Chapter 194: The Lighthouse Announces the Gunboat's Out

Shoot the shore tide and plating the spring light, thousands of sails and thousands of colors, one in Zhejiang and Hangzhou, one in Hunan. The fish in the Tong'an River are getting warmer, and the coastal defense lights in Luzhou are not cool. The blue sky and blue waves are floating on a cloudy day, and the Zhongxing gunboat is first sounding.

When Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan began to be busy with spring construction again, the lighthouse built in Luzhou finally played its due role.

On the farthest lighthouse, the person in charge of guarding the tower saw that the boat was chasing and fleeing, and from the clairvoyance, the boat that escaped in front was waving the flag of Datang, and the back was not marked at all.

On the one hand, it signals the patrol boat, and on the other hand, it guides the three small boats that have escaped in front.

The escaped boat was much smaller than the one being pursued, and I don't know where the three boats had been learned, but they were all spinnakers, drawn in zigzags when they were sailing against the wind.

The chasing ship is the sail, at this time the sail has fallen, only by the human paddle, the two boats in such a situation to maintain a certain distance, the boat wants to run can not run fast, the boat behind want to chase but can not catch up, but there is no intention to give up.

Perhaps the target of the lighthouse was too small to be seen from a distance, and the boat that ran was originally in the right direction, but it turned away as it ran, and the boat chasing after it also didn't notice that there was a lighthouse here, and was still trying to close the distance.

As the fireworks from the lighthouse rang out, the three boats hurriedly adjusted their direction.

"You are watching here, I will fight with them, if I die, you will detonate the ** in the lighthouse that you want to leave for the patrol boat, and the Luzhou Commercial Bank will avenge us."

The man who got up from his sleep hurriedly put on his clothes, threw down the stairs and ran down the stairs, kicking out the ballista with wheels in the storehouse below.

The ballista had twelve arrow positions, each four feet and three inches long, made of fine iron, and it was an over-the-top weapon, but no one would run so far to pursue it.

One arrow after another was put up, twisted by the crank, and by the time the three men in the boat could be seen directly with the eye, all twelve arrows were in place.

The person who got off the lighthouse ignored the sore arm when he twisted the string, spit on his hand, *** a few times, "Go to the mother's land, usually say that Xin Xiao is timid and timid, kill someone today, run, to catch up, no, I have to block the ballista, let people see that it is time to be prepared, mother, or Luzhou Commercial Bank is angry, and even equipped the lighthouse with a ballista." ”

In his own words, he shouted to the ships running over from the sea, and regardless of whether people could hear it or not, Xin Xiao had the courage to find a piece of canvas to block the cold arrows of the ballista, and it seemed that he was determined to make up his mind to yin people.

The people on the three small boats really didn't hear his shout, but they saw the lighthouse, they were also the first time to come, I always heard that the lighthouse here is good, and you can go to the lighthouse to rest and rest when you are tired of fishing.

The people on the small boat didn't know how strong the military support was in the lighthouse, but after all, this was a place to rest, not to mention belonging to the Luzhou Chamber of Commerce, it was better than running alone on the sea, and if you got in and blocked the door, you could resist for a while.

The people on the three small boats did not have time to adjust their positions to land, and they ran aground on the reef or the beach, and the people ran down one after another, and the boats did not care, and the things on the ship had no time to pay attention to, and there was no such thing as having to carry it down and drag it back for the sake of a little gain.

Ten people jumped out of the three boats, and they were disappointed when they saw the high ground on the shore that had been piled up with rocks.

"Come in and block the door, they're coming." A young man among the ten shouted anxiously to the people on the high ground.

The five ships chasing after were indeed not far away, and it was estimated that they would be able to go ashore in less than half an hour, and it was indeed too late to block the door under the lighthouse at this time, but the people standing there were not moved at all, and turned their heads to look at the ten people and shouted:

"You go in, shut the door, leave me alone, I'll show them how powerful, I'll climb up again in a while, there's a bow on the top, give it to you, run."

Ten people looked up at the lighthouse, and sure enough, a rope came down from it, and then they turned around and glanced at the chasing boat, not going to wait with this heartless person, they ran to the lighthouse one after another, and piled up the debris at the door, so that they regretted that the lighthouse only had a mouth and no door.

The five chasing boats had slowed down at this point, and it was a question of whether to get on or not to look at the lighthouse.

