Although he is just a pirate, he has experienced many battles large and small, and it is no coincidence that the warships of the Haihan will appear at this juncture sooner rather than later, and the Haihan people have put their own fleet to attack Wanshan Port, I am afraid that they have already set a strategy to use this as bait.

Liu Xiang forcibly stabilized his mind, shook his leg and threw Liu Xin aside, and asked loudly, "Where is the warship of the Haihan people, and how far is it?"

Someone stepped forward and reported: "The great boss, there are about ten warships of the Haihan people, and at this time they have exchanged hands with the brothers who stayed outside the port!"

When Liu Xiang heard the news, he was a little more stable, and there were more than ten or twenty ships left outside the port, as long as he could block the warships of the Haihan people for an hour and a half, then whether he continued to attack the port or turned around and evacuated here, there was still plenty of time to adjust.

However, this feeling only lasted for a few seconds, because at this moment, there was also a roar of artillery fire from outside the harbor - Liu Xiang was sure that this was definitely not an illusion, nor was it the shore fire cannon in the harbor, but the sound of real sound coming from outside the harbor.

Liu Xiang subconsciously deduced the truth, because there were no artillery on the ships he left outside the harbor, and the sound of the cannon could only come from the warships of the Haihan people. However, such a dense cannon sound made it difficult for Liu Xiang to believe that there were only a dozen or so Haihan warships outside. But regardless of the fact that there are many ships or artillery, one thing Liu Xiang is sure of is that -- those ships that remain outside the harbor will absolutely not be able to stop the offensive of such powerful firepower.

Liu Xiang found himself really in a dilemma, if he continued to attack the port, his men would inevitably suffer heavy casualties under the muskets and artillery of the Haihan people, and it was very likely that they would not be able to take the positions of the Haihan people for a while. But if the troops were withdrawn from the port at this time and the Haihan fleet was to be fought, wouldn't all the casualties in the harbor be in vain?

However, the reality of the situation could no longer allow Liu Xiang to continue to hesitate, and after more than 20 artillery pieces in the harbor fired another round of bombardment, two more pirate ships began to roll due to water ingress. Of the more than fifty pirate ships that rushed into the harbor, one-third of them were wounded, and the ships that were most attacked had even begun to sink slowly.

"Pass my order, the rear team will become the front team, and withdraw from the port!" Liu Xiang gritted his teeth and finally made up his mind. If it continues to drag on, it is difficult to say whether it will be able to defeat the Haihan position in the port, but the possibility that its own fleet will be blocked in the harbor and unable to get out is very great. When the time comes, there will be artillery fire in all directions, and it will be difficult to get out. Hearing the hasty sound of gongs from the ship, the pirates, who had been beaten into a panic, hurriedly retreated from the shore. In less than five minutes of landing battle, the pirates paid the price of more than 200 casualties, and even Liu Huo, the nephew Liu Huo who was sent ashore by Liu Xiang to supervise the battle, died in the chaos. At this time, the fighting on the sea outside the harbor was a different story. After the fleet led by Wang Tom himself sailed out from behind Xiaowanshan Island, they galloped towards Wanshan Port in a long longitudinal snake formation. Although the pirate ships outside the harbor also went up to intercept them, most of the helpless ones left outside were small boats, and the smallest was also a 300-ton Haihan warship, which was not a level of opponent at all, and the bow part of the Haihan warship had a V-shaped steel ramming angle, which would not retreat at all for those who dared to block the car, and if they didn't want to be directly hit and sunk, they could only obediently give way.

Wang Tom did not choose to take these small boats outside the harbor as his main opponents, he asked the fleet to choose a route that cut directly diagonally to the entrance of the harbor, and then used the side guns to fire at the harbor - dozens of ships were densely packed in the harbor, and the ship's guns could hit the target almost without aiming. And the dense artillery fire that Liu Xiang heard came from the first hit after the flotilla arrived at the position. However, this *** blow did not cause much damage to the pirate ships in the harbor, because most of the shooting angles were blocked by several pirate ships that were parked in the outer position because of the tilt of the hull.

