Gou Ye, the second-level artillery commander, leaned down, used a worm to remove the debris in the chamber of the two-pound gun, and then put a wooden stick wrapped in a wet cotton cloth into the inner chamber to clean the hot fragments that the worm had not removed. After making sure that there was no longer a fire point in the barrel, Gou Ye put a gunpowder bag made of linen into the barrel and stuffed the shell in the muzzle. A thick stinging needle is inserted into the chamber through the ignition port at the tail of the gun barrel to puncture the powder bag. He took out the fuse from the pocket in his waist and inserted it through the ignition, making sure that the fuse had penetrated through the hole in the powder pouch and buried it in the gunpowder.

Now, after doing it 30,000 times in three years, Gou Ye's actions are like a cloud of peers, he doesn't need to use his brain to think about it at all, and his body will naturally complete everything.

With a soft sigh, Gou Ye sat on the deck behind the artillery, manipulating the gun pole behind the gun to aim the gun at the enemy's ship. There is a crosshair at the front end of the two-pound gun, and there is a ruler missing the door at the rear. The distance of more than 20 steps belongs to the direct range, and there is no need to calculate the projectile angle. Even so, Gou Ye habitually raised the muzzle a little bit. This is a pride that only a gunner can understand, and if he can make the shelling a little more accurate, a real gunner will do his best.

Lighting the fuse, Gou Ye steadfastly manipulated the gun with both hands to keep the aiming point stable. He felt the subtle tremors of the ship's hull and waited intently for the cannons to fire the shells.

This kind of one-sided battle is actually very boring, there is no sawdust scattered like flowers when the four-pound cannon pierces the thick planks of the sea ship, and there is no huge gap in the black hole. The small boats of the Mongol navy, whether they were on the bow or on the side of the ship, were hit by a cannonball, and the cannonballs could not only go in, but also shoot out from the bottom of the boat. In an instant, two large holes appeared in the middle of the cannon that could not be plugged at all, and the river swarmed in, and the ships gradually sank, or simply fell apart. The people on the boat fell into the water one after another like a lantern festival.

If you look down from the sky, more than forty slender ships appear in a semi-encircled posture, and they fire fiercely at hundreds of ships in the encirclement. The seemingly slender encirclement network was actually as strong as a silver thread, strangling enemy ships within range. The smoke from the muzzle of the cannon gradually accumulated, forming a thin haze on the surface of the river.

"Hex! Black art! Wang Donglu couldn't help but whisper.

Many of the people in the group who were watching the battle from the high platform had similar thoughts, and the weapon that only one person could control was so small that they could barely see such a slender weapon from the high platform. Such weapons are destroying the warships of the Mongol naval forces at an alarming rate. Humans instinctively want to rely on witchcraft for the unexplained weapons that their enemies possess.

Just as mysticism was about to gain the upper hand, a clear voice sounded, "Zi Bu is strange and confused! If there was witchcraft in the world, it should have been widely known a long time ago. Where it will still be an illusory thing. Lord, please order the naval army to withdraw its troops! ”

With Wang Donglu's knowledge, all he can really understand is the last sentence. The person who spoke was Hao Jing, the 'Jianghuai Road Xuanfu Envoy' appointed by Kublai Khan, and as soon as this remark came out, all the generals on the stage changed their faces. Hao Jing was a literati and a very important Confucian scholar of Kublai Khan. However, in Mongolia, whether or not to study Confucianism is entirely a personal choice, and Confucianism has no legal status at all. Hao Jingneng is standing here, but he is a civil official. However, the Mongol civil servants did not have the authority to command the military.

Without waiting for Zhang Rou, the eldest Wanhu on the high platform, to speak, Kublai Khan spoke, "Order the water army to collect the troops!" ”

Zhang Rou, who was almost seventy years old, glanced at Hao Jing again, bowed down and replied, "Obey." Then he got off the high platform.

