Chapter 186 The power of the cannon, becoming a scapegoat
"The Commander-in-Chief."
Seeing that Li Dingguo's anger had subsided, Wei Jinfan continued, "According to the intelligence sent back by He Guang himself, the enemy's large fleet will officially set sail out of the border in three days at most."
"He Guang has already found out that there are at least a dozen pairs of spiritual pigeons that their intelligence team has been unable to acquire in the northwestern regions of Qin and Jin in the enemy's large fleet!"
"There are even some wealthy merchants who have pigeon towers built on their treasure ships for the spiritual pigeons to live in!"
"If we launch a preemptive strike quickly enough, we can capture the ship and the pigeons together."
Wei Jinfan is one of the top senior figures who best understands the true combat effectiveness of the Renaissance Army today.
She was very clear that the current Fusion Army was no longer the same as it was half a year ago.
Six days ago, Xiao Douya and Hongmei suddenly went into seclusion on the island in the middle of the lake and successfully broke through to the fourth mid-level of martial arts.
Like Li Dingguo, the two of them were originally peerless geniuses who were able to fight against opponents of higher levels.
Now that the three of them have broken through to the middle fourth level of martial arts, the commander of the enemy fleet is no longer an invincible foe.
Although the enemy had many Qi Refining Realm masters, the personnel of their large armed fleet were too mixed. They were not a professional elite force, but just a motley crowd composed of servants and guards from more than a dozen wealthy merchants in the south.
They simply had few soldiers and no military formation that could be used.
Although intelligence showed that the enemy's main general, Cai Yihu, a retainer of the Duke of Wei's mansion, was a former military general, and the 1,000 guards he brought with him were also trained in military killing formations.
But as amateurs, they could never be compared with those elite border troops.
In terms of military formation, any random Qi Refining Realm general of the Fuxing Army could lead a battalion of soldiers to attack and use the military killing formation to meet the enemy, and he could easily defeat the 1,000 family guards led by Cai Yihu.
Even if Li Dingguo personally challenged Cai Yihu in a duel, he would not necessarily lose.
Now, among the five major legions of the Renaissance Army, all combat battalions have at least trained various military formations and military killing formations to the minor success level above the proficient level.
As for the fierce battle that is bound to happen next, Wei Jinfan is absolutely confident that his Renaissance Army soldiers will win.
"Well, we are well-rested in this battle, so it won't be difficult to win."
Li Dingguo had already made up his mind and said, "The difficulty lies in how to achieve a complete victory and take down this large fleet in one fell swoop!"
"The only thing we have to worry about is that the other party has an extremely large and high-quality treasure ship."
"Any of the top-grade treasure ships mentioned in the rumors, once the formation shield is activated, even a martial arts master at the early fifth level will not be able to break it in a short time!"
"Even if I personally lead a battalion of soldiers to attack, it is impossible to break its protective formation shield without continuous attacks for more than half an hour."
"As long as the enemy is determined to escape, with the speed of the top-grade treasure ship, our army will not be able to catch up, and can only watch and sigh in despair."
Like Wei Jinfan, Li Dingguo was not afraid of not being able to win this battle, but was worried about not being able to completely annihilate the enemy.
This huge enemy fleet is a huge piece of fat meat for the Restoration Army.
If they could be eaten in one bite, the strength of the Renaissance Army would double immediately!
This is a huge temptation, and a great benefit that comes right to your doorstep.
As for the enemy's main general, Cai Yihu, a retainer of the Duke of Wei's Mansion, he was at the late fourth level of martial arts, but no matter how strong he was, could he be stronger than the dragon-crocodile demon king that Li Dingguo had killed three months ago?
This is simply impossible!
A mere retainer of the Duke's Mansion cannot possibly be a peerless genius blessed with a star destiny!
Otherwise, Cai Yihu would not be serving as a dog for the Duke of Wei's Mansion which was only in name only.
Moreover, even if he really was a peerless genius with a star destiny, Li Dingguo would not be afraid of him.
His confidence comes from the soldiers in various camps who obey orders.
In terms of military killing formations, this enemy force attacking from the north is definitely not comparable to the soldiers of the Restoration Army.
As long as these attacking enemies do not have a strong military formation, Li Dingguo will be confident that he can defeat them.
"Wei Jinfan."
Li Dingguo said, "Go and get the detailed map of the Jialu River section outside the pass that your military intelligence department has recently drawn up."
