There was nothing fancy about the pursuit at sea.
There is no need to consider terrain or roads on a flat sea. Whoever's boat is faster will have the advantage.
Under Xia Jun's deliberate release of water, Zheng Zhibao and Shi Daxuan paid the price of fifteen ships being destroyed and finally escaped to the vicinity of Zhoushan Islands.
At this time, Xia Jun finally stopped.
it's dark.
Due to the complex terrain near the Zhoushan Islands, even the brave Zuo Hua did not dare to rush in in the dark night.
There was a moment of calm on the battlefield.
In this era, there are no radars, no satellites, and a lack of scientific detection equipment. If you dare to sail in waters with many islands and reefs at night, you are definitely eating arsenic and seeking death.
Zheng Zhibao and Shi Daxuan must have been stationed not far ahead.
Even if they were afraid of Xia Jun's artillery fire, they could only wait until dawn if they wanted to escape.
On this night of truce, people can't rest.
Everyone knows that tomorrow will be an extremely brutal battle.
The Xia army generals gathered together and began to discuss the battle plan.
"According to the sea conditions we currently know, tomorrow's battlefield should be in the Daxieshan and Xiaoxieshan areas, but we can't be sure where Zheng Zhilong is hiding."
On the desktop, the topographic map of the Zhoushan Islands area is clear and clear.
If Zheng Zhilong saw it, he would be absolutely terrified. We need to think carefully about whether we should fight this battle or not.
Because Xia Jun's control of the terrain was far superior to Zheng's.
Comparing the map in Zheng's hands with Xia Jun's, it was as complete as a child's drawing.
This is the difference between science and experience.
Although the Zheng family has been entrenched in the Zhoushan Islands for many years, their method of obtaining terrain information relies on experience in addition to inherent maps.
If you are facing an opponent of the same level, this experience is enough to guarantee victory.
But what they faced was Xia Jun, who completely believed in science and technology.
Ever since the Xia Kingdom began to get involved in maritime trade, everyone had been prepared for war with the Zheng family.
Coupled with the need for trade routes, Xia's ships would conduct careful topographic surveys wherever they passed.
For a place like Zhoushan Islands, which is very close to Songjiang Mansion and extremely complicated, Xia Guo takes even more meticulous care of it.
Over the past few years, Xia Jun has completed a complete survey of the Zhoushan Islands, either explicitly or covertly.
Zheng Zhilong thought that this was his territory and he could take advantage of the local snakes to attack Xia Jun.
Little did he know that Xia Jun's grasp of the terrain far exceeded his.
The only thing that cannot be determined now is Zheng Zhilong's hiding place.
With so many islands and so many waterways, any place can become Zheng Zhilong's stronghold.
Moreover, in a war at sea, it is difficult to transmit information.
Not to mention that the Xia Kingdom cannot place spies in this area. Even if they do, they can only look back and sigh and cannot provide any help to the East China Sea Fleet.
But even so, the staff of the East China Sea Fleet were still working intensively on the map.
Now that the battlefield has been preset, it is not impossible to guess Zheng Zhilong's hiding place based on the existing conditions.
"The speed of Zheng's warships is limited. In order to surround us, they cannot hide too far away. Therefore, we guess that Zheng Zhilong's location is likely to be around Panzhi Island."
Well, the combat staff guessed wrong.
There is nothing we can do about it.
They have a blind eye. Although they can use limited calculations as evidence, the probability of guessing wrong is still very high.
Zuo Hua did not keep his eyes fixed on the preset battlefield.
He is Zuo Menggeng's personal disciple and has received many pointers.
Zuo Menggeng has always emphasized that many articles were not on the battlefield during the war. Only by having an overall perspective and standing at a higher angle can we see clearly the fog of war.
Although the terrain near Daxie Mountain and Xiaoxie Mountain is complicated, Zheng can attack at will. But after comparing the performance of the enemy's and ours' warships, he still believed that Zheng Zhilong would definitely have a more complete arrangement if he wanted to complete the campaign objectives.
He walked over, picked up a pen and made some calculations on various islands, and suddenly clicked on Xiushan Island and Changbai Island in the northeast corner of Zhoushan Island.
"There must be Zheng Zhilong's ambush here and here. As long as we go in and his ambush comes around, we can be surrounded."
His idea shocked everyone into a cold sweat.
Chief of Staff Yang Yunsheng felt that this arrangement was unreliable.
"Daxie Mountain and Xiaoxie Mountain are more than fifty miles away from Xiushan Island, and the Zhoushan Dadao Mountain Range in the middle is crisscrossed and the roads are rugged. How can Zheng Zhilong achieve coordination and unity? If there is a mistake in one link of this arrangement, everything will be lost."
Communication is definitely an important condition for limiting the scale of the battlefield.
If it is on land, through fast horse delivery, a war involving more than 100,000 people can be spread over an area of 30 to 40 miles.
On the sea, even the fastest ships cannot match fast horses, so the battlefield area has to be reduced to within ten miles.
Otherwise, the various departments will not be able to coordinate smoothly and may be defeated by the enemy one by one.
Yang Yunsheng felt that Zheng Zhilong would not make such a common-sense mistake.
But Zuo Hua was not making random guesses.
"Who said people or ships must run back and forth to deliver orders? Have you forgotten that there is still smoke?"
Yang Yunsheng was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly realized.
"Ah...yes! If we use beacon towers and beacons, we can indeed complete the transmission of orders in a short period of time."
"Then do we still want to go in?"
Having predicted Zheng Zhilong's tactics, Shang Kexi was a little worried.
Although the performance of the East China Sea Fleet's ships far exceeds that of the Zheng's, the power of its artillery is not on the same level. But if Zheng was squeezed into a small sea area, it would still be a disaster.
Zuo Hua looked determined and had obviously made up his mind.
"Of course you have to go in, otherwise how will you lure the snake out of the hole?"
He looked at the crowd and his tone became much heavier.
"Tomorrow's battle will definitely be extremely difficult for us at the beginning, and there will be a lot of sacrifices. But as long as we win the final victory, then everything will be worth it."
Kong Zhiguang, the captain of the Yangzhou, was a little unsure.
"In such a small sea area, except for our four main warships, the rest of the warships can't help. Once the Zheng family starts playing fire attack again, I'm afraid our entire army will be annihilated."
"Except for the four main warships, the rest of the warships will not enter."
Zuo Hua's deployment surprised everyone.
Originally, the number of warships in the East China Sea Fleet was not very large. If we eliminate those old warships, would this battle still be fought?
"Commander, this is too dangerous."
Kou Qingsheng, the captain of the Qingdao, was extremely anxious.
But Zuo Hua straightened his body and his momentum changed.
"On the battlefield, only by working together can we defeat powerful enemies. Therefore, there are certain situations that must be known to everyone in order to think together and work together."
Amid everyone's confused expressions, Zuo Hua's voice rose higher.
"Now, read the top secret order!"
