Chapter 86: War Begins (Part 2)

Ru Wang's expression suddenly changed, and he obviously understood what Prince Mu meant. He moved his lips as if trying to show his goodwill as a banker, but the prince's eyes had already passed him and were looking straight into the distance.

The new round of fire rain obviously brought a stronger shock, so that the order on the flagship that was barely maintained by muskets and officers collapsed in an instant, and the gathered sailors screamed and exploded, running around like headless flies. But humans' reaction was too slow after all, and the catastrophe came too quickly - the second batch of Qingmiao Emperor ships roared down, and except for a small number that rushed into the fire and fueled the flames, the rest exploded in the sky, spraying thick black and sticky liquid that splashed like raindrops, staining the hull everywhere.

The high temperature of the fire was scorching, and the liquids soon burst into indigo flames. The fire spread fiercely and meandered straight up, engulfing most of the deck in an instant. Ships on long voyages must be regularly coated with tung oil for maintenance, so once the moisture is dried out it becomes the most suitable and excellent fuel, and the spread of flames becomes unstoppable. But ordinary dead objects would be fine, many sailors were covered with slime, and they were also ignited with scorching hot spots in an instant. No matter how they rolled over, screamed, and slammed their heads on the ground, the flames stuck to them like maggots attached to their bones, until they burned through their flesh and fat, and burned their bones until they cracked and turned into dry firewood.

Even though he was watching the fire from across the river, there was no sound, as if he was just enjoying a pantomime from afar; the prince watched intently and couldn't help but take a breath of cold air, thinking that Zhao Fei's methods were indeed ruthless and clever. But if you think about it carefully, it’s not strange. According to Zhao Fei's explanation, this thing is used to deal with the Jin people's heavily armored cavalry, but how can ordinary incendiary bullets burn through heavy armor? Of course, only by adding a large amount of high-calorie sticky colloid, which comes when it touches, is hard to get rid of, flows freely into every pore, and burns along every gap until it turns living people into ashes.

This was of course very cruel, so the prince looked away and saw several nervous faces.

Even though the production capacity of telescopes had been expanded, only seven or eight were carried south this time, barely enough for the officials who were close to the troops to share. The other minor officials stood guard at the side and could only stretch their necks to look at the fire in the distance; the local officials from several provinces and prefectures stared intently, as if they were actually there, thousands of miles away; the pressure and excitement were of course extremely great.

According to the common practice of the Central Plains court in conquering barbarians, the imperial envoy of the superior country, who is kind and compassionate to the people, should sigh and feel sad at this time, express his sadness about the destruction of the people by weapons, and admire the emperor's virtue of stopping war and using force; it is like Zhuge Liang who shed tears for the southern barbarians in the past, and his virtue can win the hearts of the people. But Mu Qi stood in the wind for a long time, and apart from the soreness in the corners of his eyes, there was no sign of tears. So he could only give up helplessly and sighed:

"How pitiful... But it's okay, it will be ready soon."

Onlookers: …………

But the prince was indeed right. This kind of napalm mixed with a large amount of gelatinous substances burned people quickly and painfully. The sailors who were contaminated by it could only roll on the ground a few times at most, and then collapsed to the ground and could not move. Those who managed to survive completely collapsed in panic, and rushed down the deck and towards the cabin, shoving each other in a panic, fighting desperately for their only chance of life - the rain of fire that fell from the sky had only affected the upper deck of the flagship for the time being, and they could still survive by retreating to the bottom of the cabin. As for the effects of this completely uncontrollable rain of fire after it spreads, that is not something we can consider now.

"Several ships are about to escape." Commander Qi, who was standing below, suddenly said.

