When Yuan Xi and Lu Xun saw the situation on the field, they realized that the waters near Donglai were probably already controlled by pirates, and targeted arrangements had been made against the fleets of the Zhen and Gongsun families!
But the only thing the other party didn't know was that the newly built ships of the Zhen family were secretly equipped with rams during construction. Although it consumed a lot of fine iron, it was already an extremely effective trump card in an era when cannons had not yet appeared.
At Yuan Xi's command, amid the howling winter wind, the ships of the Zhen family caravan hoisted full sails, cut through the waves, and rushed towards the pirate ships.
As soon as he came up, he used his killer move!
Using ships to ram the enemy is a common tactic in naval battles, but it costs a lot to use so much iron that could be used to make weapons to specially make ramming horns.
But since you have invested so much money, there must be some return.
The pirate ships were still shooting arrows from a distance, but when they woke up, the Youzhou army's ships had already rammed into them.
Loud rumbling noises continued to rang out, and the huge iron ram directly broke through the side of the enemy ship, split the deck, and broke the keel. A relatively slender pirate ship was actually cut directly in half!
The enemy soldiers on the pirate ship screamed and flew into the air, then fell into the water with a splash, and were immediately submerged by the surging and freezing waves. The few who were proficient in swimming struggled and shouted desperately in the water, trying to grab the broken pieces of the ship around them.
The soldiers of the Youzhou Army were also unsteady on their feet due to the huge recoil force, but fortunately they had stabilized their bodies in advance, so they came to their senses after a while.
This time, several large ships of the enemy were severely damaged. Even those that were not broken began to take in water in the cabins under the deck. If this continued, it would be a matter of time before the ships sank.
The incident happened suddenly. The people on the damaged pirate ship shouted in panic and looked for planks everywhere to escape. The remaining intact pirate ship fled in a hurry and fired arrows at the Youzhou army's ships indiscriminately.
The Youzhou army archers also stood on the side of the ship and shot arrows back, but the wind and waves on the sea were strong, and the arrows were not accurate, and for a while they were unable to cause effective damage to the enemy.
At this time, the escaped ships reacted and reunited after a few commands. The people on them shot rockets coated with tung oil at the Youzhou army ships.
Seeing that the other party were aiming at the sails, Yuan Xi thought that these pirates were indeed not ordinary people. Their responses were so quick and effective, how could they be like ordinary pirates?
However, the Youzhou army had no good countermeasures against this extremely effective and venomous tactic of shooting rockets at sails. The soldiers on the mast simply lowered ropes, pulled others up, and threw away the rockets attached to the sails to prevent the sails from catching fire.
Fortunately, the enemy's arrow shooting was not particularly intensive, so this response was still effective. Seeing this, the opposing pirate ship took the opportunity to rush over side by side, obviously intending to board the ship and fight!
Seeing the enemy approaching, Lu Xun knew that his opportunity had come. The soldiers hiding under the side of the ship threw out earthenware jars filled with tung oil, which smashed onto the decks of the two enemy ships in the front. The tung oil splashed everywhere, and the deck was covered with slippery tung oil.
The pirates fell a few times on the deck, but saw the Youzhou soldiers stand up again with burning torches in their hands!
They screamed, "Not good!"
The next moment, the Youzhou army threw torches over, instantly setting the deck on fire!
The two ships caught fire instantly, and the pirates on board screamed and jumped into the sea. Seeing the fire getting more and more intense, it was obvious that the ship was going to be destroyed.
The remaining pirates realized that they had hit a tough target and turned to flee, wanting to reunite with the pirate fleet that was pursuing the Youzhou army.
On the leading ship of 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.
In the past, under the leadership of these two, they roamed the North Sea and the East Sea and defeated Kong Rong so much that he could not get out. But now, these two are leading this powerful maritime fleet to continue to do evil.
The person who spoke was Guan Cheng, who was a little younger and regarded the older Guan Hai as his brother.
Guan Hai sneered after hearing this and said, "I'm afraid they came prepared. But with so few people, they didn't flee. I'm afraid they want to eat us up. That's just wishful thinking."
"We can't let them escape. Surround them and kill them on the boat. Don't let any of them escape!"
After hearing this, Guan Cheng immediately gave orders. 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 escape, but he ordered each ship to set up several feet long rockets at the stern.
These rockets were naturally not arrows, but arrows mixed with gunpowder. When the pirate ships behind were more than ten feet away, Lu Xun could already see the enemy pirates holding sharp blades and rubbing their hands ready to fight. So he gave an order and each ship lit the fuse of the rockets.
There were continuous puffing sounds, and a series of fire snakes flew towards the opposite sail at incredible speed, then hit the sail hard, and the sharp arrows were immediately nailed to the sail.
The next moment, the arrow 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 burning.
The Yellow Turban pirates' ship was now in chaos. Their rockets could only be launched by tying them to linen soaked in tung oil, and the range was not far. Where had they ever seen a rocket with an oil tank and a range several times longer?
Soon, the first seven or eight ships were hit one after another. Although the rockets were not accurate, the distance between the two sides was very close and the sails were large, so they could be hit by aiming casually. The sails of each ship were burned and the speed suddenly slowed down.
