Cai Mao originally wanted to say that the battlefield is extremely dangerous, and the son is a daughter's body and cannot be taken lightly, but his eyes rolled, and he seemed to have some other thoughts, and said with a sly smile: "Since ancient times, heroes have come out of youth, and Gongzi really has the style of a father, so he should not let it go, okay, the old man wishes Gongzi a victory and success." ”

Liu Qi naturally understood that this was not Cai Mao's psychological words, but he didn't care, in Jingzhou, although the Cai family had a prominent status, it was just a courtier of his Liu family, and it was his father Liu Biao who was in charge of Jingzhou. His father sent him to the Navy to counsel military affairs, the purpose was very clear, that is, he wanted him to be familiar with military affairs, and at the same time exercise his ability to lead troops.

"Cai Dudu, the warship is ready to stop, can you go on the expedition?" Liu Qi asked Cai Mao for an order to send troops.

Cai Mao did not shirk this time, and ordered the fleet to lift anchor and sail west along the Han River.

The Han River flows through Xiangyang, flows from east to west to north and south, forms a huge figure-seven bend in the northeast of Xiangyang, the water village of the Jingzhou Navy is set up in the Dongjindu east of Xiangyang, and the Xuzhou Army chooses to cross the river in the northwest of Xiangyang, the Hanshui River here is the most narrow, is the most ideal place to cross the river. The Jingzhou navy left Dongjindu, and more than 100 warships traveled up the river to the direction of Wangniu's first crossing.

Liu Qi stood on the first ship, riding the wind and waves, full of spirit. This is Liu Qi's first time commanding the army, as the eldest son of Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao, Liu Qi has always lived a life of fine clothes and food, but he still has the same passion in his heart. I aspire to one day be able to gallop on the field. Liu Biao is old, and he is naturally inclined to the eldest son Liu Qi on the issue of heirs, but because the Cai family married his niece to Liu Cong and loves Wu Jiwu, he naturally hopes that Liu Cong will take over the position of state pastor. Although Liu Qi has always been cowardly, he is not the kind of lord who is obedient, he still hopes to make achievements, and this time he was sent by Liu Biao to the naval army to counsel military affairs. Liu Qi really wanted to show Xiàn.

From Dongjin to Niushoudu. However, it was only a few dozen miles away, and the Jingzhou warship was very fast, and in a few moments, it was already possible to see the Xuzhou army erecting a pontoon bridge in full swing on the side of Niu Shoudu. The boat bridge battalion that erected the pontoon bridge was a professional engineering corps. During the battle of Huainan, pontoon bridges were erected on the Huai River several times. Highly skilled. At this time, the three boat bridge battalions built three pontoon bridges at the same time, and the pontoon bridges were built to the center of the river. It's about to reach the South Shore. Once the pontoon bridge is completed, the fierce Xuzhou infantry can pass the guò pontoon bridge to Xiangyang continuously, the battle of Jiangxia, the battle of Zhangling, the battle of Xinye, the Xuzhou army is invincible, the Jingzhou horse infantry army can not resist the offensive of the Xuzhou army at all, now the only thing that can be relied on is this Hanshui moat, once the Xuzhou army breaks through, the consequences are unimaginable.

When Liu Qi saw that the pontoon bridge had been repaired to the center of the river, he couldn't help but be a little flustered, and immediately ordered the fleet to line up in an assault formation, in the shape of a spindle, to attack the pontoon bridge in the river. Although a large number of troops of the Xuzhou army gathered on the north bank of Niushoudu, the black pressure was overwhelming, but on the Hanshui River, there was no other warship of the Xuzhou army, Liu Qi did not care about the people on the shore at all, thinking that no matter how many Xuzhou soldiers there were, they were all landlubbers, and they couldn't get into the water at all. Therefore, Liu Qi commanded the naval army to attack without deliberately avoiding it, and the channel of the fleet covered the entire surface of the Han River, and hundreds of warships attacked forward in a staggered manner.

As soon as the fleet of the Jingzhou Navy entered the firing range, the commander gave an order, the giant arrows of the bed crossbow made a piercing whistling sound, and flew to the flank of the Jingzhou fleet, and the catapult was not far behind, because the ships of the Jingzhou Navy were far and near, the catapult was equipped with different light and heavy stone bullets, and the heavy bombs of more than 100 catties attacked the warships close to the north shore, and the 30 catties of light bullets attacked the warships in the center of the river, and hundreds of catapults fired together. Stone projectiles of various sizes were thrown into the air and whizzed towards the fleet, flying like a meteor shower.

Huge rocks fell into the river, stirring up a column of water several feet high, splashing the water, and the scene was extremely spectacular. But not every stone bullet fell into the river, and once the stone projectile fell on the warship, it was a disaster for the warship. The warship closest to the north shore suffered first, and more than a hundred pounds of stone bullets were thrown high in the air, drawing a perfect arc, and then fell to the warship at great speed, the heavy city walls could not resist its terrible attack, and the fragile wooden warship was completely vulnerable in the face of heavy stone bullets. A heavy bomb fell from the sky, hit the front compartment of a warship, rumbled, directly in the front compartment hit a big hole, the stone bullet sank straight to the bottom of the river, the warship was smashed out of a big sinking, the river surging in, the whole bow was planted in the water, a moment of effort, the warship sank.

