The calm period on the river front has been almost three months by now.
During these calm days, both the North and the South were desperately preparing for war and accumulating offensive power. In comparison, the North is building more warships, while the South is stepping up recruitment and training.
To put it bluntly, each is making up for its own shortcomings.
The Zhenjiang Navy located at the secret base of Hongze Lake ushered in the last batch of twenty-five new warships today. Together with the previous battleships and troop transports, the total number of ships of the Kunpeng Tenth Army has reached Three hundred and two ships.
And this is already their limit.
"Shipbuilding is really expensive!" Li Jiangyao said with emotion, holding the account book: "If we continue like this, we will go bankrupt and close down!"
What he said was not an exaggeration at all.
Although Zhenjiang Military Mansion has a strong family background, it cannot withstand the hardships of life. Having previously built three heavy infantry regiments to support hundreds of thousands of troops in their expedition to the east, Ghost Desert in Western Xinjiang had already been under tremendous economic pressure. Now in just three months, they have worked day and night to build 300 warships of various types, almost emptying the Suppression Army's coffers.
Xie Tanzhi, Situ Wushou and Ma Mu jointly reported to Li Jiangyao, requesting a postponement of new large-scale military expenditures to allow the rear to take a breather.
Li Jiangyao agreed with the opinion of the Zhenjiang Military Mansion, and at the same time called Xu Youchang over, and said seriously: "Three hundred ships, there will be no more. The rest can only be snatched from Bao Yuchun!"
Xu Youchang nodded when he heard this: "We are also ready and can act at any time!"
He spread out the map, pointed at it and said: "Nie Xianzang suggested that the target of the first battle be placed at Jingkou. This place has been an important naval town since ancient times. It has both docks and docks. Several tributaries of the river converge here. It is very strategic. value."
Li Jiangyao was a little confused: "Since it is a strategic location, the enemy must be very strong here. Why should we choose the easy thing over the hard one?"
Xu Youchang responded: "I have raised similar questions. However, Nie Xianzang's view is that precisely because the main force of the enemy's navy is concentrated here, the opponent is more likely to take it lightly and will not believe that we dare to attack Jingkou directly as soon as we come up. In addition, He also said that the governor's ship-stealing strategy could only work two or three times at most. Once the enemy was on alert and had taken precautions, it would be difficult to succeed again. Therefore, it was better to just eat the fat ones, and grab the big ones if you wanted to. .”
Li Jiangyao was overjoyed when he heard this and nodded repeatedly: "This Nie Xianzang has a good temper with me. How is the enemy's troop deployment in Jingkou? Are you clear?"
Xu Youchang replied: "It's clear. The Intelligence Department and the Second Army's scout battalion conducted reconnaissance from land, while the Tenth Army sent several small fishing boats to conduct reconnaissance from the water, basically figuring out the enemy's true and false status. Jingkou Pier , the fourth and fifth flags of the rebel navy and a patrol battalion are stationed, with a total of more than 400 large and small warships."
He paused and continued: "In addition, there are sixty-six ships being repaired and maintained in a large dock downstream of the pier. The enemy's defenses are indeed slightly lax. Only two or three ships are arranged at the entrances of each tributary near Jingkou. A warship is on alert and can easily break through."
Li Jiangyao carefully looked at the battle map drawn by the Navy and asked: "What are the opinions of the other two people? Do they also agree with Nie Xianzang's idea?"
"Yes, Luo Yuan and Wang Wenlie both agreed to raid Jingkou." Xu Youchang responded: "Wang Wenlie also specifically pointed out that the wind is blowing from the southeast, and it will be more convenient to move north after grabbing the ship, so it is worth a try. "
Li Jiangyao nodded slightly: "How are you going to fight?"
Xu Youchang said: "I want the army to participate, cooperate with the action, and advance both by water and land. Du Jian's Second Army's giant crossbow battalion was deployed near Guazhou Ferry in advance, and Luo Yuan led thirty warships to show up from Guazhou Ferry. Pretending to carry a large army across the river, he attracted the attention of the enemy at Jingkou to the upper reaches. At the same time, Nie Xianzang commanded the main force to attack from the mouth of the canal, directly towards the Jingkou pier, and raided the fleet parked there. Wang Wenlie led another way out of the river mouth. After that, we can go downstream and grab the more than 60 warships at the dock first to save our money."
Li Jiangyao pondered: "Since it is a surprise battle, we must pay attention to a surprise. It is not until we are close to the enemy's side that the opponent suddenly realizes it. So I make two suggestions. You should put in more effort. One is to dispatch martial arts in advance. The powerful masters can seize the enemy warships on guard at the estuary and prevent them from giving a warning to the dock; the second is to make some modifications to look like a rebel navy."
"Understood, I will make arrangements when I get back." Xu Youchang promised: "The time of attack should also be chosen at night, so that it is easier to succeed."
"Has the date been set? We need to consider the weather conditions."
Xu Youchang nodded: "We have planned three dates, the twenty-seventh of this month, the second day of next month and the fifth day of next month. You have to decide on the specific dates."
Li Jiangyao thought for a moment and said: "The day after tomorrow is the 27th. Time is a little tight, and the fifth day of next month is a bit too long. I think it will be the second day of the lunar month."
Hearing this, Xu Youchang responded neatly: "Okay, then we will raid Jingkou in seven days!"
