Five days later, Yakushima Pier.

All 3,500 sea ships under the command of Yan King Li Qing gathered here. The Xia army only carried seven days of food and grass during this battle, and the rest were weapons, bed crossbows, arrows and war horses. In addition, Li Qing assembled 200,000 troops, including 80,000 soldiers who had just crossed the sea, 40,000 soldiers of the Qinglong Navy, and 80,000 were all Japanese servants, led by Tadaku Shimazu, Masao Yamashita and Jiro Kitano.

Among them, 160,000 troops were all loaded on 3,000 sea ships, and the entire fleet of ships was filled with stuff. As for the other 500 warships, all of them were loaded with the 40,000 Qinglong Navy soldiers, according to Li Qing's combat plan, these 40,000 naval soldiers were the vanguard of this battle and the key to winning this battle. The speed of the naval warships was faster than that of the sea ships, and although they set out together, they did not arrive together.

The generals gathered at the dock, and Li Qing said to everyone: "General Feng, General Zhou, you two are the key to our army's victory; the navy fleet is divided into two parts; the North Road Navy is the main force, and General Feng Fu is led by 400 warships and 30,000 naval soldiers to the estuary of the Yangtze River. It is necessary to block the Song army's Jiangnan naval fleet in the Yangtze River; the South Road Navy is auxiliary, and General Zhou Tao is led by 100 warships and 10,000 soldiers to the Song army's Changguo Naval Camp to strive to completely annihilate the Song army's Changguo Naval Navy. If not, be sure to block the Song army's Changguo Navy in the area south of the Changguo Islands to ensure the safety of our army's retreat;

The other generals led 160,000 soldiers and 3,000 sea ships to land in the Qingdun Salt Field in the Song Dynasty. Then the army headed north to attack Suzhou, and swept across the entire Suhu area with this as the foundation. The key to this battle is that the navy must fight hard, and the Song Dynasty naval army must be severely attacked and severely damaged, otherwise even if our army can grab the food and grass, it will not be transported back..."

Li Qing said his combat plan in general again, with the purpose of letting the generals understand his mission; after Li Qing finished speaking, the generals said in unison: "Abide by the prince's military order..."

"The generals boarded the ship and set off for war..."

After Li Qing issued a military order, the generals boarded their respective warships one after another. However, Zhao Ge, Shimazu Tadaku, Yamatsu Masao and Kitano Jiro all followed Li Qing to board the flagship Sea Dragon. This should be the largest cross-sea combat operation in history, and 3,500 warships went out to sea together was very spectacular. Li Qing stood on the deck of the Sea Dragon and looked at the endless fleet, and was full of heroism in his heart. This was the only naval fleet in the Great Xia Empire, and was created by King Li Qing of Yan.

However, the sea ships of this fleet are still mainly medium-sized ships, mainly about two thousand sea ships; the fleet was soon divided into three parts, one went north and one went south, leaving only three thousand sea ships defender Hailong, heading eastward. The sailors of the Xia army have walked countless times on this route, so there is no need to worry about the problem of trek.

Three days later, the North Road Navy Fleet led by Feng Fu arrived a hundred miles east of Yushan Island outside the Yangtze River Estuary. Here, Feng Fu's navy fleet was discovered by the Song Army's Jiangnan Navy. In order to defend the estuary of the Yangtze River, Li Bao, commander of the Song Army's Jiangnan Navy, arranged a squadron on Yushan Island, with 5,000 naval soldiers and more than 100 warships. Their main task is to early warning and patrol this sea area.

"Report to the general, I discovered the Song army's Jiangnan Navy." A deputy general came to Feng Fu's cabin several times.

Feng Fu walked towards the deck and asked the deputy general: "How many ships does the Song army have?"

"The general has ten sea ships, which are sailing from south to north. It seems that they are going to Yushan Island." The deputy general reported to Feng Fuhui.

Feng Fu stood on the top deck of the Jianglong and looked south. Sure enough, there were ten ships under the banner of the Song army being sailing, but at this time the Song army fleet had changed its course and sailed eastward. Feng Fu issued a military order very decisively: "Send the order and send fifty right-wing warships to take the initiative to attack and sink all the Song army ships."

"Yes, the last general takes the order..."

After the flag-telling order, fifty Xia Navy ships immediately chased the Song ships. Facing the siege of the Xia fleet, the Song army resisted tenaciously but meaninglessly. After an hour of fighting between the two sides, ten Song naval ships were wiped out, and the Xia army won the victory, but one of the Xia army also had a sea ship sunk and several were severely damaged. This battle was the first battle of the Song and Xia Jiangnan battle, and it also laid the foundation for the Xia army's subsequent sudden attacks.

"General, the Song army's naval ships have been completely wiped out." The deputy general reported to Feng Fu.

Feng Fu nodded and said, "I ordered the entire army to attack Yushan Island at full speed."

In order to prevent the Song army from escaping from the two wings, Feng Fu ordered the Song army to detour from the two wings to surround the back of the Song army. This was a war without any suspense. The Xia army occupied the absolute superior force. The Yushan Island navy of the Song army was caught off guard by the Xia army before he even had time to leave the port. He had experienced countless exercises and had practical experience (when robbing the ships of the Song Dynasty); therefore, when landing on Yushan Island, the Song army made great progress. It took only three hours to capture the entire territory of Yushan Island and captured the remaining Song army and warships on the island.

Taking Yushan Island was the basis for the victory of the Xia army, because none of the Song army ships on Yushan Island could run away. In other words, the war has begun and the Song Dynasty still knew nothing. Feng Fu left some troops on Yushan Island and led the army to continue westward to the estuary of the Yangtze River. In fact, Feng Fu had already planned how to curb the Jiangnan Navy of the Song army. It was a very simple thing to block the Song army's naval division within the Yangtze River. It only needed to occupy two islands at the estuary of the Yangtze River. These two islands were impact islands accumulated by the silt of the Yangtze River. They were called Dongsha Island and Xisha Island (the predecessor of Chongming Island).

Feng Fu's target was these two islands. As a famous navy general of the Song Dynasty, Li Bao naturally knew the importance of Dongsha Island and Xisha Island. Li Bao arranged heavy troops on both islands, and the islands were very close to each other to support the battles. Li Bao arranged 50,000 troops on the two islands, and more than half of the warships of the Jiangnan Navy were here, and the guards were also Wang Zongze, the number one general under Li Bao.

Because the Song army was very strict in guarding these two islands, Feng Fu did not know the situation of the Song army's defense on these two islands. Therefore, after taking Yushan Island, Feng Fu led the navy to continue advancing, but was not prepared to attack the two islands immediately. Feng Fu was preparing to arrive at dawn and launch an attack when the guards of the two islands were the weakest.

Xisha Island, within the Song Army Navy Camp.

"General, the brothers from Yushan Island have not yet heard back the news. Do you think something happened to Yushan Island?" A deputy general asked Wang Zongze.

Wang Zongze said confidently: "Don't worry! If something happens, tell your brothers that they are loose on the outside and tight on the inside. He also sent two sea boats to Yushan Island to find out the situation."

Although Wang Zongze said this, he was still a little worried. It turned out that in order to prevent an attack from the sea, Yushan Island and Xisha Island were in contact once a day, but no one came today. The cautious Wang Zongze had to prepare.

Thanks to book friends 1607092636054 for their four recommendations, Duan Wei’s four recommendations and Liu Shanjun’s six recommendations. If you have any votes, come here!

(End of this chapter)
Chapter completed!