The watchtower of Xiaoliuqiu was built in the third year of the reign of Huang Long of the Wei Dynasty, and it is a building made entirely of marble according to the standards of the city wall, and its style is very roman. However www.biquge.info this is not unusual, after all, in this era, the communication between the East and the West is not as closed as imagined, and there are more foreign people here in Middle-earth, and the understanding of them has become deeper, and it is naturally easy to imitate their tower-like buildings that stand by the harbor.

At this moment, on the high watchtower, a Confucian general with a robe and an inner armor was holding the crystal cylinder he bought from Li Sheng at a high price with both hands, looking at the endless sea around him. The sea was indeed calm at the moment, but he knew that it was only superficial. Through the magnification of the crystal cylinder, he had already noticed that there was a small dot at the junction of water and sky in the southwest direction. Although his appearance and specifications are not very clear, he still made a judgment: "Zhongding, the enemy has not left yet!" ”

"Not gone yet? It seems that Shihong's bastard is going to use his old method for us? Jiang Xiu, who looked like a short beat in a cloth robe, pursed his lips unhappily and complained: "Their patience is really sufficient." It's been almost a month since we've been here...... Is it still there? Call! I can't stand it when I stay here all the time, and they don't bother. Jiang Xiu said angrily.

"Patience, patience! Zhong Ding, the current thing is like a hunter hunting animals, the key is to see which of the two sides can't hold his breath first. Although Li Sheng's navy is strong, I read their records but have not sailed out for more than a month in a row. I guess they are also limited by supplies, so they can't stay long. You've endured it for dozens of days, can't you stand it? Wait. The Ru will whisper to reassure the reckless man beside him.

"That's right!" Jiang Xiu nodded seriously, "Bo Yan, anyway, I will listen to you in this matter." If it weren't for you watching me with the crystal pot here, I'm afraid that if I went out at that time, I would have fallen into the trap of the enemy. Damn, this Li Shengjun's fleet is very tight! Our battleships are simply no match for them.

"Listen to your tone, you seem to have suffered from them?" Lu Xun had just been transferred to Xiaoliuqiu to take charge of naval affairs. The comparison of maritime power is limited to what I know about Jianye and some hearsay. Right now, he couldn't help but feel a little strange when he heard Jiang Xiu, who was in charge of this matter, talk about his enemies so powerfully: "Didn't you say that our fleet was very strong and completely surpassed them?" And you private fleets are all the rage in this area? ”

"Well, you must have said the news that you know in Jianye. Hehe, our fleet is stronger than the other party, but this 'other party' is Li Sheng's fleet ten years ago. At that time, both sides used bed crossbows and trebuchets, and the attack power of each other's weapons was not very different, and we were more ships than the other side, so it was natural that we were stronger than them. Now, it's not so good. The number of warships in the Datang Navy is not very large compared to before, and it is just that dozens of capital ships have been added. However, with the use of the weapon, the artillery, its combat effectiveness was more than doubled. Brother Bo Yan had been in Jianye, so he should know how powerful the cannon was. In fact, our artillery is still poor, and Li Shengjun's artillery is even stronger than this. They placed their artillery according to the specifications of carrying bed crossbows, and a thousand-stone battleship equipped them with more than thirty guns, so that the power formed could be described as the sky falling apart. It's better if our navy doesn't fight them, and if we do, I'm afraid that after a few rounds, our navy will only be left with a sampan. Jiang Xiu smiled bitterly and said to Lu Xun, who didn't know much about it: "As for what you said, it was actually when you faced Gan Ning before. Ganning's First Fleet was equipped with large ships of more than 2,000 stones, and a battleship carried seventy or eighty guns. The firepower of such a battleship is strong, but the hull has also become cumbersome, and the speed is naturally not fast. In the process of fighting with us, Ganning's First Fleet often had the situation that he could not catch up with us, and was copied by our detachment. Think about it, once such a problem arises, where can Ganning's fleet still benefit. What's more, our fleet is not a head-to-head confrontation with Ganning's fleet, in line with the principle of fighting if we can win, and running away if we can't win, where will we be afraid of Ganning's fleet? But now it is different: Li Sheng transferred Gan Ning's First Fleet one by one and replaced it with the Second Fleet to deal with us. The warships of the Second Fleet were not large, all about 1,500 stones, and the galleys and warships equipped with more than 30 guns were no worse than those of the water wheels, and they were slightly faster than ours. Now that we encounter Li Sheng's fleet again, we can't escape Li Sheng's fleet, and we are not their opponents at all, so it is natural for this life to become sad. ”

