The key to naval warfare lies first in the direction and trend of the wind.

If you can seize the upper hand, you can not only increase the projection distance of weapons such as bows and crossbows, trebuchets, etc., but also prevent the opponent from burning the ship with fire or the opponent from ramming the ship with ramming angles.

However, anything in this world has advantages and disadvantages, after seizing the upper wind, the upwind warship under the effect of the wind, without resistance to push their own warship to the enemy, there is no time to retreat, if you want to survive, you can only go forward and kill the enemy bravely.

This is the so-called death and then life!

On a certain day in June of the second year of Song Chongning, Sima Wei, the general of the Quanzhou Wuwei Boat Division of the Great Song Black Flag Army, led a sea falcon warship and more than a dozen fish to inspect the waters of Quanzhou, when he encountered four pirate ships plundering at sea.

With one enemy and four enemies, although the size of the opponent's ships was inferior to the Song army's warships, it had a great advantage in numbers.

Sima Wei was given two choices, one was to engage the enemy and save the plundered merchant ships, and the other was to flee and return to Quanzhou Port to let the pirates prostitute the merchant ships.

"Raise the seven-star flag! Seize the upper hand and get ready for battle! Sima Wei stood on top of the high crossbow tower, drew his waist knife, and ordered loudly.

If you retreat without a fight, you will be dealt with by military law, and this is the first battle of the Wuwei Boat Division of the Black Flag Army of the Great Song Dynasty, and if you flee without a fight in the first battle, it will seriously dampen the spirit of the Zhou Division, and you will be severely punished by Li Sanjian.

Therefore, Sima Wei quickly brought a small boat back to port for help, and at the same time loudly ordered to seize the upper hand, preparing to engage the pirate prostitution ship.

After receiving the order, Song Jun, who was treadling in the cabin of the sea falcon, under the command of a general, desperately pedaled the waterwheel in the boat with his feet, and the blades of the waterwheel hit the water, making a deafening sound.

At the same time, dozens of oars of the Sea Falcons stretched out of their hulls, striking the water in a rhythmic manner, driving the ships towards the upwind.

"Raise the flag! Order the other party to stop the ship for interrogation, or sink it immediately! ”

After the Sea Falcon warship quickly seized the upper hand, Sima Wei ordered loudly.

Several small colonels who were in charge of the order, after receiving the order, raised the flag and ordered the other party to stop the ship for interrogation.

After the two pursued merchant ships saw the flag, they hurriedly anchored and stopped on the water below the right side of the Haiyu warship, waiting for the Song Junzhou division to come on board and investigate.

But the four medium-sized ships of the pirates were still cleaving the waves, rushing towards the merchant ships, chasing them relentlessly, and it seemed that they did not take the Song army's warships in their eyes.

"Straight Lady Thief" Sima Wei scolded and then ordered: "Order the whole team to change formation in a northwestern shape, make the port oars stop rowing, the starboard oars accelerate, the crossbow is wound, the trebuchet places the fireball, and the sea falcon ships stay on the spot, ready to meet the enemy." ”

After receiving the order, the herald kept waving the flag and issuing orders to other ships.

At this time, the wind direction is from west to east, and occupying the northwest corner at this time not only prevents the opponent's fire attack, but also prevents the opponent's large ship from colliding with the angle.

However, the Sea Falcon's warship turns to face the side of the large ship to face the opponent in order to facilitate the attack of the bed crossbow and trebuchet on the side, and it is also for this purpose to stay in place, and the attack accuracy of the bed crossbow and trebuchet in the middle of the movement will be very poor.

After the sea falcon warship quickly seized the upper hand, it used its side to face several pirate ships that were rushing towards the sea, while more than a dozen small stingray boats cruised back and forth around the sea falcon, guarding the sea falcon warship.

"Three crossbow salvos! Put! After Sima Wei saw that the other party's ship had entered the range of the bed crossbow, he waved his knife and ordered loudly.

"Bang bang bang!" With Sima Wei's order, the three pairs of three-bow bed crossbows placed in the bow of the ship made three loud noises, and the three thick crossbow arrows flew into the air, and then the arrows sank and flew towards the first ship rushing towards the other party.

This "bed crossbow" is also called a "bed crossbow", or "ballista". A ballista is often combined with two or three bows, and the combined force of multiple bows is extremely powerful. The structure of the multi-bow bed crossbow is very ingenious, and the tension of the bowstring may have made use of pulleys.

There are a variety of multi-bow bed crossbows, among which the most powerful three-bow bed crossbow is also called "eight-cow crossbow", which requires dozens of people to twist the shaft and stretch the string, and the arrow "Mugan Tieling" is known as "one gun and three sword arrows", the arrow is like a javelin, and the three pieces of iron feather are like three swords.

The range of the bed crossbow is also extremely long, ranging from hundreds of steps to thousands of steps, and the best range is about 500 steps.

There are three pairs of three-bow bed crossbows on the Haigu warship, and there are even more on the "Shenzhou" warship of the Quanzhou Boat Division of the Black Flag Army of the Great Song Dynasty.

It is not easy to build bed crossbows, and it took more than a year for the Quanzhou Prefecture to create dozens of bed crossbows.

Three crossbow arrows flew into the air, and when they fell, they made a terrifying "whining" sound, and headed straight for the pirate ship that rushed at the front like galloping horses.

One of the bolts landed in the sea, and the other two hit the pirate ship accurately.

A crossbow bolt was stuck on the deck of the pirate ship, and with a loud "tom", the opponent's deck smashed into a large black hole.

