The expeditionary force marching north by sea went very smoothly, which made Cheng Xishou and others puzzled, and the legendary Seljuk Empire was also known as the first power in West Asia, with a powerful army that could sweep the world. But there was no major battle except after the battle of Ji Shiguo, which was so abnormal that they wondered if the enemy was playing a trick of 'luring the enemy deeper'. In fact, the 'encounter' of the expeditionary force can be attributed to providence, or it can be said to be a coincidence.

Last year, the Great Song Dynasty launched an expedition under the auspices of Zhao Ta, and the western expeditionary army led by Gao Zhong took the land route; The other way is Cheng Shou all the way from the sea. Although the two expeditionary forces were tens of thousands of miles apart, the spearhead was pointed at the Seljuk Empire in West Asia, which can be said to echo each other from afar.

In this era, it is very difficult to communicate hundreds of miles apart, not to mention that the two expeditions are thousands of miles away from the mainland, and even if there are fast horses running back and forth, it will take more than a month to arrive. And war is not like others, it is often ever-changing, if you stick to the rules, ask for instructions on everything, the results are self-evident. Therefore, Zhao Ta gave the two coaches considerable discretion, and they did not have to wait for the will in case of trouble, but could make their own decisions.

As long as it is beneficial to the country and the war, and the purpose of the operation is achieved, they can toss it at will. Only then did Gao Pet dare to cross the snow-capped mountains in the cold winter and privately decided to release the defeated troops back to Western Liao. Therefore, although the commanders of the two routes cannot communicate with each other and carry out joint operations, the general policy is the same.

In order to achieve the conquest of Gaochang and stabilize the strategy of the Western Front. The strategy of uniting the Western Liao was adopted. They released the defeated troops of Western Liao and negotiated peace with them. He also conveyed to him that if necessary, the Song army could send troops to help him fight against the Seljuk invasion. This made Xiliao have no worries. Dare to refuse Sanjar's intimidation, concentrate your forces against the coalition forces of the Seljuk Empire, and pin down their main forces in the Central Asian theater.

The actions of the Western Expeditionary Force gave strong support to the expeditionary force marching by sea, but they did not know the details, which allowed them to enter the Persian Gulf without any problems. But there are other reasons in addition, because the Great Song Dynasty knows more about the Seljuk Empire by word of mouth from merchants, so the lack of intelligence makes them not very aware of the local situation, especially the limitations of merchants' activities, so that the information they bring is still wrong and misleads everyone, including Zhao Ta......

The Seljuks were previously nomads. Civilization was not settled for a long time, so a large number of remnants of the nomadic feudal system were retained, and the military fiefdom system was introduced, and the provinces of the empire were administered by the 'altabeg', and the feudal lords who owned the fiefs enjoyed full administrative, judicial, military and financial power in their own land. The feudal lords who had acquired Iqta had the right to levy exorbitant rents on the peasants, but they had no land ownership, let alone hereditary inheritance.

In the later years of the Seljuk dynasty, the shortcomings of this system were gradually exposed, and many large landowners and aristocrats monopolized the land as they pleased, turning it into hereditary. Private. With the land and army, the idea of independence gradually developed, and the situation of feudal secession appeared in the empire, and gradually formed large and small feudal separatist forces to compete with the central dynasty. At the same time, the tax on labor continued to increase. It also caused dissatisfaction among the peasants.

When Sultan Malik? After Sha's death, the struggle for the throne plunged the royal family into infighting. It also intensified the expansion of feudal separatist forces in various localities, and the military forces in various localities were divided into dominants. This soon led to the collapse of the empire and the fragmentation of several small Seljuk kingdoms. Sanjar won the battle for the throne and was given the title of Khorasan. Become the only surviving heir of the Great Seljuk Empire and the suzerains of the other minor Seljuk dynasties.

Therefore, the current Seljuk Empire is like the Warring States period in the Central Plains, there is a co-owner on the face, but in private it is its own way, not subordinate to each other, it is not surprising that the city lord of the country of Ji Shi is called the country on an island, and it is logical that the Song army took it and few people came to interfere, and it is estimated that those who sent troops came just to see the situation and prepare to be the king themselves.

Now the suzerainty of the Seljuk Empire has called on all states to form a coalition to attack Western Liao, which naturally leads to the emptiness of troops in the interior states. Besides, on weekdays, everyone sweeps the snow in front of the door, even if they find that the Song army is crossing, as long as they don't find their own trouble, no one will do much trouble. No one wants to care, and the Song army is like entering a no-man's land, and smoothly came to the city of Bosalo, but this is the territory of Seljuk CIS President Sanjar, and the troops stationed in this important military town are naturally his army, of course, they can't ignore the enemy at their doorstep......

The Tigris and Euphrates are two of the most important rivers in Western Asia, and the two rivers are called the Shatt al-Arab after their confluence in Gurnah. This allowed the river vessels to reach the port of the city of Bosaro and from there to the Persian Gulf, which was of great importance for the control of the Persian region.