After Wei Jinfan found a map sealed in a large sandalwood box on a nearby bookshelf and laid it on the large wooden table in the military conference hall, Li Dingguo walked to the front of the map, pointed to a yellow dot on the map, and said to Wei Jinfan, "I have been to this place twice."
"This is a place, a large island in the middle of the river, located a hundred miles south of our naval base."
"In the northern section of the river, there is a river bend that is completely covered by a large area of reeds."
"This river bay is not small enough to hide all our treasure ships in it."
"Our army will assemble immediately and sail down the river in a large fleet. All treasure ships will sail at full speed. We can reach the river bay of this island in the middle of the river and hide there within four days."
"As long as the intelligence is correct, the enemy will pass by here the next day."
"Our fleet suddenly emerged from this river bend, and we can catch the enemy off guard and defeat them in one fell swoop!"
"The various battalions of our five major legions will directly rush onto the enemy's top-grade treasure ship and all the mid-grade treasure ships, and use the military killing array to launch a surprise attack on the defenseless enemy, and seize all these precious treasure ships in one fell swoop!"
"Although the enemy has nearly forty martial arts fourth-level masters, they can't make much waves. They are scattered like a pile of sand. Can they still withstand the attacks of our various combat battalions using the formations and magical powers of the military killing formations?"
"These guys who don't know how to live or die want to cause trouble for our army this time. We must catch them all in one fell swoop!"
"They should never, ever attack us by water. They are walking into a trap and seeking their own death!"
At this point, he ordered Wei Jinfan, "Send someone to notify all the battalion-level generals and the commanders of each corps of our army to prepare for the entire army to set out immediately!"
"Except for the Suzaku Corps, which will leave a battalion of soldiers to guard our base, all soldiers will attack together!"
"Our army must hurry up and reach that island in the middle of the river within four days and hide in that big river bay!"
"This is the first battle since the establishment of our Renaissance Army against an equally powerful enemy. Anyone who dares to neglect military orders will be killed without mercy!"
This war is the first real life-and-death test that the Renaissance Army has faced since its establishment.
If this sneak attack fails, the consequences will be disastrous!
After all, the enemy has too many medium-quality treasure ships, and there is also a rumored high-quality treasure ship that our soldiers have never seen before!
That was a real weapon of war. Once the enemy was ready to fight, it was very likely that our side would be helpless against their large fleet, and even suffer heavy losses in the fleet that we had accumulated with great difficulty.
Any high-quality magic weapon ship is equipped with long-range attack crossbows and the rumored psychic cannons.
Any medium or low-quality treasure ship would be in danger of being destroyed and people killed if it was hit by even one cannon!
This extremely dangerous psychic cannon is very scary.
Nurhaci, the previous Khan of the Later Jin Tartars, was outside the Ningyuan City in Liaodong. He was careless and was accidentally hit by a shell fired from a psychic cannon in the city. He was seriously injured on the spot and eventually died. Then it was the turn of the new Khan of the Later Jin Tartars, Huang Taiji, to take the throne.
You have to know that Nurhaci himself was a great master at the peak of the fifth level of martial arts, but he couldn't withstand a shot from the psychic cannon!
This kind of psychic cannon is extremely difficult to manufacture. Not only does it require a lot of high-quality spiritual ores, it also requires a skilled craftsman who spends a lot of time and effort to build it by hand.
Currently in the Ming Dynasty, there are only a few thousand psychic cannons.
Even in the entire Liaodong region, there would be no more than three hundred gates.
However, this type of psychic cannon is huge and extremely heavy, and can only be used for fixed purposes. It is difficult to transport it on land to accompany the army in field battles.
Only the huge size and tough material of high-quality and top-grade treasure ships can install psychic cannons and withstand their recoil for long-range attacks.
This extremely powerful psychic cannon is activated by the operation of the central magic array on the cannon's base, and requires the consumption of various spiritual energy crystals, such as monster inner elixirs, soul beads, magic cores, low-grade spirit stones, etc.
Although the psychic cannon is extremely powerful, warriors have quick reactions, especially those in the Qi Refining Realm, who have a strong sense of danger.
Unless faced with a concentrated fire attack from a large number of psychic cannons, it would be easy for a Qi Refining Realm master to avoid the bombardment of psychic cannons as long as he increased his vigilance when the psychic cannons attacked.
The reason why Nurhaci was shot was that he was too careless at the time and completely relaxed his vigilance. As a result, he was unlucky and was tragically hit by a cannon. It was a one in a million chance of winning the jackpot.
The real purpose of the psychic cannon is not to bombard warriors and soldiers, but to attack large targets.
