Emaciated camels are bigger than horses.

As the seat of the former Lingnan Jiedu envoy, Guangzhou City has always been the political core of the entire southeast. Coupled with the prosperity of foreign trade in Guangzhou Port, Guangzhou City has become an economic hub.

In recent years, with the rise of the Northern Tang Dynasty, the foreign trade of Guangzhou Port has been completely cut off by the Northern Tang Dynasty Naval Division, and the ocean trade has turned to Haixing in Cangzhou, and even the Jiaozhou Port in Shandong, which is still under construction, Guangzhou's foreign trade has basically shrunk to zero, and commercial activities have been greatly hit.

But it is still one of the most prosperous and wealthy cities in the entire southeast. Decline always takes a longer process.

After Li Ke fled south to Guangzhou and established a small court in Guangzhou to fight against the Northern Tang Dynasty, the city of Guangzhou was stimulated to a certain extent, and there was some hope for revival as if it had returned to the light.

For the relatively closed people here, what they see and hear is naturally the strength of the Guangzhou court, the strength of the army, and the unreasonableness and rebellion of the Northern Tang Dynasty.

But today, their worldview has been hit like never before.

Everything is because of the four behemoths outside the port of Guangzhou.

Stimulated by the death of Ma De's troops, Pan Motang decided to carry out a big counterattack that hit the hearts of the people.

His target was the port of Guangzhou, the core of the ruling power in the south.

There are sailors in Guangzhou.

Earlier, they had a very powerful sailor, and they had also fought with Pan Motang at sea, but unfortunately, in the battle off the coast of the Zhoushan Islands, this sailor who had high hopes for Xiang Xun Xiangzhen's father and son, hoping to break the control of the Northern Tang Sailor over the sea, was destroyed in a battle.

Xiang Zhen's dream of building a strong sailor died abruptly, and there was no way to reorganize such a sailor.

The cost of building a naval division far exceeds the cost of building a strong army. For the Southern Alliance, instead of using a large amount of money to build naval warships to compete with the absolutely superior Northern Tang naval division, it is better to use this money to form a more powerful army.

There are many water systems in the south, of course, there is still a need for sailors, but inland water divisions and offshore water divisions are two completely different concepts, and in inland rivers, small boats are sufficient.

In the face of reality, Xiang Zhen also lowered his head.

Since then, his eyes have gradually turned to the construction of small inland fleets, which are mainly flexible, mobile and fast, and no longer pursue giant ships and large ships.

But they are not a sea warship, and there is none.

At the time of the fall of the Southern Marines, there were still three large ships still under construction in their shipyard, but after they were launched, they were no longer of use of force.

The last remaining naval division, along with these three warships, became the last naval power of the Southern Alliance.

I don't dare to go to sea and sail away, in case I run into the Northern Tang Dynasty Naval Division, I will only be turned into slag in seconds.

But today, they had to go to sea to face it.

When the warning came, the three Southern Alliance warships, even if they were unwilling, could only raise their sails and go to sea to intercept the battleships of the Northern Tang Navy Division.

If the soldiers have no fighting spirit, they will have no will to fight.

Even if the Northern Tang Navy Division did not have artillery, they would only be defeated, not to mention that Pan Motang came with fury today, and Pan Motang at this moment had only one emotion in his heart, that is, destruction.

Everyone in the port of Guangzhou, from the dignitaries to the common people, witnessed how their warships were lightened into a large pile of scraps of wood drifting on the sea in the blink of an eye by the Northern Tang Dynasty sailors.

Like a loud thunder, the rising smoke, and the fire that rose into the sky, just a photo, the three Southern Alliance warships caught fire and burned, and the three warships that fled in embarrassment at sea with thick smoke and fire were chased by the Northern Tang Navy Division and bombarded wildly, and finally sank into the sea in the eyes of thousands of people.

When they saw the captain of the battleship of the Northern Tang Navy Division driving straight into the port of Guangzhou, the people in the entire port area panicked.

Is the Northern Tang army going to attack Guangzhou?

The large and small ships in the harbor hurriedly hoisted their sails, and then fled to the shore outside the harbor, and there may be a way to survive when they go out, and staying in the harbor is definitely a dead end.

Everyone tried to escape, but there were only a few passages, and then some of the ships collided with each other, and then no one could move, but could only watch in despair as the black cannonballs came in the air, landed on the boats, and blew the ships into piles of broken wood.

Luckily, they fled to the open sea, but they didn't dare to turn back, at this time, they just wanted to run as far as possible.

Xiang Xun, who received the report, turned pale, but he had to quickly mobilize his army and prepare for a land battle, in case the Northern Tang people took the opportunity to suddenly come ashore.

Although the other side only came with four warships, this possibility is not impossible, and if these people take the opportunity to go ashore and wreak havoc, it will not only be a huge military defeat for the entire Southern Alliance, but also a major political blow.

Four warships sailed into the port of Guangzhou, and some of the poor ships that had not had time to escape were directly crushed into the water by these large ships.

