sweeping the world

Chapter 671 The real contest begins

"It's really... beacon fire everywhere!"

"Yeah, the enemy army dared to go ashore without knowing the situation."

Li Mai and Fu Wei were on the same ship before the battle, and the commanders of the other formations also gathered for a meeting, waiting for the battle to return to each ship.

It took them nearly four hours to reach the war zone after lifting anchor and sailing. There was a sea area on the sailing route where it was raining. There was a slight delay, but it didn't have much impact, let alone the reduction of the number of warships.

From the perspective of the fleet, looking at the Pingman Captain's Department, under the night, there are fires everywhere, and it is also full of dense smoke columns, obviously after a tragic battle.In the original water fortress, there are also many light spots on the water surface, which are the lights on the Gupta warship, and another fleet is moving towards our side.

"I received my own lantern message, and there is a formation of our warships on the sea."

"The number is 24, the surviving force is nineteen, and there are twelve warships of goodwill forces."

Li Mai keeps collecting information, that is, although the lamp language can communicate, the information that the lamp language can actually express is incomparable with direct face-to-face communication, and only some overviews can be obtained.

"A force of goodwill?" Li Mai didn't know which one it was. He knew that there was a Sassanian country, but he couldn't imagine that there would be a Persian Sasanian fleet coming to the battlefield: "This is our war, and the commander of the front formation Take that force away."

Han has never had so-called allies, even if there are forces fighting side by side, they are still vassal states.

Allies, that is, mutual recognition of each other's strength, is an equal alliance (even on the surface), and many Han generals do not think that there is any country or force in this world that is qualified to be their ally.

The number of incoming Han warships was 150 and seven. Except for the flagship of Li Mai and the warship of Fu Wei, both of which were large ships over 60 meters, the remaining 40 ships were over 30 meters, and the rest except [-] The rest of the boats are all [-]-meter crossbow boats.

They came from the southeast, and they would not all go straight to the enemy at the military port. Some of the fleets would make a detour, and the purpose was naturally to cut off the retreating direction of the Gupta navy.The remaining warships must surround the Gupta navy that was leaving the water fortress, and try their best to block them in the water fortress.

Today is the ninth day according to the lunar calendar. Even if there is a moon in the sky, it is covered by dark clouds. To find the other party in the night, you rely on the lights of the boat.

Turn off the lights and use the cover of night to approach the enemy ship?A small number of warships may be able to do this, but if there are too many warships, the lights will not be extinguished, otherwise there will be a collision accident, and the two sides will clearly show their existence and move towards each other.

The sky was still overcast, and the rain that had stopped for a while continued to fall, a misty drizzle, but the wind stopped strangely.

The sound of oars hitting the water surface was very frequent. It was the sailors of warships paddling the oars. The cabins of each warship had the sound of chant that shook the sky. In addition to the slapping of oars in a piece of sea, there is the continuous sound of chant.

On the sea, even if each other can see each other, it is not possible to get close to each other in a short time. The one with the current or the wind will be faster, while the one with the current or the wind will move slowly.

Does the sea still talk about downstream or upstream?Water flow is not limited to inland river systems, the sea also has its own seawater flow direction, which is a kind of ocean current effect, which is thousands of times more complicated than the flow of inland rivers.The sea and the inland river have one thing in common, that is, there are eddies in both, but the eddies on the sea are definitely more, bigger, and more dangerous than the inland river.

Huan Wen, who was still on the top of the mountain, naturally discovered the arrival of his own fleet. He found that the enemy troops who had landed had not withdrawn their warships. He knew that the strategy he had arranged was already working, but he had no intention of driving the enemy troops into the sea that night. .

Night battles are really not a simple matter. In an era lacking real-time remote communication capabilities, any night battle will definitely result in little damage to one's own side even if it is victorious. No general will engage in large-scale night battles unless absolutely necessary, even if there are night battles. Raid and harass the enemy in small groups.

Speaking of night battles, even during the Second World War, countries that could avoid night battles would never engage in large-scale battles under the cover of night. The reason is still that there will be a large number of accidental injuries.The prevalence of night battles is due to the sharp knife battles of special forces, but the special forces can use the night to infiltrate and attack, and their own numbers are not many.

