Chapter 118: Battle of Dongting Lake (VI)
"Feng Xiuyuan is such a sinner..."

Zhang Nan couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the stinking battlefield in front of him. This method could be said to be disgusting, but it was extremely effective.

The Wu sailors were underwater at this time, already feeling like vomiting because of the yellow underwater environment, and there were a lot of stinking things floating on the lake. If the Wu sailors wanted to get out of the water to attack the Han army, they would have to be like a lotus emerging from the water with a head and face full of stinking things...

This feeling makes me shudder just thinking about it, let alone doing it.

In addition, some Wu troops also discovered that the Han army's boats were actually nailed with double-headed nails, which would cause a bloody wound if they were not careful, which was like adding insult to injury in such a dirty environment. Of course, needless to say, this was also arranged by Feng Xi.

The Han army fought extra hard because of this. Just kidding, if you were dragged into the water, you would just be filled with cold water, and nothing would happen. But now if you accidentally fall into the water, you will become a "little golden man", which is disgusting. If you were dead, you would die, but now you die with filth all over your body, just like a person who has committed a heinous crime.

As a result, the morale and combat effectiveness of the Han army improved by leaps and bounds to a level that Feng Xi had not expected. When Feng Xi learned about it later, he could not help but sigh: "In ancient times, Han Xin, the military genius, fought with his back to the water. Now, Zhang Wenjin fights with his back to manure."

In short, because of the involvement of these gold juices, the fierce battle on the small boats ahead had to change from the flexible combat that Dongwu was good at to a melee fight between the two sides on the decks of their respective small boats.

Unfortunately, the Han army always wore leather armor in naval battles, so they could hardly go into the water and their underwater combat effectiveness was very low. However, in this situation, they were much stronger than the Wu army, which was completely unarmored or only had simple protection.

From time to time, naked Wu soldiers were shot to death by the Han army and fell into the golden water, causing people to feel nauseous; similarly, when someone from the Han army accidentally fell into the water, his comrades could only bear the nausea and hand him a wooden fork to pull him onto the boat, but no one dared to approach the person who fell into the water.

The two sides fought like this for a stick of incense's time, and the large ship at the rear also came up, preparing for a new round of battle.

"Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-"

The firepower of the Han army's warships and battleships was obviously not comparable to that of the small boats. They fired arrows like rain, causing heavy casualties to the small boats of the Eastern Wu. Fortunately, the large ships on the Eastern Wu side also moved forward, and under the cover of a team of ships, the tower ships approached.

"Fire arrows!"

At Xu Sheng's command, the powerful bows and crossbows on the three-story ship opened fire in unison, instantly turning the situation on the field around. Even though the Han soldiers were all wearing armor, they were suppressed by the ship and could not move. They could only hide in the cabins, behind bunkers, or use shields as cover.

However, the tower ships were tall, and the Han army's small boats had no way of throwing things like incendiary bombs on them. Moreover, because of the fire suppression from the tower ships, the surrounding Eastern Wu small boats also had a chance to catch their breath and recovered to help the tower ships suppress the Han army.

"Fire! Target, the enemy's ship! Shoot at the side of their ship!"

Seeing that his side had fallen into a brief disadvantage, Zhang Nan no longer hesitated and ordered each ship to prepare to use the secret weapons given by Feng Xi.

"As the trump card of the Eastern Wu, the building ship is indeed troublesome."

Feng Xi spoke frankly about this when discussing the naval battles of the Eastern Wu with Zhang Nan.

"It's a pity that there is no such technology in Sichuan, and even if there is in Jingzhou, it can't be produced in the short term."

Zhang Nan was somewhat helpless. He and his party were sailing down the river from central Sichuan. Many of the ships were even from the Jingxiang Navy. There were no large ships that could rival the tower ships.

"But we are not completely without a chance. Although the tower ship is high above us and its bows and arrows are sharp, its weaknesses are also obvious."

Feng Xi pointed to the sketch of the tower ship in front of him. It was a casual sketch by Feng Xi, and the image was very abstract. "Since the tower ships of the Eastern Wu are to be used in the Yangtze River, they must make concessions for the width of the Yangtze River. In this way, their overall hull will be narrow, and the tower ship is so high, the center of gravity is high, and it is very unstable.

A few years ago, there was a naval commander in the Eastern Wu, Dong Xi, who was on a ship in Ruxu. It was capsized by a storm and he drowned.

Feng Xi picked up a few pieces of wood from the side. These were scattered wood he got from the army craftsmen. He built a tall vertical shape, and then with a light touch of his finger, the blocks collapsed.

"So you can try to use the thing I gave you to attack the side of the ship. If the ship takes on water and capsizes, there will be no chance of rescue."

Feng Xi pointed to the tall side of the ship on the sketch and told Zhang Nan an option.

At this time, Zhang Nan recalled Feng Xi's words, and the soldiers on the boat were also ready.

The previous crossbow arrows had been loaded, and the soldiers began to hang a small can on the top of the crossbow arrows, then lit the fuse and immediately ran aside.

The soldiers operating the giant crossbow at the back saw the fuse lit and fired immediately. Countless large crossbow arrows whizzed towards the ship.

Some of the crossbow arrows were not very accurate and hit the tower ships, killing several unlucky Wu soldiers, but the damage to the morale of the Wu army was not too great.

Some of them hit the side of the ship very accurately, making a "bang" sound, and went straight into the wooden boards on the side of the ship.

After a while, the fuses of the small cans hanging on this batch of large crossbow arrows also burned into the cans, making a loud noise and then exploding.

"Boom! Boom!"

Loud noises continued to be heard on several of the Wu army's ships, which frightened the soldiers to death, and the violent explosions also had a huge impact on the sides of the ships.

Originally, these small cans filled with gunpowder were tied to the top of the large crossbow arrows. After the crossbow arrows were nailed into the side, these cans came into close contact with the side wooden boards. Now an explosion has occurred, and the power of it is foreseeable.

The building ship that rushed forward was instantly blown into a broken ship with holes everywhere by the intensive explosions.

The power of the explosion created several large holes in the side of the ship, into which water continued to flow, making it difficult for the ship to maintain its balance.

"Quick! Stop the leak and scoop out the water! Tell the soldiers on the tower to come down and prepare for the evacuation!"

Zhu Huan, the Eastern Wu general on the tower ship, quickly directed the sailors to carry out emergency damage control. However, as a veteran of the Eastern Wu, he also knew the shortcomings of this large tower ship and estimated that it would be difficult to repair it, so he made preparations in advance.

As Zhu Huan expected, the big hole on the side of the ship was like a bottomless pit and could not be blocked at all. The Wu army soldiers on the lower floor could only watch the dirty lake water pouring into the cabin, powerless to do anything.

Not long after, the large ship that Zhu Huan was on capsized and slowly fell to the left side with a big hole. Thanks to Zhu Huan's early arrangements, at least most of the soldiers survived and were transferred to other nearby ships. Few people fell into the water.

However, the firepower of the Wu army was obviously weakened in this way, and the Han army immediately set its sights on several other large ships.

(End of this chapter)