Because there was no Mongolian navy on the Sichuan River, and a large number of water bandits were also exterminated, Zan Wanshou went to Jiading to take office, accompanied by less than 100 people, including about 50 guards, and took five big ships. According to common sense, this escort force is enough, because the water bandits will not rob the official fleet, on the one hand, the official ships are strong, take Zan Wanshou's guards as an example, these fifty are all elite soldiers, whether it is individual combat or team combat ability, not to mention that ordinary water bandits dare not provoke, even in the face of the Mongolian army, they have the power to fight. On the other hand, there is not much oil and water on the official ships at all, and those official documents, official seals, and travel honor guards and other things are not comparable to the grain, cloth, salt and other goods of the merchant ships in the eyes of the bandits. What's more, robbing an official ship will inevitably lead to retaliation, and it will even lead to annihilation. The water bandits' livelihood of licking blood from the knife also depends on the cost performance of the robbery, and the official ships with large risks and small returns are obviously not their targets.

After the enemy gunboat opened fire, more than a dozen small boats behind it also passed in the opposite direction of the five large ships of the official ship. However, these ships did not approach the official ship to engage in broadside and gang fighting, but threw sparkling iron balls at the official ship, which fell into the cabin and rolled around. Just as everyone was panicking, the iron balls also made a huge explosion, and in an instant, the guards and followers fell to the ground. After the more than ten small boats had passed, the five official boats were already crying and screaming, and the hulls were also scarred, and two of them began to catch fire.

The ship was the least damaged and suffered the least casualties, not only because it avoided artillery bombardment, but also because the towering wooden planks of the cockpit blocked many of the iron balls that were thrown. Hou Xing, who was guarding him, also took the risk of throwing back the two sparkling iron balls. Three official ships were able to sail normally despite the fact that their personnel were staggered by the bombing. The most damaged was the artillery-wounded ship, which was not only killed or wounded, but also began to fill the cabin with water, turning into a huge fire floating on the river, and the bright light of the fire illuminated the entire river.

After the first round of attacks by the enemy gunboats and the small boats, they were now turning their hulls and preparing to catch up for the second round of attacks. Although the official ship is large but slow, it will flee in the direction of Jiading upstream at this time, and will soon be overtaken by the enemy's light boats. Moreover, Hou Xing and his sailors were not familiar with the navigation of the Min River at all, and the ship was prone to run aground on the beach at night. Therefore, Zan Wanshou ordered the remaining four official ships to adjust their bows and prepare for a decisive battle with the enemy. After this short encounter, Hou Xing had discovered the enemy's weakness, that is, although the gunboats were powerful, the ships were unstable and required extremely long preparation time, and the iron balls thrown by the small boats were fast and dense, but those iron balls could be blocked by the shield or even thrown back.

Hou Xing deserves to be an excellent general, and his judgment is very accurate. The gunboat was scrambling to reload, trying to replicate the results of the first round of shelling, and the boats were following behind it, preparing to attack back to the water. At this moment, the official ship is tall and occupies the upper reaches, if it is a traditional hand-to-hand combat water battle, it will not be at a disadvantage, but the enemy will be as Hou Xing wishes. First, the gunboat hit horizontally, and after the side of the ship was aimed at the official ship, it quickly shelled, and the small boat blocked in front of the pursuing official ship, and threw iron balls violently. Although this round of shelling did not injure many people, it still caused another officer ship to lose its combat effectiveness. As for the iron balls that were thrown, although most of them were blocked by the shield and fell into the water, several sergeants were still killed and injured.

Hou Xing raised his eyes and looked around, there were only three official ships left, and there were only more than 30 people with combat strength, among which there were only more than ten sergeants, and the rest were accompanying scribes, scribes and other entourages, who also picked up short knives and shields to guard the side of the ship at this moment. The enemy did not lose a single ship, and only a few were killed or wounded, all of whom were wounded by the sergeants on the officer ships with crossbows. In order to prevent crossbows, a shield wall has been erected on the side of the enemy's boat. Fortunately, the gunboat, which was hiding behind the small boat, was slowly sinking at the moment, and it seemed that the power of the two rounds of guns just now was too great, which shattered the hull structure and flooded the cabin.

Although Zan Wanshou was born as a literati, he was not greedy for life and afraid of death, he understood that today's fierce and auspicious few were less, and he was determined to fight to the death with the enemy. At that moment, he held a sword in his right hand and a shield in his left, pushed away Hou Xing, who was blocking his advance, walked to the side of the ship, and said loudly, "Today is the time to serve the country, retreat and behead." If I retreat, everyone will cut me off." The raging fire on the burning ship reflected his face red, and his heroic spirit was even more evident. The people on the ship's ship were inspired by his generous words, and vowed to be benevolent, and even the wounded lying on the deck were infected by this atmosphere, and they shouted loudly and mightily.

The common hatred of the people on the official ship and the destruction of the gunboat made the enemy on the small boat hesitate. At this moment, they still have nearly 100 people, and it is not difficult to kill the official ship, but they will also suffer huge casualties under stubborn resistance. After hesitating for a moment, a loud voice sounded on the boat: "Brothers on the official ship, we are the Thunderbolt Army, and today we are here to take the head of Zhan Wanshou on the order of Lord Ouyang Xuan." As long as the brothers take the head of Zan Wanshou, they can not only live, but also be promoted to become rich. ”

As soon as the words fell, a dense burst of cannon fire rang out again, as if to cheer for this persuasion. After the cannon fired, Zan Wanshou found that no one on the ship on his side was hit, but there was a wailing cry from the small boat opposite, and the enemies who were standing with shields fell in large pieces. The enemy gunboat behind the boat also seemed to be under shelling, and flames burst into flames. At this time, Zan Wanshou and Hou Xing realized that the shelling was not from the enemy's gunboats, but from the water behind them.

After the smoke passed, the sharp-eyed Hou Xing cheered, and Zan Wanshou looked in the direction of his finger, only to see three merchant ships slowly appearing on the water behind the enemy ships. It is said that it is night, and the burning ships illuminate the battlefield clearly, but it is dark outside the battlefield, and the people in the firelight cannot see the situation outside the battlefield, which is the so-called "darkness under the lamp". In addition, the sound of artillery, shouting and wailing was intertwined, and neither of the warring sides noticed a few merchant ships coming downstream. I saw that these merchant ships slowly turned the side of the ship on the other side, and aimed the muzzle of the black hole at the enemy who was still confused. With a scream, he jumped into the river first, and then the enemies in the boats also jumped into the river, and only a few of the enemies who were still in confusion were torn to pieces by the ensuing artillery fire.

After the second round of artillery, the noisy battlefield suddenly became quiet, except for the gentle flow of the river and the crackling of burning ships. Hou Xing could see clearly that although the firepower of the three merchant ships was not very powerful against the ships, the firepower was wide and dense, hitting the human body like a giant sickle cutting wheat seedlings, and it was a large area at once. Except for the lucky ones who escaped by jumping into the water, most of the enemy was reimbursed by those two rounds of shelling. At the moment, the corpses of the dozen or so enemy ships were in a more unfortunate situation than those who were killed on the spot, and they were constantly wailing and struggling in pain.