Therefore, as soon as he learned that Meng Heng and Meng Lanjun jointly attacked Mingshan Island, Xu Hai gathered an area to prepare for war, and there were 52 large and small ships and more than 2,000 pirates under his command, all of which were mobilized to help, ready to fight against Meng Heng's coalition army. He also informed Cheng Donglin and Ma Ye of Shangchuan Island and Dachuan Island that they should act according to the plan they had made before, and as soon as they received Xu Hai's signal, they immediately sent troops to attack Meng Heng. On the other hand, Xu Hai prepared five more fast boats, stopped at the west mountain of Mingshan Island, and ordered people to move gold, silver, soft and other valuable things to the boats, so that they could be ready to escape from Mingshan Island at any time.

Although Cheng Donglin and Ma Ye secretly surrendered to Meng Heng, they still united with Xu Hai on the surface, and after receiving Xu Hai's letter, they both wrote back to Xu Hai, swearing that they would definitely receive Xu Hai's signal and attack Meng Heng from behind. Therefore, after Xu Hai received the reply from the two, he was also a lot more relieved, and decided to fight with Meng Heng's coalition army in front of Mingshan Island. He personally led all the warships into battle, leaving his younger brother Xu Jiang to lead the people to guard the eastern coast in case Meng Heng divided his troops to attack the island, and also supported the fleet.

However, seeing the formation of the Mengheng coalition army, the sails were spread, and the masts were like forests, almost occupying the sea area east of Mingshan Island. Xu Hai couldn't help but take a breath. Many of the pirates under his command turned pale. The opponent has too many warships, three times as many as his own.

At this moment, the sails of Meng Heng's coalition army swayed, and Yijing took the lead in launching an attack.

The first fleet of the coalition attacked with fifty ships, divided into three teams, and in the center were twenty ships under Meng Heng, commanded by the eldest son Meng Huiming in the "Flying Bear". The fifteen warships on the left are Meng Lanjun's warships, which are personally commanded by Meng Lanjun himself, and the fifteen warships on the right are all warships of other small pirates, which are commanded by the second son Meng Jimin in the "Flying Tiger". The three fleets were about fifty paces apart, and from three directions, they killed the side of Mingshan Island.

And Xu Hai only had a total of fifty-two ships, all of which were lined up in front of Mingshan Island, lined up and waiting for the battle. The two sides moved and stood still, forming a strong contrast.

The ten warships of the Song army also slowly approached the battlefield of both sides, and Yang Yan, Zhao Qianru, Li Gongzuo, Chen Liang, Wei Chang, Gu Xueping, Tie Chenglin and others all stood on the ship's tower to watch the battle. The biggest difference between water warfare and land warfare is that it is much slower. Watching the distance between the two sides slowly approaching, it may not be slow in a water battle, but for Yang Yan and those who are used to the rhythm of land battles, and even horse battles, it is simply like a year. Since it was Gu Xueping, she was already very active and quiet, and after waiting for a long time, the two sides did not start a war, and Banban and Shayin were lying on the deck to sleep, so she couldn't help but tease Wei Chang's two eagles.

It took more than a quarter of an hour for the distance between the two sides to be reduced to less than one hundred and fifty paces, which was the distance at any time for a water battle dominated by long-range weapons.

Sure enough, at this time, Xu Hai's fleet also began to act. I saw that the ten warships in the front row of his fleet were lined up, each with a distance of about six or seven feet, and suddenly accelerated forward, broke away from the group, and headed for the middle of the coalition army. The other ships were divided into two groups and met the enemy ships on the left and right.

Yang Yan was a little strange, although he was not very proficient in water warfare, but he could also see that only letting these ten warships take the lead, lined up and spaced so far apart, it was very easy to be broken by the opponent, and the other warships went to meet the enemy troops on the left and right, Xu Hai obviously thought that this could block the opponent's mid-lane fleet, this move was really weird. Even Li Gongzuo frowned, obviously not understanding in his heart what Xu Hai's move was about.

In fact, it was not only them, but even Meng Huiming was puzzled, his ship "Flying Bear" was rushing to the front of the fleet. At this time, the Yijing entered the range of the bow and arrow. Meng Huiming didn't have time to think about it, and immediately ordered: "Release the arrow." ”

The archers on the "Flying Bear", together with the archers on several boats on both sides, immediately opened their bows and arrows at the enemy's warships, and as the distance between the two sides was still approaching, more and more allied warships entered the range of bows and arrows, joined in, and for a while, the arrows were like flying locusts, shooting towards the opponent's warships.

But what made Meng Huiming strange was that there didn't seem to be any counterattack on the other party's warship, and as the distance between the two sides continued to approach, Meng Huiming found that many people on the other party's ship were hit by arrows, but they were still motionless and couldn't stand, what was going on? Meng Huiming is a delicate person, and he can't help but wonder at this time.

At this time, a small leader next to him said: "Young Master, the distance is enough, is it okay to throw a heavy oil bomb." ”

Although Yang Yan gave Meng Heng one hundred and fifty fierce oil bombs, because they did not have long-range weapons such as bed crossbows and trebuchets, they could only be thrown by manpower, so they were only effective within fifty steps. Meng Huiming's ship had thirty fierce oil bombs, and now it was at the distance of the manpower throw, although Meng Huiming was puzzled in his heart, but he didn't have time to think too much at this time, and immediately agreed: "Yes, throw five first." ”

"Whew, Whew, Whew" Five heavy oil bombs were thrown from the "Flying Bear", two of which fell into the sea, but three still hit. One of them hit the outboard, and the other two landed accurately on the deck. The fire "whew" and burned. The pirates on the "Flying Bear" cheered.

At this time, Meng Huiming ordered to throw five more heavy oil bombs at another enemy ship that was close to him. This time the hit rate was higher, with four hits. The ship was also on fire. Twice in a row, the pirates on the "Flying Bear" cheered again.

But at this time, Meng Huiming found that something was wrong, seeing that the fire of the two ships was getting bigger and bigger, and the fire seemed to be spreading a little too fast. Not only that, but at this time, the soldiers on the enemy ship were still motionless, standing in the bow of the ship, even being burned by the fire...... No, it's not a real person, it's a scarecrow. Meng Huiming saw clearly at this time, and saw that someone at the stern of the boat "plopped" and "plopped" and jumped into the sea, and the burning ship was still crashing into his own boat. At this time, several other ships were also on fire, and some of them were not actually hit by heavy oil bombs.

Meng Huiming finally understood that from the beginning, Xu Hai's goal was not to fight, but to prepare to abandon these ten ships and use fire, only to wait for the two sides to approach, and then light the ships to ram his own ship, these ten ships except for the sailors who sailed the boat, there were no other soldiers at all, and when the ships approached, the sailors who sailed the ships immediately jumped into the sea to escape.

( This chapter was published by Reader's Bar - reprinted)