The naval commanders of Haishan Prefecture, Xihai Prefecture, Linhai Prefecture and Hailin Prefecture sent a small number of troops as the vanguard in a tacit understanding. After discovering the enemy's large force, they resisted for a while and then quickly ordered to retreat. BiquΩ Δ Ge
Sima Heng's order was very clear: "Anyone who retreats without fighting will be killed." If you lose a battle and then retreat, it is not considered disobeying the military order.
The Thousand Island Alliance fleet has obviously been replenished, and the firepower of the warships is extremely fierce.
Zha Kelie changed his commanding style of head-to-head and turned to attacking in a roundabout way. He did not hesitate to attack from a long distance and cut between the two armies, which suddenly disrupted the retreat rhythm of Shaodian Navy.
The Shaodian navy was defeated earlier than Ding Kui expected. The islands originally used for supplies were taken away by the outflanking troops of the Thousand Island Alliance. The Shaodian warships did not bother to stop supplying and fled to the rear in a hurry.
Crayfish Island is located in the middle of the West Sea. The island has rich freshwater resources and is rich in crayfish. There are three harbors around the island, which are suitable for docking all kinds of ships. It is an important military stronghold in the West Sea.
The Shaodian Navy's flagship "Dinghai" is now docked at Ciaoxia Island, where the commander-in-chief of the West China Sea, Sima Heng, is based here in the stronghold he regained only two months ago.
"My commander's flag is raised across the island, and three blood ribbons are hung below it. All the soldiers who have retreated to Ao Xia Island must see my military order and fight to the end!" This is what Sima Heng came to Ao Xia.
The first order given by the island.
Commanding at sea is more difficult than on land. Wind direction, current, and even monsters will affect the direction of the ship. However, the blood belt that represents a deadly battle will make anyone who leaves the battlefield without permission a death penalty.
The raising of the blood-banded commander's flag on Crawfish Island indicates that the area around the island has become a battlefield, and no one from Sima Heng onwards is allowed to leave Crawfish Island and the surrounding waters until the commander lowers the blood-banded flag.
Military commentators of later generations believed that Sima Heng's decision was very important. The Shaodian navy retreated hastily, and its morale had dropped to freezing point. All the soldiers had to flee for their lives. The blood belt order meant that everyone would die before and after. It was better to obey the commander's order and fight with the enemy.
Fight to the death.
Apart from anything else, the Blood Belt Order first bluffed the Thousand Island Alliance troops that were outflanking the rear of the Shaodian Navy. The raiding fleet with tens of thousands of people hesitated when they saw the Blood Belt Commander's Flag all over the island, and did not attack the island immediately to fight for Sima Heng.
to precious time.
When the Thousand Island Alliance navy found that no one was taking the initiative to attack Aoxia Island, and planned to launch a tentative attack, the first batch of Shaodian Kingdom's defeated troops appeared on the sea level. Sima Heng immediately ordered the "Dinghai" to attack, and a giant battleship rushed directly to Thousand Islands.
The alliance's fleet. When the enemy generals reacted, the defeated Shaodian Kingdom's desperate army had already surrounded them.
There were originally 3,000 defenders left on Crawfish Island. When the Yinsha Island troops evacuated, they followed Shao Dianyong's order to leave 2,000 people to assist in the defense. These 5,000 people withstood the dying counterattack of the Thousand Island Alliance Army and successfully defeated the troops who came to the island.
The Thousand Island Alliance forces made a sneak attack and were surrounded and annihilated on Crawfish Island.
The Shaodian Navy finally received supplies, and with the addition of the blood belt order, the morale that had dropped to the lowest point began to recover. Under the leadership of the commander, he patrolled the waters around Crawfish Island, expelled the Thousand Island Alliance Army that came to harass, and responded to the defeated brother troops on the front line.
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More and more Shaodian naval ships gathered near Crawfish Island, and their strength continued to increase.
A day and night passed, and the navies of Linhai Prefecture and Hailin Prefecture basically withdrew to Crawfish Island. The naval commanders of these two prefectures ordered to slow down the attack earlier, and they did not directly obey the commander-in-chief of Xihai for a long time, so they retreated.
The order was also given earlier.
The pursuing Thousand Island Alliance forces did not rush to attack Crawfish Island. Instead, they allocated half of their forces to continue downwind, intending to cut off the retreat of Shaodian's navy and, even if unsuccessful, to disrupt the supply line.
By the time the navies of Haishan Prefecture and Xihai Prefecture had withdrawn to Crawfish Island, Sima Heng had gathered more than 200,000 troops and more than 600 large and small warships. At this time, he issued an order that shocked the entire army.
Circling behind and attacking the Thousand Island Alliance's supply fleet.
The naval commander of Linhai Prefecture questioned on the spot, "The southeast wind is blowing on the sea now. Can our army still have the effect of a sneak attack after going all the way behind the enemy's rear?"
Sima Heng said without any hesitation: "I can tell you clearly that our supply lines have been cut off by the enemy. If we cannot seize supplies from the enemy, our logistics supply will be exhausted in five days. By that time, we want to
He is unable to fight any battle.
The reason why we go around behind the enemy is to gain the upper hand. When the enemy's main force turns back to surround us, we will naturally be at a disadvantage. Only in this way can we defeat the main force of the enemy's pursuers in one fell swoop, and everyone here can escape back to the base camp.
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"The enemy troops are following the wind and the current, how could they wait for us to get around behind and then surround them?" Zhou Yuan, the commander-in-chief of the Xihai Prefecture Navy, thought to himself. However, he was Sima Heng's direct favorite general and the person with the highest reputation to succeed the commander-in-chief of Xihai in the future, so he did not meet him face to face.
