Several pottery bombs hit the bow and stern of the Mengchong ship, and the violent explosion soon tore the warship apart, and a raging fire broke out on the ship, and a large hole was blown out in the front compartment, and the river rushed in, and the bow of the ship quickly sank to the bottom of the river.

Liu Qi was so frightened that his face was as white as paper, and he didn't know how to deal with it at all, but although Wang Wei was not flustered, when he saw that the situation was critical, he kicked the deck a few times, removed a wooden plank, handed it to Liu Qi, and said eagerly: "Son, jump off the boat and escape." ”

After such a battle, Liu Qi saw that the ship was about to sink, but he couldn't do it anyway if he wanted to hold a wooden plank to escape, so he couldn't help but be at a loss, and shook his head again and again.

Wang Wei knew that when the ship sank as a whole, there would be a huge whirlpool, and the people on the boat and the people around the water would be sucked into the whirlpool, and now the warship was sinking rapidly, and if it was delayed for a breath, there would be more danger to his life, Wang Wei didn't care about explaining it to Liu Qi again, and forcibly stuffed the plank into Liu Qi's arms, and shouted: "Childe, hold it tight!" He pushed Liu Qi into the Han River.

"Plop", Liu Qi fell into the river, fortunately the plank was very big, just slightly sank a little, and soon floated to the surface of the water, Liu Qi was so frightened that his soul did not possess his body, but the instinct to survive made him stubbornly cling to the plank and did not dare to let go, the Han water flow was very fast, but for a moment, Liu Qi was already down the river, floating more than ten zhang away.

Wang Wei kept looking at Liu Qi, seeing that he had escaped from the whirlpool range of the shipwreck, and only then did he feel a little relieved. However, on the vast river, there are half-sunken warships engulfed in flames everywhere, and whether Liu Qi can escape alive, Wang Wei does not dare to guarantee, so he can only resign himself to fate.

The sinking speed of the warship is getting faster and faster, Wang Wei's feet have been submerged in the water, Wang Wei is not too panicked, he has grown up by the river since he was a child, he knows the nature of the water, and he sees that the warship is about to sink. He calmly took off his armor. Once in the water, the armor really becomes a liability. By the time he had taken off his armor, the river was up to his waist and was rising rapidly towards his chest. Wang Wei took a deep breath. Along with the warship sank into the river.

Underwater turbulence criss-crossed. Wang Wei swung his legs, his body quickly floated up, and he soon rushed out of the water. A small warship passed by him. The sailors on the ship pulled Wang Wei up with all their hands. Wang Wei spit out the aquatic plants in his mouth, panted and pointed in the direction of the downstream, and said eagerly: "Hurry up—go and save the son—"

Those sailors raised their eyes and looked, on the vast river, there was a wolf track, where was Liu Qi's figure.

When Liu Qi led more than 100 warships to charge ahead, Cai Mao's flagship, escorted by many warships, sailed unhurriedly behind, keeping a distance of about ten miles from Liu Qi's fleet. After Liu Qi's fleet was attacked by the catapults of the Xuzhou army, the battle report quickly reached Cai Mao, Cai Mao was greatly surprised, he has been running the navy for many years, and he has never heard of anyone who can use the catapult to attack the water warship, the shore troops, at best, can only use bows and arrows to attack the navy, and the distance is limited, only when the warship approaches the shore, the bow and arrow are effective, once the warship sails to the shore, the army on the shore is brave, and there is nothing to be done about the navy. The navy and the army, that are completely two arms that cannot be touched, never thought that the scheming Liu Ze would actually use catapults to attack the warship, and has the ability to cover the entire Han River, so it seems that the advantage of the Jingzhou Navy on the Han River will no longer exist, once the pontoon bridge is built, the elite of Xuzhou's infantry and cavalry will cross the Han River, and Xiangyang will really be unable to defend.

The front was full of flames and thick smoke, and more than 100 warships led by Liu Qi suffered heavy losses under the blows of the Xuzhou army. Cai Mao, a general of the ministry, immediately sent a ship to the rescue, Cai Mao glared at him and said, "The warship in front can't resist it, is the governor's ship made of iron?" Pass on our military order, the fleet anchors, and after finding out the situation ahead, we will march again! ”

Several patrol clippers quickly went and returned, and the news brought back almost made all the people stunned, the forward one hundred warships, under the powerful "bomb" strike of the Xuzhou army, seven or eight out of ten ships were sunk, the corpses floating in the Han River blocked the river, and the situation was unbearable, the command ship that the son Liu Qi was riding was also sunk, and the captain Wang Wei was rescued, but the son Liu Qi was nowhere to be found.

The generals looked at each other, Liu Qi is Liu Biao's son, if anything happens, how to explain to Liu Biao. Cai Mao remained silent, with an imperceptible smirk on the corner of her mouth.

