At the critical moment, the first big ship shook violently, a loud noise was heard in the water, the ship shook violently, and even stopped.
"General, there are hidden piles under the water, and the ship is stuck."
Yu Hongwu's expression became very serious. This was the thing they were most worried about. Unexpectedly, it still happened. He immediately ordered: "Warn the ships behind!"
A big red lantern was hung up to notify the ships a hundred steps behind to stop moving forward. Yu Hongwu immediately ordered: "Fire iron fire thunder!"
"Bang! Bang!" Four trebuchets fired iron fire mines at the same time, targeting the pontoon bridge ahead.
"Boom! Boom!"
There was a series of explosions, and the white water column flew up to a height of ten feet, and the water splashed everywhere. One of the iron fire mines hit the target, and a section of the pontoon was blown to pieces, and more than a dozen surrounding wooden piles were also blown off.
The power of the iron fire thunder stunned Zhe Keqiu on top of the city. Realizing the critical situation, he shouted: "Throw kerosene to burn the boat, and shoot with a crossbow!"
Dozens of burning kerosene barrels flew toward the ship, and the ship suddenly turned into a sea of fire. Five hundred crossbows shot through the air in the light of the fire. Dozens of soldiers were shot down by crossbow arrows, including nearly twenty.
The black-armored soldier was shot.
"Dive quickly, the iron fire thunder is about to explode."
A box containing four iron fire thunders was burning in the fierce fire. The match rope of the iron fire thunder was ignited, and the flames flickered. It was hard to tell whether they were all ignited or just one. Once it exploded, the entire iron fire thunder would be ignited.
The ships will be blown to pieces, and there are two hundred soldiers on board.
At this critical moment, a black-armored soldier rushed forward, picked up the Iron Fire Thunder box and jumped into the water. The Iron Fire Thunder exploded under the water, causing huge waves that almost capsized the ship.
The hull of the ship was not destroyed, but a large hole was blown open at the bottom of the ship, and the river water poured in crazily.
The fire was burning on the ship, river water was pouring into the cabin, and the ship began to sink. Yu Hongwu had no choice but to order: "Take off the armor and abandon the ship!"
At this moment, the second round of the enemy's attack on the city began. More than thirty barrels of kerosene hit the ship. The fire became more intense and black smoke filled the air. Powerful crossbow arrows were shot into the black smoke, and another
More than twenty soldiers were unfortunately hit by arrows.
The crossbowmen on the boat jumped off the boat and swam to the shore. Yu Hongwu and more than 20 black-armored soldiers also took off their armor and jumped into the river to escape.
The entire ship was engulfed in flames and began to sink rapidly. Soon, the river flooded the deck and the ship capsized.
Yu Hongwu looked back at the big ship. The big ship had disappeared, and only half of the mast was still exposed on the water.
Yu Hongwu sighed and swam hard to the shore.
The attack fell short, and the generals watching the battle on the shore all sighed, but another trace of worry flashed in Chen Qing's eyes. There were twenty iron fire mines on the ship, but only five exploded before and after, and fifteen more sank into the river.
Never let the enemy get it.
Chen Qing immediately said to Yang Zaixing: "Immediately send the water ghosts to fish for iron fire thunders. There are fifteen in total, not one less!"
At two o'clock, more than a dozen small boats gradually approached the sunken ship. More than a hundred water ghosts wearing black water bodies jumped into the water and dived to the bottom of the water. The water ghosts quickly found the sunken ship and began to search inside the cabin.
After getting up, not long after, the water ghosts found three boxes of iron fire mines from the cabin, none of which had their lids removed. There were four in each box, a total of twelve.
But there were still three iron fire thunders that could not be found. Suddenly, they were discovered by the defenders at the top of the city. The defenders at the top of the city shouted, and more than 2,000 defenders fired arrows into the water together. The arrows were like raindrops.
Several water ghosts were hit by arrows and unfortunately died in battle. The situation was not good, and the other water ghosts had to evacuate quickly.
However, there are still a few water ghosts left. Their mission is no longer to search for iron fire mines, but to detect the enemy's underwater piling situation.
In the big tent, Yu Hongwu was reporting to Chen Qing the reasons for the failure of the attack.
"Under normal circumstances, the ships can use their inertia to rush into the city, but I didn't expect that the enemy was concealed in the water. The ships were stuck and unable to move, and became a living target for the city's attack. In addition to kerosene, the enemy
Gunpowder, and bed crossbows, the twenty-eight black-armored soldiers who died were all shot by bed crossbows."
Chen Qing nodded and asked: "Can Yu Tongzhi be sure that only five iron fire thunders exploded? We searched repeatedly and found only twelve, three missing."
