The crossbow is the only long-range weapon on the warship. There are no artillery in this world, and naval battles are mostly based on archery and gang warfare.
If two fleets meet at sea, both sides will first close the distance and shoot from a distance with their crossbows. After the two ships get close, they will engage in a gang battle.
Most of the soldiers on the ship are warriors. Although they are only the lowest grade warriors, as long as they are put on a rope, they can jump more than ten meters.
Therefore, there is no need for a springboard in jumping gang battles. Just use a triangle hook and a rope to throw it over and pull it, and both parties can start a gang jumping battle.
This way of fighting seems crude, but in fact it still requires a lot of skills, such as controlling the wind direction, and whoever can take the upper hand will have the initiative.
At this time, the Donghai Navy had control of the windward position. Although the sea breeze blowing from the north was weak, it also brought great power to the ship.
Just after Lu Zhiqing ran into the cabin, the messengers above the ship immediately became busy, the dull horn sounded, and the melodious sound floated on the sea.
As the horn sounded on the ship, the horns of other surrounding ships also responded.
For a moment, the peaceful sea was filled with whining sounds.
Under the melodious sound of the horn, the fleet that was originally traveling in a straight line instantly changed its formation, with warships in front, transport ships in the back, and patrol ships interspersed in the middle.
Lu Zhiqing stood on the ship building, looking in the direction of Xiaoyao Island, watching the black dots sailing out from Xiaoyao Island in the distance, a bright smile suddenly appeared on his face.
"Haha, these idiots actually dare to go out to sea to fight!"
Xiaoyao Island naturally has a navy. Although the number of ships is not as good as that of the Donghai Navy, their strength is not weak. After all, they are warriors living on the sea.
But the problem is that the Donghai Navy has the wind direction at this time, and the opponent still has to go to sea to fight, which is a bit unwise.
Wind direction is the greatest convenience in naval warfare. Whoever controls the wind direction will have the upper hand.
"General, they are coming!" a general nearby reminded.
Lu Zhiqing grinned and said: "Start fighting!"
"Here!"
The general responded and immediately ran quickly to the observation tower above.
The dull horn sound sounded again, this time it was particularly urgent.
With the sound of the horn, the warships in the front row responded immediately.
The officers on the deck got busy, launching each small boat into the sea. The boats were piled with hay and firewood, and cans of grease were sprinkled on the boats. The soldiers stood on the side of the ship, holding torches, waiting for orders.
Dong dong dong~~
The roaring war drums sounded.
"ignition!"
"Cut the cable!"
"quick!"
The general on the deck shouted an order.
The next moment, driven by the wind, small boats were burning with blazing fire, flying forward like rockets.
At a glance, the Donghai Navy actually launched thousands of small boats at once. The fierce flames reflected the entire sea in fiery red, turning the sea into a sea of fire.
Huhuhu~~~
The flames rose and surged towards Xiaoyao Island's fleet.
Fire attack should be the most practical method in naval battles. After all, ships are made of wood. As long as the flames are big enough, the ship can be burned down.
Each warship of the Donghai Navy will be equipped with ten such simple boats. This kind of small boat is simple and low-cost to make. It can even be made with some old wooden boards, and a simple wooden sail can be made at will.
It doesn't need to be how far they can run, as long as they can run a few hundred meters, it's enough.
Thousands of ignited boats floated by in a mighty manner. Many boats sank after running a hundred meters away. The soldiers on board were not surprised by this. This thing is like this. Sometimes the waves are slightly bigger.
You can knock it over.
However, most of the boats still ran hundreds of meters, but only a small part hit the opponent's boat, and most of them floated through the gaps in the boat.
It may seem like this trick is a bit useless, but in fact the results achieved are quite good.
In just a moment, more than a dozen enemy ships were set on fire. The key was that when the enemy was avoiding the boats, their own formation was disrupted!
Without Lu Zhiqing's order, the dull horn sound sounded again over the Donghai Navy.
The sound of wuwuwu carried a chilling atmosphere and enveloped the sky and the sea.
The next moment.
The battlefields of each ship were filled with sails, and they swarmed up.
"put!"
A roar sounded on the deck, and crossbow arrows shot out of the air.
