Chapter 931 Danger or Opportunity?

"But if we rescue Luzon, we will be exposed to the Dasong Navy and face off head-on, which is quite disadvantageous to us." said Rear Admiral Fan Xilei of the Stedam Navy.

Portuguese Rear Admiral Columbia hurriedly said, "Even so, if we lose Luzon, Dasong will gain a foothold in the southern region of the East, and the muzzle of the gun will be against your head."

Luzon is related to the interests of the Portuguese, so he naturally wants to win the support of the coalition.

Many generals fell silent after hearing this.

For them, this is really a difficult problem.

Not saving Luzon is a trouble, and saving Luzon is also a trouble.

Ma Fuer held his pipe in his mouth, paced back and forth, and glanced at the sea map from time to time.

After a long time, he made a decision, "We can't save Luzon, nor can we sit idly by. This time, the Dasong warships heading south have 30 steamships and sailing warships, which is at least half of the Dasong Navy, or even more than half of its troops."

During the battle in Japan, they determined that Dasong had 24 steamships and 48 sailing warships.

Now it is less than a year before the naval battle. Combined with the situation he has discovered, he judged that the number of warships of the Dasong Navy has increased again.

"Should we save them or not?" Quevedo's voice was full of dissatisfaction.

As an admiral, he was not convinced by Maful.

If it were not for the fact that Britain was the strongest in the East, he really did not want to work with the British.

"Don't be so anxious, Quevedo." Maful blew out a smoke ring. "When the Dasong fleet goes south to Luzon, we will take the opportunity to seize Yizhou and cut off their retreat. In order to save Yizhou, they must go north. At that time, we will concentrate all our forces and set up an ambush circle in the waters of Yizhou and wait for them."

After a pause, he continued, "However, in order to prevent the remaining Dasong Navy from rushing to protect Yizhou, we need to send several teams to make a feint."

After that, Maful marked three points on the sea chart.

They were Jinghai, Qingcheng, and Laicheng.

These three places are all the locations of Dasong Shipyard.

Among them, the circle he drew for Jinghai was the largest.

"Although I don't like you, you responded correctly." Quevedo said.

At present, the number of coalition warships is obviously better than that of the Dasong Navy.

In this way, they will have a surplus of warships.

It is enough to send 20 ships to Jinghai, 5 to Qingcheng, and 5 to Laicheng.

Other generals also nodded.

Although Columbia is eager to resolve the crisis in Luzon.

But obviously, if the Dasong Navy cannot be defeated, this crisis cannot be completely resolved.

Agree on the next strategy.

Malfoy assigned tasks to generals from various countries.

The Portuguese, Sterdam, and Sam fleets were responsible for feinting attacks on three places and delaying some Dasong warships.

The remaining warships went straight to Yizhou.

The next day.

The Portuguese, Sterdam and Sam warships set off first.

Three days later, Malfoy personally led the remaining warships to Yizhou.

"May God bless us." Malfoy made a cross on his chest as the warships set off.

This time, including Sam, they have 70 steamships and 144 sailing warships.

The size of the navy far exceeds that of the fleet of Dasong.

And they are confident that the experienced Western Navy is better than the newly established navy of Dasong in training.

It's just that some warships were left to garrison the colonies to deal with emergencies.

This time he only concentrated 50 steamships and 100 sailing warships.

But even so, these advantages made him believe that this part of the force was enough to destroy the Dasong fleet.

However, they also have obvious disadvantages.

In the East Sea Battle, the range and power of the artillery of the King of Yan's warships were higher than theirs.

And the artillery also used shrapnel shells.

For them, the West, this also set a precedent for naval battles.

Therefore, in order to deal with the King of Yan's warships, they also carried shrapnel shells this time.

But because shrapnel shells cannot withstand high chamber pressure, the range is destined to be inferior to that of the Dasong fleet.

For this problem, he decided to adopt close combat tactics.

Now, he hopes that this tactic will be effective.

Then, they will be able to completely annihilate the Yan Wang fleet in this naval battle.

On the way to Yizhou, they encountered the Portuguese warships that came to ask for help.

Knowing that the Yan Wang fleet was besieging Manila, Malfoy smiled faintly and just ordered the Portuguese warships to join his fleet and headed towards Yizhou.

On the way, they also encountered the reconnaissance ship of the Dasong Navy.

Malfoy ignored it and continued to rush to Yizhou at full speed.

At this moment, he believed that the Portuguese, Sterdam, and Sam had already tied down some of the Dasong warships.

Even if they were discovered, the Dasong Navy in Yizhou could not notify their warships to come back in time.

In six days, they arrived to the east of Yizhou.

It was only one day's sea journey from Yizhou.

At this time, the Dasong steamship responsible for reconnaissance returned one day in advance and delivered the news to Gong Ying.

Yesterday, Gong Ying sent someone to pass the news to Yancheng while sending someone south to deliver it to Zhou Yi.

At the same time, he dispatched 12 sailing warships and 12 steamships stationed in Yizhou to prepare for the enemy.

Ma Fuer's deception was successful. Gong Ying sent 18 sailing warships and 18 steamships to deal with the Western Turkish warships that broke into the island chain.

When he learned that the main force of the Western Turkish coalition warships was heading towards Yizhou, it was too late.

"With 48 steamships and 70 sailing warships, you want to take Yizhou. It's wishful thinking." In the Wanghai City Office, Gong Ying looked at the sea map on the wall with a disdainful smile on his face.

According to the time calculation, if the fleet of the Western Allied Forces is targeting Yizhou, it will arrive today.

But he is not worried about this at all.

Because after pacifying Japan, Yizhou became the outpost of the Marine Corps heading south.

Except for the Marine Corps stationed in Japan and Ryukyu, the rest of the Marines are here.

They can't capture Yizhou.

Therefore, the only thing to worry about is that his fleet can deal with nearly ten times the number of enemies.

After all, warships are cavalry on the sea.

Even if they can't take Yizhou, due to their mobility at sea, they can land at any point in Yizhou and cause damage to the coast.

This is also what he doesn't want to see.

"Retreating without a fight is not my style. Even if we can't win, we have to hold them back and wait for other warships to come to our rescue." Gong Ying slammed the table and made a decision.

The Japanese naval battle established the psychological advantage of the Dasong Navy over the Western warships.

In front of their naval guns, the Western warships were as fragile as a piece of paper.

"Humph, as long as you show up, you lose." Gong Ying narrowed his eyes.

The fleet went south to lure out the Western fleet.

Although the Western fleet did not go to Luzon, its appearance in Iju also exposed the position of their main force.