Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3458 Fireboats and Fire Pots

Zhou Yu could not rely on his own ships to fight, but now he had to step up and take on the main firepower output to prevent the Jiangdong Army from being unilaterally ravaged by long-range firepower.

These shortcomings of the Jiangdong navy were not very obvious in short-term or small-scale battles, and even had advantages in some local battles.

This is because the smaller the scale of the battle, the more obvious the role of the quality and combat ability of the individual soldiers.

But once it entered the stage of comprehensive combat, the effectiveness of the individual soldiers was shared.

Although the combat ability of the Jiangdong Army's soldiers was still very strong, the shortcomings in equipment offset this advantage of the Jiangdong Army. As the battle lasted longer and the soldiers' physical strength decreased, various small tools that could help the soldiers save physical strength, such as the string puller that helped the crossbow arrows to string, allowed the Sichuan Army to overtake on the curve.

Because of the long-term shooting, the physical strength of the Jiangdong navy soldiers decreased, and many archers did not even have the strength to pull the strings. This led to a decrease in the number and quality of the shooting of the archers equipped by the Jiangdong navy. In the end, they could only be forced to bear the continuous pouring of arrows, crossbows, crossbows and rockets from the Sichuan Navy.

『Turn! 』

『Fireships ready! 』

Zhou Yu, who found that his long-range firepower was suppressed, had to use the final means.

Fire attack, of course, can't let your own ships be burned, so you have to turn. On the one hand, it is to give the fire ship hidden behind the tower ship an attack channel, and on the other hand, it is to take the opportunity to seize the upstream, or to the flank direction, to avoid the fire attack range of the fire ship.

This thing called fire ship is really a long-lasting move, and it has been passed down from ancient times to the present.

The fire ship tactic can be said to be a tactic that almost all generals like to see in the history of naval battles around the world, a tactic that wins big with small.

Of course, it is a pleasure to see the other side burn, but if you are burned instead, it would be a bit tragic...

Unlike the naval battles that most people in later generations think of, in ancient times, surface warfare can actually be regarded as the extension of land battles on the water surface.

If Fei Qian had not taken out the killing weapon such as artillery, then whether on land or on the water, it would be difficult for ordinary soldiers to destroy the carriers of the other side's soldiers in a short time.

This kind of soldier carrier is a city on land and a tower ship on the water.

Because there is no breakthrough in science and technology, the development line of the Jiangdong navy in history is big and big.

Bigger ships carry more people.

In the absence of effective destruction of the hull and the low speed of warships that are difficult to maneuver quickly, the role of large ships is often to provide infantry with a combat platform, or a movable wooden fortress on the water.

And in the process of surface warfare, there is still no way to get rid of the thinking mode of land warfare. Most naval generals follow the habit of land warfare, just like there must be large and small fortress defense lines outside the city of the pass. When these large warships are fighting, they must be accompanied by a variety of small warships. Their role is to conduct reconnaissance, alert, transmit information, rescue crew members who fall into the water, etc. between ships. In war, they will also use their mobility to assist in attack and defense.

Therefore, using fire ships to destroy the enemy's hull is like the effect of conquering the enemy's wall in land warfare.

If you want to use fire ships to burn enemy ships, the first problem has already appeared. Fire ships loaded with fuel cannot carry enough combatants like normal warships. Therefore, once they are intercepted by small ships of the enemy fleet halfway, the fire attack will most likely fail.

Even if there is a way to break through this obstacle, how can the fire ignited by the fire ship spread to the entire enemy fleet is also a huge problem. Moreover, once a fire breaks out in the enemy fleet, how to prevent the scattered enemy ships from leading the fire to their own side is also a problem that generals must consider.

Zhou Yu dared to use fire attack on a large scale in history, and changed the situation in Jiangdong in one fell swoop, which can be said to have established the situation of the Three Kingdoms in one fell swoop. Unfortunately, in Mr. Luo's writing, he became a supporting role of Xiao Liangliang, completely lacking the grandeur and courage of saving Jiangdong from the water and fire in real history, and instead became a petty and calculative clown.

However, there is one point that Mr. Luo still hit the key point of the Battle of Chibi, that is, "luck".

In the Battle of Chibi, Huang Gai's fire attack was able to achieve the glory of breaking Cao's navy, and the process itself can be said to be the effect achieved by stacking multiple layers of BUFF. During the confrontation between the two sides, Cao's army "encountered an epidemic in Ba Qiu", so the soldiers' physical strength and reaction ability declined. At the same time, when Cao's navy was deployed, "Cao's ships were connected end to end", which also created favorable conditions for Zhou Yu's fire attack to quickly spread to the entire fleet.

