The attention of the officers and soldiers was completely absorbed by the fierce fighting on the left and right flanks. Zhao Dangshi never imagined that the thieves still had a fierce new force. In the fierce battle before, Niu Youyong's headquarters was not exposed, so through the darkness, it still had the effect of a surprise attack on the official army.

The scattered light boats before Zhao Dangshi's boat were basically destroyed in a round of rushing of the net shuttle boat with the bow of the ship wrapped in heavy iron sheets, and in just half a time of incense, Zhao Dangshi's boat was completely exposed to Niu Youyong's eyes.

Luo Wei's eyes were red, he gasped, and pressed the knife to ask for his life: "Lord, the situation is dangerous, you have to retreat quickly!" ”

Zhao Dangshi looked left and right, and couldn't bear to say: "If I retreat, this battle will definitely be lost!" Then he added: "Although the thieves are fierce, the ship is small after all; Although our army has suffered losses, most of the losses are light boats, and as long as we rely on the big ships to fight steadily, we may not be able to reverse the situation, and it will not be too late to retreat at that time! ”

At the request of Zhao Dangshi, the official and military ships did not turn around and withdraw from the battle at the first time, but turned slightly and sailed towards the left flank.

Niu Youyong saw it clearly, and sneered: "This group of Qiu Ba still wants to resist stubbornly!" Immediately ordered, "Ignore the enemy's ships for the time being, all go to the left, and annihilate that part of the officers and troops first!" ”

The right flank of the official army had suffered heavy losses and gritted its teeth to support, but now Niu Youyong's main force came in person, and under the order, the thieves began to launch a fierce attack on the sand boats and the river falcons. At first, the thieves did not attack the sand boat, as if they were showing weakness, but they were just a trick to show Zhao Dangshi and ask him to transfer the big ship in the middle of the road.

At that time, the thieves relied on the speed of the ship to cruise back and forth around the official and military ships, constantly shooting fire arrows and throwing weapons such as wooden crows, harpoons, and crossbows into the official ships. Not to be outdone, the officers and soldiers stretched out the sand boat to penetrate and sink the thief net shuttle boat. However, the thieves have been fighting for a long time, and they know the tactics of water warfare very well, and they have rich experience, so they can always take a step ahead of the sand boat and escape. Soon after, the officers and soldiers not only failed to repel the thieves, but died five or six under the repeated attacks of the thieves.

Seeing that the defeat of the right-wing was decided, Zhao Dangshi was helpless. Although the thieves on the left flank of the official army were unable to eat the officers and soldiers, their incessant attacks and harassment completely restricted the actions of the officers and soldiers, and they could not advance or retreat. At this moment, Luo Wei once again asked Zhao Dangshi for his life: "Lord! If you don't retreat, you really can't leave! Our mission is to lure the enemy, there is no need to fight to the death with the thieves! ”

Zhao Dangshi looked at Luo Wei, who was sweating like pulp and had been injured in many places, and was speechless for a while. He was right, if he didn't leave, he really wouldn't have a chance, but in this situation, if his ship wanted to escape, it would definitely need most of the troops to be cut off, and that part of the soldiers would never survive. After repeated hesitation, Zhao Dangshi still decided to fight for a while. After all, this fleet is the hard work of the Chu Di official army, although the right wing is declining at the moment, it can also drag the thieves for a while, and take advantage of this time to repel the thieves who are slightly weaker on the left flank, at least a part of the warships can be saved.

The officers and troops continued to fight, but the situation was becoming less and less optimistic. In the crashing waves, several thieves and shuttle boats approached Zhao Dangshi's ship, flew out of the lasso, iron claws, and climbed the rope with a sharp blade. Luo Wei shouted sharply, carrying his waist knife, limping and commanding the soldiers to cut the rope. How can the thief rope be entangled in the iron wire and copper wire, which is very tough, and it is difficult to break even if it is cut by a knife. The officers and soldiers finally cut off one or two, but three or four lasso flying claws were thrown up from under the sand boat, and they always followed one after another, not giving the officers and soldiers a chance to breathe at all.

The situation was critical, and Zhao Dangshi also took a knife and went into battle in person. At this time, several thieves had climbed up to the rescue, coveted Zhao Dangshi's clothes, and knew that it was the official general, so they rushed up to snatch this great achievement. Seeing this, Luo Wei didn't care about the thieves who were fighting with him in front of him, and turned back to save them, so that the thieves were all convinced that Zhao Dangshi was a big man, and they all waved knives and guns noisily and besieged them.

