Ang Lee's strategy was to use the thirty main steam gunships to gain full control of the sea. If they encountered pirates in the vast sea, they would annihilate them with all their might. If the pirates fled to their nests, they would immediately give chase and suppress the pirates within the harbor.
However, due to the limited range of the cannons, the steam gunships were powerless against the pirates on land. At this time, they needed the Sky Army Mothership and the landing ships to display their might.
The ten airplanes on the Sky Army Mothership would take off one by one and bombard the pirates in the depths, greatly weakening their strength. At the same time, they would investigate the terrain and the strength of the pirates in the depths and immediately report it to the command center.
Finally, the command center could use the Sky Army Mothership's report to get the steam gunships to land on the beach. Fifty armored gunships would rush to the beach and continue to develop in the depths. With such a powerful force, the pirates would be scared to death. How could they have the strength to resist?
The thousands of soldiers accompanying the gunships would be able to easily deal with the remaining enemies and escort the surrendered pirates back to the ships. They would then be sent back to the Canton authorities to be dealt with according to the severity of their crimes. If the pirate leaders had committed the most heinous crimes, they would be executed on the spot to appease the civilians.
After visiting the Sky Army Mothership and the landing ships, Ang Lee accompanied his subordinates to visit the steam gunships. The thirty-odd steam gunships were the main force of this expedition to the south. The strength of their combat strength would directly determine the progress of the opening of the Maritime Silk Road.
The thirty-odd steam gunships were not all the same size, and there were differences in tonnage. There were also thirty to fifty cannons. The largest flagship was equipped with sixty cannons of various types, so it was naturally the strongest.
Ang Lee and his subordinates naturally had to visit the largest flagship. However, for this expedition to the south, Ang Lee himself would not stay on the flagship.
The ship he was on was even larger than the flagship. It was not equipped with a single cannon, and there were only a hundred guards and boatmen.
The reason for this was that the living facilities of the battle gunships were too simple. Most of the ship's space was used to store battle supplies. Living on such a ship would definitely be uncomfortable.
"Big Brother, this gunship has sixty cannons. It's really powerful. It has more cannons than an artillery brigade. I brought six thousand Dragon Warriors with me this time, but only two brigades with a total of one hundred cannons."
Li Feiyu looked at the cannons lined up neatly on both sides of the cabin and said enviously.
"Assistant Minister Li, just this one gunship is enough to defeat a dozen pirate ships. This humble one has seen pirate ships with my own eyes before. They are equipped with catapults and heavy crossbows, and their power is far inferior to cannons. However, each large pirate ship has over a hundred pirates equipped with sabers, swords, and bows. If they get close, it will be troublesome."
Nan Xia said seriously.
........... ha................
............
"Er Niu is right. We won't give the pirates a chance to engage in close combat. Even if we engage in a boarding battle, we will definitely win. However, there will definitely be some casualties. It's best if there are no casualties."
. "Ang Lee agreed.
When encountering pirate ships on the high seas, Li An only had one principle, and that was to annihilate them. He would use powerful firepower to sink or severely injure or capture the pirate ship. He would never talk about humanity with them. Otherwise, he would be irresponsible to the lives of his soldiers.
With the core of the Sky Army's mothership and landing ships, as well as the thirty-odd powerful steam gunships, Li An was confident that he would be able to achieve great things on this expedition to the south.
Before setting off, all the armed forces had to undergo a round of tough training to test their real combat ability. The landing battle of the Sky Army and the armored artillery brigade was the most important part of this drill.
In order to increase the strength of the landing battle, Ang Lee took five hundred elites from the Canton Army and assigned them to five landing ships. Each ship had a hundred people. These five hundred elites were mostly fishermen. They were good at swimming and had great adaptability to the sea. They were very suitable for the Marine Corps.
It was best for them to charge with the armored artillery vehicles. With the armored artillery vehicles leading the way, their lives were guaranteed.
The military training officially began on the second day of their arrival in Canton. The Sky Army, armored artillery vehicles, and more than thirty gunships were trained in different waters to avoid interfering with each other. Only when they were more familiar with the training could they carry out joint exercises.