Kublai Khan beckoned to Hao Jing and asked him to stand beside him. Looking at the slaughtering water battle on the river, Kublai Khan laughed self-deprecatingly: "Is this my quarry rock?" ”

Hao Jing was a great Confucian in the north and was familiar with the history of the Jin Kingdom. In the Battle of Quarry Rock, the Song army defeated the strong with the weak under the command of Yu Yunwen and broke the Jin State Naval Army. Kublai Khan went south, attacking all along the road and being invincible, but such a Song army sailor emerged, and it was about to defeat the Mongol navy. It is not uncommon for Kublai Khan to have some discouraged associations.

So Hao Jing Zhengse replied: "King Jin Hailing is willful and mean, where can he compare with the lord." Out of this Song army, probably because the Song country is not exhausted, the lord does not need to be discouraged. A few days ago, in response to a report from thousands of households in Wuliang Hetai, Wuliang Hetai sent troops from Yunnan and had already attacked Tanzhou on Jinghu South Road. Qianhu and Wuliang Hetai joined forces, if our army wanted to cross the river and return to the north, the Song army would not be able to stop us. ”

Kublai Khan turned his head to look at Hao Jing, his eyes were a little complicated. He valued Hao Jing very much, but Hao Jing was a Han after all, and he did not have the attitude of using force to solve everything, but thought that war should be avoided as much as possible. According to Confucianism, it means 'rest with the people'.

Turning his gaze to the battle again, Kublai Khan began to retreat at the sound of the Mongol navy's earth-shattering horns. The so-called retreat is just to row back the nearly 100 ships that were originally relatively close to the shore. However, the ships did not retreat in a straight line, but retreated downstream down the river. This tactical choice gave rise to some hope in Kublai Khan's heart.

In the downstream direction there was a group of return artillery of the Mongol naval army. The return cannon is a heavy catapult capable of firing several pounds of stone or dirt into a distance of forty paces. If this Song naval army can catch up, it will be fiercely attacked by the Hui artillery group. Kublai Khan trusted Zhang Rou, who had just stepped down from the high platform, and as long as he could sink even one Song military ship, Zhang Rou would snatch that military ship back. As for what kind of weapons the Song army used, it would be clear at that time.

For a moment, Kublai Khan saw the Song warships preparing to pursue. However, then, the Song army's warship deftly turned its bow and lined up in an orderly queue towards Hanyang on the opposite bank. Such a decisive command was quite in the style of the Mongol cavalry, so that Kublai Khan suddenly had a suspicion, could it be difficult for the Song army to be led by the Mongols?

There was no telepathy at all, and Zhao Jiaren, who was sitting in the back of the hall on the big boat, did not sneeze, but yawned loudly. He expected to see a blood-pumping water fight, but instead he watched a game of whack-a-mole. This time, more than 200 ships of the Mongolian navy were sunk, because there was no annihilation of the troops of the Mongolian army, and most of the Mongolian chickens were able to go ashore alive. It really makes Zhao Jiaren feel pity.

The fleet returned to Hanyang with all the tails, and after Zhao Jiaren got off the ship, he counted the results of the battle, and he himself went to Yamen to see Jia Nidao. At this time, it was already noon, and the meeting was adjourned in the yamen. Zhao Jiaren entered the back hall, Jia Rudao sat at the table with an angry look, and the food on the table that had not moved.

Seeing Zhao Jiaren coming in, Jia stood up and said loudly: "It's ridiculous! Ridiculous! I didn't expect Ding Daquan to do things so absurdly! ”

Zhao Jiaren had long known that Ding Daquan was going to fall, so he asked calmly, "I don't know what Jia Gong is referring to?" ”

"Yuan Jue, who is the deputy envoy along the river, is simply a genius who misunderstands the country!" Jia Yidao's voice was already full of killing intent, and he told Zhao Jiaren a little about the deeds of this 'wizard who misled the country'.

