Chapter 1193: The Entangled Ironwood City

This event happened too suddenly; even Niu Chaofeng was somewhat bewildered.

However, there was one thing he was clear about: they were saved.

At this moment, the wounded Ushakov slowly opened his eyes.

He...

A dignified Marshal of the Russian Navy had actually been wounded by an explosion!

Fury!

Humiliation!

The Li Dynasty!

It was actually the navy of the Li Dynasty!

This weakling nation actually dared to touch the whiskers of their Tsarist Russian Empire!

Damnable!

Ushakov was furious, but his mind remained clear.

"Cease fire, retreat quickly, we cannot let the entire army be wiped out..."

After saying this, Ushakov fainted, whether from exhaustion or because he could not bear the humiliation.

"Marshal!"

"General!"

The Russian side fell into immediate panic.

Without their commander-in-chief, the Russian Army completely lost its will to fight; Ushakov was, after all, the guardian deity of the Russian Navy. Without him, how could this battle be fought?

"Retreat!"

"Retreat!"

Ushakov's deputy general naturally stepped up at this moment.

He decided to execute Ushakov's order immediately.

Several large Russian warships were trading fire with Li Shunyi's warships in the front, while at this time, the soldiers on Kuye Island were hurriedly boarding their ships.

Troop transports boarded quickly, while the large warships provided covering fire.

Although they still possessed combat power, having lost the initiative, they were no longer a match for the Li Dynasty fleet.

Moreover...

The Yinzhou ship supported by Longyan had now become the main force for the Li Dynasty side.

The offensive capability of the Yinzhou ship's Cannon was simply world-shattering.

For a time, Cannonballs flew across the entire sea surface, and upon landing, they always kicked up massive sprays.

Every time a Cannonball landed, it could destroy a Russian Warship.

A large number of Russian soldiers were either blown to death on the spot or knocked into the sea.

The scene was too gruesome to look at.

In a short quarter of an hour, the Russian fleet had over twenty main warships sunk and a large number of warships damaged.

The Russian fleet fled in a panic, while Li Shunyi's fleet pursued fiercely from behind.

To cut the weeds, one must pull up the roots; he would not give the Russian fleet a chance to return!

Moreover, this was Ushakov's unit!

He dared not be the slightest bit negligent.

He felt that war was just like this; he needed to give such a powerful opponent sufficient respect.

The Russian Pacific Fleet had only one base, which was the port of "Petropavlovsk" on the Kamchatka Peninsula, and furthermore, this port did not even have a shipyard; if this fleet were completely annihilated at this port, Tsarist Russia would not have a second Pacific Fleet for at least ten years!

Peter the Great had been obsessed, developing the navy for a lifetime...

It would lose more than half its strength following this battle.

After the Russian soldiers boarded their ships and fled in a panic, seeing the backs of the departing fleet, Niu Chaofeng sat down on the ground, panting for breath.

He had survived a great battle once again.

At this moment, he did not know whether he should be happy or sad; so many brothers around him had died, and only he survived—this feeling really was not very good.

But...

Every narrow escape from death was a significant growth for him.

He felt that he was becoming a qualified general.

"General, did we... succeed?"

A subordinate asked in disbelief; they had all prepared themselves to die, and they had not expected this to be the final result.

"We succeeded..."

Niu Chaofeng laughed heartily.

The brothers who had survived also began to hug each other, weeping with joy.

Most of the Li Dynasty fleet had pursued the Russian fleet, but some supply ships remained on Kuye Island.

They were to provide material aid to the soldiers on the island.

One reason was naturally to repay the kindness of the Celestial Empire; of course, more importantly, it was to do a good deed and leave a name behind.

Although the Li Dynasty's economy was recovering, this battle would also consume a considerable amount of wealth and resources; they did not have a "money printer" like Liangzhou in their country, so they were also struggling to cope.

And because their national strength was weak, they had no confidence in being able to extract war reparations from Tsarist Russia, so their only hope was to ask for some money from Longyan.

Longyan was a great power, and great powers valued face above all else; they had exhausted their national strength to help Longyan with such a big favor, so it would be unreasonable if Longyan did not provide some economic support.

As the Sovereign State...

The feedback Longyan would give to the Li Dynasty would naturally be very tempting.

With foreign aid gone, the Russian Army within Kuye Island was no match for the Longyan army; after tens of thousands of soldiers were slaughtered, twenty thousand Russian Army troops surrendered to Longyan.

……

Mongolian Grassland.

One hundred thousand Cavalry gathered at Shangdu.