There is no overwhelming rain of arrows, because the space between the sky and the sea is too vast, and even if thousands of arrows are fired at once, they cannot form a dense rain of arrows.
But the sharp sound of the long and thick crossbow arrows piercing the air was chilling.
Dali's crossbow is still very powerful, much more powerful than the surrounding royal courts, but Xiaoyao Island and Qingfeng Island are just islands, and their manufacturing capabilities are far inferior to Dali's.
In terms of crossbow range, rate of fire, and accuracy, the Donghai Navy was able to crush the naval forces of Xiaoyao Island and Qingfeng Island.
From the beginning of this naval battle, the Donghai Navy was crushing the opponent.
Seeing the warships of both sides getting closer and closer, Lu Zhiqing could see the soldiers on the other side's deck, but for some reason, Lu Zhiqing suddenly felt a strong sense of uneasiness in his heart.
"not good!"
"Stop attacking!"
"Stop attacking!"
He suddenly jumped up and shouted loudly.
The surrounding generals were stunned for a moment, but then someone ran up to the observation deck.
Ding ding ding!!
The crisp golden sound replaced the roaring drums.
But it's too late.
The warship at the front has already made contact with the opponent.
The warships of both sides were intertwined. Although the number of the other side's warships was relatively small, they still entangled many warships.
At this moment, balls of flames erupted from the opponent's warship.
Seeing this, Lu Zhiqing couldn't help but roared: "Damn it, these guys actually want to die with us!"
Just now he was wondering why the other party went to sea to fight so recklessly.
Now it seems that the other party obviously wants to die with them.
Once they all rush forward, the whole army will be set on fire.
When a gang-hopping battle begins, the ships will be anchored. When the two sides are entangled, the ships will be unable to turn or move forward, and will eventually be drowned in a sea of fire.
Lu Zhiqing wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, "It's okay, it's okay, this general reacted in advance!"
He really didn't expect that the other party would be so ruthless and use hundreds of warships as bait.
This move is really too cruel.
But I have to admire the other party's decision.
"How many of our warships rushed in!"
Lu Zhiqing asked.
"Here, there are hundreds of ships!" the general next to him replied.
"Depend on!"
Lu Zhiqing couldn't help but cursed.
Although this battle is not over yet, the outcome is already determined.
Any warship that rushes past will definitely not be able to come back. As for the soldiers on board, it can only depend on their luck.
If they ran faster, they might be able to swim back, or they could swim to the island, but getting to the island would probably be a dead end.
This tactic of killing eight hundred enemies and losing a thousand to yourself is really disgusting.
Lu Zhiqing looked at the sea of fire in front of him.
As time went by, more and more warships were set on fire. Their warships were trapped in it and could not come back at all. However, the soldiers of Dalishui Division were not cowards.
When the officers of many warships found that they could not return, they actually rushed straight towards Xiaoyao Island.
Leaving only the burned parts, rush over to Xiaoyao Island and still have a chance to fight, and maybe a glimmer of hope.
Even if they can't survive, they can still fight to death, which is better than waiting to be burned to death here.
Seeing this situation, Lu Zhiqing's face became extremely gloomy. Those were his soldiers and his warships!
"Go around and land!"
He said bitterly.
Now that this war has begun, there can be no truce.
Now he can't care about anything else. His only advantage now is that he still has nearly 300 warships in his hands and can continue to fight.
…
Xiaoyao Island.
On a low hilltop, Ju Landao and Hai Yunxuan looked side by side at the red sea of fire.
"What a pity!"
Hai Yunxuan stroked his long beard and said with regret.
Ju Landao's eyes were cold and he said: "It's no pity. Dali's strength is far beyond what we can contend with. It's better to burn it than to leave it to Dali!"
Hai Yunxuan looked bitter and said: "But our foundation of more than three hundred years has been destroyed like this, and I am a little unwilling to do so!"
The hundreds of burning warships were all their property, and now they were all thrown into the sea of fire. How could they not feel distressed?
Ju Landao took a deep breath, turned around and walked towards the back.
"Let's go, there's no point in staying here anymore!"
They abandoned not only the hundreds of warships, but also Xiaoyao Island and Qingfeng Island.
Abandoning the family fortune they had accumulated over three hundred years, they were about to abandon everything except themselves.
But they can't give up.
