More and more Mongolian ships poured into the Minjiang River. These Mongolian troops were also well-trained. As soon as they entered the wide waters, they spread out and formed an offensive formation to rush toward the Perak fleet. But before they dispersed, they were bombarded by the Perak Army. Most of these later ships were not armored, so casualties increased greatly. Each round of bombardment would cause more than a dozen ships to lose control. It's just that there are too many Mongolian ships. Each round of artillery of the Perak Army only removes one layer like an onion. After peeling off one layer, there is still another layer. In addition, after the gunboat is fired, it needs to clean the gun barrel, reload the ammunition, and turn the ship's side, making it impossible to form uninterrupted firepower. Therefore, the offensive momentum of the Mongolian army ships was not suppressed, and they continued to rush towards the Perak army.
When all the Mongolian ships poured into the waters of Pengshan City, most of the gun barrels of the Pili Army gunboats were red, and they had to retreat to the rear of the fleet. At this time, the more than 20 escort ships of the Perak Army were fighting with the more than 100 warships of the Mongolian Army, and the sound of killing broke out. Judging from the battle situation, although the Perak Army escort ships were few, their hulls were tall. The low Mongolian ships were not only unable to withstand collisions, but were also at a disadvantage in gang-hopping operations. After all, it is not easy to jump from a low place to a high place, and it is also when the ship's hull is constantly shaking. It's just that "the number of ants kills the elephant." Although the Mongolian army suffered heavy casualties, it also caused heavy losses to the Perak army.
Le Quan'an was extremely anxious looking at the stalemate battle situation. At this time, he regretted not taking the heavy artillery ship with him. Although heavy artillery ships are heavy and unsuitable for water battles, if they are loaded with shotgun shells, they can destroy many ships. In fact, it was he who strongly suggested to Ouyang Xuan not to bring a heavy gun ship. The reason was that such an extremely expensive warship was only suitable for attacking fortresses and not suitable for water battles. Carrying it would cause a decrease in maneuverability and would be a burden. It is said that the cost of building those ten heavy artillery ships is more expensive than the cost of all other ships in the naval brigade. Le Quan'an also regretted not setting up artillery in Pengshan City. If artillery is set up on the city wall, you can now attack the enemy from a high position. It was just that he was worried that his brothers would be infected with the plague, so he didn't let anyone enter the city.
A burst of gunfire interrupted Le Quan'an's brief distraction. He clearly remembered that the gunboat retreated to the rear due to overheating. Even if various cooling measures were taken, the gun barrel could not cool down so fast. Then another burst of artillery sound came, and he took a closer look. It turned out that the artillery fire was fired from the rear fleet of the Mongolian army. It fell directly into the melee ships on both sides. It penetrated the side of a Perak Army ship and also destroyed two ships. A Mongolian ship was sunk. On the surface, it seemed that the Mongolian army's artillery fired blindly, hitting both sides' ships equally, but in fact they were aiming at the Perak Army's gunboats. However, due to poor accuracy and insufficient range, those solid bullets hit the ships of both sides in the melee without distinguishing between ourselves and the enemy. The commander of the Mongolian navy was so angry that he cursed and immediately raised a flag.
When the Mongolian warships in the melee saw the flag message, they quickly retreated back, while the Mongolian gunboats slowly moved forward. Seeing this, Le Quan'an urgently ordered his escort ships to break away from the enemy ships, retreat quickly, and then ordered the light gunboats to move forward to deal with these Mongolian gunboats. After rapid cooling, the gunboat's barrel can still be fired although it has not completely cooled down. When it comes to artillery fire, the Pili Army not only has a far greater number of gunboats than the Mongolian army, but the quality of the artillery and shooting technology are also far from comparable to the Mongolian army. After several rounds of focused fire, the three Mongolian gunboats were riddled with holes by solid bullets and all sank into the water. One of them also exploded, damaging and sinking several nearby ships.
