Chapter 434 Despair

"Boom boom boom~"

On the river surface, four large ships were lined up in a row, and stone bullets were constantly hitting this side. Some of them hit the river surface, and water splashed everywhere. If they fell on the ship, the ship would be destroyed and everyone would be killed!

After a moment of confusion, Zhou Yu quickly ordered the ship's shackles to be loosened, looked at the enemy ship in the distance, and said in a deep voice: "Quick, order the boats to get close to the ship quickly!"

"Here!"

One by one, the boats dispersed and approached crazily in the direction of the four large ships. However, the Guanzhong Army's large ship's Vulcan cannon never stopped, and boats were hit from time to time.

Zhou Yu quickly realized that although the opponent's Vulcan cannon had a long range, its coverage was within a range of less than a hundred steps. If he rushed forward, the opponent's Vulcan cannon would be unable to hit.

Zhou Yu was overjoyed when he noticed this, and quickly ordered the fleet to disperse completely, carrying the Vulcan cannon across the 100-step distance, and then quickly approached the opponent. However, seeing the two sides approaching the 400-step distance, the opponent's big ship was already It was clearly visible, but the next moment was when the nightmare began.

Clusters of short spear-like arrows are fired from the opposite side. The power may not be as powerful as the Vulcan cannon, but they are more dense. When an arrow falls, it can pierce the ship when it hits the boat. If it hits a person, it can kill both the person and the boat together. To pierce through, for a light and flexible walking boat, this thing is more terrifying than a Vulcan cannon.

For a moment, the surface of the river was littered with broken shipwrecks, the river water stained red with blood, and corpses floating on the water. Occasionally, there were those who were not dead swimming back crazily.

Today, when the navy mostly relies on bows and arrows and boarding battles, this long-range weapon is simply a killer weapon on the river.

However, some boats rushed past the shooting range of the repeating crossbow bed and rowed all the way under the huge ship. However, after entering and exiting, they saw a row of soldiers holding repeating crossbows waiting on the side of the ship. When they saw them coming, they A series of arrows were fired, and the remaining walking boats stopped, and there was no sound anymore. Only the bloody walking boats were left and retreated along the river after losing their power, which made all the Jiangdong soldiers despair.

What kind of ship is this! ?

"Get closer and let the bottom of the ship be built!" Zhou Yu looked a little gloomy. He had already arrived here. It was impossible to retreat like this. Even if he couldn't grab it, he had to build one for him.

"The general will go!" Zhou Tai took off his armor, held a shield, and charged again with two fierce ships and hundreds of walking boats. Naturally, they were not polite there, and even crossbow beds and crossbow arrows were intertwined. The arrow nets ruthlessly harvested the lives of Jiangdong soldiers.

Zhou Tai stood on the bow of the ship holding a round shield in each arm, struggling to deflect the crossbow arrows fired towards him. After all, he was hit by two arrows, but he also succeeded in driving the arrows under the enemy ship.

However……

Looking at the steel hull in front of him, Zhou Tai let out a helpless and unwilling roar, and angrily slashed at the enemy ship with his sword, which only caused a series of sparks and left some knife marks.

"Go into the water and dig through the bottom of the boat!" After struggling, Zhou Tai, with the last bit of luck, let people enter the water and dig through the bottom of the boat. The result was naturally in vain.

"General, the bottom is also made of steel!" A soldier came up for air in a panic, looking at Zhou Tai and said.

"Withdraw!" Zhou Tai was helpless. The ship was too high to climb up without tools, so he could only withdraw temporarily.

After retreating under the rain of arrows again, Zhou Tai informed Zhou Yu of the situation of the ship.

"Iron ship?" Zhou Yu looked at the ship on the opposite side that was constantly emitting black smoke. So, it's impossible to burn it with fire? And why can iron ships sail on water? Zhou Yu couldn't figure it out for a while, but he couldn't think too much at the moment. He could only withdraw to Niuzhu first and then think about countermeasures. However, if the opponent came after him, the Niuzhu camp might not be able to be saved!

However, they could not care about so much at the moment. The morale of the soldiers had dropped to the bottom and they could no longer fight. At that time, Zhou Yu ordered them to disperse and return to the Niuzhu camp.

When they came, thousands of sails gathered and hundreds of ships fought for the current. When they retreated, there was no need to order them to disperse deliberately. When the fleet returned to Niuzhu, almost all the ships were gone. A dozen ships were sunk in the fierce rush, and two large ships were lost. , the soldiers suffered numerous casualties.

"Captain, the top and bottom of that boat are covered with iron sheets. The surface of the water alone is nearly two feet. Even if we get close, it will be difficult to climb up." Zhou Tai explained the structure of the other party's ship in detail. The other party only had four ships. , but it is almost invincible on the river surface. If you want to fight with the opponent, you can only climb on the boat and fight the side battle. The casualties involved are not much worse than attacking the city.

In the past, the navy's tactics were meaningless when applied to these four ships. Ordinary waves could not move these four ships at all, and fire attacks seemed to have no effect on them.

Zhou Yu did not speak. His eyes fell on the river. The thing he was most worried about happened. The four giant ships did not leave after defeating the Jiangdong Navy. Instead, they slowly approached Niuzhu. It seemed that they were Want to seize Uuzhu.

"Assemble the soldiers and prepare the hooks!" Zhou Yu looked at the enemy ships slowly approaching here. It was impossible to defend, otherwise they would only be bombarded by the opponent's Vulcan cannons in turn.

There is no room for error in Niuzhu, you must hold on!

"Captain, how can we keep this?" Song Zhong said with a bitter smile.

