Chapter 308: Naval Weapon...
Lu Lingju noticed the change in vision in the sea area, and naturally the others were not idle either.
This sign that they were about to reach their destination made the boatman, along with the other soldiers and commanders on board, forget that it was still dawn, and they all rushed to the bow with great energy.
After more than ten days of sailing at sea, even though they had the compass to indicate the direction and make sure they would not deviate from the course, it still seemed too boring compared to the changing scenery while moving on land.
What you see every day are the surging waves. After the initial novelty wears off, you will feel suffocated by being surrounded by sea water.
But now, their destination is right in front of them!
This fleet, which was not affected by the wind and waves at sea, was about to deal an unexpected blow to their opponents.
This is an exciting thing for these young people, no, even for Gan Ning, Taishi Ci and others!
"Although the names of these two places are not on the map, Emperor Xiaowu's fleet still recorded them during his voyages. So the names you gave them are appropriate."
Zhuge Liang unfolded the map with the star pattern drawn on it, and looked towards the west and north of the ship for a long time.
The location of their ship at that time was Qingzhou Donglai County commanded by Yuan Shao to the west, and Youzhou Liaodong County commanded by Gongsun Du to the north.
Although no one would have thought that someone would appear in the East China Sea during this time of civil unrest in the Central Plains, they still tried to sail as far away from the coast as possible to avoid being discovered by the fishing boats from Donglai County.
The place that Zhuge Liang said was suitably named was an archipelago located between the Bohai Sea and the East China Sea, forming a separation between the two seas in a star-like manner. One end was connected to Huang County in Donglai County, and the other end was connected to Dashi in Liaodong County, which was equivalent to the end of the Bohai Sea.
The other archipelago is located directly south of Liaodong County, only a few miles away from the county.
Both archipelagos were named Changshan Islands by Qiao Yan, meaning that these connected archipelagos are spread out on the sea and look like mountains on the sea.
And the one they pounced on at this time was the latter.
Ever since they set sail for this place, they had no intention of entering the Bohai Sea in their combat strategy.
Who made it so that the Bohai Sea is surrounded by Qingzhou's Donglai County, Beihai State, Le'an State, Jizhou's Bohai County, Youzhou's Yuyang County, Youbeiping County, Liaoxi County, Liaodong State and Liaodong County? If they wanted to quietly avoid the eyes and ears of all parties and complete the military deterrence against Gongsun Du, they certainly could not enter the Bohai Sea.
The Changshan Islands between the East China Sea and the Bohai Sea are the demarcation line of action for them, and they must not cross the line. Changshan south of Liaodong County is their destination.
Lu Lingju listened eagerly to the orders of Zhuge Liang, who was in charge at the time, and ordered the attached warship to go ahead and arrive before noon today.
"Capture Zhangzi Island first!"
This is the southernmost large island in the archipelago, and will also serve as a transit station for them to adapt to the Liaodong climate and subsequently launch the next military operation.
"Let General Gan take the lead," Zhuge Liang continued.
Lu Lingju nodded, indicating that he approved of the arrangement of the combatants.
The young general, who was participating in a naval battle for the first time, stood at the bow and watched Gan Ning excitedly move from the central tower ship to the attached warship.
Although there was a hint of envy in her eyes, she did not show any objection.
"I thought you would want to take the lead and take the first credit." Lu Yi moved onto the deck wearing a wind cloak, glanced at Lu Lingju who was standing there at the moment, and said with some surprise.
It must be said that he felt that he was really unlucky to be involved in this HNA voyage.
First, he was almost abandoned by his teammates at the port, and then he caught a cold from the sea breeze a few days ago. Fortunately, the ship was well stocked with medicines, which did not prevent him from assisting the two older "advisers" to complete the hunt for Gongsun Du.
Lu Lingju replied, "Your Majesty has said that if I want to be a general, I must distinguish between what a vanguard should do and what a general should do. Gan Xingba was tricked into joining the team by the two of us, so I must use this knife well instead of competing with him for the first merit and causing him to conflict with me. If this is the case, future battles will be difficult to fight."
Besides, she also needed to see what to do in the landing battle.
