Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3458 Fireboat and Fire Cup
It was impossible for Zhou Yu to rely solely on his own ships to fight, but now he had to step forward to 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 they even had advantages in some local battles.

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

But once the full-scale combat begins, the effectiveness of individual soldiers will be shared.

Although the Jiangdong Army's soldiers were still very capable in combat, their lack of equipment offset this advantage. As the battle lasted longer, the soldiers' physical strength decreased. Various gadgets that could help the soldiers save energy, such as the string puller that helped string the crossbow arrows, allowed the Sichuan Army to overtake the enemy.

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 shooting by the archers equipped by the Jiangdong navy. In the end, they were forced to endure the continuous pouring of arrows, crossbows, crossbow guns and rockets from the Sichuan navy.

"Turn!"

"Fireships ready!"

Zhou Yu, realizing that his long-range firepower was suppressed, had to resort to his final resort.

When attacking with fire, of course, you can't let your own ships get burned, so you have to turn around. On the one hand, it is to give the fire ships hidden behind the tower ships an attack channel, and on the other hand, it is to seize the upstream or sideways to avoid the fire attack range of the fire ships.

The fireboat is a very timeless device that has been passed down from ancient times to the present day.

The fireship tactic can be said to be a tactic that is popular with almost all generals in the history of naval warfare around the world, a tactic that uses small forces to achieve great results.

Of course, it is a pleasure to see the other person get burned, but if you get burned yourself, that would be a bit tragic...

Unlike what most people in later generations think of as naval battles, surface combat in ancient times can actually be seen as an extension of land combat on the water.

If Fei Qian had not taken out a killing weapon like cannon, it would have been difficult for ordinary soldiers to destroy the enemy's carriers in a short period of time, whether on land or on water.

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

Because there were no breakthroughs in science and technology, the development of the Jiangdong navy in history was very slow.

Bigger ships hold more people.

In the absence of effective means to destroy the hull and the low speed of warships making it difficult to maneuver quickly, large ships often serve as combat platforms for infantry, or as a mobile wooden fortress on the water.

Moreover, in the process of surface warfare, they still could not get rid of the thinking mode of land warfare. Most naval commanders followed the habit of land warfare, just like there must be large and small fortresses 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, vigilance, transmission of information, rescue of drowning crew members, 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 using fire ships to capture the enemy's city walls in land battles.

If you want to use fire ships to burn enemy ships, the first problem has already appeared. A fire ship fully loaded with fuel cannot carry a sufficient number of combatants like a normal warship. Therefore, if it is intercepted by small ships of the enemy fleet halfway, the fire attack will most likely fail.

Even if there is a way to overcome this obstacle, how to spread the fire ignited by the fireships to the entire enemy fleet is a huge problem. Moreover, once a fire occurs in the enemy fleet, how to prevent the scattered enemy ships from spreading the fire to their side is also a problem that the generals must consider.

In history, Zhou Yu dared to use fire attack on a large scale and changed the situation in Jiangdong in one fell swoop. It can be said that he laid the foundation for the Three Kingdoms situation in one fell swoop. It's a pity that in Mr. Luo's writing, he became a supporting role of Xiao Liangliang. He completely lacked the grandeur and courage of the real history who established the country by himself and saved Jiangdong from disaster. Instead, he became a petty-minded and calculative clown.

However, Mr. Luo still hit upon the key point of the Battle of Red Cliffs, and that is "luck".

In the Battle of Red Cliff, Huang Gai's fire attack was able to achieve the glory of defeating Cao's navy. The process itself can be said to be the result of stacking multiple layers of BUFF. During the confrontation between the two sides, Cao's army "encountered an epidemic in Baqiu", which reduced the physical strength and reaction ability of the soldiers. 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 "first wrote to Cao Gong, deceiving him into surrendering" to lower Cao Jun's vigilance, and then took advantage of the "strong southeast wind" to break through Cao Jun'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 was not covered with so many layers of DEBUFF, so Zhou Yu's fireship tactics were not so easy to use.

The fire ships of Jiangdong, or all the fire ships of the Han Dynasty, 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 much different. It was impossible for them to contain the high-energy combustion materials of later generations, or light metals such as potassium, sodium, and magnesium...

Therefore, 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 Sichuan fleet, and then ignite and destroy the Sichuan ships to secure victory!

This is Zhou Yu’s last resort and also his most powerful move!
But this is not Chibi after all!

If you want to launch a successful fire attack when both sides are engaged in mobile combat, you can only let other warships perform containment and covering operations!

This is also the reason why Zhou Yu continued to move forward despite being bombarded with arrows and crossbows!
In this battle, Zhou Yu didn't have the right timing!
He doesn't have much time left. Neither God nor Jiangdong will give him enough time.

