prosperous age

Chapter 1036 1127 Battle Preparation

Wang Zhao arranged lookouts to keep a close eye on the movements at the mouth of Pengaslan Bay. In fact, this was not aimed at Lin Feng. How could he have known that Lin Feng could actually run away from Daimao City?

What he had to guard against was the barbarian fleet in the bay. If they made the slightest movement, the Ming navy would dispatch in advance and try their best to block them in the bay.

Taking advantage of the relatively narrow bay, the maneuverability of the barbarian armed merchant ships was restricted, minimizing the huge destructive power of the artillery on the warships.

However, when news came that a small fleet appeared at the mouth of the bay and headed south, Wang Zhao did not dare to delay and immediately sent out speedboats to chase them. At the same time, he ordered all warships to raise their sails and prepare to enter the bay in advance.

Yes, at this time he didn't think that the people on the small boat were pirates who escaped from the city of Daimao, but thought that they were messengers sent by the barbarians to ask for help from Savella and Governor Visali.

Their fleet had already been discovered by the Yi people's fleet anchored in the bay. They pretended to be unaware for fear of alerting the enemy and planned to send people out quietly for help.

After all, it was daybreak and they could be seen at the mouth of the bay.

Of course, they could also see the mouth of the bay, otherwise the purpose of blockading the area would be defeated.

There was still some time before daybreak, but Wang Zhao didn't dare to wait any longer. He had to rush into the bay first.

Otherwise, once the barbarian armed merchant ships change positions and use artillery to block the entrance to Pengaslan Bay, the artillery carried on their warships will be able to easily block the place, and it will be difficult for them to enter again.

Wang Zhao watched as several speedboats rushed out of the fleet and chased after the small boats fleeing south. He then issued an order: "All navy warships must complete their preparations as quickly as possible, weigh anchor and set sail to enter the bay. There must be no mistakes."

"Yes."

The personal soldier behind him agreed and immediately ran to the flag-bearer at the bow and conveyed Wang Zhao's order to him.

Then the flag bearer waved the small red flag in his hand and began to convey orders to the surrounding naval warships.

The order to hurry up and prepare for sailing was just issued half an incense stick ago. The fact that such flag signals were issued again in such a short time showed how nervous Wang Zhao was at the moment.

You know, if they cannot enter the bay as soon as possible and complete the "encirclement" of the barbarian fleet, the subsequent results will be difficult to predict.

In Lin Feng's view, this meant that they had been discovered by the Ming army.

With his reputation, how could anything good happen if he fell into the hands of the Ming army?

Of course not, so he could only give orders and let his men paddle frantically, hoping to escape the pursuit of the Ming army warships.

For a moment, the two small fleets began a collision of speed and passion.

If it was a south wind at this time, perhaps Lin Feng would have been able to escape as he wished. Unfortunately, things did not go as he wished. In the South China Sea, the northeast wind often appears in winter.

The south wind is naturally the wind that blows from the south to the north, while the northeast wind is naturally the wind that blows from the northeast.

Judging from their sailing direction, the wind is actually favorable, so the boatmen should be able to save a lot of effort.

Unfortunately, they were trying to escape.

The sails on those small boats were not big, and could not compare to the huge sails on the Ming army's warships.

Since the wind force is small, paddling is certainly useful, but the effect is limited.

At the beginning, they could barely maintain the distance between the two fleets, but when the strength ran out and the rowing speed slowed down, the Ming army's speedboats quickly closed the distance with them.

Then, some ships began to fall behind and were caught up by the Ming army's warships.

However, the Ming army warship in the front did not stop to gather the people on board, but directly passed them and continued to chase the fleeing boat in front.

When the small boats were caught up by the Ming army's speedboats, the captains discovered that the people on these small boats were not barbarians as they had expected, but Han people.

This is not the time to capture prisoners, so naturally there is no way to interrogate them.

In a boarding battle, who will fight them?

The last two speedboats of the Ming army began to collect these small boats. From time to time, the sound of bird guns could be heard, but the pirates' determination to resist was limited.

The Ming army's speedboats also had to display their cannons, and the pirates on the small boats would choose to surrender.

There is really no way to fight. On the sea, muskets can never be better than cannons.

Moreover, the previous desperate paddling had already consumed most of their strength. Even if they were to engage the Ming army at this time, they did not have the strength to wield swords and guns and fight to the death with the Ming army.

