As the fleet on the side of the mixed river dragon gradually approached, the upper bucket on the top of the mast could basically see the situation of the comer, this time the mixed river dragon gathered sixteen two-masted ships at a time, and more than a dozen single sloops followed to help in the battle.

In this way, the strength of the two sides can be seen, in terms of the number of ships, they are at a disadvantage on the side of the Shark Gang, but among the big ships on the side of the mixed river dragon, there are relatively few lucky boats, and the slightly smaller brigs such as bird boats and catcher boats account for a relatively large proportion, so that the strength of the two sides is basically equalized, after all, the combat power of the small dhow fishing boats is weak, and they can only be used for sneak attacks.

But once the two sides fall into a scuffle, then these small boats brought by the Mixed River Dragon can no longer be ignored, they can rely on the advantage of small and flexible boats, and cooperate with the big ships to sneak attack the ships on the Shark Gang's side, so that the ships on the Shark Gang's side have to be distracted to deal with it, and the slightest carelessness will be wiped out.

Therefore, Qian Song did not feel too nervous about this situation at present, nor did he have the idea of giving up, and continued to lead the fleet to the north, dragging the fleet of mixed river dragons to follow them.

Now Yu Xiaotian can see Qian Song's thoughts, Qian Song is indeed more experienced at sea, and he knows very well where their disadvantages lie, the other party is waiting for work, they are a long-distance attack, if they immediately fight with the mixed river dragon, it will be more disadvantaged, and the number of other ships is large, and if it is a melee, even if it is the other party's small boat, it will be a big trouble.

Therefore, Qian Song's idea must be to brake with movement and pull the fleet of mixed river dragons to turn around first, so that the slow boats on the side of mixed river dragons will be gradually left behind because they can't keep up, and all that is left is the larger ships under mixed river dragons.

In this way, the strength of the two sides will be leveled, and even the Sharks can still have a certain advantage.

Thinking about this, Yu Xiaotian couldn't help but look at Qian Song a little impressed, in the end, these guys have been wandering at sea for a long time, and they all have a very good set of skills, and they know very well how to deal with conflicts at sea, and they will soon be able to grasp the key.

If he were to be in command of this sea fire, it is estimated that he would not have thought of so much, and if he didn't get it right, he would take the fleet and rush directly to fight the opponent, and the result was naturally needless to say, and the chance of winning was estimated to be zero.

Yu Xiaotian observed the situation at sea, while secretly thinking in his heart, constantly summarizing, feeling that this time no matter what he said, he still came to the right place, otherwise he would not have learned so much.

In addition, Yu Xiaotian also used his own understanding of naval warfare in later generations to compare the current situation, as far as he knows, after this era, because of the progress of ships and artillery in the West, their ships can be loaded with more and more artillery, plus the hull is getting bigger and bigger, higher and higher, and the protection is getting stronger and stronger, and the mode of naval warfare has undergone a great change.

In the past, the traditional hand-to-board warfare and gang-jumping white-knuckle combat have become more and more difficult in this era, and more often Western warships have used artillery salvos to attack enemy ships until the enemy is defeated.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, because of the stagnation of the development of ship technology and the limitation of the performance of the ship itself, although it also began to load artillery on the ship, it could not carry too heavy artillery, let alone a lot of artillery.

This time he followed, and the upcoming conflict was also carried out in this way, and then it was up to who had the highest morale, whose command was flexible, and whose ships were stronger.

The chase between the two sides was still ongoing, and after Qian Song led the fleet to the north for a while, he saw that he was about to approach Beigantang, so he turned around again and headed west, passing through the waterway between Nangantang and Beigantang, and sailed to the sea north of Nangantang.

The fleet of the mixed river dragons who followed behind also turned around and continued to follow behind them, putting on a posture of vowing to meet the shark gang this time.

Yu Xiaotian observed his ship at this time, from this way, he felt that the renovation of the Seawolf after the year was still good, after the bottom of the ship was cleaned again, the resistance of the hull in the sea water was less, plus the mast and several hull reinforcements and sail repairs, the speed of the ship was significantly improved, and when accompanying Wang Hong's ship, many times he did not need to order the full sail, and he could easily keep up with Wang Hong and Fang An's ship.

Speed is undoubtedly a very important thing when fighting at sea, in comparison, in the entire fleet of the Shark Gang, his Seawolf is also one of the fastest ships, and during the march of the fleet, he can easily keep up with the speed of the fleet even if he uses half sails, which makes him very satisfied and more confident.

