On July 17, 1538, the navy of the Silver Wolf Empire and the navy of the Flying Leopard Empire broke out in a naval battle of unprecedented scale in the waters near Barra Island of the Silver Wolf Empire.

The island of Barra is a large island with an area of about 5,000 square kilometers, which was originally occupied by the Flying Leopard Empire.

The last time a war broke out between the Silver Wolf Empire and the Flying Leopard Empire, the armies of the two countries fought for Bala Island, and the casualties totaled more than one million, and finally Bala Island was robbed by the Silver Wolf Empire.

The reason why the Silver Wolf Empire and the Flying Leopard Empire are fighting for Barra Island at such a large price is that in addition to the important strategic location of Barra Island, the gold mine on the island with gold reserves of up to 50,000 tons is the key to the two countries' competition for Barra Island.

Due to Zhou Rui's deliberate concealment, the Pingluan gold mine in Huanan Town, which has gold reserves of more than 60,000 tons, has not been known to the world until now.

Therefore, this gold mine on Barra Island is still the world's fourth largest gold mine in terms of gold reserves, and the ranking has not been replaced by the Pingluan Gold Mine.

1 ton of gold can make 20,000 gold coins, which is equivalent to 200,000 silver coins, so 50,000 tons of gold is equivalent to 10 billion silver coins.

Such a world-class gold mine, the Flying Leopard Empire naturally hopes to recapture it, so it is ready to take the opportunity of another war with the Silver Wolf Empire to snatch Barra Island back from the hands of the Silver Wolf Empire.

In this naval battle of Barra Island, the Flying Leopard Empire is to seize the sea control in the waters near Barra Island, so as to help the army of the Flying Leopard Empire and clear the obstacles to landing on Barra Island.

The Flying Leopard Empire gathered a total of 32 battleships with full main guns, 38 all-steel battleships, 46 large armored cruisers, 78 light cruisers, and 102 destroyers.

The Royal Navy of the Silver Wolf Empire also gathered 29 all-main gun battleships, 40 all-steel battleships, 38 large armored cruisers, 67 light cruisers, and 89 destroyers.

In addition, due to the proximity of the battlefield of the naval battle to Barra Island, the Royal Navy of the Silver Wolf Empire also dispatched more than 100 torpedo boats to cooperate in the operation.

The Battle of Bala Island lasted for a day and a night, and in the end both sides suffered very heavy casualties, and the navies of the two countries combined, only 18 battleships with full main guns were sunk, of which 8 were sunk by the Flying Leopard Empire and 10 by the Silver Wolf Empire.

In general, the losses of the Royal Navy of the Silver Wolf Empire in the Battle of Barra Island were greater than those of the Royal Navy of the Flying Leopard Empire, but the Royal Navy of the Flying Leopard Empire did not achieve its desired goal through the Battle of Barra.

The sea control in the waters near Barra Island is still controlled by the Royal Navy of the Silver Wolf Empire.

In a meeting room in the Governor's Mansion of the Silver Wolf Empire's Silver Light City, Governor Igna asked Vice-Admiralty Yegor in a deep voice, "Have the losses in the Battle of Barra Island been counted?" ”

Yegor said with some gloom: "Your Excellency the Governor, it has been counted.

Combined, the First and Second Fleets sank a total of 10 all-main-gun battleships, 13 all-steel battleships, 16 large armored cruisers, 21 light cruisers, 28 destroyers, and 58 torpedo boats.

In addition, there were 2 all-steel battleships, 3 large armored cruisers and 3 light cruisers, and although they were finally withdrawn to the port of Barra, these 8 battleships were so badly injured that they were basically no longer worth repairing. ”

"What about casualties?"

"The total number of killed and missing is 23,210, plus more than 4,000 wounded."

Governor Igna nodded slightly, "Although the two main fleets of the Royal Navy suffered great losses in the Battle of Barra, they finally held the sea supremacy of Barra.

I have asked Your Majesty for instructions to transfer the First Fleet to the dozens of warships on the Spirit World side, and then withdraw to the New World.

The Flying Leopard Empire's ambitions for Barra Island will never be extinguished, and the Royal Navy must prepare for the Second Battle of Barra.

If necessary, a group of warships can also be withdrawn from the Third Fleet.

Now the Third Fleet has formed a naval joint command for the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet of the Han and Tang Empires with the Eighth Fleet of the Golden Lion Empire Navy and the Fifth Fleet of the Red Tiger Empire.

Even if a group of warships are repatriated from the Third Fleet, the security of Pusha Island can be guaranteed. ”

Admiralty Vice-Chancellor Yegor nodded, "Your Excellency the Governor, rest assured, our Royal Navy will defend the safety of Barra Island to the death. ”

Governor Igna then turned to the Undersecretary of War Luca and asked, "How is the Royal Army preparing on the island of Barra?" ”

Luca said: "Governor, at present, our Royal Navy has the 19th Army and 6 independent divisions on the island of Barra, and there are 30 security regiments, with a total strength of about 260,000 troops.

The fortifications on the island of Barra were largely completed. ”

The security forces of the Silver Wolf Empire are armed with wolves and dogs as officers, humans as soldiers, and the maximum number is at the regimental level, with about 3,000 people in each security regiment.

Governor Igna pondered for a moment and said, "Transfer the newly formed 28th Army to Barra Island.

We still don't know how determined the Flying Leopard Empire is to capture Barra Island, and it must be fully prepared, and the Royal Army must be prepared to fight a battle to defend Barra Island.

The gold mine on Barra Island is very important to the Empire, and Barra Island must not be thrown away from us. ”

Originally, the Royal Army of the Silver Wolf Empire had a total of 24 army groups, half of which were stationed in the Spirit World and half in the New World.