As the ship drew closer and closer to the shore, the men on board picked up the javelin, and prepared to fly down the man standing on the high ground when they reached a distance.

The javelins are almost at range, not to mention the crossbow, in order not to miss, Xin Xiao is afraid to wait and wait, don't look at him has never killed anyone, but there are a lot of exercises in the past, but at that time, the wooden arrow shaft was used, and the head was iron, shooting into the sea, and then fishing up after shooting.

Now with an all-iron arrow, he estimated that the front section was about the same as the wooden one, and the back might fly farther, so he lifted the canvas that was blocking it, stood behind the leftmost arrow, prepared to shoot a single shot, took a slight aim, moved the bayonet, and the arrow flew out with a buzzing sound.

Before the men on the boat who were about to use the javelins could react, they felt a cool breeze sweep over their heads, and there was a popping sound behind them, and at the moment when they didn't know what to do, a second arrow also shot, this time not into the water, but into the boat.

With a click, the board at the bottom of the ship was shot through, leaving a large hole, and the area around the hole was cracked, and the sea gushed out of the hole.

A third arrow followed, this one perhaps not quite standardly, far away, to a reef in front of it, and half of the arrow went in, and the other half was buzzing and trembling.

The people on the boat finally knew what was flying one after another, if it was stuck in their bodies......

"Run, plug the leak, hurry." The man on the boat who was shot reacted and shouted at the top of his voice.

In fact, there is no need for him to call anymore, the others are turning around, and the person who wants to fly the spear has also stopped this thought, and the consequences of the confrontation between the spear in his hand and that kind of thing are very serious.

The five ships began to turn as fast as they could, and only then did they regret that they shouldn't have rushed so close just now, and for the first time, they found that the boat, which usually felt that it was turning around quickly, was too slow today.

They wanted to run, but Xin Xiaoti didn't intend to let them go so easily, none of the three arrows hit, and if there were no two people left, others should laugh at them again.

He put his hand on the bayonet of the fourth arrow, carefully aiming at it and preparing to fire, he was not afraid that the other party would run away The twelve arrows had not yet been fired, this was a ballista, so close to the range of the shot? It's late.

The ten people who were rescued had climbed to the top floor at this moment, looking down through the windowless window, they were ready for battle, but they didn't expect that the five ships were scared away, they had never seen this kind of ballista specially used for siege and defense of the city, they looked at the big thing suspiciously.

"Well, they don't have to worry about being caught by them when they leave." One of the ten people said with a package in his arms tightly in his arms.

"Run? Can't run, little guts, don't shoot, save some arrows, an arrow is a lot of money, remember to get it back, I won't accompany you to salvage, get a magnet tied to the rope, fishing a day may not be found, the patrol boat has come, if you shoot again, I will report you. ”

The man who left the tower guard first looked to the east, which was the direction where the patrol boat had come, and after seeing the shadow of a ship, he shouted to Xin Xiaoti below.

Xin Xiao timidly took down the remaining crossbow arrows, and muttered dissatisfiedly as he put the crossbow strings empty, "Am I timid?" I'm ready to sacrifice, there are only nine arrows left, and not every one of them can be shot, there are so many people on five boats, what are you afraid of if you die? Rushing up and chopping me into pate. ”

While the two tower guards were waiting, when the ten people who had dodged felt collapsed, the patrol boat rushed towards with full sails downwind, and it could be seen from that speed that not only the full sails, but also the human propellers behind them were running at full capacity.

The tower's guards waved their flags twice, and the patrol boats rushed towards the five ships that had just escaped the range of the ballista and were about to find a way to go up again.

"Don't worry, they can't run, and they still want to run after they get into trouble? Now tell me where your family lives, and tell me where you are from. ”

The man standing on the tower patted the shoulder of the oldest of the ten people and asked.

"Do you have to collect money? I knew that I had already figured out a way to do business with the people of Luzhou Commercial Bank. The person who was photographed said in his mouth, and began to calculate how much money he had to take out this time, but he was specially transferred to a big ship, how much money did he get.

"No receipts? Fish is the cheapest, pork or vegetables are expensive, and if you want to eat fruit, the price is even higher. ”

The man guarding the tower took out a chapter list from the side, and all the prices of the meals were written on it, and regardless of whether people knew the words or not, handed it to the front to introduce.

Ten people didn't care about what they ate, and it was a great blessing to survive, and the person holding the package in his arms asked nervously, "How much does it cost to transfer a ship?" And the big guy who scared away others just now, we can't take it out if there are more. ”

As he spoke, he hugged the package in his arms tighter.

