Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 44

Just when Huo Jun was commanding the ships, they sailed straight into Xu Kun's fleet.Gan Ning had already taken it upon himself to sail a boat to rescue Su Fei. For him, Su Fei was not only his good friend, but also a benefactor who was kind to him.

As the fighting boats galloped, Gan Ning's tribe rushed to support Su Fei's battleship.In a short time, Gan Ning's subordinates boarded Huang Gai's warship or supported Su Fei's warship.

At the same time, Xu Kun also had a panoramic view of the nearby battlefield situation. He couldn't help but be overjoyed when he saw a "yellow" flag hanging on the south side of the Yangtze River.

The warships in the Jiangxia army that can fly the "yellow" flag are either Huang Zu or his son. With such great achievements, how could Xu Kun not be greedy for them.He decisively gave up Gan Ning and Su Fei and aimed at the warships of the 'Huang' flag.

Xu Kun relied on the fact that there were many warships around him and most of the warships behind him, so he loudly ordered: "Attack southward and face the enemy ships in Jiangxia!"

"General, the enemy ships are following the wind and the current, but our army is against the wind and the current, which may not be good for the battle. It is better for our army to retreat and wait for most of the reinforcements." The military officer advised: "And the general is in charge of the army and should not be in danger. , you still need to be careful.”

Xu Kun showed displeasure and said: "I have been fighting for more than twenty years, defeating Dong Zhuo and defeating Huang Zu, and I am not afraid of the enemy. Today I can't defeat more than ten warships, but we have nearly thirty large ships. We are outnumbered and outnumbered. What’s so scary!”

"Fight!"

"promise!"

"Left full rudder!"

"Lower half sail!"

"Paddle!"

Against the wind and water, the warship commanded by Xu Kun was using oars to move towards the warship commanded by Huo Jun.

Huo Jun stood on the height of the stern, looked at the approaching Xu Kun battleship, and shouted: "Turn around, miss the enemy ship, insert into the side of the enemy ship, and use all your strength to seize the upper wind."

"promise!"

"Turn the rudder!"

At this time, looking down from the sky, the Jiangxia fleet traveling along the south bank of the Yangtze River missed the Jiangdong fleet coming towards them, trying to completely seize the upper wind of the southeast.

The Jiangdong fleet led by Xu Kun was facing headwinds and currents, making it difficult to maneuver. They could only watch as Huo Jun and the others seized the upper hand.However, they were not powerless. Most of the warships led by Xu Kun were large ships with large hull spaces. In addition to being used for command, they were also equipped with small catapults.

This kind of small catapult, in addition to combat, is actually used to direct combat.When warships are fighting, a warship with a catapult will throw stones at one side and splash water, which means attacking that side.

After all, the artillery's hit rate is impressive, not to mention the catapults installed on the ship.The catapult itself is difficult to control. It rises and falls between waves. It is considered lucky to hit it, but no matter what, it is a weapon that can be used as a throwing weapon.

"Thunderbolt chariots and stones!" Xu Kun shouted.

"promise!"

The gunner operated the catapult on the stern, loaded the stone bombs, and aimed at the Jiangxia ship ahead.

"put!"

The gunner pulled the rope, and with a whistling sound, the stone bullets flew out.

"Snapped!"

The stone bullet fell into the Yangtze River, causing a splash of water several meters high.Immediately afterwards, five stern ships from Jiangdong also threw stone bombs at Huo Jun's flagship, whizzing and falling on the left and right of the fleet, splashing water.

"Boulder!"

The sailors on the deck shouted in panic, and the timid ones took a few steps back.

In order to appease the morale of the soldiers, Huo Jun walked fearlessly on the deck and scolded the panicked sailors.He also asked Huo Xiong to bring Huang She, who was watching the battle, into the cabin to avoid shaking the morale of the army.

"You can't throw us, don't be afraid!"

Huo Jun pulled a timid sailor, slapped his face vigorously, and shouted.

"Join the army, do you want to throw?" the gunner couldn't hold back his temper and asked.