In this battle, Zhou Yu gave up the advantage of geographical location!
Because he was unwilling to accept the fate of failure, he wanted to actively fight for the opportunity to win.

In this battle, Zhou Yu missed the opportunity to gain support from the people!
The Jiangdong gentry did not support him, and Sun Quan was unable to maintain the same firm stance as he did in the Battle of Chibi. Even his soldiers thought that withdrawing was a good idea and did not want to continue fighting.

If Zhou Yu wanted to, he could just be like Zhang Zhao, throwing away his stall at any time, claiming to be sick at home, forcing Sun Quan to go to his house in person again and again before he would come out to clean up Sun Quan's mess, and at that he would only clean up 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 deserved a good rest and enjoy himself. Even if he did not go to the Chang'an Hundred Medical Clinic for treatment, at least he could recuperate in Chaisang, and others would not be able to say anything wrong about him!

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

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

As a series of orders were conveyed, the Jiangdong fleet began to turn to make way for the fire ships' attack.

However, when both sides were fighting, it did not mean that one side could turn smoothly if it wanted to. Even though the Jiangdong navy had high skills in boat operation and were adept at it, there were still several Jiangdong ships that failed to turn smoothly. They were either entangled by the Sichuan army and could not move, or they revealed too big flaws in the turning process, and the colliding ships seized the opportunity and dealt a fatal blow.

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

But no one has time to take care of them...

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

It would be great if there were quick-release clothing and armor, but nowadays most of the clothes worn by the Han people are made of linen!
This stuff is super absorbent!

Those 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 will often sink to the bottom of the river halfway and become a meal for fish and shrimp.

The fire ships of Jiangdong went upstream, slanting along the bloody passage that the Jiangdong navy had finally cleared, and rushed towards the Sichuan fleet!

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

"Jiangdong needs a fire attack!"

Zhuge Liang reacted almost immediately, pointing at the Jiangdong fireboats and shouting, "Those are fireboats!"

Zhuge Liang was still very young, and his eyesight had not been damaged by years of paperwork, so he could see far and clearly.

"Rockets! Ballista! Concentrate your fire!"

Xu Huang also immediately ordered his soldiers to turn around and attack the Jiangdong fireboats.

However, the problem of insufficient training of the Sichuan navy was fully demonstrated.

When it comes to covering and shooting at tower ships or a designated area without seeking particular accuracy, the ordinary Sichuan archers and crossbowmen can more or less complete the task. However, when accurate shooting is urgently needed, the archers and crossbowmen in the Sichuan navy are powerless, and their accuracy cannot be maintained at a considerable level even when they also consume a lot of physical energy.

Although the crossbow carts are quite accurate, compared with the Jiangdong tower ships and fighting ships, these Jiangdong fire ships are small targets. The slightest deviation may cause them to miss.

If it was an ordinary Jiangdong small boat, then even if the long-range attack failed, it would not be a big problem. After all, the closer you get, the higher 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 down the enemy from the city wall on land. If the small boat can also break through the defense line at medium and short distances, then there are still shooting poles waiting for them...

But these are fire ships!
We must not let these fire ships get too close!
How to do?
"Set fire!" Zhuge Liang thought quickly and gave the order without asking Xu Huang, "Throw the kerosene cans out! 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 message!"

There are not many kerosene tanks left.

Neither kerosene nor cans can be generated automatically, so this wave of counterattack can be regarded as Zhuge Liang’s last resort!

"Plop!"

Amid the sound of water, kerosene tanks were thrown out.

"Arrow! Get angry!"

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

Arrows were wrapped in cloth strips and placed on the brazier.

In the blink of an eye, the cloth strip on the arrow was ignited, and flames and black smoke emerged.

"Ready! Aim——" The archer leader waved his arms, "Shoot!"

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Arrows whizzed out and then covered the location of the kerosene tank.

The rocket puffed into the water but did not immediately break the kerosene tank and start a fire.

The Jiangdong fire ships were still approaching, and were about to approach the inner circle of Sichuan and Shu ships!

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! What are you standing there for? Draw your arrows! I'm getting angry!"

"Shoot! Shoot, shoot, shoot!"

The rocket roared down from the ship again!

The second and third waves of rockets came rushing down...

The cupping jar broke.

The flames finally rose!

When the Sichuan Army threw out the kerosene cans, it did not attract the attention of the Jiangdong soldiers who were attacking in fireboats.

On the one hand, in order to avoid arrows, the Jiangdong soldiers hid their bodies as much as possible under the cover of the boats, and few people would show their heads. Even if they occasionally took a look, it was to adjust the direction of the boat.

On the other hand, these Jiangdong soldiers can almost be regarded as the death squad 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 regarded as consumables, and it is even more impossible to equip them with any new ignition equipment. The other Jiangdong soldiers rowing boats still have a chance to jump off the boat to escape, but the soldier in charge of ignition often has no time to fire and is directly buried in the sea of ​​fire. Therefore, these Jiangdong soldiers are in a state of high nervousness. In their eyes and hearts, there are only Sichuan Shu ships and their own ignition opportunities. How can they care about other things?

