The trumpets whimpered, the drums rumbled, and the men and horses participating in the Great Parade were the most elite part of the Ming army that crossed the sea, totaling six thousand. The pen & fun & pavilion www.biquge.info armor is neat, well-equipped, and quite a bit overwhelming.

It was the first time for many officials and gentry to participate in such a large-scale parade, and they were all excited, and they all said: "The official army is so elite, the thieves will definitely be defeated......

Next is the drill formation. With the change of gongs and drums, these thousands of people are constantly changing formations. The drums rise and fall, and the formation also changes again and again, sometimes a long snake formation, sometimes a two-yi array, sometimes a Taiji array, sometimes a chain array, sometimes a car suspension array, a dozen styles in a row.

Thousands of soldiers in armor and armor ran back and forth in the flying dust for almost an hour, their faces covered with dust, and sweat washed out traces, like a big flower face. On the parade platform, He Rubin stroked his beard with satisfaction, and his subordinates' familiarity with the formation made him very happy.

After the long parade, the army will cross the sea in three days.

On the day of the sea crossing, a slender sailboat was moored on a small island in the sea at the mouth of the Pearl River in Guangdong, vigilantly monitoring the ships on the sea. This is exactly the "Yangming" clipper.

William stood at the bow of the boat and looked out, next to Lin Chuanzong and Liu Heizi. Due to the importance of this operation, William was not worried about others to carry it out, so he came himself. Anyway, at the speed of the clippers, he turned around and returned after observing the traces of the official and military fleet, and the time was enough for him to re-board the "Lingao" to command the fleet to fight.

Lin Chuanzong couldn't see any trace of the fleet at the bow of the ship, so he couldn't help but climb the mast, hoping to find the target early.

Liu Heizi at the bow of the boat secretly pouted - the soil buns are the soil buns, they are all boatswains, and they still look like a miscellaneous boy, and they don't have any style at all. One of them is a local fisherman, and the other is a pirate who has been entrenched in the islands of the Pearl River estuary for many years. After Liu Heizi surrendered, he was quite appreciated by William for betraying his peers, although he was a pirate leader, but he usually boasted of being half a talent, and he looked down on Lin Chuanzong who jumped up and down and climbed the mast on weekdays.

Fishing boats pass by on the vast expanse of the sea, but a large fleet is never visible. As the minutes passed, William gradually became agitated, and said to Liu Heizi: "Are you sure that the information you got is reliable?" ”

Liu Heizi nodded and said, "Reliable, absolutely reliable." Those people have been friends with me for many years. ”

Although his old nest on Tuolu Island has been turned upside down, the "nest master" in the Guangzhou area is still there, and he can provide information about the movements of the officials and troops. This time, it was precisely by relying on the information of the "nest master" that I learned the news that the army had sacrificed its flag three days ago and crossed the sea today--In fact, the movement of the 15,000-strong army of the Humen camp was so great that there was no need to deliberately inquire at all, and we could know when the army would parade and when it would go to sea.

William looked at the angle of the sun, it should be between 8 and 9 o'clock, it stands to reason that such a large fleet will not set off too late. Although the voyage from Guangzhou to Qiongshan is not far, it will take a day or two to hurry up, and if it arrives after dark, then with the lighting conditions and navigation technology of this era, it will be a tragedy for as many as 300 ships to land on the shore.

Could it be that the fleet has avoided its own sight and has already sailed through the mouth of the Pearl River? William became suspicious, then shook his head again, and denied his own idea.

In the past two days, he commanded the "Yang Ming" to patrol the mouth of the Pearl River, and found that in order to avoid the reef, normal sailing ships would pass through the channel between this small island called Neilingding Island and Qi'ao Island adjacent to the mainland. The distance between the two islands is only 7 nautical miles, so the sailing route of the official and military fleets is only about 3 nautical miles from Neilingding Island, and the huge fleet of ships should not be able to escape their eyes in the vast sea without any shelter.

At this moment, Lin Chuanzong on the mast shouted: "It's coming, it's coming!" The flotilla of officers and soldiers! ”

When William heard this, he quickly put his hand on his forehead to block the sun, and looked west, and a string of black spots really appeared faintly on the sea level.

"God forbid, we caught the traces of the fleet." William was overjoyed and immediately ordered: "Follow them." ”

The clipper untied the anchor rope and flew out like an arrow from the wind.

At this time, He Rubin, the commander of the army, was discussing the deployment after crossing the sea with his staff on a fortune ship, and even mentioned the clarification after the battle.

A staff member suggested: "The thieves have been entrenched in Bofu for a long time, although they are pirates, but there are always people who secretly collude with them on land, and after the victory of the army, they should be thoroughly investigated, and all those who make friends with bandits will be punished as thieves, and their family wealth will ......be confiscated."

He Rubin nodded frequently, after defeating the thieves, it is customary to conduct an inventory of the local gentry who colluded with the thieves, as for whether the collusion is true and how deep the collusion is, it all depends on the mood of the officials and soldiers. If you are knowledgeable and respectful, you can escape a catastrophe, otherwise you will inevitably be charged with being a thief, and you will be ruined at least and bankrupt at worst.

Although Lingao is not rich, it is still a little oily and watery after a beating. Thinking of this, He Rubin and the staff looked at each other and smiled, everything was silent.

A soldier entered the cabin and reported: "News has come from the ship ahead, and a strange Xiyi sailing ship has appeared on the left, cruising near our large army fleet, with unknown intentions. ”

"Oh, I'll take a look at it." He Rubin got up and walked out of the cabin, and the staff followed.

He Rubin saw that there was indeed a long and narrow white boat in front of him, shuttling back and forth at a very fast speed, as if he was observing the situation of the fleet.

"What kind of ship is this? How have you never seen it before, and so fast? He Rubin asked.

All the staff shook their heads, most of them were literati, it would be good to go to sea without seasickness, where do you know this kind of strange ship.

The "Yangming" cruised back and forth, and the type, tonnage, and number of ships of the official and military fleets were all in view. From time to time, William exclaimed, "O my God! It was with such ships that the Ming Empire waged a war across the seas, and without the protection of any armed ships? ”

Most of these temporary ships vary in size, but most of them have a displacement of between 100 and 200 tons, and some of them are even less than 100 tons, which is already a large ship that can be found off the coast of Guangdong. In order to gather enough ships to transport the army across the sea, Wang Zunde sealed ships along the coast, and requisitioned both merchant ships and cargo ships as long as they could pull people. He didn't trust the combat power of the Guangdong Naval Division, and more than a dozen old ships of the Naval Division had to guard against pirates, so he simply didn't transfer any of them to escort him.

(To be continued.) )