The two steamships fired their guns in turn, and although the loading speed of the recoiled rear-loading guns was not fast, it could not be compared with the reloading speed of the later tube-retracted rear-loading guns, but compared with the front-loading guns of the year, the rear-loading guns were already quite fast, a total of four six-pounder guns and six three-pounder guns, each of which could fire two to three times per minute, and ten guns fired in turns, and within an average of two to three seconds, there was a shell whistling out, which was already quite fast. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

However, in just eight minutes, the two steamers had already sent out more than 100 shells, and the hit rate was not too high, and two to three of the ten shells hit, but one shell hit a small Qing army boat in an instant.

"Let the fire attack ship rush up and burn the thief ship!" A Qing army sailor general shouted.

A Qing soldier who fled from Jingzhou cried and begged: "My lord, don't do it! The thief ship is a fire dragon to help, and it brings fire itself, if it attacks with fire, it is tantamount to adding fuel to the fire! can only lose the lives of his brothers in vain. ”

At this moment, a Qing army general picked up a telescope and found that the two Ming army steamers were standing with officers with bright armor, and one of the steamers also hung a handsome flag with the word "king" written on it, and there was obviously a prince-level figure wearing a python robe and a golden helmet standing on the boat.

"It's Wang Yi who is here in person! Brethren, let's go! This is a great opportunity to make a difference! Qing Junqian always seemed to see the future of the fame beckoning to him, and shouted excitedly.

"But the thief ships are too powerful, it's hard for us to get close!" A Qing army general said.

Another Qing soldier beside him said: "All our ships are pressed together, I don't believe it, just two thief ships, can block hundreds of our ships!" ”

"The thief and the puppet king of the South China Sea are ahead!" Qing Jun Qian stared at his blood-red eyes and shouted, "Pass my order!" The first person to board the thief ship will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver! Kill the thief and the pseudo-king of the South China Sea, and reward 2,000 taels of silver! Capture the pseudo-king alive and reward 3,000 taels of silver! Brothers, the opportunity for meritorious service is at hand! ”

On the flagship bird boat of the Qing Army's naval division in Xiangyang, a flag signal was issued and an order was issued to the Qing army's naval division's fleet.

The Qing soldiers found that these two "fire dragon warships" were not accompanied by other small boats, and there were orders from above, coupled with the powerful allure of the white silver, so the officers and soldiers of the Qing army's naval division rowed hard and went down the river, and hundreds of large and small warships swooped towards the two steamships of the Ming army.

Seeing the black pressure of the Qing warships going down the river, and the shadow of the ship in the north paved the river, almost impermeable, Wang Xinyu and Hu Dedi knew in their hearts that with two steamships with a combined displacement of only 300 tons, it was impossible to defeat hundreds of Qing warships with just the strength of two ships anyway. And they originally came to attract the Qing army's naval division, and the large fleet of the Ming army's naval division was behind.

In addition to attracting the large fleet of the Qing army, the Ming army sailors also had one more thing this time, which was to test a new weapon. Wang Xinyu personally went out to act as a decoy to attract the Qing army's sailors to 50 miles downstream, and the Ming army's sailors in ambush could take the opportunity to kill, and while the main vehicles and ships of the navy division and the river gunboats attacked, the pole mineboats would test a new weapon.

"Let's go! Attract the Tartar Sailor downstream! Wang Xinyu shouted.

The two steamers turned their bows and sailed at a speed of seven knots, which, combined with the speed of the current, was close to nine knots, but still not as fast as the Qing fast sentry and centipede clippers that went downstream.

The Qing army's fast sentry ships and centipede fast ships were in hot pursuit, followed by large ships such as black pressure bird boats, catch up boats, and bow boats, desperately pursuing the retreating Ming army steamers. Because the steamer was retreating downstream, the Ming army was chasing, although the speed of the fast sentry boat and the centipede clipper was fast, but the Ming army was flying kites.

The two steamers turned their guns and constantly fired shells at the small Qing boats that were chasing at the front, no matter how low the accuracy of the shells was, an average of ten shells were fired, and at least three could hit the target. Because of the proximity of the distance, within a mile, the hit rate of the guns on the steamer was more than 30%. The fast Qing fast sentry ships had no guns on them, so they did not pose a threat to the Ming army steamers. The caliber of the guns on the Centipede Clipper is too small to hit that far. As for the Qing army's bird boats, catch boats, and bow boats, they were too slow and were left far behind.

The Yuezhou and Jingzhou constantly used tail guns and secondary guns to name the Qing boats that were close to within a mile, and the guns spewed fire one after another, and the Qing boats that were shot were either broken in two or pierced from end to end by shells, and as long as they were hit by a single shell, whether they were hit by a six-pounder shell or a three-pounder shell, they all sank to the bottom of the river.

Even if the centipede clipper with a relatively large tonnage is hit by two six-pounder shells, or three or four three-pounder shells, it is an instant kill. The cannonball hit the Qing ship, continuously penetrating the multi-deck until it penetrated the bilge, penetrated the multi-compartment, and then drilled a large hole in the bottom of the ship, allowing the river water to pour into the ship, and soon after the centipede clipper sank into the water.

The guns shot at the head, and the two steamers desperately shot at the small boats of the Qing army that were approaching them, sending them to the bottom of the river. But there must be brave men under the heavy reward, and the Qing soldiers also found out that the handsome banner of the Ming army is in front, as long as they can climb up, they can make great achievements, and there are rich rewards. Even if the ship sank, as long as the person was not hit by the shells and wooden plank fragments and fell into the river, they could still climb ashore, and the Han River was not too wide, and with the water nature of the sailors of the navy, it was not a problem to swim to the shore after falling into the water.

In the lower reaches of the Han River, not far from the shore, the river surface is densely packed with dense reeds, and in the eighth month of the lunar calendar, it is the season for the reeds to bloom, and the river surface on the bank is covered with snow-white reed flocculents. In this reed, there are countless Ming army boats and pole mineboats.

More than ten miles downstream of the reeds, the vehicles and boats of the Ming army and the inland gunboats were moored on the river, and all the ships dropped their anchor chains and stood by on the river. As soon as the time comes, these ships will swim against the current and attack.

The Japanese mercenary Masao Kuroda sits on a pole mineboat, and his boat, along with the other pole mines, lies in ambush in the reeds. At this time, his mood was extremely excited, because his pole mineboat was very different from other people's pole mineboats, and his pole mineboat was equipped with two new weapons, which were the only two new weapons in the Ming army, and they were still in the experimental stage.

This new weapon is two spindle-shaped objects, the shell is made of iron sheet, and the entire shell is completely sealed and can float on the water. When used, a long bamboo pole pushes the weapon out, and then ignites the rocket to send the weapon to the target. This weapon is known as the fire dragon into the water.