Capital Datang

Both Li Zhen and Li Yun wanted to know how Li Yun could control the Strait of Malacca without using force?It's a pity that although Zhu Chong knew it, he could only reveal one thing to them, and that was referring to the Malay Peninsula across the sea from Mo Luoyou. As for the others, he refused to say a word. Let Li Zhen and Li Yun have no choice.

The fleet traveled along the Strait of Malacca. In this narrow strait, Li Zhen and Li Yun also encountered many fleets coming and going, and they also found that these fleets were generally large in size, at least There were also [-] or [-] ships traveling together, and the ships were all equipped with simple weapons. According to Zhu Chong, this was mainly to guard against pirates.

Li Zhen and his fleet moved forward very quickly. After passing through the Straits of Malacca, they stopped at a small island in the northwest corner of Jinzhou for one night. Then they will go all the way west. If there is no accident, they will soon They will be able to reach the island of Ceylon, and then land on this island to start the first step of their journey of conquest.

But when Li Zhen and the others rested on the small island for a night, when the fleet set sail again the next day, no one expected that just after their fleet had just turned around the small island, they were looking for the direction and preparing to move forward. Suddenly, in front of them, two ships were frantically approaching them, and behind these two ships, there were more than a dozen fast boats chasing them.

This was the first time Li Zhen and Li Yun met in this situation, so they didn't react for a while, but Zhu Chong raised his eyes and immediately showed a trace of anger on his face and said: "Things that don't have long eyes, How dare you even rob our Han merchant ships?" Capital Datang 515

Hearing Zhu Chong's words, Li Zhen, Li Yun and the others reacted.It turned out that they had encountered the legendary pirates, and looked at the appearance of the two merchant ships that escaped ahead.It is the lucky boat produced by Datang, this kind of boat is the symbol of Han merchants at sea.As for the dozen or so smaller ships in the back, they were pirates without asking.

Zhao Qiu is about to cry now. Originally, he was a sea merchant in Guangzhou, and his business was not very big. He only had two ships under his name. He usually transported all kinds of goods from the Tang Dynasty to Tianzhu, and then pulled them from Tianzhu. Returning a boatload of special products, you can make two price differences once you come back, generally speaking.As long as he can go back and forth in a year, it is enough for him to eat for several years.

For example, last time after Zhao Qiu transported a batch of silk to Tianzhu to sell, he bought a batch of exquisite wool blankets and a few small boxes of gems from a Persian businessman, and then shipped these goods to Datang. After changing hands, it was sold for more than ten times the price, which made him a big profit. This time, Zhao Qiu shipped another batch of Datang's goods.He is planning to go to Ceylon Island, the southernmost part of Tianzhu, where he has an old customer, and he has already negotiated with him last time, as soon as the goods arrive.The other party pays immediately.

But as the saying goes, extreme joy begets sorrow. Originally, he was traveling with a Tianzhu fleet returning from Datang this time, but he was on the way.But there was a big storm, and one of his ships was out of luck.It hit a reef and ended up needing some repairs.But the Tianzhu fleet that accompanied him was unwilling to wait for him, and finally left first. Zhao Qiu had no choice but to scold the Tianzhu people for their lack of faith, while having the ship repaired quickly, and then tremblingly set off on the road.

Zhao Qiu had traveled several times on the route from Datang to Tianzhu, and he hired a surveyor on two of his ships, so he didn't have to worry about getting lost. However, Zhao Qiu was not worried about these things, but worried about pirate.Especially on the route from Malacca to Tianzhu, there are so many pirates. These pirates include Tianzhu people, Persians, and new big cannibals, and even pirates who came here from Daqin .With the strength of Zhao Qiu's two ships, if they encountered pirates, they would definitely be close to death.

When Zhao Qiu was thrown off by the Tianzhu fleet, his ship had just crossed the Strait of Malacca, and the next voyage was very dangerous, and he might encounter pirates if he was not careful.But they have already crossed the Strait of Malacca, and it is impossible to go back at this time. They wanted to join other fleets, but they did not meet the Han Chinese fleet for a while. Finally, Zhao Qiu gritted his teeth and ventured out of Malacca, and then went alone. Forward.

As the saying goes, what they are afraid of will come. They have just walked out of the Mal[-] Strait when they are targeted by a group of pirates consisting of more than a dozen ships. Although the opponent’s ship is small, it is very fast, and these pirates are all Desperado, although there are quite a few crew members on his two ships, when facing these dozen or so pirate ships, they are absolutely dead.

Relying on the agility of his ship, Zhao Qiu turned around and fled towards Malacca. The pirates on the Tianzhu Sea side generally would not chase into the strait, so as long as they can escape to the Strait of Malacca, then they There is still a chance of survival.It's a pity that they were not far from Malacca, but God suddenly didn't help them. The wind direction on the sea changed, and they turned into sailing against the wind. As a result, they could only watch the pirate ship getting closer and closer behind them. Zhao Qiu and his men The crew couldn't help showing a look of despair, and many young people even drew their weapons, planning to drag a pirate on their backs before dying.

