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   Chapter 735 732 [Water and land containment]

  The Cossack inland watercraft looks a bit like a Viking ship, but its structure is simpler than that of a Viking ship.

  First use wicker or other rattan to weave the bottom of the boat as a whole, and then use wooden planks as the lining. There is a rudder on the left and right sides of the stern, more than a dozen oars on each side, and rough logs are used as masts, equipped with horizontal sails or double sails.

  Deck or something, there is no such thing as a bunch of reed poles that need to be bundled and spread on the surface of the board lining for the crew to walk on.

   Don't look at this kind of boat as simple and shabby, but the rowing speed is extremely fast.

  Cossacks driving this kind of ship can even cross the Black Sea, or advance along the coast, plundering Ottoman and its subsidiary ports. They often raid at night, taking advantage of the Ottoman navy's inattention, burning the ships in the port and fleeing. When encountering the Ottoman navy, they immediately rowed and fled into the inland river, and the large Ottoman warships could only watch stupidly.

   Khabarov's fleet has nearly 30 ships, and if they are all full, they can hold more than a thousand people.

   There are only more than two hundred Cossacks, and with so many ships, they are mainly loaded with spoils. At this very moment, there is a lot of food, goods and women on board.

  Three of them were larger, each equipped with a cannon.

   More than a dozen Cossack cavalry were the first to flee back to the ship with their horses. Immediately afterwards, Khabarov and the musketeers boarded the ship in a panic.

   When the Cossacks with cold weapons boarded the ship, Khabarov had already ordered to shoot.

   More than 20 Cossack musketeers and more than a dozen Cossack cavalry squatted on the boat and shot at the Datong cavalry rushing.

  Although these guys like to sneak attack and run away, they are definitely ruthless characters, and they dare to fight with their lives when encountering tough battles. Decades ago, more than 400 Cossacks held back more than 10,000 Ottoman troops for two days.

   "Bang bang bang bang!"

  As the Cossack gunfire sounded, six Datong cavalrymen fell off their horses one after another.

   But the damage they can cause is limited to this.

  Datong cavalry has rushed to the shore, killing the native hunters who were too late to board the ship. There are also some Datong cavalry, throwing arrows at the Cossack ships.

   "Boom boom boom!"

  Three Cossack cannons fired the second round of shells.

  While several Datong cavalrymen were hit, the three Cossack ships were shocked by the power of the artillery and retreated. More than a dozen Cossacks who were boarding the ship immediately fell into the water together with the planks.

   "Blow the horn, retreat!"

   Seeing that everyone who could board the boat had boarded, Khabarov ordered to evacuate.

  Some Cossack bandits immediately put down their weapons, sat on both sides of the boat and paddled. The only musketeers reloaded in a panic, preparing to continue shooting at the Datong cavalry.

  The Cossack boats rowed fast, and the Datong cavalry could only pursue along the river bank.

  Khabarov was so angry that his heart was bleeding. He had a total of 28 ships, each of which was loaded with spoils. At the moment, 11 ships could not be taken away, and they were quietly docked by the Heilongjiang River. The Cossack musketeers lost 1 person; the Cossack warriors lost 15 people; the native hunters lost more than half, and only a few dozen people escaped back to the ship.

  The real war of encirclement and annihilation has just begun!

  Hundreds of local aborigines, carrying canoes, have rushed from the upstream forest into the river.

   "Rush over!"

   Khabarov ordered.

  Although the Cossack boat runs fast, its hull is very fragile. Under the high-speed paddling, even the canoe dare not hit it casually.

  The surface of this section of the river is relatively narrow, and the current is not turbulent.

  The sediment brought down by the Heilongjiang River washed out large and small islands. Some large continents and islands even stretch for four or five miles, dividing the river course of Heilongjiang into two or three streams.

  The water network situation is extremely complicated!

  The Cossack robbers rowed with all their strength, musketeers and archers shot at the natives on the canoe.

  Because of the backing of the Datong Army, the aborigines became brave. They rowed their canoes and rushed towards the Cossack fleet. There are two people on each canoe, one is in charge of rowing and the other is in charge of archery.

   "Kang!"

   There were crashing sounds from time to time, and the Cossack ships did not fall apart. After all, their hulls were strong enough to hold small artillery for firing.

  The native canoes were overturned one after another.

   Just when Khabarov thought he had escaped, dozens of ships suddenly appeared behind the island in the northwest. These ships were grain transport ships collected by Wang Fuchen from the tribes along the way during his march, and they were only slightly smaller than the Cossack ships.

  A raft full of dry firewood is tied to the left and right of each ship, and each raft is controlled by an aborigine.

  The dry firewood on the raft became more and more intense. After approaching the Cossack ship, the natives cut off the rope, climbed onto the ship by themselves, and let the burning raft hit the enemy.

  Of course, even if this section of the river is relatively narrow, it is difficult for such a rare fireboat attack to be effective, and there are still huge gaps for Cossack ships to avoid.

  The Cossack bandits shot at the natives, rammed the canoe, and avoided the burning bamboo raft.

   It turned out to be methodical and did not suffer any losses.

  However, their rowing speed also slowed down. However, the larger number of grain transport ships of the Datong Army went down the current, paddling quickly towards the Cossack ship.

   "Boom!"

   In the first collision, the bow of the smaller grain carrier was knocked down. However, the larger Cossack ship was knocked half to pieces and sank at a speed visible to the naked eye.

  The hull made of wicker is tough, but it really can't withstand collisions.

  The grain transport ships of the Datong Army have already unloaded their supplies, and all empty ships are sailing along the water. The Cossack ships, all loaded with trophies, were still going upstream, and were disturbed by fireboats and canoes.

