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Prince Tang Feng was slightly stunned, and said, "Why, General Ma, are you so sure, this fleet blocking our way is the Sea Clan fleet that escorted my imperial brother to escape?"

"That's right!" General Ma nodded categorically: "Your Royal Highness the Prince, the position we are in now is still on the edge of the Sea Clan's territory, and there is a war between the Sea Clan and the Sunset Kingdom, which is also a well-known fact, other countries and forces, who would be so stupid to send their own fleet to this place at this sensitive time?

"Besides, even if it's the fleets of other countries and forces that are blocking our way, then shouldn't they shoot at our fleet indiscriminately, right?"

"Therefore, Wei Chen is very sure that the fleet that suddenly appeared must be the Sea Clan fleet that escorted His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to escape!

"Lord Cao Hong knows, even if they temporarily got rid of our pursuit before, but there is no way to completely throw us away, once our fleet catches up with them, then it is really impossible for them to escape, instead of sitting still, it is better to turn around and take advantage of the night, when we are not clear-sighted, we will be caught off guard, maybe, it can also cause us greater casualties!"

"This kind of tactical style of commanding operations is quite similar to that of Cao Hong City Lord, and it also echoes Cao Hong's usual style of acting! It is precisely for the above reasons that Wei Chen will conclude that the fleet that is blocking our way must be the fleet of the Sea Clan!"

Speaking of this, General Ma stopped and smiled slightly, pouted, and said: "Maybe it's because the city lord Cao Hong thinks too much, maybe he underestimates the strength of someone in my horse, and he is surprised by this kind of trickery, using it once fresh, repeatedly, hum, it's asking for hardship!"

Prince Tang Feng's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said, "In this way, General Ma, you have already judged that they will ambush us halfway?"

"Yes!" General Ma waved his fist and said hatefully, "Before it gets dark, I have already sent an order to the commanders of all ships to pay attention to the enemy's surprise attack...... Look, Your Highness the Prince, even if my order to return fire has not yet been issued, haven't our warships begun to fight back in an orderly manner?"

As he spoke, General Ma raised his hand and pointed to the front of the fleet, Prince Tang Feng looked in the direction of his finger, and sure enough, his fleet did not show any signs of panic, but still maintained a neat battle formation, organized and layered in the artillery to return fire!

This made Prince Tang Feng's heart that had been hanging slowly fall, and he let out a sigh of relief, and said with great relief: "Finally, I didn't fall for the enemy's plan again...... In that case, then what are we hesitating about, General Ma, you hurry up and order to go down, let our fleet take this opportunity to completely surround the enemy, and don't let the imperial brother run away again!"

"Yes! Subordinates obey orders!" General Ma clenched his fists at Prince Tang Feng and replied in a loud voice. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Immediately, General Ma said to the herald on the lookout: "Pass my general's order, send 50 warships on the left and right sides at the same time to encircle and attack the enemy's fleet! At the same time, the battleships in front of them are firing with all their might, and they must entangle the enemy, and they must not be allowed to escape easily, and wait for the fleets on both sides to complete the encirclement of the enemy, and then launch a general attack!"

With General Ma's order issued, Prince Tang Feng's fleet quickly split into two teams, one left and one right, bypassing the enemy ships in front and outflanking the enemy's flank and rear!

And the one in charge of the command of the outflanking fleet on the left is General Ma's most proud lieutenant and General Ma's nephew, Ma Yao.

Speaking of this Ma Yao, he has some connections with Cao Hong, he is seven or eight years younger than Cao Hong, and like Cao Hong, he also graduated from the Royal Military Academy of the Tongtian Empire, so he can be regarded as Cao Hong's junior brother.

When Ma Yao was in the academy, Cao Hong had graduated for many years, but even so, Ma Yao could still hear the name of his senior brother from everyone's mouth from time to time, because Cao Hong was indeed a genius in military command, so many of his deeds were taken out by the Royal Military Academy to educate the younger generations, which made the high-minded Ma Yao feel very unconvinced!

In terms of background, Ma Yao is not inferior to Cao Hong at all! Cao Hong's father is a second-class member of the dynasty, and Ma Yao's father is also a general who guards one side! Not only that, Ma Yao's uncles, cousins, and elder brothers also have many who have served in the army, and their military ranks are very high and their military achievements are outstanding!

Therefore, Ma Yao was very unimpressed by the legends about Cao Hong that circulated in the academy! In his cognition, his military talent must be above Cao Hong, and the reason why Cao Hong became more famous than him was that Cao Hong was born so many years earlier than him!

