Chapter 408: War Horn

The sun leaned west, sunlight piercing through the branches of the trees and casting dappled spots of light upon the warship.

Zhao Xu led Mi Wen and the students down from the riverbank to the edge of the dry dock pit.

Here, a crossbeam spanned the gap between the warship's deck and the concrete wall's edge.

At this moment, the eyes of Mi Wen and the students were fixed and wide.

Although they had all trained in Fanyang, they had never been allowed near the Shipbuilding Department.

Now, seeing such a massive warship lying before them, the shock in their hearts was no less than seeing a meteor fall right in front of them.

Thinking that this was the warship they were about to operate, every one of them was flushed with excitement.

Many students could hardly wait to jump onto the warship and kiss the deck.

Zhang Yazi was also among the students; he cast a look of adoration at the warship, as if he were seeing Er Ya from his village.

"My mother, this big treasure could smash Gaoli's warships into smithereens even just by ramming them," Zhang Yazi exclaimed.

A student beside him had learned a little about warships in the academy.

Pointing to a small, window-like opening on the side of the warship, he said, "This warship isn't meant for ramming enemies, but for using artillery to strike enemy ships."

"Artillery?" Zhang Yazi felt his brain couldn't keep up.

During the Battle of Yanguan, news about artillery had spread.

He had heard that one shot could shatter both men and horses.

He hadn't expected this artillery could also be mounted on warships.

At this thought, he became even more excited.

"This thing is the mast; it hasn't been fitted with soft sails yet, but once it launches, they will be attached. The mast is the hardest part to operate on a warship," Zhao Xu said as he crossed the crossbeam, stepped onto the deck, and pointed at the three upright thick timbers.

Mi Wen nodded, his expression like that of a student listening humbly to a lecture.

"That highest disc-like object is the observation deck. When the warship is sailing, someone must be specifically stationed up there to watch the situation on the sea."

"This is the alarm bell; once an enemy is encountered, the alarm bell can be rung."

The deck of a sailing warship is basically flat and level.

After a brief introduction, he led Mi Wen and the others down the stairs into the interior of the warship.

At this moment, a thick smell of wood rushed into their noses.

"This is where the crew rests."

"And this is the gun deck," Zhao Xu introduced as he walked.

Under his introduction, Mi Wen and the others gained a general understanding of the warship's structure.

Today, he did not expect the students to be thoroughly familiar with the warship, only to broaden their horizons.

Soon, they would be spending every day on the warship for training.

In the evening, the group left the Shipbuilding Department.

Zhao Xu ordered the Commandery Governor in the city to prepare a courtyard for lecturing.

In the following time, he lectured every morning, teaching them latitude and longitude and triangular angle calculation, and in the afternoon, he took them to the warship to simulate operating the sails.

Besides the students, Mi Wen also brought the Navy soldiers over to train together.

After all, the commanders needed to master navigation techniques, while the soldiers were the ones needed to operate the sails and fight.

Four days later, the Armament Department sent over the first sextant, so he simply went directly to the warship for on-site teaching, while also urging the Armament Department to send the artillery intended for the warship to Fanyang.

Once the warship was completed, the artillery would be mounted.

During this period, the Armament Department had stopped delivering artillery to Chang Wei.

Because the quantity of artillery was already sufficient.

Therefore, what they had been manufacturing all along were actually the naval cannons for the warship.

This type of artillery was the same as the siege cannon, belonging to the heavy artillery category.

The contemporary red-coated cannon was a replica of the Netherlands' naval cannon.

While Zhao Xu was conducting intensive training for the Navy, Chang Wei was not idle either.

At this time, in a wilderness in Wuan County, Zhong Li led the cavalry, pretending to be Beidi cavalry, and launched attack after attack on the chariot formation.

They used crossbows to replace the bows and arrows of the Beidi, but the arrows fired had no arrowheads.

Facing the chariot formations arranged in circles, Zhong Li was at his wit's end.

In the end, he had to abandon his warhorse and act as Beidi infantry for hand-to-hand combat.

But the flintlock infantry inside the chariot formation kept firing, and when they suffered heavy casualties and broke into the formation, they faced soldiers who had long been standing by, who used cloth-wrapped wooden sticks to knock them over.

Even more hateful was that the artillerymen were also hiding inside the chariot formation; they pushed the artillery flush with the war chariots and fired outward through the gaps between the chariots.

During the charge, they were constantly being ruled as casualties.

There were also cavalry inside the chariot formation; once they were routed, the Wangfu Army soldiers would open the iron chains and let the cavalry charge out to pursue them.

"All killed in action!"

After another charge, the general commanding the exercise shouted.

Upon hearing this, Zhong Li said to Chang Wei, "General, let someone else play the Beidi; this battle is impossible to fight."

Chang Wei patted Zhong Li on the shoulder, "Keep persisting; no one else acts as well as you do. After fighting these past few days, this general has accumulated quite a bit of experience, which will be very useful on the battlefield in the future."

Seeing that Zhong Li still had a look of utter despair.

He said, "When we return to Yancheng, this general will gift you three jars of Wangfu fine wine."

Hearing this, Zhong Li immediately stood up, full of spirit, "It's a deal."

Seeing this, Chang Wei laughed and scolded, "You brat, you just want to extort my wine."

Zhong Li merely dodged Chang Wei's sweeping kick and ran off laughing.

Before long, the horn sounded again, and Zhong Li, playing the Beidi cavalry, charged toward the chariot formation once more.

The drills for the infantry and cavalry and the training for the Navy were proceeding intensely, and the days passed one by one.

The twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, the twenty-third year of Taihe.

Zhao Xu received an Imperial Edict from Zhao Heng.

It ordered him to arrive at Qin Pass no later than the fifth day of the tenth month.

"The Warship can be launched," Zhao Xu said to Chen Shou after reading the Imperial Edict.

At this moment, he was on the Warship; although the weather had turned cold, he was covered in sweat.

On the floor of the Dry Dock, several stoves were burning charcoal, raising the temperature here quite high.

"Yes, Your Highness."

Chen Shou had also been waiting for this day; although it was not perfect, the Warship was finally going to be launched.

He immediately ordered people to clear the Dry Dock and remove the stoves.

Then he ordered the sluice gates facing the river to be opened, and the river water rushed in; as the water level rose, the Warship floated up continuously until it was finally level with the river surface.

The other dry docks were the same, with Warship after Warship floating up from the floor of the Dry Dock.

Seeing that Mi Wen and the others all had excited expressions on their faces, Zhao Xu said, "What are you still waiting for? You have practiced for so many days, it is time for you to truly operate the Warships."

Mi Wen was just overly excited and immediately reacted; he shouted, "All captains, first mates, and crew members, take your positions."

The captains of the twelve Warships had all been selected based on their performance during the drills over this period.

They had all mastered the proficient use of the Sextant and the identification of latitude and longitude charts.

At present, the only thing they lacked was actual experience entering the sea.

However, he was not particularly worried about this point.

The Goryeo Navy was not necessarily stronger than them; even if it were a battle between novices, they still held an overwhelming advantage.

Watching the busy Navy soldiers, Zhao Xu cast his gaze toward Qin Pass.

The horn of war had finally sounded.

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