Chapter 271: Annihilation

Boom, boom, boom!

Hundreds of Rune Cannons were firing frantically, bombarding the transport ships one after another without pause.

After years of research, the power of these Rune Cannons was now far greater than those of the 19th-century Earth.

Cannonballs flew out; the solid ones struck like thousand-pound boulders, and even warships built of ironwood could not withstand them.

As for the Explosive Shells, they were even more terrifying; the moment they made contact with an object, flames would instantly burst forth.

The naval force that had been built for over a decade unleashed a terrifying combat power this time.

The power of these Rune Cannons was in no way inferior to the Spell Groups under Yuan Shu, and these Rune Cannons had many advantages over the cultivators in those Spell Groups; first and foremost was their endurance, which was far more sustainable than that of those soul-nurturing cultivators.

In an instant, the river surface was filled with smoke and mist.

Yuan Shu's soldiers fell into the river one after another like dumplings, some struggling to swim toward the banks.

Regarding this, the Xuzhou Army paid no heed; the distance from the center of the river to either bank was a full several dozen miles, and besides, while this river was not as dangerous as the open sea...

... there were some quite ferocious fish in the river, especially those river carp, which were also extremely vicious.

The carnivorous fish were all very savage.

Falling into the river without rescue, unless one had decent strength—at least Lianjin Wuchong—the others had almost a nine-in-ten chance of death.

"Huh! They've raised a flag to surrender!"

The Xuzhou warships continued their attacks, and finally, Yuan Shu's grand army could no longer hold on; after all, no one could face death with complete indifference.

Most of the soldiers had been forcibly conscripted.

There might have been some willing to die for Yuan Shu, but they were certainly not these low-level soldiers.

When one transport ship raised a flag to surrender, soon, one after another, countless transport ships began to surrender.

Facing the surrender, the Xuzhou generals did not order further attacks; after all, although they were not unaccustomed to slaughter, they would not kill without cause.

On the battlefield, they would not be soft-hearted, but once the enemy surrendered, they would not kill the captives.

For one, killing captives was considered inauspicious, and secondly, influenced by their Lord, these enemy captives were also a source of labor.

By the time the battle ended, it was already evening, and the river surface gradually calmed down.

On the Main Fleet, the literati and generals of Xuzhou gathered together, their faces full of excitement; they had gained a great harvest in this battle.

"My Lord, please forgive me for letting Yuan Shu escape."

As the Commander of this naval battle, Gan Ning looked solemn.

"Haha! Xingba, get up quickly."

"Not capturing Yuan Shu is not your fault; Yuan Gonglu is no fool, and he would certainly leave at the first sign of danger."

Su Fan shook his head; he had not expected to capture Yuan Shu, as they would have had a chance on land by relying on Huang Zhong and the others to pursue him relentlessly.

But on the river, Huang Zhong and the others could only ride ships; they could not fly over the river.

This was also a flaw of the generals.

The path of the Fleshly Body was indeed powerful, but at times, its flaws were also quite obvious.

However, Su Fan did not mind; being able to achieve such a great result today was already quite good.

"Twelve tower ships destroyed, three hundred and fifteen warships..."

As the detailed battle report was read, everyone's face revealed an expression of excitement.

With this battle, Yuan Shu had suffered a severe blow to his vitality, with more than a third of his naval force wiped out.

Especially regarding the warships, according to their investigation, Yuan Shu did not have many to begin with.

Besides that, of the million-strong army he brought from Yuzhou to attack Sun Jian, fewer than fifty thousand could escape now.

Among them, two hundred thousand elite troops either perished in the river or became captives.

Such losses would definitely make Yuan Shu vomit three liters of blood upon his return.

After this battle, Yuan Shu's strength would drop significantly, even if he could quickly conscript a million-strong army.

So what? That million-strong army could only be a rabble, possessing no combat effectiveness at all.

Whether it be weapons or armor, Yuan Shu would certainly be in short supply now.

In the south, there would no longer be anyone who could block Su Fan's path of advancement.

As for Liu Biao of Jingzhou, although his strength was not weak, even if he and Yuan Shu joined forces, they would ultimately not be his match.

Jingzhou's powerful naval force was absolutely not worth mentioning compared to Su Fan's; one might ask if Yuan Shu's naval force was strong.

If one did not count Su Fan's, then in the world, it belonged to the ranks of strong armies.

After all, when Yuan Shu was engaged with Jingzhou, the naval force was a priority, and he had spent a certain price to build it.

This naval force of Yuan Shu's had no power to resist when facing Su Fan's warships and was crushed.

Even if Jingzhou's naval force was several times larger than this one of Yuan Shu's, to Su Fan, it was just the same.

Naval warfare in this era actually did not have many tactics; most involved using archers for long-range attacks first, and then closing in to board the enemy's warship for hand-to-hand combat.

But Su Fan was different; Su Fan's warships were equipped with a considerable number of cannons and Catapults, and this kind of long-range strike far exceeded these people.

Before you could even get close to me, thirty percent of your combat power would be wiped out, and by the time the two armies engaged in close combat, the morale would already be at its lowest point.

In ancient armies, if ten percent were killed in battle, it was considered decent if they didn't collapse; those who didn't flee after twenty percent were killed were considered elites.

And those who could still fight to the death after more than thirty percent were killed were truly battle-hardened elites; throughout history, such armies were few and far between.

How many elite troops did Jingzhou have? Jingzhou, which had not seen war for years, could train how many elite soldiers?

Previously, when Yuan Shu attacked Jingzhou, Jingzhou was completely on the defensive; the reason there was no major battle was that although Jingzhou had troops, many were new recruits, and even if there were veterans, they hadn't fought in ten years—how much combat power could they have?

Jingzhou could only shrink back into its own territory; asking them to aid Yuan Shu was simply impossible.

"My Lord, next, we can pursue the victory; the Jiujiang region can be said to be completely defenseless now."

"Taking Jiujiang, we can use the Huai Shui to attack Runan and threaten Yuzhou."

"On the other side, we can set out from Pengcheng; we can launch from two directions."

"Wipe out Yuan Shu in one fell swoop at Runan."

With this great army of Yuan Shu annihilated, everyone already felt that the opportunity had arrived; Yuan Shu's current strength had been weakened to the extreme, and it was the perfect time for them to press their advantage.

Su Fan saw that everyone had a look of high fighting spirit on their faces.

He nodded, then looked toward Xun You and the others; before this, these people had long since deduced everything and prepared several contingency plans.

Now that they had achieved the greatest battle results on the Chang Jiang, the plan had become even simpler.

There was no need to have any misgivings at all.

Even if someone in Jingzhou saw that if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold, it would not be so easy to rescue Yuan Shu.