The centipede ship did not have a mast, and He Gui couldn't see the enemy situation in front of him, he only knew that he had ordered to attack, so he immediately waved the small red flag in his hand to Wang Zuyi's boat on the right. Wang Zuyi also heard the sound of the brass trumpet from the ship, and immediately responded to He Gui.

The two have been partners in Jiangmian for a long time, and they both know what the other wants to do. I could only hear the faint sound of drums coming from the two cabins, and the oars on both sides of the centipede boat followed the rhythm of the drums, exiting, entering, and paddling, which was very neat and orderly.

After a short time, the two centipede ships distanced themselves from the official and military ships behind them.

Wang Jinbao is an ordinary oarsman, sitting on the starboard "92" oars with his back to the bow of the ship.

The centipede boat's thirty-six oars, all numbered. The "ninety-two" oars, the "nine" in front is the number of rows, representing the ninth row from the bow to the stern; The "two" in the back is the number of columns, the singular number is on the port side, and the even number is on the starboard side. The port side by the porthole is the "first" column, and the port side aisle is the "third" column; The starboard aisle is the "second" column, and the starboard side is the "fourth" column.

Therefore, Wang Jinbao's "92" oars position is the position of the ninth row on the starboard side by the aisle. Because all the oarsmen sit facing the stern, the aft door of the oarsman's cabin, the narrow door of the aft helmsman's cabin, is in front of him to the right. He could glimpse half of the helmsman Uncle Li through the narrow door.

"If General He chooses me as a gunner, it would be great!" Wang Jinbao stared at Uncle Li's motionless figure, thinking while pulling the oars. As his legs, waist and arms worked together, the aft deck of the oarsman's pod creaked as his two big feet slid back, his ass sliding backwards on the smooth wooden track, and the familiar stasis of the paddle shaft.

"What a good opportunity for the prince to go into the cabin to inspect that day! Why don't you dare to plead with the prince! Wang Jinbao thought about this, and he was very remorseful in his heart, but his remorse was immediately interrupted.

Someone was patting Wang Jinbao's back: "Wang Ha'er! You're wandering again! Listen to the drum beat behind your ears and play the paddle to the rhythm of the drum! It can't be slow, it can't be fast! How can others have your strength! The person who patted him on the back was named Zhang Cheng, who was not only his fellow villager in Pengshan, but also his immediate boss: the helm of the Centipede No. 1 warship.

The position of helm commander is actually the chief sailor of the warship, and it is a platoon-level position that manages all matters related to the ship's navigation.

There are also two deputies at the helm handle, one directly under him: the first is the oarsman chief, and the oarsman is "one three", that is, the oarsman on the port side of the first row of the aisle in the oarsman's cabin. The "13" oarsman position is facing away from the front hatch of the oarsman's cabin, and the drummer's drum beat and the helm leader's command can be clearly heard; The second is the helmsman, that is, Uncle Li who Wang Jinbao can see half of his figure. Directly subordinate is the drummer. Its duty was to sit and beat drums at the forward hatch of the oarsman's cabin, providing a uniform signal for the eighteen large wooden oars on the left and right sides of the ship.

The oarsman is a deputy platoon rank and belongs to the officer; The helmsman is the squad leader, while the drummer is the group leader. As for the lowest-level in the oarsman's cabin, it is the kid next to Uncle Li, named Li Dawa. He is a substitute for the oarsman's cabin and Uncle Li's helper. When the ship made a big turn, Li Dawa had to help Uncle Li move the rudder.

……

It was a cold winter moon outside, but the low oarsman's cabin was filled with hot and dry air. Wang Jinbao was only wearing a short cloth coat, and he was still sweating all over, and the cold air blowing in from the porthole could not cool his skin at all.

Hearing the sound of a light drum, Wang Jinbao pressed down with his arm to let the paddle board out of the water. With a toe hook on the rope tied to the instep of the foot, the legs bent back and the buttocks slid forward on the smooth wooden path. The body arches forward, the arms are extended, and the paddle shaft arcs from the bottom up. The paddle board re-enters the water and starts a new cycle.