Of course, Huan Wen would not let the enemy troops who had already landed An An survive the night. His choice was to send a capable team to attack and harass. The crossbow troops took advantage of the terrain to cover each area several times from time to time.

Ah Sanyang has always been Ah San's sea, but they are not familiar with every area of ​​the land around the sea area. Ah San who came to attack had checked beforehand, but the information was extremely limited.They have not been able to effectively reconnaissance after the arrival of the Han army and the transformation of the terrain. In fact, this coastal terrain is in a state of uncertainty.

After the Gupta troops landed, they only advanced about three miles inland. The front was naturally in the battle zone, or a fan-shaped battle zone. The camp was being built in the middle of the rear, but the beachhead was where the most people were.

"Arrows kept coming from the mountain to the northeast, and our soldiers were unable to fight back."

In every war, there will be competition for high ground. The enemy's commanding position not only allows them to see their own layout at a glance, but also increases the range of the enemy's long-range attack weapons.

Now Gupta's landing troops have encountered disgusting things. The Han army's bow and crossbow troops at high places unscrupulously come to cover them several times from time to time, and the Gupta archers on low ground can't reach even if the bowstring is not wet.

The entire battle line did not stop with nightfall. The long-range arms of both sides shot arrows at each other. As the defending side, Gupta was also attacked by a small group of Han troops, which made the defending Gupta side constantly startled and exhausted. , the spirit is extremely exhausted.

On land, harassment warfare is the main focus, and big changes occur as the sun rises on a new day.Because it was a landing battle, there were not just small movements on the sea.

"The fleet must be pulled to the sea!" Katruk Karp as a Brahmin is not a dung-making machine, on the contrary, it is precisely because a Brahmin has been educated by elites: "A fleet with room for movement is an effective fleet, and it is besieged in the port Your fleet is just a fleet of existence!"

How else can we say that the navy of the Gupta Dynasty was strong?Not only do they have a large number of ships, but also because they have accumulated a lot of experience in operations at sea for a long time. There may not be a systematic theory of "the existence of a fleet", but the relevant cognition is known.

"Yes, yes." Zapt Warren was definitely not flattering, and said with great agreement: "As long as we can defeat the navy of the Han Empire, the landing can still continue. Once we cannot defeat them, a successful landing is also a failure." .”

So far, the Central Plains dynasty has never fought a naval battle at all, but the civilizations of Central Asia and Europe have had quite a few naval battles, including sea crossing and landing battles.

The Gupta Dynasty was built on the ruins of the Guishuang Empire. It not only obtained many inheritances from the Guishuang Empire, but also absorbed many Da Yuezhi people.The most important thing is that the maritime trade between the Gupta Dynasty and Rome was very popular. It really absorbed nutrients from Rome, and it was no stranger to the wars that had occurred in the Mediterranean region.

The key to cross-sea landing operations is really not the army, but whether the navy can control the sea.If the attacking party controls the sea, it can not only continuously send troops to the land, but also ensure the subsequent supply of baggage.The defending side has control of the sea, and no matter how much force is sent to land in the attacking direction, it will always cost lives.

The pace of sea battles is no better than that of land battles, and the fault tolerance rate of fleet battles is definitely lower than that of land battles. That is the different consequences of the tools that the two warring parties rely on.

In the night, the fleets of two different camps were all staring at each other's lights, and the waves in the coastal area themselves were not high. In addition, there was no strong wind at the moment, and the warships sailing on the sea did not actually appear. Big bumps can make each other can see each other's lights clearly.

"We dare not turn off the lights. We are afraid of warship collisions, and so are they." Fu Wei also used the lights of the warships to have a considerable judgment on the number of Gupta's warships: "The opponent's number is more than ours. Master the combat distance."

Fu Wei took 58 crossbow boats and 58 warships as the troops that entered the battle in advance, and the distance between the crossbow boats and the warships was widened again.Under his command, [-] crossbow boats were divided into two formations, all in a "T" formation, and the warships were scattered around the formation of crossbow boats.