But even so, in order to complete the fireboat attack, Huang Gai also "first reported to Cao Gong, deceiving him to surrender" to lower Cao's vigilance, and then took advantage of the "strong southeast wind" to break through Cao's defense and complete the fire attack. Even so, during the fire attack, Huang Gai, as the commander of the fireboat, was "hit by a stray arrow" and fell into the water and almost died...

But now, the Sichuan Army has not been covered with so many layers of DEBUFF, and Zhou Yu's fireboat tactics are not so easy.

The fire ships of Jiangdong, or all the fire ships of the Han Dynasty at that time, were actually configured similarly. In addition to some manpower to drive the ships, they carried sulfur, dry wood, asphalt, kerosene, etc. The proportions might be slightly different, but the composition would not be too different, and it was impossible for the high-energy combustion materials of later generations, or light metals such as potassium, sodium, and magnesium to appear...

So the most critical issue for Zhou Yu at the moment, or the only way to ensure that the disadvantage can be reversed, is to successfully send these fire ships into the fleet of Sichuan and Shu, and then ignite and destroy the ships of Sichuan and Shu to win!

This is Zhou Yu's last resort and his most powerful move!

But this is not Chibi after all!

If you want to successfully launch a fire attack while both sides are fighting on the move, you can only let other warships carry out containment and cover operations!

This is also the reason why Zhou Yu still went forward despite the arrows and crossbows!

In this battle, Zhou Yu didn't have the right time!

He didn't have much time left, and neither God nor Jiangdong would give him enough time.

In this battle, Zhou Yu gave up the advantage of terrain!

Because he was unwilling to accept the fate of failure, he wanted to take the initiative to fight for the chance of victory.

In this battle, Zhou Yu missed the opportunity of people!

The Jiangdong nobles did not support him, and Sun Quan did not have the firm position as in the Battle of Chibi. Even his soldiers thought that withdrawing the troops was a good idea and did not want to continue fighting.

If Zhou Yu wanted, he could just throw away the stall like Zhang Zhao, claiming to be sick at home, forcing Sun Quan to go to the door again and again to ask for help, and then he came out to wipe Sun Quan's ass, and he only wiped half of it!

If he gave up, he could also say that he had worked hard for the Sun family's foundation for so many years, and he should have a good rest and enjoy himself. Even if he did not go to the Chang'an Hundred Medical Hall for treatment, at least he could recuperate in Chaisang, and others would not be able to say anything wrong!

But Zhou Yu came anyway, knowing that this battle would be difficult, he still came...

Although it can be said that Zhou Yu was lucky and wishful thinking that he could conquer Sichuan and Shu, at least he never said from beginning to end that it was too difficult, too far, too hard, so he simply gave up.

As a series of orders were conveyed, the Jiangdong fleet began to turn to give way to the attack channel of the fire ships.

However, in the case of a battle between the two sides, it is not that one side can turn smoothly if it wants to. Even though the Jiangdong navy has high skills and skilled movements, there are still several Jiangdong ships that failed to complete the turning action smoothly. Either they were entangled by the Sichuan and Shu army and could not move, or the flaws revealed during the turning process were too big, and the colliding battleships seized the opportunity and hit them with a fatal blow.

The Jiangdong navy soldiers fell into the water, floating up and down, and many people began to shout for help.

But no one has time to care about them...

These Jiangdong navy soldiers certainly have good swimming ability, but it does not mean that they can still swim long distances in armor and clothes to save themselves when they are exhausted.

It would be great if there were armor and equipment that could be taken off quickly, but most of the clothes and robes of the Han people are made of linen now!

This stuff absorbs water very well!

The water ghosts who specialize in drilling boats may still have a chance to swim and escape, but the ordinary Jiangdong navy soldiers are too far away from the water fort. Even if they go downstream, they often sink to the bottom of the river halfway and become a snack for fish and shrimp.

The fire ships of Jiangdong went upstream, diagonally along the flesh and blood channel that the Jiangdong navy had finally given up, and rushed towards the Sichuan-Shu fleet!

At this moment, Xu Huang and Zhuge Liang in the Sichuan-Shu fleet also discovered the abnormal behavior of the Jiangdong navy.

"Jiangdong wants to attack with fire!"

Zhuge Liang reacted almost immediately, pointing at the Jiangdong fire ships and shouting, "That's a fire ship! '

Zhuge Liang is still very young, and his eyesight has not been damaged by years of paperwork, so he can see far and see clearly.