Tiemucheng was riding a fine horse, reviewing the troops before the formation.

Although Tiemucheng did not want to go to war with Longyan, the pressure from the Russian Army was truly too great, and coupled with the persuasion of the Military Advisor Zhongxing Yue, Tiemucheng ultimately decided to send troops against Longyan!

He also felt that Zhongxing Yue's reasoning made sense.

Currently, Longyan's attention was entirely on the Northwest and Northeast, and they had almost no defenses against them.

With a swift cavalry charge, they could reach Jinghua from Shangdu in less than two days.

Nowadays, Jinghua had fewer than twenty thousand garrison troops; they had a force five times the size of the Jinghua garrison, and even if they were not skilled at siege warfare, with such a vast disparity in numbers, they had a chance to take Jinghua!

With Jinghua, Mongolia would have a foothold in Longyan; at that time, allying with the various Feudatory Kings of Longyan to rebuild the once-mighty Mongol Empire would not be impossible!

As for Liu Zheng……

He had already arrived in Europe.

As long as this person who crushed his existence was gone, then Longyan Jinghua would be vulnerable!

Tiemucheng was not wrong in his thinking.

In this world, there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests!

At this moment, Tiemucheng was full of ambition!

He could almost see the gates of Jinghua already opening for him!

He could almost see his status in the history books surpassing that of Great Emperor Tolui!

"My sons! Charge toward Jinghua and seize new pastures for your cattle and sheep!"

Tiemucheng roared.

"Great Khan! Great Khan!"

With Tiemucheng's loud shout, all the Grassland Warriors began to cheer.

"The main army, set out!"

Tiemucheng commanded, and the main army subsequently set out, but just at this moment, a civil official rushed over.

"Great Khan, something has happened!"

"Presumptuous! To be so panicked before a great battle, are you trying to shake the morale of my army!"

Tiemucheng scolded angrily.

"Great Khan, this battle cannot be fought," the civil official said with a grave expression.

Although Tiemucheng was full of ambition, he had not lost his clear head.

He glanced at this civil official and said indifferently:

"Speak."

"Great Khan, the Russian Army was defeated in Liaodong; on Kuye Island, over sixty thousand were annihilated by Longyan, and twenty thousand were captured; the Russian fleet was also beaten to a pulp by the Li Dynasty fleet."

"What!?"

Hearing this news, Tiemucheng's eyes widened instantly:

Wasn't it said just a few days ago that the war was deadlocked? How could the battlefield situation have changed so drastically in just one day?

Also, if defeat to Longyan could be explained, what was going on with the Li Dynasty army?

Could the weak Li Dynasty army actually defeat the invincible Russian Navy?

It was simply unimaginable!

"Is the news true?"

Tiemucheng found it very incredible.

"Absolutely true. This is news my subordinate obtained from a Russian official. Great Khan, this battle cannot be fought. The Russian Army has suffered a great defeat and no longer poses a threat to Longyan. If we launch a full-scale attack on Longyan, and Longyan turns to deal with us, we will not be able to withstand it!"

These words plunged Tiemucheng into deep thought.

Indeed, once the Russian Army was defeated, that ally would cease to exist, and they would have to face the predicament of confronting Longyan alone.

If it were before, they might have dared to fight Longyan, but Longyan was no longer what it used to be; they were no longer a match for them.

Tiemucheng had a massive headache; the battle could not be fought, but the army had already assembled, and it was already a case of "the arrow is on the string, it must be fired."

"Is the Great Khan wavering?"

Just then, Zhongxing Yue, who was on the side, spoke up.

The one most anxious now was not Tiemucheng, but him.

He had waited over a decade for this chance at revenge, and finally, he had waited for it; how could he let it go so easily?

Tiemucheng had many misgivings, but he did not; as long as he could invade Jinghua and bathe Jinghua in blood, it would be worth it even if he died!

"Military Advisor, as the Scholar said, we have now lost the window of opportunity for battle. Sending troops this time is no different from throwing an egg against a rock."

Tiemucheng frowned and said.

To this, Zhongxing Yue only smiled lightly.

"Military Advisor, what is the meaning of this?" Tiemucheng heard the mockery in his tone and asked with dissatisfaction.

"Great Khan, you are afraid, aren't you? Since that is the case, then withdraw the troops. If the Great Khan has a heart of fear, the battle cannot be won," Zhongxing Yue smiled and said.

Actually, Tiemucheng still wanted to fight, and hearing Zhongxing Yue's confident manner, he couldn't help but become interested.

"Then, Military Advisor, tell me, how should this battle be fought, and how can it be won?"