Eastern Jin Invincible Iron Army

Chapter 323 Xin'an Business Alliance
All the battleships of the Xia Army navy were equipped with racket sticks, but the attack range of the racket sticks was only three to ten feet away. In fact, the racket sticks were barely regarded as melee self-defense weapons.However, the officers and men of the Xia Army Navy found that the counterweight trebuchet not only had a long throwing distance, but also had amazing power because it could throw stone bullets weighing up to three hundred catties.

Every warship will have ballast stones. The Xia Jun navy made full use of the stone bombs of the counterweight trebuchet, replacing the long stone bars weighing a thousand catties with stone bombs weighing three hundred catties.In order to facilitate the transportation of stone bullets, a pulley elevator was installed in the bottom compartment to facilitate the transportation of stone bullets.The thirteen warships of the Fourth Fleet, which had just stopped, were a full three hundred steps away from the pontoon bridge. The Xia Army navy stopped advancing and dropped anchor.

It is much easier to attack a fixed pontoon than a sailing warship.Three hundred catties of stone bombs were hoisted onto the deck, and then loaded into the throwing belt of the counterweight trebuchet through a simple gantry crane on the deck.

"Bang bang bang..." Following the continuous loud bangs, stone bombs weighing three hundred catties slammed towards the pontoon bridge.The 44-jin stone bomb not only smashed people's brains out, but even punched a big hole in the bottom of a small and medium-sized warship with a thin hull.Thirteen warships of the Fourth Fleet, 44 counterweight catapults slammed [-] stone bombs weighing three hundred catties on the pontoon bridge.

Although the carrying capacity of the pontoon bridge is not weak, it is far inferior to the giant warship in terms of sturdiness.Although in the first round of test firing, less than [-]% of the stone bullets hit the target, but these eight or nine stone bullets smashed seven or eight large holes in the pontoon bridge, and smashed thirty or forty soldiers of the Yan Army to flesh and blood. blurry.Four or five thousand Xianbei crossbowmen angrily shot arrows at Xia Jun's navy, but it's a pity that most of the Xianbei crossbowmen equipped with hunting bows couldn't reach the battleships of Xia Jun's navy at all.The Xianbei crossbowmen who were in a chaotic formation hadn't breathed a sigh of relief when the second wave of stone bullets from the counterweight trebuchets of the Xia Army Navy came one after another.

This time the hit rate was surprisingly high. At least [-] stone bullets hit the pontoon bridge, smashing the pontoon bridge into chaos, and smashing nearly a thousand Xianbei soldiers into the water.For the Xianbei soldiers who fell into the water, the Xia Jun navy neither shot nor rescued them, and let them live on their own.

Mo Houkan was not stupid either, seeing how he could sit still and wait for death in this situation, he hurriedly evacuated the soldiers.Then ordered Buqu to light the pontoon bridge, then cut off the tied ropes, and let the rafts and ferry boats on the pontoon bridge burn down the river in an attempt to burn the Xia army navy warship.However, Xia Jun’s sailors did not dodge or evade, relying on their own tall hull, especially the rackets on the eight-slot boat began to show their power at this time, the ten rackets are like octopus fish, and the ten booms are flying up and down. Down, the approaching fireboats were smashed into the water one after another.

If Mo Hou Kan poured all these rafts or ferries with kerosene, and then ignited them, it might really cause some trouble for Xia Jun's navy, but where would he find kerosene in such a hurry?Those ferries or rafts that were ignited also burned in a large area, which looked very scary, but when they were tapped with a stick, the scary fire was extinguished immediately.

This kind of fire only looks scary, but in fact it is not a big threat to the warship.The ancient Chinese were very smart. Ships sailing in the sea are very easy to be corroded by a kind of worm called sea maggot in the sea.These maggot-like worms like to feed on wood. They will attach to the wooden boards at the bottom of the ship and gradually eat the wooden boards. Don’t look at those seemingly very hard bilge boards, which have been eaten by sea maggots for more than a year , it will become as soft as bread, not to mention hitting the rocks, it will be torn apart by a big wave.