For example, bombarding cities and attacking treasure ships are the greatest uses of psychic cannons.
For a small county town like Dingbian City, the city defense formation could not withstand a round of bombardment from ten psychic cannons. One wave of bombardment would break the city defense formation, thus losing its strongest means of defense.
If it is a low-quality treasure ship, once it is hit by a cannon, the protective light shield of the magic circle on the treasure ship can be broken on the spot. If it is hit by a cannon again, it will most likely sink on the spot!
Li Dingguo certainly did not dare to take this legendary large-scale war weapon lightly.
Once the enemy's high-quality treasure ship activates its protective magic circle in time and prepares for defense, not only will our side be unable to seize this priceless high-quality treasure ship, but its subsequent counterattack will inevitably cause heavy losses to our own fleet.
"Yes! Commander-in-Chief!"
Wei Jinfan's face was solemn, and he immediately took the order and left.
About a quarter of an hour later, Xiao Douya and Hongmei, who learned that a powerful enemy was attacking, quickly rushed to the military building.
"Brother, we are not afraid of these enemies who dare to attack from the north!"
Little Bean Sprout raised his fist confidently and said, "The fleets formed by these wealthy southern merchants are nothing but paper tigers. They have never experienced the cruel war on the battlefield. They are just a group of rabble."
"Although the other side has a large number of people and many Qi Refining Realm masters, we are not vegetarians either."
“Let alone the enemy’s commander, who is only at the late fourth level of martial arts, even if a master at the middle fifth level of martial arts were to come, our army now has several military killing formations that can exert their true power, and we can still beat the enemy and make them flee!”
"If you're a little luckier, it's not impossible to use the formation's magical power to launch a concentrated fire attack and kill the opponent in one blow."
Xiao Douya has learned a lot from Hongmei recently. Faced with the massive enemy attack this time, he is no longer as confused as before and only knows how to kill the enemy with brute force.
"Brother Dingguo, Xiaodouya is right."
Hongmei said confidently, "As long as our army implements your sneak attack plan and rushes to that high-quality treasure ship as soon as possible, destroying the opponent's strongest trump card, these caravan servants and guards who have never experienced a regular war will not be our opponents."
"After our army, which is led by several Qi Refining Realm generals, launches a sudden attack when the enemy is unprepared and rushes onto the enemy's top-grade treasure ship, there will be no more surprises in this war."
"The higher the level of the treasure ship, the faster the energy of the formation center that maintains the treasure ship's protective formation is consumed. It is impossible for them to open the protective shield of the treasure ship's protective formation while driving."
"Not to mention that all the treasure ships in the Ming Empire cannot be so extravagant. Even those white barbarian treasure ships overseas, although they have many ways to obtain magic cores, they cannot waste high-level magic cores so extravagantly. Under normal circumstances, they still open the protective magic array shield while marching."
Hongmei recently specifically notified the military intelligence department to collect a lot of information about the white Hu people overseas, and to have some understanding of these future enemies.
Any high-quality treasure ship, as long as the formation protection shield is opened, will consume at least one fourth-level magic core, or spiritual energy crystals such as the inner elixir of monsters, soul beads, spirit stones, etc. of the same level every hour.
If the formation is subjected to continuous attacks from psychic cannons or enemy masters, the energy consumption of the formation will increase exponentially.
It would be fine during a battle, but no one would waste money like that during the normal voyage of the treasure ship.
During a day and night of sailing, if the protective magic array shield on the treasure ship is activated at all times, each high-quality treasure ship will consume at least twelve level four demon beast inner cores, or an equal number of the same-level magic cores, soul beads and other spiritual energy cores.
No force can afford such unnecessary and huge consumption.
This is also the reason why Hongmei, Li Dingguo and Xiao Douya are so confident about their ambush and raid plan.
As long as the superior treasure ship did not activate the protective light shield of the formation in time at the moment when their side launched the surprise attack, the surprise attack would be doomed.
The three of them then perfected the raid battle plan and then went about their business separately.
The army is about to march south, and there is a lot of preparation to be done.
Time is very tight now, and we must seize every minute.
About an hour later, Li Dingguo left behind a combat battalion and a low-grade treasure ship to guard his own base camp. All the soldiers of the Fuxing Army who were going to the expedition had boarded the ship.
"Dudu..."
As the fleet's navy's special horns sounded, one treasure ship after another collected their anchors and cables and left the dock one after another.
A quarter of an hour later, a large fleet of ships formed two columns on the river, moving faster and faster, going downstream and speeding towards the south.
(End of this chapter)