Another crossbow bolt landed on the sail of the opponent's ship, and the sail fell with a "bang".

The pirate ship lost its power and landed on the surface of the sea not far from the Falcon warship.

The pirates on the ship were frightened and let out bursts of exclamations.

"Triple salvo, trebuchet projectile!" The pirate ship that rushed to the front lost power and stopped on the sea not far away, and had become a stationary target, which was a fighter plane, so Sima Wei decisively ordered all the ranged weapons on the sea falcon warship to attack together.

Don't miss the opportunity, lose it again!

With Sima Wei's order, three sets of bed crossbows and three trebuchets threw crossbow arrows or fireballs at the crossfacing pirate ships.

Three crossbow arrows flew towards the opposing ship like lightning, and three fireballs thrown by the trebuchet also flew into the air, like three meteors, dragging a long tail flame and smashing into the opposing ship.

In an instant, the crossbow arrows and fireballs almost all hit the pirate ship, and the crossbow arrows almost scattered the ship, and the fireballs smashed into the opponent's ship, igniting a raging fire.

The pirate ship that lost power ignited a raging fire, and at the same time, the cabin was flooded, half of the hull was submerged in the water, and the pirates on the ship jumped into the water in amazement and fled for their lives, and in an instant the sea was full of people or wreckage.

The remaining three pirate ships, two of which also have lateral falcons, hurl rocks or fireballs at the Falcon warship, and one pirate ship accelerates towards the Falcon warship, intending to ram or jump in melee combat.

"Knock knock!" The stones or fireballs thrown by the pirates kept falling on the ship or in the sea, falling into the water, splashing countless waves, and making loud noises when they landed on the ship.

The Song Army's Haigu warship was in the upper wind, so the pirate throwing hit rate was extremely poor, only a few stones or fireballs hit the hull, small stones are insignificant for large ships, the only thing that is a little troublesome is the fireball, the fireball falls into the ship, if the fire is not extinguished in time, it will burn the entire warship.

Therefore, the "latent fire soldiers" among the countless Song army sailors, holding all kinds of fire extinguishing equipment, regardless of the rain of arrows and flying stones, quickly extinguished the fire ignited by the fire ball.

"Fu team general, order you to lead the water ghost into the water and scuttle the opponent's ship, Fu Du team general, be careful!" While commanding the bed crossbow and trebuchet to shoot at the opponent, Sima Wei ordered the Quanzhou Navy of the Great Song Dynasty Black Flag Army to lead the water ghost into the water and engage the opponent.

Although Fu Ding is young, about thirty years old, he is the third uncle of Li Sanjian, the governor of Quanzhou, so Sima Wei does not dare to be careless, and he is instructed by thousands of times...

Fu Ding answered the order loudly, took off his military uniform, revealing a body of hard pimple black flesh, pulled a steel knife, and jumped into the sea first.

Dozens of Song Army sea ghosts followed Fu Ding and jumped into the sea.

The water ghost scuttles the boat, not only to face the opponent's water ghost, but also to face the underwater rapids or undercurrents, the dark tide is like a fierce arrow, and the water ghost is drowned before it approaches the opponent's boat, so not all waters can send the water ghost to the water to scull the boat.

However, the Song Army's water ghosts are all recruited from the "Shuhu", the Shuhu Dingding or Shumin, who takes the boat as their home, lives on the sea for a living, lives on the sea all the year round, fishing, pearl diving, clam fishing, etc., especially Li Sanjian's third uncle Fu Ding, who has been pearl diving for more than ten years, not only has a good underwater breath-holding effort, but also knows all kinds of underwater situations well, and comes and goes freely.

The same is true of dozens of water ghosts of the Song army, after entering the water, they dive under the water like fish in water, and swim towards one of the other party's ships that was throwing stones and crossbow arrows.

The water ghosts on the pirate ship saw the Song army's water ghosts entering the water, and they also jumped into the water one after another to engage the Song army.

Soon after, the surface of the water was swelled, and some human tissue floated above the water.

A fierce battle was raging underwater, and a pirate ship on the surface of the water braved the rain of arrows from the other side, impulsing in front of the sea falcon warship.

In an instant, there was a loud "boom", and the huge collision angle wrapped in bronze slammed into the right hull of the Sea Falcon warship, and sawdust flew and splinters of wood flew everywhere.

If it was a small ship, it would have been overturned by such a ferocious impact, but the huge hull of the sea falcon warship was only shaken, and it was as steady as Mount Tai.

"Kill!" The pirates on the ship, with red eyes and hideous faces, threw out several soft ladders towards the sea falcon warship, and then climbed up the soft ladder, intending to capture the Song warship.

"Shoot the arrows!" Sima Wei was calm and calm, commanding the crossbowmen on the ship, holding various bows and crossbows, and condescendingly fired bows and arrows at the pirates who climbed the ship.

The crossbowmen of the Song army held bows and crossbows, divided into three teams, and unhurriedly, using the cover of the female wall on the ship, took turns to fire feather arrows downward.

All of a sudden, the arrows were like locusts, shooting towards the pilgrims.

The pirates were hit by arrows, let out bursts of screams, and fell into the sea, and some pirates rushed up, but they were stabbed under the ship by a burst of gunfire.

The Quanzhou Boat Division of the Black Flag Army of the Great Song Dynasty also moved quickly in the fierce battle, looking for a good opportunity to destroy the enemy, or firing arrows or fires, and fighting fiercely with the enemy.