Although Cai Mao was a fool, the Jingzhou navy was well-trained and selected elite. The fleet was at the fingertips of Gan Ning, and under the command of Gan Ning, they moved in unison like two dragons emerging from the water, leaving a beautiful arc on the lake and attacking the flank of the enemy army directly.
"Shoot!" As the two fleets approached each other, the commanding captain shouted.
The navy had already drawn their bows and arrows, and when the fleet approached rapidly, they heard bursts of bowstring sounds, and arrows shot towards the enemy ships like locusts.
The bandits reacted quickly and got into the bamboo cabins one after another. Only a few were unfortunately shot by arrows and fell into the water screaming.
"Damn it!" Gan Ning frowned as he watched the scene.
Only then did I realize that the bamboos used to build the cabin were not for cooling off, but for hiding from arrows. It seemed that the bandits were already familiar with the officers' and soldiers' fighting methods.
At the same time, the enemy army also launched a counterattack, with arrows fired from large and small boats, and the officers and soldiers used shields to block them.
Gan Ning was just about to use fire arrows when he saw that the Lingjiao ship was approaching rapidly. The enemy army was shooting arrows from a high position, and the shields could not block the arrows. The navy was completely exposed to the enemy army's arrows.
The Lingjiao ship was three times taller than the officers and soldiers' ships. As soon as the officers and soldiers raised their heads to fight back, they were hit in the face by a rain of arrows. They screamed and fell to the ground, without any strength to fight back.
A rain of arrows fell, and the sailors on the boat screamed and tried to block the arrows. The enemy soldiers on the surrounding small boats shot arrows continuously, blocking the surroundings. They were just targets on the big ship and could not block the arrows at all.
At this time, the encircling fleet had reached the two wings, but unexpectedly, the Lingjiao ship stopped as it said it would, turned around in the lake, adjusted its direction and followed, and the fleets on both wings were completely suppressed.
Gan Ning was furious when he saw this, raised his sword and shouted, "Let's go!"
The sailors rowed hard, and the officers' and soldiers' ships moved forward quickly, approaching the large ship on the left. The soldiers on the ships shot arrows one after another, and the bandits on the small boats were also unable to resist. Many ships were even smashed to pieces, and the bandits fell into the water.
At this time, the warship also crashed into the pirate ship, and the well-trained officers and soldiers showed their advantages in close combat. The archers took turns shooting arrows, and the rain of arrows did not stop for a moment. The pirate army had no chance to fight back and could only hide in the cabin.
At this time, Gan Ning rushed forward in his boat. Some soldiers jumped onto the enemy boat and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the bandits, killing them so badly that the bandits fled in panic and some were forced to jump into the lake.
Seeing that they could not hold out, the pirate ship immediately turned around and rowed towards the back of the Lingjiao ship. One of the large ships turned its wheels and rushed straight towards the tower ship.
Gan Ning stood at the bow with a gloomy face and raised his shield. The fleet moved out from the flank and began to attack the Lingjiao ship.
The bow of each warship is equipped with an iron spike or an iron-headed wooden spike. Their main function is to ram enemy ships, smashing or overturning them with a powerful impact force.
Bang, bang, bang—
The warship rammed hard into the Lingjiao ship, but the big ship just shook for a while and still rushed forward steadily, while the warship was hit back and some even had their bows broken.
"So solid?" Gan Ning's eyes were slightly stern. He never thought that the bottom of the boat could withstand the impact of the iron tip.
But he had no time to think at this time. The Lingjiao ship broke through the waves, and huge waves rolled. All the ships were up and down and shaking violently.
Gan Ning was still standing steadily on the boat. The archers on both sides' boats took the lead in launching an attack. Countless arrows rained down from the sky. All that could be heard was the sound of breaking wind. In an instant, a dense layer of arrows fell on the deck of the boat beneath his feet.
Bang-
The collision of the two large ships was like the collapse of the sky and the splitting of the earth. Water splashed several feet high and the mist formed a rainbow under the scorching sun.
Gan Ning roared and leaped from the heaving bow of the ship, as if stepping on the rainbow, and jumped directly towards the enemy ship.
