The salty and wet sea breeze brings with it the pungent smell of gunsmoke.

Horace Redwyn hadn't completely recovered yet, and what puzzled him even more was what secret weapon the enemy used.

How can you smash so many huge iron balls at once like a rainstorm?

And what is that thunderous roar? What are those circles of white fire and black smoke?

Sir Horace took the Mill lens again and looked at the Stormlands fleet, and saw that there were thick black pipes neatly arranged on the deck of one side of the enemy ship, each of which was busy with two or three sailors stuffing something into it.

Is that the sound and the iron ball just now?

The fear of the unknown grabbed Horace's heart like a big hand, and he woke up from the arrogance before the war, and finally realized that the enemy in front of him was different from all the enemies in the past.

Not only Horace, but the entire Qingting Island fleet was frightened by this round of shelling.

Although the actual power of this round of shelling was not great, not a single battleship on Qingting Island was sunk, at most, a few holes were smashed out of the ship's side on the deck, and a few unlucky eggs were directly hit by iron balls, and the end was quite miserable.

However, this unprecedented means of attack has caused great psychological pressure on the people of Hewan.

To make matters worse, the commander of this fleet, Horace, not only did not make a reassuring move, but he himself fell into panic and helplessness.

So the heralds waited for the new orders, the drummers stopped beating the drums, the oarsmen stopped paddling, and the Qingting Island fleet wasted precious time in vain.

On the side of the Stormlands fleet, Lucas Dane certainly did not waste time, nor did he have mercy on the enemy, and when he saw that the enemy ship was stupidly within the range of the guns as a live target, he immediately gave the order to fire the guns again.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

With a series of white flashes and thunderous roars, more than three hundred guns on forty-two battleships roared almost simultaneously.

Iron solid shells shot into the formation of the Qingting Island fleet on the opposite side with a whistling sound that broke through the air.

Of course, most of the shells did not hit, but fell into the sea, blowing up a huge column of water.

But the remaining half of the shells still caused a lot of damage to the enemy ship.

Because the flagship Purple Grape was at the forefront and the largest in size, it was naturally regarded as the primary target.

Dozens of iron shells left it in tatters, and the sailors on deck fled into their cabins for shelter.

Horace Redwin, who was still stunned, was also pulled into the captain's room by the guards.

"My lord, what now? Do you want to go on the offensive? The first mate shook Horace's body, trying to bring the other man to his senses.

"Of course you have to attack!" Horace reflexively exclaimed, "We are the Qingting Island fleet!" Invincible on the seas, unrivaled! Do you want to throw in the towel to the Stormlanders? Pass my orders! Burn the wind! Sink them! ”

The impassioned proclamation did not receive an enthusiastic response.

Horace looked around and saw all he saw were panicked faces.

"What? Are you scared? He asked viciously.

"Of course not." The first mate said, "It's just...... What kind of weapons did the Stormlanders use? Can you throw so many iron balls? ”

"It's nothing more than a trebuchet or something, what's there to be afraid of." Horace said, "You just saw it, and the power is actually ...... General ......"

Speaking of which, Horace was also a little weak-hearted.

What kind of trebuchet can throw such a heavy solid iron ball so far?

Moreover, the trebuchet was bulky and took up a lot of space, so it was impossible to load so many seats on the deck.

But he knew that he had to give an explanation at this time, otherwise it would only be worse if he let the people below think wildly, and he must not expose his weakness, otherwise the morale of the fleet would be over.

"As you saw just now, even if those iron balls are hit by a few hundred, they may not sink our large warship, so we can stare at the enemy's attack and rush over at full speed, knock them over with a ram, or engage in a broadside battle, this is the most familiar way of fighting, and victory must belong to Qingting Island!"

"Victory must belong to Qingting Island!" This time, someone finally agreed.

The herald also conveyed Sir Horace's orders.

Woowoo woo –

The sound of a horn, symbolizing the order to attack, echoed over the Qingting Island fleet, followed by a rumbling drum.

The oarsmen are back in their seats, paddling to the rhythm of the drums.

The huge fleet led by the Purple Grape started again, cleaving the huge waves and moving forward.

Boom Boom Boom –

Another round of shelling, a torrential rain of iron balls crashed down.

With the experience of the first two times, the people of Hewan were not too panicked, the drums were non-stop, and the pulp flew up and down, lapping on the water, and kept moving at full speed.

"My lord, the Ocean Flower is leaking!"

Hearing the first mate's warning, Sir Horace immediately looked to his right flank, and sure enough, he saw the scarred Sea Flower stop, and the flag officer on the deck waved the red flag vigorously.

"The Ivy and the Glory are not going to work either." Another reminder.

"Keep going!" Horace flailed his arms vigorously, as if to cut off all hesitation and fear.

"Yes."

The captain's room fell into oppressive silence.

Looking at the enemy ships that were getting closer and closer, someone suddenly proposed:

"My lord, at this distance, we can return fire with a scorpion crossbow."

In order to deal with Caesar's dragon, each warship of the Qingting Island fleet deliberately installed a large scorpion crossbow in the bow and stern, and it was planned to fire a hundred crossbows at the same time to complete a dragon slaying feat.

Unexpectedly, before he met the dragon, he first encountered this strange warship.

Truth be told, shooting a battleship with a scorpion crossbow is the same as shooting a giant elephant with a bow and arrow, and it can't be said to be completely useless, but don't expect to win with it.

"Good! Fight back with a ballista now! Horas gave the order to shoot anyway.

Otherwise, being beaten passively all the time will deal a great blow to morale.

The order was quickly conveyed, and hundreds of Scorpion crossbows adjusted their angles and began firing.

Whoosh –

Hundreds of crossbow arrows flew out from the formation of the Qingting Island fleet, like a neighing viper.

A six-foot-long crossbow bolt sank deep into the side of Caesar's Hammer, the Stormland's flagship, and the force shattered a large part of the deck, and the tail of the arrow trembled with the remaining force.

Lucas ignored the bolts, even though the arrow was only half a yard away from him.

He looked at the enemy ships that were getting closer and closer, and calmly ordered:

"Change the blasting bomb!"

(End of chapter)