Three Kingdoms Eschatology

Chapter 967

Alexander said: "It seems that the artillery is not very effective. We were all happy for nothing, and now the problem is back to the original point. Should we withdraw or use our lives to capture this fortified city?"

Everyone bowed their heads in silence. At this time, some soldiers picked up the barrels that exploded and piled them in a mess not far from the generals.Zhao Yun folded his hands on his chest, pacing back and forth with a frowning expression, his eyes accidentally fell on these gun barrels, he was stunned for a moment, then he slapped his thigh and shouted loudly: "Yes! There is a solution."

The loud voice startled everyone.Ma Chao asked anxiously: "Zilong, have you come up with a good solution?" Zhao Yun did not answer him, but called the captain of the artillery team, pointed to the shattered barrels and said, "Is this gunpowder a good idea?" Can it have such great power in any confined environment?"

The captain replied: "The general is right. The artillery uses this principle to burst the shells. In a relatively closed environment, the momentum of the gunpowder explosion is limited by the surrounding gun barrels, so we can only use all the strength On the cannonball, the cannonball is shot out of the barrel at high speed. If the quality of the barrel is not good enough to withstand the pressure, the entire barrel will burst, which is what we commonly call blasting the chamber.”

Zhao Yun then said: "So, if enough gunpowder is put into a section of the tunnel and then ignited, it can also destroy the tunnel, and even overturn the buildings above the tunnel?"

The captain nodded solemnly and said: "Of course it is possible. In fact, our secret base of casting cannons is built on an iron ore. The iron ore mining is to use gunpowder."

Zhao Yun patted Ma Chao on the shoulder and said, "That's all right, we can smash Byzantium today!"

Most of the generals suddenly realized what Zhao Yun meant.Only a few who are not enlightened still don't understand Zhao Yun's meaning.

Alexander said: "It just so happens that our tunnel has been dug under the Byzantine city wall. It seems that our efforts have not been in vain these days. Don't hesitate, we can start now."

Zhao Yun immediately arranged it, but he still declined Alexander's idea of ​​sending someone to help.He didn't even send anyone other than the artillery team of the Liang Army to do these things, but the captain of the artillery team dispatched people to carry the gunpowder packs into the tunnel.

This is a pain for the soldiers of the artillery team, and they usually have no training in drilling holes to transport objects.They carried large baskets of gunpowder and filed forward in a tunnel that was only four feet high and required kneeling to crawl.And in order to ensure oxygen, too many people can't enter at a time, and of course they can't light the fire and can only move forward in the dark.

Five full hours had passed, and the soldiers in charge of carrying the gunpowder in the artillery team were all exhausted.At this time, at the end of the tunnel, a space several battles long has been filled with gunpowder.This place is right under the walls of the Byzantine city.Liang Jun used a hemp rope soaked in naphtha as a fire twist, and spread it from the gunpowder pile at the end of the tunnel to the entrance of the cave.

After everything was ready, it was already dark.However, the army formation of the Liang-Luo coalition army is still in full swing, and it has advanced nearly a hundred battles.It's just that the cavalry still stayed where they were, and the ears of the war horses were stuffed with cotton and other things to prevent them from being startled by the loud explosion.

A soldier of Liang Jun trotted to Zhao Yunhe and reported, "General Qi, everything is ready."

Zhao Yun said without the slightest hesitation: "Light it up!"

The fire rope was then ignited, and the flames immediately spread along the fire rope into the tunnel at high speed.Following the command of the general in the army formation, all the soldiers fell to the ground.Covered his ears with his hands.In fact, these generals didn't know why they had to lie on the ground, but the captain of the artillery team told them to do so.

The captain also didn't know how powerful the gunpowder was, so to be on the safe side, he asked the army to wait outside the city wall for hundreds of battles, and suggested that the soldiers should lie down on the ground.

Time passed by, but there was still no movement.Zhao Yun, who had already covered his ears, and Ma Chao, Alexander and others began to beating drums in their hearts, thinking that this operation would fail if it was not done well.Then their blocked ears still heard a loud bang.Those horses whose ears had been blocked all raised their front hooves in shock.

