Albert shouted: "Lower the British flag, raise the pirate flag!" Full sail, left rudder fifteen degrees, full speed! ”

The British sailors were quick with their hands and feet, and in a short time they completed a series of instructions, and the huge cruiser Drake flew out like an arrow off the string, plowing the white spray, and rushing at full speed towards the Ming fleet in front.

Despite the fact that his opponent had five ships and only one of his own, Albert was confident that he would win the battle. The ships of the Ming people were all made of cedar wood, and there were only six or seven cannons per ship. Although his own ship is an old ship of the last century, it is made of oak. Ninety years ago, the British did not have battleships, the largest was only 800-ton frigates, and their own ships were capital ships, so the small cruisers were made of solid oak. In terms of sturdiness, the ships of those Ming people were certainly far inferior to their own; In terms of firepower, the ships of the Ming people were just a group of merchant ships in Albert's eyes, and his own were real warships.

"The boat behind is near! They fly the skull flag! Chen Lei shouted.

The skull flag is the symbol of a pirate ship, which proves that the ship that followed him for two days must be a pirate ship. Wang Xinyu ordered all ships to prepare for battle.

"Pass the order, five ships in parallel!" Wang Xinyu gave an order to Li Rui, a personal soldier.

"No!"

The five Ming warships were lined up in a row and sailed shoulder to shoulder, their sterns aimed at the approaching Drake.

"What do those Orientals want to do?" Albert couldn't see what the Ming army was going to do.

The adjutant said: "Those Ming people probably want to be side by side and don't let us get close to them. ”

Albert sneered: "These Orientals really don't know how to fight seas!" In naval battles, in order to give full play to the power of each battleship, it should be arranged in a line, and all the battleships should be connected head to tail, so that the broadside firepower can be fully utilized! They aimed the stern at us? It's just stupid! ”

As the Drake got closer, Wang Xinyu could see exactly what kind of ship it was: it was a standard Western-style soft sailing ship, obviously with two gun decks, but the ship looked very awkward: the white sails were dirty and yellow, and some of the sails had holes. Looking at the hull again, the hull was also scarred, and there were even multiple holes, and there was a hole in some of the white gun doors, as if it had been pierced. It looked as if the ship had just gone through a fierce battle, and it didn't have time to repair it before it came to find itself.

"Ready!" Wang Xinyu asked people to pass the order.

The gunners at the stern of the ship lifted their gun jackets, untied the gun cables, filled the guns with gunpowder, stuffed them with chain shells, compacted them, and pushed the gun cart again, and the black hole hole muzzle protruded from the female wall battlement.

"The enemy ship is a mile away!" Chen Lei, an officer of the naval division, issued a flag signal.

The distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer, and when there were still three hundred paces left, the huge Drake began to turn, trying to overtake and attack a Ming ship with strong gunwales fire.

According to Albert's plan to break each one, although the Ming army has five ships, but the firepower is not strong, what he wants is to beat one into combat effectiveness first, paralyzed at sea, and the other four will escape. If they don't escape, they will fight one by one, and in the end, these ships will sink and flee, and they will be able to get close to one of the ships and use broadside battles to rob the ship.

The Drake is four stories high, two and a half stories above the waterline, with a draft of four and a half meters, and one and a half floors below the waterline. At the top of the hull is a light deck, on which there are two 32-pounder mortars and several light small cannons of an unknown number, in addition to masts, cables, etc.; The first level of the hull is the upper gun deck, the front half of which contains sixteen twelve-pounder guns, the dining table behind the gun emplacement, which is also the officer's dining room, and the second half of the ship is the officer's quarters, the infirmary, the captain's dining room, the captain's living room, and the captain's bedroom; Below the light gun deck was the heavy gun deck, which contained eighteen twenty-four-pounder guns, and there was also a dining table in the heavy gun deck, which was also a sailor's dining room, and the stern part of the heavy gun deck was the galley and wheelhouse; Below the heavy artillery deck is the living quarters of the sailors, inside which are the sailors' quarters and cargo holds; At the bottom is the bilge deck, which is completely below the waterline, and contains fresh water storage, food storage, wine storage, ammunition storage, firearms storage, and cargo holds. When plundering a large amount of cargo, some of the sailors' quarters and some of the heavy gun decks could also be used for loading.

Seeing that the huge body of the Drake was about to turn around, Wang Xinyu ordered to fire.

The ten guns in the tail of the battleship erupted at the same time, and a row of chain bullets flew towards the Drake.

"Damn it!" Albert shouted, "These Ming people have stern guns!" ”

Seven shells missed, either in the water in front of the British ship, in the water behind it, or in the hull of the ship. However, three shells hit the mast, the chain shells tore several sails, the huge battleship was turning, the power suddenly decreased, the Drake tilted sharply under the action of centrifugal force, the sailors on board stood unsteadily, and many people fell.

The Drake slowed down, and distanced itself from the Ming fleet in front of it.

