Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 2651 Shunchen Falls into the Sea, Xuanwu Dies in Battle

The Tang-Jin naval battle.

In the face of Huan Wen's 20,000-strong navy launching a surprise attack and outflanking the enemy's rear, the situation became clear.

Li Tang's 40,000-strong navy deployed nearly 700 warships of various sizes, but in the end, only about 40 warships escaped, and the naval force that broke through the encirclement numbered no more than 2,000.

Even Yi Sun-sin, the commander of the Tang navy, perished at sea in this battle.

Yi Sun-sin originally wanted to break through, but Qi Jiguang directly commanded his flagship to ram into them using the most primitive method.

With the size of its treasure ship, it managed to ram and sink Yi Sun-sin's flagship at sea.

Although Qi Jiguang's flagship was also severely damaged in this suicidal attack, it is still possible to repair it, whether it sank completely or not.

However, because Qi Jiguang used a suicidal tactic in this battle, he lost nearly three hundred warships, and more than one hundred warships were damaged to varying degrees and needed to be repaired later.

Of course, while the loss of warships was considerable, the loss of manpower was relatively small in comparison.

Of Li Tang's 40,000 troops, only about 2,000 managed to break through the encirclement. Qi Jiguang's original 40,000 troops, plus Huan Wen's 20,000 troops who had turned the tide, totaled 60,000 troops in the battle. In this battle, they lost about 10,000 men.

After all, although both sides were using a suicidal tactic, whether their warships rammed each other and sank, or were burned with oil, the soldiers who jumped into the sea did not necessarily die immediately.

The other warships of each faction would naturally set aside a portion specifically to rescue these soldiers who had fallen into the sea.

As for the Li Tang navy, with most of its warships destroyed, there were no ships to rescue the soldiers who had fallen into the water, so they were naturally lost as well.

However, although the Jin Dynasty also lost a lot of warships, Huan Wen equipped 40,000 warships with 20,000 troops.

Perhaps, when he made that arrangement, Qi Jiguang was already preparing for this moment.

Therefore, apart from those who perished in the battle, the vast majority of those who fell into the sea were rescued. Only a small number, lacking the strength to be rescued in time, succumbed to their injuries and remained forever submerged in the ocean.

Therefore, although the loss of warships was considerable, the loss of the army was within an acceptable range.

However, if we include the 20,000 Jin naval troops that were wiped out by Li Shimin and the Xuanjia Iron Cavalry at the ferry crossing, then the Jin army's losses were actually not much better than those of the Li Tang.

Although the Tang dynasty also lost its naval commander Yi Sun-sin, as well as more than ten generals including Kim Yu-sin, Ou Fei, Ji Wu, and Zhang Hou-sun.

However, the Great Jin also lost a famous naval general like Li Bao, as well as valiant warriors like Xuanwu and Li Yu.

Li Shimin launched a combined land and sea attack on the 20,000 naval forces at the ferry crossing. On land, 10,000 Xuanjia Iron Cavalry were the main force, while the remaining 10,000 naval forces provided support at sea.

Therefore, Li Bao's troops were completely wiped out.

After their defeat, they didn't even have a chance to run. They couldn't escape onto land; it was all enemy territory, and their two legs couldn't outrun four.

But if one were to jump into the sea, which is the sea, not a river, without the aid of warships, one would not survive after exhausting their strength. Not to mention, there are enemy battlefields and naval forces still present on the sea.

Therefore, everyone either surrendered or fought to the death.

Ultimately, Xuanwu died at the hands of Li Yuanba, while Li Yu was killed by Wang Jin. Li Bao was personally shot and killed by Li Shimin.

Although Xuanwu is in the north, fighting Li Yuanba in a foreign land would be a huge disadvantage.

Li Yu was ultimately no match for the combined forces of the Wang Jin and Wang Yin brothers.

"Ding! Xuanwu Heavenly Spirit skill effect five activated, the Tragedy of the Four Spirits. If killed by someone in the northern lands, the hidden effect 'Backlash of the Northern Sacred Beast' will be triggered, greatly reducing the luck and charm of the killer. Li Yuanba..."

In terms of losses on both sides, this battle was a close contest, a true lose-lose situation where neither side gained an advantage.

However, this battle has already achieved the strategic goals of Han Xin and Zhang Liang, or rather, the strategic goals of the Jin Dynasty.

Strategically speaking, the Great Jin has already won.

The Tang Dynasty's 50,000-strong navy had been utterly devastated, with only a little over 10,000 soldiers remaining. Even the naval commander Yi Sun-sin, the soul of the navy, had been killed in battle.

On the sea, the Li Tang dynasty was no longer able to compete with the Jin dynasty.

Even though the Great Jin also lost 30,000 naval troops in this battle, after this battle, if the Great Jin wanted to, the naval force it could mobilize would definitely be no less than before the battle.

After all, with the Li Tang navy suffering heavy losses, they no longer needed to mobilize so many naval troops to defend crossings and sea supply routes.

However, although more naval forces could be mobilized to participate in the battle, it was no longer necessary at this point.

After severely damaging Li Tang's navy, the remaining 50,000 naval troops were sufficient.

After this initial clash, both the Li Tang and the Great Jin were in a very heavy mood.

With such heavy losses suffered by the navy, it was impossible for the Li Tang forces to prevent the main Jin infantry and cavalry from landing on Li Tang territory. Therefore, it was impossible for the Li Tang people not to feel heavy-hearted at this moment.

On the Jin side, it was mainly Qi Jiguang who couldn't get over the mental hurdle. After all, this time, he was indeed the one who used Li Bao's 20,000 men as expendable pawns.

From the very beginning, he had placed these 20,000 people on a dead end.

From the start of that battle, Li Bao and his 20,000 brothers who fought to the death were probably hoping that Qi Jiguang would return in time to help them.

However, in reality, it was almost impossible for reinforcements to be present from the very beginning.

Because they simply couldn't have won that battle before Li Bao and his men were defeated.

Therefore, Qi Jiguang felt guilty.

On the contrary, Han Xin, who was in charge of most of this matter, was sometimes quite calm after receiving news from the rear in Qingzhou.

Both were military strategists, but Han Xin was much more straightforward than Qi Jiguang. Compared to winning battles, Han Xin didn't let personal feelings interfere.

For him, nothing was off-limits as long as it could achieve his strategic goals and secure final victory.