'Rockets! Crossbow carts! Concentrate shooting! '

Xu Huang also immediately ordered the soldiers to turn around and attack those Jiangdong fire ships.

However, the problem of insufficient training of the Sichuan-Shu navy was fully reflected.

Covering the shooting of the tower ship, or a certain designated area, without seeking special accuracy, then the ordinary Sichuan-Shu archers and crossbowmen can complete it more or less, but when it comes to the urgent need for accurate shooting, these archers and crossbowmen in the Sichuan-Shu navy are powerless, and the accuracy rate cannot maintain a considerable level under the same considerable physical consumption.

Although the accuracy of the crossbow cart is relatively high, compared with the Jiangdong tower ship and the fighting ship, these Jiangdong fire ships are small targets, and a slight deviation may miss.

If it is an ordinary Jiangdong small boat, then even if the long-range can not be solved, it is not a big problem. After all, the closer you get, the better the shooting accuracy will be. Moreover, the tower ship has the advantage of height difference over ordinary small boats. Shooting from above is often similar to shooting from the city wall on land. If the small boat can break through the defense line at medium and short distances, then there are still poles waiting for them...

But these are fire ships!

We must not let these fire ships get too close!

What to do?

"Set fire!" Zhuge Liang was quick-witted and ordered directly, bypassing Xu Huang, "Throw out the kerosene cans! Throw the ones with kerosene! Shoot the kerosene cans! Let's set fire first!"

The messenger looked at Xu Huang.

Xu Huang shouted, "Why don't you go and pass the order!"

There are not many fire oil tanks left.

Neither kerosene nor jars can be generated automatically, so this counterattack can be regarded as Zhuge Liang's last resort!

"Poof!" 』

Amidst the continuous sound of water, the fire oil can was thrown out.

"Set up arrows!" Get angry! 』

The leader of the archers at the parapet of the ship shouted.

One by one, the arrows were wrapped with strips of cloth and all landed on the brazier.

In the blink of an eye, the cloth strips on the arrows were ignited, and flames and black smoke erupted.

"Prepare! Aim——" The archers waved their arms, "Shoot! 』

The arrows roared out, and then headed towards the position of the fire oil tank to cover it.

The rocket popped into the water, but did not immediately break the kerosene tank and ignite the fire.

The Jiangdong steamship is still approaching, and it is about to approach the inner circle of the Sichuan-Shu ship!

"Quick, quick, quick!" Why are you standing there? Set up arrows! Get angry! 』

"shoot! Shoot, shoot, shoot! 』

The rocket roared down from the building ship again!

The second wave of rockets, the third wave of rockets pounced...

The cupping jar breaks.

The flame finally rose!

When the Sichuan-Shu Army threw the fire oil cans, it did not attract the attention of the Jiangdong soldiers who were driving fire boats to attack.

On the one hand, in order to avoid arrows, these Jiangdong soldiers buried their bodies as much as possible under the cover of the ship, and not many people would show their heads to see. Even an occasional glance is to adjust the direction of the ship.

On the other hand, these Jiangdong soldiers can almost be regarded as death squads on the water. There is no concept of delayed ignition these days, and Jiangdong's attitude towards soldiers is actually similar to that of the Central Plains. They are all treated as consumables, and it is impossible to equip them with any new ignition equipment. Other Jiangdong soldiers rowing boats still had a slight possibility of jumping off the boat and escaping, but the soldier responsible for lighting the fire often had no time to fire and was directly killed in the sea of ​​​​fire. Therefore, these Jiangdong soldiers are all highly nervous. In their eyes and hearts, they only have the Sichuan-Shu Tower ship and their own ignition timing. How can they care about anything else?

Therefore, when the first and second waves of rockets were fired by the Sichuan and Sichuan naval forces, these Jiangdong naval forces were still rejoicing, or laughing at the Sichuan and Sichuan naval forces for being in a hurry and lacking training, and the rockets all shot into the water...

Suddenly, when flames rose from the water, these Jiangdong fire ships realized that the Sichuan-Shu Army's previous rocket attack was not shooting at them, but at fire oil tanks!

"Turn!" Turn quickly! 』

"rush! Rush over! 』

Seeing that some fire oil tanks were lit, these Jiangdong fire ships immediately had two different options.

Obviously, some people feel that there are flames on the route of travel, so they naturally choose to turn as quickly as possible, while others feel that there are no flames spreading in front of them and there is still a chance, so they want to rush over as soon as possible.

But when these two different strategies of Koto Fire Boat are mixed together, problems arise...