Yu Hongwu lowered his head and thought for a while and said: "The last explosion was in the water. One of our brothers jumped into the water holding the ignited iron fire thunder. He could feel it from his humble function. The power of the last explosion was quite powerful, and the ship was almost overturned.
Look, it’s definitely not the power of one iron fire thunder, it should be several of them exploding at the same time.”
"What's this soldier's name?"
"My name is Zhang Wen, from Lantian County, Jingzhao. My parents are still at home!"
Chen Qing turned back to Jiangjun and said, "Write it down and order the military department to find Zhang Wen's parents and give them three times the pension. His parents will be supported by the county."
"The humble position has been recorded."
At this time, Luo Kuan, the chief craftsman of the firearms bureau nearby, said to Chen Qing: "Your Highness, we have done experiments many times. If it explodes in the box, other iron fire mines put together will be blown up. The iron shell will be very
It is brittle, rough, easily broken, and will never remain the same. Even if it is found, it will only be half an iron shell at most, and it is meaningless for the enemy to obtain it."
Chen Qing nodded and said to everyone: "The failure of the two attacks also allowed us to see that the enemy's defense is very tight. According to the information obtained by the water ghosts, there are thousands of hidden stakes underwater. Not only
The entrances and exits at both ends of the Luoshui River have been sealed, as well as the entrance to the moat. In other words, it is no longer realistic to attack from the waterway, so I decided to give up attacking from the waterway."
"Then we can only go back to the original idea and blow up the city gate with an iron rhinoceros?" Yang Zaixing said with some frustration.
Chen Qing still shook his head, "Zhe Keqiu is a famous general among the generals of the Zhe family. He is rich in experience and skill. It can be seen from the siege of Luoshui that the defenses he deployed are watertight. He used two iron chains to block the boat and used underwater stakes to block it.
He used big ships, kerosene and gunpowder very skillfully, as well as bed crossbows. I am almost certain that he deployed a large number of bed crossbows on the pontoons in the city and on the shore just to deal with our wolf pack tactics, so fortunately we did not
Use small boats loaded with soldiers to force a breakthrough, otherwise the entire army will be destroyed."
Having said this, Chen Qing looked at Yang Zaixing and said: "With such an opponent, do you think he will make a mistake and give our soldiers a chance to get close to the city gate or wall?"
"I don't know, but I should give it a try!" Yang Zaixing was silent for a moment and whispered.
Liu Cuidao: "Your Highness, you mean that we should abandon the idea of taking tricks and prepare to fight a tough battle?"
Chen Qing glanced at Yang Zaixing, and then said to Liu Cui and the others: "We also have an advantage, that is, the heavy trebuchets and thousand-step guns. I just discovered now that they are actually the main force attacking Luoyang. Now everyone goes back to rest. Next
It’s time for the craftsmen to get busy.”
Everyone stood up and dispersed. Yang Zaixing stood up and whispered to Chen Qing: "Your Highness, I am really unwilling to accept this humble position and want to give it another try."
Chen Qing said calmly: "You can test it, but it's best not to use the iron fire thunder. You can't let the iron fire thunder fall into the opponent's hands."
Yang Zaixing decisively promised: "Your Highness, please rest assured that I will never let the iron fire thunder fall into the hands of the opponent. If I accidentally fall into the hands of the thieves, I am willing to use military law to deal with it!"
Chen Qing knew Yang Zaixing's stubbornness very well, and he would never be willing to let him experience failure, so he nodded and agreed, "Okay! You write a military order, and I will try it."
While Chen Qing was discussing countermeasures with the generals in the Chinese army's tent, Zhe Keqiu, the commander-in-chief of Luoyang City, was also discussing defensive countermeasures with more than a dozen generals.
Zhe Keqiu said to everyone: "I received a letter from Wan Yanchang, asking us to pay attention to the enemy's iron fire thunder. It is very powerful. One iron fire thunder can destroy the Datong city gate. I didn't believe it at first, but
Today I saw it with my own eyes, and I realized that this thing is really powerful. If we can't guard against it, Luoyang City will definitely fall."
"Does the commander think the Song army will attack from Luoshui again?" a general asked.
Zhe Keqiu shook his head, "Frankly speaking, I don't know. If I were Chen Qing, I would definitely give up Luoshui. He should know very well that Luoshui has no chance. No matter whether it's a big boat, a small boat or swimming, it's impossible."
If they break through from Luoshui, they can only turn to attack the city."
Speaking of this, Zhe Keqiu said sternly to everyone: "Chen Qing's army is best at sneak attacks at night. The fourteen regulations on night defense that I have formulated must be strictly implemented by me. Anyone who dares not to implement it or perverts me will be punished by military law."