Ju Landao now knows very well that with their strength, they cannot compete with Dali. Even if they unite with many forces in the southeastern islands, they cannot compete.
After the transition of the new and old emperors, Dali did not fall into chaos and weakness as they expected, but instead became stronger.
After the Battle of the Imperial City, they were destined to lose everything.
Hai Yunxuan looked at the rising sea of fire with a depressed expression, and finally left.
The two rode horses and galloped towards the south, and everything behind them had nothing to do with them.
In the south, on the south coast of Xiaoyao Island, they have also prepared more than a dozen ships, which will be the basis for their future survival.
From today on, they are homeless wanderers on this sea.
Maybe in the future they can find an island where they can survive, or they can also rob an island.
But Ju Landao knew very well that they would not be able to survive on the southeastern islands.
Because Dali is building a more powerful warship, Dali's little emperor is looking at the southeastern islands with eager eyes.
…
Dusk time.
When Lu Zhiqing landed on Xiaoyao Island, he was so angry that he almost jumped up.
"These damn bastards, shameless bastards!"
"They actually ran away!"
"A bunch of cowardly rats!"
He cursed loudly.
The anger in his heart erupted like a volcano.
Before coming, he was full of expectations for this battle and regarded it as an opportunity to show off his talents.
As a result, the battle was fought, but he was tricked.
It's just that he was tricked. The worst he could do was to find him again, but the other party actually ran away.
They all ran away, leaving only a group of poor people on Xiaoyao Island, and nothing else.
Even the house was set on fire by the other party.
Even the houses of poor people were burned down by them.
It's simply extremely bad.
"General, what should we do next?" a general asked.
Lu Zhiqing's face was gloomy and his eyes were cold.
"How many people are there left here?"
"Probably tens of thousands. Those people were so abominable. Not only did they burn down all the houses, they didn't even leave any food, but only these people were left behind!" the general also said angrily.
"Kill them all!" Lu Zhiqing said.
"What!" The general suspected that he heard wrongly.
"I said kill them all, leaving no one alive!" Lu Zhiqing said through gritted teeth.
"This isn't appropriate!" the general said hesitantly.
"What's wrong? They are not my people, Dali, they are the slaves of those bastards!"
"What's the use of keeping them? Let them waste food?"
Lu Zhiqing glared at the general angrily.
The general's expression froze and he could only say: "General, I will obey your order!"
The people on Xiaoyao Island and Qingfeng Island are naturally not the people of Dali. They are the descendants of the noble slaves of the previous dynasty. They have multiplied here for more than three hundred years, and they are still just slaves.
In Lu Zhiqing's opinion, these people are of no use and will also waste food.
Although they carried a lot of food at this time, it was the rations for the soldiers. Should they be allowed to hand over the rations for the soldiers to these enemy slaves?
It's better to kill him directly.
It also makes me feel relaxed and relieves the hatred in my heart.
The battle at sea was not brutal, but the massacre on the island was extremely brutal.
The soldiers of the Donghai Navy massacred for a day and a night, and the massacre did not end until the end of the third day.
In order to clean up the mess, they stayed on Xiaoyao Island for three more days and buried all the corpses.
It's not that they have good intentions, but Xiaoyao Island will be Dali's territory from now on, and may also be the headquarters of their Donghai Navy in the future, so it naturally needs to be cleaned up.
Xiaoyao Island was cleaned up, and Lu Zhiqing went to Qingfeng Island with murderous intentions.
The situation on Qingfeng Island was even more miserable, with nothing left behind except a group of poor slaves.
Moreover, several days had passed since Ju Lan Dao, Hai Yunxuan and others left. These slaves had no food and were all extremely hungry.
In fact, the slaves on Xiaoyao were lucky. They died early and did not starve. However, the slaves on Qingfeng Island were starved for several days and still did not escape the butcher's knife.
More than 100,000 slaves died under the swords of Donghai Navy soldiers.
Ye Gucheng and Huang Yaoshi accompanied them all the way and saw clearly, but they did not stop them because they did not have the command of the navy and could not even order Lu Zhiqing.
Although Qin Wei asked the Donghai Navy to cooperate with them, Lu Zhiqing was actually the leader.
Their mission is just to deal with the innate warriors from Xiaoyao Island and Qingfeng Island.