At the same time, everyone felt the ground tremble violently, as if encountering a medium-sized earthquake.In the night, they saw that the dark city wall in front of them arched upwards, and then quickly collapsed.The entire east wall of Byzantium collapsed like this, and thousands of defenders on the wall were buried in the ruins in an instant.

It took a long time for the coalition soldiers lying on the ground to react.Ma Chao jumped up first, jumped on the mount that had just regained his composure, and then pointed the lance in his hand into the air: "Kill!", and then more than [-] cavalry in the army under his command rushed forward.However, the cavalry did not rush to the forefront, but the infantry carrying long planks at the forefront. Their duty was to provide a convenient path for the follow-up soldiers on the ruins.

When Ma Chao led them to the ruins, their nostrils were filled with the smell of gunpowder smoke and dust, and the choking soldiers coughed involuntarily.However, there were no signs of life on the ruins except for the groans of a few wounded Roman soldiers crushed in the ruins.Liang Jun's soldiers were also unambiguous, and solved the pain of these wounded defenders one by one.Then these Liang Jun soldiers laid planks while tidying up the obstacles on the ruins.Soon pave the way for a wide road.

When the first batch of Liang Army infantry rushed into the city, they still encountered no obstacles. It seemed that most of the defenders had been buried under the ruins.When they rushed towards the government office of Byzantine city along the not-so-long main street, they were intercepted by a cavalry of two or three hundred cavalry.

These defender cavalry and their mounts were frightened by the violent explosion and "earthquake" just now.Therefore, their horses ran slowly and weakly. When they rushed to the front of the Liang army crowd, they were killed by javelins that hit like a shower, and the remaining horses fled in panic.

Ma Chao led the charge at the front, followed by four or five hundred heavy armored cavalry. They passed through the city like a whirlwind, and rushed to Ximen.At this time, the small number of defenders on the west wall had gathered in front of the west gate, and they were ready to throw their javelins.

Ma Chao has excellent eyesight and can see these things clearly. He reined in the horse and turned the horse into the narrow street beside him, and the cavalry behind him also poured into it.

The defenders saw that the target was not coming, and when they were about to relax a little, they found another group of Liang Army infantry coming from behind.

Chapter 968

Byzantine Simon.Seeing Ma Chao's cavalry detour, the defenders were about to put down their javelins, but when they saw another wave of Liang army infantry running wildly behind them, they had no choice but to raise their javelins over their shoulders again.

However, when Liang Jun was still more than ten battles away from them, he had already raised the individual ballista in his hand.With the sound of piercing through the air, the crossbow gun shot away quickly.Puff puff puff, a row of crossbow guns fired at the shield wall of the Roman defenders and passed through the shield.

A soldier with a shield was pierced in the arm by a crossbow that passed through the shield. He yelled in pain, and when he didn't pay attention, there was a gap on the upper edge of the shield, and another crossbow hit his head.After his body fell to the ground, a gap appeared in the shield wall, and then seven or eight crossbow guns passed through the gap and shot at the soldiers behind.The group of Roman defenders suddenly became a mess, revealing more and more flaws.

Seeing that the situation was not good, a centurion shouted loudly: "Rush up, javelin!" His call obviously caught the point.Liang Jun was relying on the range advantage of individual ballistas to suppress them. As long as they could advance another five or six battles, they would be able to eliminate Liang Jun's advantage.

But it was too late, Ma Chao had already made a detour from other streets and alleys, and entered the formation directly from their flanks.Ma Chao, who was at the forefront, stabbed wildly with his silver spear, and the shadow of the gun immediately filled the air.Five or six defenders fell under his gun one after another, and the heavy cavalry of the Liang army behind him also rushed to greet the enemy with their spears and maces.Countless enemy soldiers were directly knocked down by their huge mounts.

