Li Xiang said: "This matter is easy to do, I will make it clear to Wang Hailin immediately after I go back, and you can arrange it according to your ideas tomorrow." www.biquge.info In short, you have to make the shipyard go all out to make artillery, guns and ships as much as you can. Money isn't an issue anyway, you can use it. As for copper, iron and other materials, if Shaoxi Mansion is not enough, he will go to Chongqing Mansion to buy them in large quantities, and we must get enough of them, and even have a considerable amount of inventory. ”

Li Xiang glanced at Zhao Er, who was quietly listening to his words, and asked him tentatively: "Zhao Er, if I want to move the ironworks and shipyards to the north in the future, what are your plans, do you want to go together or stay here?" ”

Zhao Er said without hesitation: "Childe doesn't need to ask like this, the little one is with Childe in this life, and the disciple will definitely follow Childe wherever he goes, and he will never leave." Please rest assured. ”

Talking about it all the way, time flies quickly, but I also forget the pain of the bumpy boat. Before it was completely dark, they were back at their docks.

A few days later, these gunboats were completed, and Li Xiang sailed with them to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, ready to attack the Mongols. Because the upper reaches of the Yangtze River passed from Luzhou to Yibin, that was the territory controlled by the Mongols, and there were also Mongol naval armies there.

The road was calm, to Yibin, stopped in a harbor to rest for a while, Li Xiang was about to take the fleet to continue forward, just as the boat master was about to order the ship's Lifu to make a fire for Shending, ready to start, the sailor on the mainmast bucket waved one hand to signal down, and the other hand held a small "clairvoyant" more than half a foot long that he had only obtained today, and shouted while watching: "More than 20 paddle clippers are coming from the direction of Songmen Mountain in front of the left, and they are coming straight in our direction." Ah, there are flashes of spears and arrows on those clippers, and I'm afraid they are coming from the wrong way. ”

After the man finished calling, he said to himself: "Ha, this 'clairvoyance' is really worthy of its name, usually only the shadow of the ship can be seen from such a distance, but now not only can you see how many oars there are, but even their weapons can be roughly recognized." ”

Zhao Er got to report, grabbed the "clairvoyance" and rushed to the top of the platform, looking in the direction of Songmen Mountain in front of the left, more than three miles away, twenty-four boats with more than ten oars rowing on each side rushed here.

"It's the Mongol warship, why don't you see them have a flag? Well, there are some people who come from the wrong way, and I am afraid that they are not the warships of the great army. At this time, Li Xiang also had doubts about these warships that did not have flags, and for the sake of insurance, he ordered the sailors behind him: "This ship will make a fire and store steam, the water team will prepare tiger squat cannons, and the steel crossbowmen will wind up and load arrows, ready to shoot." Flag orders were given to the small warships, and the fire was still raised to store steam, and they were ready to shoot the incoming enemy. ”

After giving the order, he probably felt that it was not enough to be safe, and asked loudly downstairs: "Where is the sentry commander of this ship's artillery team?" ”

A voice downstairs answered in a loud voice: "My subordinates are on standby." “

Zhang Benzhong: "Load the shells and wait, wait for the order." ”

Since being promoted to the post commander of the water artillery team, gunner Wang Mazi has devoted himself to drilling into this kind of thousand-pound cannon temporarily called 'howitzer'. Although this cannon is larger and longer than the sub-cannon, and it is more time-consuming and laborious to load gunpowder and shells, Wang Mazi fell in love with the four big guys on this gunboat after firing the first shot and seeing its power. After a few days of practicing shooting dozens of cannons, he was even more mad in love. He boasted to the people of the escort artillery team: "My cannon is much stronger than you little ones, not only can it shoot two miles away, but its accuracy is not comparable to that of the Tiger Squat Cannon, hehe, as for the power, ten Tiger Squat Cannons are not as powerful as one of my cannons." You know, I once knocked down more than 20 straw men in a radius of four feet above the small island and reef with just one shot, and even discounted more than a dozen small wooden stakes for the straw men. How's that, it's amazing. ”

At this time, when he heard that the commander had ordered the cannon to be loaded, it was estimated that his cannon might be about to be powerful, and his heart was overjoyed, and he happily replied loudly: "The subordinates obey the order, and they can wait for the order to fire the cannon after half an hour." ”

He rushed down to the main deck with a puff of smoke, shouting: "Cannon charge, all gunners return to their positions, load the sub-guns and stand by." ”

These ships that rushed towards Li Xiang's fleet without flags were indeed Mongol warships, three zhang long, one zhang and three feet wide, six feet and five inches deep, and narrow at the bottom and wide at the top. There are 10 large oars on both sides, which can carry 28 warriors and 22 boatmen. It is one of the main warships of the Mongolian army's naval forces in the current inland river warfare.

The twenty-four Mongol warships gradually approached, and the first four had reached about a mile from the flagship of Li Xiang's fleet, and the last one also entered within two miles, which was the most effective firing range of the cannons.

A "beep" horn sounded from the Mongolian ship, and the first four Mongolian ships slowly raised their flags, and the ships that followed behind also raised their flags one after another. Li Xiang clearly saw from the "clairvoyance" that it was the Mongols on the ship.

Zhao Er glanced back at Li Xiang, who had just walked onto the roof platform with a tube of newly installed "clairvoyance", and said secretly in his heart: "Gongzi really wants to eat the Mongols and eat them on the skin, and these Mongolian sailors must not let them go back alive." ”

Then he said to the herald beside him: "Let the enemy ships in the lead approach to within half a mile and obey the order to fire cannons." The cannon is specialized in hitting the distance, and the tiger squat cannon is responsible for hitting the close. Sink all twenty-four Mongol ships for me, and not let one of them go. ”

As soon as Li Xiang heard that he was going to sink all the other party's ships, he hurriedly said to Zhao Er when the herald had not yet gone downstairs: "Second Brother Zhao, you can leave one or two, and those Mongolian soldiers may be captured for my use." ”

Zhao Er arched his hand and responded: "Obey." ”

He immediately shouted to the herald who was about to go downstairs: "Wait, give the order before, send these enemy ships over, and the cannons are ready to listen to the order to hit the farthest enemy ships." ”

Just when the Mongolian ship had just entered within half a mile, Zhao Er waved his right hand forward and shouted, "Cannon, shoot me!" ”

The herald jumped two feet up, rushed to the side of the railing, and shouted: "All commanders have orders, cannon fire." ”

After Wang Mazi, the sentry commander of the water war artillery team, loaded the two cannons on this side with gunpowder, carefully inspected the half-thick lead in the middle of the tail wing of the five-catty multi-sub hole, and inserted a small bamboo stick into the lead side in the tail hole to prevent the lead from falling when the sub was loaded into the barrel.

After receiving the order to prepare to open the cannon, he immediately picked up the eight-inch-long and nearly four-inch-thick pointed manhole, stuffed the tail inward through the muzzle, and then took a three-inch wooden stick and called a person to help push the gun to the end. Then he used the wooden stick to measure it outside the barrel to make sure that it was in place, Fang patted the cold barrel with satisfaction and said, "Come on, my baby, today is the first time you open meat, but you have to fight for Wang Mazi." (To be continued.) )