"Don't vote, just follow my orders!"

Huo Jun turned to look at the warships that had already crossed each other. He had completely seized the upper wind of the southeast wind and shouted: "Turn towards the enemy ship."

"promise!"

"Turn left!"

The sails of Huo Jun's ship were swelled by the southeast wind.Braving Jiangdong's ships threw stone bombs and met them.

"Snapped!"

A stone bullet flew past Huo Jun's boat, hit the side of the ship, and splashed water several meters high, soaking the pawns on the deck.As the accuracy of the stone bullets moved, the sailors on the ship returned to the battle.

"Joining the army, 150 steps!"

"Not urgent!"

"It's less than a hundred steps!" the gunner shouted.

"Fifty pace throw!"

"No!" In order to block the rain of arrows, Huo Jun had already put on his shield.

As the ship approached fifty steps, Huo Jun waved his arms vigorously and shouted hysterically: "Fire!"

"Peng!"

The gunner on the stern loosened the rope and threw the cloth bag filled with firewood ash and lime.

The cloth bag was affected by gravity, resistance and other factors in the sky. Suddenly, the cloth could not wrap up the firewood ash and lime inside, and spread out in the sky, flying all over the sky. Then, blown by the southeast wind, it rushed toward the Jiangdong Navy in a black mass. .

Due to the light weight of firewood ash and lime, the gunner threw another one, which scattered again and flew towards the Jiangdong navy.

In an instant, the sky on the Jiangdong battleship was filled with smoke and ash, and the sky was dark and the ground was dark. The sailors felt it was difficult to speak and open their eyes. They were choked and unable to breathe, and they rushed around on the deck.

Huo Jun's hair was messy in the wind. He looked at the thickening powder in the sky and laughed wildly in the wind.

In order to seize the upper hand, he not only wanted to increase the range of his bow and arrow, but also used firewood ash to blind the Jiangdong people's vision.

He learned this trick from Wu Yueguo in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. In his previous life, when he learned about ancient warships, he accidentally learned this story.At that time, Qian Miao and Yang Xingmi were at war, with Yang Xingmi occupying the upper reaches and Qian Miao on the lower reaches.In order to unify Jiangdong, Yang Xingmi took advantage of the favorable wind and current to attack Qian Miao.

In order to defeat the enemy, Qian Yuanjin, the son of Qian Miao, the commander-in-chief, deliberately hid in the lake during the battle to let Yang Xingmi's navy pass by first. Then Qian Yuanjin led his army to fight out and took advantage of the favorable wind and river to attack Yang Xingmi's army. Using firewood, soybeans, and fine sand, they finally defeated Yang Xingmi's navy.

This strategy is not suitable for large-scale naval operations, but is suitable for small-scale use by thirty or forty ships.Before going into battle, Huo Jun was thinking about whether he could use this trick, and specially asked his men to bring firewood ash, soybeans, fine sand, sulfur and other items.

In today's battle, when the army retreated, Xu Kun never thought that Xu Kun would be eager for quick success and send him to the door. Huo Jun then thought of using this trick.Otherwise, Huo Jun would not have dared to seize Huang She's flagship, and then lead his inexperienced subordinates to confront the [-]-ship Jiangdong navy. After all, his subordinates could not be said to be brave when fighting on the water.

Taking advantage of the thick smoke, Jiangxia Navy quickly adjusted its war preparations. Sailors could be seen everywhere on the deck dumping fine sand to prevent slipping.Then the wooden barrel containing soybeans was also carried out. When waiting for the battle, the soybeans were sprinkled on the opponent's deck to make the opponent unstable.

After a while, the annoying wood ash and plant ash dispersed from the air.The Jiangdong navy suddenly discovered that the Jiangxia navy had arrived in front of them, and even the opponent's flagship led a fighting boat to the right side of their chief general Xu Kun's flagship.

"Scatter the beans!"

