The river estuary had just stopped, and the Yuan army on Baisha Island had "successfully" landed, which was equivalent to opening the door to attack Qiongzhou. However, they also knew that they had to cross the threshold to enter. So after stabilizing the front line, the large ships carrying infantry and cavalry quickly went to the island with the original old wharf. They knew that due to the severe siltation of Baisha Island, not only caused the waterway to accumulate, but also formed large shallows. Once the tide was low, the large ships could not reach the port. They could only use this short range as much as possible to send more infantry and cavalry to the island.

The connection line between Baisha Island and Haitian Island and Xinbu Island is roughly an isosceles triangle. They are divided into independent islands by tributaries of the Nandu River. They are separated by six or seventy steps of water from each other. There is no land understanding. When the high tide, the sea water floods the shallows and the water surface is wider. Therefore, they have to take a ferry to contact each other. If the Yuan army wants to land in Qiongzhou, they have to cross this water surface and reach the two islands, and then use this as a springboard to officially step onto the ground of Qiongzhou, which means that there are still two landings and battles.

After entering the defensive position, the central army was divided into two parts. Zhao Mengjin led the direct team and five infantry commanders to guard Xinbu Island. Deputy Commander Chen Fenglin led seven commanders to command the infantry and the reinforced crossbow battalion and rocket battalion of the former guards to guard Haitian Island. In addition to the remaining troops, all participated in the battle, with a total force of more than 10,000 people, and undertakes the anti-landing battle of the three islands.

"Your Majesty also knows that most of the Yuan army were northerners in the past. They did not know water nature, nor did they know water wars. Our dynasty was the southerner, and they were the best at water wars. They also occupied two natural dangers, the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River, which made the Mongols unable to go south to the south for 40 years. Later, Liu rebelled against the country and surrendered to the enemy, taught the water wars of the Tatars, and told the art of crossing the rivers." Zhang Shijie said and pointed at Baisha Island, "Your Majesty, please see, the way to build a floating bridge to cross the rivers was given to the Tartars. It was through this that the Mongolian army was able to conquer Xiangyang and no longer regarded water wars as a fear."

"Oh, so that's it!" Zhao Bing then understood why Zhang Shijie remembered Liu Zheng at this moment, and nodded, "The Yuan army connected these ships to build a floating bridge. In this way, they turned the water war into a land war and used their strengths!"

"Your Majesty is wise." Zhang Shijie bowed his hands, secretly praising the child in his heart that he could be smarter. "In this way, the enemy wants to build a floating bridge, then capture Haitian Island, and then capture the Acropolis and land in Qiongzhou. At this time, we should stop it from building a bridge, otherwise they will come in and we will be much more difficult to defend!"

"Yes, yes, Shushu reminded him that he immediately ordered the defenders on the two islands to fire artillery to prevent the enemy from building a floating bridge!" Zhao Bing said repeatedly, thinking that he had completely abandoned the defense of Baisha Island, which was indeed a misjudgment, and provided a rare springboard for the enemy to land.

When arranging the coastal defense of Qiongzhou, Zhao Bing also went to Baisha Island. He found that the island was equipped with a water net, and the land was blocked by a river that was more than one mile wide and a dozen sea forks. It was not only time-consuming to build defensive fortifications. In addition, he felt that it was very difficult to move on the island, and it was very difficult to transfer troops and transport supplies. In addition, when he first came to the island, his troops and funds were limited. He thought that as long as the navy blocked the seaway, even if the enemy captured the island, he would be trapped to death. Others felt that wasting manpower and material resources was not very meaningful on the island, so he decided not to set up defenses on the island, and once he fought, he exposed defensive defects.

"Why didn't Your Majesty send troops to retake Baisha Island in this way?" Zhang Shijie was a little surprised. Since the little emperor accepted his advice, he just stopped and destroyed the floating bridge built by the enemy, and refused to take back Baisha Island without firmly taking over the enemy's foothold.

"Sir Shu, the enemy has now landed on the island in large numbers. If we fight with it at this moment, it is a matter of self-sacrificing our strengths, which is exactly the same as the enemy's intentions. Even if we successfully recapture it, there is no fortifications on the island and lack of firearm support, it will be difficult to defend it." Zhao Bing said, knowing that if the fight starts on Baisha Island, it is likely to be a war of attrition, and it will be impossible to fight against the enemy.

"Your Majesty, but there are more and more enemy troops going to the island. If they cannot expel them from the two islands, the pressure will increase sharply, and it will be more difficult to attack in the future." Zhang Shijie said with deep concern.

