When Yuan Xi and Lu Xun saw the situation on the ground, they knew that the waters near Donglai were probably all controlled by pirates, and they also made targeted arrangements for the fleets of the Zhen family and the Gongsun family!
But the only thing the other party didn't know was that the new ships built by the Zhen family were secretly equipped with ramming horns during construction. Although a lot of fine iron was consumed, in this era before cannons appeared, they were already extremely effective. .
Yuan Xi gave an order, and amid the howling of the strong winter wind, the Zhen family's caravan ships hoisted full sails, cut through the waves, and rushed toward the pirate ships.
As soon as he came up, he used his killer move!
Using ships to ram each other is a common method in water battles, but spending so much iron that can be used to make weapons to specially make a collision angle is not a small expense.
But since you have invested a lot of money, there must be returns.
Those pirate ships were still firing arrows from a distance, but when they woke up, the Youzhou Army's ship had already hit them hard.
There was a continuous loud bang, and the huge iron ram directly hit the side of the local ship, shattered the deck, broke the keel, and a relatively slender pirate ship was cut in half!
The enemy soldiers on the pirate ship screamed and flew into the air, and then fell into the water. They were immediately submerged by the turbulent and biting waves. The few who were proficient in water skills desperately struggled and screamed in the water, trying to catch the broken pieces of the ship around them.
The soldiers on the Youzhou Army side were also shaken by the huge recoil, but fortunately they fixed their bodies in advance, so they recovered after a while.
In this collision, several of the opponent's large ships were severely damaged. Even if they were not broken, the cabins below the deck began to flood. If this continues, the ship will sink sooner or later.
This sudden change caused the people on the damaged pirate ship to panic and shout, looking for planks everywhere to escape. The remaining intact pirate ship fled in a hurry and fired arrows at the Youzhou Army's ship indiscriminately.
The archers of the Youzhou Army also stood on the side of the ship and fired arrows to fight back. However, the waves on the sea were already strong and the arrows were not accurate, so they were unable to cause effective damage to the enemy for a while.
At this time, the escaping ships reacted, and after several orders, they reunited. The people above fired rockets coated with tung oil at the Youzhou military ship.
Yuan Xi saw that the other party was aiming at the sails, and thought that these pirates were really not ordinary people. They responded so quickly and effectively, how could they be like ordinary pirates?
But for the extremely effective poisonous move of rocket shooting at the sail, the Youzhou Army did not have a good response. The soldiers on the mast lowered the rope, pulled others to climb up, and attached the sail to the throw away the rocket to prevent the sail from catching fire.
Fortunately, the opponent's arrows were not particularly intensive, so this response was quite effective. The pirate ship on the other side saw it and took the opportunity to rush over side by side, obviously wanting to board the ship and fight!
When Lu Xun saw the other side approaching, he knew that the opportunity had come. The soldiers hiding under the side of the ship threw the jars filled with tung oil and smashed them with a roar on the decks of the two enemy ships rushing forward. The tung oil splashed out and the decks were covered for a moment. There was slippery tung oil everywhere.
The pirates fell a few times on the deck, but saw the Youzhou Army soldiers getting up again, holding blazing torches in their hands!
They screamed: "No!"
The next moment, the Youzhou Army threw the torch over and set the deck on fire instantly!
The two ships burned instantly. The pirates on board screamed and jumped into the sea. Seeing that the fire was getting stronger and stronger, the ship was obviously going to be destroyed.
The remaining pirates understood that they had hit a hard nail, and turned away one after another, hoping to join the pirate fleet that was pursuing the Youzhou Army.
On the big ship leading the fleet, there were two leaders dressed in yellow scarves. One of them frowned and said, "Brother, there is something wrong with this Zhen family fleet."
These two people are the two famous generals of the Yellow Turban Army, Guan Hai and Guan Cheng.
Under the leadership of the two men, they traveled across the North and East China Seas and trapped Kong Rong until he could not escape. Now, the two men are leading this powerful maritime fleet and continue to do evil.
The one who spoke was Guan Cheng, who was slightly younger and considered the elder Guan Hai his brother.
After hearing this, Guan Hai sneered and said, "I'm afraid we're here prepared, but if we don't run away at this point, I'm afraid they want to eat us. It's just wishful thinking."
"We can't let them escape. Just surround them and get on the boat to fight. Don't let any of them go!"
Guan Cheng listened and immediately gave the order. Under his command, dozens of warships of different sizes rushed towards Yuan Xi.
When Lu Xun saw this, he ordered the ships to turn around and line up in a line, pretending to run away, but he ordered each ship to set up rockets several feet long at the stern.
Naturally, these rockets were not arrows, but arrows mixed with gunpowder. When the pirate ships behind him caught up to them more than ten feet away, Lu Xun could already see the other pirates holding sharp blades and gearing up. Only then did he give the order to light up the ships. The rocket fuse.
There was a continuous sound of "puff", and the fire snakes flew towards the opposite sail very quickly, and then hit the sail hard, and the sharp arrows were immediately nailed to the sail.
The next moment, the arrows exploded, and the fireworks ignited the tung oil in the bamboo tube. The tung oil flowed everywhere along the sail, and the entire sail was ablaze.
This time, the Yellow Turban Pirates' ship was in chaos. Their rockets could only be launched with linen cloth soaked in tung oil. The range was not far. Where had you seen such a rocket with an oil tank and a range several times farther?
