Three hundred miles west of the Tsushima Strait, ten large merchant ships sailed high in a northwesterly direction.

It was the middle of June, and the sea was clear, and the strong ultraviolet rays scorched the sea, as well as the Ming soldiers on the merchant ships.

"Great! Big! ”

"Small! Small! ”

"Lao Cui, Lao Chang don't want ink, get the money quickly!"

"Your Excellency, you're cheating!"

……

In the cabin of the merchant ship Mary, Liu Hongjian stood at the table, carrying a fan in his hand, hula fan, and the table was a mess with wine bottles, melon seeds, peanuts, kernels, a pair of sieves and a large bowl.

It takes at least 10 days to travel by sea from the island root southwest to the Beiyang Naval Division station in Weihai, Shandong, which is still a tailwind current in summer.

Liu Hong gradually started to have fun with the people, and set up a stall in the cabin to play dice, but he was also happy.

The bull stick mallet was bare-chested and the oil was bubbling on his head, Cui Geng was open and his clothes were blowing cold, Chang Yu slowly opened the big bowl and found that he had lost a bad face.

"My lord, there is a situation in the east!" Outside the cabin, Yang Tianbao trotted over to report.

"What's wrong? But the net caught a big fish? Liu Hong gradually didn't take it seriously, and happily put the money of Cui Geng and Chang Yu and others into his pocket.

"I can't see it clearly, but it's supposed to be Dutch!" Yang Tianbao said solemnly.

……

"Fromman, do you see clearly? Is the assassin of Viscount Colridge really the Ming Prince? Baron Nash lowered his binoculars and asked a soldier next to him.

"You can't be wrong, I saw that guy in Shimane Castle!" Froman was sure.

Froman was a general under the Governor of Taiwan, Owat, and was later transferred to the coalition by Lancelot, the Governor of Batavia, and participated in negotiations with the Ming Dynasty, where he met the Ming prince who killed their two governors.

"Hahahaha! There is nowhere to find the iron shoes, this is the credit of God to us, to raise all the sails on the battleship, and surround them for me! I want to capture the Ming prince alive! Baron Nash laughed.

Thinking that he was originally only the third-in-command of this detachment, even if he had a meritorious trip, the bulk of the head would definitely be taken by the other two viscounts.

But coincidentally, Jon and Colridge both died very strangely, and now not only is the detachment under his command, but God has also sent him such a great credit.

The Toei people may not have had time to care about the mastermind behind the killing of the shogun, but the Dutch are different, they have been staring at Shimane Castle for several days, and it is a credit to Nash to find and capture alive the murderer of their commander.

At least it would make his position in this detachment more secure.

Liu Hongjian once killed their two governors and thousands of soldiers, and also took the island of Taiwan, the Netherlands hated him to the core, and the Dutch ruling Orange even issued an order that whoever could kill Liu Hongjian would be promoted to governor.

Baron Nash's detachment consisted of six ships, one of which was a second-class battleship, and there were only ten merchant ships in front of it, which was as easy as six heavily armed adults dealing with ten children who had just turned ten.

Most of the merchant ships carrying goods could not be compared with the warships in terms of speed, and in order to increase the volume of cargo, the merchant ships were not equipped with artillery at all, and the imperial court of the Ming Dynasty would not allow the merchant ships to be equipped with firepower.

"Thank God!" Baron Nash watched the fleet get closer and closer to the merchant ships, and smiled sneeredly on his forehead.

……

"My lord, they're catching up!" The first mate Bu Jiageng said to Liu Hong gradually with a throat.

Liu Hongji's merchant ships were indeed equipped with artillery, but limited to the structure of the merchant ships, each ship had a pitiful ten small-caliber guns, and these guns were good to deal with some merchant ships of the same class, and fighting the Dutch warships was tantamount to scratching the itch.

The problem did not stop there, the sails of the merchant ships were not as fast as the warships, and in less than two quarters of an hour the Dutch fleet had bitten up from far and near.

