Chapter 1113: Playing Along with the Scheme

"Wipe them out!"

"Yes, wipe them out, for Britain!"

"For the Western Lands."

"..."

Ma Fu'er's analysis immediately stirred up the other Coalition naval officers, and they shouted one after another.

Especially the officers of the British Navy.

The capital that allowed them, Britain, to dominate the world was their Invincible Fleet.

For hundreds of years, the navy had always been the pride of the British.

Yet, in just these few short years, one of their fleets stationed in Dongtu was defeated in the Eastern Sea.

Last year, their Coalition navy suffered heavy losses again in the Dongtu seas.

To them, this was simply a disgrace to the British Navy.

However, these two failures only made them cautious and careful, without causing them to lose confidence in defeating the Great Song Navy.

Because they believed that the previous two failures were due to their underestimation of the enemy.

But now it was different; their second round of reinforcements clearly took the opponent, Great Song, seriously.

This allowed them to assemble nearly five hundred warships in Tianzhu.

And this was unprecedented.

No Xitu Guo would ever have imagined that one day they would deploy so many warships in Dongtu.

After all, to them, the center of the world was the Western Lands, and Dongtu had never been worth their great trouble.

"Prepare for battle!" Amidst the officers' shouts, Maluofu exchanged glances with the main naval officers of the other countries.

After the other officers all agreed to his plan, he issued the order.

Under Maluofu's command, the captains of each country left one after another.

Before long, the entire port of Calcutta seemed to come alive.

Westerners wearing various military uniforms emerged from the barracks.

They either returned to their own warships to check the performance of the vessels.

Or they transported some supplies onto the warships.

However, compared to the Great Song Navy, they were more cautious during this period.

Therefore, the warships were all in a state ready to enter battle at any time, and there was not much that needed to be replenished.

In the evening.

The Coalition fleet sailed toward the deep sea according to Maluofu's orders, leaving only a small portion of warships to lure the enemy.

At the same time.

The Great Song Navy commanded by Zhou Yi had already reached the sea area three hundred li away from the port of Calcutta, and it would only take five hours to arrive at Calcutta.

Gazing at the setting sun, which looked like a piece of red iron about to disappear below the horizon, Zhou Yi looked toward the direction of Calcutta again.

In order to give the Western Fleet sufficient preparation time, he did not rush to Calcutta.

According to his judgment, by now, scout ships should have already relayed their movements to the Coalition naval officers.

He was very much looking forward to what strategy the Western naval officers would adopt to deal with them next.

At the same time, his fighting spirit was high and he was full of confidence.

Just as their Emperor had said, in the face of absolute power,

all schemes and intrigues are nothing but a reflection of flowers in a mirror or the moon in the water.

After another night of sailing, the fleet arrived in the waters of Calcutta.

At this time, the sun had not yet appeared on the eastern horizon, which was only just turning white.

Hazy and indistinct, the soldiers on the Observation Deck of the warship observed that the port of Calcutta was foggy.

And in the fog, there were faint, dim yellow lights, as if hundreds of warships were gathered there.

The news was delivered to Zhou Yi, and Zhou Yi immediately boarded the Observation Deck himself.

Because they wanted to avoid exposing the Ironclad Warships, the twelve Ironclad Warships had been kept wrapped in the center by other warships.

From the warship, he could not observe the outer perimeter at all.

After looking around from the Observation Deck for a while, Zhou Yi sneered.

Banks of fog often appeared at sea, which was very normal.

So it was also a very normal thing for the port to have fog.

Anyone who saw the scene before them would think that a large number of warships were gathered in the port.

Especially since several Sailing Warships could be clearly seen half-hidden in the fog outside the port.

This made it even more convincing.

But the opponent's scout ships must have brought the intelligence back.

Knowing full well that they were about to arrive, the opponent still gathered a large number of warships in the port.

This made one have to be suspicious.

In Zhou Yi's view, there was only one possibility at the moment, which was that the port was merely a smokescreen by the Westerners.

The main force of the real Western Fleet was not there.

"No, this scheme is so easy to see through, the opponent should be able to think of that too." A thought suddenly flashed through Zhou Yi's mind.

Just as he was pondering, he suddenly heard the faint sound of an Alarm Bell coming from the direction of the port.

Before long, the Coalition warships in the mist moved.

Warship after warship came toward them in a V-formation, from one ship to two ships, then to thirty ships...

"So that's it; it's just that being too impatient makes it easy to reveal one's intentions." Seeing this, Zhou Yi suddenly had a moment of realization and sneered.

There was no doubt, whether it was the diversion at the port or this sortie.

The opponent had only one goal, which was to drag them down at the port.

"General, General Gong asks whether we should engage," Song Xiang asked at this moment.

He was originally the captain of the flagship Jinghai, but after the Ironclad Warship was launched, he was transferred to the Jinling and continued to serve as Zhou Yi's adjutant during wartime.

While Zhou Yi was observing the port, he noticed that flag signals were being sent from the watchtower of the warship where Gong Ying was located.

"That blockhead, let him go," Zhou Yi said indifferently upon hearing this.

Song Xiang said in surprise, "General, this is a trick by the Westerners; wouldn't engaging them mean falling for their trap?"

He also guessed that this was a trick by the Westerners.

"This is called playing along with the enemy's ruse. Aren't we here to fight a decisive battle? If we don't fall for the trap, how will their main force be willing to appear?" Zhou Yi said.

Although he had analyzed it for a while, he did not care at all whether it was a trap.

If it was not a trap, he would fight.

If it was a trap, he would fight all the same!

"This subordinate understands." Song Xiang nodded and immediately ordered the signalman to transmit Zhou Yi's command.

Before long,

twelve Steamships towed twelve Sailing Warships away.

The remaining warships stayed surrounding the Ironclad Warship.

Under Zhou Yi's gaze, twelve Da Song warships charged straight toward the Westerners' Sailing Warships.

After entering range, the Da Song warships chose to open fire.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The sounds of cannon fire spread across the battlefield like rolling thunder.

Just like the naval battle east of Yizhou, the Westerners' Sailing Warships still appeared very clumsy when facing the Da Song Sailing Warships.

Moreover, these Western Sailing Warships lacked the traction of Steamships, making them appear even more awkward.

As soon as the artillery battle began, one of the opponent's Sailing Warships was sunk.

In Zhou Yi's view, this situation meant the Western commander must have moved all the Steamships away.

From this, it could be judged that the possibility of the port being a trap was even greater.

While the warships of both sides were engaged, the sun in the east rose higher and higher, and the visibility became clearer and clearer.

The sunlight pierced through the mist, leaving the fishing boats in the faint haze with nowhere to hide.

Zhou Yi and Song Xiang observed this scene and shook their heads simultaneously.

Just then, the Alarm Bell on a Da Song warship located at the rear rang out loudly.

The two hurriedly looked toward the rear of the fleet, only to see a large expanse of sails appearing on the distant horizon, followed by the hulls of numerous warships emerging.

They were being attacked from both front and rear!

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