"I see." Lu Xun was a little stunned, "In other words, your current strength is absolutely not able to compete with the Tang Army's Grand Fleet?" ”

"That's true." Jiang Xiu nodded heavily, looked at Lu Xun's somewhat gloomy appearance, but said: "Actually, it's not that it is completely impossible to fight against the Tang Army's fleet, but that kind of duel requires our side to completely stand on the upper hand." If you want to defeat Li Shengjun's fleet, you can't do it without two or three times the military strength. Therefore, we fought with them, in a mobile war, in a siege war. This can only be done when the enemy is slow and we are fast, and the enemy is outnumbered. ”

"I see. Thank you, Brother Zhongding, for pointing it out to me. Lu Xun smiled kindly and bowed his hand respectfully to Jiang Xiu and said.

"It doesn't have to be this way...... In the future, Brother Boyan may be my top boss. Jiang Xiu didn't dare to accept Lu Xun's gift, so he hurriedly stepped aside, and was really humble: "Besides, Brother Boyan saved my life this time." How dare I do this to my savior? I don't have to mention it again. Jiang Xiu was still very polite to Lu Xun, he knew Lu Xun's ability, and he was counting on Lu Xun to come up with some ideas for himself later.

The two sides were polite again, and Jiang Xiu asked about his side: "Brother Boyan." What do you think we're going to do next? That bastard has fooled me three times with a fake retreat move, and although he has never succeeded, we are still worried that he will be the same this time. I don't know what you can do about it, and if he is still like this after thirty days, what will we do? ”

"You're worried about what they're doing weird things." Lu Xun said. He seemed to see through the worry in Jiang Xiu's heart at a glance.

"That's right. I know the person opposite, he has a spirit of perseverance and a ghostly person, and it is not difficult to imagine what will happen to the fleet of the Tang Army under his command. Jiang Xiu smiled and expressed his concerns.

"Yes!" Lu Xun nodded, "In that case...... Then we will ......" He motioned for Jiang Xiu to come over, and then whispered in Jiang Xiu's ear: "In this way, I think there should be no problem in dealing with them." ”

"Are you sure?" Jiang Xiu was a little surprised, he found that this plan was so simple, and he didn't want a plan like Lu Xun to come up with at all, so he had a little doubt about whether this plan could succeed: "Can this be done?" ”

"No problem." Lu Xun smiled and played the package ticket, "The strategy itself is very simple. But once combined with the current situation, it can be unexpectedly successful. As long as the goal can be achieved, who cares if you kill with a pen or a sword! Lu Xun smiled very clearly, but Jiang Xiu clearly felt a trace of weird murderous aura from his clarity - it didn't seem to be aimed at himself.

Night fell on the sea. The conversation on the watchtower ended with the darkness. Everything was dark again, at least above Little Ryukyu, and beyond Little Ryukyu seemed to be different: on the sea about forty miles from Little Ryukyu Island, a large fleet began to assemble at the behest of the lights, and began a new round of replenishment.

Supply? Yes, in the midst of this endless sea, in this dark environment, a replenishment of the fleet hanging overseas is underway. The supply fleet is made up of ten star warships. This is a battleship that has never been known, the base of which is formed from the juxtaposition of four warships of the ranks. Despite its size, the addition of four large ships and twelve six-foot sails meant that the speed of the ship was not as slow as some might think. Of course, due to the huge size of the battleship itself, the steering ability of this battleship is relatively low, but the entire battleship is equipped with 400 guns, large and small, but the battleship has the existence of not being afraid of anyone. Originally, Li Sheng developed such a warship to use it as an assault support ship for the Marine Corps, but after a series of problems found in the test of this type of warship, the Datang Navy Ordnance Yamen involuntarily gave up this very "attractive" fruit - the ocean-going ability of the warship is too poor, and the huge battleship built with four warships is indeed not as strong as a complete battleship, even if this kind of warship uses iron bars to increase the degree of connection of the fleet. In the case of such a big problem, the helpless people have no choice but to waste this kind of warship and let them take on the task of replenishing the fleet sailing in the near sea.

