"There are two ways to do this...... The first is that we will return to the port immediately, and it will only take more than a day to return to Dengzhou Port, and the loss will not be too great. I have observed their warships, the draft is very deep, and they can sail very steadily in the sea, but they are very dangerous in the shallow waters, so they will not dare to get too close to the port of Dengzhou. They don't have a supply port in the north, so we just have to wait for them to go south to resupply, and we can sail again, and even if they come back after resupplying, we are already approaching the Yangtze River. Their number of warships is too small to inflict much damage on us, and when the time comes, as long as they break through the defense line of the Southern Naval Division, they can choose to land anywhere. ”

After listening to Chagatai's promise, this big food general put his heart in his stomach. Chagatai was known for his meticulousness in the Mongol Empire, and he rarely promised anything lightly, but once he opened his mouth, even the Great Khan had to give him a few points.

"No! Going back like this has too much impact on morale, and when they see those ships in the future, they will think about running away, and what kind of battle will they fight if they have no morale on the battlefield! Before Chagatai could speak, the deputy commander of the Mongolian naval division, Prince Kuode, objected to this suggestion. His statement is not unreasonable, in the era of cold weapons, the courage of soldiers is very important. When courage is sufficient, you can win more with less, but if you lack courage, a thousand people may not be able to fight three hundred. The Southern Song army often fled without a fight, the reason was that they were frightened by the Mongol army and lacked courage, which was very fatal.

"We can't retreat, the survival of the empire is on us, without the order of the Great Khan, whoever retreats will flee from the battle, and can only advance...... Let's talk about the second option. Chagatai wasn't worried about morale, but more about it. If you go on the first expedition, you will give up halfway. Hundreds of battleships were scared back by a dozen enemy ships. Even if the two of them can say it again. It could not convince the Mongol nobles to continue to believe. The Mongol nobles, who had not been on board the ship and had never even seen the sea, would not have believed that the enemy's warships were so powerful, and the final result was likely to be catastrophic. Whether his brother's position as Great Khan can be kept is a question, after all, this Khan position is not particularly orthodox in the first place.

"The second way is to fill it with human life! We sent a part of the ships to drive them away at all costs, not to let them get close to our main force, and then the main fleet used this time to move south at full speed. But it is likely that the ships that were separated will not come back, and when they catch up, they will send out some more ships to block them. They only have more than a dozen ships, no matter how powerful the artillery is. It is also impossible to get out of the entanglement in a short time. Besides, they are human beings and they are tired, so we rely on the number of ships to drag them down. As long as I can keep half of the ships left, I will be sure to break through the interception of the Southern Naval Division, which is much easier to deal with, although it is also brave in battle. ”

Muhammad did not expect the first suggestion to be accepted, these Mongol generals were brave in battle, and they would use strategic retreat to lure the enemy deeper in peacetime, but they would never actually flee without going head-to-head. Even if you flee back, this kind of behavior will not be good, and if you don't do it, you will lose your life.

"......" said the second suggestion. There was silence on the stern tower, and then a dozen cold eyes instantly focused on Mohammed's face. All the sailors, including Chagatai, understood Muhammad's advice. This is to cut meat and feed it to the wolves! It is a last resort choice adopted by grassland herders after being followed by wolves during migration.

They would select the emaciated individuals of the flock and deliberately leave them in place for the wolves to eat, so that the wolves would come to a short pause, and the migrating herders would have some time to hurry and wait for the wolves to catch up before repeating the same trick. The problem is that this doesn't always work, and if the wolves are too big and the herders are too slow, the wolves will eventually catch up. In addition, if the sheep lose too much, it will have the same effect as being surrounded by wolves. Without their flocks, the herders will not survive the winter, and starving to death will result in the same results as being eaten by wolves.

"That's it! Zhang Qianhu, transfer the soldiers on your ship to the fleet of His Highness Kude, and then take your fifty warships to meet the enemy. Your family is my family, and your family's fief cannot be deprived for generations. "The first to speak was Chagatai, in the face of the current unfavorable situation encountered by the sailor, as the commander, he must come up with an effective method. Now he has to lose the army to protect the commander, the first unlucky guy is the general of the Jin State, on the issue of driving foreigners to be cannon fodder for themselves, the Mongolian nobles are very consistent, and they will not hesitate at all.