After officially declaring war on the Flying Leopard Empire, the Royal Army of the Silver Wolf Empire formed 3 new armies in each of the two worlds, and the 28th, 29th, and 30th armies were formed in the new world.

"Yes, Governor."

Governor Igna then asked Luca, the undersecretary of the army, "Is there any new progress in the encirclement and suppression in the southern mountains?" ”

"Governor, some of the towns and villages that have been captured by the human resistance have all been retaken.

Now the 16th Army has begun to enter the mountains to begin to clear the remnants of the human resistance, but due to the complex terrain of the mountains, it is difficult to clear the remnants. ”

"No matter what the cost is this time, we must completely wipe out those human rebels.

If those human rebels are allowed to develop, it is likely to even shake the Empire's rule on this side of the New World.

That's why when a war broke out with the Flying Leopard Empire, I still transferred the 16th Army to the southern mountains to encircle and suppress the human resistance! ”

"Boom-boom-" Dense shells kept falling on the positions on the hillside, and in the dust that was blown up, there were even many stumps and broken arms.

Wei Zhao, the commander-in-chief of the Silver Wolf Column, who was hiding in the anti-artillery hole, said with a wry smile to Xiang Tao, director of the Operations Division of the Silver Wolf Column: "I really regret not listening to your advice, our Silver Wolf Column should not go out of the mountain in a hurry."

As a result, the entire group army of the Silver Wolf Empire was brought over, not only forcing our Silver Wolf Column to retreat back to the mountains, but also causing the base area that our Silver Wolf Column had built up with great difficulty to suffer heavy losses.

Now the column headquarters and the first and second divisions have been bitten by the troops of the 16th Army of the Silver Wolf Empire, and I don't know if they can break through? ”

Originally, after the Silver Wolf Column came out of the mountains, it quickly captured many villages and towns, and the strength of the combat unit quickly swelled to more than 60,000 people.

However, this good situation came to an abrupt end because of the arrival of the Sixteenth Army of the Royal Army of the Silver Wolf Empire.

In the past, the Silver Wolf Empire's encirclement and suppression of the rebel Silver Wolf Column was generally only a few independent divisions dominated by dog people, coupled with some security forces.

Even if the main force composed of wolf officers and soldiers was dispatched, at most one or two infantry brigades would be dispatched, and a group army would never be adjusted to encircle and suppress the rebels' silver wolf column.

In the face of the well-armed Sixteenth Army of the Silver Wolf Empire, although the Silver Wolf Column was not about to collapse at the touch of a button, the situation was not much better, and it was soon driven back to the mountains by the Sixteenth Army of the Silver Wolf Empire.

To make matters worse, the Sixteenth Army of the Silver Wolf Empire chased it into the mountains, and now the headquarters, the first division and the second division of the Silver Wolf Column were entangled by an infantry division of the Sixteenth Army of the Silver Wolf Empire.

Don't look at the headquarters of the Silver Wolf Column, which has 2 guard brigades, as well as the first and second divisions of the Silver Wolf Column, in fact, these troops combined are less than 4,000 people at this time.

However, an infantry division of the 16th Group Army of the Silver Wolf Empire has 3 infantry brigades, 1 baggage regiment, 1 division under the heavy artillery battalion, and 1 guard battalion, with a strength of about 18,000 people.

And this infantry division did not suffer significant losses in a series of previous battles, with a combined casualty of less than 1,000 people.

Xiang Tao comforted Wei Zhao, the commander-in-chief of the Silver Wolf Column: "Commander, I didn't expect that the Silver Wolf Empire would mobilize an entire group army to deal with our Silver Wolf Column at this time.

Getting out of the mountains is a unanimous decision of all of us, and the responsibility cannot be left to the commander alone.

As for whether we can break through the encirclement, the commander does not have to worry, our current position, the surrounding terrain is extremely complicated, as long as we can survive until dark, we will definitely be able to break out of the enemy's encirclement. ”

Xiang Tao's words made Wei Zhao feel a lot more at ease, as long as he could live, there was still hope.

"I don't know what happened to them, deputy commander? Didn't get rid of the pursuers? ”

Zhou Rui learned about the current dilemma faced by the Silver Wolf Column, but he couldn't do it.

Because of the outbreak of war between the Silver Wolf Empire and the Flying Leopard Empire, the coastal areas of the Silver Wolf Empire were blocked, and the sea passage to the outside of the Silver Wolf Column was temporarily cut off.

Zhou Rui also had no way to replenish the officers and veterans of the Silver Wolf Column, and there was no way to replenish various combat materials to the Silver Wolf Column.

In addition, the defeat of the Silver Wolf Column back to the mountains this time also exposed a problem, that is, the Silver Wolf Column, which was not equipped with the standard weapons of the Zhou family's army, was at an absolute disadvantage in firepower when facing the army of the Silver Wolf Empire.

You must know that in the two battles of Xiangshi Island, the reason why the Zhou family army was able to resist the army of the Silver Wolf Empire was mainly because of its strong firepower.

However, Zhou Rui had a lot of scruples about equipping the Silver Wolf Column with the army weapons and equipment issued in the lottery system.

Now the army weapons and equipment obtained from the lottery system have almost become the symbol of the Zhou army.

Once the Silver Wolf Column was also equipped with the same weapon, it would immediately be reminiscent of the Zhou family supporting the human resistance army in the Silver Wolf Empire behind the scenes.

However, in the case that it was difficult for the Silver Wolf Column to even survive, Zhou Rui felt that some things could no longer look forward to the future.