A sailboat without a mainmast is like a cripple, not to mention catching up with the fleeing pirates, and even controlling the direction is a problem. At this time, the bow boat that Qi Jingtong and others were riding was under the effect of the southwest wind, and drove slowly in the northwest direction in a zigzag trend, and the landing should be able to dock, but the location of the docking is estimated to be in Yancheng County, north of Dongtai County, or further north of the state and county, and even drifting to the coast of Shandong is also possible.

It's already afternoon now, the sun is shining, fortunately it's the season of spring and March, the sun is not too violent, and it is still within the bearable range. Xie Erjian lay on the deck at the bow of the boat, his hands resting behind his head, covering his head and face with a hat to shield him from the sun, his chest rising and falling slightly, as if he was asleep.

Qi Jingtong walked back and forth on the bow deck, his thick eyebrows furrowed, and his expression was a little anxious. Although the brothers of the 500 battalion carried dry rations with them, they did not bring much, and the point was that the water stored on the ships could only last 200 people for two days at most, and if the ships could not dock for two days, the situation would be quite bad.

"Well, it's inexperience, after all." Qi Jingtong regretted a little that he was hot-headed and rashly pursued the Japanese invaders, and he still had to be fully prepared to fight at sea, the most important thing in the vast sea was water, but the most lacking thing was water.

Qi Jingtong walked to Zhu Kun's side, who was standing on the side of the ship, holding the pergola and looking west, which was the direction of the land.

Due to the clear weather, the visibility on the sea surface is very good, but as far as the eye can see, the sea is blue, and the sun shines on the sea, sparkling like a golden snake.

"Damn, it's good to run into an island!" Qi Jingtong licked his dry lips and scolded in a low voice, he hadn't drunk a sip of water since morning.

Zhu Kun suddenly pointed to the sea in the northwest and said happily: "As Qi Qianhu wishes!" ”

Qi Jingtong followed what he was looking for, and suddenly his eyes lit up, and he saw a column of smoke rising on the blue sea level.

"Hey, are you going to dock?" Xie Erjian had appeared silently behind the two of them at some point, staring keenly at the pillar of smoke rising from the sea in the distance, completely lacking the drowsy appearance just now.

Zhu Kun was startled by Xie Erjian, who suddenly appeared, but Qi Jingtong was used to it, don't look at Xie Er's lazy appearance that has nothing to do with himself, in fact, it is just his way of recuperating his energy, once there is a stir, this kid reacts faster than anyone else, maybe this is the so-called quiet like a virgin, moving like a rabbit.

"It shouldn't be a mainland, it's probably an island, otherwise it would have seen the coastline." Qi Jingtong shook his head and said.

Soon, Qi Jingtong's statement was verified, as the distance approached, the outline of a small island appeared in sight, the cooking smoke rose from the island, and you could faintly see that the island was lush and green, it was definitely a place with water, otherwise the skin graft would not grow so lushly.

Xie Erjian's eyes lit up, he licked his lips and said, "Pirates? ”

Qi Jingtong also licked his lips: "I guess so." ”

The imperial court ordered a strict ban on the sea, the destruction of all civilian sea ships, and the Ming people on the coastal islands were moved to the mainland.

Zhu Kun looked thoughtfully at the island in the distance and said, "There are very few islands off the coast of Yancheng County and Dongtai County, and this island is very likely to be Dongsha Island. ”

"Dongsha Island?" Xie Erjian and Qi Jingtong glanced at each other.

Zhu Kun nodded and introduced: "Between Yancheng County and Dongtai County, only Dongsha Island is larger, and there is fresh water on the island, but this island has been occupied by a group of pirates, and the leader of the pirates is called Chen Sipan, who is a bad guy who burns, kills, loots, and does all kinds of evil. ”

Xie Erjian and Qi Jingtong glanced at each other again, and the latter eagerly asked, "How many pirates are there in this gang?" ”

Zhu Kun muttered: "How many people there are, the official really doesn't know, it is said that there are no less than three hundred people, nearly fifty large and small ships, the strength is quite good, Yancheng Wei sent troops to encircle and suppress several times in vain." ”

Qi Jingtong rubbed his hands with interest and looked at Xie Erjian inquiringly. It is said that although the two of them are thousands of households, Xie Erjian's position in the 500 battalion is to command the affairs and is Qi Jingtong's superior.

Xie Erjian spit out two words very dryly: "Do it!" ”

"What is the intention of Zhu County?" Qi Jingtong turned his head to look at Zhu Kun, although it was not necessary, Qi Jingtong still asked Zhu Kun's opinion, this is also the parent official of Dongtai County, and now they are in the same boat, sharing weal and woe, and they must be respected.

Zhu Kun said calmly: "If Chen Sipan, a gang of vicious pirates, can be exterminated, it will undoubtedly be a good thing to eliminate harm for the people, and this official naturally has no reason to oppose it." ”

Xie Erjian's eyes couldn't help but show appreciation, although this Zhu County Commander was a civil official, he had the courage of a bloody man. Qi Jingtong gave a thumbs up and laughed: "Zhu County is so courageous, okay, let's do this ticket, the Japanese didn't catch up, and it's not bad to take out a nest of pirates!" ”

So, a belligerent county order, two guts Qianhu hit it off, and in a few words, they decided to attack Dongsha Island, the key is that they only have one boat, which is undoubtedly a very crazy move in the eyes of outsiders.

