Chapter 120: The Crown Prince Has Cannons (Bonus Chapter — Please Recommend)

"Eldest Sister, the ship carrying the Zhu bandit Crown Prince has charged too far ahead and broken away from the sand ships behind it!"

The speaker was a battalion commander under Hongniangzi, nicknamed Fengmingshan, a fair-skinned man of about thirty with somewhat delicate features, who had once roamed the jianghu performing acrobatics with Hongniangzi. Later they had together taken Jigong Mountain in Xinyang and set themselves up as bandit kings, and after that he had followed Hongniangzi in joining Li Zicheng. In Hongniangzi's force he had always been the third-in-command, so he was also called Feng San.

"Heh heh heh, it seems the Eighteen Zhi of Fujian is just an empty name — they don't understand naval warfare at all."

Hongniangzi laughed smugly, and her lovely face, beautiful enough to be called the most stunning in the jianghu even without a trace of powder, grew all the more alluring — so much so that Third-in-Command Feng was a little entranced.

It was only a pity that the one Hongniangzi's heart belonged to was not his, Feng San.

"Feng San, you take the helm — I'll lead the men in boarding!" As Hongniangzi spoke, she had already picked up a single saber and a flying claw attached to a fine iron chain and walked to the bow, then crouched down and gripped the rope tied to the deck with one hand.

Third-in-Command Feng did not contend with Hongniangzi for the lead. Though this Elder Sister Hong was a woman, she had a fierce, headlong temperament and always liked to lead the charge herself in battle. As for command during the fight, that had always been left to Li Yan and Feng San, and today was no exception.

At this moment Li Yan was on the pontoon bridge over the Wei River directing the overall battle, Feng San was steering the boat for Hongniangzi, and Hongniangzi herself was personally leading the charge to board the enemy ship and seize Zhu Cilang!

And the great Dragon Head, the ship flying Zhu Cilang's banner, had indeed charged out far too prominently, clearly pulling away from the main force behind it.

But Li Yan was still extremely cautious — he could not bear to risk his wife. The swift boat carrying Hongniangzi was meant to deliver the final blow.

Before that, other boats had to ram into it and leave that great sand ship unable to move. Otherwise the swift boat carrying Hongniangzi could easily be capsized by the high-speed sand ship, and no matter how high Hongniangzi's martial skill, it would all be for nothing.

"General Zhi, that great sand ship seems to have stopped!"

Just then, someone to Li Yan's left and right suddenly shouted.

Whether or not they had sensed something was wrong, the oars on both sides of the great sand ship flying Zhu Cilang's banner suddenly stopped rowing. The sand ship, having lost its forward momentum, glided on for a while longer, then had no strength left to advance another half-foot, and came to a stop on the river less than two hundred paces from Li Yan's pocket formation.

What did this mean? They had seen the trap and refused to take the bait?

Too late!

Li Yan gave a cold laugh. "Beat the drums — all ships charge!"

"Aye!"

Below the bow deck of the Dragon Head sand ship, in a concealed cabin, the lamplight was dim and the space cramped. Yet in this narrow, gloomy cabin, so confined it made one feel a little suffocated, there stood two Macau-made 12-pounder cannons gleaming with a blue-black sheen.

The so-called Hongyi cannon was precisely this kind of 12-pounder. Tang Ruowang and Su Ziwen had already been ordered to inspect the cannons and ammunition. They had found that the workmanship of these two cannons and the quality of the gunpowder used were both superior to the Hongyi cannons and ammunition used in the defense of Beijing.

Moreover, the gunners employed by the Shen family had been trained by the Portuguese in Macau, and their skill in handling the guns was considerably higher than that of the two amateurs Tang Ruowang and Su Ziwen.

"Open the gun ports!"

Firearm Liu, the bow gunner who had come down into this bow gun cabin, gave the order in a loud voice.

At his command, the two gun ports cut into the square face of the bow were pushed open with a creaking sound.

"Run out the guns!"

Firearm Liu gave the order once more.

A dozen or so muscular men, stripped to the waist and bulging with muscle, divided into two teams at the order and pushed the muzzles of the two 12-pounder bronze cannons, mounted on four-wheeled gun carriages, out through the gun ports.

"Aim!" Firearm Liu ordered again.

Each of the two cannons had a gun captain, and both now stepped forward a few paces, pressed their heads to the gun ports, and watched while making hand signals.