At this time, the building ship was hit and lifted up from the water surface and thrown backwards. The Lingjiao ship also retreated backwards, but under the rotation of the water wheel, it quickly stabilized the hull and prepared to launch a second impact.
Liu Qi could see clearly from the lookout that the rebel army's Lingjiao ship was not only tall and stable, but also had a very strong bottom. The tower ship could not withstand the collision, and the sailors on the ship were caught off guard, and many people were thrown off the deck and fell into the lake.
At this time, Gan Ning had already boarded the enemy ship, followed by a dozen guards. These were companions who had fought alongside him for many years. They were all highly skilled in martial arts and took advantage of the chaos to charge directly into the cabin.
The pirates on the ship never thought that someone could actually break in, and in a blink of an eye, Gan Ning killed several of them. The pirates in the front cabin were suddenly in chaos and shouted for help.
The thief who was driving the boat was unaware of the situation at the bow and continued to ram the ship, even avoiding the impact of the warship. After the second collision, the officers' ship suddenly tilted, the lake water poured into the cabin, and slowly sank to the bottom of the lake.
Warships and sailboats rushed forward to meet the navy on the ship. The enemy army took the opportunity to shoot arrows. There were screams again. The water surface turned deep red in an instant and was a mess.
Boom boom boom—
Liu Qi was watching the battle when he suddenly heard a series of muffled noises coming from the bottom of the water. He immediately became terrified and shouted, "Someone is piercing the boat. Get out of the water!"
Gan Ning had left behind naval forces for protection. All of them wore fish-skin water jackets and held water-dividing spears. Upon hearing the order, they jumped into the water. Soon, strings of blood-red bubbles appeared at the bottom of the water, and the two armies began to fight at the bottom of the lake.
At this time, another Lingjiao ship of the bandit army rushed over and split Gan Ning's ship into two halves. Countless ships were smashed into pieces by it. Arrows rained everywhere it passed, and countless soldiers were killed and wounded.
When Gan Ning boarded the Flying Fish boat, the fleet was without a commander and was in chaos. The enemy boats behind took the opportunity to rush over, causing chaos in the navy fleet and numerous casualties.
"Sound the horn!" Seeing that the situation was not good, Liu Qi, and Gan Ning did not know what was going on, had no choice but to order a retreat.
Huang Zhong and Yang Ling led the fleet to provide cover from both wings. All the five tower ships were deployed and positioned across the center of the lake to prevent the enemy fleet from rushing over.
Ding ding ding—
The clear sound of the gong echoed across the lake. The officers and soldiers in the chaos scrambled for boats, steered the boats hard, and retreated backwards. The Lingjiao ship took advantage of the situation to catch up, and the morale of the bandit army was very high.
Huang Zhong stood at the bow, stretched out his arms, drew his bow and arrow, aimed at the bandits on the Lingjiao ship and kept shooting arrows. In an instant, several people screamed and fell to the ground.
Huang Zhong shot another arrow, which hit the mast of the ship. The flag on the bow fell down along with the sail.
Although the power of the Lingjiao ship was not entirely dependent on the sails, the wind was strong at the time and the ship was shaking violently, swaying left and right in the lake. The bandits who were standing on a high place and laughing and shooting arrows were in an uproar and hid in the cabin one after another.
Fortunately, those pirates were also experienced. They pedaled the water wheel and quickly stabilized the boat, bringing it to a sudden stop on the lake. The waves were rolling and the boat was up and down.
But the small boats around them could not stop their momentum and rushed straight to the officers and soldiers. Yang Ling had already prepared rockets on the boat, and at a command, all the flaming arrows were fired.
The bandit army's bamboo cabins were made of dried bamboo strips, which would catch fire immediately when exposed to fire. In an instant, the ship was on fire. The bandits screamed and jumped into the water to avoid it.
The intimidation of Huang Zhong's archery skills, coupled with the threat of fire arrows, balls of fire and curling black smoke, made the rebel army realize that the situation was not good. They slid away and fled.
But the other Lingjiao ship was circling in the center of the lake, neither charging forward nor retreating. It was surrounded by countless pirate ships and no one knew why.