Ma Chao's charge immediately collapsed the will of the last resisting Roman defenders.They fled, fled, and fell, disintegrating in an instant.At this time, Alexander's army and Zhao Yun's army also rushed into the city, and the remaining Roman defenders had completely given up resistance.Seeing that the walls on all sides were blocked by the enemy, they had to wave out white flags to surrender one after another.

Just as the coalition soldiers searched for the remaining enemy soldiers and trophies hidden in the city.A centurion of Alexander was secretly digging hard on the ruins.It turned out that he still didn't give up, trying to find some samples of Liang Jun's magical gunpowder.

In the distance, the captain of the Liang Army Artillery Team saw it, and couldn't help sneering, secretly thinking that these Romans are really stupid, they don't know that once the gunpowder is ignited, there will be no dregs left, so how could they find the leftovers.Now that all the gunpowder has been completely consumed, the burden of secrecy on him has been greatly eased.

At this time, Zhao Yun led the most elite guard battalion straight to the warehouse in the city. When he ordered the soldiers to open the warehouse door and found a large amount of food and grass intact, he was relieved.

On the second night after the Liang army broke through Byzantium, a small Roman galley warship quietly approached the coast of the Cape where Byzantium is located.

It is impossible for a ship to approach such a cliff-shaped coast, otherwise it will inevitably run aground in the rough waves.But suddenly two people in the boat jumped into the sea one after another, and swam towards the coastal reef nimbly like dolphins.Obviously two people with excellent water skills, they were able to climb up the reef steadily in the wind and waves.Then he took out the climbing tool on his waist and climbed up the cliff.

They were two scouts sent by Macrinus, whose troop transport fleet had sailed into the Aegean Sea not far from Asia Minor.Makrinus, who had been drifting at sea for more than half a month, was afraid that the situation of the battle would change, so he sent these two scouts, and specifically told them not to land on the only beach on the headland.Because Byzantium may have been occupied by the Liang army now, a secret sentry was probably set up on that beach.

The two scouts who climbed the cliff soon confirmed that Byzantium had fallen into the hands of the enemy, and had to hurry back to the ship and rush back to the fleet to report to Macrinus.

In the early morning, the sun covered the Aegean Sea, and a fleet of hundreds of large and small galley warships was leaving a certain coast of Crete, and continued to sail eastward along the coastline of the island.Macrinus was sitting on the largest of the flagships, and a soldier reminded him: "The two scouts you sent the day before yesterday have returned."

Makrinus waved his hand and said, "Let them come up." Soon Makrinus learned that Byzantium had fallen.After letting the scouts and commanding soldiers leave with a livid face, he beat his feet and chest and howled in the specially separated narrow cabin: "I'm really afraid of something! I didn't expect Byzantium to really miss it. There are 2000 people stationed in such a city. The strong fortress of the city has not been held for a month!", howling and throwing anything he could find.

After half an hour.After venting, he began to think about other issues of what to do now.Of course, Macrinus knew that Byzantium had a large amount of food and grass hoarded, because this was done in accordance with his earlier edict.

It's just that he didn't know whether the food and grass were still intact after Liang Jun captured Byzantium.If the food and grass had been destroyed, then he still had a chance to defeat Liang Jun and Alexander by chance.On the contrary, he can only choose a place on the other side of the Black Sea Strait to face-to-face decisive battle with the Alexander Allied Forces of Liang State.

After much deliberation, he decided to let the fleet sail into the Sea of ​​Marmara, stationed on Marmara Island in the sea, and then send scouts to observe the movement of the Liang army and look for the broken troops that escaped from the city, so as to know whether the enemy successfully captured the island. The grain depot in the city.Then decide on your next move.

The Sea of ​​Marmara is said to be a sea, but it is actually a strait from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.Its widest point is no more than a hundred miles.It's just that there is a narrow strait that is only a few hundred feet wide at each end of it, connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea respectively, making it look like an inland sea.

If Makrinus, who was stationed on Marmara Island, finds that the situation is wrong, he can quickly retreat to Thrace on the north coast to deploy defenses and intercept the Liang army from crossing the sea.On the contrary, he can continue to march eastward across the sea and directly cut off the grain road of Liang Guo and Alexander's coalition forces.Let them create chaos on their own.

