Of course it is not good to offend others in the officialdom, as it is likely to lead to the end of one's career.
But losing your head on the battlefield is obviously more terrifying.
Neither of the two things is a good thing, both have disadvantages, but the former can at least save one's life, while the latter can even lose one's life.
As the saying goes, choose the lesser of two evils, so it doesn't take much effort to make a decision about this choice.
Chen Xi took the order and went to write documents.
However, after the document was delivered to Lin'an and Wang Lun was angered, it was estimated that seven or eight days would have passed by the time the reinforcements arrived.
During these seven or eight days, Li Bao and the remaining naval soldiers still had to work hard to maintain the front line. They must not let the Ming Navy invade Dinghai and destroy the Mingzhou Navy.
Once the Mingzhou Navy is destroyed and the Suzhou Ocean Gate is opened, the Ming Navy can unscrupulously threaten the Song Dynasty capital. By then, the capital will be shaken, and no one knows what disaster it will cause.
Li Bao did not dare to take this risk no matter what, and he did not dare to bear the consequences, so he decided to stay on the defensive and would never take the initiative to lead an attack again until reinforcements arrived.
Li Bao was also very unhappy when the battle reached this level.
After Li Bao took over the Mingzhou Navy, he relied on Wang Lun's support and asked for a lot of funds from Wang Lun. After deducting money from him, he managed to reorganize the Mingzhou Navy to 300 warships and 4,000 soldiers. The scale of multiple sailors barely met his own minimum requirements.
After that, he vigorously trained the sailors, rectified the discipline of the navy, and standardized the navy's daily drill standards, so as to quickly restore the navy's peak combat effectiveness.
Then he reported to the court, hoping to take the initiative to attack the Ming Navy and gain the initiative.
But this time Wang Lun sternly refused on behalf of the court and asked Li Bao to lead the Mingzhou Navy to guard the Suzhou Ocean, protect Lin'an's maritime gateway, and never let the Ming army step over the edge.
This is your duty. It is too risky to take the initiative. The Mingzhou Navy is the main force of the Song Dynasty Navy. Once something happens, the Song Dynasty will lose control of the sea. Who will bear the responsibility then?
No attack allowed!
Of course Li Bao was willing to serve the court, but he felt that it was much better to take the initiative than to be trapped at sea. He drew up a battle plan and stated to Wang Lun his reasons for taking the initiative. He believed that the Ming army's navy was not strong and that it could win by taking the initiative.
But Wang Lun still didn't support him.
Wang Lun asked him to only stay in Dinghai to protect the safety of the imperial court. He should not care about anything else. He only needed to guard Suzhou Yang and prevent the Ming navy from coming in arrogantly.
During this period, the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty did not do anything.
They realized the importance of the naval division at the beginning of the war, so they took advantage of the numerical advantage of the nearly 20,000 seagoing ships they controlled to mobilize a large number of ships from various ports in the southeastern coastal areas to gather in the Hangzhou Bay area and concentrate shipbuilding craftsmen. Transform and rebuild warships on these ships to speed up the creation of usable warships.
They tried to increase the number of naval forces to better protect Lin'an.
In terms of ship control, the Southern Song Dynasty absolutely crushed the Ming Dynasty by several orders of magnitude. They had a world-class super seaport at the time and nearly 20,000 sea-going ships. This number was beyond the reach of the nascent Ming Empire.
As long as they are given time, they can build an absolutely powerful armada.
Li Bao knew the court's plan, but the defensive policy was wrong in Li Bao's opinion.
The navy is a terrifying behemoth that sails on the sea. It should set sail and go to sea to fight, show its fangs, and launch attacks. If it just shrinks to the port, it is better to abolish the navy and leave funds to expand the infantry.
What is the approach to using naval forces for defensive operations?
In defensive operations, isn't the infantry more useful than the navy?
Li Bao was very depressed, but could not resist the court's decision and could only worry secretly.
But to this day, Li Bao discovered that the court's fear and fearful attitude towards the Ming army beforehand was not without reason.
The navy of the Ming Dynasty was indeed not very powerful, and its technology was very rough, not as delicate and sophisticated as that of the navy of the Southern Song Dynasty. However, their durability was very strong, their navy was large in number, they could fight protracted battles, and they were tough enough that they could not easily defeat them. destroy.
In contrast, the Southern Song Dynasty navy would not be so tenacious if it fought a protracted war.