Later, in the age of great voyages, in order to change this problem, the Spaniards wrapped the bottom of the wooden ship with cooked copper. Although this would weaken the sea maggots' gnawing on the wood, it would also cause seawater to corrode the copper skin.Every three to five years of isolation, new copper skins or ship bottom planks need to be replaced.China lacks copper materials, and the copper coins in ancient China were the regional currencies of East Asia. There was not enough copper materials for casting copper coins, and it was even more impossible to wrap the bottom boat with copper skin as extravagantly as possible.However, in building sea boats, cowhide is used to cover the bottom of the boat.

Sea maggots do not eat cowhide, and can effectively protect the bottom of the ship and increase the service life of the hull.The bottom of the ship and the waterline are covered with cooked cowhide, and after being soaked in water, the fire may not be able to burn the cooked cowhide thoroughly.

Seeing that the fire attack was ineffective, Mohou Kan could only watch helplessly as Xia Jun's navy catapults smashed down the rafts and ferries on the pontoon bridge one by one like a target.After clearing the rafts and ferries on the pontoon bridges, Xia Jun's navy was not satisfied. They relied on the tall and powerful warships, and smashed hundreds of rafts and ferries docked on the ferry wharf one by one. .Then the thirteen warships of the Xia Army Navy swaggered away again.

In fact, not only Murong Ping was unable to cross the river from Chenliu County, but even Murong Ke went down the Yellow River from Puyang, but he couldn't find a place where he could cross the river.In the pre-Qin period, the lower reaches of the ancient Yellow River migrated and flowed in the upper reaches of the Jizhong Plain, forming multiple rivers, so it was called "Nine Rivers".During this period, the riverbed of the downstream river course was relatively stable, and then in the Western Han Dynasty, the Yellow River flooded and changed its course on a large scale. The embankment of Qiancheng (now Pucheng, Binzhou City) Haikou, the Yellow River flows between the present Yellow River and Majia River, and enters the sea near Lijin.

But what makes Murong Ke and Murong Ping very depressed is that no matter where they choose to cross the river, they will inevitably encounter obstacles from Xia Jun's navy.The troops of Murong Ke and Murong Ping lost thousands of rafts and ferries and nearly [-] sergeants, but they still stopped on the north bank of the Yellow River. At this time, the Yellow River became a natural barrier for Gao Jingzong of the Xia Kingdom.

Gao Jingzong, the capital of the Xia Kingdom and the governor of the Xia Army, read over and over again the battle report sent by the naval officer Zhu Yingting. Earlier, Gao Jingzong was worried that Zhu Yingting would give Murong Ke and Murong Ping an opportunity to sneak in. However, seeing Zhu Yingting actually adopted the method of cruising in sections and concentrating superior forces to strike, and successively annihilated the Changshui Army of the State of Yan and the two units of Murong Ping and Murong Ke who erected pontoon bridges for a total of thirteen times.As long as the Yellow River defense line can be protected, Gao Jingzong can develop with peace of mind.He issued an order to Chen Ying, who joined the army in Sihu, ordering officials from all over the country to immediately organize the people to carry out spring plowing.

Gao Jingzong was in a good mood and decided to convene representatives of the Xin'an Business Alliance.In the flower hall in front of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, there are more than a dozen representatives of the Xin'an Business Alliance. Although the Xin'an Business Alliance is headed by the Chen family and the Yu family, in fact, there are also interest groups composed of more than a dozen large and small businesses.

When these people saw Gao Jingzong entering the hall, they all bowed and kowtowed. Gao Jingzong said with a smile: "You don't need to be too polite, just sit down and sit down."

The flower hall was magnificent, and these people didn't dare to sit, but seeing Gao Jingzong sitting, they hurriedly knelt down carefully on the mats on both sides one by one.

Gao Jingzong was in a good mood, he glanced around the crowd with a smile, and said with a smile: "This king's campaign against rebellion depends on everyone's support."

(End of this chapter)