At this time, Liu Xiang had already seen the Haihan fleet outside the harbor from his position, and he found that these warships were far bigger and stronger than he imagined, and the guns on the ship were not the bow guns of Chinese sailing ships, but the side guns of Western-style sailing ships, and when they were on the outside of the harbor, the guns on the side of the port were fired one by one. From where Liu Xiang was, he could even clearly see the black cannonballs cutting through the air, and then hitting a certain pirate ship in the harbor, tearing a basin-sized hole in the hull.

Although Liu Xiang had already given the order to his subordinates to retreat, on the one hand, it would take some time for the pirates who had already gone ashore to withdraw to the ship, and on the other hand, dozens of pirate ships were crowded in the small harbor, and it was not easy to turn around at the same time. Originally, Liu Xiang wanted to let the large army rush into the port together so that he could gather troops at the time of landing, but at this time, he found that the drawbacks of this decision had already been revealed, and the narrow port made it impossible for a large number of ships to maneuver flexibly in a short period of time, so that now they are in a situation of losing ground.

However, when the pirates panicked, the dozens of cannons in the harbor did not stop and waited for them to slowly adjust, still firing cannonballs at the pirate ship at the established frequency. It has only been half an hour since Liu Xiang and his gang rushed into the harbor, but now there are more than five pirate ships in a sinking or semi-sunken state, and as many as a dozen ships have been damaged and entered the water, and there are very few pirate ships that can still remain uninjured at this time.

"Hurry up, hurry up, go and help raise the sails! Tell Qian Laoqi's boat to move to the side and make way for it!" Liu Xiang was also anxious at this time, seeing that the channel out of the port was blocked by his own ship, he had to start shouting and giving orders, trying to control the chaotic situation.

"Attention battery, attention battery, now start to take the ships leaving the port as the first target!" Chen Yixin saw the movements of the pirates very clearly on the shore, and immediately issued a new order to the coastal defense batteries on both sides of the harbor through the guò walkie-talkie.

As soon as they turned around, several pirate ships that tried to rush out of the harbor immediately became the targets of the battery, and after dozens of shells smashed through, the speed of these pirate ships immediately slowed down.

By this time, Tom Wang's fleet had completed the first round of attacks outside the harbor, and the warships were sailing out to the open sea, and they had to make a circle at sea before they could return to the same position to launch a second round of attacks.

After paying the price of many ships being damaged, Liu Xiang finally rushed out of Wanshan Port with a group of remnants of the defeated army. The warships of the Haihan people had not yet come back at this time, but Liu Xiang had no intention of fighting, and directly ordered to retreat. The pirate fleet turned south and withdrew from the battlefield along the route it had come.

However, King Tom did not intend to let them go, and after a circle of warships at sea, they pursued them and ran away with the pirate ship's ass. The difference in the speed of the ships of the two sides was fully reflected at this time, the average speed of the pirate ship was only three to five knots, while the speed of the Haihan warship could reach eight to ten knots under the same sea conditions.

At first, the two sides were still several nautical miles apart, but after chasing each other, the distance between the two sides became closer and closer, and some of the damaged ships in the pirate ship began to slowly fall behind. In order to escape, the pirates on these ships had to choose to break away from the large army and flee alone to the south or north. Wang Tom naturally did not divide his troops to pursue these pirate ships that escaped alone, but just kept an eye on Liu Xiang's ship and continued to pursue.

"These guys are endless!" Liu Xiang looked at the Haihan warship behind him, and there was no better way to vent than curse helplessly. He didn't dare to stop and fight with the Haihan people anymore, he had already noticed when he rushed out of the port just now that these Haihan warships had at least five or more guns on their sides, and all the ships on his side together could only make up seven or eight earthen cannons, and their combat effectiveness could not be compared at all.

