Red Mansion Taoist

Chapter 140 Artillery Attack
On the negative third floor of the Western-style gunboat, twenty soldiers sat in the oarsmen's seats, and were commanded by a sailor listening to the orders in the microphone.

The Western-style gunboat has ten wooden oars on its left and right sides near the waterline.

Following the sailor's command, twenty soldiers shook the wooden oars.

Jia Qiang stood on the deck and felt the speed of the Western-style gunboat increase.

He also understood that this kind of improvement would not last long. The physical strength of the twenty soldiers was limited and they were still in a state of practice.

Fortunately, it was still some distance from Jingkou, so twenty soldiers could become familiar with using wooden oars.

The sergeants who can be selected as personal soldiers are all strong men. As long as they have passed the novice stage, their strength is not bad for them.

The Western-style gunboat was accelerating, decelerating and accelerating several times before returning to normal speed.

The boss of the ship reported that the twenty wooden oars on the negative three floors are currently available, which can increase the speed of the Western-style gunboat by 20%.

Don't underestimate the 20% increase. Once a Western-style gunship is locked by an enemy cannon, the 20% sudden acceleration can defeat the enemy cannon's attack.

The accelerating Western-style gunboat caused errors in the calculations of the fort. In addition, the accuracy of the first two guns was also somewhat poor, and the shells landed far away from the Western-style gunboat.

"Brother Qiang, are there enemies ahead?" Jia Min asked quickly in surprise.

But Jia Qiang has the blessing of 'Spiritual Warfare [Advanced]', so this shell is a bit unreasonable.

Then he filled all the sixteen cannons with gunpowder and loaded the cannonballs. His super agility allowed him to do these things extremely fast. He finished while the Western-style gunboat dodged another round of bombardment. All artillery reloads.

"No!" The No. 1 gunner's gaze saw a burst of fire coming from the side of the target ship, and then he saw a black shadow approaching from a distance, and instinctively felt that the target of the shell was them.

However, subsequent adjustments to the fort will be made based on the situation of the first shot, which is when the threat is greatest.

"If there is any danger, take Yu'er and leave first!" Jia Min gritted her silver teeth and whispered.

The shells flew diagonally into the fort at a special angle.

His eyesight was very good, and he had already seen that the two forts suddenly adjusted the direction of their muzzles, and the direction was exactly this side of the Western-style gunboat.

The boss of the ship sent the order through the talking tube, all the sails of the Western-style gunboat were opened, and at the same time, the soldiers on the negative three floors shook the oars with all their strength.

"Attention, prepare to avoid!" Jia Qiang suddenly gave an order loudly.

At this moment, he saw a flash of fire at the muzzle of the distant fort.

"It's so rampant!" Jia Qiang shook her head and sighed.

In addition to the front, the gun emplacement is protected above and on the left and right sides. In theory, it is difficult for enemy shelling to attack the inside of the fort.

After a while, the artillery of the Jingkou Fort was ready, and two more guns struck.

The shell hit the gunner, who was torn apart on the spot.

Jia Jingang holds the river-suppressing sword. If there are any artillery shells coming, he will intercept them immediately.

He was just a reminder, worried that the women would fall and get injured due to the rapid acceleration and turning of the ship.

At the same time, twelve battleships appeared from the Yangtze River. Although they did not fly the flag of Daqian Navy, the appearance of so many battleships of Daqian Navy showed that it goes without saying that they were active naval forces.

At Jingkou No. 1 Fort, the gunner loudly issued orders one after another. Several gunners continued to adjust the position of the muzzle, and the loaders were also loading quickly.

Returning to the deck, he vaguely saw the fort at Jingkou.

"Don't worry, sir. With such a fast ship, if it is hit by a fort, all my decades as the ship's boss will be in vain!" the ship's boss replied with a wide-mouthed smile.

Of course, Jia Qiang has not tried it. He does not know whether Jia Jingan can completely intercept it. The consequences of failure will be disastrous, so he does not put his hope in Jia Jingan at all.

"It's my estimate. There's no best estimate. If we encounter enemies ahead, I'm afraid there will be artillery attacks!" Jia Qiang nodded and replied.

The four-thousand-pound heavy artillery can attack farther and more powerfully than the artillery on the Western-style gunships. After entering the attack range of the fort, there will still be a certain distance before the artillery on the Western-style gunships can enter the attack range.

Although they don't know who they are attacking, they must carry out the orders from above.

The gunner was the first to bear the brunt, not because he didn't want to dodge, but because the space inside the turret was so big that even if he wanted to dodge, he couldn't do it in time.