After the entire fleet approached Zhangzi Island, the navy team led by Gan Ning raided from the bay. In the scene that Lu Lingju could see with a telescope, this navy general who had changed his career from a Jinfan thief, together with his subordinates who had been trained by him to have quite a bit of banditry, rushed straight towards the indigenous people on the island.
The small boats on the attached warships had already encircled the northern rear of Changzi Island at the same time as he launched the attack, in order to prevent any fish from slipping through the net and report the news to the surrounding islands.
Although there are no garrisons arranged by Gongsun Du on this island, which is located on the coastal border of Liaodong County, the mainstay industry here is the supply of sea cucumbers to the inland. The more than 300 people living on the island are all good at swimming and are much stronger than ordinary people.
But what they encountered was a well-prepared vanguard team of 500 people.
When weapons suddenly appeared on the island, Gan Ning and his subordinates drove them to the beach in just half an hour to welcome the warships approaching Zhangzi Island.
The two huge ships, which they had never seen before, appeared before them in a terrifying manner.
It would be fine if the hulls were just tall, but these two main ships are obviously more than that.
The oars that appear on ordinary light boats are hung outside the ship on both sides of the building ship on an extremely large scale. They move forward with the advancement of the ship and are not used for rowing. It only makes people intuitively feel that these "oars" should not be in this silent posture at the moment.
But no matter what the two main ships look like when they are fully functional, it has nothing to do with those of them who are not engaged in naval battles.
They just watched in horror as these uninvited guests seized the territory on which they depended for survival, leaving them with no idea whether these people were pirates or people of some other identity.
What really surprised them was that after most of the crew members on the fleet landed on the island, the leader of the fleet appeared in front of them, and seemed to form a sharp contrast with Gan Ning who had just fiercely controlled them...
The leader of the ginseng collectors on Zhangzi Island carefully looked at the young men and Taishi Ci who was following them, then turned to look at Gan Ning who was standing behind them with a knife in his arms, and then turned back to ask, "I wonder why you have come all the way here?"
The Liaodong County can no longer be considered as the territory of the Central Plains. Ginseng collectors like them have no chance of making any money. Even the occasional pirates that appear on the sea will mostly bypass their area.
They were suddenly hit by such a disaster from heaven. Even though there were only injuries and no deaths in the previous battles on the mudflats and islands, they were still terrified.
Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang looked at each other and replied first: "We need some supplies."
The ginseng collector just breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that if the other party just wanted some money, it would not be impossible for them to do it, but then he saw Sima Yi narrow his eyes and said, "What we want is population supply."
The ginseng picker's face suddenly changed.
Population replenishment? Isn’t that just another form of sea-ship conscription?
His eyes swept across the twenty ships, and when he realized that the number of the other party's crew seemed to be disproportionate to the number of ships, he felt a chill in his heart.
When he looked at Sima Yi again, he saw that the other's seemingly elegant face also had a bit of sinister and calculating abomination.
It was clearly no different from the bandit group that landed on the island at the beginning.
But now the situation is stronger than the people, and the weapons in the hands of the other party are much sharper than the knives they use to chop wood and kill fish. How can they have the opportunity to raise rebuttal opinions!
He could only try to show a negotiating attitude in his tense expression, and said, "But we have never had the experience of fighting on a ship, and we usually don't leave the island far..."
"Okay, who said we want you?" As soon as he opened his mouth, he was interrupted by Sima Yi.
The young man frowned and looked him up and down. His hawk-like eyes revealed a hint of disdain that could be understood without explicit words. "I want you to help me go to Xi'anping."
"With your physique, you are not worthy of us spending this much effort."
He raised his eyes and gestured to Gan Ning, who immediately understood and drew his knife, putting it on the neck of the ginseng picker leader. "How many qualified sailors you can capture for us will help you regain your freedom. I think this is a very good deal, isn't it?"
In the face of this forced sale, how could they have the capital to bargain with the other party!
There is simply no other way to go except to find a way to do what the other party says and ensure that they regain their freedom through a one-for-one exchange.
What made the ginseng picker even more hesitant to act rashly was that after he followed two warships to Guanglu Island, north of Changzi Island, he saw that this group of pirates not only had extraordinary combat effectiveness in close combat on shore, but also had abilities in long-range attacks that were beyond his imagination.