In two quarters of an hour, under the command of Cui Geng, all the merchant ships had time to open all the secret doors and arrange all the artillery in place.

Each of the ten merchant ships was assigned nearly a hundred soldiers of the Beiyang Naval Division, and it was natural to operate these guns.

It's just that...... The mantis arm as a car is the real idea of all people at the moment.

Made, careless! Liu Honggradually clenched his fists and looked at the Dutch battleship that could already see the mast clearly.

Boom - boom boom - the Dutch battleship fired, and the cannonballs streaked through the sky and landed behind the butts of the merchant ships, sending huge sprays over their heads.

Like Liu Hong's passing years, Baron Nash was demonstrating and calculating the range and landing point of the shells.

"I'm CNLL!" Liu Hong gradually scolded.

But scolding and scolding, Liu Hong gradually found that he had nothing to do except for the remaining twenty snipers who could occasionally play a role.

"Lao Cui, let the brothers work harder!" Liu Hong gradually yelled at Cui Geng on another merchant ship, Cui was the captain of the Beiyang Naval Division Jingyuan, and all the 1,000 sailor soldiers were under his command.

Boom Boom - Boom - another salvo, and one of the merchant ships at the rear was seriously wounded and incapacitated.

A quarter of an hour later, the six Dutch warships transformed and began to approach the Ming merchant ships in an elliptical array.

"My lord, Captain Cui's merchant ship was also wounded, we can't outrun the Dutch, and our artillery can't even tear through the defenses of the Dutch battleship!" The first mate, Bu Jiageng, sweating profusely, ran out of the cabin.

He was in charge of the overall defense and operation of the Mary, and shouted when he saw the formation of the Dutch in the rear.

"Tianbao, order the snipers not to spare guns and bullets, and give me a hard beating!" Liu Hong gradually rushed to Yang Tianbao on the mast, and after speaking, he also picked up an AKM and fired at the battleship not far away.

Yang Tianbao immediately issued orders in sign language to his subordinates on the surrounding merchant ships, and then twenty AKMs began to spit out bullets.

But the Dutch seemed to be on guard, and all the soldiers were fighting in the battleship, and there was not even a single figure on the deck.

After all, there were only six warships, and there was no need for a flagbearer to command, and the planks of the battleships were also made of very hard oak, ironwood, etc., and the outer layer was covered with a special protective layer.

The AKM bullets are powerful, but they can't penetrate the composite planks that are a foot thick, and the snipers can't exert their power at all.

The guns of the Dutch battleships were constantly spewing shells and shrinking the encirclement.

In the cabin of the merchant ship Baochang, where Chang Yu was located, a hundred sailor soldiers were swaying vigorously with their bare arms, and their muscles were covered with beads of sweat.

"One-two-one-two-one-two-" The hundred-household officials roared and shouted the trumpet so that all the soldiers could be in line so that the merchant ships could run faster.

Behind the Baochang is Cui Geng's Piff, and the name of this merchant ship was changed by Cui Geng, and he thinks it sounds more gentlemanly.

The Piff had been hit by two cannons in the stern and had begun to leak, and a dozen soldiers were rushing to close the gap while carrying wooden barrels and pouring water overboard under cannon fire.

Cui Geng gritted his teeth and looked at his subordinates, he seemed to have made a decision.

"Lord Chang! If we continue like this, we will be surrounded! Cui Geng yelled at the Baochang not far ahead.

"Master Cui, what did you say?" Everywhere there were sprays from being hit by shells, and Chang Yu didn't hear clearly.

"Help me tell the prince that I am honored to serve my lord, but I hope that I can join the Beiyang Naval Division in the next life!" Cui Geng didn't care whether Chang Yu heard it or not, and ran from the deck into the cabin after speaking.

"Brothers, it's time to serve Daming!" Cui Gengchong was still trying to paddle the 100th Sailor Division soldiers.

……