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Text Chapter 652 Greek Fire

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    When the Roman Empire was at its most powerful, the entire Mediterranean was their inland sea. Although the Mediterranean was vast in area, it was much narrower than the real ocean. It may be for this reason that the Roman ships had always been  There was no getting rid of the oars, at least that was the case with the Roman navy that Li Ke and the others saw.

    Roman warships were mainly divided into two types, namely three-oared warships and five-oared warships. Of course, there were also warships with higher oars, but their numbers were relatively rare.  The so-called oar seat actually refers to the number of oarsmen operating an oar. Generally speaking, the larger the ship, the more people need to operate the oar.  However, although there are more people operating the oars, the speed of the ship has not increased. In order to accommodate more oarsmen, the hull has to be widened. This will only make the resistance of the ship greater and the speed will not increase.  Fall instead.

    It is for this reason that the Roman warships are generally not very large. For example, the length of a trireme warship is generally between thirty-five and forty steps, while a five-remembrance warship is between fifty and fifty paces.  Between sixty steps.  The oarsmen are divided into three layers, and they work together to row forward. There are more than 170 oarsmen in the three-oared warship, not to mention the five-oared or even more oar-mounted warships.

    Accompanied by Constans II, Li Ke and the others saw the Roman navy using three-oared or five-oared warships, of which the five-oared warships were the main warships and the three-oared warships were auxiliary.

    Following the order from Consul Forris, ten Roman warships on the sea immediately began to speed up. They were all five-oared main warships. In front of the warships, the same number of ships were moving forward. These ships  All of them were warships that were on the verge of being scrapped, so they were used as target ships for drills. In order to be realistic, these target ships were operated by slaves.

    Those target ships that were on the verge of being scrapped were very slow and had no oarsmen. They relied entirely on a large sail on the ship for power. Instead, the attacking Roman navy knocked down all the masts on the ship.  All the oarsmen shouted slogans and rowed the huge long oars very fast, and the speed of the boats kept increasing. When the speed increased to the maximum attack speed, the two fleets finally collided hard.

    "Boom!" The Roman warships that had already adjusted their angles slammed into the target ships. As a result, four target ships were hit because they could not dodge, and they retreated tens of meters backwards.  At the same time, a big hole was broken under the hull, and sea water continued to rush into it. The slaves on the ship were also in a mess.

    The position of the ram in front of Roman warships with oars is very strange. Traditional warships of the Tang Dynasty also had rams, but they were usually placed on the upper part of the bow. This was mainly because the warships of the Tang Dynasty were generally very tall.  The role of the ram is not just to attack the enemy. Most of the time, Datang's warships use their huge hulls to crush the opponent's ships, so the ram only needs to break the opponent's hull.

    The collision angle of the Roman warships was at the lower part close to the water. This is because the Roman warships were smaller and could not be crushed like the Tang Dynasty warships, and such a collision angle would cause them to hit the enemy's ship.  hour.  The wound is below the waterline, which can make the opponent sink in the shortest time, just like what Li Ke and the others see now.

    Although the four target ships were hit, the other six ships escaped by a hair's breadth. It was just that the sides of the two ships collided together and then separated again, which was of no use at all.  But it was at this moment that the Roman warship's ballista suddenly fired.  Specially made long hooks were shot out one after another. These hooks have long poles and ropes behind them, and they look like special crossbow arrows.

    After this kind of long hook was shot onto the target ship, it was immediately tightened by the soldiers on the Roman warship. As a result, it suddenly hooked the side of the target ship, and the slaves on the target ship immediately swooped forward, preparing to tear off these hooks.  Behind this hook is a long pole.  Moreover, it is covered with copper skin, which will not stop cutting for a while, so it is better to tear it off for convenience.

    But the soldiers on the Roman warships were well-trained, and the soldiers on the ship pulled the ropes desperately.  On one side, there were archers and musketeers attacking the target ship. As a result, many slaves were hit by arrows or shot, and for a while they screamed.

    Regarding this one-sided massacre, Li Ke, who was holding a telescope in the distance, frowned. Although he knew that there were many slaves in various parts of the Central Plains, few slaves were used as consumables for military exercises like Rome, and they killed so wantonly.  It's also too harmful to Tianhe.

    However, Li Ke soon discovered that most of the Roman nobles around him were very calm about this situation, and many even looked excited. It is estimated that in their eyes, this kind of bloody fighting was not the same as the fighting in the arena.  Acting is no different.  Only Irina seemed disgusted with this kind of killing, folding her hands on her chest and muttering something in a low voice.

    There was basically no suspense next. As the Roman warship and the target ship approached, the Roman soldiers jumped onto the target ship with weapons in hand, and then began to slaughter the slaves. The scene was bloody and cruel, not much different from the real battlefield.  , but Constans II.??The nobles behind him watched with gusto, especially since they were holding the telescopes given to them by Li Ke, which allowed them to see more clearly and at the same time it was more exciting, so they all seemed a little excited.