The young general who had not taken action before, together with his subordinates, used the magic arm bow in their hands to shoot accurately from two hundred steps away, completely dispelling his idea of trying to escape, and also increased the number of thugs who assisted in the population procurement by more than three hundred people.
In just three days, in addition to the twenty extra warships on Changzi Island, a total of more than two thousand people were brought back from the surrounding archipelagos, almost bringing together all the indigenous people living on the archipelago.
But for those who set out to Liaodong by sea, this is just the beginning.
Among the indigenous inhabitants of the Changshan Islands, the hostages who were under key guard were all sent to one of the warships, while the remaining islanders were dispersed in a cross-formation and mixed into the teams on each ship. In this way, their team was expanded to twice its previous size, and the hostages could not put up any effective resistance to them.
Afterwards, except for the four warships that stayed behind, eight of the warships headed westward to the Dashi port, led by Gan Ning, Guo Huai and Zhuge Liang.
The other eight were led by Lu Lingju, Taishi Ci and Lu Yi, and headed towards Xi'anping as they had said to the ginseng pickers on Zhangzi Island.
"So why am I the only one left behind?" Sima Yi suddenly felt depressed as Lu Yi had been left behind before.
"Because you look dangerous." Lu Lingju answered bluntly, causing Sima Yi, who had just played the role of the villain, to frown.
Don't think he didn't hear it. There was a rumor circulating among the ginseng pickers who were taken hostage that he was young but very thoughtful, with the eyes of an eagle and the back of a wolf. No wonder he was one of the leaders of the pirates.
As for the four words "eagle-eyed and wolf-watchful", he didn't believe at all that they were uttered by this group of uneducated ginseng pickers.
It's more likely that his companions spread the news in order to further create panic.
"Zhongda, don't look like that. Think about it. If we can't effectively control these islanders, we will inevitably face the trouble of losing sight of one while focusing on the other when we go to the east and west. We may also be attacked by the hostages. How can we successfully complete the planned landing attack?"
Lu Yi's words of comfort did not make Sima Yi feel at all comfortable.
"Are you still not leaving? The Xi'anping you're going to is not that easy to fight."
Although due to the distribution of cities in Youzhou, the garrison in Xi'anping is far less than that of Xiangping, the county seat of Liaodong County, which is where Gongsun Du is now, and its population is also not as large as that of Dashi, the port used for communication between Qingzhou, Jizhou and Youzhou, but the location of Xi'anping is indeed very special.
It is located at the mouth of the Yalu River. Not far to the southeast is today's North Korea. Of course, in Lelang County, which still belongs to Youzhou today, going upstream of the Yalu River in the northeast is Goguryeo, which gradually became powerful during this era.
The population structure of this place where three parties meet is complex. Although the construction of the city is not as good as that of inland cities, it is not too simple.
And the most important point is——
If there is any disturbance here, the news will spread directly in three directions, causing a considerable impact on Youzhou.
But all of this is based on the premise that this coastal siege will not fail.
Instead, he relied on a direct attack on the city to tear a gap along the coast of Liaodong County.
"Don't say anything that will hurt morale here," Lü Lingju had already put on a suit of armor. Perhaps because she had been practicing martial arts since she was a child, she was much taller than her peers. She looked so heroic in this armored and spear-wielding posture, and she resembled the prince she admired. "Just wait here for our good news."
A main battle ship and seven auxiliary warships, under the watchful eyes of Sima Yi, set out from Changzi Island and headed towards the mouth of the Yalu River along the coastal coastline in the south of Liaodong County.
The coastline here is completely different from that of Xuzhou and Qingzhou. As there are few ports along the coast, most of the people who frequent this area are fishermen. Therefore, in most places, it is still sparsely populated and uninhabited.
At this point they no longer needed to conceal their whereabouts, as they had realized that the fishing boats of their special team were unable to effectively stop them. The only thing they could do was to move their fishing boats closer to the shore to prevent themselves from being targeted by these sudden enemies.
Lu Lingju stood at the bow of the boat, tightly gripping the halberd in his hand.
At this moment, the previous frightened look on her face was no longer there. Instead, she closed her eyes and repeatedly simulated every weapon loaded on the ship in her mind to ensure that she could make a sufficiently effective response if any unexpected event occurred.