Of course, as the so-called art masters are bold, if they didn't have that confidence, Qi Jingtong and Xie Erjian would naturally not make such a crazy decision. Although they only have one boat, there are two hundred brothers and two hundred flintlock pistols on board, as long as they land smoothly, Xie Qi and Qi have absolute confidence to land, and they have absolute confidence to destroy the pirates on the island, even if the other party is two or three times more numerous.

After a recent battle with the Japanese on the beach, not only Xie Qi and the two, but even the brothers of the 500 battalion were full of confidence, holding sharp weapons, who would fight? Why be afraid of hundreds of pirates!

When the ship was still a few miles away from Dongsha Island, Qi Jingtong ordered someone to lower the sail of the auxiliary mast, and then rowed towards Dongsha Island by rocking. Most of the brothers of the 500 battalion were lying on their stomachs and hiding, leaving only thirty or forty shirtless men walking about the boat.

At this time, on Dongsha Island, there was a group of people standing on a high place and watching, led by Chen Sipan, the pirate leader on Dongsha Island.

Chen Sipan was about forty years old, and he was born unattractive, wearing a gray gown, and his shirt was open to reveal a bronzed strong chest. Standing next to Chen Sipan is the second boss Chen Dong, this guy is Chen Sipan's nephew, with a strong physique, but he was born with swert eyebrows and rat eyes, looking treacherous and cunning.

"The big boss is not a regular customer, it is estimated that he is a new wolf, and he has no capital to do business until we come to Dongsha Island, is it a long life?" A small pirate leader beside Chen Sipan spat on the ground and scolded with a smile.

Another pirate leader immediately raised his bar and said, "Shen Laoqi, how did you know that there were Japanese robbers on the ship?" ”

Shen Laoqi scolded: "Lu Laojiu, are you fucking blind, didn't you see the Hachiman Great Bodhisattva flag hanging on the bow of the ship?" ”

Lu Laojiu immediately retorted: "You're blind, must the one who hangs the banner of the Great Bodhisattva of Hachiman be a wolf?" Don't tell me that you haven't hung this thing before, pretending to be a wolf. ”

It is said that the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty has been frequently plundered by the Japanese pirates, in fact, a considerable part of them are fake Japanese pirates, who are impersonated by pirates along the coast of the Ming Dynasty, these pirates are native-born locals, and they are quite familiar with the local terrain and environment, so they have repeatedly succeeded, and the harm is greater than that of the real Japanese pirates.

For example, Lu Laojiu and Shen Laoqi are Fujianese, these two guys were pirates off the coast of Fujian before they took refuge in Chen Sipan, using the coastal islands as a base to rob passing merchant ships, and after they succeeded, they slaughtered all the people on the ship and sank their bodies into the sea, and the methods were extremely cruel, of course, if there were young women on board, they would stay and enjoy.

Lu Laojiu and Shen Laoqi in addition to robbing the passing merchant ships, from time to time will also pretend to be Japanese robbers to rob the coastal villages and towns of Fujian, and later the two were blackened by their more powerful counterparts, almost did not lose their lives, and fled to the coast of Zhejiang with the remnants, but they did not gain a firm foothold and were attacked by local counterparts, so they could only continue to flee north, and finally took refuge in Chen Sipan and Chen Dong's uncle and nephew on Changsha Island.

As the so-called peers are enemies, although Lu Laojiu and Shen Laoqi are fellow villagers in Fujian, but the two do not deal with each other, they once married Liangzi, and after taking refuge in Dongsha Island, there is a big boss Chen Sipan who is pressing, and the two are also at peace, but they often tear each other down for some trivial matters.

"Shut up!" Chen Sipan snorted coldly, and Lu Laojiu and Shen Laoqi glared at each other fiercely, but they obediently closed their mouths.

Although Chen Sipan was very disgusted with Lu Laojiu and Shen Laoqi making noise in front of him, he was happy to see the two fighting openly and secretly, because if the people under his hands were ironclad, it would not be conducive to the control of him, the big boss. Although Chen Da Boss doesn't know a single big word, he knows how to balance each other.

At this time, Chen Dong, the second master, rolled his eyes and said: "Uncle, the mast of this bow owner is broken, if you either encounter a storm or fight with another ship." ”

Chen Sipan waved his hand domineeringly: "No matter what he does, since he sent it to the door by himself, then he wants to leave, Lu Laojiu and Shen Laoqi, the two of you will lead the brothers to prepare to pick up the guests, and wait for the other party to dock before you do it, remember, don't fucking break the boat, whoever breaks a board, Lao Tzu will explode his valley road." ”

"Big boss, you know!" Lu Laojiu and Shen Laoqi agreed, and then ran away excitedly to arrange people.

Chen Sipan did not leave, and continued to stand calmly on a high place preparing to watch the battle, although it was a large sea ship with a bow, he didn't pay attention to it at all, the bigger the ship in the offshore sea, the more he suffered, not to mention that the other party put down the sails, and the big ship without power was a fart.

And Chen Sipan is not worried at all that the person who comes is the official army, if the official army comes to encircle and suppress, it is impossible to have only one bow boat, and the eyeliner he arranged in the mainland will also pass on the news as soon as possible.