The layout of the bed crossbows of the warships of the Han army is similar to the layout of the guns of modern battleships. The maximum firepower can only be exerted when facing the enemy in a row. In the era of dreadnoughts, the "T" formation is basically used.

By the way, although the Han Kingdom already had bronze cannons, they did not put them into the use of naval warships. In addition to the serious "division" of bronze cannons by the army, there was no battle with the navy that could allow bronze cannons to exert their power. boat exists.

If the navy wants to use artillery, the first thing is to have the hull be able to withstand the shock, and the tonnage must be sufficient. The latter is about the layout of the artillery positions.

Liu Yan has ordered the shipyards to study warships that can deploy bronze cannons. He himself also gave an idea, which is to give the design sketch of the Galen ship.

The Han Navy will not be able to obtain warships (non-system) equipped with bronze cannons in a short period of time. It is estimated that it will take three years at the earliest, and it may even be longer.After all, a new thing needs to be verified again and again, especially sea-going ships. It requires continuous accumulation of experience in verification before a finished product can be produced, and this finished product even needs to undergo repeated improvements.

"emission!"

Because there are light sources on the warships, the distance between the two sides can be judged, and there are not many obstacles to finding the target. After the enemy warships entered the range of their own, the warships of the Han army fired bed crossbows one after another. The crossbowmen holding the crossbows also fired accordingly, and in an instant, the scene of "meteor shower" was staged above the sea.

In sea battles at this time, if you are far away, you need to shoot with arrows. Generally speaking, it is difficult to cause fatal damage to the warship. It is mainly to kill and injure the opponent's crew, and then the rocket may ignite the enemy's warship.

After the "meteor shower" on the sea surface was staged again, the sky in the sea area continued to shoot rockets back and forth, and it was brightly lit for a while, so that both sides could clearly see the style of the opponent's warship.

The Gupta Dynasty was a powerful country at sea, but their warships did not break through the shackles of this era. For example, the layout of the bed crossbow is not like the warships of the Han army, which are arranged at the bow, stern, and sides. Where it is placed, it is usually arranged at the bow.

Because of the layout of the bed crossbow, the Gupta Dynasty did not arrange a straight battle line, but adopted the bow of the ship to face the enemy. The entire fleet seemed to use a traditional triangular charge formation, placing the largest warship in the triangle. The forward position leads to more concentrated fire.

They are all powered by oars, and the speed difference between large warships is not too big. As long as they deliberately open the distance, it will undoubtedly be very difficult for large ships to rush to the opponent for side-to-side jumping.艨艉) will have the opportunity to show off their skills.

When the two sides began to use long-range weapons to shoot at each other, the commanders of the two fleets gave the order for the warships (warships) to charge almost at the same time. It can be seen that while the large warships were desperately firing at each other, the smaller warships (warships) Warship) rushed up with the extremely fast paddling speed of the oars.

"The bed crossbow changes the attack target!"

The same order was issued on different warships of the two camps. Whether it is a warship or a warship, the goal is to hit the hull of the enemy ship below the water level. If it is hit, holes will inevitably appear. Sea water must be poured in, and if it is not blocked in time, it will wait for the ship to tilt and sink.

When the bed crossbow hits a warship, it will break through the hull and drill a large hole, but usually it will not cause fatal damage, but it will be different if they can hit a much smaller warship or warship. The powerful penetrating power must be It will shatter the top layer, causing heavy damage to the soldiers above, and may even penetrate the bottom of the ship with one blow.

When the two sides dispatched warships or warships aimed at colliding with the enemy ships, they all made the same move, that is, they began to change the bows of the ships, and both wanted to distance themselves from each other. For a while, both sides also gave up attacking. The big ships in each other's fleets use all their long-range attacks against warships and warships.

The new fierce battle on the sea attracted the attention of everyone on the battlefield. The countries in Central Asia and South Asia who were originally here to be a "gathering crowd" will definitely not give up the opportunity to watch the battle nearby, and they know that tonight's naval battle is just an appetizer. .

(End of this chapter)