Daming Yinghua

Chapter 79 Bloody Battle
Li Guozhu's boat is not big, but it breaks through the waves like a knife's edge, faster than a shark, and it has sailed in front of Yan Siqi and others in the blink of an eye.

"Brother, Liniang's new friend is a gambler. He was chased for debts and sold us for a reward. Now the government's anti-Japanese army is chasing us, let's go!"

Assistant Li Guo danced and announced loudly.

Liniang was one of Yan Siqi's subordinates at Yuegang's secret sentry. When Zheng Haizhu followed Shi Yuelan's instructions to find her a few days ago, she saw the woman who was always sitting at the door mending clothes.

Yan Siqi, who was standing at the bow, heard Li Guozhu's words, his expression changed, and he ordered the sailors without hesitation: "Hold the anchor!"

As soon as the words fell, he realized again, what should Zheng Haizhu do.

Before he could think about it, there was chaos on the tidal flat not far away, and the women and children who had rushed back from the sea fled away in a hurry.

A group of sergeants came on horseback, shouting: "Catch the Japanese pirates, the imperial court will catch the Japanese pirates!"

Li Guozhu hurriedly said: "Brother, hurry up, my brothers and I will hold them back."

Yan Siqi sharply said: "Who are you going to go, do it with them!"

He was not impulsive, but he couldn't let Li Dan's eldest son meet the enemy alone.

However, at this moment, Li Guozhu showed a different calmness from the past, and said loudly across the side of the boat: "Brother, don't be anxious, the boat brought by the younger brother has a crossbow and a bird gun, and we are a wave-breaking boat, sailing fast..."

He didn't say "quick", just heard a "whoosh", and the soldier rushing to the front on the tidal flat shot a powerful arrow. Fortunately, the aim was off the head, and the copper arrow fell into the sea water.

Li Guozhu immediately raised his voice, calling to the sailors on the other two boats who came with him: "Brother's boat will block them first, and shoot the arrows first! The bird guns are also filled with medicine."

Immediately turning around, he roared: "Brother, are you waiting to die? Get out of the port quickly, and we will chase after you. If we can't meet you in the sea, we will meet you directly in Penghu."

Yan Siqi came to talk to Zheng Haizhu today, and because he was pretending to be a fisherman and docked, he could not make the other boatmen at the ferry suspicious, so all firearms, bows and crossbows were left on the big boat outside, and he and the sailors only carried Japanese swords with them.

Seeing that Li Guozhu's formation and shooting of arrows is very methodical, if he continues to stay, he will not only drag down his brothers, but also may ruin Li Shaozhu's face in front of everyone.

Yan Siqi didn't delay anymore, and ordered Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Haizhu to get into the small cabin, steer the helm himself, then turned his head to look up at the bamboo sails that had been quickly raised by the sailors, carefully discerned the wind direction, avoided the reefs, and sailed out of the harbor.

Just after driving out of the range of the copper arrows on the tidal flat, Zheng Haizhu got out of the cabin, only heard a few "booms", but saw that Li Guozhu and the others had put on the guns, suppressed the sergeants who rushed to the reinforcements, and tried to escape as soon as possible.

But things backfired.

Not long after the firearms and arrows stopped, when Li Guozhu's fleet was approaching Yan Siqi's boat, several flames flashed on the sea surface, followed by the same rumbling sound as before.

Zheng Zhilong exclaimed: "Isn't it because I encountered a ship patrolling the sea?"

Yan Siqi handed over the rudder to his subordinates, turned around, and raised the binoculars.

Dusk has fallen, the sea is dim, and only the shadows of boats can be seen.

Yan Siqi put down the binoculars, and said in a deep voice: "Guozhu and the others set up a triangular formation, it should be facing the official ship. It's too dark to see clearly, but hearing the sound, the official ship is full of firecrackers, not small cannons."