When the speedboat in the front finally caught up with the boat in front, the captain of the speedboat saw that the enemy was still rowing desperately to escape. He immediately ordered: "Fire two shots, aiming a little ahead of the enemy ship."

After the order was given, the gunners immediately turned the guns and prepared to fire.

The captain of the general flag was still cursing, "It's already this fucking time, and you still want to run away? Do you really think my warship is made of mud?"

In fact, if he didn't want to capture the enemy alive, he could have ordered the enemy's small boat to be directly bombarded.

At this moment, the fleet had already left Pengaslan Bay for some distance, and with the strong wind blowing on the sea, they were not afraid of the sound of gunfire and cannons reaching the ears of the barbarians.

The warships in the bay could not be heard at all.

"boom"

The sound of the cannon firing spread throughout the speedboat, and the sound was also carried to the small boat in front with the help of the wind.

Everyone who heard the gunfire knew what was happening: the pursuers behind were firing.

Then, a column of water rose up a few feet in front of the boat.

"Fuck, you hit it so accurately."

Although it seemed far away from the small boat, the experienced pirates knew that this was a demonstration firing, or it could be considered as measuring the angle to adjust the distance and correct the trajectory of subsequent shells.

You know, this cannon fired right in front of their boat. If the enemy was determined to attack them, this cannon would probably hit them.

The gunner on the opposite ship was obviously a veteran, and was very accurate in firing cannons.

This bombardment caused the pirates who were paddling desperately, who were squeezing out their last bit of strength, to stop what they were doing.

Can't run anymore.

"Don't stop, keep rowing."

The pirates had this mentality, but Lin Feng did not. Nothing good happened to him when he fell into the hands of the Ming army.

Rather than being caught and beheaded by the Ming army, it is better to die on the sea. At least I don’t have to accept the humiliation of the Ming army.

At this moment, Lin Feng's pockmarked face looked even more terrifying.

Seeing his men in a daze, Lin Feng drew out a pistol from his waist and aimed it at the pirates.

"Don't stop, row your boat, or I'll beat you to death."

"Boss, there's no way we can run away. We can't outrun the government army's speedboats.

If they fire again, we'll all be dead."

A boatman shouted loudly to Lin Feng.

There is no accuracy in a shot, and who knows where it will land.

But they all knew that if they were hit, they would either die or be crippled.

Death seems to be the best relief. The most frightening thing is getting hurt, the boat sinking, and attracting sharks under the South China Sea.

Pirates also often used this punishment to deal with some people, cutting them and then throwing them into the sea to watch sharks bite and devour them.

This kind of punishment is very horrible, and everyone is very scared. If it were in the past, Lin Feng threatening them with death might have worked.

But it’s not possible at this moment, because everyone can more or less guess Lin Feng’s mentality at this moment.

He can make such a choice, but they cannot. No matter how loyal they are to Lin Feng, they will never gamble their lives with him.

Yes, when it really comes to a matter of life and death, they will not accompany Lin Feng to go crazy.

Several pirates close to Lin Feng looked at each other secretly. The tacit understanding developed over the years allowed them to understand the meaning contained in their eyes through such glances.

Just as Lin Feng was waving the short gun in his hand again to force the pirates to continue rowing, the three pirates beside him suddenly worked together, quickly clamping Lin Feng's arms, and another one went directly behind him and strangled his neck, their cooperation was quite tacit.

It can only be said that these three people are Lin Feng’s most trusted guards, but at this moment, for the sake of their own lives, they can’t care about anything else.

This is not the first time they have cooperated like this.

In fact, this is what they did to those leaders who did not obey Lin Feng, luring them and then killing them.

The only difference is that before, they followed Lin Feng's orders to deal with other pirate leaders, but this time it was their turn to attack Lin Feng.

"You guys. Let go."

When Lin Feng was strangled by the neck, he knew that something was wrong and struggled hard.

"Snapped."

With a gunshot, Lin Feng pulled the trigger of the pistol, but the bullet did not hit the people on the boat, but flew out of the boat and landed somewhere unknown.

"What are you still standing there for? Raise the white flag and bring a rope over here to tie him up."

The pirate who was strangling Lin Feng's neck shouted loudly to the frightened pirates in front.

"Oh oh oh, good."

When the pirate heard the other party's words, he woke up as if from a dream and immediately found the rope on the ship as requested.

The four men worked together to tie Lin Feng up tightly.

At the same time, other pirates also found a piece of white canvas and held it high with an oar.

"Quickly lower the sails to prevent the enemy from continuing to fire."

