Chapter 931: Strategy

"Hahaha... wanting to engage us in boarding combat, keep dreaming." On the deck, Gong Ying looked toward the Coalition warships left behind and laughed wantonly.

Exchanging zero losses for the loss of six of the enemy's Steamships and eight Sailing Warships made him feel exceptionally refreshed.

"The enemy's naval commander must be furious." Song Xiang looked toward the Coalition fleet.

In this brief naval battle, they had intended from the start to use their firepower advantage to strike the enemy.

Afterward, they would jump out of the encirclement before the enemy's perimeter closed.

"It's better if he's furious; a commander who has lost his reason is more likely to make wrong decisions," Gong Ying said.

After a pause, he added, "However, the enemy commander has some skill and likely won't lose his composure. Next, we will continue to cruise beside their fleet, looking for opportunities to sink a few more of their warships."

Hearing this, Song Xiang nodded.

At the same time.

On the Flagship Formidable, Maluofu was indeed furious to the point of madness.

To him, this naval battle was like a fish taking the bait, only for it to slip off the hook when he reeled it in.

Looking at the Dasong fleet that had run to the side of his fleet, he wished he could command the fleet to charge over until he had crushed them all.

But calming down, he withdrew this thought.

Because if he did so, it would certainly turn into a cat-and-mouse chase.

The enemy's twelve Sailing Warships were all being towed by Steamships; it was not certain they could catch up.

And if he ignored them, the Dasong fleet would inevitably keep harassing the fleet, and their warships would suffer constant losses.

Overall, he feared that this trip would result in them being unable to take Yizhou or destroy the enemy's fleet.

Thinking of this, he frowned tightly and pondered for a while.

After a long time, he made a difficult decision.

Retreat to Malacca!

Malacca is the essential passage from the East Land Southern Region to the Tianzhu sea area.

This is a narrow channel wedged between Yajia, controlled by Stedan, and Malai, controlled by Britain.

Currently, a large number of Forts have been built on both sides of Malacca, and many Trench fortifications have been constructed as well.

If they preserve their strength, they might be able to block the Yan King Fleet at Malacca.

But in doing so, they would have to sacrifice the Franks' Luzon.

"However, the sacrifice of Luzon will be worth it. We need to drag out the Yan King Army to buy time for the Western Lands to send more reinforcements, and also to buy time to crack the Yan King's muskets and Artillery," Ma Fu'er thought to himself.

Immediately, he waved his hand and spat out the word "retreat."

The order was given, and the Coalition fleet turned their bows, heading toward the sea area on the east side of Luzon.

They would bypass Luzon to head to Malacca.

At the same time, to prevent being pursued by the Yan King Army during the retreat and causing more losses,

Maluofu ordered the warships to disperse, with each warship retreating independently.

The movements of the Western Lands Allied Fleet fell into Gong Ying's eyes, and he and Song Xiang looked at each other, revealing expressions of amusement.

They had thought the Westerners would continue to tangle with them or attack Yizhou.

But they did not expect them to just run away like this.

Facing the Western warships fleeing in all directions, he immediately ordered a pursuit.

Most of the Westerners' warships were Sailing Warships without Steamships to tow them.

The twelve Sailing Warships that ran the slowest immediately met with disaster.

After a chase, the Dasong warships caught up to these warships and sank them.

By this time, the remaining Western warships had already run very far away.

Consequently, Gong Ying ordered the fleet to retreat to the port of Wanghai City.

"Report safety to the General and His Highness, tell the General there is no need to rush back to rescue, and let His Highness rest assured." Returning to the office, Gong Ying ordered his guards.

Acknowledging the order, the guards left.

At this moment, Gong Ying looked at the sea chart on the wall, a glow seemingly shining on his face.

This naval battle gave him a deeper understanding of the heavily armed Dasong warships.

During the Dongying naval battle, each of their warships had only three or five Rifled Cannons.

But now, their warships were entirely equipped with Rifled Cannons.

The firepower was more than a little stronger than before.

Not to mention the Westerners, even if he were to face warships of the same level,

he would be terrified.

"No wonder our navy only has sixty Sailing Warships and sixty Steamships, and His Highness is already unafraid of the Western Lands Allied Fleet," Gong Ying laughed.

Then, he came to the window and looked at the generals chatting and laughing in the city.

Although this naval battle was very brief, there was no doubt that through this battle, he, the generals, and the soldiers had all built up strong self-confidence.

From now on, the ocean would belong to them.

Three days later.

News of the Yizhou naval battle reached Yancheng.

At this time, Zhao Xu had just come out of the Armory Bureau.

Glancing at the news sent by Gong Ying, he revealed a smile, then his brows furrowed again.

This news was only one day apart from the news received yesterday.

That is to say, in just one day, the crisis in Yizhou had been resolved.

Yesterday, his reply to Gong Ying was to have him contain the Western fleet, wait for other fleets to arrive as reinforcements, and annihilate the main force of the Western fleet in one fell swoop.

It is a pity that the commanders of the Western Fleet seemed to be intimidated by the Great Song Navy's warships and chose to retreat.

In this way, the Great Song Navy will have to expend effort to find and annihilate them again.

Moreover, having learned of the performance of the Great Song warships, I fear they will be even better prepared.

This is the reason why he frowned after his initial joy.

While pondering, he returned to the Prince's Mansion.

Arriving at the study, he cast his gaze toward the East Land Southern Region.

This time when Zhou Yi went south, it was not that he had not considered the possibility that the Westerners might abandon Luzon and instead attack Yizhou, or even Jinghai.

But the reason he agreed to Zhou Yi's plan was because he firmly believed that the warships left behind could handle any emergency.

In fact, this was the case.

Furthermore, before Gong Ying engaged with the Western Fleet.

Small-scale naval battles had occurred along the island chain between the Ryukyu sea area and the Eastern Sea.

The Great Song warships had beaten the opponents until they were scurrying away in a panic, fleeing in defeat.

These proved that for warships, the range and power of cannons are the truth.

"After this battle, the navy of the Western Lands Allied Forces will surely shift from offense to defense, not daring to take any major actions until the next reinforcements arrive." Zhao Xu looked toward Luzon and Yajia, as well as the Australian continent to the east of Yajia, "But as such, the sea area east of Malacca will belong to the Great Song Navy, and these places will also belong to the Great Song."

Having said this, the corners of his mouth turned upward.

He believed that the only place the Western navy could go after this retreat was Malacca.

Because only in this place do they possess the advantages of terrain and local support.

Engaging the Great Song Navy anywhere else would mean certain death for the Coalition fleet.

However, it is not impossible to bypass Malacca.

But the prerequisite for bypassing it is to take Luzon, Yajia, and Australia to establish supply points.

Moreover, even if they bypassed it, it would be meaningless.

Because he cannot directly attack Tianzhu.

After all, so many marines need to eat.

Without supply points, it still won't work.

Therefore, the strategy for the East Land Southern Region can only proceed step by step.

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