Chapter 677: Before the Decisive Battle

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Xiangtian Tailang was just feeling suspicious and uncertain when, at this moment, a rumbling sound of cannons came from the sea surface.

The Yanzhou Fleet had launched an attack on their warships.

"How many warships do they have in total?" Xiangtian Tailang grabbed the Eastern Japanese soldier delivering the message and asked.

He still harbored a sliver of wishful thinking.

If these were just a few warships that happened to be passing by, they might still have a possibility of breaking through.

The Eastern Japanese soldier said: "Thirty-two in total."

"Thirty-two!" Xiangtian Tailang was greatly shocked.

It was very clear that this fleet had come specifically for them.

Back then, Yan Wang's twelve warships had caused one hundred Wufeng Pirates' warships to scatter and flee.

This time, with thirty-two Yanzhou warships, how could he possibly win with just his one hundred and twenty warships?

Moreover, they were blocked inside the port.

With wolves in front and tigers behind, Xiangtian Tailang frowned and finally made a decision.

He would have all the Eastern Japanese crew members disembark and retreat south with the people from the trading house, leaving only the Great Song and Gaoli pirates to continue the fight.

To him, in this situation, having the Eastern Japanese soldiers fight the Yanzhou Fleet at sea was equivalent to throwing their lives away for nothing, and staying in Qingcheng would result in being captured by the Yanzhou Army.

At present, they belonged to the allied side, so as long as they went south, they would be safe.

Having made up his mind, he immediately led the Eastern Japanese from the trading house to set off together.

Arriving at the Nanmen, he climbed the city wall and gazed into the distance at the sea.

On the sea not far from the port, thirty-two Yanzhou warships were constantly emitting flashes of fire, while the Eastern Japanese warships in the Pier were billowing with thick smoke.

The Eastern Japanese soldiers received his order and fled from the warships one after another, heading in his direction.

"Yan Wang, our Dongying will remember this debt. Keep your head on your neck for now; one day, we Eastern Japanese will come to collect it."

Having said that, he did not look back and headed south.

On the sea.

Zhou Yi soon discovered the surprising scene at the port.

The Wufeng Pirates did not choose to fight them, but instead fled from their ships one after another and headed south.

The warships docked at the Pier had all become empty ships.

What was going on? Zhou Yi frowned.

That the Wufeng Pirates fled was something they could understand, because the outcome of this battle was already destined.

But what was going on with this group of pirates not fleeing toward Qingcheng, but fleeing south instead?

In just half an hour, he had the answer.

An army appeared at the Qingcheng Pier; seeing this army, he immediately ordered the shelling to stop.

Because the soldiers of this army were wearing Yanzhou's new-style Army uniforms.

Without a doubt, they were the Prince's Personal Army that had attacked Qi.

With joy in his heart, he immediately ordered the warships to sail toward the Pier.

Because the Pier was full of burning Wufeng Pirates' warships, they could only lower small boats from a distance and row to the Pier.

"Lv Chang." Stepping onto the Pier, Zhou Yi smiled.

This army was indeed led by Lv Chang.

"Hahaha, what a coincidence. Hearing the cannon fire on the sea, I knew it must be you, so I sped up the march. It's just a pity that I was a step late; these Eastern Japanese brats have run off completely," Lv Chang said with some regret.

"They all fled south." Zhou Yi pointed in the direction the Eastern Japanese had fled, "Your progress is quite fast."

Upon hearing this, Lv Chang immediately ordered the Cavalry to pursue them.

Then he smiled, "It's not that our progress is fast, but that Qi has abandoned these unimportant cities to fight a decisive battle with us."

Immediately after, he asked Zhou Yi: "How did you end up here?"

Zhou Yi then told Lv Chang about the plan to ambush the Dongying Navy.

The Wufeng Pirates fled without a fight and abandoned a large number of warships, which meant their entire ambush plan had succeeded.

Now, the ocean would truly belong to their Yanzhou Navy.

At the same time, what excited him was that Lv Chang had occupied Qingcheng, which could now become their first supply point for moving south.

Hearing this, Lv Chang's eyes widened instantly.

Raising his fist, he said: "Great! These Eastern Japanese brats still want to stir up internal chaos in Great Song; it's time to make them suffer a little."

The two talked for a while.

Zhou Yi instructed Lv Chang to help them look after the Eastern Japanese warships at the Pier.

Their Navy naturally had no use for these warships, but it would be a waste to just lose them, so it would be better to tow them back for the trading house to use.

Then, he entrusted Lv Chang to send the Cavalry to deliver the Navy's battle report to Dongping City, while he himself led the fleet back to Jinghai Wharf.

In two days' time, his battle report reached Zhao Xu's hands.

At this time, Zhao Xu was discussing matters of the decisive battle with Chang Wei.

The Xie Family's troops had entered Lu City a few days ago, and the armies of Southern Liang and Northern Di were also heading toward Qizhou, with great momentum.

"There is no need to worry about Dongying anymore. Zhou Yi's ambush was successful, and the Wufeng Pirates' warships were also destroyed near Qingcheng. They can forget about transporting the Eastern Japanese Army to Qizhou." After reading Zhou Yi's battle report, Zhao Xu said to Chang Wei.

Chang Wei breathed a sigh of relief, "The tentacles that Dongying extended into Great Song have been severed, which means the Anti-Yan Alliance is missing a corner. The only remaining foreign power is Northern Di."

Then, he and Zhao Xu looked at each other, and both said at the same time: "Ma Han!"

Zhao Xu smiled: "Correct, it is time to let Ma Han make a move. Since Northern Di is determined to participate in the alliance, this Prince will make them pay the price and suffer a double loss."

Immediately after, he opened Lv Chang's battle report; in the report, Lv Chang mentioned the occupation of Qingcheng.

The location of Qingcheng in Qizhou is modern-day Qingdao, which is a rare deep-water port.

Otherwise, the Eastern Japanese would not have set their sights on Qingcheng.

But now, Qingcheng has fallen into his hands; from now on, the Eastern Japanese can stop thinking about laying a finger on this place.

Having neutralized the threat from the sea, Zhao Xu focused his energy on the upcoming decisive battle.

In at most ten-plus days, the Southern Liang troops will arrive at Lu City, and by then, a million-strong Anti-Yan Coalition will have gathered in Qizhou.

To deal with the Anti-Yan Coalition, he has not been idle during this time, but has been directing the Wangfu Army with Chang Wei to dig trenches in front of the commandery cities.

There are at least ten such trenches in front of every commandery city.

One purpose of these is to slow down the enemy soldiers' advance, and the other is to provide convenient terrain for the soldiers to throw Hand Grenades before the war begins.

Of course, the Anti-Yan Coalition may not be stupid enough to attack cities defended by the Prince's Personal Army, but they cannot afford not to take these defensive measures.

After all, the battlefield changes in an instant, and they must be ten thousand times cautious.

After chatting more with Chang Wei about matters before the decisive battle, he ordered someone to head to Sizhou to deliver his command to attack Qinzhou and Yongzhou to Ma Han.

Since the troops of Southern Liang and the Northern Di have been mobilized, the time for Ma Han to attack the two provinces has arrived.

If Southern Liang retreats to support the two provinces because of this, he will take the opportunity to wipe out the armies of Qi and the Xie Family.

If they ignore it, the one hundred thousand-strong army commanded by Ma Han can also easily capture the two provinces and restore the territory of the Great Song.