This is like an ancient real-time strategy game. Due to a problem with the path-finding system's AI, there are more than a dozen tanks. It seems that every tank is working hard to find the road, but as long as one of them turns inexplicably at the intersection, , which caused the entire team of tanks to get stuck at that intersection and circle wildly together. No matter how frantically they clicked the mouse, these tanks were like being hit by a ghost and couldn't go any further!

Jiangdong Fire Ship also encountered similar problems.

Originally, in order to avoid stray arrows and crossbows, these fire ships were almost right next to each other, hidden behind the Jiangdong navy's building ships, so when they rushed out, the distance between them would not be very large. , now some want to rush forward, some want to face Turning left, some wanted to turn right. Without a unified frontline commander, these fireships affected each other, causing several ships to collide with each other, and the other several ships had to disperse further when they saw this. Open, the steering will be greater, causing the speed to drop...

In the Battle of Chibi, it was Huang Gai who led the fire ship attack and narrowly escaped death. Even though he was rescued by other Jiangdong ships, he almost drowned in the toilet pit. This shows that this kind of death squad captain is not such an easy and pleasant job. . But now for Zhou Yu, he did not have a second Huang Gai to serve as the captain of this death squad, which caused uncontrollable chaos after the Jiangdong Fire Ship encountered temporary changes after its attack.

Some fire ships crashed into the sea of ​​​​fire on the water, and then were contaminated by the flames. The sulfur, asphalt and other items on the ship were ignited, and in a blink of an eye they turned into a huge torch, spreading out into a larger sea of ​​​​fire.

Some fireships also temporarily changed direction, which not only caused a decrease in speed, but also exposed the side of the ship, which invisibly increased the area to be hit. They were immediately hit by crossbows on the side of the ship's string, broke into pieces, leaked, and sank into the river. middle.

There were only a few fire ships. Although they successfully broke out of the fire belt on the water, unfortunately, due to the insufficient number, they could not cause effective fire damage. A few Sichuan and Sichuan ships were ignited, but for the entire Sichuan and Sichuan ships, The team's fire damage stack is not enough!

The Sichuan-Sichuan naval forces have still implemented the most basic fire prevention measures. If large-scale flames cannot be ignited in a short period of time, sporadic small fires will be extinguished quickly.

At the same time, because the Jiangdong navy turned around under Zhou Yu's order, a large amount of belly on the side of the ship was exposed!

Even Xu Huang and Zhuge Liang, who had little experience in large-scale naval battles, almost instinctively commanded artillery and crossbow carts to bombard!

Shooting angles and hull armor are undoubtedly enemies that love and hate each other.

Zhou Yu's tower ship naturally became the focus of many firepower points.

At this moment, Zhou Yu saw that the fire ship attack did not achieve the expected effect. He was doing everything he could to command and mobilize the remaining troops. When he was preparing to reorganize the formation and fight with the Sichuan Navy again, a cannonball hit the side of Zhou Yu's ship's harbour, smashing the middle-level parapet of the ship!

Amid the bang, Zhou Yu's tower ship suddenly tilted to one side, and some Jiangdong soldiers on the other side of the ship were unstable and fell into the river.

Zhou Yu reacted quickly and grabbed the railing in front of him, but he still couldn't control his center of gravity immediately, and the whole person hit the pillar hard!

"Commander! Are you not injured? ! "The guard shouted anxiously.

Zhou Yu wanted to say that he was fine, but when he opened his mouth, he didn't know whether it was because of the collision or some other reason, he spurted out a mouthful of blood, and he collapsed because of the spurting of blood!

『General! 』

『General! ！ 』

The guards and soldiers on the side screamed.

The guards rushed over and protected Zhou Yu.

The messenger soldier on the side was at a loss, and asked hesitantly after a long while: 『Other warships are...asking for instructions...how to fight...』

The guards saw that Zhou Yu was vomiting blood and was already at a loss. When they heard that the messenger soldier was still asking about fighting, they shouted angrily, 『General is like this, why are you still asking for instructions? ! How to fight? ! Retreat! General! General! 』

Zhou Yu was half-conscious, perhaps he heard the guards' shouts, or perhaps he had lost consciousness, but his eyes were still fixed on the "Zhou" battle flag waving on the building ship...

He wanted to say something, but he couldn't say anything...

The white clouds were floating.

The green mountains were green.

The river was surging.

Blood and flames, wreckage and black smoke.

The fleeing Jiangdong navy, the excited chasing Sichuan fleet.

It created a painting in the river, with life and blood as the paint.