"After this battle, when Uncle Pony came back, I took the fleet to Guangzhou City to see how long it would take. The appearance of Datang's fleet in Guangzhou Port from the south will definitely take those people in the city by surprise. ”

The sea breeze was blowing, and the tower-like body of the bull was standing at the bow of the boat, squinting at the faintly visible estuary in the distance, and secretly saying in his heart.

After a few months of sunbathing in the sea, the originally handsome teenager has become much darker and looks a lot more mature.

Uncle Pony left a rough map, and this place was the mouth of the river leading to the city of Basra, and it was only necessary to follow the mouth of the river a hundred and ten miles to reach that city. Uncle Pony said that it was an extremely important port for big food, and now at this time, he already regarded the port as a bag.

If it weren't for the northern expedition back to the country, Uncle Pony would still be here, the army would have crossed the Zagros Mountains and marched westward, and several caliphs had been fighting each other on the west side of the Zagros Mountains for a long time, so it was the right time to take advantage of the fire and loot.

However, now that Uncle Pony is not here, the strength of the expeditionary force here is limited, and Uncle Pony attaches great importance to Wannian Port, so the main force has to stay near Wannian Port, and this can only be the case for the time being. The goal of his operation was to take Basra, subdue the nearby Dekhgans, and purge the remnants of the Hawarijites.

Having arrived here, Niu Xu felt that it was actually quite convenient to enter the land of the Great Diet from the sea, the homeland of Persia was basically a plateau, and the roads in many places were not easy to walk, if you did not follow the post road left by the Sassanid Empire, even the cavalry could not march too fast, and it was necessary to enter the fertile plains west of the Zagros Mountains. You have to cross this huge mountain range. And this time from the sea. It's easy to follow the current.

This one way. It can also be used as an alternative for the future army to enter the heart of the Great Eater. However, this road also has its disadvantages, that is, it can only transport foot soldiers, but not war horses.

Thinking about these things, Niu Xu squinted at the wide estuary that was getting closer and closer. He imitates Ma Lan everywhere, and this squint is more similar to Ma Lu.

The two largest rivers in the Mesopotamian plain met near Basra and then flowed into the Persian Gulf, which is now the Don Sea. This waterway is the golden waterway connecting the inland river system with the Persian Gulf, and it is the busiest waterway. The estuary is getting closer. From time to time, you can see fleets of ships of all sizes, with various flags on them.

Niu Xu stood on the Fufeng and turned his head, and the order was sent out through the flag, and a skeletal flag was raised on every sea ship in the fleet.

This time, I didn't come to be a good man and a woman, but to kill someone. He didn't pay attention to these small fish and shrimp nearby, because he was not really a pirate, and the purpose of raising these flags was to warn other fleets to stay away from him.

After all, Greek fire is such a thing. It's not unique to his fleet, it's often found in fleets under the big family. Get other fleets too close to the fleet. There is a certain danger. And Uncle Pony values human life, and Niu Xu is also very clear.

Of course, it is the life of his own brother, and as for the life of aliens such as the Persian cannibalism, Uncle Pony doesn't care.

After raising the skull flag, the fleet rushed towards the mouth of the river. Some of the nearby merchant ships hurriedly avoided it when they saw that something was wrong, but most of the ships continued to move along the channel without any intention of avoiding it.

Apparently they didn't know where the flotilla came from, and what the skull flag meant. The Tang Army flag next to the skull banner has never been seen before. At the beginning, the Tang Army and Abdullah joined forces to conquer Kufa, which shook the entire Great Food Homeland, but the Tang Army had never come to this area, so no one knew the military flag of the Tang Dynasty.

"Looking at this, you still have to stand up." Niu Xu stood at the bow of the flagship Fufeng, squinting at the several large and small fleets in front of him, and a bloodthirsty smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. Such a smile is also seven or eight points similar to Ma Lan.

The Fufeng was the first ship to be renovated, the largest ship in the fleet, and the largest number of new eight-ox crossbows placed on it. Niu Xu quickly passed the order, and through the contact of the flag, the entire fleet turned into a combat posture.

The fleet was not loaded with any cargo, only ordnance, so the draft was shallow, and at this moment the speed suddenly increased when the sails were full, and rushed straight towards the mouth of the river, all the ships lined up in two columns, and the huts with eight-oxen crossbows were raised from below deck.

On either side of the fleet, there was a flotilla of ships, all huge sea ships, which looked like they had just returned from a distant land. In the past few months, the Anxi New Army has been busy with training and has not begun to hold the Strait of Hormuz to collect taxes, so neither fleet has seen the Tang fleet, and when they saw the Tang fleet approaching, they immediately sent a signal with flags and ordered the fleet to stay away from them.

The two fleets consisted of more than thirty ships on one and twenty ships on the other, with deep drafts on the sides of the ships, apparently fully loaded with cargo. By this time, the distance had reached within eight hundred paces, and the great sailor on the deck could be seen clearly in the sunlight. Many sailors with swords in their hands were pointing at this side and scolding viciously.