Seeing that the gunboat on our side was destroyed, the Mongolian army commanded the ship to send another wave of semaphores. I saw the Mongolian army ships giving way to a channel one after another, and more than a dozen ships rushed out of the fleet, rushing straight towards the Perak army fleet. Le Quan'an observed with a telescope that these Mongolian ships with long and thin iron pipes on their bows were not large, but they had a very deep draft. Although there were more than ten oarsmen rowing hard, the speed was not too fast. This was obviously because the vital parts were equipped with iron armor and there were many things packed in the cabin. With doubts in his mind, he waved his flag and sent several escort ships to check out these strange ships. If these dozens of ships dare to attack, there must be something fishy in them.
The sense of oppression brought by these strange ships was so strong that it even exceeded the threat of the Mongolian gunboats. In fact, the best way to deal with the Mongolian army's treacherous tactics is to use artillery to clear the ground. However, as soon as the warship passed by and fired, the barrel of the gun began to become red and hot again. If it was fired forcibly, it would most likely explode. Lequan'an had no choice but to send a escort ship to test. Sure enough, as soon as the Pili army ship approached the Mongolian army's strange ship, those thin iron pipes suddenly spurted out flames more than 20 meters long. In an instant, several Perak Army escort ships began to burn, and the Perak Army soldiers on board were also covered in fire, like human-shaped candles, struggling to jump into the water.
Seeing the tragic situation in front of them, most of the soldiers of the Perak Army opened their mouths in shock, and many of them screamed and cried in pain. These soldiers were no strangers to fire warships, and were accustomed to death. It's just that the Mongolian army's fire warship was so terrifying and Paoze's death was so tragic, it really exceeded their expectations. This psychological shock was as shocking as the Mongolian army's first encounter with the Pili Army's artillery. At this time, Le Quan'an showed an excellent commander's calmness and calmness in the face of danger. He waved the flag and displayed the signal: Demolition ship attacks.
At this time, the soldiers of the Perak Army had recovered from the shock. They saw the command ship constantly waving flags and followed the orders one after another. The escort ships in the front row sailed to both sides, while the gunboats retreated, revealing fifty small boats similar to those used for fishing in the array. In fact, these boats are converted fishing boats, and there is only one soldier on each boat. After the command ship signaled, the first batch of ten small boats set off. They formed a dispersed formation, and with the help of the Perak soldiers on the boat rowing desperately, they rushed towards the Mongolian fleet. These small boats were extremely light, and coupled with the speed of the water flow, they moved very fast, and soon they approached the Mongolian army's fire war ship. Just as the Mongolian warships aimed their slender tubes at these small boats, the soldiers of the Perak Army who were manning the boats jumped into the water one after another and swam desperately to both sides of the bank.
Although there were only ten small boats in the first batch of the Perak Army, they were extremely fast, and for a while they caused the Mongolian warships to scramble. Some boats escaped the spraying flames and went downstream, while some bumped into the fire war boats and even connected together. It turned out that there were sharp iron nails on the bows and sides of these boats. Under the action of inertia, these iron nails penetrated deeply into the Mongolian ships and could not be separated for a while. Some boats were ignited by the flames, igniting raging fires as they sailed down the river, and within a short time there was an explosion that caused landslides and ground cracking. It was not only the ignited boat that exploded, but other Pili Army boats also had powerful explosions one after another, but at different times.
These boats are the latest self-destruction boats developed by the Perak Army. Its core warhead is an oversized landmine, but its size is dozens of times larger than ordinary landmines. The amount of gunpowder contained in it is about a hundred kilograms, so its power is naturally considerable. This self-destructing ship can set the detonation time by adjusting the fuse. The reason why the explosion time is different is because some small boat warheads were detonated in advance by the flames of the fire warship.
After a series of devastating explosions, there was a rare silence on the battlefield, as if this was just an ordinary morning on an ordinary day. However, the red-dyed river water, the pieces of wood and rags that filled the river, and the smoke that filled the sky above the river indicated that this was destined to be an extremely unusual day, and perhaps an important moment in history.