"Turn left and advance in a zigzag pattern!" Jia Qiang issued the order again.

Daqian looks beautiful on the outside, but in fact it’s terrible on the inside.

The Western-style gunboat's hull shook, and then its speed increased.

Jia Qiang didn't have to worry about the deck, Jia Jinguang was still there, and Jia Jinguang's eyes were his eyes.

"Master's wife, since I have brought you back to Beijing, I am confident that I can protect you!" Jia Qiang comforted with a smile.

When he reached the second floor, he opened the gun emplacement baffles on the left and right sides.

This kind of shell fired by a four-thousand-jin heavy cannon was not the kind of thousand-jin artillery used in the Huang family in Yangzhou, and Jia Qiang did not dare to intercept it.

The shell continued inward and hit another gunner. It hit the wall behind and bounced back. A gunner was hit by the rebounded shell.

He adjusted one of the guns and lit the gun fuse.

Jia Qiang calculated that the Jingkou Fort could fire one round of artillery fire at most, and then it would enter the artillery coverage of the Western-style gunships.

"Master's wife, take care of Sister Lin!" Jia Qiang came to the second-floor cabin and said to Jia Min. He then turned to the other women and warned: "The same goes for you, it's best to grab something and be careful not to fall. !”

"Boss of the ship, you will be in charge next, I will go to the second floor!" Jia Qiang ordered to the boss of the ship.

"Accelerate with all your strength!" Jia Qiang shouted in a deep voice.

This time, the latest shot hit the water twenty meters away from the Western-style gunboat, and the water splashed down on the deck of the Western-style gunboat.

"Be careful with gunpowder!" a gunner who was not frightened shouted loudly.

But what's the use of reminding? After several consecutive impacts, the cannonball fell into a pile of gunpowder. The slightly red cannonball suddenly ignited the gunpowder.

'Boom', looking from a distance, flames spurted out from several exits of the solid fort, and it was impossible for anyone inside to survive.

Jia Qiang's second artillery piece also fired, hitting the No. 2 turret at the same angle.

Although the gunpowder was not detonated this time, there was a bloody storm inside the No. 2 Fort. In the end, only two gunners were alive in the No. 2 Fort, and they were still missing a hand and a foot.

The two forts went silent, and twelve battleships immediately accelerated and surrounded them. The cannons on the deck were vaguely visible.

"Pull the ship horizontally and aim the left side at the enemy ship!" Jia Qiang issued the order through the microphone on the second floor. The boss of the ship respected Jia Qiang like a god. As soon as he heard Jia Qiang's order, he issued orders to various positions through the microphone.

The Western-style gunboat no longer needed to dodge the gunfire from the fort. The hull turned on the water and turned its left side towards the twelve battleships that were coming menacingly.

"Guan Dai, why do I see the imperial envoy's flag hanging on that ship?" Deputy Guan Dai looked at the Western-style gunboat with a monocular telescope and asked with some uncertainty in his tone.

"This is the admiral's military order. Do you want to disobey it?" Guan Dai looked at the deputy Guan Dai coldly and said in a deep voice.

A look of hesitation flashed in the eyes of the deputy governor. Attacking the imperial envoy's ship would be a serious crime of bullying the emperor.

"Take down the deputy Guan Dai and kill anyone who dares to disobey military orders!" Guan Dai saw his hesitation and ordered the soldiers behind him.

The soldiers on the left and right immediately stepped forward, grabbed the deputy's hands and put them behind his back. Another soldier pulled out his sword and chopped off the deputy's head with one knife.

"Who wants to disobey the admiral's military order?" Guan Dai asked in a deep voice, looking at the headless body lying on the ground.

No sergeant dared to question anything. That is to say, the deputy governor's power here was second only to that of the governor.

Guan Dai saw that the morale of the army was stable, and his eyes fell on a battleship in the rear, where was the main flagship of their admiral.

Guan Dai also knew that there were many doubts about this troop dispatch, but he was single-handedly promoted by the admiral. In other words, all the twelve battleships dispatched this time were promoted by the admiral.

Guan Dai had already been branded with the admiral's mark, and when the admiral was gone, they were gone too.

"I hope the previous shelling was just a coincidence!" he muttered.

Just after two cannons were fired from the target ship, there was no sound from the two forts, which made him worried.

But such accurate gunners are extremely rare even in the Daqian navy, and it is impossible to appear on the target ship.

"Guan Dai, we have determined that the sides of the big ship ahead are full of gun ports. What we encountered is a Western-style gun ship!" the observer above shouted loudly.

Just when Guan Dai was about to say something else, the hull of their main ship suddenly shook.

