A stone projectile the size of a human head suddenly fell from the sky and crashed headlong into the slightly thin mast of the small warship.

In the creaking of the wood, the mast miraculously did not break, but was rubbed out of a huge pit. But the heavy stone bullets bounced off one of the sailors on the deck. There was a soft thud, and a person who could still say that he could laugh, his head was like a smashed pumpkin, bursting out of a sparse pulp that could not be seen in the dark night.

Stone bullets swirled and rolled on the deck, and there was chaos on the deck. But Ruan Tao didn't have time to pay attention to it at all, and his eyes were full of disbelief.

The unfinished watchtowers on both sides of the river were originally just black shadows solidified in the night, but at this time, with the fire flashing on the river, they were also lit up almost at the same time. Clusters of jumping fires stretched from the mouth of the river, projecting the dozens of active figures under the watchtowers onto the eyes of Ruan Tao and all the sailors on board.

That's not a watchtower at all!

With its towering pedestal, and the long pole that stood on it, Ruan Tao couldn't recognize what it was, but he was sure that it wasn't a watchtower......

…… It's a trap!

Ruan Tao turned his head, word by word, towards the meticulous work that led the fleet into the trap, pouring out the anger in his heart, "Where are your eyes?" ”

"The villain is wronged, the villain is really wronged! When I saw it the day before yesterday, I was indeed looking at ......."

Before the words of the fine work fell, Ruan Tao, who had a cold face, had already waved his arms. The saber that shone with fiery red light slashed a bloody light on Hosaku's face. One moment he was still tugging at the placket of the commander of the sailors, crying about his innocence, and the next moment he immediately lost his breath and fell on the deck convulsing.

Kicking away the dying culprit at his feet, Ruan Tao's anger was still hard to dissipate, even if he killed all the blind craftsmen of all the factions on the north bank, he couldn't save this defeat.

A stone bullet flew towards the warship again, and with a loud bang, the ship trembled slightly, and the stone bullet was deeply embedded in the deck. The chaotic shouts on the ship were mixed with Ruan Tao's incomprehensible question, "What the hell is that?" ”

The commander of the Jiaozhi Naval Division, even for a moment, forgot about the imminent crisis, and only stared at the giant battle equipment dozens of steps away, surrounded by fire: "What the hell is that?" ”

It turns out that this is a thunderbolt!

Huang Yuan didn't know whether he was excited or shocked, anyway, his body was full of goosebumps now, and when he heard a stone bullet flying towards the flames of the river with a faint whistling, his body couldn't help but tremble slightly.

It's just that a shelf made of wood, stone, and some iron pieces can throw dozens of pounds of stones onto the river sixty or seventy paces away, just like throwing a stone, and accurately hit the warship of the Jiaozhi people.

I have seen the strength of the Divine Arm Bow, the sharpness of the horse chopping knife, the solidity of plate armor, the magic of the spaceship, and now I am witnessing the power of the thunderbolt cannon. Every sharp weapon equipped by the Song army made Huang Yuan, who was born in Guangyuan Prefecture, feel happy, scared and excited.

It looks like it's just a watchtower, who would have thought that it was a militaristic heavy weapon that could wipe out warships and cities!

For the skilled craftsmen in the shipyard, as long as there is wood, it is not only the boat that can be built, as long as the thunderbolt cannon does not put up the counterweight of the stones, even if there are spies involved, they will not recognize what the tall wooden frame is.

And the so-called watchtower, which is a thunderbolt cannon surrounded by a bamboo frame, will of course never be completed. As long as the thunderbolt is thrown and erected, and then a bamboo is used outside, no one can tell the difference.

The location of the camouflaged watchtower was also carefully chosen, and it happened to be stuck at several points on the river channel from the mouth of the river to the shipyard. Unless the Cochins dared to rush into the swampy reeds, there were only a few places where they could moor their boats.

The soldiers who looked like they were slacking off in their work a few days ago and delaying the construction of the watchtower seemed to be trying to cleanse their pettiful slander and work harder than anyone else. As soon as the pole swished up, throwing the stone far away, they immediately pulled down the rope at the top of the pole and loaded it with a new one.

The flames flowing on the river could not ignite the solid and heavy warships, but the light of the fires had already outlined the outlines of the warships in the dark night where the moon could not be seen.

"Keep an eye on the ship behind the least, hit the one behind the least!"

The explosive roar, I don't know who came from the mouth of the shore, but with the night wind, it vaguely reached the ears of Ruan Tao, who could understand the official language of the Han people. was stunned for a moment, and then saw that the stone bullets were really concentrated on the last ship, and the sense of crisis that death was imminent immediately poured out of Ruan Tao's heart.

The course of this tributary is shallow, and if the ship behind the most is destroyed by a stone bullet, no one will want to run out of it.

"Turn around!"

Ruan Tao had no intention of remembering Li Changxian who rushed into the shipyard, just looking at the trap at the moment, he could guess that the shipyard was the Longtan Tiger's Den at all, and Li Changjie's younger brother could not come out.