"What Shushu said is not impossible, but our navy has not launched an attack yet. As long as they defeat the enemy navy, the soldiers they landed will be like water without a source. No matter how many of them there are, it will be difficult to shake our defense line!" Zhao Bing said with a smile.

"Haha, I actually forgot that Your Majesty has a backup plan! But why hasn't Liu Dutong launched an attack yet?" Zhang Shijie smiled mockingly and asked again.

"Supervisor Shu and Liu Dutong must have launched an attack when the tide is receding. At that time, we can occupy Shangshui and use the water to attack the enemy, while the enemy will have to fight against the current. Moreover, these troop transport ships will withdraw from the shallows and will not be able to support the island." Zhao Bing explained.

"Well, Your Majesty is right. As long as you can defeat the enemy warships, it will be difficult for the landing enemy troops to increase their troops, and the damaged warships will be difficult to repair and replenish. The enemy troops who cannot get reinforcements will do nothing even if they can board the land." Zhang Shijie had no objection to His Majesty's strategic arrangements, but he still couldn't hide his worries...

Things are often easier said than done. After all, this is a war in which both sides invested 200,000 troops, and it is also the biggest battle that Zhao Bing experienced since his debut. The cruelty and hardship were beyond his imagination. The enemy did not collapse in the battle under the attack of his superior firearms, but launched a tenacious attack.

While speaking, the tide had risen to the highest point. The turbulent sea gradually returned to calm. More than ten large and medium-sized warships of the Yuan army took the opportunity to detour from the west side of Baisha Island to the front of Haitian Island. Some small boats rushed up with the shooting of Song army's crossbows and archers. The soldiers on it used a big axe to chop wooden stakes arranged on the shallows to try to open up a waterway that could accommodate large ships rushing to the beach.

According to Zhao Bing's original idea, the beach head would be the focus of the two sides' competition, so the anti-landing barrier set up was about seventy or eighty steps away from the first sand embankment line. This was exactly the best range of light crossbows, and it was within the effective range of bows and arrows. The Yuan army that broke the barrier was immediately fired by them to prevent their actions. The first line of defense was also within the range of the enemy's stone throwing machine. The Yuan army's medium-sized warship found that the soldiers who broke the barrier were shot by the Song army's crossbows and began to move forward to fire stone bullets and golden juice cannons. The crossbow fired giant arrows to suppress them, and tried to destroy the sand embankment and open a breakthrough.

Chen Fenglin immediately organized heavy crossbows from the crossbow battalion to launch a counterattack against the enemy warships, destroying the enemy's stone throwing machines and bed crossbows, and covering the infantry in front. For a moment, the rock bombs in the air, long arrows shuttled back and forth, and explosions came one after another. The enemy ships hit by the flowering bullets and the sand embankment hit by the golden juice cannons all ignited a fire, and the rolling smoke was blown by the sea breeze.

The thing that the Song army hated the most was the golden juice cannon. This thing actually did not have much lethality. It was a pot filled with crude oil, covered with cowhide, wrapped in oil-soaked linen, and ignited it before launch. After landing, the pot broke, the crude oil splashed and flowed everywhere, and it was caught wherever it was touched. It was difficult to extinguish it with water. It could only be covered with sand or soaked bedding to extinguish it. Fortunately, there was a hidden part under the built sand embankment, and the Song army soldiers could hide from it. The heavy stone bullets hit the sand only left a pothole, which would at most break the supported wooden stakes. The crude oil in the golden juice cannon could only be burned empty and was quickly exhausted.

But in this land-to-sea artillery battle, the Yuan army did not have the advantage. The waterway here is narrow, and the warships are difficult to maneuver quickly. In addition, the stone-throwing machine has a slow firing rate and a lower range than heavy crossbows, making the hit rate even harder to compliment. Therefore, the battle is very frustrating. If you get too close, you can easily be hit by the crossbows. If you are far away, the range is not enough. Just like a crab, although he is watching a pair of scary claws dancing, it still cannot resist the accurate and powerful pecking of seabirds.

In less than half an hour, two enemy ships that came to help were blown up two large holes on the side of the ship by flowering bullets, and sank on the sea while trying to escape the battlefield. The other two ships may have been broken and they were on the spot and could not move forward or retreat. There were three other medium-sized warships that had been opened at the bow of the ship. As the sea water poured in, they turned into back-planting onions, and the ones that were blown up by the ship stood on the sea surface, like erect giants. Seeing that they were unable to defeat, the remaining enemy ships began to evacuate backwards and escaped beyond the range of the crossbow.

