Chapter 115: Cannons come out and bombard the Huainan Navy fleet!
Of the 3800 warships of the Han Navy, nearly a thousand were dispatched, changed direction, and sailed towards the direction where the Huainan Navy was coming.

After seeing this situation, the shocked soldiers of the Huainan Navy woke up immediately!

"Don't panic, everyone. The court is short of naval forces, and this is known to everyone. Even if we build them temporarily, it is impossible to produce thousands of warships immediately.

"So these warships must be strong on the outside but weak on the inside, just bluffing!

"Besides, our Huainan navy is experienced in hundreds of battles. We have experienced more naval battles than the soldiers in the north have eaten salt. What do we have to fear?!"

With the comfort of their generals, the soldiers of the Huainan Navy gradually calmed down and felt that it made sense!
Even if the imperial court has more warships than the Huainan Navy, without the baptism of naval battles, it is nothing but a castle in the air!

The strength of their Huainan Navy lies not only in the fact that they have nearly a thousand warships, but also in the fact that they have been through hundreds of battles in naval warfare, which is why they have become the most powerful in the world!

Thinking of this, the officers and soldiers of the Huainan Navy immediately regained their morale and became very motivated!
The panic and disbelief caused by seeing thousands of warships of the Han Navy were completely gone!
This is a kind of confidence developed through countless battles!

The Huainan naval commanders breathed a sigh of relief and each led their naval fleet to encircle the enemy in a square formation.

Naval warfare also requires military formations and tactics, while also taking into account navigation issues.

This is a very profound subject. The Huainan Navy’s orders were strictly enforced, and nearly a thousand warships followed orders as firmly as a mountain, almost to the point of being "measured with a ruler"!

You have to remember that this is on the sea, and there are not only the effects of ocean currents, but also strong sea breezes.

But even so, the Huainan Navy was able to obey orders, which shows that the navy officers and soldiers have a good understanding of cooperation and rich experience in naval warfare!

In contrast, the Han navy's formation was a bit disorganized!
With just one glance, the officers and soldiers of the Huainan Navy could tell that the officers and soldiers of the Han Navy were just a group of novices!
At least when it comes to controlling the ship's movement, sail direction and other steering controls, they are not that skilled and are obviously a little unfamiliar!

This also resulted in the Han Navy's fleet not having a neat and uniform formation, and appearing somewhat messy like "flowers scattered by heaven".

This further strengthened the confidence of the soldiers of the Huainan Navy!

"This naval force of the imperial court must have been hastily formed. We don't have to worry. Let's go all out to defeat them!"

"In fact, we can design an encirclement and maybe capture these warships for our own use!"

"If you want to capture the warship, you need to engage in a boarding battle, and there will be many accidents. There are thousands of warships waiting behind us. In the first battle, we must go all out to defeat them!"

"I obey your command!!!"

"..."

As the two armies gradually drew closer, the generals of the Huainan Navy came up with the idea of ​​"capturing" the enemy fleet alive.

This not only allows you to capture enemy soldiers, but also allows you to seize warships for your own use!
But "sinking" and "seizing" are very different levels of difficulty. Considering that this was the first battle, the Huainan Navy commanders gave up the idea.

Decided to go all out and inflict heavy damage on the imperial navy!
...

Now at the Yuzhou Mountain Port, Liu Bei and the Han Emperor and his entourage are watching the battle nervously.

Liu Bian was calm and confident in the Han navy under his command.

But when Liu Bei looked at the scattered formation of the Han navy, cold sweat had already seeped out of his forehead and his back felt cold!

Liu Bei had trained the "Qingzhou Navy" in Qingzhou, so he had his own judgment on the strengths and weaknesses of the navy fleet.

In comparison, the Huainan Navy had a neat formation, while the Han Navy was somewhat disorganized.

The movement and dispatch of warships on the battlefield are subject to strict regulations and management.

Those warships were like military formations on land. If they were in disarray, it would be difficult to organize an effective battle.

This made Liu Bei a little worried, and he advised:

"Your Majesty, how about sending out the entire Han navy to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop? I am worried that the Huainan navy will be defeated and flee!"

Liu Bei wanted to use the "human wave tactic" to besiege the enemy. After all, the Han navy had 3800 warships, while the Huainan navy had only nearly a thousand ships.

Even if the formation is scattered, we are many times larger than the enemy and can form an encirclement and annihilation campaign.