The sand boats were already full of thieves, and many officers and soldiers, knowing that they were bound to lose, threw away their armor and knelt on the ground to ask for mercy, and some who did not want to fall into the hands of the enemy jumped into the river. The only people on the ship who were still fighting were Zhao Dangshi, Luo Wei, and the handful of loyal soldiers who guarded them.

Luo Wei's deputy, Song Ji'an, was also by Zhao Dangshi's side. He was soaking wet, and while parrying the attack of the thieves, he said to Zhao Dangshi: "There are still some of our army's bluffing boats and net shuttle boats around the sand boat, and the lord is jumping into the river now, and there is still a way to retreat!" ”

Luo Wei also said: "Yes! Staying on the boat is too much to escape, so it's better to jump into the river! ”

At this point, Zhao Dangshi had no choice but to move to the side of the ship under the cover of Luo Wei, Song Ji'an and others, and the thieves seemed to see Zhao Dangshi's intentions and tried their best to prevent their transfer. Under the onslaught of the thieves, it was extremely difficult for Zhao Dangshi and the others to move every step.

The officers and troops surrounding Zhao Dangshi gradually decreased, and there were only a few people left, but these few people were all fearless of death, forming a small circle, and tightly protecting their main generals.

Seeing that the thief could not attack, he mobilized more than ten archers and fired arrows into the small circle. Two or three officers and soldiers fell to the ground with arrows, and Song Ji'an was also hit by an arrow in the chest. He looked down at the arrow embedded deep in his chest, his throat churning, holding back a surge of blood, still fighting with his sword. But his strength faded away like a flowing stream, and finally he could no longer support it, and fell to his knees, and a large mouthful of blood spurted out and sprinkled all over the deck in front of him. The thieves took advantage of the momentum to cut off his head, and the head rolled to the side, causing a rush of scrambling.

Seeing the tragic death of his second lieutenant, Luo Wei roared angrily, jumped up on one foot, and hacked three thieves to death in succession, but the two streams that followed knocked him to the ground. At this moment, a big wave hit, the sand boat tilted, and Luo Wei rolled off the deck in a daze, and was swallowed up by the river.

As Song Ji'an and Luo Wei left one after another, there were only two officers and soldiers left by Zhao Dangshi's side, and the three of them tried their best to resist, fight and retreat, but they all knew in their hearts that they had reached the end of their rope.

"Protect the lord!"

The two officers and soldiers roared hoarsely, even though there was not even a robe around them. The hull of the ship tossed violently, and one of the officers and men leaned his armor and suddenly dropped a red booklet from the front placket. He shuddered, and subconsciously grabbed it to pick it up, but unexpectedly leaned over, and the secret bang sounded, which happened to hit him in the head, and blood splashed.

The nearby thieves instantly rushed up to fight for the corpse, and another officer and soldier immediately shouted: "The lord jumps back into the river!" "I don't care if Zhao Dangshi does what he says, he stands up and raises his knife and goes straight forward to die.

Zhao Dangshi looked back, and in the monstrous fire two steps away, there was a rolling river. Not far in front of him, the place where the officers and soldiers were fighting was already full of flesh and blood. "Brotherly love will never be forgotten!" He gritted his teeth, and prayed silently for the dead Zhao Ying generals in his heart, and was about to turn over the side and leap over, but he heard a clear sound of "Ping Pong", and suddenly more than ten flying claws hooked onto the deck on the oblique side. Still stunned, countless torches appeared on the river in the early light. But when he saw the white waves churning, a grass skimming boat came quickly, and the bow general shouted loudly: "Lord, get on the boat quickly!" "It is Guang Wenlu, the sentry officer of the training battalion who commanded the follow-up fleet.

The grass skimming boat is a kind of lucky boat, but the ship type is inferior to the big fortune boat, the wave boat, the oars and sails are used together, the speed is explosive, and it is mostly used for short-distance charges, which is convenient for attacking and pursuing, and the more than ten flying claws are thrown from this grass skimming boat. More than a dozen officers and soldiers were shirtless, shouting and shouting trumpets while pulling the flying claw rope, and quickly approached the sand boat where Zhao Dangshi was.

"Lord beware!"