"Shopkeeper, look quickly, there is a fleet, it is our Datang warship!" But at this moment, Li Zhen's huge fleet turned out from behind the island, and some sharp-eyed crew members shouted loudly Dao, his face was full of surprise.

At this time, Zhao Qiu also turned around and saw the huge fleet in the distance, especially when he saw the dozen or so warships cruising around, his nervous heart suddenly relaxed. If it wasn't for someone helping him, he would almost be paralyzed Collapsed on deck.

The scar-faced pirate leader standing at the bow was still clamoring triumphantly just now, but the appearance of Li Zhen's fleet was like hitting him with a hammer on the head, which made him stunned He didn't even think that there would be such a huge Han Chinese fleet here.

"Saved! Hahaha~" Zhao Qiu's two boats immediately burst into cheers, and the crew members who escaped from death seemed to be crazy, waving desperately to Li Zhen's fleet.

If they encounter fleets from other countries, they may still worry about whether the other party will rescue them?And even if they rescued them, they would ask for a reward afterwards. After all, no one would want to offend a group of pirates for no reason.But the fleet of the Han people is different. All the Han merchants who went to sea, under the leadership of Qi Wangfu, formulated an overseas mutual assistance agreement. Among them, when merchant ships of the same family encountered pirates, other Han merchants had the responsibility and obligation to help. The opponent defends against pirates.

And the pirates behind Zhao Qiu all showed timid expressions when they saw such a huge fleet, and the scar-faced pirate leader very wisely ordered more than a dozen pirate ships to row on the sea. Making a U-shaped arc, it seems that they are about to retreat.

However, Zhu Chong looked at the prepared pirates, and snorted coldly with disdain: "It's a dream to escape after messing with our ship!"

Following Zhu Chong's order, more than a dozen fast boats rushed out of the fleet. These fast boats are auxiliary ships of warships. Sail, buy time for the main battleship.

The pirate's ship was obviously built by Tianzhu. Although it was fast, it was much worse than Zhu Chong's regular navy-equipped fast boats. So they didn't escape for a few miles, and they were gone. Was caught up by the Clippers behind.In fact, if it weren't for the fact that vehicles and ships are not conducive to long-distance travel, and steam ships are limited by coal, it would definitely be easier to catch up with these pirates.

The scar-faced pirate saw that he couldn't get away, and his heart felt fierce. He turned the bow of the ship and rushed towards the clipper, apparently wanting to do his best.In fact, this is not to blame for Scarface Pirates, because Datang's warships have never been here before, and he doesn't know that those ships that are as tall as a city are warships, and there are fifty thousand grassland cavalry on the transport ship in the middle, otherwise lend him two Courageous, he didn't dare to turn around and try his best.

However, for the pirate ships that turned around, the dozen or so fast boats did not carry them hard. Instead, they turned a small circle to pass the direction of the opponent's charge. The front is cotton soaked in kerosene, which cannot be extinguished when ignited. There is a crossbar at the end of the arrow, which can prevent the crossbow from shooting through the canvas, but it is precisely because of the crossbar that this rocket has a very long range It's close, but the crossbar can be removed with force, and then you can shoot from a long distance.Capital Datang 515

"嗖嗖~" there was a breaking wind, and more than a dozen crossbow arrows with thick smoke were shot out. Because they passed by and the distance was very close, most of the rockets "shot" the opponent's ship , As a result, the cotton sail of the Tianzhu ship was quickly ignited, and spread along the rope to the hull.

These pirates are still used to jumping gang battles, and they never expected that the opponent would use this kind of long-range attack, especially after the canvas was ignited, which made them feel a little "chaotic". The scar-faced pirate leader reacted the fastest. After kicking away one of the subordinates beside him and attracting everyone's attention, he immediately directed everyone to put out the fire.

Just when the pirate ships were in chaos, Zhu Chong and his main warships had already caught up. All the navy personnel ignored these dozen or so small pirate ships, and they were not even bothered with their weapons. Prepared, put the speed to the maximum directly, and then directly crushed it with the help of the wind.

The ship of the scar-faced pirate leader is the largest ship among the pirate ships, but compared with Zhu Chong's battleship, it looks like the difference between a giant and a dwarf, so there is no suspense in the future, and the pirates on the ship only feel that the top of their heads As soon as it was dark, their ship shook suddenly, and with a loud noise, all the pirates couldn't stand still, and fell into the sea one by one, and the pirate ship was also pushed into the sea by the high bow.

Zhu Chong on the battleship looked at the struggling pirates in the water, and ordered very coldly: "Shoot them all!" (To be continued...)