The training was carried out in a semi-enclosed environment so that the merchants in Canton could see the bravery of the Tang dynasty's army and increase their confidence in the Imperial Court.
The Sky Army's training had always been carried out on land. This time, it was going to be very difficult to move all of them onto the Sky Army's mothership. A moment of carelessness could result in a tragic accident.
Therefore, the Sky Army's training was the most dangerous and had to be done with extreme caution.
Li An was most worried about Tian Jun's training. Hence, when the training had just started, he had personally gone to watch it.
There was an airport that had already been built near the port. Ang Lee had ordered it to be built a month ago. The ten planes that had arrived in Canton were parked here.
At the beginning of the training, the Sky Army's mothership first left the port and stopped near the port to wait for the planes to land. Then the planes took off from the airport to find the location of the Sky Army's mothership. Finally, they landed on the mothership steadily. In this way, the landing work was completed. Then came the take-off training. They took off using the taxiing runway on the Sky Army's mothership and successfully lifted the planes into the sky. In this way, the take-off work was completed.
As long as the take-off and landing were completed, the Sky Army's combat ability would be formed. As for the air combat, they had already trained in the capital. It was not difficult. They only needed to throw bombs at the target.
"Oh, there are so many people here!"
As soon as they arrived at the airport, Ang Lee saw a large group of merchants and people watching, as well as many officials in Canton.
It was the first time for these people to see a plane. They were very curious about it and wanted to see how it took off with their own eyes.
"They're all ignorant people. They haven't even seen a plane before. Hehe!"
Erniu suddenly felt a sense of superiority from the bottom of his heart. He had been living in the capital all his life and naturally had more experience. In front of these ignorant Guangzhou people, he indeed had the right to act like a big shot.
"Erniu, planes were just invented not long ago. The people in the capital haven't even seen all of them. How could the people in Canton have seen them before? Don't be so arrogant."
Ang Lee stopped Erniu from being arrogant. He waved his hand and ordered the Sky Army's First Flying Group to start training.
Under Nan's lead, ten planes took off one after another. They formed two goose formations in the air and flew a few circles above the crowd before flying to the designated sea area.
Looking at the huge objects flying around above their heads, the merchants and people in Canton were stunned. Everyone had an expression of disbelief. In the Tang dynasty, who could understand that such huge objects could fly in the sky?
Li Anpo was intoxicated by the gazes of adoration. After all, he was the one who invented all of these behemoths. If he did not feel proud, how could he live up to himself?
"Let's go to the seaside and have a look."
After watching the take-off, the next step was naturally to see the planes land on the mothership and take off again.
Many merchants and people knew about the mothership and ran to the seaside. They took advantage of the terrain and were ready to see how the planes landed on the mothership.
Due to sufficient preparation, the training went exceptionally smoothly. All ten planes landed steadily on the mothership of the Sky Army.
After some simple preparations, the ten planes took off again. They took off from the mothership of the Sky Army and flew into the sky.
After completing the three tasks of take-off, landing, and take-off again, it was time for the final bombing exercise.
Not far from the port, a training ground had been built. There were pirate flags, simple houses with pirate logos, and many scarecrows wearing pirate costumes.
These guys were the targets of the Sky Army's planes and could be used to demonstrate the powerful combat power of the Sky Army.
In Beijing, the bombing exercise had been carried out many times. In Canton, they had to continue the training to let the merchants understand the strength of the Sky Army and increase their confidence in the Imperial Court.
The bombing exercise went very smoothly. The flags, houses, and scarecrows in the shooting range were almost all destroyed. Under the cheers of the crowd, the ten planes of the Sky Army returned one by one and anchored on the mothership of the Sky Army.
Peace was restored in the training ground. Many onlookers were allowed to enter the site of the bombing to see the effect of the bombing in person.
"Good heavens, they are indeed the Sky Army!"
"The Imperial Court of the Tang dynasty has such a powerful force like the Sky Army. We don't have to worry about the pirates."
"We should unite and fully support the Imperial Court in eliminating the pirates."