He pointed southeast, toward a few small ships huddled to one side. The fleet was lined up in formation and was coming forward with great momentum. Of course, they had wings in front, behind, left and right to protect them, but the rockets were coming towards them head-on, so all the protection was useless. During the previous rocket launch drill, the prince had solemnly instructed the militia craftsmen who had practiced the technique time and again to focus on attacking the big ones; so the small boats on the flanks luckily survived and panickedly looked for a way to survive - according to naval practice, after encountering a surprise attack, they should gather to the flagship to accept command, gather combat power and fight to the death; but now getting close to the flagship would undoubtedly be courting death, so the commander simply frowned and protected the flagship in front of him, and took advantage of the large ships to attract firepower and tried to escape.

Such behavior certainly could not be hidden from the experienced Qi Yuanjing, who looked away:

"Can the prince still launch that... rocket?"

According to common tactics, this type of small vessel could only rely on fireboat ramming and boarding to fight, using human lives to make up for the technological gap. But after witnessing the power of the "Qingmiao Emperor" with his own eyes, Commander Qi also became interested. He had seen rocket launch drills before, but he had never expected that these iron rods would be so effective. It was really fascinating and he couldn't help himself - why waste his life when there are such almost magical weapons?

Mu Qi smiled slightly, but just looked down the mountain. Theoretically, the rockets he brought with him were enough for all the flagships on the field; but in practice it was inevitably a bit embarrassing. Launching a rocket is not like lighting fireworks. Judging the direction and distance requires quite complex mathematical knowledge. At the very least, one must be proficient in trigonometric functions and parabolas. Of course, it was impossible for the hastily recruited craftsmen and laborers to understand such complicated operations, so the firing process was restricted quite rigidly. The craftsmen could only adjust the firing angle and direction according to the range comparison table distributed in advance by the prince, and they had to memorize it mechanically without any deviation, and they could barely guarantee the hit rate. But changing the target means changing the comparison table at the same time, and adjusting the indicators is quite laborious...

This is the disadvantage of having a weak foundation. No matter what tricks you use to forcibly improve your combat effectiveness, the problems of a weak foundation will inadvertently emerge and bring unpredictable troubles. Mu Qi thought over and over again, and felt that he could find a way to pua Liu Li and let him compile the range comparison table to be simpler and more convenient for subsequent adjustments. Among the three people, probably only Liu Li had the most solid mathematical foundation and the most time, making him suitable for doing such trivial and delicate work.

Of course, before new ideas are agreed upon, Mu Qi still has a way to make up for this gap. He stared into the distance for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Mr. Juwang, do the Portuguese also have the habit of praying before escaping?"

"You are joking, my Lord." Ru Wang said reluctantly, "The Portuguese sailors are very good, of course—"

He suddenly stopped talking and gripped the telescope tightly - although the view was still not clear enough, he could still make out the sailors in chaos on the deck of the flanking ship. Although the sails had been turned, the sailors were still running around like headless flies, and order was almost broken.

——But this shouldn’t happen! After the sails turned, the captain, helmsman and sailors should cooperate to quickly adjust the direction of the ship, turn around urgently and prepare to retreat; such a chaotic and almost disastrous situation would not befall even a third- or fourth-rate navy, let alone the Portuguese who now dominate the world?

Ruwang widened his eyes.

"This doesn't look like a riot." Commander Qi, who had also been watching for a long time, suddenly said, "Their ship seems to be... out of control?"

The famous general had a keen eye and saw the clue immediately. Most of these sailors gathered at the rudder in front, seemingly watching something strange in fear. No matter how the helmsman and the captain fired warning shots, the crowd would not disperse. It was obvious that an unforeseen major accident had occurred at the rudder, which suddenly broke the psychological defenses and triggered unpredictable panic.

However, it would be fine if the rudder of one ship had problems, but there were at least seven or eight small ships on the left and right of the wing, and the decks of these seven or eight ships were in the same chaos. They could even see the helmsmen frantically turning the steering wheel, but no matter how the sails on the masts swayed and changed direction, those large and small sailboats could only stay in place and rise and fall with the waves; even if a few of them could barely start, they could only circle in place after sailing for dozens of meters, caught in a dilemma.

Ru Wang was stunned: "Excuse me, my lord, what is going on?"