In addition, although Taishi Ci taught her his archery skills on the way from Chang'an to Hanzhong because they got along well at first sight, Lu Lingju still decisively gave up the idea of operating the bow and crossbow at the same time.
It is a case of biting off more than you can chew. With Taishi Ci's help, it would be better to give him the responsibility of long-range attack.
Lu Yi did not disturb her pre-war adjustments, but turned back to the cabin and comforted the fishermen who were abducted in the Changshan Islands.
The ship has already sailed. Even if these people want to escape at this time, it will be extremely difficult in this vast ocean.
And these bandits who appeared so brazenly, although they showed no mercy in dragging them onto the pirate ship, did not really kill them. Perhaps what they said about releasing them after getting enough population supplies was not something they said casually.
Now, Lu Yi, a gentle-looking young man, brought them food and comfort, and made them feel a little safe from the comparison between the treatment they received before and after.
It didn't matter whether Sima Yi felt vomiting blood or not when he knew about this situation. Anyway, when the eight ships sailed in from the mouth of the Yalu River and the scene in front of them changed from the original sea to the banks of the river, the soldiers on the warships felt more or less like they were in the same boat.
At first glance at this fleet, one would never guess that half of the soldiers on board were temporarily brought here and did not originally belong to this team.
What the defenders of Xi'anping saw was that when they received the news of the enemy invasion and came to intercept them, these well-built warships did not hide or evade the fleet that was surrounding them, but used the "ramming horns" formed by hardwood covered with iron sheets to directly ram their warships on the Yalu River.
The huge impact force brought by the ramming horn and the opponent's unexpected head-on confrontation method caused the first batch of warships to be thrown to the ground.
No, not all the ships were capsized on the spot.
At the moment when the enemy's bows and crossbows gained the upper hand in the attack, hooks and reels operated by soldiers were extended from the small warships, pulling the warships that were trying to distance themselves again back to where they were.
Then, well-equipped soldiers were seen jumping over from these warships.
The more than ten days of sea voyage had allowed these soldiers, who were already accustomed to fighting on the river, to no longer be unable to stand steadily due to the influence of wind and waves, not to mention that they had already entered the Yalu River basin from the East China Sea.
The defenders of Xi'an are going crazy!
Where on earth did this enemy come from?
As the northeasternmost borderland of the Han Dynasty, it seems that this place should not have suffered such a disaster.
What they had not expected was that the large ship behind the small boat also launched an attack on them at this time.
The huge hull of the building ship is not only not its weakness, but on the contrary, it is like a giant beast rushing towards you in this overwhelming action. The hook-shaped bow at the front of the building ship is not only a ramming horn, but also another form of hook.
The ship continued to sail despite the arrows from the opposite side. At the moment when the front end was about to collide with the main ship of the Xi'an Ping defenders, the ram suddenly fell forward, like a curved hook grabbing the hull of the opponent's ship.
The wooden board connected to this curved hook was the passage for Lu Lingju's crew to board the enemy ship.
The Liaodong County defenders had seen many sea vessels on a daily basis, but had never seen such a bow structure.
If Lu Lingju could explain it to them at this time, perhaps he could tell them that this kind of bow drawing also originated from the Silk Road.
Because this is exactly the hook-claw wooden bridge named "Raven" on the ships of the Western Roman Empire!
This thing had spread to the Kushan Empire more than a hundred years ago, but because the Kushan Empire was located inland, there were few opportunities to use it. Instead, when Xu Rong was assigned by Qiao Yan to trade on the Silk Road, he discovered the potential of this thing and sent it to Chang'an.
Last year, Qiao Yan sent it to the shipbuilding site in Xuzhou and installed it on a ship.
Compared with iron chain connections or filling the hull with sand to keep it stable, this crow wooden bridge is more in line with the northerners' maritime combat habits, and can also give full play to the close combat capabilities of the soldiers on the warships that install the wooden bridge.
For example, right now!
As soon as the wooden bridge was completed, Lu Lingju, who had been eager to attack Liaodong, did not hesitate any longer and rushed to the opposite deck with the long spear in his hand.