In fact, there was no need for Ruan Tao to order, all the warships in his fleet immediately chose to retreat after being baptized by stone bullets, and made a U-turn in the burning river.

"Change the stones!"

Another roar rang out.

Huang Yuan covered his ears, and saw the artillery commander who made his ears buzz, take an iron horn away from his mouth. Then the thunderbolt cannon next to him was immediately replaced with stones wrapped in nets.

With a whistle, the soldier with the rope let go of his hand, and the pole with the weight shook suddenly, and bags of gravel flew into the sky. The net, which was not sturdy and unclosed, broke down in the air, and the pebbles picked up from the river beach fell like a torrential rain, and the screams that suddenly erupted on the river surface made Huang Yuan's heart tremble.

The sailors on deck are being baptized with cobblestones. The cochin sailors, who had no helmets or armor, were rocking oars, poles, and oars, and were as fragile as a piece of tofu when they were beaten by the smooth and round stones polished by the river. The stones that fell like raindrops could not have been imagined in ordinary times, and in this violent storm, the sailors were rolling on the deck, many of them were bleeding from their heads, and some even had a heavy blow on their foreheads, and they were almost out of breath after fainting.

But the remaining sailors are still gritting their teeth and persevering, and if they don't fight hard at this time, there is really only a dead end. Putting on a hat to protect against the rain and a coat that was also used to protect against the rain, most of the ships in the fleet successfully turned their bows in the storm set off by the cobblestones, although with great difficulty.

But the warship, which was towing at the stern of the fleet, did not turn around, but only halfway turned, and then stopped, and stood sideways in front of all the warships.

"Damn it!" Ruan Tao cursed, but no one could still hear the words on the last warship, they received the most attacks, and the casualties were also the largest, and they were unable to control the ship at all. And there was not just one, there were four or five boats in front of and behind.

"Get around from the side!"

Nguyen Tao took the lead, his ship was the most flexible, and under his order, he directly bypassed the ships in front of him and rowed to the shore.

This tributary is only confirmed to be navigable in the middle of the waterway, and the shallower it gets the further you go to the shore, but a few boats stand in the way of it, so you can only borrow it at this time.

There were dozens of small boats missing, and hundreds of people went ashore, and now the draft of the warship was much shallower. Although there is still the possibility of running aground, no matter what, you can only gamble. The sudden shout of victory in the shipyard strengthened Ruan Tao's determination.

The stone projectiles that flew over were even denser, and the stones were splashing down all the time, and the hull of the ship was also shaking, and the keel of the bottom of the boat rubbed against the bottom of the river until the soles of Ruan Tao's feet, but his ship still insisted on sliding forward.

The sound of a thud was the sound of stones hitting the deck, and the sound of a brush clapping was the sound of a crushed reed lapping against the ship. Ruan Tao, who was worried, couldn't wait to cover his ears, but the next moment, his eyes suddenly opened up, and the flickering starlight Fu Liangjiang finally appeared in front of him.

The ecstasy of the aftermath of the catastrophe almost made him unable to support his weak feet, but when he looked back, he found that only three warships had followed.

"Try to keep as many ships as you can!" Han Gang's orders before the war were still deeply engraved in Huang Yuan's mind.

He watched with his own eyes how the artillerymen desperately pulled the rope and threw the stone bullets and stones out of the slug, and his hands and feet did not stop for a moment, and at the end of the eleven incoming warships, only four disappeared in the morning mist on the Fuliang River.

On the morning of the second day of the first lunar month, Zhang Dian and Han Gang received the good news of victory.

After a hurried sweep, Zhang Dian handed the good news to Han Gang and said with a smile: "Seven ships." ”

Most of the eleven ships were left behind, four were parked in the river, three were stranded on the beach in a panic, and the rest were wounded. The strength of the Jiaozhi water division on the opposite side has dropped by a full third. But the significance of the seven captured warships to Jiaozhi was by no means more than one-third of the loss of the sailors.

Han Gang looked down at the good news, and said that it was not a big joy, but he was also grateful, and it was in vain for his hard work this time, "It's a pity that I couldn't stay all." ”

"It's a no-brainer deal!" Zhang Dian laughed loudly, "Don't be greedy for too much. ”

Han Gangwan smiled: "It's convenient to cross the river this time." ”

On the fifth day of the first lunar month, after repairing the captured warships, the Song army and the Xidong barbarian army launched the operation of crossing the river at the same time.

On the 200-mile-wide river, thousands of boats are flying together. Thousands of rafts, loaded with tens of thousands of barbarian elites, crossed the river. The official army had seven small warships, and with the help of sharp weapons such as the divine arm bow, they easily defeated the sailors of Jiaozhi on the river, destroyed most of the boats, and planted the battle flag on the south bank of the Fuliang River.

The capital of the Cochin Kingdom was also in front of the Song army.