On the calm sea, a brig was moving slowly, and there was nothing surprising on the surface, there was no flag on the mast, no angle of attack in the bow, and no ordnance on deck.

A group of men were busy on it, perhaps because of the heat, and everyone was naked, some were washing the deck, some were pulling the cables, and some were throwing a plumb into the sea on the side of the gunwale, and soon pulled it up again.

Jiang Ning, dressed like them, stood on the bow of the boat with his waist crossed, this was his favorite place, especially in such a calm sea, the bow raised high was like a sharp blade splitting the waves, like the burning ideal in his heart.

"Ship owner, after a tired night, it is better to go and rest, the subordinates will keep an eye on them."

Zhang Xuan's voice sounded behind him, it seemed deferential and natural, he knew that this qiē was all earned by his own efforts, just like last night, such a big storm, he finally did not lose face like last time, but persevered with them until now.

"In this case, so-and-so will go and lie down for a while, hard work for you."

He turned around and walked past Zhang Xuan, gently patted the latter's shoulder, and walked all the way down the deck to the back cabin, greeting every man along the way, making jokes about meat and vegetarian dishes.

Zhang Xuan watched him disappear at the end of the deck, and seemed to be secretly relieved, in fact, there was another very important reason for him to be like this, that is, those daunting wounds on Jiang Ning's body, one of which was on the front of his back, and a cut from top to bottom, the dark red skin and flesh were sewn up by needles and threads, like a centipede with teeth and claws.

He also had some tattoos on his body, but since he saw Jiang Ning's back, he knew that nothing tattooed was as pleasant as that centipede, because it was real.

Coming out of the Weng Chau camp, he witnessed the growth of this young man along the way, from a rookie, to now faintly have the appearance of a leader, and in time he will definitely become an expert on the ship, a terrifying existence on the sea.

"How deep is the water?" Zhang Xuan was only slightly stunned, he was fortunate that he was a partner in the same boat as him, not an opponent.

"Looking back at the rudder, I just measured the depth of fifty-five feet."

Hearing the reply, Zhang Xuan nodded and gestured, the purpose of his bathymetry was to roughly judge the place where the ship was, if it was at this depth, it should not be too far from the mainland coast now, of course, it still kept a certain distance.

The current sea area has already entered the scope of the Yuan people, and they have not encountered a patrol ship or anything so far, which means that the Yuan people do not have the strength to take care of such a distance, according to the chart that Jiang Ning brought, as long as they keep this direction, they should eventually enter the busiest route of the Yuan people, from Goryeo to the coastal area of Yidu.

"Helmsman, there's movement on the trumpet."

The report of his subordinates interrupted his train of thought again, Zhang Xuan raised his eyes and saw that a man on the flag bucket was constantly gesturing downward, and he immediately understood that there was a boat shadow in front of him.

Zhang Xuan was stunned, rushed to the mast in a few steps, and climbed up with a "whoosh", which was not big, and the two of them were thin and small, and they also looked a little crowded.

"Bring the mirror, you go first."

Taking the clairvoyant mirror from the hands of his subordinates, Zhang Xuan put it on his eyes, the magic of this thing amazed him, with it, it can be said that he is invincible, he can fight if he wants to, he doesn't want to fight, as long as he turns far away, with the speed of this ship and his steering, he is confident that no one on the sea can catch up.

According to the direction he pointed, Zhang Xuan slowly searched in the lens, until a small black shadow came into view, if it wasn't for this clairvoyant mirror, the naked eye didn't know how long it would take to see it, he held his breath and waited patiently for it to show its shape.

"Hit the signal, beat the gong to meet the enemy!"

The moment he saw the hull, Zhang Xuan was a little excited, looking at the style of the warship that was not Yuanren, the draft was extremely deep, there must be a lot of cargo on board, and there didn't seem to be many people on board, this was a good goal, for their first pirate career.

When the gong sounded, Jiang Ning had just squeezed through the narrow aisle to the door of his cabin, and his other half of his subordinates who were asleep below, had only been resting for more than an hour, and this qiē was immediately broken by the rapid sound of the gong.

"Guys, hurry up to deck!"

According to the previous drill, this was a signal to meet the enemy, Jiang Ning did not have much sleepiness swept away, he walked and greeted, waking up those who were still a little ignorant.

"Lao Zhang, what's the situation?"

When he rushed to the deck, Zhang Xuan had already dismounted from the flag bucket and returned to the helmsman's position. Jiang Ning looked around the side of the lower boat for a long time and didn't see anything, so he went to the slipway and stood with the latter.

