More than 20 fortune ships lined up in a column from south to north, slowly moving southward. As far as the eye can see, to the west of the fleet, you can occasionally see the looming coastal line, and to the east of the fleet, a round of red sun is rising on the sea, between the sky and the sea, countless seagulls are flying in the sky. On the blue sea, the sea breeze blows slightly, which is refreshing.

"Lord Governor, practice a few more times, and these bunnies will be fine." Commander Wang Jian said with a smile.

Zhao Xingde nodded, took a deep breath, and said loudly: "Begin!" ”

The sailors immediately rushed to the cables under the masts everywhere. The gunners rushed up to the front and rear of the ship, quickly hooked the cable to construct the gun mount, removed the pads that stuck the gun mount, and several gunners cleaned and checked before firing the guns, while another group of gunners brought the ammunition up from below deck. The sailors grabbed the three cables that hoisted the sails and said, "Hoist the sails!" The captain shouted, "Hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-" The jet-black sail climbed up little by little, slightly skewed by the sea breeze.

Soon after the ship was stationed in Guazhou, the ship received an urgent letter from the Ministry of War, saying that the Great Sailor had once again harassed the coastal area of Guangnan Road, looted and burned down the villages, and the people were killed and injured by thousands. The military situation was like fire, and Zhao Xingde had to immediately mobilize his subordinates to set off south.

In the eyes of most people, the South China Sea is still a wild land, and most of the officers and soldiers of the Navy Division also chose to leave their dependents in Guazhou. The princess couldn't follow the boat like Mrs. Han Shizhong, and Zhao Huan also stayed in the camp in Guazhou. In order to prevent accidents, Zhao Xingde deliberately left 2,000 firecrackers to protect the camp of the sailors, and Liu Wengu also stayed, responsible for urging the baggage, supervising the construction of warships, and building water villages.

In order to make up for the problem of insufficient troops, the military department assigned the naval divisions left by the Zhenguo Army on Guangnan Road, as well as other coastal naval divisions, to Zhao Xingde's control, with a total strength of more than 20,000 people. It was a young navy, and although the sailors had tried their best to recruit sailors from among the experienced sailors, there were still very few officers and men who had experience in long-distance sailing. Zhao Xingde knew that he did not know more about the possible situations of the voyage than others, but he still followed the advice of experienced sailor officers and sailors, plus some of his own considerations, and used his leisure time to train these subordinates with all his might.

"Okay—Le—"

With a loud slogan, the black sails were raised to the top of the mast, the sailors adjusted the direction of the sails, and the ship suddenly increased its speed after shaking it a few times. The captain of each team of sailors found the right direction of the wind. The sea breeze roared violently in the sky, the mast swayed slightly, and in a white wave, the towering bow easily broke through the crest of the raging waves, and the whole ship seemed to sail against the wind. At this time, the gunners were already lined up behind the side of the ship, loading ammunition, setting up guns, raising guns, and finally lighting the fire. On the shaky deck, everyone stood steadily, and there was no longer the situation where someone vomited in the first few days of going to sea.

"That's right—" Zhao Xingde used a clairvoyant mirror to observe more than two dozen warships from afar.

During the training of the sail hoisting, almost all the ships accurately grasped the direction of the wind, and the formation of the entire fleet suddenly accelerated, but there was no major confusion in the formation. This kind of accuracy is a super-level performance for a newly formed sailor. When the South China Sea Naval Division set out from Guazhou, there were only five warships converted from Fu boats, with nearly 1,000 officers and men. More than a dozen ships were added to Quanzhou, and the number of officers and men increased to more than 5,000, and the fleet appeared to be mighty, but the formation of the fleet was also more chaotic. Each ship is an independent kingdom, in order to break the barrier between the sailors in various places, Zhao Xingde transferred at least seventy percent of the personnel of all the warships, and implemented a unified flag and order.

The red, blue, yellow, and white four-color flag was raised on the mast, and Zhao Xingde's ship issued the flag of changing the column to a horizontal formation. The first ship turned its rudder and headed southeast, followed by the second, the third, and the fourth...... The last ship was still on course due south, and when it was in line with the other ships in about an east-west direction, the fleet of sailors had become a line to the south, and the ships lowered their sails and adjusted their course slightly, and the barrel guns on the ship's tower were facing south.

"Boom-" "Boom-" "Boom-" "Boom-"

The red battle flag was raised, the gunners lit the guns one after another, the muzzles of the guns spewed dazzling firelight one after another, and one after another black iron bullets streaked across the blue sky, stirring up rows of sky-high water columns on the sea, and the thick smoke of gunpowder and sulfur shrouded the bow of the ship. At the same time as the cannon was fired, the gun carriage "whirred" back, and was dragged by the cable with a "creak", the heavy cannon sound stopped on the rails, and the gunner immediately stepped forward, and someone coughed violently while sticking the soaked cannon brush into the hot gun chamber, and the white steam came out with a burnt smell.

