A sharp whistle shattered the silence of the early morning at the Great Xin Dynasty's naval camp.
On the wooden walls surrounding the camp, countless drowsy naval soldiers were awakened from their morning dreams by screams of "enemy attack."
Opening his eyes and looking closely, he saw that countless warships with the character "武" (wu, meaning martial/military) flying on their battle flags had completely surrounded the naval camp on the waters outside.
"Quickly, go and report to the Prince that Wu Sanjia, the commander of the Tiger Warriors, is leading the navy to attack. Please make a decision quickly!"
"The rest of you, immediately close the camp gates and prepare for battle!"
"Prepare for war!"
On the wooden city wall of the naval camp, the naval commander on duty was awakened by the constant sounds of enemy attacks. He rushed up the wall to issue orders and command the officers and soldiers of the Daxin Navy to meet the enemy.
However, Wu Sanjia, who was in the waters outside the camp, did not rush to attack the city. Instead, he directly ordered a fire to burn the Daxin Navy warships anchored in the waters.
Wu Sanjia stood proudly at the bow of the ship and shouted: "All naval generals, listen to my command! Fire rockets and burn all the rebel naval warships to the ground!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
He Kang, the deputy commander of the Tiger-like Navy, immediately accepted the order and left.
On the Tiger Fleet's warships, the archers, who were already prepared, aimed their arrows, which were fueled by burning oil, at the warships that stretched across the water.
Just one command from the general, and the warships of the Daxin Navy will be riddled with fire.
"Archers, target the enemy warship, prepare for fire attack!"
"put!"
With a command from He Kang, the vice admiral of the Tiger Fleet, the fire attack officially began.
Rockets streaked across the sky, their flames blazing and their whistling sounds echoing through the air, relentlessly hurtling towards the warships of the Daxin Navy, anchored in the waters outside the city.
Rockets streaked across the sky in poignant arcs before landing with pinpoint accuracy on the warships of the Daxin Navy, instantly igniting the sails and timbers on board.
Since there were no combat missions, the Daxin Navy warships anchored in the waters outside the camp were not guarded day and night by any naval officers and soldiers. Only a few naval officers and soldiers responsible for the daily maintenance of the warships stayed overnight on the warships.
It wasn't until the Tiger Fleet's rockets ignited the warships that the officers and soldiers of the Daxin Navy, who were still fast asleep on the remaining warships, were awakened from their slumber.
When they rushed out of the crew cabin, barely clothed, and onto the deck, they discovered that all the warships moored at the dock had been set ablaze by rockets.
The fire started with the wind and continued to spread.
"Quickly, quickly loosen the cables connecting the warships and immediately steer the warships that are not yet on fire away!"
"Everyone else, put out the fire!"
"Beat the drums and sound the horns, requesting reinforcements from the naval forces within the camp!"
"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"
On the warship, the officers and soldiers of the Daxin Navy who remained behind began to cry out in terror as they watched the fire on the river intensify.
They tried to extinguish the flames on the warship with buckets and wet clothes.
Unfortunately, the arrows shot at the Daxin Navy's warships were all doused with flammable oil, and with the help of the river wind, the fire had long since spread to a point where it could not be extinguished by human power.
No matter how hard the naval officers and soldiers who remained on the warships tried, it was all in vain.
Even more fatal was that all the warships of the Daxin Navy moored outside the dock were connected together with ropes, much like how Cao Cao used iron chains to link his warships together before the Battle of Red Cliffs during the Three Kingdoms period.
This gave Wu Sanjia's Tiger Fleet an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
Under wave after wave of rocket attacks, the power of the Tiger Fleet's fire attack gradually became apparent. Amidst the towering flames, the warships of the Daxin Fleet moored at the dock were engulfed in flames one after another until they sank into the river.
On the river, charred wooden planks and tattered battle flags floated everywhere, along with the cries of the officers and soldiers of the Daxin Navy who had jumped into the water to escape, and their agonizing screams.
The fire was so intense that even the officers and soldiers on duty at the Daxin Naval Camp city wall felt the scorching heat of the flames.
Faced with such a tragic situation, the officers and soldiers of the Daxin Navy on duty on the city wall could only sigh helplessly at the fire.
At the bow of the Tiger-like naval fleet, General Wu Sanjia stood with his hands behind his back, admiring his masterpiece on the deck.
With Fang Tianyao's warship burned, the operation to welcome back the Emperor was more than half successful.
Before the war, Wu Sanjia knew that the hastily trained Tiger Warriors would definitely be inferior to the experienced navy of the Great Xin Dynasty in naval warfare.
In terms of warships, the hastily assembled fleet of the Tiger Warriors was no match for Fang Tianyao's naval forces, both in terms of size and the close-combat weapons they were equipped with.
Only someone as skilled in warfare as Wu Sanjia could not do something like using one's own weaknesses to attack the enemy's strengths.
That is why he devised a strategy to defend against the enemy by taking advantage of the cover of night to sail south along the Yangtze River and then attack the enemy's warships with fire.
After all of Fang Tianyao's warships have been burned, the next step will simply be for the Tiger Fleet to land and launch a strong attack on the Daxin Fleet's main camp.
Land warfare was Wu Sanjia's and his Tiger-like naval forces' forte.
The three martial arts families on the water were not entirely confident that they could defeat Fang Tianyao, who came from a pirate background.
However, if the battle were to take place on land, Wu Sanjia, the top martial arts champion of Daxin, could easily defeat Fang Tianyao even with only one arm.
Seeing that most of the ships of the Daxin Navy had been burned in the fire attack.
Wu Sanjia finally issued another order: "By my command, all officers and soldiers of the Tiger Fleet shall prepare to disembark and launch a strong attack on the enemy's naval camp!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
......
At the same time, inside the naval camp.
Fang Tianyao, the Four Seas King of the Great Xin Dynasty, was forcibly awakened from his bed by his deputy general while he was in the arms of two young women.
Originally, Fang Tianyao, whose peaceful dream and morning exercises had been disturbed, was about to unleash his fury on his deputy general.
However, when he learned from his deputy that Wu Sanjia had led his troops south of the Yangtze River and was now at the gates of the naval camp, it was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him, instantly sobering up Fang Tianyao, the King of the Four Seas.
He didn't even bother to put on his outer armor, riding his horse towards the naval camp's city wall in just his undergarments.
When Fang Tianyao arrived at the city wall, he saw Wu Sanjia setting fire to his camp on the water outside the city, burning all of his warships.
Fang Tianyao was momentarily stunned and collapsed.
Fortunately, his lieutenant was quick-witted and caught him, preventing him from falling.
Fang Tianyao muttered to himself in a daze, "It's over, it's all over. From today onwards, there will be no more Great Xin Navy!"
"Report—"
"Your Highness, the Tiger Army's warships outside the city are docking at the pier. It seems they are preparing to launch a strong attack on the naval camp. Please make a decision quickly, Your Highness!"
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