"Little generals, they are all flying the flag of the caliphate." The guide beside him, from the obedient Holzman family, pointed to the fleet and whispered.

"Which caliph? Is it Abdullah or Ibrahim? Niu Xu asked.

The gray-haired guide smiled, "No, they are under the banner of Caliph al-Mansur." ”

Mansour ...... Isn't it a long time ago? Niu Xu laughed.

When the Syrian governor Abdullah and Uncle Pony joined forces to break through the city of Kufa, the caliph killed was al-Mansur. Niu Xu didn't know much about the words and banners of the big cannibals, but he didn't expect that there was still a fleet still bearing the banner of Mansour.

The guide laughed: "Less than a year after al-Mansur became caliph, he was destroyed by the great general. These two fleets should have left the port at that time, and they should have come back at this time, and they should have gone to Guangzhou, probably because they missed the time and had to wait for the monsoon twice, and they came back at this time. But it seems that they have gained a lot, you look at the ...... with a low waterline," he said and sniffed his nose, "Hmm! I could still smell the nutmeg from such a distance, and it seemed that there were a lot of good things on board. ”

"Old Holzman, what are you trying to say?" Niu Xu squinted at the old man and smiled.

The old man smiled: "Little general, these two fleets are big fish, and the value of these goods on the ships is at least 200,000 dinars, which is a lot of money, if it sinks in the sea like this, it will be a pity." ”

"It won't sink into the sea, it'll sink into the river, you see, we're all in the mouth of the river now. Old Holzman, these are just small money, don't be too distressed. You see, the river is not too deep, and when I get to Basra, it's not up to you if you want to come here and get some gold or something, and I'll find you a boat when the time comes. ”

Old Holzman smacked his lips in distress when he saw Niu Xu say this. The wealth worth 200,000 gold dinars can't make the little general's heart move, it's really the style of a big man, but he has been bumpy at sea all his life, and when he sees this wealth, he will be sent to the bottom of the sea - well, the bottom of the river, it is really distressing that his heart is about to be pinched.

The two merchant fleets saw that the fleet was in the middle, and the sailors jumped to their feet and cursed, but there was no more movement. After all, the distance between the two sides is still hundreds of paces away, which is an extremely safe distance.

The Great Food Merchant crisscrossed the sea, and at the same time he was a pirate, and he would rather lose his life than maintain his reputation when he went ashore, and if he encountered it at sea, it was common for him to kill people and sell goods when there was a huge difference in strength. However, at this time, the other party is still so far away, there should be no other ideas, and these boats have such a shallow draft, and there is nothing to covet.

What's more, they have already entered the estuary, even if they are within the scope of land, even if they are ugly families, they will not choose to kill people and goods in this place, after all, there are too many people in their eyes.

So the sailors just stood on the deck and scolded their mothers, but they were not worried. It would be rude to forcibly seize the waterway, but after all, it will not lead to a war over this. After several years of turbulence at sea, and about to return to his hometown, no one wants to cause more trouble.

Niu Xu no longer paid attention to the pain-looking old Holzman beside him, and waved his hand like Uncle Pony. The flagship waved the flag, and the crossbowmen in the hut immediately reacted, and in the hut on the side of the outer ship, the crossbowmen smashed down the crossbow of the eight oxen, and a bow and three arrows roared out, and flew out with a clay bottle filled with Greek fire towards the fleets on both sides.

Huge arrows roared like spears across the sea in the sunlight and flew towards the two fleets on either side. After the fire, the crossbowmen stirred the winch, nervously wound the eight-bull crossbow at the same time, and then the fleet began to turn quickly, and the eight-bull crossbowmen on the other side of the ship were already ready, just waiting for the hull to turn around and launch a direct attack.

More than 800 steps, this is the range of the old-style eight-bull crossbow, and the range of the new eight-bull crossbow can reach 1,200 steps, but because there are not many of them, in addition to the Fufeng and Anzai, the other ships of the fleet are still dominated by the old-fashioned eight-bull crossbow, so it is possible to choose this distance to fire.

The ships of the two merchant fleets were extremely dense, so even the old-fashioned eight-ox crossbow was not much of a problem on the head, and the giant arrows flew into the clear sky in an arc, and when they reached the top of the fleet, they fell in a dense manner. Almost instantly, both fleets were on fire, and the screams rang out intensively.

Many of the sailors who were still scolding just now were nailed directly to the deck, and then the blood ignited the Greek fire splashed out of the clay bottle, and in an instant, the flames on the deck were raging, and the sailors screamed and ran around, and most of the sailors nailed to the giant arrows died directly, and those who did not die were covered in fire and screamed loudly.

Most of the giant arrows fell directly on the ship, and some of them fell into the water or nailed to the side of the ship, and the clay bottles were shattered under the huge impact, and the Greek fire inside burned violently in the sea, forming pieces of flowing flames, and after approaching the hull, they rushed into the large hole blasted by the giant arrows.

This time it was a saturation attack, and the effect was excellent, and it could even be said to be perfect. With just one salvo from one side of the ship, all the ships of both flotillas were ablaze, and not even one of them was spared. (To be continued......)