Chapter 383: Strategy Within a Strategy

"Your Highness, Yanzhou is barren, and these sea bandits have always looked down upon this place, yet now they come to harass us time and again. I fear the matter is not simple." Murderous intent appeared in Chang Wei's eyes.

Being bullied by the Northern Di and Xiliang was one thing, but now even a small group of sea bandits dared to take a bite out of them.

Did they really think they were made of mud?

"It is indeed strange," Zhao Xu said.

He had grown suspicious the last time the sea bandits burned the Shipbuilding Department.

It was just that among the captured sea bandits, there were no core members from Wufeng Island, so nothing could be interrogated.

The only information obtained was that their Island Master had given the order.

That the Japanese pirates came again this time, and attacked Jinghai County directly, made him even more confused.

"Could it be revenge?" Zhao Xu rubbed his chin. His purpose in hanging the sea bandits' corpses on the wooden stakes along the coast was indeed to warn the sea bandits.

However, mobilizing such a large force to attack Jinghai County for the sake of revenge seemed too foolish in his view.

After all, even if any sea bandits were lucky enough to escape back, they would certainly know that Yanzhou possessed Artillery.

"Oh no!" A thought suddenly popped into Zhao Xu's mind, and a layer of cold sweat broke out on his back.

He said to Chang Wei, "You must immediately dispatch twenty thousand troops to Fanyang to strictly guard the Shipyard of the Shipbuilding Department. You absolutely cannot let the warships currently under construction meet with any mishap."

Chang Wei suddenly realized the implication, "Yes, this subordinate will go to mobilize the troops now."

Fanyang was the center of the waterways in Yanzhou.

Not only was there a Canal leading to Jinling, but there was also a river called the Fan River that flowed through Fanyang toward the east and into the ocean.

Yan Wang established the Shipyard in Fanyang to make it convenient for warships to head out to sea.

But if Yanzhou's ships could head out to sea from there, the sea bandits could naturally also enter the hinterland of Yanzhou from this river.

The first time, the sea bandits' target was the Shipbuilding Department.

This time might be no different; attacking Jinghai County, besides revenge, might also be a strategy of making a feint to the east while attacking in the west.

"Your Highness, should we take these Bore Reamed Artillery pieces along?" Wang Ying pointed to a row of twelve Artillery pieces.

The conversation between Yan Wang and Chang Wei clearly meant that there was going to be a battle again.

"Hmm, that makes sense," Zhao Xu said. He immediately ordered the Artillerymen to pull these Artillery pieces back to the military camp.

Today, he and Chang Wei were observing the firing effects of the first batch of reamed Artillery.

Before reaming, the effective range of these Artillery pieces was 1,500 meters, with a maximum range of three kilometers.

But now, they had reached an effective range of 2,000 meters, with a maximum range of five li.

This basically reached the peak range of Smoothbore Cannons during the contemporary Opium War era.

To further improve them, besides designing Rifling, one would have to switch to a more explosive type of Gunpowder.

After instructing them to take the improved Artillery away, Zhao Xu turned to return to the Prince's residence.

He prepared to make a trip to Jinghai County; since the sea bandits had made such a big commotion this time, there must be some core figures among them.

If he could capture them, perhaps he could interrogate them for some information, through which he could also understand the situation outside the Great Song and prepare early.

"By the way, the improved Artillery is very good. Next, have all the Artillery in the army reamed," Zhao Xu said after mounting his horse.

Thinking of something, he added, "And the War Chariots, do everything with haste."

"Your Highness, rest assured. Now the Armory Department is exclusively manufacturing military equipment for the Prince's Personal Army, so there is no problem," Wang Ying said.

Among the commoners who came from Sizhou this time, there were many skilled craftsmen.

When the Government Office sent these commoners to build roads and bridges, they also asked him if he needed craftsmen.

He seized the opportunity to select another five thousand people to rush into the Armory Department; currently, the manpower was more sufficient than ever before.

Zhao Xu nodded and rode away.

