Yamamoto Chuichi was not actually escaping. After all, two hundred of his men died. If he went back in disgrace, he would be laughed at, and perhaps he would never be able to hold his head up again.
Therefore, Yamamoto Chuichi must regain his face this time. Based on this intention, he ordered his fleet to retreat a hundred steps away from Li Xian's fleet, and then ordered all the fleets to fire arrows together.
All of a sudden, there was a constant sharp sound of piercing the air, and arrows were attacking like locusts. Seeing this scene, many people could not help but change their faces and evade.
"This, these damn Japanese bandits, it turns out they are not trying to retreat. They are actually trying to scatter and shoot arrows at us. There are so many arrows. What should we do?" Seeing this scene, Li Yiyan couldn't help but frown.
Wrinkle, yelling at the Japanese pirates, but other than cursing, there was nothing I could do.
At this moment, I heard someone say: "Everyone, please retreat quickly and leave this matter to me."
Li Yiyan looked over after hearing the sound, and saw a man with a swarthy complexion and short stature, but he was also very stout, with a loud voice and a strong energy. Although he did not know him, he knew that this man was a steward on the ship, and he couldn't help but
He frowned and said secretly: "As a small merchant ship steward, what can you do in the face of the enemy's arrow rain?"
The man seemed to have noticed Li Yiyan's suspicion. He couldn't help but smile lightly and shouted loudly: "Brothers, deploy defense."
"Okay." I heard hundreds of crew members shouting, and they ran to the side of the ship. They didn't know where they touched. They only heard strange noises, and a beam of more than ten feet rose out of thin air on the ship.
The high guardrail is an oil curtain. Although the enemy's bows and arrows are sharp, they cannot penetrate the oil curtain and can only fall into the water feebly.
What's even more surprising is that there are small crenels on the side of the ship. The crew members used bows and arrows to fight back at the crenels. They only heard screams coming from not far away from the opposite side. It didn't take long.
, unexpectedly heard dozens of screams, and it seemed that at least dozens of Japanese people had been injured by arrows.
"This, this, I really didn't expect that these crew members have such skillful combat experience. Even when facing the Japanese army, everything was done step by step without any panic. This Ming and Tang Company is worthy of being the number one company in the Tang Dynasty.
, it’s really admirable.”
Li Yiyan looked at all this with a trace of admiration in his eyes and nodded in admiration.
Seeing this, Li Xian on the side couldn't help but have a smile on his lips, because Li Yiyan had no idea that the biggest backend of the Ming and Tang Dynasty companies was him, the prince, and he didn't even know that after Li Xian's secret training, every one of his
A fleet has been trained into an elite navy, because during the voyage, they will inevitably encounter pirate robbery, so these fleets have strong defense mechanisms, and these crews have
Many of them are coastal villagers, and some are retired Tang Dynasty naval forces. They are not proficient in water and are also proficient in water warfare. Therefore, the entire Ming and Tang Dynasty merchant fleet is actually an elite naval force secretly trained by Li Xian.
Of course, the number of this team is actually not large, with only more than 3,000 people in total, but this fleet will become a key part of Li Xian's great navigation plan in the future.
However, in order to avoid violating the weapons ban of the Tang Dynasty, this fleet was not equipped with crossbows, and the crew did not have armor. The weapons used were only horizontal knives and bows and arrows, but even so, it produced such an effect.
In fact, many crew members were hit by arrows during this period, but they all gritted their teeth and continued to fight without even making a sound.
After about a cup of tea, the Japanese's feather arrows gradually became sparse. Li Xian knew that they had finished shooting this round of feather arrows, but he knew that the opponent would definitely have a back-up plan, so he did not remove the oil curtain to block it. .
Sure enough, a moment later, another round of arrow rain came, but this round of arrow rain still had no effect, and they all fell into the water powerlessly.
At this time, Yamamoto Chuichi, who was on the opposite side, was extremely surprised, because he did not expect that the other side had such a strong defense, causing them to shoot tens of thousands of feather arrows, with almost no effect.
"Damn it, it's just a small merchant ship, but it has such defensive measures. I underestimated them. Give me the order to get closer, light the torch, and burn the enemy ship." Yamamoto Tadashi saw that his arrow had not taken off. When it worked, he immediately hatched another plan and prepared to burn the Tang Dynasty's ships.
However, they did not expect that at this moment, they were suddenly hit by a fierce counterattack, and the sound of piercing the air was extremely sharp. Many Japanese were shot to death by arrows before they had time to react.
"How is this possible? How come these Tang thieves' arrows are so powerful? They actually caused such casualties to our army." Yamamoto Tadashi couldn't help being shocked when he saw this. When he later discovered that the so-called feather arrows turned out to be crossbow arrows, this Only then did he finally understand the reason and exclaimed loudly: "This is a crossbow. It turns out that the opponent used a crossbow machine. No wonder our army suffered so many casualties! Damn it, the Tang thief actually has a crossbow machine!"
"Ah?" Hearing Yamamoto Chuichi's words, the surrounding soldiers also panicked, because the lethality of crossbows in the cold weapon era was far greater than that of bows and arrows, especially some large crossbow machines, which were even more lethal. Whether it is cavalry or navy, crossbows have absolute restraint.
Fortunately, the Tang army did not have many crossbows, and the damage caused was very limited. Yamamoto Chuichi felt a little relieved, but he also knew that continuing the confrontation like this was not an option. The Tang army's resistance was very tenacious, and he had to find a way to "outwit" it. .
After some thinking, he led his army to move forward. When he was still more than ten feet away from the Tang army's ship, he shouted loudly: "Listen to the people of the Tang Dynasty on the other side. Even if you resist stubbornly, In the end, it is inevitable to perish. Today, I am kind-hearted and willing to let you go. As long as you hand over the cargo and women on the ship, we can let you and others live. My patience is limited, so I will give you a stick of incense. time, if you don't agree, I will order the ship to be set on fire."
"Hmph, you only want our military property, but you dare to ask for a woman! You Japanese dog, do you know who the women on this ship are? You are not worthy of even looking at them. I originally wanted to spare your life today. , It seems that there is no need for it today." Li Xian's face flashed with a trace of severity, and he called the captain over and gave a few instructions in a low voice. The captain nodded repeatedly, and immediately came to the side and faced the crew members under his command. He gave instructions gently. (To be continued.)