"I don't know anything about sailing, so how can I understand such a wonderful thing?" The prince said casually, "But I think they were probably overwhelmed by the divine power of the current emperor, so their hands and feet were paralyzed and they couldn't even steer the boat."

Such inexplicable crazy talk again! Ru Wang's mouth twitched, and he stopped embarrassing himself.

Of course, Lao Deng, who had been huddled in the West Garden for years, would never have such divine power, otherwise his mischief would be at least ten times more severe than it is now. But this trick of using the tiger skin worked very well. After it was said, the whole place was silent and no one spoke. Ruwang had nothing to say, and the other officials did not dare to speak out, let alone to delve deeper into the matter - if they continued to ask questions, wouldn't that be a deliberate contempt for the emperor's authority? No one can take the blame for this.

The prince remained silent and adjusted the telescope, staring closely at the water on all sides of several small sailboats. The water near the coast has been stirred to become turbid and deep, but if you look carefully, you can see bubbles bubbling up in the whirlpool, rising and falling like boiling water, and even faint flashes of fire appearing and flashing by.

Of course, just a few splashed rockets would not be enough to create such a scene. Mu Qi worked hard to gain some benefits from the system - as long as he delivered enough deviation values, he would have the opportunity to purchase some modern products from the system; but the prices were extremely high. Mu Qi calculated carefully and obtained the engines of small fishing boats and machine-rolled thin steel plates from second-hand platforms, and managed to make a crudely made water mine. These homemade water mines could slowly move along the water flow on the sea surface, gather at the bottom of the ship and detonate automatically. As long as the bottom cargo hold and keel of the ship were blown up, the transmission system of the rudder would completely collapse, and the ship would naturally be unable to move forward or backward.

This was a plan that Mu Qi had been planning for a long time, and he was willing to spend a huge amount of money on it. As the saying goes, it is better to cut off one of the enemy's fingers than to hurt ten of them. Of course, we would swallow as much military force as possible, and strive to strike a fatal blow like thunder, leaving the colonists with the most profound and terrifying impression. To this end, using water mines to blockade the waters is the most reliable, convenient and safest plan - it's not that he can't come up with something more powerful, but these things are of unknown origin and their effects are too conspicuous. If they are not handled properly, they will leave subtle suspicions that are difficult to guess in the eyes of Master Feixuan; in comparison, water mines that are hidden silently underwater are of course much more suitable... at least they won't touch Lao Deng's fragile nerves.

However, this is all the stock that Mu Qi has. Welding water mines, loading gunpowder, and using crude circuits to set up self-destruction programs are all troublesome tasks. Only Liu Li, who has a lot of free time, has the spare time to do these private jobs secretly. Today's battle has squandered all of Liu Li's work over the past six months. If he wants to increase production and expand the war, Liu Li will probably have to stuff a screwdriver into his mouth - which is not good.

Of course, the power of the homemade water mines was not enough to cause any huge waves underwater. By the time the sailors on the deck reacted and checked the situation in the bottom warehouse, they might be able to plug the hole and start the operation. But this little delay was more than enough. The third round of whooshing sounds was heard again, and this time the smoke was so thick that it almost covered half of the sky.

"This is the Wanshou Emperor." The prince said in a gentle manner, "A brand new rocket with a brand new effect."

The Wanshou Emperor fired farther and more accurately than the Qingmiao Emperor, but there was no special sound or light effect when it hit the hull behind it. All that could be seen was a large amount of white smoke rising quickly in the sunlight. The white smoke spread with the wind, and the sailors who came into contact with it immediately began to twist and struggle frantically, falling to the ground and rolling back and forth, scratching their chests desperately, as if they had lost the ability to move.

