The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 705

The fog over the sea was getting thicker.

Apparently, those merchant ships also noticed that a pirate ship was approaching, and hurriedly turned their heads and fled to the southwest, looming in the mist.

Zheng Du was very anxious when he saw this, he was afraid that these merchant ships would disperse and flee, if that was the case, he might only be able to catch one or two "fat fish".

He hesitated for a while, and now he didn't care about the formation. He ordered the Xuwei to fill its sails, left the other two pirate ships beside him, and rushed towards the merchant ship single-handedly.

This is also one of the important advantages of Galen boats that can dominate the ocean. The wind-eating area of ​​soft sails is much larger than that of Fuchuan with hard sails, and the limit speed is naturally much higher than that of the latter.

Zheng Du was very confident. The speed of those Fuchuan-type merchant ships must be far inferior to the Xuwei. At the same time, his own firepower could easily tear up these "fat fish", making them unable to resist.

As long as you can get into the pile of merchant ships, you may be able to capture four or even five of them!After this vote is done, it is enough for him to wash his hands in a golden basin to support his life.

Under the agitation of the sea wind, the Xuwei left the other two junk-shaped pirate ships behind in a moment, and quickly approached the merchant ship in front of it.

After another seven or eight nautical miles, Zheng Du heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that the merchant ships were still gathered together, but suddenly found a ship rushing towards him in the sea fog.

Could it be that these merchants intend to use a boat to deliberately "feed" themselves, so as to cover other boats from escaping?

"Huh!" He snorted coldly with disdain, and ordered his subordinates, "Turn the rudder, and sail past the starboard side of the opposite ship. Send the order, the starboard cannon is ready, and when we pass by, give me a fierce bombardment of the ship. Destroy its mast or rudder!"

"Small obedience!"

Zheng Du was proud of himself, these merchants must have not noticed that there were two boats behind me, so at least the "fat fish" delivered to the door was safe enough to eat.

"Big, big boss, something seems wrong!"

"What's wrong?" Zheng Du glared at the adjutant beside him, but still cautiously raised the binoculars to look westward, but immediately, as if struck by lightning, the binoculars in his hand fell to the deck with a snap.

I saw a huge mast ten feet high protruding from the thick fog, covered with soft gray sails, which were blown high by the sea wind, and the gun ports on both sides of the hull had been pushed open, revealing the neatly arranged There are more than thirty black cannons.

What kind of "fat fish" is this, it is a plywood boat that is much bigger than the Xuwei!
Helan people?Daming navy?Zheng Du's heart twitched suddenly, and he couldn't care less about who it was, he yelled at the adjutant beside him, "Quick! Right rudder, full sail and retreat to the northeast! Damn it's an ambush!"

"Yes Yes!"

Zheng Du wanted to order the two ships commanded by Hong Xu behind him to block the approaching enemy, but he was surprised to see two Galen warships emerged from the sea fog. Although they were much smaller than the previous one, they were both It is a circle bigger than his Xuwei!
This kind of warship was not something that Hong Xu's two lucky boats could stop.He had no choice but to shout at his opponent: "Let Uncle Hong follow and retreat north!"

He raised his eyes to look at the two pirate ships that were in charge of the outflanking, Hei San and Lao Liu, but found that they had already disappeared into the mist, so he could only sigh and let them die on their own.

Although the galleon sailed fast, its steering was rather clumsy. It required hundreds of people to change the direction of more than a dozen sails through complicated operations to complete the sharp turn.

In addition, just now Zheng Du took the upper wind to rush towards the merchant ship, but now when he wanted to escape, it turned into a headwind. When the bow of the Xu Wei pointed to the northeast, the Shao Wu had rushed to less than a nautical mile away from him.

The Fuzhou and Guangsignal turned their rudders slightly, as if they were heading north, and stopped in front of the Xuwei.

Only now did Zheng Du see clearly the blue flag of the Daming Navy on the mast of the Shaowu, and he gritted his teeth with hatred, "Damn it, I've come here to be a pirate, and I'm still trying to force you!
"However, I've been in this group of waters hundreds of times, and I know them better than my family. I don't believe you can't get rid of you in such a foggy day!"

Standing on the bow of the ship himself, holding a compass, he commanded the Xu Wei to run towards the dense fog, thinking viciously in his heart, after he escaped this time, he must go to the coast of Nanzhili to plunder to relieve his hatred .

He turned his head and looked back, and saw that the huge warship was a little farther away from him than before. Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he heard the bang of the clapper on his head, and the watchman shouted desperately, "Warning! There is a big ship in the north!"

He hurriedly turned his head, and he saw a huge black shadow in the sea fog, lying in front of him like a mountain.It was the fourth-class cruiser Zhangzhou sent by Zhu Linming to guard the periphery of the ocean-going caravan.

The distance was too close, and it was too late to turn around.

Zheng Du gritted his teeth and ordered, "Half sail, starboard! Use the port side to face the enemy! Prepare the cannon!"

The pirates of Shibazhi furled half of the sails as fast as they could, and the rudder had been deflected to the maximum extent, so they could barely turn the bow of the ship to the east.

At the same time, the huge black shadow on the north side also approached from the front left of Xuwei.When the distance between the two ships was still [-] yards, Zheng Du's gunners could no longer hold back.

As the first pirate ignited the cannon, a series of flames spewed out from the port side of Xuwei, and ten iron balls whizzed and flew towards Zhangzhou.

With such a long distance, coupled with the shaking of the ship, it is impossible for even the top British artillery in Europe to shoot accurately, let alone these pirates.

Most of the shells fell into the sea, causing huge splashes.

However, an eight-pounder shell hit the Universiade and hit the right front of the Zhangzhou.

Zheng Du also happened to see a small black spot appearing on the side of the enemy ship through the binoculars, and he was overjoyed. If he could injure this "big guy" blocking the way, he would be able to escape!

However, there was only a muffled bang on the starboard side of the Zhangzhou, and the whistling iron ball weighing eight catties was thrown on the door panel like a child's sandbag. It bounced off the side and fell into the water.

Zhangzhou's beech wood hull more than seven inches thick, with dense ribs, can it be broken by an eight-pound gun?
Zheng Du swallowed, and groaned in his heart, this motherfucking monster, what a fart... The Nanming court must have been too ruthless, for a mere little pirate, to dispatch such a powerful ship to encircle and suppress him.

There are several more at once...

As soon as he was stunned, the Zhangzhou ship was already posted at a distance of less than [-] yards.On the broad side of the ship, a total of seventeen cannons on the upper and lower floors fired from front to back, and suddenly black smoke billowed, like an ancient beast standing on the sea and roaring.

An 20-pounder shell hit the bow of Xuwei, and wood debris shot out all over the sky in an instant. More than 20 pirates on the deck and in the cabin were killed on the spot, and more than [-] others fell in a pool of blood and struggled. scream.

(End of this chapter)