"That's right. After so many years, we still know quite a bit about the pirates. We must tell Assistant Minister Li what we know and let him lead the Heavenly Army to exterminate these damned pirates."
"Shh, lower your voice. There must be pirates among the crowd. Don't let them hear you."
"Hmph, what's there to be afraid of? The Imperial Court will eliminate them soon anyway. We must boldly say whatever we want."
"Yes, we have been oppressed by the pirates for so many years. What is there to be afraid of? With the troops gathered by Assistant Minister Li this time, they can completely wipe out the pirates."
"I think Assistant Minister Li is too high-profile. If the pirates know the strength of the Sky Army in advance, how can they achieve the surprise of the battle? The pirates will make targeted preparations in advance."
"Hmph, no matter how prepared the pirates are, they will never be able to resist the attack of the Imperial Court. The pirates' good days are not far away."
A large group of merchants gathered together to discuss. Except for a few pessimistic people, most of them were optimistic. They believed that the elite troops of the Tang dynasty commanded by Ang Lee were fully capable of eliminating the pirates.
Not far from the training ground of the Sky Army was the training ground of the First Brigade of Armored Artillery Vehicles, accompanied by 500 elites from Canton.
The training of the armored artillery vehicles was also very exciting and had also gathered a large group of fans. However, the crowd was much smaller than that of the training ground of the Sky Army. Most of the merchants and people were more interested in the aircraft than the armored artillery vehicles.
In terms of difficulty, the landing practice of the armored artillery vehicles was not as difficult as that of the Sky Army. After all, there were many uncertain factors in the sky, while the land was relatively stable.
The 50 armored artillery vehicles were divided into five groups and entered the five steam-powered landing ships one by one. They were parked steadily in the cabins. In addition, the 500 Canton soldiers were also divided into five groups and entered the landing ships one by one.
After they were fully loaded, the five landing ships left the port and headed for the landing field not far away. There were specially set up obstacles and scarecrows to simulate the pirates, which were specially designed for the armored artillery vehicles to display their power.
The two places were not far from each other. After the landing ships set sail, the onlookers began to rush to the landing field, ready to see this rare historical scene.
Landing on the beach was very exciting. As the five landing ships gradually approached the beach, the baffle in front of them began to slowly open and eventually reached the beach smoothly.
Then, the armored artillery vehicles drove onto the beach along the long baffle and kept moving forward. The preset obstacles in front of them were too fragile to stop the advance of the armored artillery vehicles. Any obstacles that tried to stop the armored artillery vehicles were ruthlessly crushed.
In addition, the artillery equipped on the armored artillery vehicles would not be polite to the simulated pirates in front of them. They directly fired shells and blew up the simulated pirates.
Soon, 50 armored artillery vehicles appeared on the beach, lined up in a long snake formation, and quickly moved deeper into the landing field. In addition, the 500 Canton soldiers also quickly landed on the beach and lined up behind the armored artillery vehicles to provide backup and finish off the armored artillery vehicles.
The roar of the machines was very intimidating. There was a majestic momentum that could topple mountains and overturn seas, which shocked the onlookers and merchants.
"With this magic weapon, there is no need to worry about the pirates."
"Who hasn't seen pirates before? They are a group of scoundrels with big swords and bully the weak. If they encounter this army, the pirates will be crushed into powder."
"Yes! The armored artillery vehicles are so powerful. Just these in front of us are enough to eliminate all the pirates in the world. "
"It seems that in order to eliminate the pirates, the Imperial Court has put in a lot of effort."
"Last time, my five cargo ships were all robbed by pirates. The housekeeper and more than a dozen servants were all killed by them. I can't wait for the Imperial Court to send troops to eliminate these bastards."
"Don't worry! Since Assistant Minister Li is here and the elite troops are also here, they will not just put on a show. They will definitely send troops to eliminate the pirates. "
"That's natural. Don't you know? Assistant Minister Li proposed the Maritime Silk Road, which is the route we use to do business. The Imperial Court will take care of everything on this road. Our good days are coming! "
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