"What it is?"
Qiao Zhenggang frowned. A few days ago, this sea area was completely empty, but now something like this appeared, indicating that it was a movable object. But it took an hour and a half on the road, and the thing was still far away in the open sea, and its speed was probably not as fast as a windsurfing board.
"Sir," the staff officer on the side said with a cupped hand, "the information sent back from Jinxia shows that there is a group of long-eared demons living on a floating island made of trees. The locals call them tree boats, but in fact they are more It looks like a small reef. I suspect this thing is sent by the Jinxia people."
"The enemy from Jinxia..." Qiao Zhenggang looked thoughtful. He was bloodthirsty, but he was not a reckless man without any brains. Otherwise, he would not have climbed all the way to the guarding position. The people in the countryside are incapable of resisting, so they can rub them in any way they want, but Jin Xia is different - that is a powerful enemy who defeated Shangyuan Privy Council. "If I understand correctly, it's actually a giant troop carrier?"
"The intelligence did not mention that it was armed." The staff officer shook his head, "However, the tree boat can transport troops and weapons. Generally, artillery is most taboo with unstable bottom plates. If it can be mounted on such a surprisingly large floating island, I’m afraid that the power and accuracy can be maintained at a very high level.”
Artillery?…
It was indeed mentioned in the intelligence that Jin Xia's deep research on firearms was due to the appearance of a traitor in the Mechanism Bureau, which made the level of Mechanism of this group of conspirators improve by leaps and bounds. In the battle with the Privy Council of Shangyuan, the artillery support provided by the river fleet put considerable pressure on the alchemists, not to mention those bipedal machine beasts that could carry cannons over mountains and ridges.
"It seems that we should wait and wait until they approach the dock before attacking them." Qiao Zhenggang said thoughtfully. It is undoubtedly a big mistake to think that Qixing has not learned lessons from the intelligence. After all, Xu State also has a family of machine arts that is no less powerful than the Mo family, and it was expected that Jin Xia would not allow the Seven Stars forces to enter the interior of Qi State. The camp in front of them stretched for ten miles and was set up to meet the enemy.
It is not only a landing place, but also a barrier carefully built by the Seven Star Privy Council.
"Your Excellency is wise. Our ships are weak and carry only a handful of firearms. Avoiding their sharp edges is the most correct choice." The staff officer agreed.
"Send the order to raise the tent," Qiao Zhenggang ordered, "Let all generals go to my tent to obey orders, and the entire army is prepared to engage the enemy!"
…
At this time, Noah's tree boat was also slowly approaching the port coast.
Since the blocking plan was approved by Mo Yun, Jinxia City immediately took action. It took half a month to prepare and half a month to set off. It was not until late August that the tree boat that restarted sailing finally crossed Gyeongju and headed north to the scheduled battlefield.
This plan is mainly based on the elves of the World Island, supplemented by alchemists such as Qian and Yan Qing. The primary purpose is to cut off the transportation lines of the Seven Stars so that the opponent cannot gather troops so smoothly. At the same time, it also eliminates ships at sea as much as possible and weakens the opponent's supply capacity. .
With the help of a new batch of binoculars, Jinxia and her party were able to clearly observe the movements on the shore.
High Priest Senia couldn't put it down - the change from a single tube to a double tube not only significantly expanded the field of view, but also allowed the distance of vision to be flexibly adjusted with a knob, and the clarity was also improved to an unprecedented level. Even from a distance of more than ten miles, one can catch the small mast rising from the sea.
This is of great significance to the elves who deal with the sea all year round.
If the production of the new batch of observation glasses was not limited and the exchange price was set quite high, she would really like to give each of her colleagues one.
"They found us." Yan Qing slowly moved her eyes and said.
The supervisors were using whips to drive the laborers to carry the materials piled on the dock, and the soldiers were also moving back in an orderly manner. The ships docked on the shore hurriedly raised their sails and left the port, heading north, with the intention of abandoning shore defense and giving up the dock.
It is not unexpected to be discovered by the enemy in advance.
The tree boat was basically the same as a hill. Its majestic outline gave it no concealment at all. Coupled with its limited sailing speed, the Secretariat had no intention of raiding the enemy from the beginning.
"It seems they want to lure you into a trap." Kong Xuanzi agreed, "Look at the foot of the cliff to the north."
Everyone looked at it and saw a huge man-made thing half hidden in the woods. At first glance, it looked like a lying cow made of wood, but its head was made of metal. It was obviously not for the sake of beautiful appearance. make.
Soon, several more lying cows were discovered.
Their body length is about a hundred feet, and their height is as high as two or three adults. It is almost impossible to move them to every corner of the camp by manual transportation alone.
"I'm afraid these are all machine beasts." Yan Qing judged.
"Nine times out of ten." Qian nodded, "If this thing collides with Xuanwu, let alone what means it uses to attack, the iron head alone is enough to block Xuanwu's bombardment."
After staying in Jinxia for a while, Yuyi had a new understanding of the city's strength.
He never imagined that complex metal parts could be continuously produced in the blink of an eye and assembled on a constantly sliding conveyor belt. It wasn't until he confirmed it with his own eyes that he realized what an amazing power it was to be able to knead metal and press it into any desired shape.
Relying on these new weapons, even ordinary people who have just joined the army can pose a threat to high-level alchemists. Even though the latter mastered many defensive techniques, they were still unable to withstand the overwhelming numbers and firepower.
The failure of the Privy Council House cannot be entirely blamed on Ning Qianshi and Fei Nian.
Nor was it a random coincidence.
Even if we fight again ten or hundreds of times, the outcome will not change much.
This made Qian gradually fall into Jin Xia's habit. When fighting the enemy, the first thing he thought about was no longer how to get close to the opponent and use his own abilities and experience to defeat the opponent. Instead, he first relied on range and firepower to take advantage and avoid getting hurt. Try not to suffer, and it is best to win "without a bloody blow".
For example, with the machine beast in front of him, he subconsciously considered whether the artillery could break through the defense.
"There is also a situation in the northern sea." Senia reminded, "They seem to be preparing an assault boat."
Not only that, everyone also noticed that the boat was filled with various bottles and cans.
There is no doubt that the contents must be flammable, either sulfur, saltpeter or grease.
After all, fire attack has always been an effective method to deal with large ships.
And Shuzhou was indeed afraid of starting a fire.
"They probably want to wait for the tree boat to dock before they attack us and hit us halfway across the river." Yan Qing put down the lookout glass and shook her head regretfully, "Unfortunately, we have no plan to engage in land battle. Your Excellency, the High Priest, what's next? It’s up to you.”
Senia waved her hand and signaled Ai Li and others in the distance to take off their rainproof artillery jackets, "I also want to try it out to see how the Machinery Bureau's new weapons perform in actual combat."