Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2472 Misfortunes never come singly; Fu and Wu join forces to brave extraordinary dangers.
"Report! Urgent report from Dongping Road: Han army general Fu Youde has launched a surprise attack on Jinghai Port. Dongping Road is in grave danger!" Another urgent report came, startling everyone in the Dongyi army.

At this moment, however, a piece of news suddenly came, or rather, a series of bad news came one after another, truly a case of misfortunes never coming singly.

"What's going on? What happened to Dongping Road?" Yelü Abaoji asked in disbelief. He couldn't believe that the Han army could suddenly appear in Dongping Road.

The messenger collapsed to the ground, his voice trembling with extreme exhaustion and fear.

"Your Majesty! Ten days ago, Han general Fu Youde led his elite troops in a surprise attack on Jinghai Port, a key town in the southern part of Dongping Road, by both land and sea!"

"Caught off guard, the defending forces fought fiercely for a day, and Jinghai Port... fell!"

"The Han army has landed and captured Qing County a day later. They are now launching a fierce attack inland, and emergency reports are coming from all parts of Dongping Circuit!"

"What? Fu Youde? Shouldn't he be in Nanping Road? How could he be in Dongping Road?" The generals under his command were all in a state of panic.

The Beiping region had just suffered a betrayal from its allies, and things weren't going well there either. Now, the Dongping region was facing problems as well. It wasn't just a matter of being attacked from both sides anymore; it was a situation where every region was in dire need of help.

Yelü Abaoji snatched the letter tube, quickly took out the urgent battle report inside, and scanned it rapidly with his eyes.

However, the content of the battle report clearly only concerned the events after the appearance of the Han army, and did not include the reasons for the Han army's appearance in Dongping Road at this time.

In fact, the cause and effect of this matter can be traced back to when the Sun Kingdom joined the war, and the Fierce Whale Legion was also forced to join the war as well.

The Sun Kingdom itself is composed of nine islands, surrounded by the sea, so its naval power is naturally very advanced, not to mention that it also has the assistance of the Yihai navy of the Eastern Barbarians.

The strength of the Fierce Whale Legion is significantly weaker than that of the enemy's combined navy. If they were to fight head-on, they would have absolutely no chance of winning.

Of course, the high command of the Fierce Whale Legion did not have any intention of fighting head-on. After discussing it together, Mo Peng, Shi Lang, Fu Youde, Wu Zixu and other high-ranking naval officers, as well as Lu Su, Qiu Yeling and other naval staff officers, decided to take action.

Ultimately, Fu Youde and Wu Zixu came up with a risky plan to bypass Nanping Road and launch a long-range attack on Dongping Road across the sea.

Before this, the Dongyi had suffered from surprise attacks across the sea by both the Han Dynasty and the Sun Kingdom. It would be hard to believe that the Dongyi were so forgetful of their mistakes.

It is indeed possible to launch a surprise attack on Nanping Dao across the sea.

After all, both Yanbei and the Sun Kingdom are relatively close to Nanping Road, especially Yanbei, where one can sail along the coast.

However, if one travels from Yanbei to Dongping Road, the situation is completely different. If one is sailing near the coast, one will inevitably have to pass through the waters of Nanping Road, and it is impossible to leave the surveillance of Nanping Road.

Therefore, if one wants to travel from Yanbei to Dongping Road and bypass Nanping Road, the only way is to go out to sea; otherwise, it is impossible.

It was precisely for this reason that the Jinghai Navy, originally stationed in Dongping Road, was able to confidently join forces with the Sun Kingdom's navy after the Sun Kingdom joined the war, intending to rely on absolute power to first eliminate the Great Han's Fierce Whale Legion.

Sailing into the open seas is an area that even the southern dynasties would not easily venture into, let alone the northern dynasties, which do not rely primarily on naval forces.

When sailing in the open sea, one has to consider not only the wind and waves, but also the direction.

On the vast, boundless sea, there are almost nothing to guide one's way. Once lost, it's a place of utter despair, a place where one is completely helpless and facing certain death. Furthermore, storing food and water on board for extended periods away from land presents a significant problem. Food, in particular, is prone to mold due to the dampness at sea.

Without supplies on land, once the food and fresh water stored on the ships are used up, or even if the food is not used up before it becomes moldy and cannot be eaten, the impact on the fleet is unimaginable.

Therefore, the Dongyi people never considered the possibility of the Han Dynasty launching a long-range attack across the sea.

The risks involved were simply too great, almost a death sentence. For the Han army, which held a dominant position in the battle, there was absolutely no need to take such a risk.

After all, in war, it's the weaker side that has to risk everything and fight desperately for a chance of victory. But the stronger side can achieve victory simply by fighting steadily and surely, so why take that risk?

However, the Dongyi did not expect that, as super-large warships at sea, the Han Dynasty's treasure ships, compared to the warships of the Da Cang era and the mainstream warships of the Dongyi, were not entirely designed for naval warfare, but were significantly more geared towards long-distance voyages.

After all, any machine is created to meet a need. The very context in which Zheng He's treasure ships appeared was primarily to serve long-distance voyages.

However, neither the previous Da Cang nor the Dongyi had any need for long-distance sea travel, so all the designs were geared towards naval warfare.

It was precisely because of this information gap that the Eastern Barbarians made such a huge tactical mistake this time.

Of course, even if the original design of the treasure ship was more geared towards navigation than sea battles.

However, ocean voyages, especially long ones without any resupply, remain extremely dangerous, at best changing from a near-death experience to a near-death experience.

If Han Xin, as the commander-in-chief, were to make these decisions, he would most likely not agree. Given his overall grasp of the battle situation, a steady and methodical approach would suffice, and there would be no need to take such a risk.

However, it is clear that although Han Xin was the commander-in-chief of the entire army, due to objective factors such as distance, he was unable to coordinate the naval battlefield in the same timely manner as he could with the other armies.

Therefore, the Fierce Whale Legion was only nominally under Han Xin's command, but in reality, the initiative and decision-making power on the battlefield belonged to the Fierce Whale Legion itself.

The main purpose of Fu Youde and Wu Zixu proposing this plan was, of course, to achieve great things.

After all, if it were a direct battle, the difference in naval strength between the two sides would be evident here. Of the 100,000-strong Fierce Whale Legion, only 30,000 Yanbei naval troops could be deployed, so they could only wage guerrilla warfare and hold off the enemy.

Given this disparity in strength, no one in the entire Fierce Whale Legion even considered winning a naval battle. It wasn't that they were afraid to think about it, but rather that only renowned generals could truly grasp the difference in power.

The risky, long-range sea raid was the only means that turned the tide of the war.

Moreover, a long-range sea raid could only be carried out primarily by their own fleet. The Yanbei Navy needs to draw the enemy navy's attention on the main battlefield; if they were to leave, it would be tantamount to openly telling the enemy that they were about to cause trouble.

As for Gan Ning's Tianhe Navy, if their warships were to engage in long-distance ocean voyages, wouldn't that be a pure gift?

Furthermore, 3 of the 2 Jinghai naval troops stationed in Dongping Road by the Dongyi have already arrived in Nanping Road and joined forces with the Taiyang Kingdom's navy. If they succeed in a surprise attack, the next step will be to conquer cities and territories, rather than engaging in naval battles.

In this respect, it was naturally the specialty of Fu Youde and Wu Zixu's army.