Although his Seawolf is inconspicuous in the fleet, it is not as strong as the Fu ship, and the manpower is not as many as other ships, and the firepower is relatively weak, but it is expensive that his ship is fast and more flexible, which is why Wang Hong values him and has always asked him to accompany him.

What Wang Hong values is the flexibility and speed of his Seawolf, and having him there is undoubtedly an extra layer of protection for Wang Hong.

In any case, Yu Xiaotian is optimistic about the current situation, at least even if he can't win, he has the ability to protect himself.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, he walked around the boat, laughing with his subordinates with a spring breeze on his face, at this time, most of the people on the boat seemed very nervous, they were the same as Yu Xiaotian, they were the first time to experience such a battle, although it has not started until now, but watching so many ships chasing after the river dragon still makes many people nervous.

But when they saw Yu Xiaotian walking around the boat with a relaxed face, and laughed with them from time to time, it suddenly made them feel a little more relaxed, since their boss was not afraid, then they were much more confident, invisibly, Yu Xiaotian's performance resolved a lot of tension on the ship.

However, Yu Xiaotian also checked the preparations on the ship, and saw that the black head and others put two boxes of Molotov cocktails full of whale oil on the deck, without any covering, he still reprimanded the black head, and ordered him to immediately put the two boxes of Molotov cocktails under the side of the ship, and cover them with something, if he was shot with a rocket, his ship would suffer, this thing was prepared for the enemy, how could it not be used on his own ship.

In addition, he took this opportunity to check the preparations of all parts of the ship, and the personnel of all departments on the ship were basically prepared at this time, especially the things related to damage management, all the wooden barrels, which had been filled with water at this time, bales of sand, and a few pumps, all of which were also placed within reach.

Including the spare sail rope, which was also placed under the mast at this time, ready to use, everything was prepared according to the plan they could have thought of before.

Even in order to prevent the rocket from destroying the ship, the sailors took advantage of this effort to use a pump or bucket to hit the seawater and wet the sail and the entire surface of the ship, although this increased the weight of the sail, but it could effectively prevent the sail from being ignited soon after being hit by the rocket, and bought a certain amount of time to extinguish the rocket.

All these preparations made Yu Xiaotian very satisfied, as for the weapons, several large bundles of arrows, as well as a few bird guns and fire guns, all of which have been loaded, just need to light the fire rope at any time, and they can be fired.

As time passed, the distance between the two sides became closer and closer, but Shangdou reported on the mast at this time, and after going around this big circle, the sloops in the mixed river dragon fleet had been left far behind at this time, and only a dozen or so larger ships under the command of the mixed river dragon were still following them at this time.

Yu Xiaotian took a deep breath and secretly said in his heart, it's almost over, it is estimated that it is time to start.

At this time, it was already the time of Shen in the afternoon, if they didn't start again, they would not be able to fight with the mixed river dragon today, once it got dark, and then carried out a naval battle under this condition, it would be Qian Song's madness, the night of the black rumbling dong, the current technical conditions, it was impossible to conduct effective command at all, and once the fight started, it would definitely be a big melee.

So Yu Xiaotian guessed that if Qian Song wanted to do it, it would be this time.

Sure enough, when Yu Xiaotian was thinking about this, news came from Wang Hong's boat, telling Yu Xiaotian that the fleet began to turn right and was about to turn around.

Yu Xiaotian immediately understood that it was time to start.

The fleet of the Shark Gang, under the leadership of Qian Song's boat, made a big circle in the wide water area north of Nangantang, and gradually turned around, facing the fleets of the mixed river dragons that followed.

And when the Mixed River Dragon's fleet saw that the Shark Gang's fleet began to turn around, it also began to turn around and rushed towards the Shark Gang's fleet.

The atmosphere on the sea immediately became more tense, and the roars of the leaders could be heard from all the ships, and the pirates were either busy adjusting the sails, or clenching their weapons and preparing for battle.

More than thirty ships, divided into two groups, walked in opposite directions, like two wolves, began to rush towards each other, everyone's heart was heavy as if a big stone had been pressed, and the pirates who were shouting just now closed their mouths more at this time.

This time, unlike when they went to rob merchant ships before, they all knew that the other party was a pirate like them, and they were not docile sheep, and while they wanted to tear each other apart, the other party also wanted to tear them apart.

The two fleets moved towards each other, getting closer and closer, and neither side looked like it was retreating at all, and they all hoisted their sails together, and quickened their speed, speeding towards each other.