This time, Ma Yao followed his uncle General Ma on the expedition, and it happened to be the fleet of the Sea Clan commanded by Cao Hong, which made Ma Yao secretly hold back a lot of energy, hoping that he could completely defeat Cao Hong and become famous through this war!

However, perhaps it was the fate of the heavens, the battleship led by Ma Yao, in the battle during the day, had been hit and ignited by Cao Hong's shipwive, and now it has become a pile of debris floating in the sea, if it were not for General Ma using his power to reassign a warship to Ma Yao, Ma Yao would have to stay honestly on the rescue ship in the rear to be a spectator of the war.

How could the arrogant Ma Yao accept such an "incomparably depressing" result? Now, General Ma asked Ma Yao to command the fleet on the left and was responsible for outflanking the enemy ships, which just gave Ma Yao a good opportunity to defeat Cao Hong!

Therefore, after Ma Yao received the order, he almost let his warships drive at full power and rushed towards the enemy's right side, which was much faster than the friendly army on the right who was responsible for outflanking!

"Cao Hong! Senior Brother!" Ma Yao, who was standing on the lookout, was full of excitement and ruthlessness: "It is said that you are the pride of the academy and the undefeated god of war! I, Ma Yao, do not believe in that evil! This time, I will definitely defeat you and capture you alive, so that the academy, the entire empire, and the whole world will know that I am the first military genius of the younger generation! And senior brother, you are just a stepping stone on my road to fame!"

After saying this, Ma Yao also shouted to the herald beside him: "Hurry up, inform all ships, don't give me any meows! Be sure to reach the enemy's right flank before the enemy reacts! Complete the outflanking mission!"

However, before Ma Yao could finish speaking, there was a loud bang, and a cannonball exploded in the sea next to him, and the skyrocketing water column provoked by the cannonball fell, drenching Ma Yao's head and face, making Ma Yao, who was a little hot-headed, shiver excitedly!

"Where did the cannonballs come from?" Ma Yao exclaimed, wiping the sea water from his face.

The herald looked ahead with some horror and replied, "Listening to the sound of the cannonballs flying, it seems to be coming from our front...... General Ma, isn't it...... Could it be that the enemy has already sensed our tactics of outflanking us left and right, so he sent warships to intercept us?"

Ma Yao thought for a moment, shook his head affirmatively, and said, "This is impossible! How can the enemy know that we have sent warships to outflank them? They are not owls, they have a pair of eyes that can see at night...... Besides, even if they really predicted that we would outflank them, they wouldn't have the strength to divide their forces to intercept us! Don't forget, they're just a fleet, only one-third of our side! Now that our front army is cracking down on them with all their might, how can they have the spare time to bother with us?"

The herald scratched his head and said, "But, just now, it was obviously a cannonball that exploded next to our ship, not the enemy, who could have fired at us?"

Ma Yao gritted his steel teeth and said fiercely: "I can't care so much! We have already rushed up, we can't go back the same way...... Maybe that attack just now was just a tentative attack by the enemy...... The order is given, and the ships continue to maintain their course, advance at full speed, and complete the encirclement of the enemy!"

"Yes!" the herald replied loudly, waving the small flag in his hand and passing on Ma Yao's general order.

However, was the matter really as simple as Ma Yao thought? Was the cannonball just now just a tentative attack by the Sea Clan fleet? Of course not! Where would Ma Yao, who was full of confidence, expect that what was waiting for him and his fleet ahead was a force that he could not compete with at all......

As the sounds of "Bang Dang!" and "Bang Dang!" sounded one after another, Ma Yao felt that his battleship shook violently and stopped in place in an instant!

Finally getting up, Ma Yao's face was bitter, and he shouted anxiously: "What's wrong with the meow again? Why did the boat suddenly stop? Speed! Shouldn't I keep the speed?"

The sailors on the deck shouted to Ma Yao: "Back to General Ma, the battleship seems to have been ...... I'm entangled in something, and I can't move forward!"

"What?" General Ma was shocked, hurriedly jumped off the lookout, ran two steps to the side of the boat, and looked into the sea.

Through the faint light of the ship, Ma Yao saw that in front of his battleship, five huge iron chains as thick as tree trunks were entangled with each other, forming a simple iron chain network, covering the front edge of his battleship.

"Iron lock Hengjiang tactic!" Ma Yao trembled and said hurriedly: "It seems that Cao Hong really expected that we would adopt the tactics of outflanking left and right, so he would arrange iron chains here in advance to block the advance of our fleet...... It's really annoying to me!"

Before Ma Yao could finish getting angry, he heard the observer on the lookout shouting in panic: "General Ma......! Enemy ships have appeared!"