The sailors on Xu Kun's ship widened their eyes. What awaited them was not a rain of arrows, but a dense rain of soybeans.The soldiers who were holding up their shields to cover their arrows lowered their heads and heard crackling sounds coming from the deck. A large number of soybeans were beating on the deck, then became quiet on the deck, and then rolled with the rocking of the ship's hull.

For a moment, Xu Kun saw that Huo Jun did not fire his arrows, and loudly ordered his soldiers to approach Huo Jun's flagship and try to start a boarding battle.

However, Huo Jun was well prepared and knew that the Jiangxia Navy was not as good as the Jiangdong Navy in the boarding battle. He used the hook and rejection, one of the two sides of the battle, to place the hook and rejection between the two ships in advance to prevent the Jiangdong Navy from trying to engage in the battle. thoughts, and then distanced themselves.

"Keep your distance!"

"Fire arrows!"

The soldiers of Jiangxia, who had prepared a bow and arrow duel early, ran freely on the sandy deck, raised their bows and nocked arrows, and shot out arrows.

On the other hand, in the Jiangdong Navy, standing on the deck strewn with beans, the soldiers stood unsteadily. They accidentally stepped on the beans while running for a few steps, and fell to the ground due to the ups and downs of the deck.Fighting in such an environment, it would be good if Jiangdong's soldiers could shoot arrows.

Jiangxia soldiers stood on a more stable deck, and the bows and arrows in their hands were more accurate.Huo Jun's ship, as well as the fighting ship commanded by Huo Du, concentrated fire on the Xu Kun battleship in the center on the left and right sides.The arrows shot out of the air and hit Xu Kun's flagship. The arrows rained down with crackling sounds. Most of them were stuck on the deck aimlessly, but a few of them hit the sailors, causing considerable damage. casualties.

"Join the army, enemy ships are about to attack from the right!"

Just as Huo Jun was directing the soldiers to shoot, a lookout shouted.

"Keep shooting!"

Xu Kun, who was commanding from a high place and wearing iron armor, was naturally the target of the attack.Under the protection of his personal guards, he walked on the wooden ladder and prepared to hide in the cabin.

After a while, the lookout shouted again: "The enemy ship is approaching, and the arrows have been fired!"

Huo Jun turned his head and looked to the right, only to see that the stern in Xu Kun's fleet was only more than thirty steps away from him, and he would be close to him in a short time.Looking behind it, we can see that most of the densely packed Jiangdong ships are about to rush to the battlefield.

"Not urgent!"

Gritting his teeth, Huo Jun shouted: "The man wearing iron armor is the enemy's general. Shoot him."

"promise!"

After saying that, even Huo Jun himself picked up his bow and arrow and shot at Xu Kun on the deck.In an instant, countless arrows pierced the sky, and a sharp whistle sounded again.

Xu Kun's personal guards held shields on the left and right, and used themselves as human shields to block the arrows fired at him for Xu Kun.

At this moment, a powerful arrow shot through the sky, passed over the wooden and human shields, and fell in a huge arc.

At this moment, Xu Kun heard the sound of the air being cut, but he kept staring at the deck under his feet, for fear of stepping on soybeans, and because of the obstruction on the left and right, he never doubted that an arrow could hit him from above.

As a result, the arrow shot through the gap in the armor at the back of his neck exposed by his lowered head. The sharp arrow cluster pierced his skin, pierced into his neck under the influence of gravity, and passed through his throat. .

Blood gurgled out and dyed Xu Kun's collar red.A heart-wrenching feeling surged into his head, and then his limbs became numb.Losing his strength, he sat down diagonally on the deck, and then his whole body fell to the ground.

"General!"

As the number one general in Jiangdong, Sun Quan's cousin and father-in-law, Xu Kun, the Pinglu general, died under a stray arrow!
"History of Wu and Yue": "...Because of the flying lime, the thieves could not see. When the boats and boats met, they scattered beans on the thieves' boats, and my boat was filled with sand. The blood of the battle was stained, and those who trampled the beans were unstoppable, and their fate was Put in kerosene and burn it.”

　One more night

　　
　
(End of this chapter)