The vibration of the deck caused by the moment the hook-claw wooden bridge was fixed had not yet ended, and the Xi'anping defenders were hit by a blow that could be described as a sudden and devastating storm.
Capturing these ginseng pickers on the islands needed to be done peacefully, but attacking Gongsun Du's subordinates did not require giving him much face.
When the naval battle on the Yalu River came to a calm, the head of the leader of the opposing fleet was still hanging on the halberd in Lu Lingju's hand.
She looked at the blood color gradually floating in the river and the ships that were smashed into pieces. It was her first time facing such a battle of warships, and strangely, she did not feel anxious and her heart beat too fast. Instead, she felt an enterprising spirit that became more and more obvious as the river water rose.
Seeing Lu Yi's signal towards her, Lu Lingju raised her halberd and stepped forward, shouting loudly: "Clap the pole and prepare to attack Xi'an Ping!"
The chaos caused by the battle between the warships that intercepted them earlier made it impossible for them to keep all the enemy troops who jumped into the river. Although some ginseng pickers chased the ginseng collectors directly into the river in order to buy their freedom and captured them using the two-for-one method, many still escaped.
Therefore, when these eight reorganized warships heading towards Xi'an arrived at the city, the city was already in a state of high preparedness.
But this did not seem to prevent the failure of the defense of the city.
Xi'an was built on the bank of the Yalu River, and the moat was also dug by the Yalu River.
In order to show its special position on the northern border, the moat here was dug particularly deep.
Because the rivers here did not seem to be affected by the drought in the Central Plains. With the arrival of summer, the water level rose, and the city seemed to be becoming more solid.
However, the fact that the moat was too wide and too deep was not a favorable condition for the preservation of the city at this time, but rather a smooth path for enemy warships to pass through.
Before the arrows from the city walls could penetrate the shields erected on the bows and kill the soldiers hiding behind, and before they could throw stones at the approaching ships, the huge ship that was rushing towards the city braked and stopped, and the pole at the bow had already smashed down from a great height with the huge rock at the end.
Stones and heavy poles fell down with a whistling sound, directly smashing a terrifying gap in the stone wall on the top of the city, and forcing the defenders guarding this part of the city wall to flee in embarrassment in the face of such threats of destruction.
Under Lu Lingju's command, the ship moved sideways into the moat, and the four poles on the side were immediately smashed down.
Amid the flying stones that suddenly appeared on the top of the city wall, the Shenbi bow team led by Taishi Ci also launched precise and effective killing attacks on the top of the city wall.
The defenders in the city who were forced to retreat were simply unable to stop these terrible enemies. While maintaining the suppression on the city walls, people jumped off the ships one after another, climbed up the city walls along the grappling hooks shot from the bow, and then spread out to both ends with the main ship's attack as the center.
The city gate was soon opened in front of them, and those soldiers with fine armor and sharp swords swarmed in. Although they did not have the horses transported on the warships to serve as their mounts for the siege, it was enough for them to quickly gain an advantage in a real head-on confrontation.
At the same time, Zhuge Liang also launched an attack on Dashi, a key port.
Huge oil drums were ignited by wires and thrown into the city by catapults on warships.
The smashed oil drums on the city walls and inside the city quickly set the wooden towers and houses on fire.
Dashi City immediately fell into chaos.
Since the boats were made of wood, the defenders in Dashi City could easily use their own tactics to retaliate.
But the problem is that when the rocket and kerosene attack method had not yet spread, it was not a mainstream attack method. Dashi City, which had not expected to suffer such a disaster, had never prepared for such a situation in advance.
Besides, oil is still a luxury nowadays. If Qiao Yan had not planted a lot of sesame, a cash crop, on the territory she controlled, she probably would not have been able to support her subordinates in attacking in this way in this sea crossing battle.
So when the fire burned in the city where it shouldn't have burned, instead of on the attacking fleet, the defensive loopholes in the city inevitably appeared in the eyes of Zhuge Liang, Gan Ning and others who were attacking the place.
The fall of Dashi County became a particularly natural thing.
But what is incomprehensible is that the Da family and Xi'an Ping, whose entrances were blasted open, did not directly change hands after the city was suddenly captured.
"You mean, these people just drove the defenders and civilians in the city onto their warships and then left?"
