The struggle of the reborn prince

Cheng Xishou went around the site of "Ji Shi Guo" and made a field survey of the terrain, cities, ports and straits. Someone asked someone about the tide and hydrological conditions here in detail, and he had a spectrum in his mind, and formed a Preliminary battle plan.Because your own main battleship is tall and powered by sails, has a deep draft, clumsy movements, and a large turning radius; while the enemy's long and narrow warships are powered by oars, have shallow drafts, are flexible in action, and fast in speed. Complete the U-turn within.

The characteristics of the warships of the two sides determine the different adaptability to the battlefield. Cheng Xishou is well aware of the advantages and disadvantages of his own warships. It is in his best interest to choose the battlefield on the vast sea, and he should avoid entering the strait to fight the enemy. Spirits collide.Therefore, the main battlefield should be placed on the west of the island. Even if it is easy to seize the port, it can also provide artillery support for attacking the city. However, in order to prevent the enemy warships from fleeing to the mainland, troops should be sent to block both ends of the strait.

The strategy has been decided, but you can't say nothing, just fight when you come up, you have to find a reason.And the most indispensable thing in the world is excuses, especially for the Song navy who came from thousands of miles away, they just came to find fault, if there is no reason, they have to create a reason!After Cheng Xishou whispered a few words in the ear of the shopkeeper of a caravan in the Song Dynasty, he quietly boarded the boat and returned to Suder Port, and did not stay on the island.

Sheng Zhongtang is a business group specializing in maritime trade in the Four Halls of the Emperor. At first, its business only involved Korea, Fusang and Southeast Asia and other coastal countries.After the emperor ascended the throne, in response to his expansion of maritime trade, he began to set foot in countries such as Arabia and India, and became the leader of some routes. Therefore, he was the leader of the merchant groups engaged in maritime trade in the Song Dynasty and enjoyed high prestige.Basically what they do, other caravans follow suit.

Sheng Zhongtang was divided into two after the emperor ascended the throne.Part of it became the foundation of the new water army of the Song Dynasty, and the other part was still engaged in maritime trade.Cheng Xishou as the actual founder and former controller.Naturally, everyone respected him very much, and this time they led a huge fleet to sail with them, knowing that this is not as simple as claiming to be an escort for a merchant ship, it should be another mission, so they all looked at him along the way... …

"Ji Shi Guo" is the name of the Chinese side, but in fact it is just a small city under the jurisdiction of the province of the Seljuk Empire, and it is the same country as the country they call "Da Shi in Black".Because the merchants of the Song Dynasty were stipulated to trade in designated areas and had never been to other places, they were called a country.However, it can also be seen that the city owner has a certain degree of autonomy, and it can be said that he is the emperor of one side.This year, because the Great Khan is going to war with the Black Khanate, the military expenditure is huge. As an important source of wealth for the empire, the taxes they are required to pay have also increased significantly.

But it is recorded that the Lord Shi Guo would not pay for the money himself, and the wool would still be spent on the sheep.Therefore, he asked for an increase of [-]% on the basis of [-]% of the total value of the goods paid in previous years. That is to say, the merchants have traveled thousands of miles, and the goods shipped here after all the hardships must pay [-]% of the transaction tax, and only [-]% of the goods are left for their own transactions. .Although ocean trade is lucrative.It can even be called huge profits, but they also have to take great risks. Storms at sea and ubiquitous pirates can destroy their ships and lose everything.It is not an exaggeration to say that he is exchanging his life for money.And [-]% of the tax basically sucked up all the profits from their trip!

The tax increase order caused an uproar among the island's merchants, who expressed their opposition, but only opposition.On other people's territory, I had to bow my head.Besides, if you don't obey, you can only leave, but where can you go?Maybe they were robbed by 'pirates' as soon as they left the port.If it doesn't work out, I'll have to risk my life, but now I've saved some for myself.It's better than losing everything, so most people hold their noses and admit it.

Surprisingly, the order to increase taxes was unanimously resisted by the Song Dynasty caravan. They refused to pay and demanded that the old rules be followed, otherwise they would rather leave than trade here.In recent years, with the development of maritime trade in the Song Dynasty, they accounted for a large part of the trade volume of the Jishi Kingdom, and it was precisely because of these exquisite silk, porcelain, and tea from the East that the Seljuks monopolized the export to Europe. Eastern trade has earned a lot of money.If they leave, the loss to the country will be huge, and it will set a bad example for caravans in other regions.

Therefore, the city lord of Ji Shiguo decided to punish the merchant group of the Song Dynasty who dared to challenge his authority. He sent troops to board the ship to seize the merchant ship, announced the confiscation of all goods, and deported them.It is recorded that the banditry behavior of the city lord of Shi State naturally caused conflicts between the two sides. As a result, dozens of people in the Song Dynasty were injured, more than a hundred people were detained, and the ships were also dragged into the military port for detention. Only a few merchant ships rushed into the chaos Out of the port, Ji Shi's navy sent two warships to pursue them.