"The last general...... Obey the order...... "The general of the Jin State Navy Division did not dare to express the slightest intention of not wanting to go, and gritted his back molars to accept the commander's order. If you disobey the order and be beheaded by the military judge, not only will you die in vain, but even the family will be implicated, and you will all be distributed to the Mongols as slaves. As a general, you should have this kind of awareness, and it is the same on land, every time you attack a city, it is the foreign army that goes up first, dragging the enemy out of the hole with your life, and then the elite of the Mongol army attacks.

It was not clear what decision the Mongolian sailors had made, Hong Tao was not clear, their fleet was so large that the lookout could not see the whole picture from a high place. After breakfast and a little rest, the Mongolian sailors finally came to the easternmost side of the Shandong Peninsula and began to turn southeastward. At the same time, Hong Tao's fleet began to approach the Mongol Empire's fleet again, this time it was replaced by Bojiao's attack fleet at the front, Kong Pei's attack fleet in the middle, and Hong Tao's main fleet at the end.

"Stop the attack and keep the course!" Before the three fleets could be completely separated, Hong Tao suddenly put down his binoculars and stopped the harassment with a sigh of relief. The distance between the two fleets was only about three nautical miles, and the opponent's every move could be seen clearly without a lookout, and the Mongolian sailors changed formations.

They separated a smaller fleet from the third detachment and sailed straight for themselves. And as it drove to the sides, it gradually formed a horizontal formation in the shape of a goose's wing, separating the Mongol sailors from their own fleet from south to north, and if they wanted to attack the Mongol fleet, they had to pass through it, otherwise it would be surrounded from behind.

"Uncle, they're going to fight hard. These guys are more ruthless than the big cannibals, no wonder the Great Song people can't beat them......" Weng Ya and Hong Tao found out as quickly as they could, and they also made a correct judgment. If the other party wants to use these dozens of warships to drag itself and attack the main force of the Mongolian naval division without destroying them, then he will have to face the threat of being attacked by the enemy at all times. This is a multiple-choice question, and there is no other way to choose to go back or advance.

"I still underestimated them, I didn't expect them to react so quickly and decisively...... Come on, sooner or later, and let me see how long they last. Order the 1st and 2nd Attack Fleets to enter the divided position and cut it into three for me! The main fleet is responsible for the rear, and the two of them choose one by themselves and end the battle in the fastest time without saving ammunition! Hong Tao lit another cigar, took a deep puff, and did not exhale it directly, but inhaled the cigarette into his lungs, trying to calm himself down before giving the final order. At this time, the sea battle really began, once it entered the strangulation battle, there was no guarantee of perfect distance and formation, dozens of battleships wrung together in a melee, anything could happen.

As a string of small white triangular flags was raised from the Golden River, the three fleets were simultaneously filled with sails, and at a distance of two kilometers from each other, three parallel horizontal lines were formed, which were diagonally inserted into the vertical line formed by the Mongolian sailors on the west side. The distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer, and the strong southeast wind just kept both fleets in a state of high speed, and the waves in the bow of the ship were like a large group of whales rushing on the sea.

"Long live the Empire! Long live the Emperor! "The First Assault Fleet commanded by Kong Pei was full of new-style Jiaosha-class warships, with copper plates laid on the bottoms, and the speed was definitely faster than the old Jiaosha-class and Hong Tao's armed cargo ships in Jiaojiao, and they pierced straight into the middle and rear of the Mongolian interception fleet. His flagship, as usual, was in the first position of the fleet, and just as he was within five hundred meters of firing distance, a string of colored flags rose from Kong Pei's midmast.

This is the first time that the Royal Fleet has raised this kind of flag since its establishment, and it is only a celebration in non-war time, and the meaning is simple, it is a slogan, but it is more cruel in wartime than the white decisive flag on Hong Tao's flagship. It's going to be desperate, all the sailors on the ship are all in place, there are no shifts, when the battle is over and when is it over.

"Uncle, Bo Jiao has also raised the color flag, it's really enjoyable, let's raise it too!" Weng Ya stood on the deck and was stimulated by the scene in front of her, and kept pacing back and forth.

"Let's go up......" Hong Tao was also very excited, these people are really cute. They don't really know what the empire is and what the emperor is, they just bring them a hope and a general direction, and they follow themselves regardless of life and death, with a kind of pride in their righteousness.

Although Hong Tao does not advocate fighting with the enemy at every turn, this is not in line with his character, and he is a good trader who can exchange the smallest loss for the greatest gain. But he can't say discouraged words at this time, morale, once it is puffed up, it is a double-edged sword, it may hurt others, it may also hurt himself, they are still too young and too simple. (To be continued.) )