Chapter 1045: Shipping Lane

"Boom!"

While the Coalition was planning their retreat, the soldiers dispatched by the Azure Dragon Army and the Vermilion Bird Army were already dismantling the forts on one side of the strait.

Every time they dismantled a fort within a ten-mile radius, they would light a bonfire to provide a signal to the navy.

Because they had lost the protection of a defensive line, the Coalition forts were extremely fragile.

Some artillerymen and limited rifles were simply unable to stop the advance of the Dasong soldiers.

Even when they hid inside the concrete forts, they were often dealt with by hand grenades.

After the forts had fallen one by one, Zhao Xu, seeing the signal fires rising, nodded at Zhou Yi.

At this moment, the entire fleet slowly headed toward the strait.

The flagship of Zhao Xu and Zhou Yi, the Jinghai, was positioned in the middle of the fleet, protected by other warships.

"Your Highness, naval warfare is treacherous; it is safer on land than staying on a warship," Zhou Yi advised again as the fleet sailed out a few miles.

He had already advised him several times before, but had been rejected by Zhao Xu each time.

Seeing Zhou Yi being such a fussbudget, Zhao Xu rolled his eyes. "What kind of treachery is this? When I personally led troops into Jinzhou to fight Xiliang back then, it was far more treacherous than this."

"This general does not want to let Your Highness take even the slightest risk; you are now the pillar of Dasong," Zhou Yi laughed.

He and Liu Fu had both once been servants in the Prince's Mansion, and only had what they had today because of Zhao Xu's promotion.

They had followed Zhao Xu day by day, witnessing the changes in Dasong today.

To them, Zhao Xu was more important than their own lives.

"I appreciate your intentions, but I have built such divine and martial warships for you; if you still let me encounter danger during a naval battle, that would prove you are all useless, and I might as well just die," Zhao Xu glared at Zhou Yi.

"Hehe..." Zhou Yi's old face turned red, and he immediately gave a heavy military salute. "Your Highness, just sit on the deck and drink tea; if Your Highness loses even a single finger, this general will jump into the sea to feed the fish."

Having said that, he ordered someone to bring a chair and place it on the deck, and brewed a pot of tea for Zhao Xu.

Only then did Zhao Xu nod with satisfaction, sitting in the chair, drinking tea leisurely while looking toward both sides of the strait.

The Malacca Strait is actually a very wide strait.

But in such a wide strait, only the shipping lane on the Singapore side of the eastern entrance is most suitable for passage.

This is because other places are not only shallow, but also have many hidden reefs.

Currently, the location of the Azure Dragon Army and the Vermilion Bird Army is Malay, while the location of the marines is Singapore Island.

The shipping lane is located between Malay and Singapore Island.

After the fleet entered the shipping lane, as the distance shortened, he saw the cluster of forts guarding the entrance to the lane.

Only at this moment, the Dasong soldiers had already occupied that place and were waving flags to signal the fleet.

Seeing this, the naval soldiers on the warships saluted the army soldiers on the shore, and the army soldiers returned the salute.

The fleet continued to sail deeper, and every distance, they would see a cluster of occupied forts.

Zhou Yi could not help but sigh.

If the army had not taken these forts, they would have truly suffered a great loss fighting the Western Lands navy within the shipping lane.

As the fleet continued to penetrate deeper, the field artillery of the Azure Dragon Army and the Vermilion Bird Army arrived at the camp.

At this time, Qin Shan and Guan Tong had already discovered signs that the Westerners were retreating.

It was only because of concerns about the shelling from the opponent's fleet that he had remained still.

But once the field artillery arrived, he could no longer hold back.

Their field artillery range was not inferior to the range of the opponent's naval cannons.

"Wanting to retreat right under our noses? Not that easy. Give it to me, fire with all your might!" Qin Shan said angrily.

The artillerymen received the order and immediately set up the artillery positions.

The artillerymen of the Azure Dragon Army and the Vermilion Bird Army gathered together and launched a bombardment on the port.

At this moment, they were about eight miles away from the port.

And their field artillery range was ten miles, which was completely within their range.

Although it was already at the extreme range and the effect would be relatively worse, it could still cause trouble for the Western Lands Allied Forces.

"Boom, boom, boom..." Before long, the howitzers and rifled cannons emitted a roar, and one cannonball after another flew toward the warships anchored in the port.

At this time, Wesley was organizing soldiers to board the ships; hearing the sound of artillery, his heart skipped a beat.

He knew that this was the arrival of Dasong's artillerymen.

"Board the ships! Hurry up and board the ships!" Wesley shouted while standing on the deck of a warship.

After consultation, each country had made their choice; they took away their core generals and the most elite troops.

This was already minimizing the losses.

Wesley's shouting made the soldiers' movements faster, and they ran one after another to board the warships.

But after only a few breaths, Dasong's cannonballs descended from the sky with a sharp whistle.

"Boom, boom, boom..." One cannonball after another exploded in the port.

Where the cannonballs landed, the supply wooden crates piled up in the port were shattered and set on fire.

The soldiers boarding the ships were swept up by the blast wave and thrown to the ground, their lives uncertain.

There were also cannonballs that fell into the water, exploding into waves more than ten meters high.

"Wesley, hurry up." Ma Fu'er and Wesley were on the same warship.

As soon as the cannonballs landed, they rushed out from the ship's cabin.

The actions of the Dasong army were too fast; even among the soldiers preparing to evacuate, the majority had not yet boarded the ships.

Although he wanted to evacuate right now, after weighing it, he believed that taking the risk of having several warships sunk to bring away more soldiers was worth it.

Therefore, he only urged them on and did not abandon the troops following the navy to retreat.

Otherwise, their evacuation this time would be completely meaningless.

"We have already done our best," Wesley said with an anxious expression.

Just as he was thinking about whether to go down and urge them on, a Warship not far from him was struck by a Cannonball, and after the explosion, thick smoke rose up.

The soldiers on that Warship had no choice but to disembark and board other Warships.

And after this Warship was hit, the speed at which the soldiers boarded the ships clearly increased.

Obviously, if they did not evacuate as quickly as possible, there would be fewer and fewer available Warships.

Another hour passed, and there were still five thousand soldiers left who had not boarded the ships.

At this moment, a Western Lands Steamship came from the east, bringing back news that made Ma Fu'er terrified.

The Great Song fleet was less than twenty li away from the port.

"We must set sail now!" Upon receiving this news, Ma Fu'er immediately found Wesley.

At the speed the Great Song fleet was traveling, the Sailing Warships towed by their Steamships would arrive in less than twenty minutes.

"Sigh!" Hearing this, Wesley let out a heavy sigh; he naturally understood what this meant.

If they did not leave now, they would truly be unable to leave at all.

Nodding, he ordered the officers to pull up the boarding rope ladders.

The rope ladders of one Warship after another were pulled up, and the Coalition soldiers who were preparing to board were suddenly thrown into a panic.

Their formation immediately fell into chaos, and the soldiers kept slapping the sides of the ships, shouting for the naval soldiers to lower the rope ladders again.

But no one paid them any heed; there was only the sound of the Steamships' whistles.

This was telling them that the fleet was preparing to evacuate.

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