The worst of them are those warships equipped with golden juice cannons. Although they are usually powerful, once they are hit on the deck by the flower bullet, the doomsday will come. The oil tanks piled on them are soaked in oil and dipped in the fire, and they cannot be extinguished at all. They can only watch themselves cremated, and the friend ship hides as far as they want. The most unlucky one is that the paddlers in the bottom cabin have no chance to escape.

Taking advantage of the suppression of the frontier defenders of the Song army, the Yuan army began to cross again. This time they sent out 40 or 50 light warships at a time, lined up on the sea, setting a distance to attack the northern defense line of Haitan Island. Behind them, there were fleets gathering, and enemy soldiers passed by the boat to the boat as the second wave of landing forces.

"Let Zhao Mengjin fire rockets at the enemy fleet gathered on the west side of Baisha Island to stop the subsequent enemy troops from reinforcements!" Zhang Shijie looked at the situation on the battlefield. Haitan Island has now become the target of the enemy's key attacks, fighting fiercely, but the other side of Xinbu Island was quiet. He frowned and ordered.

"It's awkward to both sides in this battle!" Zhao Bing put down the telescope and muttered.

The enemy was obviously very unfamiliar with this long-range firepower duel. It was a big difference between the previous model of getting off the ship and attacking the beach. Now they had to cross the long sea to go ashore. This was the first time the Song army carried out anti-login battles, and they had obviously lacked experience, especially lacking mutual cooperation, and only knew how to protect their own acre of three-point land.

In addition, Zhao Bing felt that the organization was not reasonable. The Song army basically used a command as the combat unit, and then jumped directly to the general. In this way, there was a lack of an intermediate command layer, and it was good to fight a large corps. However, when encountering such a conservative battle, a commander had to take into account the command of more than a dozen battalions. It was obviously too late to follow the command of one and the other. The commander of the medium-sized, heavy crossbows and stone throwers was in the hands of the commander. The commander had no authority to command, and could only command light crossbows assigned to the command level. The dispatch of the troops was in the command position, and the position was inevitably a bit embarrassing.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Although Zhang Shijie didn't hear what the little emperor was muttering clearly, he knew that it was not a good thing to say, so he said along.

"Military reform is inevitable, and we will discuss this battle after this battle!" Zhao Bing turned his head to see Zhang Shijie, wondering whether he had the intention too. After a while, he was not sure, but he still gave him a blow.

"Ah?! Your Majesty, the enemy has already started building bridges!" Zhang Shijie was stunned for a moment, and before he could think carefully, pointing to Baisha Island.

"They are going to launch an attack on the whole line!" Zhao Bing looked at the direction of Baisha Island, then looked at the direction of the river estuary.

The artillery battle was in urgent need, and the Yuan army on Baisha Island was busy building a pontoon bridge. The Yuan army first rowed the boat into the waterway, then crossed the anchor and fixed it, then connected it with ropes to the front and back ships and boarded it, forming a pontoon bridge. But now several pontoon bridges are being built at the same time, pointing to Haitian Island. Obviously, the enemy wanted to seize Haitian Island first after failing to capture the Hakou River. In that way, you can attack the Acropolis. The firm rules can restrain the defenders of Xinbu Island, attack the rear troops guarding the Hakou River from the flanks, and cover the fleet to go deep into the Nandu River.

"That is, the enemy wants to capture Haitan Island in one fell swoop, thus occupying the key points and seizing the initiative in the battle!" Zhang Shijie said, "Your Majesty, have you transferred the Right Army to reinforce the Acropolis?"

"The battle has just begun, don't worry. Their main attack on Haitan Island may not be a failure. Moreover, the enemy's troops are strong, and it is likely that they will launch assists on the left bank of the Nandu River to control the river mouth. In that way, the pressure of the rear army will increase dramatically. The Right Army should not move for the time being, and it will not be too late to adjust when the situation becomes clearer." Zhao Bing shook his head and said.

"Your Majesty's words are reasonable, but if Haitan Island is lost, is it a bit too late to transfer the Right Army?" Zhang Shijie understood His Majesty's meaning. The enemy's attack on Haitan Island will be attacked by the coast and Xinbu Island, but the premise is that the rear army defending the coast must still be able to defend its position. Therefore, he was still a little worried that it would be difficult for the rear army to bear this important task only with one unit of the rear army.

"Sir Shu, don't forget that the army's strength is stronger than that of the central army, and they fought very well in the battle of Quanzhou. Our navy has not moved yet. As long as they join the battle situation, the situation will change drastically." Zhao Bing smiled. When the army sent troops to Leizhou with Jiang Qi, the troops were expanded on a large scale, and at its strongest moment, nearly 20,000 people were as many as 20,000.
Chapter completed!