Although the merchant ship took a step ahead, it is basically sailing against the wind and needs to constantly adjust the sails to maintain its course, and it is full of cargo, so the speed is naturally much slower.However, Ji Shiguo's warships can rely entirely on human engines to row the oars to obtain power when the wind is headed.Therefore, the distance between the two parties is getting closer and closer. A game of cat and mouse is playing out on the sea. Merchant ships can only rely on constantly swinging their hulls to prevent enemy ships from approaching. Maybe Shi Guo’s warships want to have both people and goods And no killer, otherwise just a few rockets will solve the problem.

The warship of Ji Shiguo, who was chasing all the way, finally found a chance to overtake the merchant ship of Song Dynasty, and began to move closer to its side. The soldiers on the bow were ready to throw the cable, and the soldiers were ready to jump with their knives and guns to seize the ship.There was panic on the Great Song Merchant Ship, and the sailors ran around, as if they were looking for a safe place, but suddenly they stopped and let out a burst of cheers, waving their clothes, and ran towards the bow with their hands.

"Aren't they crazy?" The abnormal performance of the sailors on the Song ship made the sergeants on the Ji Shiguo warship stunned, wondering if they were too stimulated, so that the collective fell into a madness.But when they followed and looked forward, their hearts also jumped wildly. Two three-masted ships twice as big as they didn't know came downwind. Although they couldn't see the clothes of the people on the bow, they could Judging from the flag flying on the mast, it should be a warship.

'Boom', just as Shi Guo's navy soldiers were stunned, they saw a flash of fire on the bow of the ship, followed by a loud noise like thunder, and a jet of water blasted into the sky on their port side.Even if they are stupid at this moment, they understand that those ships are demonstrating to themselves, and what they don't understand is what is so powerful that it can hit the 'stone bomb' to such a long distance. The warship is seven or eight hundred steps away!

"This is the warship of Mozhina (the Arabs' name for China), how could they appear here?" The captain of the Ji Shiguo warship saw the clues from the performance of the crew of the Song ship, and said in surprise.

"Still chasing or not?" Ji Shiguo's warship was suspended by the sudden artillery attack, Song's boat had temporarily escaped the crisis, and the warship was getting closer and closer to them, the sailors asked anxiously.

"Let's stop them and let them go back to report!" The captain was brave enough not to be intimidated by the mysterious weapon of the enemy ship. He asked another warship to return quickly to report, and he wanted to single out two enemy ships.

After a brief communication, one of Ji Shiguo's warships turned around and returned, while the leading warship accelerated and rushed towards the Song Dynasty warship. He wanted to give the enemy ships a blow and sink one before dealing with the other.In order to maximize the impact of his warship, he gave up the head-on collision and chose the weakest side of the ship as the point of impact, intending to seriously injure it in one fell swoop.According to past combat experience, Captain Ji Shi Guo did nothing wrong, but he was wrong this time!

The most threatening weapon of the warships of the Song Shui Army is the artillery equipped on both sides. Therefore, when fighting, they often face the enemy from the side to give full play to the power of the broadside salvo and increase the hit rate with density.Ji Shiguo's warship launched an attack on its side, isn't it a self-inflicted trap?Seeing that the enemy ship was charging towards him with all its strength, when the distance between the two ships was [-] steps, the Song ship began to fire empty guns as a warning, and at [-] steps, he began to fire around the enemy ship as a warning shot, but the enemy ship still rushed towards it at an accelerated speed.

'Boom, boom...' Ji Shiguo, who turned around to report the news, heard a series of roars coming from behind them. They all turned their heads to watch, and saw that their own warship seemed to have been hit hard, spinning in vain on the sea. , followed by a few loud noises, a few bursts of flames rose from the warship, but it began to sink after a few breaths, but no one could be seen diving into the water.When they turned back again, there was only a section of the mast still exposed on the sea.

The sergeants of the Ji Shiguo warship returning home were all shocked to see their own warship sinking into the water in a blink of an eye. They knew that for such a large warship to sink so quickly, it must have suffered serious damage below the waterline, so that the sailors were too late Jump into the sea to escape.In their sight, the two warships had not been fought or even touched, and they were easily sunk.What kind of mysterious force can this cause?Could it really be the legendary Eastern Thunderbolt?

As a worldwide commercial port, what Ji Shiguo lacks most is new things from all sides. Merchants traveling all over the world will bring what happened in every corner of the world here. It is also called an intelligence transfer station. Appropriate.A few years ago, a sea battle between the two big countries in the east would certainly not be missed. It is said that one of the reasons for the victory was that the use of this thunderbolt-sounding artifact sank hundreds of warships of the opponent.

But the sergeants of Ji Shiguo didn't have time to think about it at this time. They found that the enemy ship that sank their friendly ship didn't seem to intend to let them go, so they mustered their sails and chased after them... (to be continued...)