The Great Song Expeditionary Force was about to enter the interior near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab estuary, and since they had gathered large warships for the voyage, the draft was very deep, and they did not know much about the hydrology here, so they would be in trouble if they ran aground. Moreover, the inland waterway was much narrower than the sea, and it was difficult for the battleship to maneuver, which was not conducive to combat, and the legendary Seljuk Imperial Navy did not appear. Therefore, Cheng Xishou ordered to anchor in the deep sea outside the estuary, sent a small boat to survey the hydrology, ascertain the tide situation, and find out the enemy's naval movements, and did not rush into the estuary.

Two days later, in the early morning, the sentinel ship came to report that it had found about 200 enemy ships in the southwest; There were also more than 200 enemy warships coming down the river at the mouth of the river, and it seemed that they were coming at them. The generals were secretly surprised when they received the report, this should only be the navy of the Seljuk Empire stationed in the Persian Gulf, which can mobilize as many as 600 warships at a time, and its strength should not be underestimated. Although the firepower of its own side is superior, there are only more than 30 main warships, and the rest are transport ships.

In the face of the current situation, everyone is a little anxious, their own warships are powerful, but there is still a saying that ants bite and kill elephants. If the enemy seeks an opportunity to sink or capture, it will cause extremely heavy losses, which will have a serious impact on future landing operations, and even force the expedition to die halfway through and withdraw from the Persian Gulf and return home.

"Marshal, why don't we land and attack the city of Bosaro first to attract the attention of the enemy, and you lead the sailors to find an opportunity to destroy the enemy!" Ma Wei was silent after seeing Cheng Xi receive the report, thought about it and said.

"No, now is not the time to land, the infantry cavalry will be difficult to conquer the fortified city without the artillery support of the naval army, and once the naval division loses, the landed army will fall into a situation where the retreat route will be cut off, and a lone division will be exhausted no matter how much it can fight." Cheng Xishou shook his head and refused.

"Marshal, our infantry army is not all eating dry food, we can connect the transport ships on the spot and arrange them in formation, and the infantry cavalry will resist the enemy in formation, and we don't need to divide the troops to protect them!" Li Quan said.

"Yes, there are self-defense artillery on the transport ship, and there is also an artillery team in our army, and even the ship is the city to defend it, even if it is not victorious, it is enough to protect itself!" Wang Gang also agreed.

"No, there are many enemy ships, if they entangle the naval division with one part, and send another division to besiege the ship city, and attack the city with fire ships from the upper hand, the consequences of a successful ship will be unimaginable!" Cheng Xishou didn't speak, and Ma Wei rejected their proposal.

"Fire Attack?!" Cheng Xishou seemed to think of something from Ma Wei's words, waved his hand to silence them, he stared at a topographic map brought back by a sentinel ship on the table and fell into deep thought, and the generals in the cabin immediately realized that the marshal had a flash of inspiration and a strategy to break the enemy, and immediately shut up.

"Come and see!" After a while, Cheng Xishou pointed to the chart on the table and said, this is a map of the sea area drawn by the sentry ship scout, although it is simple, but it can be seen clearly.

The crowd gathered around to take a closer look, and the map showed that there was a large island southwest of the fleet anchorage, forming a semi-circular waterway with the mainland, and according to the scouts, the strait was narrow, but it was passable for large warships. At the northern end of the island is the estuary of the Neiliu River, which brings sediment to form a small island, dividing the waterway of the northern strait into two to form two narrower waterways, and the two islands and the mainland are similar to a gourd-shaped with a small head and a large body.

"The marshal wants to fight the enemy in the strait?" Ma Wei was the deputy commander of the navy, and he was the first to see the clues, and asked with a frown.

"Yes, what do you think?" Cheng Xishou nodded and stroked his gray beard.

"Marshal, my subordinates think that it is not appropriate to use the strait as a battlefield, although our warships can barely pass, but the waterway is narrow and difficult to maneuver, and it is even more difficult to give full play to the power of the battleship's gunwales, wouldn't it be to abandon our strengths!" Liu Zhenwu, commander of the Quanzhou Naval Division, thought it was inappropriate, because of the characteristics of large warships, they should choose a wide sea area to fight and avoid fighting the enemy in a narrow sea area, and the commander should also be very clear about this principle.

"Not necessarily, according to our engagement with the Jishi Navy, the enemy still uses horizontal battle formations to engage the enemy, and the formation is wide, and it will be difficult to deploy when entering the narrow strait, and the combat effectiveness will also be affected, if it is ......." Song Yi said that because of his outstanding performance in defending Shenmi Island, he was promoted to the rank of captain of the navy, and through the selection of the captain of the 'Huashan' ship, he did not fully agree with Liu Zhenwu's opinion.

"What if?" Cheng Xishou looked at Song Yi and asked with a smile, he liked this new generation of young generals very much and encouraged him to continue.

"Marshal, my subordinates think that if the enemy suddenly enters the strait, it will definitely cause confusion in the formation, and we will have a chance to take advantage of it!" Song Yi said loudly...... (To be continued......)