Therefore, when the Sichuan-Shu navy fired the first and second waves of rockets, the Jiangdong navy was still celebrating or mocking the Sichuan-Shu navy for being in a hurry and poorly trained, and the rockets were fired into the water...

Suddenly, when flames rose from the water surface, these Jiangdong fireships realized that the Sichuan Army’s previous rocket attack was not aimed at them, but at setting fire to the oil tanks!
"Turn! Turn quickly!"

"Go! Go quickly!"

Seeing that some kerosene tanks were lit, these Jiangdong fireboats immediately came up with two different choices.

Obviously, some people thought that there was fire on their route, so they naturally chose to turn around as soon as possible, while others thought that there was no fire spreading in front of them and there was still a chance, so they wanted to rush over as quickly as possible.

However, when these two different strategies of Jiangdong Fire Ship were mixed together, problems arose...

It's like in an ancient real-time strategy game, there are more than a dozen tanks, because of a problem with the pathfinding AI system. It seems that every tank is trying very hard to find the road, but as long as one tank inexplicably turns in a circle at the intersection, the entire team of tanks will be stuck at the intersection and spin in circles madly. No matter how frantically you click the mouse, these tanks are like encountering a ghost wall, and they can't move forward at all!
The Jiangdong fire ships also encountered similar problems.

Originally, in order to avoid stray arrows and crossbows, these fire ships were almost close together, hiding behind the Jiangdong navy's tower ships, so when they rushed out, the distance between them would not be very large. Now some wanted to rush forward, some wanted to turn left, and some wanted to turn right. Without a unified front-line commander, these fire ships affected each other, causing several ships to collide with each other, and the others had to spread out further and turn more sharply, causing their speed to drop...

During the Battle of Red Cliff, it was Huang Gai who led the fire ships to attack. He narrowly escaped death, and even though he was rescued by other Jiangdong ships, he was almost drowned in the toilet pit. It can be seen that being the leader of the death squad is not such an easy and pleasant job. Now for Zhou Yu, he did not have another Huang Gai to serve as the leader of the death squad, which caused the Jiangdong fire ships to encounter uncontrollable chaos after the attack.

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

Some fireboats changed direction temporarily, which not only reduced their speed but also exposed the sides of the ship, which invisibly increased the area that was hit. They were then hit by crossbows on the side of the ship's bow, broke into pieces, leaked water, and sank into the river.

Only a few fire ships managed to break out of the fire belt on the water, but unfortunately due to insufficient numbers, they could not cause effective fire damage. Although they set a few Sichuan ships on fire, the fire damage to the entire Sichuan fleet was not enough!

The Sichuan Navy still took the most basic fire prevention measures. If a large-scale fire could not be ignited in a short period of time, sporadic small fires would be extinguished quickly.

At the same time, because the Jiangdong navy turned around under Zhou Yu's command, a large amount of the belly on the side of the ship was exposed!
Even Xu Huang and Zhuge Liang, who did not have much experience in large-scale naval battles, almost instinctively commanded the artillery and crossbows 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 fireboat attack did not achieve the expected effect, and was trying every means to command and mobilize the remaining troops. He was preparing to reorganize the formation and fight the Sichuan navy again. At this time, a cannonball hit the side of Zhou Yu's ship's harbour, smashing the middle-level parapet of the ship to pieces!
With a loud bang, the entire ship that Zhou Yu was on suddenly tilted to one side. Some Jiangdong soldiers on the other side of the ship lost their balance 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 he slammed into the pillar!
"Commander-in-chief! Are you not hurt?!" the guard shouted anxiously.

Zhou Yu originally wanted to say that he was fine, but when he opened his mouth, he spat out a mouthful of blood, not knowing whether it was due to the impact or for some other reason. He collapsed because of the spurting out of blood!

"Captain!" 』

"Captain!" ! 』

The guards and soldiers nearby screamed in surprise.

The guards rushed forward and protected Zhou Yu.

The messenger on the side was at a loss, and after a long while he asked hesitantly: "The other warships are... asking for instructions... how to fight..."

The guards saw Zhou Yu vomiting blood and was already at a loss. When they heard the messenger still asking about the battle, they shouted angrily, "The commander-in-chief is like this, why are you still asking for orders?! How can we fight?! Withdraw! Retreat! Commander-in-chief! Commander-in-chief!"

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 ship...

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

White clouds linger.

The mountains are green and blue.

The river is surging.

Blood and fire, wreckage and black smoke.

The Jiangdong navy fled in panic, and the Sichuan fleet pursued them excitedly.

A painting was created in the middle of the river, with life and blood as the paint.