Therefore, the Ming Navy Navy is really not a weak force. He is even a little lucky that he did not rush out so simply, otherwise it is hard to say who will win.
Although the war situation is now stalemate, at least they were not defeated by the Ming army, nor did they allow the Ming army to invade Suzhou Yang and threaten Lin'an's safety, which can be considered a credit.
In the past few days, the Ming Army has continued to send fleets to attack the Mingzhou Navy every day. The Mingzhou Navy can only conduct defensive operations and will never take the initiative to attack or pursue.
In this way, on the afternoon of April 9th, the Ming Navy once again attacked Dinghai Port, bombed it indiscriminately, and retreated on its own initiative. Then it did not come back until dark. Li Bao breathed a sigh of relief and ordered who was to maintain the most basic patrol. The team and the quick response fleet, and the rest of the crew should seize the time to eat and rest.
The night was very quiet, with no fighting or explosions. The Song soldiers had a good sleep and felt very comfortable.
But who would have expected that in the early morning of April 10th, a Ming infantry force of several thousand soldiers attacked Dinghai County, easily captured the county seat, defeated the defenders, and quickly raided the Dinghai port before attacking and killing them. Southern Song Dynasty sailors boarding the ship.
This group of raiding Ming troops brought fire starters and thunder cannons, and set fire to military facilities and warships at the port. They also threw thunder cannons to increase the chaos. The Southern Song sailors in the port panicked and directly blew up the camp and fled in all directions.
Li Bao was also resting on the shore at the time. He was shocked when he saw this. He immediately ordered his troops to board the ship. He also blew horns and drums and asked the sailors who could get on the ship to get on the ship as soon as possible. Every ship he could pull out was counted as a ship.
Dinghai definitely couldn't stay any longer. He quickly retreated to Lin'an, maybe there was a way out.
But at this time, Kong Zhende dispatched 300 warships and attacked Dinghai Port with an indomitable momentum. Facing the chaos at the port, the Song Navy's navy fired a large rocket, and there was a loud boom, which blew up the Song Navy's soul. .
The remaining warships dispersed and blocked the Mingzhou Navy's escape route. They encircled the Mingzhou Navy on three sides and blocked the Mingzhou Navy in the port in one fell swoop. The encirclement and annihilation battle began.
Faced with this situation, Li Bao and the remaining thirty or so operational warships were also dispersed, and they could only fight on their own. Li Bao was left with only the flagship and two other frigates. The three warships formed a small The fleet charged westward, trying to fight its way to survive.
At this point, Li Bao had no other choice. Even if he could calm down, the sailors couldn't. At this moment, all he could do was retreat.
His heart was filled with regret. All his attention was focused on the Ming Navy in Ligang, without any regard for what was behind him. He did not expect that the Ming Army would actually let the navy land and turn into infantry to attack Dinghai County and port.
Most of the sailors sleep in the barracks in the port. Except for night patrol teams and necessary quick-response warships, not many people sleep on rickety ships.
Moreover, after fighting for many days, soldiers will need a rest every day. Without good rest conditions, soldiers will not have the energy to fight the next day.
Li Bao did nothing wrong. The only thing he neglected was that he did not expect that the Ming army would find another way to capture Dinghai from the land and directly attack the port from the land. He was caught off guard and bit him on the seven inches.
This is good, the Mingzhou Navy will most likely be doomed.
What do the Dinghai defenders do for food?
Don’t you know how to take precautions?
Don't you have any sense of caution at all?
Even so, I can't die, I have to fight my way out and rush out!
Li Bao gritted his teeth, yelled out with anger on his face, and commanded his flagship to rush towards a Ming army warship. The iron-wrapped bow of the ship plunged hard into the Ming army warship. This was going to tear it apart, but the Ming soldiers on the Ming warship were not panicked at all. They shouted war trumpets and launched a gang-hopping battle against the flagship.
While Li Bao ordered the ships to continue moving at full speed, he personally led the soldiers to join in this hand-to-hand combat at sea.
Although he was getting older, he was still as powerful as before. He was still a fierce general on the battlefield. He was not afraid at all when facing the Ming soldiers who were furious. He swung his sword at a Ming soldier, and the soldier slashed with his sword. Blocking, the two began to wrestle with each other.
"ah!!!"
"ah!!!"
The two of them were wrestling and yelling at each other, with veins popping out on their foreheads and their eyes almost popping out, they were extremely fierce.