Not long after, Makrinus integrated several waves of scout intelligence on the south bank and determined that there was still enough food and grass in Byzantium.He had no choice but to follow the plan and let his army land in Thrace on the northern shore of the Sea of ​​Marmara one after another.He also set up defenses on the cape opposite the narrow waterway. He was sure that Liang Jun, who had no ships, wanted to cross the sea. He could only build a pontoon bridge in this narrow waterway. May build.

In the Thracian area opposite the Byzantine Cape, countless camps were built overnight.Macrinus set up a defensive line on the Thrace Cape opposite the Byzantine Cape, cutting off the entire promontory, but deliberately leaving a lot of space in front of the defense line...

Chapter 969 Fleet

In fact, as early as when the Macrinus fleet entered the Sea of ​​Marmara, their whereabouts were discovered by Alexander scouts patrolling the cliffs on the shore of another narrow strait.

Alexander then called an emergency military council in Byzantium's half-burned government office.All the generals were overjoyed when they heard the news.If Byzantium is conquered a few days later, Makrinus is likely to send some reinforcements to land on the only beach on the headland to support Byzantium, while using the main force to copy the coalition's rear food road.

After that, whether it was Alexander's side or Liang Jun's side, most of the generals' opinions were to hurry up to cross the Byzantine Strait and land in Thrace to prevent the enemy from deploying defenses on the Thrace Cape on the opposite bank in advance.

However, Zhao Yun put forward a different opinion: "No, we shouldn't have crossed the sea so early."

After hearing Zhao Yun's words, all the generals were puzzled.Ma Chao first exclaimed: "Zilong, why did you say such a thing. Once the enemy army is deployed on the opposite side of the sea, it will be more difficult for us to cross the sea again, and the casualties will increase greatly."

The rest of the generals also raised the same question.However, Alexander pondered for a while and said, "I know what General Zhao Yun thinks. Even if we cross the sea now, the enemy's main force and fleet are still there. Once we continue westward, they will cut off the strait at any time. So General Zhao Yun I want to fight the opponent nearby and eliminate this part of the enemy army."

Zhao Yun continued: "Your Majesty Alexander is right, that's exactly what he thinks. It's okay if the other party doesn't have a fleet, but now the other party has more than a hundred excellent Roman galley warships. Once we cross the sea and continue westward, there will be no How many troops are there to protect the pontoon bridge built on the strait. These warships will easily destroy it. Once we lose the pontoon bridge and the enemy lands on the headland again. Then our army crossing the strait will become a single army, and the consequences will be disastrous. "

All the generals suddenly realized, but Ma Chao suddenly said: "Speaking of the Roman naval fleet, someone remembered something. Half a year ago, when I led the army to fight in the North African battlefield. The governor there told me that although Macrinus You stole your position as Emperor of Rome. But many people who acknowledged him actually did not obey his authority. For example, several Roman naval fleets never showed up on the North African battlefield, even though they were less than a hundred miles away from the North African coastline So far away. So where did the fleet of Macrinus come from now? Why did he suddenly obey him again?"

Alexander said indifferently: "I also wondered about this at first. After interrogating several scouts captured by us, I found out that this fleet is the Apennine Fleet, which was responsible for defending the east and west coasts of Apennine Island. The captain of the fleet is indeed not Macrinus. But at that time, Macrinus only asked the fleet to help him transport troops in the form of an imperial edict. Fleet Admiral Julian probably thought that he could return by transporting Macrinus’s army to the designated location, so he executed this order , dispatched more than a hundred warships for Macrinus to use."

Ma Chao continued: "That is to say, these warships do not necessarily obey the command of Makrinus. So Brother Zilong is worried that the fleet will destroy our pontoon bridge in the future. It may not necessarily happen."

