The other three fishing boats that were approaching the sentinel ship immediately began to slow down. The Liao soldiers on board, who were preparing to carry out gang-hopping operations, grabbed hooks, flew and other objects, and no longer had the courage to throw them at the sentinel ship.
"Woo, woo, woo..." The horns urging battle kept sounding, forcing the Liao soldiers to step forward and fight for their lives.
On several fishing boats a little further away, the officers and soldiers who had just been transferred to Cai Zhongcheng's command looked at each other and stopped paddling in a tacit understanding. Then they bent their bows and nocked arrows, and fired at the sentinel boat.
The boat was bumpy, and aiming was originally more difficult than on land. The soldiers of the signing army were deliberately coping with it. Therefore, the arrows they shot were clustered in the east and west, with no accuracy or rhythm at all.
Most of the arrows fell into the turbid river water. A few landed on the sentry boat and were blocked by the wet straw armor, unable to produce any results.
Zhang Shouzhong, who was in charge of full command on the sentinel ship, was keenly aware of the "goodwill" of this part of the Liao army. He decisively ordered his brothers to adjust the direction of the ballista and changed the target to the flagship of the Liao army.
The flagship was a temporarily modified ferry boat and was three times larger than the fishing boat. However, compared with the sentinel boat at Zhang Shouzhong's feet, it was still a "little brother". And its flexibility was also much worse.
Cai Zhongcheng, the commander-in-chief of the Liao army on the flagship and the puppet military governor of Cangzhou, was very scheming. Although he ordered his cronies to blow the horns, he always kept the distance between himself and his opponents at 150 meters.
More than ten steps.
One hundred and fifty steps, which is beyond the effective range of most powerful bows in the world. Even if there are sharp archers on the sentry ship, it will be difficult to snipe him.
Although the effective range of the ballista can reach more than 200 steps, its accuracy is not good. The probability of hitting the target is less than 50% beyond 150 steps.
"Pull up the racket sticks to gather strength in case there are Liao ships approaching again!" Zhang Shouzhong quickly looked behind him a few times, guessed Cai Zhongcheng's wishful thinking, and adjusted his deployment with a sneer.
The racket stick that had just fallen was lifted up again with the concerted efforts of the brothers. Together with the other five racket sticks, they were distributed on the left and right sides of the ship, like the two rows of thighs of a centipede.
The Liao fishing boats that followed the sentinel boat hesitated and slowed down decisively, fearing that they would get too close to the sentinel boat and be photographed to pieces.
The soldiers of the Liao Kingdom who were releasing arrows replaced all their feathered arrows with fire arrows. They shot into the sky in clusters and fell from the vicinity of the sentinel ship, as if there was a meteor shower.
The straw armor of the sentry ship had long been wetted with water by Zhang Shouzhong's order in advance, and there was still a thick layer of mud hanging on the surface. Even if the fire arrow succeeded in hitting it, it would have no effect.
Zhang Shouzhong, on the other hand, didn't even bother to give the order to fight back. While urging his brothers to repeatedly adjust the crossbow, he held his fingers in the palm of his hand and counted repeatedly.
"Lower the sails and stop the oars!" Suddenly, he stopped the movement of his fingers and shouted at the top of his voice, "Clap the poles on alert to prevent enemy ships from approaching. Archers lined up on the left and right sides of the ship, preparing fire arrows. All ballistae, waiting.
My order!"
"Yes!" Knowing that the critical moment had arrived, the brothers agreed and took action separately. In the blink of an eye, the main sail, stern sail and left and right side sails of the sentinel ship were lowered at the same time.
The oarsmen, who were already out of breath, quickly stopped paddling. Without the sails and oars to propel them, the whistle boat relied on the current, and its speed suddenly dropped by 60%.
On the three fishing boats following the sentinel ship, which neither dared to get too close nor expressed any "goodwill", the Liao soldiers screamed in unison, but did not know how to react, watching helplessly.
The fishing boat he was on caught up with the sentinel boat.
"Archers, shoot arrows! Shooters, look for opportunities on your own!" Zhang Shouzhong wanted this effect. He opened his voice and issued two orders one after another.
"Swish, swish..." Two rows of fire arrows shot out from the left and right sides of the sentinel ship, shooting down at the fishing boat that accidentally came up. In the blink of an eye, the awning, deck, and sails of the fishing boat were shot up.
Puffs of black smoke.
Except for the Koreans brought over by Cai Zhongcheng, the Liao soldiers on the fishing boat were all monks on the way. When they found out that their boat was on fire, they immediately panicked. They left behind their hooks, flying melons, steel knives, and shields, all around like headless flies.
Running around.
The fishing boat that caught fire soon lost control and drifted with the current. One fishing boat drifted towards the sentinel boat in a daze, like a sparrow looking for food under a trap in the snow.
Zhang Shouzhong didn't need to remind him. The racket pole immediately hit him in the air, and with a "click", the side of the fishing boat was smashed to pieces.
The fishing boat, with only half of its side left, immediately took on water and tilted.
The Koreans on the boat knew the nature of water and jumped into the river to escape. However, most of the other Liao soldiers on the boat were landlubbers. They screamed and were "dumped" into the water by the fishing boat, and were then swept away by the rapids.
A dozen fishing boats a little further away took the initiative to adjust their course, and at the same time tried to slow down to avoid making the same mistakes as their previous companions.
After taking several fire arrows, the Liao soldiers on the ship basically successfully escaped from the attack range of the sentinel ship.
And Zhang Shouzhong's target was not them. He walked quickly to the stern of the ship, his eyes fixed on every move of the Liao army's flagship.
"Lower the sails, lower all the sails. Stop paddling, stop paddling quickly!" Cai Zhongcheng, who had previously been blowing the horn wildly, urging his brothers to fight the Song army until death, now finally showed his true colors, opened his voice and issued a series of orders.
, to prevent your ship from getting too close to the target.
However, it was too late.
He did not expect that Zhang Shouzhong would suddenly slow down the sentinel ship. When he realized that something was wrong, he hesitated if he also slowed down the ship, would it be exposed that he was simply "acting" before.
When he finally weighed the importance, the distance between the enemy and ourselves had been shortened to within a hundred steps. No matter how urgent he shouted the order, his cronies would need time to execute it. And the ship's inertia disappeared, and the same happened.
It takes time.
It was too late, but it was too soon. Before Cai Zhongcheng could slow down his ship as he wished, Zhang Shouzhong had already quickly waved his arm down, "All ballistas, volley!"
"Whoosh——"
"Whoosh——"
…
The five crossbow carts, which had been preparing for a long time, flicked their crossbow arms one after another. The crossbow guns, which were as thick as an adult's arm, took off into the air with the sound of wind and sparks, and headed straight for the Liao army's flagship.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Three of the crossbows fell toward the river ten steps away from the target, exploding three thick water columns.
The fourth crossbow gun flew past the top of the target mast, and after a puff of smoke emitted from the front, it fell silently!
The fifth branch fell into the water directly in front of the target, swept up a string of water splashes, and then disappeared.
Cai Zhongcheng's ship was shaken by the current. His face was pale, but he was very happy in his heart.
None of them hit! The Song Army's ballistae was extremely powerful, but its accuracy was poor, and its quality was extremely unstable.
Reloading the crossbow is a waste of time. While Song Jun was reloading the crossbow, he could adjust the direction and quickly open the distance between the two sides!
However, before he could breathe a sigh of relief, another loud noise suddenly came from under the water, "Boom!".
The turbid waves soared into the sky, and his ship jumped high along with the turbid waves, and the entire bow of the ship disappeared without a trace.