Between the grass skimming boat and the sand boat on the ladder of the boat, Zhao Dangshi had just stepped on it, and Guang Wenlu on the opposite side suddenly shouted. But listening to the sound of killing behind him, he didn't need to look to know that the thieves were catching up.

Guang Wenlu was so anxious that he raised his hand and shot an arrow at a thief who ran in the front, and ordered the officers and soldiers at the bow of the ship: "Cover with cannons!" ”

A medium-sized franc machine was fixed in the bow of the straw skimming boat, facing the side of the sand boat. From time to time, some officers and soldiers were worried: "The lord is still in front, once he makes a mistake, the consequences will be unimaginable!" ”

Guang Wenlu said angrily: "The thief is only ten steps away from the lord, and the consequences of not firing a cannon are just as unimaginable!" He yelled, "Fat! Then he shouted in a voice that was almost broken to Zhao Dangshi, "Lord, the next subordinate will jump into the river!" ”

Zhao Dangshi shouted: "Okay! ”

Before the word "good" was finished, he saw Guang Wenlu beckoning at the same time, Zhao Dangshi had no time to think carefully, his heart kicked his legs sharply, and jumped down from the side of the fish. At this moment, the fire of the grass skimming ship was bright, and then it slammed loudly from behind, and the projectile fired from the back of the Franc cannon did not hit the thieves, but broke the mast on the side, and the mast sails were burning prematurely, as if the fire quilt had come down from the black empty cage, and all the thieves on the deck were crushed in flames. The heart-rending mourning howl was loud, and Zhao Dangshi only felt that a heat wave was pushing his back, and it was difficult to bake moxibustion, but fortunately, he fell into the water in the blink of an eye, and the cold and cool refreshment immediately hit his whole body.

Guang Wenlu hurriedly sent someone to rescue Zhao Dangshi on the boat, and when he saw Zhao Dangshi, he regretted and said: "It's too late to come down!" ”

Zhao Dangshi brushed all his wet hair to the back of his head and said, "If you come early, we will wait for the whole army to die in the belly of the fish tonight." ”

The fire of the sand boat spread out, and it was impossible to save it. At this time, the thieves also discovered the sudden appearance of Guang Wenlu's fleet, and several net shuttle boats quickly bypassed the crumbling sand boat and approached the grass skimming boat where Zhao Dangshi was. The net shuttle ship flew arrows indiscriminately, and Zhao Dangshi and Guang Wenlu hid in the cabin with their waists. The side of the grass skimming ship was equipped with bamboo guards to prevent bullets, and the attack of the thieves was fruitless. The officers and men on board abandoned their flying claws, supported the wall of the sand boat with a long penny, and swung towards the periphery by means of reaction force. At the same time, the officers and men of the Zhao battalion had several other wheels interspersed.

The two sides of the wheel are equipped with several wheel heads, about one foot into the water, need to step on the driving wheel head to hit the water to sail, the speed is much faster than the human paddle, the boat surface is equipped with a girder cover plate covered by the slab nail shed, the lower shaft is installed, and the front and back are passed. The thief and his arrow could not penetrate the shack in a short time, so he drove the net shuttle boat to speed up and collide, trying to repeat the old trick of knocking over the wheels for a broadside battle. The officers and men did not give them this opportunity, and fired fireworks, such as sand sand, sand arrows, and divine fire, from the gap in the shacks, first obscuring the thieves' vision, and then immediately lifting the planks, and the officers and men stood on both sides and threw fireballs, rockets, and javelins at the thieves' net shuttle boats. The thieves were blocked, and the offensive of the net shuttle ships was stalled.

With the half-sinking of Zhao Dangshiza's ship, the main fleet of Zhao Ying's main fleet was basically wiped out, and all the yachts and net shuttle boats owned by the thieves began to spread along the river, and the officers and soldiers were carefully searched and killed. The situation was reported to the cabin, and Zhao Dangshi said to Guang Wenlu: "You can take advantage of the thief's predicament and retreat quickly!" ”

Guang Wenlu nodded in agreement, and then asked, "Do you want to return to the port directly?" ”

"No!" Zhao Dangshi opened his eyes and clenched his fists, "Biased to the east, turn into the grass swinger near Makou Lake in the east of Zhengang." ”

The names of the brothers will be repaid with the blood of the thieves, and if they retreat, the previous bloody battle will lose its luster and meaning.