The ammunition man skillfully pushed the cartridge and shell into the chamber and pressed it with the pusher, and together the gunners pushed the muzzle out of the ship's side, and the fuse was lit again. Not long after the first salvo passed, the second round of salvo began again, watching the water column rise in front of him, Zhao Xingde nodded slightly. Unable to wait for the gunboats to enter the ranks, the naval division had significantly fewer artillery than he expected, so it was crucial to increase the speed of firing the guns. At the same time, the firepower of the ships did not ensure the destruction of the enemy ships before they got close, and the problem had to be solved by broadside battles, and the artillery only tried to weaken the enemy's combat power before the broadside battles. After three volleys, the warship will raise its sails and decisively rush straight towards the enemy ship, according to Zhao Xingde, to start a white-knuckle battle at sea.

"Raise the sails!" "Raise the sails!"

"Thunder thrower on deck!" Liu Zhijian ordered loudly.

A group of thunder throwers came out of the cabin, each of them hung a bamboo basket containing earth-shaking thunder, and held the fire fold in their right hand, and rushed up to the ship's building, while a larger number of fire-crackers stood guard under the ship's building. In addition to strafing the opponent's deck with shotguns, the shipyard relies on these mine-throwers to condescendingly throw earth-shattering thunderbolts at the enemy ship, and when the enemy rushes over to seize the ship, the big-shouldered and round-waisted mine-throwers can also counterattack at the first time. The firecrackers on the deck prepared to support the ship's battle and prepare for the broadside battle. The ship's tower is the most important position in the broadside battle, and if necessary, the ship's mine-throwers and gunners will bombard their ships and sweep away the enemy on the deck.

"Ignite the fire!"

With the sound of "bang, bang", there were bursts of green smoke on the deck of the ship, and the firecrackers reloaded their ammunition, fired again, and then replaced their guns, standing on the side of the ship in a strict formation, and practiced to the last step, many people showed a relaxed look on their faces, but in the real battle, this time was about to usher in the most serious moment.

Liu Zhijian shook his head secretly, there is still a distance between the drill and the actual combat, after all. After Zhao Xingde reorganized the army in Quanzhou, he reported to the Ministry of War, and each big ship appointed a commander, a deputy general and a military envoy, of which the commander and the deputy general were appointed, and the military envoy was elected by the soldiers. Seagoing ships are closed places, and any small contradiction and conflict can lead to even greater disturbances, which in turn endanger the safety of the entire ship and the fleet. Therefore, even if Zhao Xingde loves the style of soldiers like a son, the military law on the ship is much stricter than on the shore, and the military envoy does not have as much power as the shore, so it can be said that the command is like a soil emperor on the ship.

When going out to sea, each large ship is relatively independent, and a gust of wind may completely blow the entire fleet away, and during the battle, if the commander does not obey the military order, or even evacuates without authorization, it is impossible to carry out the governor's general order. Zhao Xingde was in charge of the South China Sea Naval Division, and a large number of his cronies and generals, such as Du Fujiao, Liu Zhijian and others, did not have the qualifications of a naval division, but Zhao Xingde still let them serve as the commander of a boat, and used the officers of the naval division as deputy generals. Many of the escorts elected by the sailors were also prestigious junior officers in the sailors.

The commander of the warships appointed by the naval division was mainly artillery officers, and most of the infantry officers like Du Fujiao also knew how to recognize the compass, observe the sky and distinguish directions, and other basic navigation skills, and had their own advantages with the veteran naval officers. The Great Song Dynasty never attached much importance to the naval division, and the status of the coastal division was far inferior to that of the river defense and river defense division, so the naval division was far from forming a tradition of excluding the officers of the Ma Bu Army. The marshals who were once in charge of the sailors, such as Yue Fei , Han Shizhong and others, were also from the cavalry. Therefore, the appointment of Liu Zhijian and others did not cause a collective backlash among the officers of the naval division, but on the contrary, the principle of prohibiting orders and regulations prevailed over personal bravery, and daring to fight was better than seniority.

After the bombardment, the ships continued to break the waves, and the officers and men of the sailors who had finished their "morning exercises" also began to scrub the decks and sort out the cables. Zhao Xingde convened a meeting of the staff officers on the ship, and the commanders of each ship convened a meeting of the officers in the shipbuilding, and about an hour later, the commander would lead the team to inspect all positions on the ship, and required the whole ship to maintain a state of being ready to fight at any time. The nimble sailor boy climbs the mast like a monkey and uses a clairvoyant mirror to look out into the sea in the distance.

In the field of vision, the clairvoyant mirror is often a vast sea, and it is necessary to distinguish between the monotonous blue and white, and occasionally there is something at sea level, but most of the time it is water birds and floating objects. Suddenly, several of the children shouted at the same time: "Boat—there is a ship ahead—" and all the officers and sailors looked up into the distance.

A small black dot appeared where the sea and sky met, and a small white flag waved from the bow of the ship.

"Righteous thief" Zhou Xun looked crying and mourning, he is also a little famous, and he has done a lot of big and small transactions. However, the officers and soldiers don't need to engage in such a formation, the entire fleet of naval divisions is lined up on the sea, and a group of artillery will come to bombard the face as soon as it is seen, right? Looking at this murderous appearance, if you don't hurry up and raise the white flag, your boat will be bombarded into wooden slag by cannonballs before it has time to get up.