After the target shooting drill, Lu Bu was still unsatisfied, and he offered to let Gan Ning drive the galleon to the south to see what the coastal areas of Xuzhou and Yangzhou were like!

Xu Sheng, the commander-in-chief of the navy, strongly opposed Lu Bu out of concern for his safety.

However, the newborn calf is not afraid of tigers, but the militant Gan Ning strongly approves of it, and pats his chest to ensure that no one can hurt Lu Bu.

Five galleons sail with full sail and sail south along the coastline downwind.

Because of the high speed, the other building ships and fighting ships were left in place and did not keep up.

The tonnage of Mengchong is too small to be suitable for going to sea at all.

Lü Bu suggested that the Han army could appropriately build some sailing ships with larger tonnage and smaller tonnage, and the small ones, pursuing flexibility and high speed, could be used to reconnoiter the enemy's situation and transmit information.

Larger sailing ships can carry more soldiers or install more artillery, and can withstand larger storms.

The speed of these five galleons was very fast, and it didn't take long for them to leave the boundary of Qingzhou and enter the coast of Langxi County, Xuzhou.

This was originally the territory of the Qingzhou army, and since the last time Guo Jia attacked Qingzhou, Liao Hua rebelled in Zhengrong Valley, and was occupied by Cao Cao.

Xu Sheng reported to Lü Bu that since the Central Navy was stationed in Jiaozhou Bay, it had often made irregular patrols to the south.

Sometimes carrying the Marine Corps, which is the former assault brigade, goes to attack the counties along the coast of Xuzhou, which is all a real combat exercise.

The Marines are now divisional and have expanded to three brigades, all of which have been reloaded with flintlock pistols.

Because Cao Cao himself did not have a naval army, he could only stare at the harassment of the central army.

The current Taishou of Langxie County is the traitor Liao Hua, and the Intelligence Department has planned several assassinations, but this Liao Hua has done too much bad things, and he is very concerned about his own safety, and there are large groups of guards in and out.

Marines were also carried on galleons, and each ship could carry a company of personnel and equipment, mainly to prevent possible broadside battles.

Of course, at the time of the naval artillery battle, they also had to help the crew operate the guns, and the sailors on board were not wealthy.

The fleet traveled south, and apart from a few small fishing boats close to the shore, there was not a single larger vessel in sight.

Soon drove to the mouth of the Huai River, raised the eye, everywhere is barren tidal flats, people are rare, from then on further south is the boundary of Guangling County.

It is very close to Yangzhou, and according to Xu Sheng, there are occasional patrols by the naval forces of Eastern Wu.

The two sides had fought several times before, and the naval army of the Central Army only had one more mortar than the other side, and the advantage was not obvious.

In the past, they only relied on a more ferocious style and well-trained assault brigade soldiers to help them fight broadside, which made the Soochow Navy suffer a little loss.

Today is the first time that the new fleet has patrolled to such a far sea area, and a war maniac like Gan Ning may be eager to run into the Dongwu naval army, but fortunately, he showed his hand in front of Lu Bu, and he did not have the slightest sense of worrying about Lu Bu's safety.

I don't know if I should say that my wish has come true, or if I am afraid of something.

Just past the largest island off the coast of Xuzhou, not far from Yuzhoushan Island, a fleet of ships was found in the south.

There is no need to ask, there is no one else in this direction except for the sailors of Dongwu, there are two building ships, five fighting ships, and a few Meng Chong.

Soon, the opposite fleet also sounded the horn and began to change formation, and the existence of the Central Navy should have also been discovered.

Xu Sheng nervously persuaded Lu Bu, "Lord, the new ship has never experienced actual combat, you see, should you avoid it first?" ”

Lu Bu made a straight face and said: "Actual combat is the best opportunity to train people and make people grow rapidly, why is your navy still afraid of war?" ”

Gan Ning blushed and said first: "Lord, how can you be afraid of them?" It's just a defeated man, don't worry, our ship is fast, they can't catch up at all. ”

"And the situation is not right, we can run to the deep sea, and they don't dare to chase!"

Lu Bu turned his head to look at Xu Sheng, "Chief Xu, what do you think?" ”

Xu Sheng was deducted a big hat that was afraid of war, where did he dare to stop it? "You can fight, what the lord said is, Gan Ning, you give the order to go down and take the initiative to fight."

Gan Ning received the order and went down to convey orders, and the warships communicated with each other with trumpets and flags, and at night with lights as a way to convey information.

Lu Bu stood on the tall tail tower of the "Chang'an" and watched the battle.

As Gan Ning said, the speed of the new sailing ship is far faster than that of the building ship, and it can be withdrawn if it can't be beaten, so don't worry.

Under the command of Gan Ning, the five galleons seized the upwind and lined up in a line, uniting to starboard to face the enemy.

The commander of the naval army of Eastern Wu is Lu Meng, who has recently been promoted, and he is also on routine patrol today.

As an ally, Cao Cao entrusted Sun Quan with the defense of the Xuzhou coast, and in exchange, Cao Cao offered Sun Quan with armaments and horses.

Lü Meng took his fleet to the north to cruise, and he did not expect to meet the sailors of the Central Army.

After all, now only the naval division of the Central Army dared to engage the naval division of Eastern Wu, and the Jingzhou naval army cowered behind trebuchets and barrage iron cables, not daring to show their heads.

However, in his impression, the naval division of the Central Army is also the same building ship and fighting ship as himself, but he didn't expect to encounter a brand-new warship today, if it weren't for the Han military flag hanging on it, he wouldn't dare to recognize it.

The hull was wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, but the lines were very graceful, and there were more sails than their own, and they had no intention of rushing up to engage them, and they formed a strange formation, facing them on the side side.

It's a pity that at such a distance, he has no other weapon to threaten his opponent except a trebuchet.

But even if you want to use a trebuchet, you have to get within 300 feet first.

Each of Soochow's ships was equipped with two manpower trebuchets on its top deck, and the two ships were four trebuchets.

However, only the building ship has trebuchets, and the fighting ship relies on bed crossbows and repeaters, the bed crossbow has a range of 150 zhang, and the repeater is shorter only 70 zhang.

Soochow charged in a herringbone formation, with two building ships in the middle, and rushing to the front, and five fighting ships lined up on the left and right.

The galleons of the Central Navy maintained a straight column, circling around the Soochow fleet, maintaining maneuverability, and always keeping their own side against the enemy.

Finally, the two sides approached the distance of 300 zhang, and the trebuchets of the Soochow Navy began to fire stone projectiles, but the distance was too far, and coupled with the swaying of the sea wind and waves on the ship, the hit rate was ridiculously low.

And the galleon remained silent, and Ganning was not in a hurry to fight back.

Two hundred and fifty zhang, still silent, two hundred zhang, the silence remained unchanged, and at this time the stone projectiles of the trebuchet had begun to fall on the water near the galleon.

One hundred and fifty zhang, the fighting ships of Soochow and the bed crossbows on the building ships also began to join the attack.

At this time, Gan Ning gave the order, the artillery returned fire, and the trumpets and flags conveyed the order, and in the era when there was no radio communication, there was only such a means of communication.

(End of chapter)