun's miserable situation, the Tianhua Army's occupation is a little better.Many warships are newly built, and their toughness is much stronger than the old ships of Cao Jun.Some of the boats suffered minor damage after the collision and were not seriously injured.

At this time, the distance between the ships of the two sides was only about ten meters, and the artillery could no longer bombard each other in time.Arrowmen on both sides launched a counterattack, trying to clear the deck of the enemy.

As for the ship where the two ships collided, the sailors took up their weapons one after another, put down the boards, and killed the opposing ship.

Time passed little by little, and the battle on the river was still going on.Countless ships have been mixed together, and there are shouts of killing everywhere.

At this time on the north bank, countless Tianhua soldiers watched nervously the battle of the navy brothers, and they couldn't help at this moment.Luo Yi stood on a high slope by the river, holding binoculars, carefully observing the battlefield, but his expression remained calm, which made the surrounding soldiers feel at ease when they saw him.

But in fact, at this time, Luo Yi was still a little worried. Now that the navy is fighting, it is still impossible to tell the winner.It can be seen from this that the bravery of Cao Jun's navy is no less than that of his own army.After all, the foundation of our own navy is too shallow. If we don't rely on the strength of our ships, we may not be the opponent of Cao's navy. Anyway, that navy has existed for hundreds of years and has a deep foundation.

Seeing that the Tianhua navy was still unable to break through, Luo Yi finally lost his patience, and immediately ordered: "The artillery along the river has begun to dispatch to support the navy's advance."

Not long after, on the bank north of the battlefield on the river surface, artillery pieces were slowly launched, with a total of [-] cannons.These guns were different from those placed on board by the navy, and had a range of up to three miles.And it was only one mile from the shore to the battlefield.

"Fire!" The artillery roared, and hundreds of shells fell into the rear of Cao Jun's warships, destroying more than a dozen warships at once.

The rear was attacked, and Cao Jun's navy suddenly fell into chaos.Immediately afterwards, the artillery fire on the north bank struck again, harvesting more than a dozen ships again.

Seeing this, the general of Cao Jun's navy did not dare to delay any longer, and immediately ordered all to retreat, preparing to stick to the water fortress in the military port.As long as the water fortresses are kept in place, the enemy army will not be able to cross the river on a large scale.

Seeing that Cao Jun was about to flee, General Ren Peng of the Tianhua Navy, who was furious because he could not attack for a long time, shouted sharply: "Show the flag and order the whole army to pursue."

The remaining more than 300 warships immediately rushed forward, biting Cao Jun's navy and the backward warships desperately.

When Cao Jun's navy hid in the water village, there were less than [-] warships left. In this battle alone, more than half of them were lost. This made Cao Jun terrified. The combat effectiveness of Tianhua Navy was so strong ?
After this battle, after some statistics, it was finally concluded that the Tianhua Navy had more than 2000 casualties and more than 130 warships were damaged, of which more than 80 ships could be repaired.In addition, a total of more than 8000 enemy sailors were wiped out, more than 110 people were captured, more than [-] intact and slightly damaged warships were captured, and nearly [-] warships were sunk and destroyed.

(End of this chapter)