"But...... Although this battleship is a bit ruined, it is really amazing to see such a huge size. Shihong said with a smile. He had seen the star battleship several times, but he hadn't seen it once, and the shock in his heart was the same. Generally speaking, Shihong didn't think that his 1,500 stone battleship was too small, but as long as it was compared to such a huge size of a star-rated battleship, it seemed that everything could only be said to be unexpected. Just like right now, Shi Hong stood on the deck of the Xuanji and still let out this admiration.

"Well, this is the fourth time you've uttered such an exclamation." Yang Xu, the captain of the Xuanji and the commander of this supply fleet, frowned slightly, patted Shihong lightly on the shoulder and said, "Please don't make such a surprised expression, okay?" Don't you know that you look a hillbilly like that? It's really hard for me. ”

"No way...... "Shi Hong shrugged his shoulders and said, "Who let this be the biggest warship I've ever seen?" With such a huge size, not to mention that it still carries terrifying armed forces on it, even if it didn't have this, just looking at the body of this ship would be terrifying. ”

"Hah...... Maybe. I'm used to it, though. Yang Xu said indifferently, he seemed to have a hard time understanding the thoughts of Shihong and these people: "Speaking of battleships, I think of a battleship that is under construction in Liaodong, and that is a truly unique battleship." ”

"Oh! How so? Shihong was a little curious.

"Emperor-class 10,000-stone battleship! One hundred and twenty zhang long, thirty zhang wide, full iron keel, four-layer deck structure, the top deck is expected to carry forty 1,200 pounds of heavy artillery...... And that's just some of the material that is getting now. What do you think of through this? Yang Xu looked at Shihong with a smile.

"Big Mac, Big Mac like never before!" Shihong muttered, his eyes bursting with a scorching light. For a moment, he was stupid.

"Haha! Big Mac? That's a very apt description. Yang Xu smiled heartily and put his hand on Shihong's body: "Speaking of which, those are inconsequential things. Except for this one right now. Well, I'd love to ask you, how many more days do you want to continue in this sluggish situation? ”

"Hmm...... I can't say this clearly, anyway, I have to wait until the other party comes out of the nest. Shihong thought for a moment and said, but he was still a little frustrated: "I don't know what's going on, anyway, the recent situation seems to be a little bad - they could have attracted them a few times, but so far they still haven't moved at all." ”

"They can't find out about you, do they?" Yang continued to express his opinion.

"How is this possible, at such a distance? Even if they have a crystal mirror, they may not be able to see it. Hearing this, Shihong immediately raised his voice: "What's more, they may not have such a thing." Especially in such remote places. ”

"What if they have? And look at this crystal mirror with the watchtower? Yang continued to say such a possibility?

"This ...... Maybe it's still possible. Don't...... It's true? Shihong thought about it, and suddenly fell into a panic, he felt that he was really doing useless work at the moment. After all, if this hadn't really happened, or if there had been a similar situation, my side would have lured those damn pirates out a long time ago, instead of being silent and in a wordless confrontation like now.

"Looks like I was careless." Shihong quickly thought of this, and then thought of a solution to this trouble: "Do you want my people to fall back a little bit?" Shi Hong thought like this, but felt that something was wrong: "The enemy has seen our 'deception' of them again and again, in such a situation. I'm afraid that if we do something again, they will be suspicious. Well, it seems that it is not advisable to simply lure the snake out of the hole, and now what we need to do is to use other methods to fill the loopholes that have appeared. We need a new plan. ”

What kind of thoughts Shihong had on his side, Yang Xu didn't know very well, this was not his mission. As the Admiral of the Supply Fleet, his task is to hand over the supplies to the supply applicants, and at the same time give them some information and orders, and pass on the feedback from their side to the higher departments, especially the opinions on weapons. This is a rule that has existed since the establishment of the Datang Navy. It can be said that the reason why Datang's navy is strong today is entirely due to its excellent weapons and excellent tactics, and the kind of feedback that Yang Xu is responsible for at the moment is to communicate these two excellent. It's not urgent, but it's important. Therefore, after a hasty exchange with Shihong, he hurriedly left to collect the questions he needed. As for the supply, the professionals under his command were in charge, and he, the admiral, didn't need to use any brains about it.

