Chapter 928: Danger or Opportunity?

"But if we rescue Luzon, we will only expose ourselves before the Great Song Navy for a direct confrontation, which is quite disadvantageous for us," said Rear Admiral Fanxilei of the Stedan Navy.

Rear Admiral Gelunya of Folangji hurriedly said, "Even so, if we lose Luzon, Great Song will have gained a foothold in the East Land Southern Region, and their muzzles will be pressed against your heads."

Luzon concerns the interests of Folangji, so he naturally had to fight for the support of the Coalition.

Many generals fell into silence upon hearing this.

To them, this was truly a difficult problem.

Not saving Luzon is trouble, and saving Luzon is also trouble.

Ma Fu'er puffed on his pipe, pacing back and forth, his gaze glancing at the sea chart from time to time.

After a long while, he made a decision, "We cannot save Luzon, nor can we sit idly by. The Great Song warships that have sailed south this time include thirty Steamships and Sailing Warships; this is at least half, or even the majority, of the Great Song Navy's strength."

During the Dongying naval battle, they confirmed that Great Song had twenty-four Steamships and forty-eight Sailing Warships.

Now, less than a year after the naval battle, combined with the situation discovered by reconnaissance, he judged that the number of warships in the Great Song Navy had expanded again.

"Are we saving them or not?" Keweiduo's voice carried dissatisfaction.

As an Admiral himself, he was not at all convinced by Ma Fu'er.

If it were not for the fact that Britain has the greatest strength in the East Land, he would truly not want to work with the British.

"Don't be so anxious, Keweiduo," Ma Fu'er blew a smoke ring. "When the Great Song fleet sails south to Luzon, we will take the opportunity to seize Yizhou and cut off their retreat. To save Yizhou, they will inevitably have to sail north. At that time, we will concentrate all our forces to set up an ambush in the Yizhou sea area and wait for them."

After a pause, he continued, "However, to prevent the remaining Great Song Navy from all rushing over to protect Yizhou, we need to send several small squadrons to make a feint."

Having said that, Ma Fu'er marked three points on the sea chart.

They were precisely Jinghai, Qingcheng, and Lai City.

These three places were all locations of Great Song Shipyards.

Among them, the circle he drew for Jinghai was the largest.

"Although I don't like you, you are responding correctly," Keweiduo said.

At present, the number of Coalition warships clearly exceeds that of the Great Song Navy.

Thus, they would have a surplus of warships.

Sending twenty to Jinghai, five to Qingcheng, and five to Lai City was more than enough.

Other generals also nodded one after another.

Although Gelunya was anxious to resolve the crisis in Luzon.

It was clear that if the Great Song Navy could not be defeated, this crisis could not be thoroughly resolved.

They agreed on the subsequent strategy.

Ma Fu'er assigned tasks to the generals of each country.

The Folangji, Stedan, and Sam Country fleets were responsible for feinting at the three locations to drag down a portion of the Great Song warships.

The remaining warships would head straight for Yizhou.

The next day.

The warships of Folangji, Stedan, and Sam Country set off first.

Three days later, Maluofu personally led the remaining warships toward Yizhou.

"May God protect us," as the warships set sail, Maluofu made a sign of the cross on his chest.

This time, including Sam Country, they possessed seventy Steamships and one hundred and forty-four Sailing Warships.

In terms of naval scale, they far exceeded the Great Song fleet.

And they were confident that the seasoned Western Lands navy surpassed the newly established Great Song navy in training.

Only because a portion of the warships were left behind to guard the colonies and deal with emergencies.

He only concentrated fifty Steamships and one hundred Sailing Warships this time.

But even so, these advantages made him believe that this force was sufficient to annihilate the Great Song fleet.

However, they also had obvious disadvantages.

In the Dongying naval battle, the Artillery range and power of the Yan Wang warships were both a notch higher than theirs.

And the Artillery also used Explosive Shells.

For them in the Western Lands, this also set a precedent for naval warfare.

Therefore, to deal with the Yan Wang warships, they also carried Explosive Shells this time.

But because the Explosive Shells could not withstand high chamber pressure, the range was destined to be inferior to that of the Great Song fleet.

Regarding this problem, they decided to adopt close-quarters tactics.

Now, he hoped this tactic would be effective.

Then, they would be able to completely annihilate the Yan King Fleet in this naval battle.

On the way to Yizhou, they encountered Folangji warships that had come to seek help.

Learning that the Yan King Fleet was besieging Manila, Maluofu smiled faintly, merely ordering the Folangji warships to join his fleet and head toward Yizhou.

On the way, they also encountered Great Song Navy reconnaissance ships.

Maluofu ignored them and continued to rush to Yizhou at full speed.

At this moment, he believed that Folangji, Stedan, and Sam Country had already pinned down a portion of the Great Song warships.

Even if discovered, the Great Song Navy in Yizhou would not be able to notify their warships to return in time.

In six days, they arrived at the east of Yizhou.

They were only one day's voyage from Yizhou.

But at this time, the Great Song Steamship responsible for reconnaissance had returned a day early, delivering the news into the hands of Gong Ying.

Yesterday, Gong Ying had one person send the news to Yancheng, while sending another south to Zhou Yi.

At the same time, he mobilized the twelve Sailing Warships and twelve Steamships stationed in Yizhou to prepare for the enemy.

Ma Fu'er's deception succeeded; Gong Ying dispatched eighteen Sailing Warships and eighteen Steamships to deal with the Western Lands Warships that had intruded into the island chain.

By the time he learned that the main force of the Western Lands Allied Forces warships was heading toward Yizhou, it was already too late.

"Forty-eight Steamships and seventy Sailing Warships—you think you can take Yizhou with just that? It is pure wishful thinking." In the Wanghai City government office, Gong Ying looked at the nautical chart on the wall, a disdainful smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

According to the timeline, if the target of the Western Lands Allied Forces fleet was Yizhou, they would arrive today.

However, he was not worried about this at all.

Because after the pacification of Dongying, Yizhou had become the forward outpost for the Marines to move south.

Except for the Marines stationed in Dongying and Ryukyu, all other Marines were here.

It was impossible for them to capture Yizhou.

Therefore, the only thing to worry about was whether the fleet under his command could handle an enemy nearly ten times their number.

After all, Warships were the Cavalry of the sea.

Even if they could not take Yizhou, due to their mobility at sea, they could land at any point on Yizhou and cause destruction along the coast.

This was also something he did not wish to see.

"Retreating without a fight is not my style, Gong Ying. Even if we cannot win, we must hold them off and wait for other Warships to arrive as reinforcements." Gong Ying slapped the table and made his decision.

The Dongying naval battle had established the psychological advantage of the Great Song Navy over the Western Lands Warships.

In front of their Naval Cannons, the Western Lands Warships were as fragile as a sheet of paper.

"Hmph, as long as you take the initiative to appear, you have already lost." Gong Ying's eyes narrowed.

The fleet moved south to lure out the Western Lands Fleet.

Although the Western Lands Fleet did not head to Luzon, their appearance at Yizhou had likewise exposed the location of their main force.