The British sailors quickly repaired the sail ropes, pulled the sails full again, and once again caught up. But before he could aim his side at the Ming warship, another row of chain bullets flew in, and the sails of the Drake were knocked down again.

"This won't work!" Albert yelled at the lieutenant, "We'll never catch up with them like this!" When the spare cables are broken, let alone catch up with them, we won't even be able to reach the Satsuma Domain! Then we'll all have to wait in the sea to die! Waiting for the Dutch to find us! ”

At this point, Albert regretted very much, why did he come to this goddamn place. Originally, he had heard that the East was full of gold, and everywhere there were beautiful silks, beautiful porcelain, and valuable tea. For this wealth, the silver mines mined from Mexico by the Spaniards were exchanged for silk, ceramics and tea from the Orientals. The Dutch were also very busy in the East, and they shipped large quantities of spices, silk, tea, and ceramics back to Europe to sell to the West. As long as you come to the East to rob, not to mention the treasure ships of the Spaniards, you can grab the cargo ships of the Dutch, then you will make a fortune when you return to England.

But who knew that the spice ships that robbed the Dutch actually attracted the Dutch warships. The damned Dutch blocked his escape to the Indian Ocean, and Albert had no choice but to flee all the way east. When he arrived in the waters of the great country in the east, he originally thought that he would be able to see a prosperous scene. Who knew that the coastline was so desolate that not even a single figure could be seen within a few kilometers of the sea. Along the way, all the way was the territory of the Spaniards and the Dutch, and even the island of Dongfan Island in the east was also the territory of the Dutch, and the British did not dare to go up at all.

The British knew that if they continued to the northeast, there would be a barbaric and divided country, but they did not know the relationship between the Tokugawa and Shimadzu families, and when they went there, they did not know what the relationship between Tokugawa and Shimazu was, and they did not dare to go there to get supplies. All they knew was that the Tokugawa family was doing business with the Dutch, and that it was definitely their enemy. In 1653, the British and the Dutch arrived in Japan at the same time, but the British lost the competition to the Dutch, and the Tokugawa family forbade the British to go to Japan.

The poor British were in the east at this time, without a single supply port, and all along the way were all enemies.

"Damn it! When we have defeated these Ming people, got food, and asked them to take us to a port to repair the ship, we will go back after repairing! Never come to this damn East again! The adjutant scolded angrily.

"Actually, there are still treasure ships everywhere here, and the Spaniards will get rich if they can grab one. It's a pity that there are all enemies here, and there is no place for us to stay. When the Royal Navy can win against the Dutch, and our fleet comes here, then everything will be easy! Albert said.

"Sir, it is said that the East is a prosperous country, but the sea ban they have imposed has caused the prices of silk, ceramics and tea in Europe to rise! If we can find a port and get those treasures from the Orientals, our trip will not be in vain. It's a pity that the boats ahead don't have a deep draft, and it seems that there is no cargo on board that we need. ”

"It was nice to have food! We need to be able to survive now, capture them, and let them lead the way! Let someone help us repair the ship, and the most important thing is to go back alive! Albert didn't want to be enemies of these Ming people, he just wanted to capture one or two ships of the Ming army, and then let the captives lead the way, find them a neutral port, repair their ships, and then let the captives go. As for whether there is anything of value on the other party's ship, it already doesn't matter. If you have it, it's a windfall. It doesn't matter if you don't, you can find enough food and fix the boat and go back.

After the sails were repaired again, Albert ordered the ship to follow behind the Ming fleet in front, not to rush closer, but to go around the side, wait until they catch up in parallel, and then get closer, so that the heavy fire of the ship's side can be exerted.

"Report to your lord! The pirates seem to have changed their tactics! They followed us from afar, and when they were about to catch up, they turned! Chen Lei reported.

Wang Xinyu, who was standing on the helm, turned his head to look at the soft sailing ship that was chasing him diagonally behind, and he saw the pirate's intentions: "Damn it! The pirates want to pursue us in parallel! If approached by their flanks, they have a lot of broadside fire! We're at a loss! ”

"So what do we do?" Chen Lei asked.

Wang Xinyu ordered: "Full rudder right, avoid them at full speed!" We can't let them get to us! ”

Chen Lei was taken aback: "Right full rudder? Isn't that getting farther and farther away from our coastline? ”

Wang Xinyu said helplessly: "These pirates also happened to block our retreat in the direction of the mainland!" We had to go to the depths of the sea! ”

"So where can we go?"

"If they chase after us, I guess we'll have to drive to the Satsuma Domain!"

Chen Lei nodded: "If we go to the Satsuma Domain, these pirates won't dare to chase us!" Shimazu Tsunaki has a good relationship with our prince. ”

Someone said, "It seems that the Tokugawa family has a good relationship with the red-haired ghost?" If we fall into the hands of Tokugawa, they won't hand us over to pirates, right? ”

Wang Xinyu felt that even if he ran into the Tokugawa family, it would be fine: "We have a big deal with the Japanese people, and it is impossible for the Japanese people to hand us over to the red-haired ghosts!" Unless they're going to turn on us. ”