After returning to the Prince's residence to change into military attire and waiting for an hour, he set off for Fanyang with Chang Wei.

Halfway there, Chang Wei led fifteen thousand troops to Fanyang, while he led five thousand troops toward Jinghai.

On the way to Jinghai, he was very calm.

Bai Shang was stationed in Jinghai; if he could not even deal with these sea bandits,

then this Captain would not need to continue in his post.

Jinghai County.

The sea bandits left behind eighty corpses and retreated once again; the battlefield fell into silence.

"Laixi, you lead three thousand men out from the Nanmen and circle around to the north. Dazu, you lead three thousand men out from the North Gate and circle around to the south. We must wipe them all out," Bai Shang said to the generals beside him.

"Yes, Captain," the generals replied and left.

Yesterday they fought for an entire afternoon, and the sea bandits did not attack the city again at night.

Early this morning, the sea bandits continued to launch attacks.

Now, over nine hundred sea bandits had died outside Jinghai County.

Yet, even after suffering such losses, the sea bandits still had no intention of retreating.

This made him quite surprised.

Calculating the time, he felt that Yan Wang should know the news by now.

Thus, he decided not to continue playing the game of defending the city with the sea bandits.

If Yan Wang was coming, he would encircle and annihilate the sea bandits before Yan Wang arrived, and present the bandit leaders to Yan Wang.

"Li Cheng, take out the sea bandits' Artillery!" Turning back from his thoughts, Bai Shang said to the Artillery general beside him.

The sea bandits' Artillery still had decent power and could pose a significant threat to his soldiers.

Although in his view, these clumsy Heavy Cannons were inferior in power to the defensive Heavy Cannons of Yanzhou.

"Damn it."

While Bai Shang was deploying troops and assigning commanders, Yamada Ichino gritted his teeth as he watched his bedraggled crew retreat.

Yesterday, his subordinates had charged into Jinghai City, and he had originally assumed they would be facing soldiers wearing Armor and wielding swords and blades.

But he had not expected that after a burst of very familiar gunfire, the subordinates who had charged into the city would never return.

Only then did he realize that the Yanzhou army also possessed muskets.

Following that, he organized several more charges, but all were defeated by the defenders within the city.

Now, he finally understood that Jinghai County was a tough nut to crack.

He feared their revenge was destined to fail.

"Lord Yamada, what should we do now? The Yanzhou troops seem different from those in other places; continuing to fight like this will only increase our casualties in vain," a pirate asked, his expression nervous.

Yamada Ichino looked back at the Warships on the sea.

At this moment, only thirty of the seventy-two Warships remained on the sea surface; the other forty-two had vanished.

This time, returning to Yanzhou to attack Jinghai County, they had prepared to kill two birds with one stone.

The first was to take revenge on Yan Wang, and the second was to sneak into Fanyang from the Fan River under the cover of night to burn the Warships that Yanzhou was currently building.

For this matter, someone had offered their Island Master a sum of Silver sufficient to stir his heart.

"Hold your positions here; even if we cannot take the city, we must continue to feign an attack," Yamada Ichino glared hatefully toward Jinghai City.

No sooner had his voice fallen than he suddenly saw fire flare up on the city walls.

Then, a massive booming sound rang out, and immediately he heard a chorus of screams coming from behind him.

Turning his head, he discovered that a crew member in front of an Artillery piece had been struck in the arm, the entire arm severed.

Yamada Ichino suddenly became tense.

Dozens of Cannonballs had landed in the vicinity of their Artillery.

The Yan Wang soldiers inside the city were clearly targeting their Artillery.

A distance of three hundred meters was a reasonable range for positioning Artillery.

Because if it were too far, the crew members would not be able to see their targets clearly at all.

Most importantly, he had underestimated the range of the Yanzhou Artillery.

In his mind, Great Song could not possibly produce Artillery more powerful than those on their own ships.

During the siege, the Artillery on the city walls had only opened fire at around two hundred meters, which had given him a false impression.

But now, he felt he had been deceived.