When the urgent battle reports from the two places were delivered to Gongsun Du, he jumped up from his seat and immediately ordered people to block the news to prevent the situation from being known by Gongsun Zan and the nearby Tadun, who would think that he was a soft persimmon that could be bullied.
After making these arrangements, Gongsun Du then focused his attention on the battle report in front of him.
When the messenger heard Gongsun Du's question, he quickly replied, "There are also valuables! They have emptied the treasuries of the two places, but they didn't plunder the people's homes..."
"Those are not important." Gongsun Du knew exactly how much inventory was in the treasury of Dashi, a trading port, and Xi'anping, a county border.
The vast majority of the taxes paid were transported early on to Xiangping, the county seat.
This means that simply looting the treasury would not actually pose any serious threat to him.
Instead, some of the defenders and civilians in the city were kidnapped, which was a huge loss for Gongsun Du.
You know, Youzhou, especially Liaodong County which is almost at the end of the territory, is a sparsely populated place.
In Gongsun Du's view, it was the population of Liaodong that prevented him from carrying out the process of becoming a king as the auspicious omen suggested.
Therefore, he hoped more than anyone else that unrest would occur in coastal areas such as Xuzhou and Qingzhou, especially Qingzhou, which was closest to Liaodong.
If people from these places could come to Liaodong to avoid disaster, then amid the loss of manpower caused by the war in the Central Plains, he would be able to build up a considerable team in Liaodong over time.
But what is happening now?
There was no one hiding from the disaster, but someone came to rob the house. The people kidnapped were the people Gongsun Du valued the most!
Where in the world are there such robbers who are willing to stab people in vital areas!
If Gongsun Du had not been facing his subordinates at the moment, he would have wanted to yell out loud, but he still cared about his image, so he pressed the veins on his forehead and asked the messenger, "Do you know who the other party is?"
The messenger replied, "These people did not give their names, and there were no marks of the factions on the warships. We only know that these warships were almost fully loaded, which was not the state that a fleet coming from a long voyage could maintain. In addition, one of the people who came with them had once fled to Liaodong."
Gongsun Du raised his eyebrows: "Who is it?"
"Taishi Ci of Donglai."
Taishi Ci's archery skills were superb. In the battle to attack Xi'anping, apart from Lü Lingju, who was the close combat leader, he was the most eye-catching one. Inevitably, he was noticed by Gongsun Du's subordinates.
However, news from Liaodong has always been received slower than from other places.
Gongsun Du only knew that Taishi Ci crossed the Bohai Sea to Liaodong in order to avoid the conflict between the Donglai Prefecture and the Qingzhou Prefecture. However, he did not know that after he escorted Bing Yuan to Juyongguan, he was recruited by Qiao Yan and became an official in the Grand Marshal's Mansion.
After all, as long as the position can be afforded, it is not a problem to have ten officials as the position of the Palace Officials. They are not like the Generals of the Central Army, the Prefects, and the Generals who have clear powers and responsibilities.
So when he heard that it was not Yuanhang's inference and the name of Donglai Taishici, he slammed his hand on the table beside him and said, "Yuan Benchu is going too far!"
The population in his territory had fled to Bingzhou and Sili because of locust plagues and droughts, and he did not have the ability to expand his territory by conquering another state and half a county like Cao Mengde did, so he came up with the idea of cross-sea looting?
Others might be afraid of Yuan Shao's family background of three generations of officials, but even Gongsun Du dared to have rebellious thoughts in Liaodong, so why should they feel in awe of him?
All he could think about was—
If Yuan Shao felt that attacking Gongsun Du at his doorstep was picking on the weak, then he had to prove to the other side that he was not a weakling but a stone that would hurt his teeth.
Gongsun Du, who left to gather his subordinates, did not hear it. The messenger even stammered, "There is also a female general who fights very bravely..."
In theory, this is actually a very iconic feature.
To this day, we have only heard that there were female generals under Qiao Yan's command, and they were promoted by those in higher positions.
But in the eyes of all Youzhou people, Qiao Yan simply did not have the conditions or time to attack Liaodong.
Not long ago, she was clearly engaged in a tug-of-war dispute with Cao Cao in Yuzhou, and now she is carrying out disaster relief in Luoyang and winning the hearts of the people of Sili.
