When Zhou Lie escaped from the fire, only three subordinates were left with him.
He fought for half his life and made countless achievements, and he was somewhat arrogant in his heart.
But this night, his arrogance had been completely shattered and was gone.
If his subordinates had not fought tooth and nail to protect him from the sea of fire, the dignified commander of the Liaodong Navy would have had no choice but to feed himself on sea fish.
The three main warships of the Liaodong Navy were completely destroyed in the fire. Now the only warship that the navy can fight is the lone Sea Falcon warship that protects the military port.
Although the loss of several main warships was a heavy blow to the Liaodong Navy, it would not completely destroy the navy.
However, hundreds of elite navy soldiers perished in the sea, which was fatal to the Liaodong navy.
This time, more than 500 elite sailors went to sea in three warships, all of whom were elite members of the Liaodong Navy.
The entire Liaodong Navy only has about a thousand people. Many of them are still very brave, but they are older. Zhou Lie is a nostalgic person. In addition, the Navy is a very special branch of the military. Therefore, the Liaodong Navy’s service is
It's been a long time, and nearly half of them are no longer the most energetic young people.
Northeastern people are talented in horseback riding, but they don't like water.
In addition, many people know that the Liaodong Navy is a neglected existence in the Liaodong Army, so even recruiting a navy is not an easy task, and it is even more difficult to meet Zhou Lie's recruitment requirements.
Those who went to sea this time were all young and strong in the navy, and they were definitely the main force of the Liaodong navy.
The three warships and the main naval force disappeared into the sea. Zhou Lie certainly knew what kind of problems this result would cause.
As long as the money is in place, it may only take a year and a half to build a few warships, but it is impossible to train elite sailors without two or three years.
Elite sailors not only need to practice day and night, but most importantly, they need to be tempered by real combat. These elite sailors under their command have also been trained through many times of suppressing bandits. They were damaged in one battle. If you want to have a group of such sailors,
It is almost impossible to complete in a short time.
It will take at least three years for the Liaodong Navy to recover.
This was despite extremely abundant military expenditures and supplies. However, after the entire army was wiped out this time, it would be almost impossible to get the support of the Liaodong Army in the future, or even let the Liaodong Army invest a large amount of money in the Liaodong Navy.
The troops of the Liaodong Army have never stopped fighting to allocate their annual military expenditures. Everyone feels that the military expenditures are not enough for the troops and horses of each unit, so how can they be invested in the navy?
The sky and the earth were dark. Zhou Lie was sitting on the lifeboat, looking at the sea of fire in the distance that illuminated the sky, and the wailing and screaming seemed to be echoing in his ears.
Although they managed to escape the flames by luck, their clothes and armor, including Zhou Lie's, had been burned to pieces and they were all in a miserable state.
However, several of his subordinates did not dare to stop at all, and kept rowing to the north, using all their strength, knowing that the farther they could go, the better.
Although they suffered a heavy defeat, in the opinion of a few people, as long as the commander-in-chief can escape this disaster, it is not impossible to regroup. The losses were heavy this time, so the commander-in-chief will go back to regroup and wait until he regains his strength before thinking of revenge.
After all, victory or defeat is a matter of military strategism. As long as the Qingshan remains, there will always be a chance for revenge.
"choke!"
Suddenly the sound of a sword being drawn was heard, and one of his subordinates turned around and saw that Zhou Lie had already wiped his own neck with the knife. The subordinate reacted quickly, threw away the oar, rushed forward, and grabbed Zhou Lie's arm.
Arms, the other two people had also noticed it, and they rushed over to hold Zhou Lie down.
"General, what are you doing?" The general who grabbed Zhou Lie's arm said with a cry: "Don't be confused!"
Zhou Lie said angrily: "Let go of everyone. Now that things have come to this, how can I still have the honor to live?"
"Victory and defeat are common matters in military affairs." Another person hurriedly advised: "General, even if we lose this time, as long as the general can escape safely, we can still regroup."
"It was my negligence that led to the defeat." Zhou Lie said with tears in his eyes: "So many brothers were harmed by me, and I can only die to apologize."
The subordinate said: "General, if you really commit suicide here, what will happen to the brothers in the Navy? You know that you are supporting the Navy. Without you, the Liaodong Navy would exist in name only, and there would be no possibility of regrouping."
Pointing his hand at the sea of fire, he said: "We fell into the traitor's scheme and lost so many brothers. Besides the general, who can avenge them?"
When Zhou Lie heard this, his body trembled.
"General, if you are no longer here, from now on, this sea will be ruled by those gangs of thieves." The general sighed: "They would like the general to be buried in the sea of fire. Without the general, they can control this sea unscrupulously."
Zhou Lie clenched his fists and looked at the fire in the distance, his eyes showing a sharp look.
He knew that what his men said was not wrong.
Although he suffered a disastrous defeat this time, in the final analysis, he was still negligent and despised the enemy in his heart. It was not a fault of war.
Of course, he knew that the opponent must have spent a huge amount of manpower and material resources to lay such a trap, and it must have been carefully deployed. From this, it can be seen that the opponent is by no means as simple as an ordinary pirate. At this time, he has almost concluded that behind this group of pirates, there must be
It's the Taihu Navy.
If he commits suicide here, the Liaodong Army will no longer have a naval general who can take charge of its duties. From then on, the Liaodong Navy will never be able to leave the harbor, while the Taihu Navy will be able to roam the sea.
