Zhen Xiong's approach happened to be the most troublesome to Tang Ping.
In Tang Ping's opinion, the most ideal thing is for Wei to use the refueling tactic so that he can first eliminate part of the effective strength of Wei's navy.
It can only be said that Zhen Xiong's reputation as the mainstay of the East Vietnamese army for so many years is not in vain. Now faced with the full force of the Wei navy, Tang Ping could only give it a try.
"General Qian, General Luo, please!"
Leave professional matters to professionals. Tang Ping will not feel that he is omniscient and omnipotent just because he is a time traveler.
This is a real battle, not a game where troops can fight by selecting with the mouse and giving orders. Everyone here is a living being.
Therefore, Tang Ping handed over the command of the battle to Qian Laosan and Luo Siye, who had the most experience in naval battles.
"We must go all out in the end!" The two of them cupped their hands, then came to the deck and boarded the hot air balloon.
That’s right, it’s a hot air balloon ride.
As the commander-in-chief of this battle, they do not need to charge into battle, but have to look at the overall situation and make the most appropriate choice.
Tang Ping even handed over the control of the drone to Qian Laosan.
"Third brother, I remember that you seem to be a little afraid of heights, right?" Fourth Master Luo said with a smile. Before the Wei navy arrived, the two of them were a little nervous. ap.
But when the enemy was really in front of him, he felt relaxed all of a sudden. Fourth Master Luo even made a joke.
"I'm afraid!" Qian Laosan didn't shy away from it, pointing to his calf: "Look, it's still shaking a little!"
"But Duke Ping treated me as a nobleman, and we will repay him as a nobleman!"
"Hey, you know this little phrase all the time. Who did you learn it from?"
"Hahaha, I learned it from that brat Rengui!"
While the two were talking, the hot air balloon had already risen to an altitude of more than forty meters. The weather was clear today, and the two of them were at a high altitude, with a wider view.
From a distance, you can already see a dense fleet of ships appearing on the horizon.
"Send the order, the Taihao ship and Donghai No. 3 to No. 9 will press forward and form a long snake formation. All air force hot air balloons will take off!"
"Send the order, the remaining ships of the East China Sea Fleet will turn around, and the surrounding areas will be involved!"
"Send the order, Donghai No. 1 and No. 2 are roaming around the perimeter, harassing the rear of the enemy fleet and looking for the flagship!"
One order after another was issued in an orderly manner.
Most of the East China Sea Fleet were modified from pirate ships in the past, and their performance was not comparable to that of the Wei Navy, so they could not be allowed to go head-to-head in the early stages of the battle.
Therefore, the two chose the Etherhao ship and the gunboats of the East China Sea Fleet as the vanguard. They arranged a long snake formation to maximize the power of the side artillery.
Because its firing range is higher than that of the Wei Navy, after one round of shelling on the side, you can turn the rudder to widen the distance.
At almost the same time, the Wei navy also discovered traces of the Tang navy.
"Yugan, tell me, what should we do now?"
Zhen Xiong sat on the tallest flagship and looked at the Tang fleet in the distance with an almost overlooking gaze.
After Zhen Youqian returned to the Wei Dynasty, he actually took the blame himself, admitted that he had forged documents from Admiral Rong of the Navy, and asked Zhen Xiong to punish him. This made him look down upon his usually naughty son.
So not only did he not show any contempt for him for the time being, he even took him with him on this expedition.
There is no other way. There is only such a son in the family. No matter how much I trust the ministers and generals of the court, I am afraid that I will have to leave this great Wei Dynasty in the hands of my son in the future.
"Reporting to my father, the Tang Dynasty has always relied on the advantages of artillery. This time when we come from the north, we will definitely not give up such sharp weapons as artillery. However, the disadvantages of this object are also obvious, that is, although it is powerful, it has a slow rate of fire."
"Furthermore, there are only a few dozen warships in the Tang Dynasty. Even if they have artillery, they are not many in number. We only need to disperse them slightly and use ant colony tactics."
"Hahahaha, not bad!" Zhen Xiong was greatly relieved
, the prodigal son of mine is really a little different when he comes back this time.
Being able to express such an opinion now shows that he has thought about it seriously.
"Then tell me, what should we do now?" Zhen Xiong didn't take Datang Navy seriously at this moment.
Although the Tang Dynasty was powerful, it was not close to the sea in the past, and it did not have an organization like a navy.
I think the Tang Dynasty navy that came this time was just a patchwork of their original river navy. If nothing else, just the warships that looked different in appearance from a distance showed that it was a patchwork fleet.
Although he, Zhen Xiong, avoided Nanyang and established the Wei Dynasty, what he was afraid of was not the Tang Dynasty's navy but the cavalry.
In the battle of Baozicheng, he and his 400,000 East Vietnamese army suffered losses, so he came to Nanyang.
But at sea, he still has absolute confidence. The total number of large and small warships here is almost 500. This is the entire property of the Wei Dynasty, and it is also his confidence.
"Full sails are loaded, launch the assault ships!" Zhen Yougan said decisively.
Zhen Xiong raised his eyebrows, Zhen Youqian's judgment was exactly the same as his own.
Although he looked down upon the Tang Navy, he also knew that a lion should fight a rabbit with all its strength.
Tang Ping, whom he was most afraid of, actually came to the South China Sea, so he must be killed here.
And as long as this Datang navy is destroyed, even if Datang takes over East Vietnam within a few years, it will no longer be able to move south.
"Did you hear that? All battleships, put all the sails under pressure and launch the assault ships!"
The power and range of the Tang Dynasty's artillery was far greater than that of their bed crossbows, but now they had more ships and fewer ships. As long as they rushed within the range of the bed crossbows, they would have the power to fight.
As for the assault ship they were talking about, it was a small boat hanging next to the battleship of the Wei Navy.
Putting it down during combat can not only speed up the battleship, but this assault ship uses a lowering sail structure. As the name suggests, it uses both sails and oars to power it.
There were five oarsmen on each side of the ship. Ten strong men rocked the oars and sails, and the speed was even about twice that of a large warship.
The Wei navy, which spans the East China Sea and Nanyang seas, built this kind of assault ship from the beginning to deal with the artillery of the Tang Dynasty.
Although the artillery is powerful, its rate of fire is slow. In addition, Datang has fewer warships this time, so there won't be much more artillery.
At this time, hundreds of such assault ships rushed towards the Tang Dynasty Navy. Their target was originally small, but he wanted to see whether the Datang Navy used artillery or not.
If not used, these small assault ships would be close to the Tang Dynasty warships, allowing sailors to launch and drill the ships, and also light fires to charge into formations, which would bring a lot of trouble to the Tang Dynasty warships.
And if the Tang Dynasty is willing to use artillery to attack these assault ships, that would be even better. Not to mention the hit rate of their artillery against such high-speed boats, just by consuming the opponent's shells and reloading time, their Wei Dynasty is stable. Make money without losing money.
It can only be said that the Wei navy is really outstanding in its ability to gallop across the sea.
"Come on, tell me about the second step, what should we do?"
Zhen Xiong asked loudly, he was building momentum for his son, and there were many important ministers and military generals on the flagship. If his son was not a waste, then naturally he had to let them know.