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"General, the other side seems to be quiet these days."
Yao Mingjie, the deputy commander of the Navy of the Jin Army, couldn't help but smile lightly when he heard what his subordinate Xue Meng said: "Why don't you stop?"
Xue Meng said: "The Second Army of Zhenjiang is marching towards Guazhou one after another. Is it possible that they are coming towards us?"
"Haha, a bunch of landlubbers, are you still afraid that they will bite us?" Yao Mingjie looked disdainful and snorted: "I don't dare to brag on land. Want to cross the river? Du Jian doesn't even have a chance!"
Xue Meng shook his head: "But I heard that the imperial court has been building warships. Could it be..."
Yao Mingjie waved his hand and said: "Brother Xue, keep your heart in your heart. Murong Xue is building ships, yes, but their shipyard is in Suizhou, far away from us! If you want to drive here to transport troops, you must at least get there first You must have passed the level of Bao Shuai.”
"That's true." Xue Meng smiled to himself: "Maybe I'm overly worried. When it comes to the Suppressing Army, I feel uneasy."
Yao Mingjie glanced at him and said with a smile: "I think you are scared because of Xiao Jing's incident? Don't worry, as long as we stay on the boat, no one in the world can do anything. Not even Li Jiangyao!"
Xue Meng was stunned for a while, and then said: "General, my eyelids have been twitching these days, I'm afraid it's not a good sign. How about adding more security forces near the mouths of a few rivers? Two or three warships, Maybe it’s not enough.”
Yao Mingjie laughed loudly when he heard this: "Send more warships? How many more warships are you sending? Who are you going to guard against? Guard against the Xinjiang Army? Can he fly into the water to fight with us? You are just too paranoid! Guard the ships. There are fireworks and cannons. Once the enemy is discovered, the dock can be notified immediately and reinforcements can be sent at any time. Why panic?"
Seeing the general's attitude, Xue Meng couldn't say anything more. He could only mutter angrily: "Be careful with your ten thousand year ship. In today's world..."
Unexpectedly, before he finished speaking, an officer hurried into the room and loudly announced: "Shuai Yao, General Xue, we have military information!"
Xue Meng was startled and quickly asked what happened.
The officer replied, half an hour ago, surface scouts discovered that thirty large warships appeared at Guazhou Ferry, all under the banner of the Zhenjiang Army. There are also five flat troop carriers loading infantry.
"Where did the warship come from?!" Yao Mingjie couldn't sit still after hearing this. He stood up and said: "How did it cross the upstream defense line?"
Xue Meng thought for a while and analyzed: "Needless to say, it must have come from Gaoyou Lake. It was probably the boat secretly built by Li Jiangyao."
Yao Mingjie felt that what he said made sense. He calmed down a little and sneered: "It's only thirty ships. It's not even a fraction of my price. If you come here, you will die! It's getting dark now. It seems that they are planning to take advantage of the night." Cross the river."
Xue Meng agreed: "Yes, the general's analysis is correct. Five troop transport ships can transport about a thousand people in one trip, and they can transport three to four battalions of troops in one night. Perhaps they want to sneak attack the Jingkou Pier from the land."
"Grandma! Can I let them cross the river?" Yao Mingjie scolded: "They sank them in the water halfway, and they all went to feed the bastards! Pass the military order and assemble for battle!"
Xue Meng stood up: "I'd better go, one hundred fighting ships should be enough."
Yao Mingjie nodded: "Enough! One hundred of them are all looking up to the Zhenjiang Army! It's ridiculous for landlubbers to sail boats. You go and play, so that they can see what it means to be a water overlord!"
Xue Meng agreed, turned around and left the command post, all the way to the pier pier. He quickly boarded his flagship Feilong and ordered the drummers to prepare his navy to leave the port.
Not long after, one hundred and five battleships sailed out of the dock one after another, quickly formed a three-column attack formation on the wide river, and then headed upstream towards the Guazhou Ferry.
From Jingkou to Guazhou, the straight-line distance is no more than twenty miles. Taking into account the winding waterways of the river, it is only about twenty-five miles. Xue Meng's fleet took advantage of the wind and sailed upstream, arriving at the fighting position in less than half an hour.
However, what the rebels did not expect was that what they regarded as a landlubber would actually launch the attack first.
What's even more exaggerated is that the opponent has no clumsiness in the army's water battle, but has extremely standardized naval combat drills!
The current is turbulent and lightning flashes through!
In the blink of an eye, twenty flywheel battleships were as fast as galloping horses and cut directly into Xue Meng's fleet.
From the sides of the Zhenjiang Army warship, rockets shot out across the sky, like dense red meteors, constantly covering the nearby rebel ships. At the same time, the giant crossbows placed in the cabin were also fired continuously, hitting the enemy ships. Sawdust flew.
The rebel navy was suddenly confused.
They didn't even have time to adjust their formation, and scrapped more than a dozen warships on the spot. Raging flames burned on the river, and countless sailors abandoned the ship to escape.
The twenty flywheel battleships were extremely fast. They passed through the entire fleet and ran behind the enemy with almost no damage.
Seeing this, Xue Meng quickly ordered all the ships to turn around, intending to rely on their numerical advantage to completely suppress the warships of the Xinjiang Army.
However, he forgot one thing. There were ten flywheel warships upstream!
