While this approach offered a high chance of victory, if the Jin forces concentrated their strength at this critical juncture and attacked relentlessly at a single point, Li Bao himself might suffer a significant loss.
To put it bluntly, Li Bao was gambling. He gambled that the Jin forces would not focus all their might on a single, all-out assault. He gambled that his subordinates could withstand the Jin attack and buy enough time for his main force.
However, no matter how carefully he calculated, he never imagined that the Jin forces would adopt a completely indifferent posture. Regardless of any tactics they might employ, these Jin soldiers simply stopped moving.
"Brother Yue, what do you think is happening? I can't quite figure out what these Jin soldiers are doing. Could they be trying to bait old Li's fish?"
Looking at the deployment of enemy and friendly forces on the map, Li Bao, utterly confused, turned to Yue Fei beside him.
"I don't understand what they're doing either, but I think we should just focus on achieving our own tactical objectives. What they're doing, we can ask them after we've defeated them," Yue Fei replied.
"That's true. The troops have already been deployed as planned. We're at a point of no return, so there's no point in dwelling on what-ifs now!"
After hearing Yue Fei's words, Li Bao felt a sense of clarity.
Since things had come to this, they might as well wait and see the final outcome.
With their minds in agreement, all that remained was to wait in silence.
Time ticked by second by second. Snores echoed intermittently from the cabins, yet Yelü Zhenghuan found himself utterly unable to sleep.
Tossing and turning on his bed for a long time, he finally got up and returned to the deck.
"General, it is late. Why have you not retired yet?"
Seeing Yelü Zhenghuan appear on deck, a Khitan soldier immediately approached him.
"I just couldn't sleep tonight. I don't know what's wrong. Perhaps it's been too long since I was at sea!"
Facing the slightly salty sea breeze, Yelü Zhenghuan felt an inexplicable pang of sadness.
"Never mind. You go about your duties. You don't need to bother with me here. I'll stay here for a while and enjoy the breeze."
Seeing the soldier's puzzled expression, Yelü Zhenghuan finally managed a weak smile.
"Yes, sir!"
The soldier responded and then walked away.
Yelü Zhenghuan stood silently on the deck for the entire night.
"Ge... General, look! What is that?"
Just as the sky began to show the first signs of dawn, several soldiers approached Yelü Zhenghuan, pointing towards a line of bright lights rapidly approaching them in the distance.
"Sound the alarm quickly! The Song army is launching a surprise attack!"
After peering intently into the distance with a frown, Yelü Zhenghuan suddenly realized.
Those were not lights at all!
They were the lights from the Song army's warships!
"Clang—clang—clang—"
At his command, the soldiers on deck immediately began to sound the alarm.
The Song army had arrived so quickly that by the time the sailors were awakened by the alarm, the Song warships were already three li away.
"Prepare to meet the enemy! Prepare to meet the enemy!"
"Boom—"
As soon as Yelü Zhenghuan finished speaking, a massive stone descended from the sky, accompanied by a thunderous roar, smashing a hole the size of a cartwheel into a nearby warship.
The surging seawater rushed in through the hole almost instantly.
The warship, nearly five hundred tons, began to sink at a visibly alarming rate.
"Weigh anchor! Raise the anchors! Raise the anchors!"
Seeing this, Yelü Zhenghuan immediately shouted.
Upon receiving his command, the soldiers, who had been in a state of panic, finally reacted. They all put their strength into turning the capstan at the stern of the ship.
However, anchors that could keep hundreds of tons of warships stable at sea were not something that could be raised in a matter of moments.
"Boom—"
"Boom—"
"Boom—"
The earlier stone had sounded the charge. In an instant, it seemed as if a rain of stones began to fall from the sky.
Massive stone projectiles, like meteors falling from the heavens, continuously rained down upon the Jin fleet.
"Scatter! Scatter, all of you! Meet the enemy! Meet the enemy!"
No matter how anxious Yelü Zhenghuan was, the fleet needed time.
The larger the ship, the more time it took to raise the sails and weigh anchor.
By the time their ships began to scatter, the Song army's third wave of attack had already begun.
"Return fire! Return fire!"
Watching his warships being sunk one by one, Yelü Zhenghuan's heart ached as if it were being sliced with a knife.
But alas, their heavy trebuchets were not only slow to fire but also lacked accuracy.
Even so, not every ship was equipped with such weapons. For the Jin, their primary long-range attack method was archery.
Even the best Song archers could only shoot a maximum of two hundred paces.
Now, the Song army maintained a distance of one li between their warships. Apart from the cumbersome trebuchets on a few large ships, their arrows were useless against the enemy.
"Damn it! How do you all train normally? Change formation! Deploy smaller boats to get closer!"
Watching his soldiers panic, Yelü Zhenghuan was furious.
Under his reprimand, several soldiers nearby quickly began to relay his orders to each warship using signal flags.
Although the process was indeed slow and the cost was indeed heavy, once his orders were delivered, the entire naval force finally began to move.
As their ships began to move, the accuracy of the Song army's stone projectiles began to decrease significantly.
Seeing this, Yelü Zhenghuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Although they had suffered a setback, as long as they could close the distance, they still had a fighting chance!
"Boom—"
"Boom—"
"Boom—"
Before Yelü Zhenghuan could issue a second command, a deafening explosion was heard from behind him.
"Bad news, General! We've been surrounded!"
Looking at the fleet that had appeared behind them, Yelü Zhenghuan's face turned pale.
The Song had achieved their strategic objective. From the south and north, two fleets had tightly encircled them. To their left lay Song territory, where landing would mean certain annihilation. To their right stretched the vast, boundless sea.
Unlike the Song fleet, their warships were mostly towering vessels and small ships of a few hundred tons. If they ventured into the deep sea, the waves alone would be enough to ensure they never returned.
In just one night, everything had changed completely. At this moment, they were truly trapped with no escape.
Looking at the thousand-ton sea vessels in the Song fleet, Yelü Zhenghuan was filled with grief and indignation.
They already had a disadvantage in warships. Now that they had lost the initiative, where was the chance for survival?
Indeed, a foolish commander could exhaust his entire army.