Suddenly, a sergeant shouted loudly outside, "Look, isn't that the eldest prince?" ”

All the generals rushed over the side of the boat, and there were floating corpses floating over the river, mixed with the floating corpses, there was a wooden plank half sinking and half floating in the river, and a person half lying on the plank, there seemed to be signs of activity and struggle, so far away, it was originally impossible to see Liu Qi's face, but Liu Qi's brocade clothes were also unique in the entire naval army, so the sergeant named Shouting would recognize Liu Qi at a glance.

"Horn!" A slap in the face of the sergeant was firmly slapped, and Cai Mao said angrily: "Since you are not the eldest prince, what are you shouting here?" Such confusion of the military should be done by military law! ”

Two soldiers stepped forward and grabbed the sergeant's arm, dragged him down, and beheaded him with a single sword, pushing the dead body into the river.

The generals were dumbfounded and at a loss.

Cai Mao pointed to the river and said with a smile: "Where the old man looks, there is a floating corpse on the river, and there is no half of the living mouth, I don't know if the sergeant is dazzled, or the old man is dazzled?" ”

All the generals on the ship are Cai Mao's cronies, even if they are not Cai Mao's direct relatives, they are also involved with the Cai family, as soon as they heard Cai Mao's words, everyone knew that they dared to brush Cai Mao's intentions again, and some people said repeatedly: "Cai Dudu's eyes are like torches, how can he be wrong?" A certain one also saw that the river was full of dead corpses, and there was no one else alive. ”

Cai Mao said: "Quickly send someone to the place where the shipwreck is, looking for the traces of the eldest prince, I want to see people in life, I want to see corpses in life, no matter what, I have to explain to the lord." ”

It was really unbelievable to ask for a sword in such a boat, but none of the people present dared to raise objections, everyone agreed, and immediately sent two clippers to rush to the position of the sunken ship in front, Liu Qi was struggling in the river at this time, shouting in a weak voice, but the sailors on the two clippers turned a blind eye and galloped away.

Liu Qi was desperate, he swam in the water for a long time, he was already exhausted, the hand holding the plank gradually became numb, he couldn't support it anymore, finally let go of his hands, let the plank float out, he helplessly stretched out his hand to the flagship, and hissed and shouted with all his might: "Help-help-"

There were many people on the boat, but they all seemed to be blind and blind. A wave hit, and Liu Qi was gone.

┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄

Zhao Yun clenched his fists, watching the pottery bullets hit the warships in Jingzhou one by one, landing and blooming, he couldn't help but be excited, these pottery bullets are too powerful, the power is not proportional stone bullets at all, and the distance of shooting is far more than several times that of gravity stone bullets, the Xuzhou army has such a sharp weapon, it seems that the Han River crossing is easy.

Zhao Yun stayed in Mangdang Mountain for a short time, the gunpowder workshop at that time was located in Mangdang Mountain, Zhao Yun saw the explosion and fire after the pottery bomb landed, and immediately understood that the original pottery bomb was filled with black gunpowder, no wonder it could have such great power. In the past, black gunpowder was used in digging and mining, that is, buried and ignited at a fixed point, and its explosive power was earth-shattering, and later Ma Jun applied black gunpowder to firearms and invented Ma's musket, but it seems that it was not used on a large scale, but it was only equipped with a musket battalion in Liu Ze's personal guard troops. This time, the black gunpowder was filled in the hollow pottery bullet and launched by the catapult, which was the first time that black gunpowder was applied to actual combat.

"Ma Deheng is a true craftsman!" Zhao Yun admires Ma Jun very much.

Liu Ze smiled slightly, Ma Jun was developing artillery at this time, and when the artillery was born, it was the time when the real rock broke through, these pottery bombs were just some drizzle, but it was with these pottery bombs that Xuzhou, which had no hope of crossing the river, became a thoroughfare.

"Pass on my order, Ma Junjue will be promoted to a higher level, and he will be given 100 catties of gold and 100 horses of Shu brocade to show his merits!"

Ma Jun's original title was a third-class earl, and at this time, he was promoted to the first class and became a second-class earl. The title of the fifth and fifteenth rank of the prince and uncle, each level of promotion, must have a large number of meritorious services to be promoted, but none of the people present were not convinced, Ma Jun's invention created zào, so that the original landlubber of the northern foot rider can stride across the Han River with his head held high, and go straight to Xiangyang, just ask the generals present who can do it? Not to mention that with Ma Jun's invention, the Jingzhou Navy was completely powerless to fight back, and since then, no one in the world has dared to say that the army will be cowardly as soon as it meets the navy on the water.

"Qi Lord, the pontoon bridge has been built, please move across the river." The Chinese officer stepped forward to report.

In addition to the fierce battle, the boat bridge battalion did not stop its operation, but raced against time to build a pontoon bridge, where the smoke of gunpowder on the river had not yet dissipated, and the pontoon bridge on this side had already been completed.

"Cross the river!" Liu Ze gave orders to the generals with great interest. (To be continued......)