   One Cossack ship after another was knocked apart by the grain ship and sank.

  And those natives who paddled their canoes, and even those who were knocked over by their canoes, finally began to show their talents. They are all "beastmen" in the mouth of the Tartars. The river surface in spring has not completely thawed, so they will jump into the icy river and risk their lives to get Dongzhu for the Tartars.

   Among other things, water-based is absolutely awesome.

  One after another, the natives dived and charged with short spears, and stabbed the Cossacks who fell into the water.

  The resistance in the water is relatively high, and the Cossack is wearing leather armor. In order to facilitate the attack, the natives subconsciously stabbed the Cossack's crotch, which is a fatal part and is difficult to be protected by leather armor.

   Countless Cossacks who fell into the water quickly became "solitary fighters".

   Khabarov was anxious to be the helmsman himself, dodging various attacks in a thrilling manner. With a "boom", his boat was also hit, but it was only pushed back laterally, and it didn't look like it was falling apart. Instead, the grain transport ship was hit and cracked.

   Khabarov's ship has been reinforced layer by layer. While it is full of toughness, the hull is also very strong.

   "Hissy!"

  The four war horses on the ship were suddenly startled and neighed due to the violent shaking of the ship. The Cossack cavalry hurriedly appeased, pressed the horse, and knelt down to maintain balance.

   "Boom!"

   Another hit.

   Two of the war horses couldn't stand it any longer, they threw their master away and started to run staggeringly. Knocking over a few Cossack robbers, jumping into the river, pawing the water and swimming to the shore.

   Khabarov was almost hit by a horse. When he stabilized his body, he found that his boat was already lying across the river, and several Cossacks who were paddling were knocked over and fell into the river.

  The Datong Army had dozens of grain transport ships, but the Cossack ships were already few, and nearly one-third of them were left behind by the river.

  The ratio of ships on both sides reached almost four to one.

  Many Datong army grain transport ships crashed into Cossack ships, although they themselves were on the verge of sinking, they still rowed towards other Cossack ships.

   Only Khabarov's "ship" was repeatedly hit three times in a short period of time.

  I couldn't maintain any operations, the hull was hit and kept spinning, and no matter how Khabarov steered it, it didn't help. The Cossack musketeers couldn't even sit still, not to mention reloading and shooting, so they had to lie down to keep their balance.

  Khabarov saw that there were fewer enemy ships in the east, so he quickly grabbed the rudder and ordered with the full right rudder: "Pull the oars with all your strength and break out!"

  The Cossack robbers had just started paddling, but the remaining two horses finally couldn't bear it, knocked over a few Cossacks and jumped into the river.

   "Kang!"

  The fourth collision was achieved. It was the ship that hit the third time, and it was pressing and hitting again. The speed was not fast and the impact was not strong, but it successfully prevented Khabarov from turning to break through.

  Another grain ship crashed over. Khabarov's ship was the largest and could not be sunk, so it had obviously become the target of fire.

  By this time, Khabarov could not sail normally at all.

  His "seat ship" was attached to two grain transport ships, pressed against the hull and forced to lean against the river. After a little rowing to distance themselves, they were posted again. Both sides were knocked back and forth, and the weapons in their hands were completely useless.

  Khabarov fell into complete despair, and the surface of the river continued to surge red, full of blood stabbed by the natives.

  These aborigines had little fighting power on the shore, but they seemed to be assisted in the water, and the Cossacks who fell into the water were left with beatings.

   Khabarov's "ship" has a tendency to fall apart, but it can still hold on, and finally was forced to dock by the river.

   There, Datong cavalry had been waiting for a long time.

   Facing countless bows, arrows and muskets, Khabarov raised his hands in surrender.

   There were more than 200 Cossack robbers in this group, and only 37 were captured alive. Either he was beheaded by Datong cavalry when boarding the ship, or he was stabbed to death by diving natives after falling into the water.

  Khabarov was brought in front of Wang Fuchen, his knees softened and he knelt down. He knew that his judgment was completely wrong.

  Wang Fuchen took a group of peasants and stayed in the village disguised as businessmen. He was afraid of being attacked by the natives, so he was already wearing cotton armor at this time, and it was a special multi-layer cotton armor. There is a patch in the middle of the cotton armor, and there is a layer of iron on the surface, which is not only very defensive, but also looks extremely deterrent.

  The helmet is also an improved type, not the bamboo helmet with patches embedded in the past.

   This kind of helmet existed in the Song Dynasty. When not fighting, it can be retracted upwards, just like a worker's hard hat. When fighting, it can be pulled down, and the wearer's neck is completely protected by the armor.

   The equipment of the Datong Army has been improving!

  Wang Fuchen had a pair of leather boots on his feet. There are spurs installed on the heel of the leather boots, and the toe of the boots is also inlaid with iron plates. In addition to the carbine and saber, Wang Fuchen also had a binoculars hanging from his waist.

  This top-quality equipment, which tribe can have?

  This person must be a great lord of a certain country!

   The murderous Cossack leader Khabarov has a natural admiration and fear of nobles in his heart. Kneeling on the ground and trembling, he said in a trembling voice, "Honorable and great lord, Khabarov is willing to serve you!"

   This is a sincere allegiance, definitely not a casual talk.

  Such gorgeous body equipment must be rich and powerful. Khabarov is willing to follow such a lord and fight with his life for the lord. If he could grant himself a fief, he could even sacrifice his own life. Of course, the premise is that he has a wife and son, otherwise the title and fief cannot be passed on.

  Wang Fuchen didn't know what he was thinking, and asked, "I heard from your subordinates that you are the leader of the Rakshasa ghost?"

  (end of this chapter)