If this is the case, the confrontation between the Liaodong Army and the Long Rui Army will be a disaster.
He slowly put down the knife in his hand, and his men breathed a sigh of relief.
"General, in my humble opinion, after the general knows this, he must know the true strength of this group of pirates." The general comforted: "The general is definitely not willing to see all trade routes cut off, let alone condone the pirates.
He was arrogant and domineering at sea. The general believed that after this defeat, the general might pay more attention to the navy. He might increase the navy's military budget, build warships, and train sailors, so that the Liaodong navy would have enough power to defeat the enemy.
This group of pirates."
Another person immediately said: "This makes sense. General, if this group of pirates is allowed to gain strength and they enter and exit the coastal areas of the four northeastern counties and armies as if they were in no man's land, they will definitely threaten our coastal line. This is
The general will never tolerate this."
Although Zhou Lie knew that it would be extremely difficult for the Liaodong Army to increase military expenditures to the Navy, the words of his subordinates were not unreasonable.
He did not speak, but everyone under his command knew that the commander had given up the idea of committing suicide, so they felt relieved and each manned the oar to speed up and head north.
The prerequisite for regrouping is to return to Liaodong alive.
Although we have now rushed out of the sea of fire, the danger still exists. No one can guarantee that the pirates will not send people to catch up. Although this lifeboat is light and agile, it is small and slow. As long as a pirate ship catches up, it will be very difficult.
Difficult to escape.
Moreover, there is no water or food in a hasty escape. This is an open sea, far away from the coast. Even if a few people have sufficient physical strength and work day and night, it may take several days to reach the shore. Whether their physical fitness can persist is a big problem.
But there is no time to think about this at the moment.
Several people rowed out nearly twenty miles in one breath. When they turned back, they could no longer see the fire on the other side.
However, moving forward at such a rapid pace consumed a lot of physical energy on the part of the group, and their speed also slowed down. Seeing this, Zhou Lie went over to push away a general, took the wooden oar, and steered the oar. When the people saw this, they all knew that the commander
The Lord has made up his mind, clearly wanting to make a comeback, and his heart is filled with excitement.
But after traveling no more than five or six miles, a general suddenly turned around and said: "There is a boat!"
Everyone was shocked, and they all looked forward, only to see a huge shadow appearing in front of them, which was clearly the outline of a large ship. Several people stopped moving, but not long after,
I heard a voice coming from over there: "Who is over there?"
The three of them all looked at Zhou Lie, but Zhou Lie kept his composure and shook his head slightly, naturally indicating that they should stop talking.
Several torches soon appeared on the side of the big ship, and they were all shining in this direction. Someone had already asked: "Are you a brother of the Liaodong Navy?"
Several subordinates were startled when they heard this. From the tone of the other party, they didn't sound like pirates.
"Who are you?" a general asked loudly.
In fact, several people knew that if they could not get help, they might not be able to reach the shore alive with just the strength of four people.
At this time, the other party called the Liaodong Navy brother, and there seemed to be no hostility, so he naturally wanted to ask.
"I am Qian Hexian, the shopkeeper of the Qian family in the Eighteenth Street in the North." A voice on the boat said with all his strength: "This is a merchant ship bound for Liaodong. Are you brothers of the Liaodong Navy?"
When a general heard this, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said happily: "He is one of our own." Before Zhou Lie could say anything, he already said loudly: "We are from the Liaodong Navy, and you are the treasurer Qian? How could your merchant ship...
it's here?"
The plan of the Liaodong Navy was to use two merchant ships as bait to lure out the pirate ships, and the Liaodong warships would then attack to hunt them.
However, after the two merchant ships discovered that the pirates were about to flee, they immediately followed and pursued them. After that, they were separated. One merchant ship went to the southwest, while Shopkeeper Qian's ship kept pursuing the southeast, and used the fire as a signal to Liaodong.
The warship provides coordinates.
When the Liaodong warship was following behind, the merchant ship's fire suddenly disappeared. After that, the merchant ship also suddenly lost its trace. However, Zhou Lie and others did not expect that this merchant ship would suddenly appear here.
Zhou Lie had already stood up, holding the saber on his waist with one hand, full of alertness.
When the two merchant ships set off from Hangzhou, Wang Heng had secretly arranged for people from the Liaodong Navy to pretend to be hired guards and board the merchant ships. Although there were not many people, they were all elites of the navy. Among them, Shopkeeper Qian was there.
There were more than twenty Liaodong sailors lurking on the ship, led by Navy Colonel Jiang Tu.
"Let Jiang Tu come out and speak!" Zhou Lie ordered in a low voice.
The general immediately said loudly: "Shopkeeper Qian, where is Jiang Tu? Let Jiang Tu on the ship come out and speak."
"When we were chasing the pirates, Lieutenant Jiang was shot by an arrow from Haikou, and he is still unconscious." Shopkeeper Qian said loudly: "You guys come up first, and we will lower the cable."
Zhou Lie frowned, showing suspicion.
However, when the merchant ship was chasing before, it sent out a signal that it had encountered the enemy's large ship, and Zhou Lie did hear that the two sides seemed to have exchanged blows at that time. He thought for a moment and knew that it was almost impossible to escape safely by relying on a lifeboat. If he could board the merchant ship
, head east quickly, and with sufficient supplies on board, we may be able to return to Liaodong smoothly.
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