Chapter 1171: The Battle of Long Beach

Yancheng.

Zhao Xu stood before the massive world map in front of the Imperial Study, gazing at the location of Sam Country.

At present, the entire Dongtu region was already connected by wired cables, and the Great Song was further popularizing the telephone, with Yancheng as the center.

He could receive news of any movement in these areas at the first opportunity.

However, Sam Country was ultimately too far from the Great Song, so he could only wait patiently for news from the front lines.

He thought that by this time, the war should have begun.

Then, his gaze turned toward the direction of Zhongtu.

Sam Country was only one part of this strategic counteroffensive.

Aside from the direction of Sam Country, he decided to take action in the direction of Zhongtu simultaneously to crush the Tusman Empire, the lackey of the Western Lands in Zhongtu.

While further restoring order in Zhongtu, he would extend his reach toward the Dark Continent, approach the Western Lands, and ultimately achieve the goal of encircling and suppressing the Western Lands.

For this reason, after consulting with Chang Wei, he sent orders to Guan Tong.

He instructed the Vermilion Bird Army, in addition to training troops for Persia, to simultaneously adopt a method of supporting the Indians to foster resistance within Zhongtu nations and tribes of the Dark Continent.

These resistance fighters were unwilling to suffer the enslavement and oppression of the Western Lands nations and possessed a firm will to fight.

They were the very helpers to overthrow the order of the Western Lands nations.

As for the Great Song, the foreign policy he formulated with the Cabinet was not to pursue a policy of colonization.

Taking down one Nanzhan Continent and the vast Siberia was enough for him.

Even these two huge territories would likely take a hundred years to digest.

Therefore, there was no need to imitate the ways of the Western Lands colonists.

Furthermore, in this period, the public intellect was gradually awakening; in the early nineteenth century of the contemporary era, the anti-colonial movement in South America had begun in full swing.

This era was the same.

Engaging in this set of practices again was out of step with the times and would only damage his own image and increase the Great Song's management costs in the world.

It was better to rely on the Great Song's industrial strength to do business with other countries and acquire wealth.

And this was one reason why he was eager to shatter the order of the Western Lands.

The colonies controlled by the Western Lands would not allow the entry of Great Song goods.

Since that was the case, he could only flip the table.

However, the Great Song's strategic counteroffensive would not be achieved overnight.

Perhaps it would take three years, five years, or even longer to realize.

But that did not matter; time was on the side of the Great Song.

With the development of the Great Song's industry, the gap between them and the Western Lands would become increasingly large.

Thinking of this, the corners of Zhao Xu's mouth lifted slightly.

Now, it was the Great Song's enemies' turn to be afraid.

At the same time, while he was deep in thought, the war at Long Beach had reached a critical stage.

Hundreds of small boats rode the wind and waves on the sea surface, leaving behind trails of white foam as they charged toward the beach.

When they reached a distance of about five hundred meters from the beach.

Bursts of cannon fire rang out from the trenches opposite, and explosive shells flew toward the sea surface.

However, during these three days of bombardment, the Sam Country army's artillery had suffered heavy losses, and the shelling was not very intense.

Moreover, due to the low level of the opponent's explosive shells.

Some shells exploded in mid-air, and more sank directly to the bottom of the sea.

Occasionally, a few exploded among the small boats, and the soldiers lying flat could avoid being scratched by shrapnel.

Of course, some small boats were not lucky enough, and casualties occurred.

But these casualties were not enough to affect the army's landing operation.

Furthermore, the artillerymen on the warships discovered the locations of the opponent's artillery and focused on them.

The remaining artillery of Sam Country was constantly decreasing.

The Sam Country soldiers in the trenches could only watch helplessly as the Great Song's troop transport ships approached the shore.

This situation made the Sam Country officers and soldiers' hearts jump into their throats.

"Machine gunners, find firing positions! Portable mortars, get into position, focus fire on the enemy's heavy weaponry! Everyone else, stay alert!"

As a small boat reached the shore, the Great Song general immediately issued orders.

At this moment, the warships' shelling stopped.

Next, the battlefield would be handed over to them.

The soldiers had practiced landing countless times before the war, and they executed the general's orders with fluid ease.

Having established a beachhead, they waited for follow-up troops to land,

so that they could launch a general offensive when their numbers were sufficient.

"General, we should launch an attack now and drive the soldiers on the beach into the sea; otherwise, it will be very troublesome once their numbers increase," a Sam Country officer suggested to Bolton.

For any officer, this was the best time for a counterattack.

Bolton nodded.

They all knew that the Great Song army's combat effectiveness was very strong.

But he had to try; he could not let the opponent send more troops onto land.

"Have the Ke Lai legion execute this order," Bolton said.

Each Sam Country legion had fifty thousand men, and there were a total of nine legions at Long Beach.

Not long after his order was issued, soldiers were moving through the trenches; they were precisely the soldiers of the Ke Lai.

Before long, they rushed out from the trenches and launched a charge toward the beach.

"Da-da-da..."

Just at this moment, the machine guns on the beachhead rang out.

The Han-style machine guns spat tongues of fire at a rate of six hundred bullets per minute.

The firepower formed by the intersecting machine guns immediately covered the Sam Country soldiers who were charging over.

Other soldiers also pulled their triggers one after another to fire.

Some portable mortars also lobbed cannonballs into the midst of the Sam Country soldiers.

Under the ferocious firepower, the Sam Country soldiers fell one after another.

"What the hell is that!" Bolton had been holding a monocular, watching the battlefield.

The Da Song's machine guns and portable mortars immediately drew his attention.

Their vicious lethality made his heart tremble.

He had heard that the Da Song possessed a type of firearm capable of continuous fire, but it was said the rate of fire was not very fast.

How was it now completely different from the rumors?

And as for the small tubes operated by two soldiers that launched cannonballs, he had never even heard of them, let alone seen them.

"Da-da-da..." The sound of gunfire continued.

While the two sides were fighting, small boats from the Da Song kept pulling up to the shore; these soldiers immediately threw themselves into the battle, and the firepower became increasingly ferocious.

Yet without his order, the Ke Lai did not stop their attack.

The Sam Country soldiers continued to charge the beach, only to leave behind a ground covered in corpses.

Half an hour later, the corpses of the Sam Country soldiers had paved a layer over the beach, with over six thousand people dead.

Meanwhile, the Da Song soldiers had suffered almost no losses; on the contrary, the soldiers at the beachhead were becoming more numerous, filling the beach.

As these scenes fell into Bolton's eyes, his palms sweated with nervousness, yet he had no way to act.

War is sometimes stupid, without many flexible techniques.

The Da Song army was landing, so they had to hold the beach and not let them land.

Otherwise, they would lose the Colonial Territory.

But he was already clear about one thing in his heart.

The strength of the Sam Country army and the Da Song army was worlds apart.

This battle was likely a rabbit fighting a lion.

The battle continued, and under repeated charges, they paid the price of over thirty thousand more casualties.

At this time, the sun set in the west, and darkness descended.

Bolton secretly breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that the Da Song army would not launch another attack at night, allowing them a chance to catch their breath.

However, his hope was ultimately dashed.