In the waters of Fujian, the wind and waves are calm, and a fleet is moving towards the center and left. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Zheng Hongkui stood at the bow of the boat, observing the movement of the sea level. In the early hours of the morning, the sea was quite calm, there was not even a single fishing boat, and everything seemed normal.

This time, the Zheng family transported a batch of raw silk to Pinghu for sale, because of the large amount of goods, Zheng Zhilong sent a steady fourth child to escort it personally. The trip had gone so far, and the raw silk had been exchanged for a whole shipload of silver, and she lay quietly in the cabin.

However, Zheng Hongkui did not dare to be careless, and was careful all the way, and he was relieved until he approached Jinmen. The fleet was only two hours away from Kinmen Island, and there was the Zheng family's fleet and men on the island, and under their escort, they went to Zhongzuosuo City, even if it was completely safe.

He commanded: "Tell the brethren on the island to get ready, and return with the fleet to the center." ”

A nimble dhow left the fleet and headed for Kinmen to report the news.

Zheng Hongkui watched the boat leave at a rapid speed until it turned into a small blurry black dot at sea level.

Suddenly, a large black shadow appeared in front of the small black dot, and in the blink of an eye, the small black dot was swallowed, like a monster emerging from the bottom of the sea.

Zheng Hongkui's heart tightened, with his many years of experience at sea, this was by no means a monster, but a huge fleet. The huge fleet that appeared at this point in time was definitely prepared, and the one who came was not good.

After devouring the boat, the black shadow went straight to meet the fleet, and the goal was very clear.

He clung to the side of the boat, his knuckles whitening from too much force.

"Enemy attack! Inform the ship's fellows to fight! ”

Zheng Hongkui's judgment was correct, it was a premeditated attack. What puzzled him was how the other party could so accurately grasp the movements of the fleet and choose such an ingenious ambush location?

Zheng Cai ran out undressed, and hurriedly asked, "Fourth Master, what's going on?" "He is a cousin of the Zheng family, because he is articulate and long-sleeved, he is a capable leader of the Zheng family's business, and he is naturally indispensable on this trip to Pingdo.

Zheng Hongkui gritted his teeth and said: "There must be an inner ghost among us, and we must dig him out afterwards, peel him and cramp!" ”

The black shadow is getting closer and closer, and it can be seen with the naked eye that it is a large group of three or four hundred material ships, and there are also many two hundred material sea ships in the middle.

Dare to make a move on the Zheng family's fleet, and can mobilize so many ships at one time, there is no one else in the entire Fujian sea except Liu Xiang.

Zheng Hongkui forced himself to calm down, if it was really Liu Xiang, things would not be easy. Their own fleet is all merchant ships, although there are a few cannons, and there are many sailors who can fight, but in the event of such a large-scale attack, I am afraid that it will be more than lucky. Looking at the formation on the opposite side, Liu Xiang was afraid that the main force would come out.

What did Liu Xiang go crazy about launching this attack so desperately? Zheng Hongkui was puzzled. However, now is not the time to speculate on the motives of his opponents, and how to resolve the crisis is the problem he faces.

Zheng Cai was a little flustered: "Third master, what should we do?" Do you want to go up and do it, or do you want to avoid it? ”

"Avoid the ghost!" Zheng Hongkui scolded, "There is the sea in front and back, left and right, it's too late to run anywhere, they are tailwind, we make a temporary U-turn, and we will definitely catch up." For today's plan, only by hard topping, send a few more ships, take advantage of the chaos to break through, report to Kinmen, and let the brothers on the island attack back and forth, so that there is a slight chance of victory. ”

Zheng Cai sighed, this is the only way. When encountering at sea, a temporary U-turn is a taboo, which is equivalent to giving the other party a back, and you can only face the difficulties.

The sailors of the Zheng family were all experienced pirates for many years, and although they were outnumbered, they did not drop their chains, and they rushed to the deck, brandishing their swords and shouting loudly to cheer themselves on.

After the opponent's fleet approached, the flag was really a big "Liu" character. After Liu Xiang's fleet approached, it was divided into two groups, one left and one right, sandwiching the Zheng family's fleet in the middle, apparently not wanting to let a ship slip through the net.

Zheng Hongkui took a deep breath, this attack can be called the biggest crisis in his life, with the grievances of the Zheng family and Liu Xiang, fall into the hands of the other party, and never fantasize about being able to live. He took his sword from the sailor's hand, held it high above the top, and shouted: "Sons of the Zheng family, fight with them!" ”

The sailors on the ship struck the side of the ship with the back of their knives, making a "bangbang" sound and shouting: "Fight!" ”

The shouts reached the boat behind, and the sailors on the ship also shouted, and for a while, the shouts of the Zheng family's fleet shook the sky, and there was quite a tragedy of a broken kettle and a sinking ship.

Liu Xiang's fleet was terrifyingly silent, like a fierce beast staring at its prey, ready to attack.

The ships of the two families were getting closer and closer, and the Zheng family couldn't hold their breath and took the lead in firing the cannons, and the furlong and the hair gong in the bow of the ship opened fire one after another, and the large and small spherical projectiles flew towards each other with a whistling sound of "woo".

Some of the projectiles fell into the water, causing waves, and some of the lucky ones hit the target, smashing into the side of the ship, smashing a hole, but causing very few casualties.

Zheng Hongkui ordered: "Change the grape bomb!" ”

With the caliber power of the ship's artillery, the lethality of the solid bullet is pitiful, and it may be effective to deal with a small sampan, and dealing with Liu Xiang's 400 lucky boats is tantamount to tickling.

As the distance gets closer, the power of the grapeball is brought into play. The small iron balls that rained down smashed over, and the sailors on the opposite deck were shot one after another, accompanied by screams, which could be faintly heard from a distance of one or two hundred steps. At this time, Zheng Hongkui suddenly thought of the kind of short and heavy cannon of the Qiongzhou battalion, if it was replaced with that kind of cannon, I am afraid that once the cannon passes, there will be no grass on the deck of the ship opposite. It's a pity that the two sides agreed to deliver the goods at the beginning of spring, and this time the fleet could not catch up with this batch of guns.

Liu Xiang's fleet also had cannons, but they did not return fire with grapeshot. The cannon sounded, and long strips of black shadows swirled and flew over, but the target was not the deck, but the sail and the mast.

"Chainbomb!" Zheng Hongkui recognized this kind of big killing weapon at a glance. Chain bullets are two projectiles connected by chains, and after launching, one projectile will drag the other projectile centrifugally and fly out, and if it hits the sail, it will pull out a large hole, and if it hits the mast, it may tear off the mast and make the enemy ship lose power. Although this weapon is powerful, the fatal disadvantage is that the range is too short, and it is not even as good as grapeshot. No wonder Liu Xiang's fleet approached under artillery fire just to fire chain bullets.

It seems that their goal was clear, to take these merchant ships regardless of casualties, not to burn or sink them.

The effect of the chain bomb was obvious, and after paying the lives of many sailors, Liu Xiang's fleet got its wish, and most of the Zheng family's ships either had broken masts or had their sails destroyed, and the silver loaded was too heavy, and they were basically incapacitated.

Liu Xiang's fleet, which had been silent, finally broke out with an earth-shattering shout, and they were about to jump into hand-to-hand combat. (To be continued.) )