At that time, Yuan Jue, who was the deputy envoy of the Southern Song Dynasty along the river, was a henchman of the powerful minister Ding Daquan, and in order to make political achievements, he collected taxes locally, which completely offended the fish tyrants on the river, and the fish tyrants gathered ships and prepared to resist taxes with arms. Unexpectedly, at this time, the Mongolian army came over, and the fishing tyrants offered fishing boats to the Mongolian army and used them as guides. Kublai Khan was able to defeat the Great Song Dynasty army and quickly cross the river.

Zhao Jiaren had never understood how the Mongols suddenly conjured up so many naval armies in the Battle of Ezhou, but now he finally understood. Listening to this angry accusation, Zhao Jiaren understood why the rowers on the Mongolian naval vessels looked familiar.

"Haha, laugh." Zhao Jiaren said, "Jia Gong, I went on patrol today and sank more than 200 Mongolian ships. Now I know that many of those boats are fishermen's boats. ”

"What?" Jia seemed to be shocked. However, looking at Zhao Jiaren's expression as if nothing had happened, Jia Rudao said dissatisfiedly: "Is Jiaren trying to entertain me?" ”

"Jia Gong, when did I speak out to deceive others? If you don't believe me, we'll go down the river to Huangpi in the afternoon. There were so many Mongol ships that they dared to chase us when we broke through Huangpi. At that time, I didn't want to startle the snake, and I couldn't hide it anymore. Let's go and kill for a while! Zhao Jiaren told Jia Yidao about his plan.

Jia Rudao's face was cloudy, and it could be seen that it took a lot of effort for him to resist the urge to get angry at Zhao Jiaren.

After eating at noon, under Zhao Jiaren's strong persuasion, Jia Rudao took Zhao Jiaren's boat again. After all, when he arrived in Hanyang, he also took Zhao Jiaren's ship, and he still has confidence in the speed of this fleet. If you can't beat it, you can run, which is a proven thing in reality.

In the evening, Jia Rudao returned to Hanyang with the ship and immediately ordered all the officials and generals in Hanyang to be gathered.

At this time, the main army of the Southern Song Dynasty was in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and among the troops who came to the aid of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the troops who dared to fight entered the city of Ezhou, which was surrounded by the Mongol army. The group of people who remained in Hanyang did not dare to go to Ezhou to fight.

When it comes to the army, Zhao Jiaren has always subconsciously linked the Southern Song Dynasty army to the PLA. Now he finally understands that he was wrong, and these people are probably KMT's troops. The army that fought in Sichuan and the army that defended Ezhou were all backbone, blood, and combat effectiveness in the Song army. In addition to these troops, more of the Song army was waste. Just like the group in front of you.

When the summoned officials and generals saw Jia Yidao, they all felt that something was wrong, very wrong. People have spirits, and this morning, Jia Rudao, like these people, was quite jealous of the Mongolian army. At this time, Jia Nidao no longer had this feeling, and the Great Song Privy Envoy seemed to have taken the wrong medicine, and his temperament changed greatly. As a civil servant, Jia Rudao has a kind of murderous aura that makes these officials and generals seem to be suffocating.

With both hot and cold eyes, he glanced at the civilian and military generals, and Jia Rudao said in a very oppressive voice: "Tomorrow, prepare three hundred ships." The sergeants on board carried bows and arrows, spears, and hooked sickles for each ship. I'll personally lead you and others to attack. Go and prepare now. ”

Hearing this, the generals were dumbfounded and didn't know what to say. The civil officials are civil officials, and someone hurriedly spoke, "Jia Shumi......"

After only opening his head, Jia Rudao shouted: "Shut up." ”

This tough attitude made it impossible for the civil official to speak. Then Jia Rudao said word by word to these civil and military officials: "I am a privy envoy, and I am the ambassador of Xuanfu in western Beijing, Hunan, northern China, and Sichuan. At this time, when we are serving the country, if we do not obey the military orders, and do not patrol the former, we will be killed! ”

As soon as the word 'kill' came out, the faces of the civil and military officers in front of Jia Rudao changed greatly, and no one dared to speak anymore.