"Then we have to see if the flag you hang is fake, and if you don't have money, you will work as coolies."

"It's not fake, we're all from this dynasty, can this be cheap?"

"Well, cheap, is it really a Datang person? Report your hometown, press your fingerprint after searching, so that you can reimburse, don't cover it, no one robs it, how much money can you sell for your treasure? The Luzhou Chamber of Commerce may not be able to take a fancy to it. The man guarding the tower said unhappily when he saw that the man still looked defensive.

This person refused to relax, "You haven't said how much the people of Datang are." ”

"Don't spend money, be careful, remember to thank the imperial court first, and then thank the Luzhou Chamber of Commerce, the ship came so quickly today, I thought I would have to wait for half an hour to come over, take a good look at the recipe, what to eat? The one below who is the least daring is a cook, who has been trained by Haiyunjian, and you are blessed. ”

The people who guarded the tower began to write the dates, write down today's events, and bring them back to the people of the Chamber of Commerce when they handed them over.

Ten people were relieved at this time, they didn't expect to transfer a ship to ask for money, but they definitely didn't believe that the person below was timid, and when he looked at it just now, he was ~~ when he was majestic, especially the slightly messy hair was blown by the wind, giving people a proud and unstoppable look.

But they still couldn't figure out why they didn't have to take the money.

"That...... Don't really want money? There has to be a reason, right? "The person with the bag still wants to make sure.

"Why are you so stupid? The people of Datang don't want money, don't you usually pay fishing taxes? It's right to pay, and the money for the transfer of ships will be paid from this tax, and then the Chamber of Commerce will settle accounts with the imperial court. The person guarding the tower had to explain to others, in fact, he knew that the court would not give this money, and the chamber of commerce would pay for it itself, and he would shout good to the court.

"But the taxes we pay can't move that kind of big ship once in ten years."

"That's two different things, it's the people of Datang, if you pay taxes, then you have to protect you, those who can pay taxes are protected, and those who can't pay taxes are protected by welfare, and I can't understand it, you know that you don't have to take money, it's hard, what to eat? Hurry up, don't eat me up, the little guts are going to sleep. ”

The person guarding the tower saw that the other party was not finished asking, and said with a little dissatisfaction.

Ten people did not dare to offend each other, they should be the most authoritative people, pointing to a line on the recipe and asking, "What is this?" ”

"Sauerkraut seafood pot, cheap, you have something from the sea on the ship and bring it up directly, here is sauerkraut oil and seasoning, charge you twenty yuan."

The tower keeper looked at the word and said.

"Twenty Wen?" Obviously, some people can't afford this price.

"I'll give you 100 wen now, you go and find me sauerkraut, I want as much as I want, and ten people will have two cents for one person."

While a few people were talking, the patrol ship had already caught up with the five ships that had found it bad and fled again, saying that it was a patrol boat, but in fact it was a gunboat that had just been launched, and was preparing to come here for experiments.

Sixteen large bronze cannons on the ship, eight on the left and right, with twists in the back, gunpowder and iron balls in the front, there is no accuracy, and after one shot, the barrel of the cannon must be brushed, and two cannons can be fired in a quarter of an hour.

But even so, many people are full of hope for this new weapon, the iron ball can fly two miles away, and after hitting the eight doors, it is eight shots to change the direction, such a long distance, other ships do not have any means of counterattack at all, and if they are smashed twice, it will be easy to sink.

If you fire a few more times and break the mast by luck, then the ship will wait for death, at this time, it is very common to fight naval battles and chase each other for several days, but it is not the appearance of Xiaobao and Juan Juan at that time torpedoes drilled indiscriminately and missiles flew all over the sky.

The five ships that escaped were not because they knew that they had cannons, but because they were compared by their size, and when they collided, the small boats would be shattered, and there would be a few crossbowmen on them, and they would shoot a few rounds condescendingly, and they would all become hedgehogs.

"Run, see where you can run, the boat is a little smaller, it's not easy to hit, test run, turn the rudder left, reload." Following the commander's order, the gunboat slowly adjusted its position, and with the order to ignite, eight cannons fired eight shells in the smoke and loud noise.

When the water column rose, the people in the five small boats that had taken shelter looked at the surrounding situation, and took the initiative to stop the boat, kneeling there one by one and not daring to move.