On the vast sea, two fleets were fighting.
After Liu Rengui and Du Shuang went around to the rear of the Arab ship, they moved closer to the enemy ship.
Because the Arab ships are huge and cannot turn around as quickly as they do, what the offshore navy faces is the stern of the Arab ships.
You must know that the weakest part of a ship is the stern. The weapons and equipment here cannot be compared with the bow and sides of the ship. This is what Liu Rengui is interested in.
Therefore, when approaching the Arab ships, the attack was not serious, and their ships easily approached them.
Seeing that he had reached the range of the giant crossbow, Liu Rengui immediately issued an order to fire the crossbow with iron knots.
Sparks shot up into the sky and shot towards the hull of the enemy ship ahead.
It is said that giant crossbow arrows equipped with iron knots will have the best killing effect when they are shot on the deck. However, their ships are much smaller than the Arab ships, and naturally much shorter. It is impossible to shoot them on the deck. The elevation angle of the giant crossbow is not that large, and it is difficult to calculate the angle.
The only alternative is to shoot at the hull. The crossbow hits the hull, and coupled with the explosive effect of the iron lump, it can also damage the enemy ship.
"Shoot, shoot for me, kill these Tang people!"
"Their crossbows cannot hit us! If we sink them all, it will be a great achievement for us!" The captains of the Arab ships gave orders one after another.
At the same time that Liu Rengui and the others launched their attack, the Arabs also launched an attack against Liu Rengui and the others.
The same huge crossbow arrows were fired at Liu Rengui's ship.
"Turn the ship around, retreat, quickly!!!" Liu Rengui roared at the herald.
Flags were played one after another, and the ship retreated after firing a round of iron bullets.
Liu Rengui was like this, and Du Shuang also issued the order to retreat immediately. If he didn't retreat, he would suffer heavy losses.
As giant crossbow arrows were nailed to the hull of the Arab warship, iron knots burst out.
"Boom boom boom!"
Loud noises were heard, and the Arab warships that were originally preparing to turn around and pursue Liu Rengui and the two were blasted out with big holes.
The hull of the ship was in flames. One Arab sailor was overturned in the explosion and thrown into the sea, and screams continued.
Compared with the heavy losses of the Arab ships, the losses of Liu Rengui's fleet were much smaller. Only a few warships were bombarded by a large number of crossbows because they were slow to evacuate.
Naturally, the bombarded offshore ships could no longer participate in the battle. Under Liu Rengui's order, they withdrew from the battlefield immediately.
Cooperating with Du Shuang, Liu Rengui and his team's first round of bombardment was successful, but it only made five Arab warships incapable of combat. There were still more than a dozen Arab warships that could continue to fight.
And when Liu Rengui retreated, the Arab warships also turned their bows and pursued them.
Liu Rengui fought and retreated, constantly making detours, which made the pursuing Arab warships exhausted.
On the Arab warship, Abdullah became angry and said: "Let me disperse the pursuit, and I will see where they can run!"
Under Abdullah's order, the Arab warships quickly dispersed and used a dragnet to encircle and suppress Liu Rengui and Du Shuang.
Faced with Abdullah's fighting style, Liu Rengui and Du Shuang were overjoyed.
If they were gathered together, they would still have a headache and would not dare to get too close to attack. After all, the enemy's crossbows were not easy to attack. A concentrated attack could cripple them in one round. However, it was different when they dispersed and encircled and suppressed them. They could completely attack them one by one. Break.
The battle lasted for a whole day, and it was not until sunset that both sides evacuated.
Debris from the sunken ship floated on the sea, and corpses continued to drift into the distance with the waves.
This battle was the first battle between the Tang Navy and the Western Navy.
Quanzhou Port, after the war, Liu Rengui and Du Shuang docked here with their fleet.
In the city of Quanzhou, Liu Rengui, Du Shuang and the lieutenants were celebrating their victory. In this battle, they sank eight Arab warships and wounded ten. However, none of them themselves were sunk and only ten were wounded. Five ships, and these fifteen ships only need to be repaired to fight again.
When there is a war, there is death. Although the casualties are much less than those of the Arabs, more than fifty naval officers were killed.
The news reached Chang'an immediately. When Li Shimin learned that the Western warships that invaded the coast of Datang and harassed the people before, he couldn't help but look gloomy, and immediately called Luo Zhang to the imperial study.
When Luo Zhang came to the imperial study, Li Shimin was standing in front of the world map drawn by Luo Zhang and looking at it carefully.
Luo Zhang did not interrupt, but stood aside and waited quietly. He also received news from Li Yifu about the victory of Liu Rengui and Du Shuang against the Arabs. Although he won, Luo Zhang was not in a good mood.
According to the history he knew, even if the Arabs came to the Tang Dynasty, it would be at least ten years later, but this time has been greatly advanced, which is not a good sign.
You know, the Arabs came to Datang, which meant that Muhammad had unified the entire country and was waging war on the surrounding areas.
In history, the powerful Tang Dynasty suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of Muhammad, which shows the power of the food country.
Nowadays, the Tang Dynasty has not yet reached its peak period, but the Great Eclipse has already unified it. Although there is no serious problem for the time being, once the Great Eclipse encroaches on the surrounding countries, it will march towards the Western Regions, and sooner or later there will be a battle.
Just when Luo Zhang was thinking wildly, Li Shimin finally looked away from the map, looked at Luo Zhang who was standing next to him and said, "Have you received the news too?"
Upon hearing His Majesty's inquiry, Luo Zhang nodded hurriedly and said: "I got it, Your Majesty!"
"You once told me that a powerful country would appear in the West. Is it this Dashi?" Li Shimin asked.
Luo Zhang nodded and said truthfully: "That's right, Your Majesty, the Great Food Country is not weaker than our Great Tang, and is even stronger than the Great Tang in some aspects!"
After listening to Luo Zhang's words, Li Shimin fell silent.
Luo Zhang also knew the difficulties in Li Shimin's heart. Nowadays, the Tang Dynasty seems to be strong, but it is still suffering from internal and external troubles. Gaogouli has not been resolved. Feng Hu is still watching in the south. Although Tubo in the west is caught in civil strife, it cannot be underestimated. At a glance, Japan in the east seems weak, but at critical moments it can bite off a piece of Tang Dynasty's flesh.
It can be said that the Tang Dynasty is surrounded by enemies on all sides. If another big food country comes, the Tang Dynasty will not be able to resist it.
"Your Majesty, although the Dashi Kingdom is strong, it will not invade the Western Region in a short time. We still have a lot of time!" Luo Zhang said thoughtfully.
"I ask you, when will you be able to build the high-sea ship?" Li Shimin stared at Luo Zhang and said.