And so the night passed, and everything was taken care of before dawn. Yang Xu, who had completed his mission, made an appointment with Shihong for the next time to receive supplies, and then took his huge fleet away. Shi Hong, who had reorganized the fleet, gave his own order after a night of thinking about it and sketching out a new plan: "The whole fleet will retreat ten miles back to form the fleet. It was clear that he was planning to deal with the prey he was about to capture according to his new plan.

Under Shihong's orders, the fleet turned south and was divided into four parts, namely the first, second, third, and fourth fleets. Shihong's plan was to take advantage of the fact that his fleet was much stronger than the pirates on a single warship, to confuse the enemy with a small fleet of warships, and to hold them back when they were discovered, so as to prepare for the encirclement of his own army. Speaking of which, this is a relatively simple tactic, but in general, not many generals will use this tactic, especially in the vast sea. After all, the biggest flaw of this tactic is that he puts great demands on the communications of the fleet itself. If it weren't for the fact that Tang Jun's fleet had its own system of carrier pigeons at sea, which could contact each other in a relatively short period of time, if it weren't for Shihong's 120,000 confidence in his fleet, he would never have used this trick if he was afraid of killing him.

"If you encounter the enemy...... Then you're going to hold on for an hour no matter what......! When Shihong said this, he also felt that it seemed a little difficult to do what he said, so he said: "You take the right side as the axis and move according to this trajectory. In this way, if we encounter an enemy, the time for the two sides to meet will theoretically be halved, since there is always one detachment that will accelerate towards the other. Of course, if you can bite the enemy tightly, you will have no problem luring them to the turn point. Other than that...... Yesterday, I already asked Yang Xu for three crystal cylinders. Well, I'll leave it to you now, take a look at it, it's best to be able to spot the enemy as soon as possible. ”

After this instruction, Shihong's fleet dispersed, centering on the island of Xiaoliuqiu, and made a circular motion about fifty miles from them. Of course, it's not 100% round, but it's very similar to that.

After that, two days passed peacefully, and there was nothing commendable here from Xiaoliuqiu or Shihong. It wasn't until dawn broke on the third day that Shihong got the news that the target had appeared from the Third Fleet in the north.

"Bastard! These guys are actually untrustworthy to break through at night! Are they so familiar with the reefs near Xiaoliuqiu? Shihong hated this.

"Credit? Is there anyone who talks to the enemy? Kong Heng, who was standing beside Shihong, asked lightly. From the moment he learned that Shihiro planned to use the method of dividing troops to deal with the pirate troops, his heart was a little faintly uneasy. At the time, he didn't know what was going on, so he hid his worries, and it wasn't until now that he realized what was going on: "The enemy has a good strategist in his hands." First use some means to see through our plan, and then use the night to carry out a surprise attack...... None of this is something that ordinary people can do, and I think we have a tough opponent. Kong Heng said and frowned tightly.

"I also understand this, but the most important thing at the moment is not to think about how powerful the other party is, but to think about how we should deal with the enemy now......" Shi Hong glanced at Kong Heng, and spit out such a sentence lightly, he asked the surveyor directly: "How much time will it take to reach the location of the third squadron if we are at full speed?" ”

"The third detachment is fifty miles from us! If we get there at full speed, it will probably take another hour! The surveyor quickly reported the number.

"In an hour, if the other party uses the broadside battle, I'm afraid it's too late." Shihong thought for a while, and made a decisive decision at the moment: "Go full speed ahead and inform the second and fourth fleets to take the point where the third fleet is located as the place of turn." Tell them that the enemy is strong and let them be careful on their own. ”

"Understood!" The soldier nodded vigorously, then stepped out of the hatch and went up to the deck, where he released the carrier pigeon with the secret letter written.

Saving people is like fighting fire, under the order of Shihong, the sails of the first detachment were raised high, and the strong sea breeze puffed up the six bamboo sails to the fullest, and even led the warships under it to move forward quickly. Shihong's luck is good, and it is the south wind that is blowing at the moment, which allows him to happily sail with the wind.