The saying that the Huainan navy was defeated and fled was Liu Bei's way of saving the reputation of the Han Emperor. He was worried about losing the first battle!
However, Liu Bian was very confident and said calmly:

"There's no need for that. Sending nearly a thousand ships into battle is already an overestimation of the Huainan Navy! Xuande, just watch. This is the first battle of the Han Navy. We will surely show our strength in Jianghuai and shock the world!"

"This……"

Liu Bei was speechless, but he did not dare to disobey the emperor's will.

The civil and military officials who could stand behind Liu Bian and Liu Bei were all those who accompanied the emperor south, as well as the senior military and political leaders of Xuzhou.

After hearing this, they wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads without leaving a trace, and seemed a little nervous! According to common sense, His Majesty would not be so impulsive.

His Majesty is a wise and brave man with great talent and strategy. He knows the advantages of the Huainan Navy in naval battles. He will never let the Han Navy under his command go to die!

but!

After all, Your Majesty is not familiar with the Huainan Navy and naval warfare. If he brings the thinking of infantry and cavalry land warfare to naval warfare, he will definitely suffer a great loss!

But it was difficult for them to persuade him, so they could only watch the fight with trepidation!

Chen Deng thought:

Even if we were defeated, at least we still had more than 2,000 warships ready for battle, so we wouldn't suffer a crushing defeat!

Perhaps if we lose the first battle, Your Majesty can witness with your own eyes the strength of the Huainan Navy, as well as the difference between naval warfare and infantry and cavalry warfare? !
Thinking of this, Chen Deng immediately shut up and stopped thinking about advising.

The same is true for Mi Zhu.

He is now considered a royal relative and the emperor's father-in-law, and is qualified to stand behind the Han emperor and watch the battle.

As soldiers and civilians of Xuzhou, whether it is Chen Deng or Mi Zhu, because Xuzhou is located on the coast and in the Jianghuai region, they are good at water and have knowledge of water warfare.

Therefore, by comparing the Han Navy and the Huainan Navy, they can see from the details that the Han Navy is inferior to the Huainan Navy!
However, since His Majesty is so confident, it is difficult for them to advise him. They just hope that the defeat will not be so ugly!
...

Everyone had different thoughts and was trembling with fear.

The Han Navy and the Huainan Navy gradually closed the distance between them at sea.

but!

Even though they had not yet reached the range, the Han Navy fleet began to slow down and stabilize the ships!

This is obviously a means of preparing for a long-range attack!

Because of the impact of naval warfare, the ships are floating on the water with some fluctuations, and it is impossible for them to be as stable as on land.

Therefore, when attacking, the ship will slow down to gradually stabilize the ship so that archers or catapults can operate.

However, the Huainan Navy estimated the distance between the two sides and found that they were clearly not within the firing range.

At this time, the Han navy began to slow down and stabilize the ship? !
"We must immediately take a detour and evade their frontal attack using our left and right wings, and attack them from the side!"

"Could this be a conspiracy of the enemy?!"

"What kind of evil plot could this be? This is just a low-level mistake! It shows how incompetent and mediocre the imperial navy is!"

"A bunch of rookies! Even if they have many times more ships than us, they are just coming here to get killed!"

"..."

The Huainan navy immediately dispersed and followed orders, trying to bypass the left and right wings, avoid frontal attacks, and launch an outflanking attack on the Han navy.

however!
Right now!

Suddenly, a dense "boom" sound echoed from the slowing Han navy fleet.

That's the sound of cannons!

The reason why the Han navy was so dispersed was to carry out artillery bombardment.

The reason why they slowed down and prepared to attack at such a long distance was because the range of the cannon exceeded that of arrows and catapults!

The shells were pushed out by the explosives, and smoke billowed from the muzzle, filling the area around the ship with smoke.

While everyone was in confusion, a huge hole appeared on the Huainan Navy ship after being hit by artillery shells!

Some shells landed on the deck of the Huainan Navy, blowing up the enemy soldiers on it into a bloody mess...

Some of the shells had such a strong impact that they directly broke the Huainan Navy's ships. After the skeletal structure was broken, they sank directly into the sea...

Some shells fell on the sea, like huge rocks falling into the water, creating countless splashes of water that crashed onto the ship...

Time seemed to have stopped. It all happened slowly, but in fact it was just a blink of an eye.

Then, screams of panic were heard from the Huainan Navy fleet!

(End of this chapter)