There was a smile on the corner of Alexander's mouth and said: "That's right, but on the other hand, these warships may not obey the command of Macrinus. You must know that Macrinus is the Roman emperor they recognize after all. And Julian The command of these hundreds of warships has been handed over to Macrinus. Therefore, I still agree with General Zhao Yun's opinion, and we will deal with this enemy army first. Besides..."

Speaking of this, Alexander paused, and then continued after sweeping his eyes from the faces of every Roman general: "Besides, even without this fleet, we'd better get rid of Macrinus and his cronies here. Troops. If we can do this, we will end this civil war as quickly as possible and with as little cost as possible."

Zhao Yun took the words and said: "So, let's finalize this decision, and then we will carefully discuss the tactics..."

……

Thracian Cape Barracks.Macrinus is constantly studying a map in the large tent of the Chinese army.At this time, a Roman admiral-like person broke in.He is a naval captain and the supreme commander of more than a hundred ships moored in the Sea of ​​Marmara.

Macrinus glanced at him sideways, and had already guessed why he came in, but he still asked knowingly, "Why do you want to ask?"

The other party hurriedly said respectfully: "Your Majesty Macrinus. I am humbled by my superior --- Fleet Commander Julian's order to carry Your Majesty and thousands of officers and soldiers. Now Your Majesty has landed safely, and my humble mission has been completed. My humble He is here to bid farewell to His Majesty and to lead the fleet back to Hong Kong to return to Hong Kong."

In fact, the captain didn't intend to say goodbye to Makrinus at all, he just wanted to quietly take the fleet away and let it go.Unexpectedly, the temporary pier where the warship was moored on the northern shore of the Sea of ​​Marmara was blocked by the soldiers of Macrinus, and neither he nor his men could board the ship.So he had to come to see Macrinus, saying that he was leaving, but in fact it was to let Macrinus order to let him go.

Makrinus didn't even lift his eyelids, he still lowered his head to study his map, but said in his mouth, "No! You can't leave yet."

When the captain heard this, he said anxiously: "Your Majesty, what is the use of keeping me here? Is it to deliver food and grass for the army. But isn't there a commercial fleet specially requisitioned to do this? And there are land The food road above is available."

Macrinus sneered and said, "Who told you to transport food and grass? I need your battleship to rush out when Liang Jun crossed more than half of the strait and completely destroy their pontoon bridge."

The captain was stunned for a moment, and then said: "Uh, no... The order given to me by the commander of the fleet was only to escort His Majesty and the army to land, and he didn't say that we should participate in the battle. Moreover, we didn't prepare for the battle. I didn’t bring all the soldiers, and I didn’t bring a lot of equipment…”

Macrinus' face suddenly sank and said: "You still know how to call me Your Majesty, which means you still know that I am the emperor of the Roman Empire. My words are the laws of the empire and the highest military order in the army. Your fleet captain must also Follow my orders."

The captain was so anxious that his head was sweating, he couldn't speak clearly: "That's a good statement...but...it's not right either."

Markrinus waved his hand and shouted: "What's wrong? You are no longer suitable for this position, so I will dismiss you now. From today onwards, the fleet will be under my personal command."

Chapter 970 The Great Gift of Macrinus

Before the captain could make any more arguments, Makrinus had already shouted: "Come on! Take this guy who contradicted His Majesty the Emperor and take him under strict supervision!"

Immediately, several of Macrinus' personal soldiers rushed in, tied up the captain involuntarily, and escorted him out.Then Macrinus called together the captains of more than a hundred large and small warships, and directly informed their commanders that they had been imprisoned for military justice because they disobeyed the emperor's military order.They are required to follow the command of Macrinus directly in their future actions.These are equivalent to a centurion, the captain of a thousand captains dared not object, so he nodded in agreement.Macrinus didn't feel at ease like this, and arranged a supervisor for each battleship, which was considered to be at ease.

A few days later, news finally came from the checkpoint at the front of the headland—Liang Jun started to build a pontoon bridge, ready to cross the sea.Macrinus was both joyful and nervous. The rest of his life and the prosperity and wealth of future generations depended on the result of this battle. He could only win but not lose.

