The enemy fleet approached the fork of the Akishui River half a day later than expected. It wasn't until the afternoon of the fourth day that ten sailboats slowly appeared at the edge of vision.
Receiving the news, Fanna passed through six compartments in sequence, issued a preparatory order to the gun crew under his charge, and then returned to his own gun position.
"Where are the enemies?" Rodney lifted a narrow slit in the window baffle and peered out.
"They're at least several hundred meters away from us," Claw, who was responsible for observing the signal flags, shouted from the skylight. "I can't even see their shadows from here. There's too much weed on the roof."
In addition to the shooting window, each compartment also had a hole in the top near the wall. Climbing up two earthen steps, one could easily see the situation on the Akishui River.
"Speaking of weed, that green-haired witch's ability is simply incredible," Yupi said, wiping the slightly rusty cannon bore. "Wherever she goes, thin grassland grows like hair, covering the bunkers tightly, making them look like ordinary mounds."
"What green-haired witch," Fanna scolded. "That's Yezi xiaojie. She helped us bury vines in the woods on both sides during the first fight against the Duke's Knights, preventing the knights from detouring. Otherwise, those iron cans would have outflanked us through the woods, and we would have been in serious trouble."
"If we're talking about magic, which witch isn't extraordinary?" Rodney shrugged. "Building bunkers overnight, covering the ground with vines and weed, flying freely in the sky, and even transforming into a giant pigeon—these are things that mortals can't do."
"I still choose Nana Wa xiaojie as the most magical," Claw said with yearning and expectation. "I wonder if she will be gloriously wounded this time. If she is injured, I will be able to see her up close, and maybe even hear her comforting words."
"Pay attention to the enemy!" Fanna frowned and shouted, "If you dare to talk nonsense again, I'll punish you to go back and sweep the toilet!"
Claw stuck out his tongue and leaned out again.
The artillery captain sighed inwardly. Nowadays, these guys have lost their sense of tension and will no longer tremble like they did when they first arrived on the battlefield a few months ago. He couldn't say whether this change was good or bad. He always felt that they were underestimating their opponents too much, but he couldn't harshly reprimand his subordinates either, because he was no better himself—since becoming His Highness's soldier, Fanna's understanding of battle had undergone earth-shattering changes: the bloody and cruel fighting seemed to have nothing to do with strength, skill, or courage anymore. They only needed to repeat the steps they had memorized during training, prepare according to the procedures, meet the enemy according to the procedures, and fire according to the procedures to win.
Especially in the battle against the New King's militia in the small town, even though the opponents were surprisingly strong, fearless humanoid beasts, the battle only lasted for half an hour. When cleaning the battlefield, he discovered that he didn't even feel a trace of fatigue, as if he had just done a warm-up exercise before training, and the enemy had already collapsed.
If things continue to develop like this, will the fighting one day become so that we won't even see the enemy's face, and we can just operate these metal machines to annihilate the enemy thousands of miles away?
Just as Fanna was daydreaming, Claw's warning brought him back to his senses.
"I see the enemy!"
"Load ammunition!" Fanna shook his head, threw his distracting thoughts behind him, and ordered in a deep voice.
The compartment immediately became busy. This step had been practiced too many times, and now everyone could stuff the medicine bag and shells into the chamber with their eyes closed. Without having to consider resetting and adjusting the firing angle, the gun crew could fire once every twenty breaths.
Fanna had already memorized Roland’s and Iron Axe’s battle plan by heart—similar to the Border Town defense battle, only when the observers saw Lightning xiaojie’s red flag could they push down the camouflage baffle in front of the gun window and open fire. Gun crews No. 1 and 2, closest to the riverbank, would use case shot to sweep the decks, while the remaining gun crews would use solid shot to bombard the cabins.
He quietly waited for the arrival of the red signal flag.
……
Now, without a telescope, Lian could also see that the pseudo-king's fleet was gradually approaching the ambush site.
Compared to the three-masted or four-masted sailing ships that sailed on the sea, these ships were obviously much slenderer, without high bulwarks and railings. The low hull looked like it was sticking to the river surface. In addition to the bulging sails, a row of sailors sat on each side of the deck, slowly pushing the oars in their hands.
Until this moment, His Royal Highness still had not issued any orders.
She couldn't help but feel a little anxious. The observation post was set up on top of a higher hillside. Although it could overlook the entire battlefield, it was also far away from the river. Now that Lightning and Maggie were not by His Highness's side, considering the time it would take for the messenger to transmit the instructions to each squad, it would probably be too late to stop the fleet from passing through the Akishui River fork if it was any later.
Seeing that the sailboat at the front was about to pass through the earthen house, Lian couldn't help but want to ask a question when a loud rumbling suddenly rolled across the river. As if issuing an attack signal, more than a dozen plumes of smoke mixed with fire spewed out from the earthen house, and the muffled thunder rumbled continuously.
What exactly happened?
Lian turned her gaze back to the river, and then almost couldn't believe her eyes—she didn't see any knights or mercenaries in combat, but the deck of the first sailboat suddenly seemed to have exploded. Splinters of wood and fragmented limbs splashed everywhere, and more than half of the oarsmen were killed or injured in an instant. Clusters of blood mist rose up, dyeing the deck with a touch of scarlet.
After losing half of its power, the ship's forward speed quickly slowed down, and the rumbling sound did not stop at all. Before long, the towering mast in the center of the ship was cut in half by a bouncing shadow, swayed twice, and then crashed to the ground, knocking down two knights who had just crawled out of the cabin onto the deck.
Driven by the current, the sailboat slowly began to retreat, and other ships had to scatter to avoid it. Many people heard the noise and poured out of the cabins one after another, staring blankly at the leading sailboat that had become hell, looking a little at a loss.
Then a terrifying blow descended on the second ship.
The crowded deck made the blood mist even more turbulent. Lian could see that after the rolling thunder, several bright red open spaces had been created among the enemies who were originally close together, and the unlucky ones standing in the open spaces were broken into several sections. Some were still not dead, dragging their exposed intestines and wailing in pain. And the other lucky survivors jumped into the river to escape, unwilling to stay on this terrifying deck for another moment.
She finally understood what His Highness meant by "they can't get through," but... how did his subordinates do it?