Heavy bombs roared in, the right flank of the entire fleet near the north bank was almost wiped out, a heavy bomb is enough to reimburse a warship, although the accuracy of the catapult is not too high, seventy or eighty percent of the stone bullets have fallen into the river, but it is these two or three percent of the stone bullets that hit the Jingzhou Navy The damage is also amazing. Although the ship in the middle of the river was not hit by heavy bullets, the light stone bullets of 30 catties were also amazingly powerful, and once they were hit, the mast would be broken and the cabin would be damaged, and the soldiers would be killed and wounded innumerable, and if a warship was hit by three or five light bullets, it would basically lose its combat effectiveness.

Liu Qi was stunned by the stone bullets that came like a torrential rain, he was at a loss without combat experience, I don't know what to do, Wang Wei, the captain of the naval academy, was in the same boat with Liu Qi, Wang Wei had been in the army for many years, and had rich combat experience, although the naval army had never encountered such a battle, but he still immediately ordered the fleet to collectively turn the rudder and move closer to the south bank, Wang Wei obviously saw that although the Xuzhou army catapult was powerful, it had a limited range and could not cover the entire river, and the area near the south bank was relatively safe, and the attack of the stone bullets could be avoided.

Escaping from the attack range of the stone bullet, Liu Qi finally took a long breath, wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead, and said with palpitations: "It's so dangerous!" Fortunately, the range of the Xuzhou army's trebuchet is limited, otherwise it would have to be buried in the Han River today, how did Liu Ze make such a thing, and the power was so great? ”

Wang Wei counted the losses of the warships, and more than 30 of the more than 100 warships were sunk or damaged by the catapults, and the losses were about one-third. Wang Wei said: "Liu Ze broke through Xiakou City, using this kind of catapult, the strong city wall is still not able to attack, how can the wooden warship be blocked, although Liu Ze does not have a navy, but so skillfully use the catapult, although our army is numerous, but it is passively beaten, and there is no power to fight back, such a method of warfare, it is really unprecedented." ”

Liu Qi said unconvinced: "Although the catapult is powerful, it is only fixed on the shore, as long as our army bypasses its attack range, I don't believe it can do anything, Liu Ze wants to cross the river successfully, he has to erect the pontoon bridge on the south bank, and when he erects the pontoon over, I don't believe that it can't be destroyed!" Liu Ze then ordered the remnants of the warships to line up in a column and attack the pontoon bridge under construction by the Xuzhou army along the south bank of the Han River.

Liu Ze watched from the shore, and the movement of the Jingzhou Navy was not at all unexpected, he smiled coldly, and ordered all the catapults to be replaced with pottery bombs. The pottery bomb is a layer of pottery outside, the inside is hollow, filled with black powder, a fuse is exposed outside, the artillery operator puts the pottery bomb on the launch frame of the catapult, ignites the fuse, and then quickly releases the counterweight box, the pottery bomb is thrown high into the air, drawing a beautiful arc in mid-air, and flying towards the Jingzhou warship that is close to the south bank of the Han River.

The weight of the pottery bomb is only four or five catties, only about one-sixth of the weight of the light stone bullet, and the flight distance in the air is much farther than the light stone bullet. All the Jingzhou sailors saw the stone bullets fired by the catapult smashed over again, frightened and scattered, the first few pottery bombs did not hit the target, directly fell into the river, because of the lightness of the pottery bomb itself, only splashed a small splash, compared to the scene when the heavy stone bomb entered the river, it was a world of difference.

Due to the distance, the hit rate of the pottery bullet was much lower than that of the stone bullet, and many of the pottery bullets fell into the river by grazing the side of the ship, and many Jingzhou sailors changed from fear to ridicule, and laughed at the stone bullets of the Xuzhou army that were both inaccurate and powerless.

But soon they shut their mouths and fell into an even greater panic. A hundred catapults fired pottery shells at the same time, and each row fired a hundred pottery bullets, and even if the hit rate was low, it would have a tenth, and at least a tenth of the pottery shells would fall on the warship. Every time a clay bomb landed on the ship, it exploded violently with a deafening roar, shrapnel and severed limbs, and the smoke dispersed, and the entire cabin was razed to the ground.

The surviving sailors were stunned by the fact that this small and inconspicuous stone projectile was so powerful that it was more destructive than a heavy stone projectile, and they were terrified.

One by one, pottery bombs were thrown, explosions came and went, Jingzhou warships could not dodge, there was no way to avoid it, and it almost became a live target for catapults on the river, and even Liu Qi's ship was hit by several pottery bombs. (To be continued......)