"Three large iron blocks are coming towards the floating bridge!"
"What the hell is this?"
"Are they trying to crash into the bridge? Shoot them quickly! Don't let them get close to the bridge!"
…
The Boeotian soldiers who were building a pontoon bridge at the edge immediately sounded the alarm.
A large number of Boeotian archers immediately gathered on the bridge and began to shoot arrows at the ironclad ship.
Even dozens of assault boats used for landing turned around and headed towards the three ironclad ships, intending to encircle and annihilate them.
Arrows rain down!
With a series of clanging sounds, all the arrows were bounced off the armor and fell into the water.
As a result, the Boeotian soldiers suddenly became nervous, and even Pagnadas, who was commanding on the shore, had to issue a general order.
"Quick, send out the giant spearmen, insert their spears into the gaps in the iron armor, and kill the enemies in the monster ship! Even if we can't kill them all, we must firmly hold off the monster ship and don't give it the chance to hit our pontoon bridge! Also, water ghosts, get into the water immediately and sink them for me!" said Pagnadas.
Upon hearing the king's order, the troops immediately took action.
Soldiers holding giant spears five or six meters long gathered at the outermost floating bridge.
At the same time, hundreds of water ghosts who were good at swimming also went into the water with chisels.
"The distance is almost there! Let the ironclad decide how to attack!"
Seeing that the ironclad ship already had enough targets to attack, Ina gave orders again!
After a round of drumbeats, the three ironclad ships began to play freely.
Brush, brush, brush…
Rows of powerful arrows shot out from the firing holes, knocking down a large number of Boeotian soldiers in an instant.
The Pioxia army then discovered that the three ironclad ships were not just used to ram the pontoon bridge, but also had considerable attack power!
"Shield soldiers! Shield soldiers, hold on! Where are the water ghosts? They have been in the water for so long, why haven't they done any work yet? Sink the boat quickly! Hurry up!" Pagnadas said angrily.
Just three strange ships made his million-strong army panic!
If this matter gets out, wouldn't it be a great disgrace for me, a hero who has fought many battles?
Pagnadas needs to deal with this little trouble as soon as possible and focus his main energy on the front battlefield!
In the distance, the first batch of assault boats have landed on the north bank, and the soldiers of both sides are already engaged in hand-to-hand combat!
The enemy's front line also seemed to be Macedonian troops! Many of them were silver-shielded spearmen, making them particularly conspicuous! Pagnadas had already experienced the combat effectiveness of that kind of army at the gates of Pella!
What’s even more troublesome is that the enemy’s back-row archers are simply not human!
Their shooting angles were tricky, and their accuracy was incredibly high. Most of the soldiers who landed on our side were shot down by those archers!
The enemy's strength was so strong that it far exceeded Pagnadas's expectations!
If the pontoon bridge cannot be built quickly to allow the Theban heavy cavalry to join the battle and launch an attack, relying solely on boats to transport infantry will turn this battle into a fuel-fueled one.
The soldiers he has will be transported across the river to die in batches, and there is no way to win!
As if in response to Pagnadas' words, several heads emerged from the water, then swam ashore quickly and ran to Pagnadas with terrified faces.
"Report, report to the king! This ship is so weird! The entire underwater area is made of iron plates, and there is no wooden area for us to work on! We have tried so hard, but we can't even chisel away the iron plates! We brothers are almost out of breath!" The leader of the water ghosts reported.
What?
Not only are there layers of iron plates protecting the water, but there is also iron under the water?
How can such a heavy boat float on the water? Do you think I'm a fool?
"Nonsense! Drag him down and chop him to death! Send another group of water ghosts with the biggest axes and chisels! No matter what, these three ships must be sunk!" Pagnadas said angrily.
"Unfair! Unfair! This ship is really made entirely of iron..."
The water ghost leader was suddenly picked up and dragged away by the guards. He was so scared that he quickly tried to explain himself.
However, in this war, all that matters is the result, and Pagnadas has no intention of hearing any explanation.
He just stared at the Vardar River with a frown on his face, feeling full of regret!
If I had known that the Stobi army was so strong, even stronger than Macedonia, I really shouldn't have chased after them!
Now that Macedonia has voluntarily given up its territory to the Seleucid Legion, if we go back now, not only will we lose face, but Boeotians will also be unable to speak with confidence when the fruits of victory are distributed in the future!
The only option now is to ignore the casualties and force our way across the river!
Only by defeating the Stobi Army in front and clearing the way to the north can the situation be reversed!
On this side, Pagnadas had just become ruthless and was determined to rush across the river regardless of casualties.
Over there, there was a loud "bang" and the Greek fire on the ironclad ship closest to the pontoon bridge opened fire!
Originally, the commander of the ironclad ship wanted to get closer before opening fire.
Unfortunately, the sound of axes and chisels clanging under the ship was incessant, making all the soldiers on the ship quite nervous!
They were not prime ministers or Archimedes, so they did not have such great confidence in the bottom defense of the ironclad ship.
Realizing that the enemy was frantically destroying the ship, the commander did not dare to take any risks and gave the order to open fire in advance!
In an instant, the shielding iron plate dropped, revealing the black muzzle of the Greek cannon.
Before the Boeotian soldiers could react, merciless flames spewed out from the muzzles of their guns.
In just a moment, the nearest floating bridge under construction was set on fire.
The engineers who were building the bridge, along with the spearmen and shieldmen who were defending against the approaching ironclad ships, totaling a thousand people, were all engulfed in the sea of fire!
The Boeotian soldiers facing the muzzle were burned to charcoal without even having time to make a sound!
On the contrary, the soldiers on the periphery still have the opportunity to scream and wail.
They all chose to jump into the water to extinguish and avoid the hellish flames.
Fortunately, everyone was a good swimmer. The chances of surviving after diving were significantly higher than being exposed to the flames!
Pong…
A muffled sound.
The ironclad ship took advantage of the situation and crashed into the floating bridge that had been burned and riddled with holes.
With a loud crashing sound, the floating bridge broke into several sections and drifted downstream.
The attack was successful, and the morale of the three ironclad ships was greatly boosted.
They immediately split up and continued to use the same method to destroy the remaining nine pontoon bridges.
The Boeotian soldiers were stunned when they saw the invulnerable strange ship that could spew out such terrifying flames.
They turned around and fled from the various pontoon bridges, running towards the south bank, fearing that they would become victims of the next flame!
"Oh! What a shame! They played their cards too early!"
Ajax, who was in command on the north bank, stamped his feet in regret.
In fact, Ajax was not very clear about the power of the ironclad ship.
When the Prime Minister and Archimedes used it to guard Thessaloniki, Ajax was not there, but was defending the palace in Stobi!
At first, when Ajax saw that the Tino Alliance used so many methods to deal with the ironclad ships, his heart was in his throat!
Unexpectedly, the ironclad ship had excellent defensive capabilities and completely blocked all attacks.
It was not until then that Ajax realized the horror of this weapon.
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