    Speaking of telescopes, the technical content is not very high, and the Romans were also very skilled in making glass. Therefore, with the arrival of Han merchant ships, the Romans also learned how to make telescopes. Just because of technical reasons and other reasons,  As a result, the telescopes they made were far inferior to those of the Han people, not to mention that the telescopes Li Ke sent were all high-quality.

    "Your Highness, what the Romans called naval warfare actually did not break away from the scope of land warfare. Although they would use ballistae to attack the opponent's warships during the battle, the final victory was still determined by the boarding battle. This kind of tactics is very important for our warships.  It won't work at all!" After watching the Roman Navy's performance, Cen Changqian whispered in Li Ke's ear.

    Li Ke nodded after hearing this. All he brought were the main battleships in Li Min's hands. He had long abandoned the backward combat method of boarding battle. No matter whether it was the artillery or the giant crossbow on the ship, he would not let the opponent fight.  The ship approaches.

    "Hey, there's a change!" Cen Changqian suddenly shouted in surprise, and Li Ke turned around and saw that the two target ships were close to each other, and then the slaves on one of the ships ran to the other ship.  , resulting in a large increase in the number of slaves on the ship.

    "Interesting, these slaves are smart and know that their weapons and training are not as good as the Roman navy. They actually combined the two ships into one ship to make up for the lack of combat power with their numerical advantage." Li Ke said with a smile.  The ship with twice as many slaves relied on its numerical advantage to kill the Roman soldiers who boarded the ship and retreated. All the Roman soldiers were about to be cleared out.

    However, regarding this kind of accident, Forris next to Constans II seemed very calm, but the other nobles were not panicked, but showed a look of excitement.  When the Roman warships that were besieging the target ship saw this situation, the commander on the ship responded immediately and even ordered all the soldiers who had attacked the target ship to withdraw.

    There were not many Roman soldiers on the target ship, so the retreat went very smoothly. When the last Roman soldier returned to his ship, the slaves on the target ship immediately cheered.  Because according to the previous agreement, as long as they can persist until the end, they will be free.

    But obviously these slaves were happy too early. Just after the Roman soldiers withdrew, the warship immediately adjusted its direction and pointed the bow at the target ship where the slaves were. Then they saw a monstrous jet of water suddenly spurting out from the bow of the warship.  The fierce fire covered the entire bow of the target ship.

    "Ah~" With bursts of screams, the slaves on the target ship were all covered in fire, struggling and rolling on the bow, and fell silent after a moment.  Most of the slaves were only touched by the flames. As a result, the slaves screamed and tried to extinguish the flames on their bodies, but the flames grew stronger and stronger, and instead ignited other parts of the ship.

    But this was just the beginning. The bow of the warship spurted flames several times again. As a result, the entire target ship was lit from beginning to end, and the slaves on the ship were unable to escape.  What's even more frightening is that even if the slave who is on fire jumps into the water, the fire on his body still cannot be extinguished, and there are even signs of burning more and more.

    "What a terrible fire, even stronger than the fierce fire oil in the Central Plains!" Li Ke was also very surprised and said that the fierce fire oil is not afraid of water, but it needs to be ignited with an open flame, but this kind of fire on Roman warships is not afraid of water.  It starts burning immediately after it is sprayed out. This alone is much more convenient than burning oil.

    Hearing Li Ke's exclamation, Constans II and Forris and others next to him all showed expressions of satisfaction. This weapon was their Roman secret weapon, Greek fire, and it was already equipped in the navy.  I believe that no matter how powerful a warship is, as long as it is sprayed by Greek fire, it will soon be reduced to ashes.

    As soon as the Greek fire came out, the target ship that was sprayed was quickly burned into a ball of fire. This also made the slaves on other target ships lose the confidence to resist. One target ship after another was captured and controlled by Roman soldiers.

    However, Cen Changqian discovered one thing, that is, the Roman navy only used Greek fire to attack once, and the other target ships were all captured by soldiers. Although this was only an exercise, it also illustrates a problem, that is, Greek fire must be very precious, otherwise  In front of a distinguished guest like Li Ke, he will definitely use it several times.

    "Your Highness King Wu, what do you think of the power of our Roman Greek fire?" Constans II asked Li Ke very proudly.

    After hearing this, Li Ke also admired a little: "It turns out that this weapon is called Greek Fire. It is indeed very powerful, and its range is not close. Under a short- to medium-range attack, it is estimated that no warship can escape!"

    Hearing Li Ke¡¯s personal praise, JunTansi II and other nobles also seemed very happy, but then Forris spoke again: "The power of Greek fire is naturally extraordinary, but I don't know how powerful the warships of the Tang Dynasty are. Can they withstand the power of Greek fire?"  (To be continued.)
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