The young Zheng Zhilong seemed to be quite familiar with firearms, and his voice was a little calmer: "It's good to have no guns, Brother Guozhu and his boat are small and run fast, and the bird guns and big fire guns will soon have nothing to do with them. "

Yan Siqi said "Yes", looked up at Banyue Dongsheng, then stretched out his hand and said with certainty: "God help me, the northeast wind has changed to northwest wind. If the wind keeps going in this direction, we will be near Penghu Island in the middle of the night."

After a while, the sea where the battle was fought in the distance became quiet.

Yan Siqi raised the binoculars again.

It was dark in the mirror.

In today's Ming Dynasty, after the opening of Yuegang and the opening of Macao to trade, the Japanese pirates have become a history, but the pirates caught by patrolling the sea can still be rewarded with Japanese pirates.

If the official ship has the upper hand, they will definitely arrest people and seize the ship. Even in the dark night, the torches will be lit in that direction, and there will be a lot of noise.

Therefore, Yan Siqi was relieved at last, the silence in the distance could only mean that the official boat could not catch up with the small boat, and it was going back.

Yan Siqi sat down by the cable, took a sip of wine and said, "Brother Guozhu may have arrived in Penghu before us."

The boss's final word dispelled the tense and depressing atmosphere. The sailors who did not steer or look at the sails also put on blankets to keep out the cold, leaned on the side of the ship, and chatted with each other.

Yan Siqi entered the cabin and took out his wind robe, and handed it to Zheng Haizhu.

Seeing that she took it without saying a word, wrapped it around her body slowly, and then remained silent, Yan Siqi thought that she had fallen into panic.

"Azhu, I didn't expect to be in danger suddenly," Yan Siqi said softly, "The situation just now, I really can't let you go ashore."

Zheng Zhilong also added softly from the side: "Yes, sister Azhu, even if you pretend that you are a woman who was robbed by pirates, you will easily be injured by arrows if you jump into the sea and flee to the shore."

Zheng Haizhu raised his head and chuckled.

It turned out that they thought they were depressed because they had to go to the open sea with the ship for some reason.

Zheng Haizhu said with a smile: "You think too much, I'm not angry. I'm just thinking, if there is a delay in this trip, how can I find an excuse to talk to the Weaving Bureau when I go back. Brother Yiguan has a good reason. It was robbery."

Yan Siqi was relieved, and said with a smile: "We were still talking about Taiwan, since we have already arrived in Penghu, why don't we go to Taiwan's stupid port this time?"

"Wow." Zheng Zhilong echoed excitedly.

Zheng Haizhu also responded "Yes, I want to go too", but there is still another string in her heart.

In fact, the reason she kept a dignified expression unconsciously just now was because she was indeed in deep thought.

She always felt that something strange happened today.

……

"Sister Azhu, Penghu is almost here."

Zheng Haizhu was alone in the cabin, and just as he began to doze off in a daze, Zheng Zhilong came in to call her.

Zheng Haizhu hurriedly sat up straight and woke up.

She couldn't help but feel that the Penghu Islands are so close to the mainland. This is an ancient wind-powered ship, and it will arrive in three or four hours.

She walked out of the cabin, and Yan Siqi was standing under the torch, looking at the star board, while asking the helmsman to fine-tune the direction.

"Brother Yan, I heard that there are dozens of islands in Penghu, which one will our big ship stop at?"

"It stops at a small island in the southwest of Huayu," Yan Siqi said. "It's hidden and uninhabited. The imperial navy will not go there."

Zheng Haizhu nodded.

In the last years of Wanli, the Penghu Islands were indeed still under the control of the Ming Empire, and troops patrolling sea routes often went on patrol.

Historically, until the early years of the Apocalypse, the Dutch occupied the main island of Penghu with strong ships and guns and built fortresses. The Ming Empire formally sent troops to fight the Dutch and regained control of Penghu and surrounding waterways.But the Dutch took the opportunity to go east and occupy Taiwan.

At this moment, Zheng Haizhu also walked under the torch and stood beside Yan Siqi, trying to open his eyes wide, looking at the vast night sea.

She couldn't help being excited.

After all, in the modern age of later generations, she has never seen the Penghu Islands, or this beautiful island that has belonged to China since ancient times.

(End of this chapter)