At the same time, Lu Meng, who was on the flagship of the Eastern Wu Naval Army, suddenly found that two rows of black holes suddenly appeared on the side of the new warships of the Central Army opposite, and there was a thick cylindrical object in each hole, and a large group of sailors were busy around them.

As the mast of the flagship "Chang'an" was raised, a signal flag was raised to attack the enemy's ship, and a herald was passing on the same order in the flag language.

Fifty guns of five galleons opened fire one after another, and the first shells were test-fired.

They did not fire a salvo, mainly because they were worried about the huge recoil, which had an effect on the balance of the ship.

Lu Meng only saw red light flickering in those black holes, and then he heard a deafening roar, which was similar to the sound of a large number of explosives exploding at once.

After all, Dongwu has successfully developed its own gunpowder, and Lu Meng still has this knowledge.

Suddenly, a lot of black spherical objects flew towards his warship, and a miracle did not happen, the first wave of shells, because of the problem of landing point, fell into the water one after another, and did not hit the warship of Dongwu.

However, the guns of the Central Army were still well trained, and they only had a few minutes to clear the chambers, reload them with more gunpowder, and load them with heavy solid shells.

Soon, the second wave of shells flew into the sequence of the Soochow naval army, and this time they were not so lucky, Lu Meng's flagship ship, was hit by multiple shells.

Solid shells easily broke through the decks and superstructures of building and fighting ships, especially flagships that were attacked by heavy fire, and many soldiers were killed by the burst of wood chips.

The distance between the two sides continued to shrink, and by a hundred feet, the guns on the galleons could already fire at each other.

Although a few of the bed crossbows fired long arrows that were quite accurate, they hit the side of the galleon, but they were unscathed because of the steel plates added to the side of the galleon.

Because the side of the galleon is higher than that of the building ship, the bed crossbow loses its effect as soon as it is close.

On the contrary, it was artillery, and the hit rate was getting higher and higher, and the shells pierced the building ships of Soochow with thousands of holes.

The mast was also blown up, the deck was also broken, and the vicinity of the waterline had long been broken, and a large amount of water began to pour in.

At this time, the soldiers of the marines on the sailing ship began to use flintlock pistols to shoot, and most of the guns were replaced with shotguns, and began to kill and injure the exposed personnel on the enemy ships.

The man-powered trebuchets had long since been smashed by the shells, and soon both ships began to pour into the water, and their attacks were suppressed by artillery and muskets.

Lu Meng could only transfer to a fighting ship that was desperately coming to the rescue, and gave the order to retreat.

The horn of retreat sounded, but only two fighting ships were left to respond, and a large number of oarsmen began to row desperately, maintaining a high speed.

In the end, it was Gan Ning who took Lü Bu's safety into account, and the Central Navy did not pursue Lü Meng, but began to return.

In this naval battle, a total of two building ships and three fighting ships were sunk, and the first record of the new galleon was very impressive, proving the great power of artillery.

Lü Meng escaped with his life, he ran away with his life, and he had to report the latest changes in the Central Army Naval Army to Zhou Yu, but he didn't know that Lü Bu was on the sailboat opposite.

Lü Bu did not return to Jiaozhou Bay, but returned directly to Lijin, from which he transferred to a boat to return to Chang'an.

This trip to the sea lasted more than two months, experienced too many firsts, and also brought Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, Lu Su and others into contact with a new world.

Especially Lu Su, he resolutely applied to Lu Bu to stay in Jiaozhou Bay, he wanted to study the navy, study the navy, and command the navy in the future.

In August, news came from Yizhou that the central army and local garrisons under the command of Xu Shu, the assassin of Yizhou, had defeated the armies of the southwestern barbarians several times.

Especially in the final battle, in Guchang, 30,000 Han troops and 20,000 local troops defeated the 80,000-strong southwestern barbarian coalition army, and captured the barbarian king Meng Lang and his son Meng Shu in one fell swoop.

However, Xu Shu did not kill them, but according to the Fuyi policy formulated by Lu Bu, he fought and pulled, and did not blindly suppress them by force, but subdued the Meng father and son by talking about interests.

The surrender of the Meng father and son also represents the return of the southern counties of Yizhou to the jurisdiction of the central government.

Xu Shu promised to use heavy remuneration and a generous pension system in exchange for the barbarian people's willing service as soldiers, which added a large source of high-quality soldiers to the central army.

Most of these southern counties, such as Yongchang County, Qiqi County, Yizhou County, and Yuewang County, are sparsely populated, vast and rich in products, and border Jiaozhou and foreign countries to the south.

Slowly but continuously, Xu Shu moved the Han Chinese into these wild places, teaching the local barbarians to farm, weave, and produce various daily necessities.

Helping them gradually get rid of their ignorant, backward, and uncivilized living conditions, imparting them knowledge and Sinology culture, naturally making them yearn for advanced civilization and lifestyle, and willing to take the initiative to change their own lives, promote the integration of various ethnic groups.

In September, a belated news spread to Chang'an, as early as June, the former king of the Kushan Empire died, and Prince Bo finally got his wish to ascend the throne.

The rebellion in the country and the forces that opposed him were basically successfully suppressed and suppressed by him in the past two years.

Moreover, the scholars of the Kushan Royal Academy also succeeded in copying their own gunpowder recipes and the explosives and grenades made from them.

The Kushan Empire's armies finally entered the era of semi-firearms.

After being crowned king, he carried out a purge of the opposition forces in the country and those who could threaten him, killing countless people.

According to the summary of information from various sources, in the near future, the king of Poland is likely to launch an attack on several allies of the Central Asian Alliance, such as Sistan and Khorezm, in order to test the attitude of the Great Han.

However, Lu Bu was not too worried, after all, in a short period of time, a nationwide battle like the last time, the Kushan Empire could not afford to launch it.

The 5th Cavalry Division, the 6th Cavalry Division, the 10th Cavalry Division, and the 9th Cavalry Division, which were stationed in the Western Regions and Central Asia, had already completed the refitting of flintlock muskets on a priority basis.

Therefore, in the face of this sudden enemy situation, the original routine change of guard plan was suspended, and the above-mentioned troops temporarily extended the overseas garrison time, and allowed Fazheng to recruit the Western Regions Coalition Army as a means of contingency.

Moreover, at present, the Protectorate of the Western Regions still has a standing border guard army directly under its jurisdiction, and the strength of the troops is still sufficient to deal with this kind of local war.

So far, only half of the units of the Central Army have been reequipped, after all, the production capacity is limited, and the production of artillery needed by the navy takes up a lot of resources and manpower.

Lu Bu suggested that Fa Zheng should better mobilize the allies of the Central Asian Alliance, and make good use of their strength, which together is also a combat force that should not be underestimated.

Shotgun (xiandan) 牂牁 (zangke)越嶲 (yuexi)

(End of chapter)