The pirate who started the conversation gave orders to the others.

Now that it has come to this, we naturally cannot be careless in the slightest.

Folding the sails and raising the white flag fully demonstrated their intention to surrender, and the Ming army should not continue to attack them.

On the Ming army warships behind them, although they could not see clearly what was happening on the ship in front due to the distance, the raised white flags and the actions of retracting the sails let them know what the other party meant.

"Lean closer."

The flag captain gave a loud order.

Capturing a whole ship of pirates alive is no small achievement.

Yes, now combined with the several small boats that overtook him in front, he had realized the identity of the other party. They should be the pirates who remained on Luzon Island and were not besieged in the city of Hawksbill.

It could be someone who had been hiding in the dock area, trying to escape while it was still dark.

At this time, the flag captain did not realize that such a huge credit had been bestowed upon him, and he was almost shot away.

You know, if you fail to capture Lin Feng and don't find his body, then this achievement will not be recognized according to the court's regulations.

If a cannon had really hit the ship at that time, all his credit would have been lost, even if people on other ships pointed it out.

The imperial court would not believe empty words. They would like to see the person alive or the body dead.

However, as the speedboat approached the small boat, it also began to retract its sails and slow down. Finally, after the two boats were firmly close to each other, the leading pirate said directly: "I am willing to surrender. I have already tied up the bandit leader Lin Feng. Please, sir."

The general only heard the first half of the man's sentence. When he understood what the other person said, he suddenly felt his head buzzing and could no longer hear what the other person said.

"Lin Feng, there is Lin Feng on the opposite boat. Who is Lin Feng? Lin Feng"

It took a while for the general to come to his senses.

Lin Feng is the leader of this group of pirates. I never expected that he would run from the city to the sea and be caught by me.

The flag officer was happy at the moment, while Lin Feng, who was tied up, was obviously unfortunate. He glared at the boat full of his former subordinates.

Something was stuffed in his mouth so he couldn't make any sound, otherwise he would have started cursing.

"Send the people over here, tie your boat to ours, and go back with us."

At this time, behind the speedboat, there were already Ming navy warships coming from a distance. They did not take over the other side's small boats, but simply used ropes to hook the other side's ships and towed them over.

"Signal all ships to return."

The general issued an order.

The flag bearer and lookout immediately sent a return signal from a high altitude to the speedboat coming from behind. When the ship behind saw it, it immediately slowed down and prepared to turn.

On this side, the general flag watched the other side send the tied up Lin Feng to the big ship. He also circled around Lin Feng, who was thrown on the deck like a dead pig, for several times, as if he was looking at a peerless beauty.

"You are indeed a big shot. Hehe, Lin Big Shot, you didn't expect that you would fall into my hands today."

The general flag was overjoyed at this time. Although the achievement of capturing the bandit leader could not make him the greatest contributor to this southern expedition, it was close.

To the south of Pengaslan Bay, several speedboats circled one after another, with one or two small boats behind each speedboat.

The sailors paddled hard, heading back against the wind.

How smooth things were before, how miserable they are now.

It is really hard to sail against the current with a burden behind you.

However, after knowing the merits they had achieved, all the sailors' minds were now filled with rewards from the court, and they were only thinking about how to spend the money.

Just as they were rowing desperately to get back to the mouth of the bay, all the warships of the Ming army's South China Sea Navy were finally ready and sailed towards Pengaslan Bay in the formation ordered by the royal decree.

At this time, the Spanish fleet anchored in the bay had not noticed anything.

When the first few Ming army gunboats took the lead in entering the bay, the Spanish sailors who were in charge of lookout initially thought that the two warships of the allied forces were coming.

When they launched the previous raid, the Ming army gunboats also followed them and participated in the operation, so they were quite familiar with each other.

However, when two more gunboats appeared behind the two gunboats in front, and then two more gunboats appeared, the lookout could not help but rub his eyes again and again.

At this moment, in his eyes, there were more than eight Ming army gunboats appearing in this bay, and at the mouth of the bay, it seemed that more warships were gathering, preparing to enter the bay continuously.

In an instant, the lookout had a bad feeling and immediately sounded the alarm.

Although the alarm bells sounded throughout the ship, all the Spanish sailors who were waiting for dinner rushed out of the cabin and returned to their respective positions, they saw more than twenty Ming navy warships heading towards the bay.

"They are approaching, get ready for a fight."

The lookout shouted loudly to his stunned comrades.