The fog on the sea is getting thicker.

The merchant ships also apparently noticed that a pirate ship was approaching, and hurriedly turned their heads and fled in a southwesterly direction, looming in the mist.

Seeing this, Zheng Du was in a hurry, only afraid that these merchant ships would scatter and escape, if that case, he might only be able to catch one or two "fat fish".

He hesitated slightly, and he didn't care about the formation at the moment, so he ordered the Xuwei to fill the sails, left the other two pirate ships beside him, and rushed towards the merchant ship single-handedly.

This is also one of the important advantages of the Galen ship to dominate the ocean, the draft area of the soft sail is much larger than that of the Fu ship with the hard sail, and the ultimate speed is naturally much higher than the latter.

Zheng Du was very confident, the speed of those merchant ships of the Fu ship type was definitely far inferior to the Xuwei, and at the same time, his firepower could easily shred these "fat fish", so that they had no intention of resisting.

As long as you can get into the pile of merchant ships, you will probably be able to capture four or even five! This vote is enough, and it is enough to wash your hands and recuperate for the rest of your life.

Under the agitation of the sea breeze, the Xuwei left the other two junk-shaped pirate ships behind in a moment, and quickly approached the merchant ship in front of it.

After sailing out of seven or eight nautical miles, Zheng Du was relieved when he saw that those merchant ships were still together, but suddenly found that a boat in the sea fog was rushing towards him.

Could it be that these merchants were planning to deliberately "feed" themselves with one boat in order to cover the escape of other ships?

"Humph!" He snorted disdainfully and instructed his men, "Turn the rudder and sail past the starboard side of the ship opposite." Order, starboard cannon ready, staggered to bombard the ship at me, preferably destroying its mast or rudder! ”

"Little Compliance!"

Zheng Du was proud in his heart, these businessmen must not have noticed that there were two boats behind Lao Tzu, at least the "fat fish" sent to the door was stable to the mouth.

"Big, big boss, it seems that something is wrong!"

"What's wrong?" Zheng Du glared at the adjutant beside him, but he still cautiously raised the telescope to look west, but immediately like a lightning strike, the telescope in his hand snapped down on the deck.

Out of the thick fog came a huge mast ten feet high, covered with soft gray-white sails, which were blown high by the sea breeze, and the gun windows on both sides of the hull had been pushed open, revealing more than thirty black cannons in a neat arrangement.

What kind of "fat fish" is this, it is a plywood ship much larger than the Xuwei!

Helan people? Daming Water Master? Zheng Du's heart twitched suddenly, and he didn't care who it was at the moment, and roared at the adjutant on the side: "Quick! Right rudder, full sail to the northeast! Fuck it's an ambush! ”

"Yes, yes!"

Zheng Du wanted to order the two ships commanded by Hong Xu behind him to step forward to block the incoming enemy, but he was surprised to see two more Galen warships drilled out of the sea fog, although they were much smaller than the previous one, but they were both larger than his Xuwei!

This kind of warship is not at all something that Hong Xu's two lucky ships can stop. He had no choice but to shout at his subordinates and ordered: "Let Uncle Hong also retreat to the north!" ”

He raised his eyes to look at Hei San and Lao Liu, the two pirate ships responsible for outflanking, but found that they had long since disappeared into the fog and disappeared, so he had to sigh and leave them to fend for themselves.

Although the Galen ship sailed fast, the steering was quite clumsy, requiring hundreds of people to change the direction of more than a dozen sails through complex maneuvers to complete a sharp turn.

In addition, Zheng Du took the upwind port just now and pounced on the merchant ship, but when he wanted to escape at this time, it became a headwind, and when the bow of the Xuwei pointed to the northeast side, the Shao Wu had already rushed to him less than a nautical mile away.

The Fuzhou and Guang signals turned their rudder slightly, as if they were going north, stopping in front of the Xuwei.

Only then did Zheng Du see the blue Daming Navy Division military flag on the mast of Shao Wu, and he hated it so much, "Damn, Lao Tzu has come to be a pirate, and he still has to work hard!"

"But this batch of waters Lao Tzu has traveled hundreds of times, and he is more familiar than his own home, and I can't get rid of you if I don't believe it on such a foggy day!"

He personally stood on the bow of the ship, holding a compass, and commanded the Xuwei to run towards the foggy place, thinking viciously in his heart, after getting out this time, he must go to the coast of Nanzhili to plunder to relieve the hatred in his heart.

He turned his head to look back, the huge warship was a little farther away from him, and he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, but he heard a bang on his head, and the lookout screamed desperately, "Warning! There's a big ship due north! ”

He hurriedly turned around, and sure enough, he saw a huge black shadow in the sea fog, like a mountain in front of him. It was the fourth-class cruiser Zhangzhou that Zhu Linmiao sent to guard the perimeter of the ocean-going caravan.

It's too close, and it's too late to turn around.

Zheng Du gritted his teeth and shouted, "Lower half sail, right rudder!" Fight the enemy with the port side! Prepare the cannons! ”

The pirates of the Eighteen Zhi were desperate to fold half of their sails as fast as they could, and the rudders had been deflected to the maximum, so that they could turn the bow of the ship to the east.

At the same time, the huge black shadow on the north side also forced from the left front of the Xuwei. Just when the two ships were still six hundred yards apart, Zheng Du's gunners could no longer hold on.

As the first pirate ignited the cannon, a series of flames erupted from the port side of the Xuwei, and ten iron balls roared towards the Zhangzhou.

Such a long distance, coupled with the shaking of the ship, it is impossible for even the best British artillery in Europe to hit accurately, let alone these pirates.

Most of the shells fell into the sea, causing a huge splash.

However, an eight-pounder shell hit Dayun and hit the right front part of the Zhangzhou.

Zheng Du also happened to see a small black dot on the side of the enemy ship in the telescope, and he was immediately overjoyed, if he could hurt this "big guy" who was blocking the way, he would definitely be able to escape!

However, only a muffled bang was heard on the starboard side of the Zhangzhou, and the iron ball weighing eight catties and whistling was like a child's sandbag thrown on the door panel, without causing the slightest damage, and then bounced off the side in an instant, and then fell into the water.

The Zhangzhou's beech hull, which was more than seven inches thick, and its dense ribs, could not be broken by an eight-pounder gun?

Zheng Du swallowed and foamed, and wailed in his heart, this is a fucking monster, and he fart...... The Southern Ming Dynasty was too ruthless, and it was a small pirate for himself, and he actually transferred such a fierce ship to encircle and suppress it.

There were several at once......

He was stunned for a moment, and the Zhangzhou had been pasted less than five hundred yards away. On the broad side of the ship, a total of seventeen cannons on the upper and lower floors fired one after another from front to back, and suddenly black smoke rolled out, like an ancient beast standing on the surface of the sea roaring.

An eighteen-pounder shell struck the bow of the Xuwei, and in an instant splinters of wood burst into the sky, killing more than twenty pirates on deck and in the cabin, and more than twenty others fell in a pool of blood and screamed.