Since last year, she has not taken the initiative to expand her territory. This year's entry into Luoyang was also a compensation for the loss of Runan County and Chen County. How could she suddenly attack Liaodong in a magical way?
Yuan Benchu has already "imitated" so many things from Chang'an, so it seems reasonable for him to learn one more thing, namely employing female generals.
Anyway, no matter whether this special fleet comes from Yuan Shao or Qiao Yan, they just need to expel it from Liaodong County!
This is what the subordinate who was responsible for reporting the news thought, and Gongsun Du also thought so.
After receiving the news that the two places had been looted, he rode at full speed from Xiangping to Xi'an, which was closer.
During the rapid journey, even several good horses from Youzhou died.
But even though he came fast enough, when he arrived here, he still saw the devastated city walls.
Before he could reprimand the soldiers for not paying enough attention to repairing the breach in the city wall, he saw them coming towards him with a sad face, "Lord, that group of bandits has come again, and this time they didn't even need to hammer the wall. We haven't recovered from the last siege, and when the tower ship appeared, the soldiers didn't dare to confront it and just ran away."
Gongsun Du gritted his teeth and said, "So you let them take people away again?"
The general defending the city nodded helplessly.
Seeing that Gongsun Du and his group were very angry, the general defending the city quickly added, "This happened not long ago. If the Lord mobilized a large fleet, he might be able to intercept it on the way. I originally wanted to ask the Lord for an order to send troops, but before I could send the letter, the Lord came in person."
The two consecutive attacks and looting of men had already made Gongsun Du, the governor of Liaodong who regarded Liaodong as his own property, in a state of exasperation. When he heard that these people had not gone far, while listening to the general defending the city mentioning the wooden bridges on the ships that were more terrifying than ordinary hooks, he quickly issued troop dispatch orders to the surrounding counties as the governor, and even requisitioned fishing boats from nearby ports.
Since the other side wants to have a naval battle and likes to use grappling hooks to block the connection between the two ships so that they can engage in close combat, he will directly use the human wave tactics to teach these people a bloody lesson!
The people looted from Xi'an by the enemy might become a help to Gongsun Du in the battle between the two sides' ships.
Thinking of this possibility, Gongsun Du personally led the troops and the ships straight to the mouth of the Yalu River. Not to mention how fast they were, as soon as they entered the East China Sea, the fleet turned around and headed west.
He was pleasantly surprised to find that perhaps because the enemy fleet was too heavily loaded and had too deep a draft, he saw the warships in front of him after chasing them for half a day.
As for his opponent, perhaps he had been dazzled by the previous victories, but when he saw the appearance of their fleet, he turned around without thinking and headed towards them.
But in the collision of the fleet that was coming at them with unabated force, not only the tower ship, but also several affiliated warships, had poles loaded with huge stones pulled up from their originally hanging state by the axles, and then -
Under Gongsun Du's horrified gaze as he realized something was wrong, the battering poles smashed down fiercely towards the fleet he led.
Ever seen a hammer with a boulder strapped to the end?
This is how a racket rod exists.
Under the technical guidance of Ma Jun and Huang Yueying, these racket rods even have a rotating shaft installed at the bottom. In this way, even the attack direction of the racket rod can be further changed. People can clearly see that the racket rod is about to fall here, but suddenly it falls in front of them.
Ordinary ships simply could not withstand such a terrible impact force. Almost at the moment the boulder fell, a huge hole was created in them, and some were even directly smashed on the spot.
When a tower ship is equipped with more than one battering ram, the destructive power cannot be made up by the number of ships.
However, in a moment, the originally aggressive pursuit fleet was turned into a scattered piece.
Lü Lingju looked at the broken wood on the sea and said helplessly to Taishi Ci and Lu Yi, "They don't think that this pole is only used to smash the city wall, right? Whose number one goal against naval warships is to smash the wall?"
She had only used the hook-claw wooden bridge when she first encountered the Youzhou ship in order to save some energy...
But since you can use a batting rod for a one-on-many attack, why bother with hooks and rejects so stupidly?
Since it is a weapon for naval warfare, of course we should use it to smash other people’s ships!
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