"There is a gun hole in the left forward ship, and the hull is taking in water!" the sailor reported after checking the ship's condition.

At this time, the battleship was tilting, and the artillery originally placed on the deck slid to the other side due to the tilt of the deck, breaking through the edge of the deck and falling into the mouth.

"How could the artilleryman appear here?" Guan Dai's eyes flashed with despair, and he asked in disbelief.

No one replied to him, and all the sailors were panicked.

"Block the leak with all your strength!" Guan Dai quickly issued the order when he saw the sailors panicking.

Jia Qiang's bombardment position was right near the waterline and would not sink the battleship quickly. As long as the sailors drained water with all their strength, there was still hope of saving the battleship.

He didn't want Daqian Navy to suffer too much loss, so he showed mercy.

Next, all the remaining artillery on the left side were activated, and the Western-style gunboat turned its direction and aimed at the enemy ship from the right side.

Before all of his artillery was used, the water battle was over. Every shot did not miss and hit almost the same position as the battleship.

The battleship lost its artillery and became half-crushed again, with no combat effectiveness at all.

Jia Qiang left two cannons unused just in case, and returned to the deck.

"Boss of the ship, move the ship closer to the shore!" Jia Qiang issued the order.

He took a fancy to the two 4,000-pound heavy artillery pieces. Under normal circumstances, he would never have access to such artillery pieces.

The four thousand kilogram heavy artillery was conferred the title of general by the Daqian royal family, which shows its importance.

As for the technology for making these 4,000-pound heavy artillery, it was completely blocked by the palace and was impossible to appear outside.

It is said that this kind of heavy artillery also hired Western artillery makers. Every time a heavy artillery of this level is manufactured, it is a trivial matter. The key lies in the time span, hiring Western artillery makers and the fine copper consumed.

The Western-style gunboat approached the shore, and Jia Jingang jumped over a distance of more than ten meters and landed on the shore.

Then he walked towards the fort at full speed. He planned to kill people along the way, but for some reason all the officers and soldiers guarding the fort disappeared.

It seems that someone transferred the officers and soldiers stationed here to facilitate the shelling of the fort.

Jia Jinjin didn't see the sergeant. He rushed all the way to gun position No. 1 and found that the four thousand kilogram artillery piece was crooked and lying aside.

He stepped forward and picked up the four thousand kilogram artillery piece with one hand and put it into the left-hand weapon in the equipment slot.

He came to the No. 2 gun position again and found that there were still two survivors.

Without saying anything, he kicked them all to death.

Then he took the 4,000-pound heavy artillery still on the gun position in his right hand. He first took out the river-suppressing sword originally equipped on his right hand and threw it to the ground.

In fact, his strength is only 5,600 kilograms, and he cannot pick up a 4,000 kilogram heavy artillery and a 3,000 kilogram river-suppressing sword at the same time.

He put the four thousand kilogram heavy artillery in his right hand into the equipment slot on his right hand, and then he picked up the River Suppressing Sword on the ground.

He felt that his speed suddenly dropped to about 20 points. This was due to the impact of the load in the equipment column exceeding the limit of his own strength.

Jia Jinjin headed in the other direction at a relatively slow speed, which was towards a dock where the Yangtze River entered the canal on the other side, where he would board the Western-style gunboat again.

Of course, he would keep his distance from the Western-style gunboats and would not lose contact by leaving Jia Qiang too far.

Jia Qiang spared some time to keep in touch with Jia Jinjiang. He collected two four-thousand-jin heavy artillery pieces. As for the accountability afterwards, that had nothing to do with him.

Everyone knows that he has been staying on the Western-style gunboat. Besides, the two big guys weighing 8,000 kilograms cannot be transported away without transportation. How can he, an imperial envoy who was just passing by and suffered an unreasonable disaster, give a blow to his attacker? Unable to explain.

He believed that the disappearance of the two 4,000-pound heavy artillery would put a big blame on those who transferred the garrison, enough to make many people related to it lose their heads.

He has no sympathy. Since he dares to attack him, he must bear the corresponding consequences.

"Drive the ship to those capital ships, and I will take away the stewards of each ship!" Jia Qiang issued a new order.

Guan Dai is the captain in the Daqian navy, while the admiral is the chief officer of the navy fleet.

Jia Qiang took Guan Dai away to take them back to Beijing. He didn't know where this navy came from, but with these Guan Dai in hand, this navy would definitely pay a sufficient price for this operation.

But Jia Qiang didn't expect that he would get an unexpected reward and found the navy admiral on one of the ships.

(End of this chapter)