……

Liang Jun's baggage trucks were parked on the beach.The soldiers of the supply battalion are laying the pontoon bridge in an orderly manner.From the beach to the coastal plateau where the city of Byzantium is located is a rugged mountain road five or six feet wide.At this time, more baggage trucks were slowly descending the mountain road, transporting materials and equipment to build the pontoon bridge to the beach.

This beach is unique to the Byzantine Cape, and it happens that it is directly opposite the beach of the Thrace Cape.The waterway between the two is only more than two hundred lines wide, so it is perfect to build a pontoon bridge here.

However, the sea is different from inland waterways after all. Even on a sunny day with no wind, the sea is still rolling with three-foot waves.This made Liang Jun's heavy soldiers, who were not used to operating in wind and waves, much slower.

At this time, Zhao Yun and others were building a pergola and looking at the opposite beach.The terrain on the opposite bank is not like the highlands like the headland where Byzantium is located. Behind the beach is an endless plain, and even the outline of the Macrinus army company can be vaguely seen.But on the right side of the beach there is a hilly terrace more than ten feet high.

Seeing this, Zhao Yun immediately said to the guards around him: "Allow our twenty scouts and one hundred of the most elite infantry to swim across the sea ahead of time. The first task is to search for enemy ambushes near the beach. Then we directly stationed troops on the small hill to monitor the movements of the surrounding enemy troops."

Soon, more than a hundred soldiers of the Liang army rushed into the sea with bamboo rafts.It is obviously different from rafting in the inland river at sea. Before long, they all fell into the water under the turbulence of the waves. They had to hold the bamboo raft with their hands and step on the water with their feet. .

In less than an hour, these more than a hundred scouts and elite infantry boarded the small hill and sent a signal to this side with semaphore.Only then did Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Alexander and others realize that Macrinus did not set up an ambush on the opposite bank, nor did he even intend to intercept their landing.After disembarking from the beach, they have to advance four or five miles in depth to encounter the Macrinus army camped there.

Ma Chao said with a chuckle, "Macrinus wouldn't be so kind, would he let us go to fight him without hindrance?"

Alexander sneered and said: "Of course not, they must have set a trap. It should be what we expected in our earlier meeting. When we pass through half or most of the army, their fleet will suddenly appear on the sea, and then Launch an attack on our pontoon bridge, smash our bridge and people into the sea to feed the fish. At the same time, they will launch an overwhelming attack from the front."

Zhao Yun took over the words and said, "Their hundreds of ships must be hidden in the Sea of ​​Marmara. Although the area of ​​this inland sea is not large, it's a pity that we don't have warships, so it is impossible to search for them in the Sea of ​​Marmara. We can only wait They came to our door. Now that Makrinus really gave us such a big gift as we expected, how can we not accept it?"

After a day and a night of hard work, Liang Jun's heavy soldiers finally laid the pontoon bridge on the opposite beach, and it was already dawn at this time.

Alexander gave an order, and the Roman legion under his command crossed the sea first.These Roman infantry were divided into dozens of small phalanxes, and they crossed the pontoon bridge mightily.Then quickly set up a formation behind the beach, lined up.Prevent the enemy from suddenly launching an attack on the coalition forces that are landing on the beach.

Then a large number of Liang army's supply vehicles and longbow chariots drove across the pontoon bridge.These baggage carts and chariots were parked in a seemingly messy manner on the shore beach behind Alexander's army formation.

Next, when it was Liang Jun's turn to ride across the sea, the scouts arranged by Zhao Yun to observe and monitor on the coast sent information one after another——Macolinus' fleet was sailing into this narrow strait.

On the surface of the water, the long oars on the wings of more than a hundred Roman galley warships flipped up and down, stirring up billowing white waves, and driving the warships at high speed.In order to avoid the shore as much as possible and prevent enemy attacks on the cliffs on both sides of the strait, these warships lined up, trying to drive in the middle of the strait.