Soon seven or eight ships in front were hit one after another. Although the accuracy of the rockets was not good, the distance between the two sides was very close, and the sails were large, so they could be hit casually. The sails of each ship were burned, and the speed suddenly slowed down.
When Guan Cheng saw the other party pulling up the sail and running away at full speed, he was furious. It turned out that this was what the other party had planned!
He shouted: "Fire the arrow!"
"No matter what rockets or arrows, shoot them all!"
When the pirates on the Yellow Turban ship heard this, they drew their bows and fired arrows, aiming at the Youzhou ship.
Lu Xun gave another order, and the wooden baffles covered with iron sheets slowly rose up from the sides of the ship on both sides. The arrows of the Yellow Turban pirates shot on them and were bounced out one after another, falling into the sea.
Youzhou Army rockets kept firing, and the sails of the Yellow Turban pirate ships kept being burned. The people on top were busy putting out the fire, and dozens of ships gradually pulled away.
Seeing that the new water warfare methods conceived by Yuan Xi had achieved the expected results, he couldn't help but secretly nodded. However, he was still a little dissatisfied, because after all, the rockets could only burn the sails of the opposite ship, rather than directly attacking the enemy. Cause damage.
Moreover, the maximum distance of rocket fireworks is only twenty or thirty feet. Even a good archer from this distance can achieve it, so it cannot form a decisive suppression effect.
Yuan Xi sighed. All this may not change until the emergence of artillery in who knows how many years. Now, due to technological limitations, he has not even been able to achieve the best gunpowder ratio, so he can only do it step by step.
In the final analysis, everything in this era is made by hand. Limited by productivity and technology, the output and quality cannot keep up.
Both the horn and the gunpowder are experimental samples. There are very few other products that can be applied, and the output is scary.
He saw that the Gongsun fleet in the distance had escaped from the encirclement and was trying its best to regroup, but he did not dare to get close. It seemed that it had lost a lot of strength and was obviously timid. He was afraid that it could not count on them.
Looking at the pirate ships chasing after him one after another, Yuan Xi thought that it might end up being a gang-hopping battle.
Fortunately, the previous rocket attack had successfully disrupted their formation and dispersed them. Now, even if they are close to the pick-up station, they can only deal with one or two ships at the same time, avoiding the embarrassing situation of being trapped in a tight siege.
At this time, several light pirate ships had arrived. The sides of these ships were far lower than the Zhen family's merchant ship. They threw hooks one after another and hooked the merchant ship's side, trying to climb up.
Youzhou soldiers wanted to throw away the hook, but the other end of the rope was hung on the bow of the pirate ship. Under the pull of the wave force, the hook was deeply embedded in the wood of the ship's side and could not be pulled at all.
They pulled out their ring-headed knives and chopped, but the rope was very strong. With several knives, only the outermost strands of linen were cut off.
But they heard a whistle from the pirate ship, and the pirates grabbed the ropes and climbed up one after another. The archers of the Youzhou Army fired arrows one after another when they saw it. The archers of the Qingzhou pirates also suppressed them with arrows. For a while, you came and I went, and the boats on both sides The boards are covered with arrows.
Lu Xun gave an order, and a soldier took a clay pot filled with tung oil, put oil-soaked linen on the bottle's mouth, lit it, and then threw it towards the ship below.
The clay pot shattered on the opponent's deck, and burning tung oil flowed all over the deck. The Yellow Turban pirates shouted in panic and lifted a wooden barrel filled with seawater to put out the fire.
Although the Zhen family merchant ship had the upper hand, the Qingzhou pirates were outnumbered. One Zhen family merchant ship surrounded several small boats. Seeing that the leading pirate was about to jump onto the side of the ship, Guan Cheng, who was watching from a distance, also looked happy.
Lu Xun looked calm and gave an order. The halberdiers hiding below the deck boarded the deck one after another, rushed to the side of the ship, and stabbed the Qingzhou pirates who tried to board the ship.
The pirate who was climbing the rope to board the ship might as well be injured and fell into the sea screaming.
The two halberdiers glanced at the thick rope hooked to the side of the ship. They stood on both sides of the rope. Their halberds poked out, and the two twigs hooked the same place on the rope at the same time.
The two shouted low and pulled back hard. The two twigs cut the rope at the same time. The rope was stuck tightly and could no longer use its resilience to relieve the force. With the combined efforts of the two, a deep incision was made. .
The two of them tried their best several times, and finally with a snap, the thick rope was cut, and the pirate who was still on the rope suddenly fell into the sea with a huff.
Guan Cheng, who was on the bow of the ship in the distance, saw this and his face was gloomy. Looking at it like this, there were still many people under the cabin. Even if his own people boarded the ship, they would not be able to seize the other ship, so they would have to die in vain!
Looking at the Zhen family's merchant ship, which was as protected as a tortoise, Guan Cheng regretted it greatly. In the past, as long as pirates boarded the ship, the merchant ship would immediately lose its resistance and be captured.
Now we have hit a hard nail. If we turn around, we will definitely be chased by the opponent. Most of the fleet without sails will only be cannibalized by the opponent one by one. In the end, no one can escape!
what to do?
He looked at the surrounded Zhen family merchant ships and thought hard. The ship's sides were equipped with fenders, the sails were protected by people, and the halberdiers were prevented from jumping gangs. What weaknesses did the other side have?
Suddenly he remembered a plan and shouted quickly: "Go into the water and sink the opponent!"
(End of chapter)