And the traditional gang-jumping operation is useless at this time, if you still ask the men who have lost their heart to attack the Haihan warship, it is difficult to say that it will cause a mutiny. The only way is to try to escape, as long as you can escape the pursuit of the Haihan people, you will eventually have a chance to make a comeback.

However, the ideal is very full, the reality is very backbone, Liu Xiang's fleet went all the way to the east, and before it escaped to the sea area of the Dangan Islands, it was already caught up by the Haihan fleet behind. The Haihan warship recklessly struck directly from the middle, using the gunfire of the ships on both sides to shoot at the pirate ship.

If it was a normal state of engagement, King Tom would never let his ship risk being close to the pirate ship to insert into the opposing fleet. But at this time, the pirates' hearts were scattered, and they only cared about fleeing for their lives, and there was no idea of resisting or counterattacking at all, and Wang Tom was also happy to use this opportunity to beat the water dogs, and at the same time, he could also use this to exercise the actual combat ability of the sailors, after all, such a large-scale naval battle is not always the opportunity to encounter.

Wang Tom was also ruthless this time, chasing Liu Xiang's fleet for more than 40 nautical miles in one breath from morning to dark, and after sinking and injuring many pirate ships, he was satisfied with his troops. Although Liu Xiang was finally allowed to slip away from the chaos, the results of this battle had greatly exceeded the pre-war expectations, and the vitality of Liu Xiang's pirate gang was heavily damaged, and Wang Tom had nothing to regret.

Liu Xiang's fleet fled to the vicinity of Haifeng, Huizhou, overnight, and only after making sure that the Haihan people had given up the pursuit did they stop to count the losses in this battle. Of the eighty-three ships that were on the way, less than thirty remained, and almost every one of them was more or less painted. Of course, not all the other ships were captured or sunk by the Haihan, and many of them ran away on the way to escape, so the actual losses were difficult to calculate for a while. However, according to Liu Xiang's own estimates, at least half of the more than 1,000 men brought out this time have been damaged, and the ships that escaped on the way may not all return to the nest, and in the end, half of the ships can be saved.

This expedition is regarded as using the old money that Liu Xiang has accumulated for many years, in addition to the reward of thousands of taels of silver to his subordinates before departure, the various materials consumed by the thousands of people on the road are not a small amount, plus the damaged ships and manpower, there is no tens of thousands of taels of silver inside and outside.

After calculating this account, Liu Xiang was almost vomiting blood, this expedition back and forth for nearly a thousand miles did not even catch a hair, but the loss was so huge, and it will even directly affect his future status in the "Eighteen Zhi", which can be said to be more than worth the loss. If Liu Xiang can be given another chance, then he will definitely choose to swallow his anger and not provoke these evil stars.

But at this time, it is too late to regret it, and how to stabilize the morale of the army and maintain the existing people's hearts is the most urgent problem that Liu Xiang is facing at the moment. Liu Xiang thought for a long time, and finally made an astonishing decision: "Come on! Tie up Liu Xin, who is incompetent, who fornicated with Haihan and leaked fighter planes!"

Liu Xin was shocked and said: "The big boss, the small one tried his best to inquire about the details of the Haihan people in Guangzhou, and they were all ordered by the big boss, and there was no selfish communication!"

"If you hadn't divulged our details, how could the Haihan people set this trap in advance and wait for us to drill it? Thinking about why the Haihan people have always been at peace with us, why did they become so tough after letting you go to Guangzhou, and even did not hesitate to fight with us, isn't it because of your role in the middle?" Liu Xiang asked with a dark face.

Liu Xin is not a stupid person, after listening to these words, he knows what Liu Xiang's plan is - such a strict defeat will definitely hurt Liu Xiang's prestige internally, so someone must come out to carry this pot, otherwise it will be difficult for Liu Xiang to explain internally. Liu Xiang is the leader, it is definitely inappropriate for him to come out and carry this pot by himself, so he must find a big wrongdoer, and unfortunately, the only person who can be pulled in during the whole process of fighting with the Haihan people is Liu Xin himself, whether he wants to or not, he will become the black pot responsible for the defeat of this battle.