Guan Cheng was furious when he saw the other party raising the sails and running away at full speed. It turned out that this was the other party's plan!
He yelled, "Shoot!"
"Whether it's rockets or any other arrows, shoot them all!"
When the pirates on the Yellow Turban ship heard this, they drew their bows and shot arrows at the Youzhou army ships.
Lu Xun gave another order, and wooden baffles covered with iron sheets slowly rose up on both sides of the ship. The arrows shot by the Yellow Turban pirates were bounced off and fell into the sea.
The Youzhou army kept firing rockets, and the sails of the Yellow Turban pirates' ships were constantly burned. The people on board were busy putting out the fire, and dozens of ships gradually distanced themselves from each other.
Seeing that the new naval warfare methods he had conceived had achieved the desired effects, Yuan Xi could not help but nod secretly. However, he was still somewhat dissatisfied, because after all, rockets could only burn the sails of the opposing ship, rather than causing direct damage to the enemy.
Moreover, the maximum distance of the rocket fireworks is only twenty or thirty feet. A good archer on the opponent can also hit it at this distance, so it cannot form a decisive suppressive effect.
Yuan Xi sighed. All this might not change until the advent of artillery many years later. Now, due to technological limitations, he couldn't even find the best gunpowder ratio, so he could only take it step by step.
After all, everything in this era is handmade, and due to the limitations of productivity and technology, the output and quality cannot keep up.
Both the ramming horn and the gunpowder were experimental samples. There were only a few other products that could be used, and the output was frighteningly low.
He saw that the Gongsun fleet in the distance had escaped the encirclement and was trying its best to regroup, but it did not dare to approach. It seemed that they had lost a lot of strength and were obviously afraid of fighting. He was afraid that he could not count on them.
Looking at the pirate ships chasing after him one after another, Yuan Xi thought that in the end it might end up as a boarding battle.
Fortunately, we successfully disrupted and dispersed their formation with a volley of rockets earlier. Now, even though we are close to the receiving station, we only have to deal with one or two ships at the same time, thus avoiding the embarrassing situation of being surrounded.
At this time, several light pirate ships had arrived. The sides of these ships were much lower than the Zhen family merchant ship. They threw out grappling hooks and hooked the sides of the merchant ships, trying to climb up.
The Youzhou soldiers wanted to throw away the hook, but the other end of the rope was hanging on the bow of the pirate ship. Under the pull of the waves, the hook was deeply embedded in the wood of the ship's side and could not be pulled away at all.
They drew their ring-handled swords and chopped at it, but the rope was very strong, and after a few slashes, they only cut through the outermost strands of linen.
But then a whistle was heard from the pirate ship, and the pirates climbed up one after another, grabbing the ropes. When the Youzhou army archers saw this, they shot arrows one after another. The Qingzhou pirate archers immediately suppressed them with arrows. For a while, the arrows were fired back and forth, and the planks on both sides were full of arrows.
At Lu Xun's command, a soldier took a clay jar filled with tung oil, plugged the mouth of the jar with oil-soaked linen, lit it, and then threw it at the ship below.
The pottery jar smashed on the enemy's deck and the burning tung oil flowed all over the deck. The Yellow Turban pirates shouted in panic and picked up wooden barrels filled with sea water to put out the fire.
Although the Zhen family merchant ship had the upper hand, the Qingzhou pirates were numerous and powerful. One Zhen family merchant ship was surrounded by several small boats. Seeing that the pirates in the front were about to jump onto the side of the ship, Guan Cheng, who was watching from a distance, also showed joy.
Lu Xun's face was calm. At his command, the soldiers with halberds hiding under the deck came up to 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 was injured and fell into the sea with a scream.
The two halberd soldiers looked at the thick rope hooked on the side of the ship, stood on both sides of the rope, stretched out their halberds, and hooked the rope at the same place with two small branches at the same time.
The two men shouted in low voice and pulled back with force. The two twigs cut the rope at the same time. The rope was stuck tightly and could no longer rely on its toughness to relieve the force. With the combined efforts of the two men, a deep cut was actually made on it.
The two men exerted force several times, and finally with a snap, the thick rope was cut, and the pirate who was still on the rope immediately fell into the sea.
Guan Cheng, who was sitting on the bow in the distance, saw this and his face turned gloomy. It looked like there were who knows how many people were under the cabin. Even if their own people boarded the ship, they would not be able to seize the enemy ship and would only die in vain!
Looking at the Zhen family merchant ship that was defended like a turtle, Guan Cheng felt extremely regretful. In the past, as long as pirates boarded the ship, the merchant ship would immediately lose the ability to resist and surrender.
But now they have hit a hard nail. If they turn around, they will surely be chased by the enemy. With this fleet, most of which have no sails, they will be eaten away one by one by the enemy, and no one will be able to escape in the end!
what to do?
He looked at the several Zhen family merchant ships that were surrounded and thought hard. With the sides of the ships equipped with protective plates, the sails guarded by people, and the halberd soldiers who were there to prevent them from boarding, what other weaknesses could the enemy have?
Suddenly he thought of a plan and shouted, "Get in the water and sink the enemy!"