Wang Jinbao turned his back to the front hatch, and the distance was the farthest, and he couldn't hear anything except the annoying drumbeat. He accompanied Zhang Cheng cautiously and asked:

"Brother Cheng, when will you start fighting?"

"You're a paddler, just paddle!"

"Don't keep thinking about going out and shooting! That's the work of the artillery team, and it won't be your turn! ”

Zhang Cheng sternly warned Wang Jinbao, then ignored him and turned to leave, leaving Wang Jinbao to continue to sweat like rain.

"Brother Harr!" While Zhang Cheng turned to leave, Li Dawa hurriedly flashed out of the helmsman's cabin and wiped his sweat with the handkerchief hanging around Wang Jinbao's neck. "Just now I poked my head out and saw a big ship in front of me. Three hundred stones! ”

The helmsman's cabin is at the stern, so there are portholes on the left and right, and there are doors with windows at the back for the helmsman to stick his head out and look. As a substitute, Li Dawa's other role is to provide a lookout for the helmsman when he is at the helm.

"Big baby! Come back! Don't get in the way of your brother rowing! ”

Uncle Li called back Li Dawa in a stern voice. When the boss of his family hid behind him sullenly, Uncle Li stabilized the rudder, turned around and whispered to Li Dawa: "Wait for a while to fight, you have to be smart!" The cannon and arrow don't have long eyes, don't get hurt, break the blood of my Li family! ”

"Yes, Dad!"

"If the thugs are helped, you can open the back door and take this plank into the water and run for your life! Leave your dad alone and swim ashore by yourself! ”

In the corner of the helm room are two thick planks stacked on top of each other, which are the Centipede boat's spare stops to limit the angle of rotation of the rudder rod. If the steering rod rotation angle is too large, it will not only reduce the rudder efficiency, but also break the limit plate.

"Yes, Dad. How can there be two planks? ”

"Give Wang Ha'er a piece and let him pull you to paddle. He is very good at water, and it is no problem to swim two or three miles in one breath! ”

Li Dawa replied depressedly? "Why did you think of Brother Harry when you ran for your life? Why don't you take care of him? ”

"That's stupid! I can't shoot a cannon, I can't drive a boat, I can only use brute strength! This kind of tamping goods also wants to eat swan meat, and it is sticky in front of your sister all day long! It's not like it's coming out of a village...... and his brother Mangzi became a platoon commander, so your father won't pay attention to him! ”

"You originally said that Brother Mangzi was stupider than Brother Harr, but he became a combat hero when he fought and became a platoon commander. If I win this time......"

"Mangzi is a Lu master, we are a water master, can it be the same? If they win, they don't have any credit for pulling the oars and selling coolies! When the platoon commander takes the money, daydreaming! ”

The Li father and son were whispering when they heard the rhythm of the drums in front of them suddenly intensify.

"Combat speed!" The drummer shouted loudly as he sped up and down the drumsticks.

"Brothers! Sing it and hey! ”

The oarsman took the lead in singing, which was the battle horn unique to the Ccentipede No. 1 warship.

"Yo hey! Brothers! Paddle hard! Beat the bandits! Divide the field! ”

The cabin burst into activity, and the thirty-six oarsmen sang in unison:

"Divide the fields! Get up the house! Get up the house and marry a daughter-in-law! Daughter-in-law Ba Shi, kiss your mouth! ”

When a few mischievous oarsmen sing the word "kiss", they replace it with a burst of sound from their lips. In the crowded and stuffy oarsman's cabin, there was a happy laugh as usual.

The helm leader, Zhang Cheng, was not as happy as his men. He stood at the door of the oarsman's cabin, looking ahead, with a rope in each hand, and his concentration was high. The two ropes were each connected to the two brass bells in the helms' room through two sets of pulleys.

"Left rudder!" Captain He Gui ordered.

"Rudder left!" Zhang Cheng repeated the command while pulling the left hand rope, and the rope immediately drove the left copper bell in the helmsman's cabin.