Several of Liu Xiang's cronies immediately came over and pressed Liu Xin to the deck, and then took out ropes to tie him up. Liu Xin shouted while struggling: "Big boss, there is a misunderstanding of this fact, and the small one is wronged!"

Liu Xiang gave a look out, and someone immediately stuffed a ball of torn linen into Liu Xin's mouth to stop him from continuing.

"If it weren't for this guy betraying us, we wouldn't have lost so many ships and brothers in this battle! Dog thief, Lao Tzu really can't leave you!" **The sleepless Liu Xiang's eyes were red at this time, but he interpreted the anger and unwillingness to the fullest, which can be called perfect.

"Kill him!" "Kill this eater!" "Get out of the way and let Uncle Ben kill him!"

A group of pirates who didn't know the truth immediately became agitated, and seemed to have found the best catharsis for yesterday's defeat, and they all shouted loudly for Liu Xiang to take charge of this traitor. And Liu Xin had no way to defend himself at this time, except for falling on the deck and shivering.

Liu Xiang raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and then continued: "The Haihan people have strong ships and guns, and their strength is above us, so it's okay, we can't fight them today, and we will invite Zheng Da and the brothers of 'Eighteen Zhi' to attack together another day." But the culprit who leaked the fighter plane and caused our defeat cannot be let go!"

Liu Xiang glanced at Liu Xin, deliberately ignored the other party's begging eyes, and loudly announced the punishment: "For the sake of Liu Xin who has followed me for many years and is doing his best, I will leave him a whole corpse! This matter will not affect the family, and Liu Xin's family will still be raised by me Liu Xiang in the future, and all the brothers will be a witness today!"

"The great master is benevolent!" "Cheap this dog thief!" The pirates praised Liu Xiang's "generosity" one after another, and at the same time expressed their disdain for Liu Xin's fate.

So under the auspices of Liu Xiang, the "traitor" Liu Xin was hanged, and a strong pirate strangled him directly on the deck with the ship's cable, and the body was thrown into the sea directly after the ships were announced. After dealing with this scapegoat, the pirates' feelings really recovered a little, put yesterday's defeat behind them for the time being, and sailed back to their nest in Chaozhou.

Compared with the pirates who are like ashes, the atmosphere on the side of Wanshan Port is obviously the other extreme. Except for a small number of personnel who were on duty in rotation, all the armed personnel on the island were given a rare two-day holiday to recuperate, and the civil affairs department also took out the island's stock of meat and alcohol to comfort the militia soldiers who fought bravely. Of course, the senior officers were not allowed to participate in the post-war celebrations at this time, and they had to count the results, calculate the results, and write a post-war report to the Executive Committee. Compared with the previous combat experience of the militia group, in fact, the results of this battle are not very rich, and all the numbers are not outstanding in terms of the number of enemies killed, the number of prisoners, and the number of war losses captured after the battle. Since some of the sunken ships could no longer be accounted for, the number of killed enemies could only be calculated based on the pirates killed on the docks, as well as the floating corpses inside and outside the harbor, the total number was only more than 300, but the officers believed that the actual number of kills should be greater than this statistical result, and there were more optimistic estimates that the number of kills should be at least 500 or more, because there were also many wounded on the pirate ships that escaped, and the medical and health conditions on the pirate ships in this era may not allow the more seriously injured among them to have a chance to survive to the shore。 The prisoners of this battle were mainly from a small number of pirates who failed to board the ship in time to evacuate the docks, as well as the crew of the pirate ships who could not leave the battlefield because of the severe flooding of the ships, totaling more than 140 people. If nothing else, what awaits them in the future will be the excavation work of Tiandu Iron Mine day and night.