Finally, the vision of the captains on these battleships suddenly became clear.The cliff on one side drops down to a plain beach, and although the other side is still a cliff, there is a beach twenty or thirty feet wide under the cliff.

At this time, what the captains were most concerned about was whether there were a large number of ballistas set up by Liang Jun on both sides of the strait.If there is, they will immediately turn the bow and withdraw.Fortunately, they only saw the tents scattered all over the beach for the temporary rest of the soldiers who built the pontoon bridge, as well as the luggage carts placed indiscriminately.

Enemy soldiers on both sides of the strait had spotted them and shouted loudly, and even arrows continued to shoot at them.Although the heavy arrows shot by a longbow can fly hundreds of battles away and barely reach the warships that are pulled aside, they have no effect.

The captains finally saw the pontoon bridge lying ahead, on which there were still a large number of enemy soldiers crossing the sea.Now it is too late for the enemy to set up ballistas.Because it only took half a quarter of an hour for them to turn the floating bridge into a pile of broken logs floating on the water.Then their fleet rushed directly into the Black Sea, and everything was fine.

With a muffled bang, the captain of the battleship at the forefront, who was observing the enemy's situation on the deck, flew out under the action of inertia, and was thrown to the bow of the ship.He thought that his warship had crashed into the pontoon bridge, but he struggled to look up and saw that the pontoon bridge was still placed more than twenty battles away.

Soldiers on the ship already shouted: "It's not good, it seems that we have hit the rocks!"

In fact, they didn't hit the rocks, but were stopped by Liang Jun's iron ropes blocking the river.A ship in the rear was caught off guard and hit the tail of the battleship again.

Almost at the same time, the crowd of coalition soldiers on both sides of the strait suddenly burst into drums and horns.They who were originally chaotic suddenly acted methodically...

Chapter 971 The Burning Strait

There were yells of panic from the stalled Roman galley.The sailors on board finally discovered that they were not hitting the rocks, but were stopped by artificial obstacles. .

"It's not on the rocks! The cabin should be flooded. Now only the stern of the ship is leaking because it was hit by the ship behind, and the rest of the ship is not leaking. It seems that someone in the water set up iron chains to stop the ship!"

The captain of this ship hurriedly said: "Nonsense. If there are iron cables in the water, we can easily cut any iron cables with the ram angle in front of our underwater stern. Send a few people down to see what it is. "

Immediately, there were several sounds of jumping into the water, and after a while, a voice came from the sea outside the ship: "It is indeed an iron chain! This iron chain is almost close to the sea surface and blocked in front, so the angle of impact at the stern of the ship has changed from It slid under and couldn't cut it off."

The captain continued to shout: "Quick! Find a way to break it!"

At this moment, the rest of the ships stopped one after another, not knowing whether to turn around or wait for the ships ahead to clear the obstacles.Then the soldiers on these ships also began to yell.Because they found that the tents and baggage trucks scattered on the beaches on both sides of the strait showed their front faces.

After the tents were opened one after another, ballistas that had been placed and erected were revealed.Those baggage carts were also turned over, revealing the ballista installed inside.

Liang Jun and all the ballistas in Alexander's army, a total of five or six hundred were assembled on both sides of the waterway less than two miles long, with an average of one ballista every four meters on each side.

This narrow waterway sandwiched between two beaches is three miles long and only three hundred miles at its widest point.Liang Jun's ballista has a range of up to 150 battles.The shooting range of the ballista on both sides of the strait is just enough to cover the entire waterway, and everyone knows what the current situation means. "Quick! What are you still doing in a daze, turn the bow quickly." The captain of a galley warship shouted.

However, it was already too late, countless fireballs rose from the beaches on both sides of the strait, throwing them directly at the large and small warships on the water.Some fireballs fell into the water and a plume of blue smoke rose, but a considerable part of the fireballs fell on the deck of the ship, soaring into the sky.Some fireballs even penetrated directly into the portholes of the galley warship, filling the interior of the cabin with flames.Even if the sailors inside were not caught in the flames, they would suffocate to death due to the sudden depletion of oxygen.