"There was a bang on the left, and the left rudder was a half!" Uncle Li pulled the rudder and admonished his son, "Learn from your father!" If you can't learn to take the helm, you can only pull the oars! Look at your body......"

An enemy boat arrives to meet the enemy, with shieldmen and archers. He Gui estimated that his boat was exactly thirty paces to the right of the enemy's boat. Thirty paces is the distance at which the bow bronze cannon and the tiger squat cannon and fire gun on the fire platform can exert the greatest power, and the enemy archers at this distance are basically no threat.

"Rudder!" He Gui ordered again.

Zhang Cheng quickly pulled the left and right ropes together, and the two copper bells in the helmsman's cabin kept ringing.

"Rudder!" Uncle Li shouted, regardless of whether Zhang Cheng could hear it or not.

Seeing that the enemy's rowing boat seemed to be avoiding him, the enemy in the small boat became proud. But they only had a breath of pride. For in the next breath they had seen their own danger: there was a cannon in the bow of the enemy's ship, and the muzzle of the cannon was diagonally facing their boat.

"Get helped!"

"Shoot arrows!"

The enemy roared. The oarmen on the enemy ship immediately shook the rod desperately, so that the boat turned to the centipede boat.

"Tyrants aren't stupid! I know that I can't run away, and I still want to have a life! He Gui laughed.

He pressed down with his raised arm, and then he heard Dai Huayi, the commander of the gun, roar angrily: "Tangyuan bullet, release!" ”

……

In the joyful and lively sound of the trumpet, Wang Jinbao was singing "give birth to a baby...... with the oarsman, when he heard a loud bang at the bow of the boat behind him, and then the hull of the boat shook violently to the right, and a stream of river water poured in from the porthole on the right side. When fully loaded, the portholes of the oarsman's cabin are less than two feet above the river, and the hull is tilted and prone to flooding.

Poof! When Wang Jinbao heard the voice, he knew that the rope noose on someone's instep was not fastened, and as soon as the hull of the ship was jolted, his butt slipped out of the smooth wooden road and fell to the deck. This long wooden path had to be waxed before each mission, and after two months of repeated polishing of thirty-six round butts, the end was extremely smooth.

"Sit tight! Tie the foot sleeve tightly! The oarsman roared from behind, "Those turtle sons of the cannon team! Never scream before you are happy! ”

Rumble! Rumble! The deck above Wang Jinbao's head also began to roar, causing his ears to buzz.

Wang Jinbao yelled at the nearest helmsman's cabin: "Big baby, did you hit?" ”

Wang Jinbao's roar reminded Uncle Li. He hurriedly turned his head and saw that his son rested his chin on the porthole and did not move, so he helped his son answer: "How can you miss less than thirty steps?" ”

After Uncle Li finished speaking, he hurriedly beckoned his son to retract his head, the cannon and arrow are not long-sighted, don't break your own bloodline.

Li Dawa listened to her father's words, her face was ashen, and she sat on the floor without saying a word, stuck in her throat and nauseated.

was fighting, and Uncle Li didn't dare to throw the tiller in his hand to check on his son. He asked anxiously: "Big baby, what's the matter?" ”

At this moment, the enemy's boat drifted down the river and flashed past the starboard window. It was at this glance that Uncle Li saw the tragic situation on the small boat:

One of the enemy's bodies was broken waist-high, half of which was hung on the side of the ship, and the other half hung on the side of the ship, with only a head still floating on the surface of the water. In a wave, the crimson river splashed blood on the side of the boat.

……

The rice balls proved its power to the officers and men on the warship.

He Gui won a big victory in the first round and his confidence doubled. The enemy's great ship had turned around, and was fleeing with its sails rocking, and it was still a hundred feet away from him. And Wang Zuyi's boat has already packed another small boat and is clipping it to the big boat.

The big boat is his goal, and the other three small boats are left for the officers and soldiers. He Gui gave the order: "Target, the enemy ship!" Speed up and catch up! ”

The main general gave an order, and Zhang Cheng immediately ordered the oarsman cabin: "The highest combat speed!" ”

Boom! Boom! Boom! The drummer picks up the tempo again.