Lined up, the muzzles of the black holes pointed at the harbor.

"Fire!" Pan Motang coldly gave the order to bombard.

Within a few miles of the port of Guangzhou and its surroundings, it was immediately devastated.

This is one of the most prosperous places in the city of Guangzhou, and even if commercial activity has shrunk greatly, it is still the trading center of the entire south.

Amid the rumbling of cannons, the port of Guangzhou turned into a sea of fire.

In order to strengthen the effect of the bombardment, Pan Motang ordered the bombardment to be turned into a round fire after a salvo in the first round, and the long-term bombardment was a huge test for everyone's nerves.

It wasn't until the sun set in the west that Pan Motang, who spit out a bad breath in his heart, that he ordered to return. left a piece of chicken feathers to Li Ke and Xiang Xun and others in Guangzhou.

Kill my brother, and I will destroy your lair.

That's it for today, when I'm interested, I'll come back and have a look.

On the lookout platform on the top of the mountain, Xiang Xun stared at the Northern Tang Dynasty sailors who were leaving, and his brows were tightly wrinkled into a Sichuan character. In the past, he really didn't think that the loss of the naval division would have a big impact on the Southern Alliance, and always thought that the decisive battle would only happen on land, and as long as the land troops were strong enough, then all problems could be solved on land.

But today, his perspective has changed somewhat.

With such a fierce attack, any defense based on land will be useless, when the land defense line is broken through, and a large number of Northern Tang troops come to the sea, what defense will they take?

With such a long sea frontier, where is the enemy's breakthrough point?

Stroking the stacks of the lookout, one question after another flashed through Xiang Xun's mind.

There was a panting sound behind him, and when he turned around, he saw that it was his eldest son Xiang Zhen and his henchman Wang You.

"That's what you call artillery?" Xiang Xun looked at Wang You and asked.

"Yes, Dashuai!" Wang also said respectfully: "At that time, when the general heard that Li Mi was coming across the river, he set up a defensive position on the embankment, hoping to use the river beach to launch an effective attack on the enemy. But the other party did not go ashore at all, and directly attacked the position of the last general on the surface of the river, I have never seen a weapon that can carry out such a long-range attack, let alone such a huge power? The troops suffered heavy casualties and had to retreat to the city. The enemy went ashore with small boats and heavy artillery and bombarded Ezhou City again, and a large number of young and strong people in the city mutinied, which led to the loss of Ezhou. ”

Xiang Xun nodded: "It seems that the imperial court underestimated the power of this weapon and wronged you." ”

The king hung his head again.

If it weren't for the fact that his Wang clan still had some power, I'm afraid he would have lost his head a long time ago.

"The weapons of the Northern Tang Dynasty are so sharp, how do you think they can resist it?" Xiang Xun turned his head to look at Xiang Zhen and asked.

Xiang Zhen sighed and said: "Father, the Northern Tang Dynasty has such a sharp weapon, in the military, we are getting more and more difficult, fortunately, this weapon still has great defects, Wang You's mentioned in the report, this kind of artillery is extremely heavy, it is not easy to carry with the army, so they do not have a lot of equipment in the army." But this is only before, and how it will be in the future, it is still difficult to say. ”

"Is there no way to deal with it? A weapon that can make us shackle our hands? Xiang Xun was a little angry.

"Father, our future war with the Northern Tang Dynasty needs to be fundamentally changed in the way we fight. It was impossible to defend the city, and no wall could withstand such a bombardment, and if it was not a last resort, a large-scale battle between the two sides could not be conducted. Small-scale wars, encroachment wars, rapid maneuvering and interspersing, using complex terrain to maneuver around the enemy, and so on, can only be moved at the right time. Because once a large-scale battle is formed, the Northern Tang army will inevitably use this kind of artillery. ”

"If such a large-scale battle is to be carried out, the main point must be to destroy the opponent's artillery position by various tactics as soon as possible."

"Next, the imperial court will convene important generals from all sides to gather in Guangzhou to discuss the plan to defeat Li Ze, and when the time comes, you will personally talk to you." Xiang Xun nodded.

"Yes!" When Xiang Zhen and Wang heard it again, their faces showed joy. This means that Xiang Zhen will once again step into the center of power, no matter what kind of appointment will be given next, but this appearance undoubtedly shows Xiang Xun's attitude.

"I heard that you sold all your family property and are recruiting?"

"Yes, my son has vowed to take revenge." Xiang Zhen bowed his head and said: "This is not only a national hatred, but also a family hatred." ”

Xiang Xun was silent for a moment, he knew that the family hatred that Xiang Zhen was talking about was the smartest eldest granddaughter in his family.

"Just arrived in a batch of Dian horses, you go pick a thousand!" He turned around and walked down the mountain: "In the direction of Yizhou, we have also set up a line with Qingtang, and we can trade the best Qingtang war horses, we have sent people over to strive to reach a long-term fixed deal with Qingtang, and when the time comes, there will be no one missing from you!" ”