The "Wanshou" in Wanshou Emperor comes from the "Wanshou Sutra of the Southern Emperor of Longevity" among the Four Emperors of Taoism. It is said that reciting this sutra can cure diseases and remove all poisonous insects and poisons. Those who refuse to submit to the Wanshou Emperor, or even dare to offend the Emperor's divine power, should of course be subject to similar sanctions - the Wanshou Emperor is loaded with a large amount of organic compounds containing chlorine and fluorine. The gases released after combustion can seriously irritate the respiratory system and cause extremely severe muscle spasms; the poisonous gas on the deck can naturally be easily blown away by the sea breeze, but the large amount of settled white smoke will accumulate in the damp and closed cabin, preventing the sailors from going down to check.

The coordination between the Wanshou Emperor and the water and mines is enough to complete the blockade.

The target on the sea has been completely fixed, and the rocket launch has reached its peak. Mu Qi went south this time with all his capital at a gamble. All the models produced since the test were shipped over, and at the moment they were poured out all at once, launched into the air with a loud bang, and the flames dyed half the sky red. Although the sky is bright and the sun is shining, it is still possible to create an effect similar to that of fireworks, which is dazzling - especially since the rocket's propellant contains a large amount of metal components, and the seven colors of light sparkling under the flame color reaction is an even more beautiful sight.

Under such a gorgeous and magical spectacle, the twisted and terrifying silent struggles of countless living people in the telescope are even more shocking. I was fortunate enough to be able to see the officials in the distance remaining silent, as if the majesty of Lord Feixuan, Lord Wanshou, and Lord Qingmiao really pressed down from the sky and strangled everyone's throat. The wind was blowing hard on the top of the mountain, and only the sound of clothes fluttering in the wind could be heard. Not a single human voice could be heard.

It is said that divine power is like a prison; in such solemn and terrifying majesty, the atmosphere is so solidified that it is almost stiff. Perhaps only the prince could look around calmly and speak out:

"Rocket is just a forward. General Qi, the aid from the capital has arrived, and the next step should be arranged by you."

This is also the process that was discussed previously. First, the secret weapon in the capital dealt a head-on blow to defeat the enemy's morale, and then Qi Yuanjing took over the subsequent battle situation, gathering momentum and pursuing the victory, striving for the greatest results. This set of procedures is actually quite sophisticated, but now...

Commander Qi looked at the boiling sea in the distance and the ships with dazzling flames in the billowing black smoke, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. But he still calmed down and followed his boss's instructions:

"I will obey your orders. But may I ask how long this 'rocket' will last? I will have my men prepare immediately."

The prince looked up at the dragon of fire gushing and dancing above his head, counted the inventory he and Hai Gangfeng had brought in his mind, and spoke calmly:

"It will probably take more than an hour, so there is no need to rush, General."

The generals bowed their heads and listened: ...Ah? !

No, if they continue to bombard him like this for more than an hour, would they still need to take the "next step"?

·

In general, this should be the most boring and bizarre naval battle that the officials have ever witnessed. At the beginning, the spectacle of rockets exploding and ships burning can still shock and amaze people, but after being amazed for a quarter of an hour or two, everyone has almost gotten used to the pantomime of the hideous and terrifying people on the ship running around. As the saying goes, "the first effort is the last", those who watch the fire from the other side of the river cannot understand the horror of the impending fire. They can only watch the fire dragon in the sky gushing out in all directions, lashing the sailboats that are swaying on the sea like a whip; the flames burst out as the fire dragon passes by, igniting the surface of the ship's planks, as if it were a bright flower on the sea.

Well, it was a spectacular sight, but standing there for an hour and watching it was a bit too...

——Besides, if the bombardment continues like this, where will their presence be?

After all, they are ministers who receive salaries and orders from the court, and local officials specially summoned by the prince. Isn't it too embarrassing for them to just stand there in a daze and do nothing?

Everyone took the trouble to accompany the imperial envoy up the mountain. They came here with the ambition to gain military merit, gain experience, and become familiar to the public, not simply to pose and watch the prince - no, Rocket - show his might. To be honest, this kind of silence and blank staring can really dampen one's enthusiasm. But at this point the silence of the local officials was nothing, as no one could move forward with the emperor's hat hanging over their heads, so they could only stay where they were to set the tone for the atmosphere.