These two cannons could be adjusted slightly in elevation and traverse, left and right, in order to aim at the target ahead.

Directly ahead of the Dragon Head was a grain transport boat capable of carrying five hundred shi of rice. Shields were mounted at the bow and along both sides, and behind the shields knelt men skilled in the water. They wore no armor — every man was in tight clothes and short jackets. Half of them carried bows and arrows, while the other half each held an iron claw attached to a rope. All of them were crouched low, half-squatting on the deck.

Oars extended between the shields along both sides of the boat, each gripped in the hands of sturdy, muscular boatmen, who rowed with all their might, driving the transport boat forward in a charge. Not one of the strong young men aboard the boat imagined that they had already become the target of two Hongyi cannons!

Boom-boom!

With two tremendous reports, Zhu Cilang felt the deck beneath his feet rock back and forth and side to side. Fortunately he had been prepared and was holding the railing — otherwise he would certainly have been thrown to the deck!

What the two cannons spat out was grapeshot, that is, canister shot. Two twelve-pound rounds of grapeshot — that was a blast that covered a huge area! The fine iron balls instantly formed a curtain of fire across the front of the Dragon Head and swept toward the targeted transport boat at tremendous speed. There was simply no possibility of missing.

And the transport boats had low freeboard, with no thick hull planks that could withstand grapeshot. As for the shields and such, against grapeshot from a 12-pounder cannon, having them or not was all the same! Each shot simply punched a hole straight through. And the balls that pierced the shields still had force to spare, still able to punch through several muscular bodies. Whether soldier or boatman, anyone struck by grapeshot was reduced to mangled flesh, broken bones and torn sinew. The lucky ones died without even having time to cry out. The wretched ones had their limbs shattered and lay there wailing in agony. Even the soldiers and boatmen lucky enough to escape unharmed were terrified by this sudden catastrophe.

The Zhu family Crown Prince was actually this cruel and treacherous, hiding cannons in the belly of his sand ship!

"The Crown Prince has cannons! Run for it!"

At someone's shout, everyone on the transport boat still able to move went plop-plop-plop into the water like dumplings, all leaping overboard.

"Eldest Sister, the Crown Prince has cannons!" Though Feng San had not been hit by cannon fire, he too was frightened.

Hongniangzi's face instantly turned ashen, and her full bosom heaved violently.

A whole boatload of her own brothers had been wiped out — more than half of them — by a single blast from the Zhu family Crown Prince!

Boom! Boom!

Before Hongniangzi could react, the cannons over there roared again!

The two cannons had switched targets, now aiming at another transport boat beside the one that had just been bombarded.

Again grapeshot, again a sky-covering hail of balls sweeping across the transport boat's deck, again a scene of Avici hell.

In the blink of an eye, the two savage Hongyi cannons had wiped out two boatloads of Li Yan and Hongniangzi's brothers!

"Run for it! Run for it!"

The men on the remaining transport boats all opened their throats and shouted. They were flesh and blood — how could they withstand such cannon bombardment?

Even as they shouted to flee, the transport boats on the water all began to back away. The boatmen rowed frantically, as if their lives depended on it, desperate to make their boats retreat faster. On several transport boats closer to the Dragon Head sand ship, the soldiers and boatmen simply stopped rowing altogether and threw themselves into the water like dumplings, abandoning their boats — saving their lives came first!

"Eldest Sister, let's pull back too!" Feng San shouted to Hongniangzi.

"No!" Hongniangzi's gaze turned instead toward the pontoon bridge where Li Yan was.

The pontoon bridge was the key to victory or defeat in today's battle. Once the Zhu bandits seized it, the Zhu bandit troops on the north bank of the Wei River would be able to cross the bridge into the battlefield on the south bank and support the fighting at the southern wall of Tianjin.

Moreover, to defend the pontoon bridge, Li Yan had stayed on the bridge with his men who could not swim, and in the urgency of the moment it would be hard for him to withdraw unscathed. Once that sand ship drew near, Li Yan's very life would be in danger!

For Li Yan to get away safely, she had no choice but to go and fight Zhu Cilang to the death!

"Charge! Come at that sand ship from the side!" Hongniangzi's ferocious stubbornness surged up all at once, and she shouted, "This old lady doesn't believe it has cannons on its side too!"

This old lady is going to fight it out with that Zhu brat!"

(End of Chapter)