However, Shihong was still a step slower in the end. By the time he arrived with his fleet in the area where the Third Squadron was located, the Third Squadron was silent. In addition to the few warships that were burning on the sea and slowly sinking, there was only the powerful fleet that was still appearing in the crystal mirror a dozen miles away and facing him: it was indeed a powerful fleet, there were nearly a hundred large and small warships, and Shihong also saw several warships of the same style as himself in them—needless to say, they were the warships that once belonged to the Third Fleet, but now they were the spoils of those pirates.

“…… Still pointing their butts at us, are they laughing at our sluggishness? Shihong became angry and gave a loud order: "Leave two warships for me to carry out search and rescue work, and the rest of the army will be escorted!" We've got to teach these guys a lesson. ”

"Lord Admiral, calm down, calm down." Seeing Shihong seemed to be a little angry and couldn't help himself, Kong Heng, as a staff officer, hurriedly persuaded and comforted.

"Calm down what? I'm calm and ...... now! Shihong forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart and said: "Now the distance between us and the enemy is not large, if we don't use this opportunity to drag the enemy and hold on until our own team arrives, then we will undoubtedly have no choice but to see them leave." That's definitely not what I'd like to see. ”

"So we're going to pursue?" Kong Heng looked at Shihong.

"That's right, pursuit...... And at war! Shihong nodded heavily.

"Don't you think it's dangerous?" Kong Heng couldn't help but shout.

"It's normal. If we can fight, there will be danger, and our strength is stronger than the other side, so we are not without our own advantages. "Shihong is still very confident in the combat power of his fleet.

"Even if ...... And so after the other side captured the battleships of the Third Squadron? Kong Heng pointed out this problem.

"Hehe, can those novices who have just gotten their hands on the artillery be so easy to get acquainted with the artillery?" Shihong smiled faintly, he didn't care about this at all.

"Yes...... This ......" Kong Heng wanted to persuade something more, but was stopped by Shihong and approved: "You won't be afraid, right?" ”

"How is that possible!" Kong Heng's tone also changed, and he faintly looked like he was about to get angry.

"Since you're not afraid, watch me fight this naval battle. Let these guys who only know how to sneak up understand that once we are ready, there will be no one in front of us. Shihong ordered loudly, "The fleet is in a straight line. Left 12 points. The port side guns of the whole fleet were wide open, ready for a salvo. When the enemy approached our troops for a mile, they fired a volley. ”

"No!" The sailors shouted loudly. As men, at this moment when they were about to engage the enemy, they felt the tense atmosphere in the air, and their blood couldn't help but boil. "It's going to be an attack in the face of the other party's attack." This is a fact that everyone understands. After all, at a distance of one mile, both the bed crossbow and the artillery can easily attack the opponent.

"Shoot!"

"Fire!"

Shihong's fleet was faster than Jiang Xiu's pirate fleet, and after a chase through a pass, the fleets of the two sides finally paralleled. Almost as soon as they entered their respective predetermined ranges, the commanders on both sides gave the same order to attack.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

A huge roar rang out at the same time between the two fleets that were parallel to each other. Four hundred and twenty cannons let out her roar, and in contrast to the more than six hundred exploding arrows from the pirate fleet under the command of Jiang Xiu.

Since the distance between the two sides was only a mile, Shihiro was able to concentrate the artillery of the entire fleet and bombard it in one direction at the same time. This was very fatal for Jiang Xiu's fleet. At a distance of one mile, his bed crossbow could not do this, and could only launch attacks with a similar dispersion in a flat fire.

"Boom!"

"Rolling ......"

The explosion of exploding arrows and the sound of the battleship disintegrating sounded at the same time. Although the momentum between the two is high and low, the final result of the two is completely opposite to theirs. Under this first round of salvo bombardment, the battleships on Shihong's side generally suffered some minor injuries, while the battleships on Jiang Xiu's side were sunk two. Now that both sides are re-entering the process of preparing for battle, both sides have stabilized with reloading ammunition. However, it is clear that the smoke of war still lingers between the two sides.

The time was the sixth day of October in the fifth year of Wei Huangchu, the fourth year of Wu Huangwu, and the fourth year of Tang Zhonghua, and the war that had been quiet for ten years began again in the sound of rumbling artillery fire.