"Be firm, Ziyi, Youping!" Zhou Yu's eyes were determined. At this time, Niu Zhu must defend no matter what, otherwise the other party could directly sail the ship to Moling. Niu Zhu is the throat of Moling. There is no room for error.

"The general is here!" Taishi Ci and Zhou Tai stepped forward and said.

"The two of you have prepared enough walking boats to hide in the rear camp. When the enemy approaches, rush out through the river, quickly approach the enemy ship, and rush to seize the ship!" Zhou Yu said solemnly.

The topography of Uuzhu is an island surrounded by water. It faces a river to the west and a tributary separates Uuzhu from the mainland to the east, forming a triangular island. Boats can be hidden behind it.

Zhou Yu's plan was to wait for the opponent to attack Niuzhu Water Village, use Niuzhu Water Village as bait to lure the opponent closer, and then attack from both sides and quickly approach for a boarding battle.

Except for boarding battles, they did not have the people and means to deal with these four giant ships.

"Here!" The two agreed, and each took the order and left. Zhou Yu began to direct the troops to build a defense in Niuzhu, pretending to defend to the death.

After a while, the big ship from the opposite side came down the river and began to fire in this direction. Stone bullets came through the air one after another, constantly bombarding Niuzhu Water Village.

The widest part of Niuzhu is about ten miles across. Naturally, it is impossible for the ship's cannon to hit it completely. Therefore, if you want to hit deeper, you must keep getting closer. Zhou Yu kept moving the remaining soldiers back to look like they were defeated and retreating.

In fact, there is no need to do it specifically. Under the bombardment of the giant ship, the Jiangdong Navy on the shore began to retreat without even needing Zhou Yu's order.

After bombarding like this for about a quarter of an hour, Gan Ning began to tentatively approach the water village.

"Fire the loud arrow!!" Zhou Yu shouted, and a loud arrow shot out of the air. The sharp scream spread far away. Two fleets immediately rushed out from both sides of Niuzhu and quickly approached Gan Ning's fleet from both sides.

This is obviously for a pick-up battle.

Gan Ning saw clearly and immediately ordered the ships to turn around and evacuate. However, Taishi Ci and Zhou Tai were obviously unwilling to let go of this rare opportunity and ordered their soldiers to row frantically to get closer.

Unfortunately, during the retreat, they had to turn around and could not aim their guns at these people.

Seeing that the ship was getting faster and faster, Taishi Ci grabbed a bundle of ropes and hung them on his shoulders, and ordered two soldiers to row wildly. He swung up the hook and threw it suddenly, and it was hanging on the guardrail at the stern of the opponent's ship.

"Pull it!" He handed the rope to two rowing soldiers and asked them to tighten the rope. Taishi Ci bit down on a ring-head knife, climbed on the rope, and tried to rush up.

The next moment, Gan Ning came with a team of crossbowmen. Seeing this scene, he snorted: "Fire the arrow!"

Immediately, more than a dozen crossbowmen came forward with repeating crossbows, and they pulled the trigger on Taishi Ci.

Taishi Ci quickly let go and fell into the river. A series of dense arrows fell, and the river turned red. It is not known whether anyone died, but the two Jiangdong soldiers who were holding the rope were killed by the arrows.

Repeating crossbowmen were placed at the sterns of the four ships for defense. Although they were not as good as bed crossbows and Vulcan cannons, they were quite powerful in close combat, especially since the Jiangdong Army did not like to wear armor for convenience on the water. Repeating crossbows were very lethal to them. bigger.

As the ship got faster and faster, Jiang Dongjun rowed desperately and failed to catch up. He could only watch the opponent fly away but was unable to do anything.

Taishi Ci was already dying when he was fished out. Although the eight arrows in his body did not hit his vital points, he had been soaked in the water for such a long time and lost too much blood. It seemed that he could not be saved.

"Zi Yi!" Zhou Yu pulled Tai Shi Ci's arm. Seeing Tai Shi Ci's appearance, he felt sad in his heart. Tai Shi Ci was not only a Jiangdong general, but also a fierce general left over from Sun Ce's era. He was good at fighting and had good archery skills. I don’t want to die under the enemy’s arrows today.

"Captain, the general is incompetent and failed to board the ship!" Tai Shici opened his eyes weakly, looked at Zhou Yu and said bitterly.

"I can't blame you." Zhou Yu shook his head.

"I'm afraid the general is dying. He can no longer serve the lord, nor can he obey orders under the governor's tent. What a pity!" Taishi Ci did not have much fear. The general would inevitably die in battle. On the day he set foot on this road From now on, he was ready to die on the battlefield, but he didn't expect it to end in such a way. He was really unwilling to accept it. He grabbed Zhou Yu's hand and couldn't help but exert some strength. He sighed: "I wanted to use the three-foot green blade in my hand." I have made an unparalleled contribution, but my ambition has not yet been fulfilled. I don’t want to but I have died here, no matter what~no what~”

After saying that, he took his last breath. Zhou Yu held his hand tightly, and two tears fell from the corners of his eyes. After a long time, he took a breath, opened his eyes, looked at Tai Shici's dead expression, and reached out to help. He closed his eyes.

"If I don't take this revenge, I will be a useless person!" Looking at Taishi Ci's body, Zhou Yu's handsome eyes were full of coldness. Sun Ce's death, Taishi Ci's death, the hatred between Jiang Dong and Lu Bu deepened, but thinking of the invincible A huge ship like this, an inexplicable feeling of powerlessness and despair arose in my heart. Is there really hope for this battle? ?