Of course, to be honest, if Prince Mu of Duke Mu had started to recite a poem or compose an essay at this time, these officials who were quite well-versed in literature would have been able to at least agree on a few things, or at least make up a joke about the destruction of the enemy's sails and masts in the midst of laughter and conversation - but the prince also wrapped his cloak tightly and said nothing, so no one knew what to say.

This is the disadvantage of having an illiterate boss. It’s hard to even pretend.

But it doesn't matter. A few clever officials have already figured it out in private, and are planning to write some notes, novels, unofficial history, or strange stories as soon as they return home while their memories are fresh, in order to get some attention in some way. As the saying goes, what one lacks in officialdom can be made up in the literary world. Since one cannot gain experience on the battlefield, one can make up for it in one's private collection of essays. Such a major event is bound to go down in history and attract the attention of the public; in other words, as long as they act quickly and accurately enough, they can publish a collection of essays before the heavyweights in the literary world to set the tone of public opinion, forcibly tie themselves to such a major event, and thereby leave their names in history. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

The essence of literature lies in exaggeration and imagination. Although in fact they are just standing on the top of the mountain to enjoy the cold wind and gain nothing except crooked mouths and squinting eyes, they can still be portrayed in a brilliant and fascinating way with a little touch of brilliant writing. It is certainly not easy to erase the absolute center position of the Prince of Mu, but by slightly changing the order and writing skills, he can greatly highlight himself and suppress others in the event, creating a dazzling image. In the politics of the Da'an court, public opinion has occupied an increasingly important position. If I can rely on this victory to share the credit, it will be much easier for me to act in official circles in the future.

Amid the monotonous roar of rockets, such reverie is boundless and enough to kill the long and boring time. The local officials of Jiangsu and Zhejiang stood on the top of the mountain and indulged themselves in their imagination, their minds already drifting away to the sky. Ru Wang was probably the only one in the whole audience who was still worried about the war. He held up a telescope and repeatedly scanned the distance, with beads of sweat on his forehead.

Perhaps because he saw that the situation was really getting out of hand, Ru Wang gritted his teeth and spoke:

"I would like to ask you, Your Highness, how long will these 'rocket' launches last?"

The prince looked at the fire marks in the sky again:

"Maybe more than half an hour?"

"But the Portuguese seem to have been unable to hold on any longer." Ru Wang whispered, "Your Highness may not know that European naval battles have their own rules. Generally, the enemy will not be completely destroyed..."

The prince interrupted him directly:

"You want me to accept the Portuguese surrender? But according to your rules, surrender must also raise a white flag, right? Where is the white flag?"

You've blown the mast into three pieces, who can still hang the white flag? Ru Wang secretly complained in his heart, but still replied honestly:

"I think they are too flustered by the attack to remember this for the time being. As long as you are willing to guarantee the safety of the officers' lives and property and give them due respect, I can use flag signals to persuade them to surrender..."

"Oh." The prince seemed to be thinking about something. "That is to say, if I want them to surrender, I have to save the dignity of the nobles above me first?"

Isn't this nonsense? If you don't guarantee the dignity of the nobles, why should others surrender? This is the custom in old Europe. Why would an exception be made for the Far East?

"You are also a noble. You should show kindness and respect such rules..."

"Rules? Who made these rules, Heavenly Father?" The prince raised his eyebrows: "But I haven't found such rules in Hong Tianwang's works."

It’s that King Hong again! Ru Wang's eyes bulged and he felt the blood in his chest surging!

"However, as for the Heavenly Father's rules, I can barely remember one." The prince murmured, almost talking to himself: "When the Heavenly Father decided to burn the fallen Sodom, he sent an angel to inform Lot and promised him mercy; as long as there were ten righteous people, the sins of the city of Sodom could be forgiven; but Sodom was still destroyed because there were no more righteous people who could protect it. Even the Heavenly Father's mercy is ultimately limited."

"So, Mr. Ruwang, among these colonists who came from afar, is there even one righteous person?"