<h4>Chapter 1053: Iron Defense Line</h4>


    As an ind nation, Japan had close to hundred ports in total. 70% of these were gathered in Honshu.


    Inparison, the number of ports near Hokkaido were sparser and even fewer were suitable for the army to disembark and fight. Along with the geographical position andbat nning, all that remained was the port of Kushiro on the east, Rumoi Port on the west as well as Port of Tomakomai on the south side.


    Oda Nobunaga knew this too.


    Before the country war began, Sanli City spent a lot of effort to build up many defenses at the ports.


    Keisuke Honda really went all out.


    Before the country war began, he ordered the demolishment of the port and the use of torpedoes to lock down the bay such that the Great Xia squadron could not even enter the port and had to disembark on the beaches on the two sides.


    The core defenses were three rows of cannon turrets lined up from low to high to ensure the continuity of the firepower. Cannon after cannon aimed down from above ensured that they could cover the entire beach region.


    The closely packed firepower was enough to destroy allnd troops.


    Apart from that, behind the cannon turrets were many arrow turrets and rows of archers. They could shoot from afar to cover the beach and ensure their own safety.


    Lastly, there would be the gunners.


    They hid within the cannon turrets and supported andplemented the cannon fire through small shooting holes.


    The ingenious part was that such abination basically made it impossible for Great Xia to use flying devices unless they acted as kamikaze pilots that embarked on a death mission.


    The cost of the building the flying devices was too expensive, and they could not afford it.


    Such a sick defensive line was something that only perverts like Keisuke Honda could think of. In order to build such defensive forts at the major ports, he pretty much spent all the money of Sanli City.


    Luckily, the Japanese yers were really united, and during the process, they chipped in money and manpower.


    ...


    6th month, 2nd day, Hokkaido Port of Kushiro.


    At 9 AM, the Yashan Squadron protected the vanguard forces of the army as they arrived in the nearby ocean region.


    On the gship canopy.


    The expedition army vanguard general Guo Ziyi looked out at the cannon formations, and he frowned tightly. He said toward Fleet Admiral Yu Dayou, “General, can the squadron cannons hit the enemy formation?”


    Yu Dayou shook his head, “The enemy is experienced, and their cannon formation is ced really exquisitely. As our shooting ranges are simr, the enemy fire can hit the beach region, but our warships are unable to proceed forward to hit the shore.”


    The warships were huge and went really deep into the water, so it could not go near the shore. Otherwise, it would get stuck.


    Guo Ziyi asked, “Can we use the mimicry flying devices to bomb them from the air?”


    “If we do not want the enemy to shoot them down, they have to stop at least 400 meters above them, and the uracy of the bombs would greatly decrease. We can try, but do not hold too high hopes.”


    The mimicry flying device had long be the standard unit of the Great Xia navy. Not mentioning the squadron level, but even the division level gships had two to three of them.


    Toward thebat abilities of the flying devices, Yu Dayou were really familiar with them.


    “This is tough.” Guo Ziyi gritted his teeth, “No matter what, let’s give it a try!”


    “We can only do that!”


    Yu Dayou had no other ideas.


    Very quickly, five mimicry flying devices flew up from the deck and formed up in a line as they flew toward the enemy airspace.


    As this was right next to the ocean, there were often winds.


    There was currently a westerly wind, especially in the air, where the strength of the wind reached level 5. If one threw down bombs from above, one might easily miss the target due to the wind.


    In the first round of bombing, none hit.


    When Yu Dayou saw that, he looked over at Guo Ziyi. His expression was a little awkward. Although the wind did affect it, such results were simply too embarrassing.


    Especially in front of the allied troops, it was a loss to the Great Xia Army’s prestige.


    During the second round, the situation did not turn for the battle, as only one hit and only exploded beside the cannon turret, not causing much casualties.


    With this degree of bombing, one would not be able to hurt the enemy defenses. The key was still time. The country war month onlysted for a month, so they needed to end it fast.


    Probably in the morning, the main force led bymander Han Xin would arrive at the frontlines.


    At that point, the navy, War Fighting Legions,bat upation yers, and logistical support all added together would total at over three million people and thousands of ships.


    For such a huge fleet, every day they spent on sea would be an enormous waste of resources. No matter how rich Great Xia was, they would not be able tost for long.


    Hence, the vanguard forces needed to take control of the shoreline as quickly as possible time and build a base. They would use this to get more and more resources from the maind, forming a cycle.


    “Since the air siege does not work, we can only forcefully attack!”


    Guo Ziyi turned around and looked at all the Legion Generals and asked solemnly, “Anyone willing to lead the fight?”


    “I’m willing!”


    The moment his wordsnded, a general stepped out. It was the 1st legion Legion General of the zing legion corps, one of the top 10 generals, Ran Min.


    For this expedition, Feng Qiuhuang was really sincere and took the initiative to arrange the zing legion corps as the vanguard.


    The reason within was apart from thanking Great Xia, she wanted to use this battle to make Fallen Phoenix City famous and earn merit points to upgrade to the Duke rank.


    Seeing that Handan City was on the verge of establishing a country, Feng Qiuhuang was obviously anxious.


    Out of the three remaining territories in China, only Fallen Phoenix City was not a Capital City.


    When Guo Ziyi saw that, he nodded in satisfaction, “Go ahead!”


    “Yes, general!”


    After a short while, Ran Min led 10 thousand zing legion corps elites on cima boats and charged right for the shore. The moment they docked, they jumped off and charged.


    The moment the soldiers at the front stepped on the soft sand, the enemy army acted.


    ‘Hong! Hong! Hong!’


    All of a sudden, cannons fired.


    Huge cannonballs burst apart on the beach, causing the sand to fly up in the end, shooting toward the soldiers like bullets.


    “Ah, my eyes!”


    The unlucky ones got sand in their eyes as they let out pained screams.


    “Raise your shields!”


    The tall and big Ran Min held his spear as hemanded his forces to spread out with toons as a unit, dodging the cannon balls whilst using their shields to block the arrows.


    “Kill!”


    Ran Min’s mission was to kill his way to the cannon turrets.


    With a ‘Shua!’, iron shields were lifted up, forming an iron wall.


    Although Ran Min was a brutish general, he was not foolish at all. The 10 thousand elites he brought were all the top sword-shield soldiers, and it included some archers to cover fire.


    Each toon had one archer.


    On the canopy, Guo Ziyi looked out at the vanguard troops. He was both excited and nervous.


    “Whether we can seed or not depends on this battle!”