Refute Sima Heng.
No matter what the people below think, Sima Heng is the highest commander present. Anyone who disobeys orders will be killed immediately. The coach is like an emperor on the front line, and no one can challenge his authority.
Sima Heng took everyone with him without leaving any one behind, and the whole army marched westward, leaving only a sea of fire on Crawfish Island.
Just as Zhou Yuan expected, Zha Kelie quickly discovered Sima Heng's plan, gathered four groups of pursuers, opened a pocket formation, and pressed forward towards Shaodian's naval position.
Sima Heng's efforts were not in vain, and he took the initiative to attack and gain the upper hand. The "Dinghai" raised a bloody flag and rushed to the front of the fleet, directly under the Thousand Island Alliance's pocket formation.
The commander launched a desperate charge, and there was no reason for the other naval officers to retreat. The navy of Haishan Prefecture and Xihai Prefecture were on the left, and the navy of Linhai Prefecture and Hailin Prefecture were on the right. They followed to cover both sides of the flagship, leaving everything behind to fight the enemy.
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The Thousand Island Alliance Army had the strategic initiative and there was absolutely no need to fight against the Shaodian Army. However, Zha Kelie was forced by Sima Heng to the point where he could not fight without fighting. When the two armies met face to face, whoever took even half a step back would have disastrous consequences.
More than a thousand warships and nearly half a million people engaged in a fierce battle near Crawfish Island. This was the first time in the history of Shaodian Kingdom in the past thousand years.
This naval battle lasted from noon to dusk, and from dusk to dawn. The two sides fought to the death as soon as they came into contact. They had no intention of capturing the enemy's troops. No one would stop until they killed all the opponents.
"I have never seen such a tragic naval battle. Blood dyed the sea red. Not one of the more than a thousand ships participating in the battle could remain intact. The pride of the Shaodian Navy, the giant ship Dinghai, was also sunk.
It’s not that my ‘Zhenbo’ was a little slower and could only make it in time to become the temporary flagship of the third wave, otherwise it would not have escaped the fate of sinking.” Zhou Yuan wrote in his logbook.
The next morning, due to too many casualties, Zha Kelie had to order the Thousand Island Alliance Army to withdraw from the battle. The Shaodian Navy finally won the naval battle, but they were unable to pursue it.
Due to the influence of wind direction and current, this naval battle entered the range of Crawfish Island, so it was called the Battle of Crawfish Island.
The Shaodian Navy had more than 210,000 troops and 658 warships before the war. After the war, it only had over 70,000 men and just 200 warships.
The Shaodian State Navy flagship "Dinghai" sank, the Haishan Prefecture Navy flagship "Teng Yang" sank, the Linhai Prefecture Navy flagship "Talang" sank, and the Xihai Prefecture Navy flagship "Zhenbo" and the Hailin Prefecture Navy flagship "Zhenbo" sank.
The "Giant Sail" was damaged, but fortunately none of the Commander-in-Chief of the West Sea and the four major commanders were killed.
Sima Heng was shot in the left eye by the enemy's archery master. If his captain had not risked his life to save him, the arrow could have penetrated his head and killed him. He did not withdraw from the battle due to his injury. After bandaging the wound
Three ships were changed in succession to direct the battle. The commander's desperate efforts aroused the bloody spirit of the soldiers. The Shaodian Navy was able to persist in the battle to the end only by holding this breath in his chest.
The four commanders were more or less injured, but not as seriously as Sima Heng. The least injured was Zhou Yuan. In the end, his fighting spirit and physical strength were exhausted, and his shoulder was dislocated when he killed the last enemy.
It is a rare injury among knights.
Of course, the Thousand Island Alliance was not much better, it should be said that it was even worse. Before the Battle of Crawfish Island, they had tens of thousands more people than the Shaodian Navy. At the end, the difference between the two armies was only a few thousand people. This battle was a real defeat.
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Cha Kerie's situation was much better than that of Sima Heng. His flagship "Blood Fin" did not sink, he was not injured during the battle, and he evacuated the battlefield with his men intact.
After the battle, Sima Heng finally issued an order that made everyone breathe a sigh of relief, "Hurry back to the base camp and fight the Longwan Water Village."
"Sir, although we won this battle, our vitality was severely damaged. How can the remaining troops withstand the Thousand Island Alliance's next attack?" Zhou Yuan was looking after Sima Heng on his ship.
"If you can't stop them, retreat to the mainland. Anyway, they can't attack the large islands, and they can't attack the mainland." Sima Heng closed his eyes and lay on the soft cave to recuperate, "The kingdom has a population of more than one billion, and the loss of this
What's the point of a small number of troops? Otherwise, we can build a navy with over one million troops in a year. At that time, the Thousand Island Alliance will consider how to block our attack."
"But my lord, your future will be greatly affected by this. The commander-in-chief will not tolerate the kingdom being bullied for a year." Zhou Yuan was worried about Sima Heng's status.
"Hey, from the moment the Thousand Islands Alliance decided to invade the kingdom, I have no future, and the Sima family has to prepare for a bigger blow. If I didn't have to go back with this body to pay for my sins, I might as well have died on Crawfish Island.
The commander-in-chief will at least give me the title of honorary commander." Sima Heng sighed.
After the Battle of Crawfish Island, it was listed as one of the ten naval battles of the Shaodian Kingdom. It was not until the Shaodian Kingdom changed drastically that the reasons for this naval battle were dug out and studied. Sima Heng became the most controversial naval officer in future generations.