"It's about in that direction, opposite to ours, and it looks like we're heading somewhere behind."

Zhang Xuan held the helm with one hand, and pointed forward obliquely with the other, Jiang Ning looked at it and knew that it should still be in the distance, but looking at the direction of the ship, it seemed that he turned around and did not meet it.

"Our ship is a southern-style, and those who have experience will know by looking at the appearance that if they go straight to meet it, they are afraid that they will turn around and run back, although they may be able to catch up, but they are afraid of alarming the Tartars and causing extraneous branches."

This ship was directly changed from a warship, the body shape is more slender, and it has an advantage in speed, even if it can't see the armament, but the appearance is still the appearance of a lucky ship, and it suddenly appears in the northern seas, it is indeed easy to make people suspicious, Zhang Xuan's consideration is reasonable.

These people can be said to be novices, they have not trained together for a long time, and they rashly engage with the Tartar warships, but they are afraid that they will not have the upper hand, this place is not too far from the coast, if they want to intercept the target, Zhang Xuan's plan is to cross and meet at a certain point in the middle, so as to avoid premature hostility.

"Pull the rope and march in half sail."

Immediately afterwards, he passed on another order, which was also aimed at confusing the enemy and making them think that this merchant ship in the south of the Yangtze River was also used.

"The matter of meeting the enemy will depend on you, and the matter of receiving the enemy will be handed over to a certain person, and this battle can only be won."

Jiang Ning recognized his previous approach, and now he is still a novice who needs to learn, this is opening a business, if he wins, it will be a huge blow to morale, and morale at sea is an extremely important strategic factor.

Stepping off the deck, under his command, all but a part of the sail handlers were to be combatants, and blades, bows and arrows, hook spears, and flying claws were distributed, and all of them lay behind the side of the ship to avoid being detected by their targets.

Although only half a sail was raised, their speed still exceeded the target, Zhang Xuan had to repeatedly modify the course, in order to get as close to each other as possible, the two boats gradually approached, seeing that the ship had occupied their front, Zhang Xuan slammed the direction, the bow of the ship suddenly turned high, the hull of the ship in the sea sideways, making a huge "squeak" sound.

"Lay down the ropes and sail to meet the enemy." Seeing that the strategy was working and the goal had not yet turned, Zhang Xuan was overjoyed and yelled downward.

Such obvious hostility finally caught the attention of the target, and they began to panic and begin to try to turn, but it was too late. When the two ships touched, their bows turned around, and the two boats went from head-on to side-by-side.

"Get up and follow a certain assault!" Jiang Ning, who had been staring, stood up and unconsciously shouted the slogan of the cavalry.

The crossbow in his hand shot down a leader-like person on the target ship, and the people lying behind the side stood up, stretched out their hook guns, shot flying claws, and the hull of the ship got closer and closer under Zhang Xuan's grasp, until they collided with each other with a "bang".

"Up!"

Jiang Ning simply said a word, and took the lead to turn over the side of the ship, and his hand was also replaced by his own saber, and the other party's ship was a chaotic roar, and the people on the deck either squatted on the ground with their heads in their hands, or ran around like flies without their heads, and there was no resistance at all.

"Those who descend will not be killed!"

Still, he did not take it lightly, and he knew that any negligence could lead to misfortune without making sure that the enemy was harmless. The men who came with him began to sweep the deck, gathering together those who had given up resistance, and then broke up a group and began to storm the ship's cabin.

"Ship Master."

It didn't take long for a person to come out of the cabin, with an excited expression on his face, Jiang Ning was immediately relieved, he must have found something below.

"Grain, it's all food, a whole cabin of food."

I thought what kind of treasure made him lose his temper so much, it turned out to be such a result, Jiang Ning could understand their cherishing of food, at this time, there was not much difference between food and silver money, and even more so, but they were at sea, so much food, moved over to slow down the ship?

"Has the owner found it?"

It was Zhang Xuan, who had just come over, who asked each other, and when he saw that the situation on the ship had been controlled, he was relieved to hand over the rudder to others.

"In the cabin, I fainted in fright after asking a few words, but listening to what he said, the ship was bound for Lianshui County."

Zhang Xuan and Jiang Ning glanced at each other, Lianshui County was the former Andong Prefecture, which surrendered when the Tatars invaded south at the beginning of the year, and now it has become the frontline of the two countries.

"What are we going to do with these people and food?"

A headache was in front of them, this was the territory of the Tartars, there was no way to land on the shore, and they couldn't kill them all, there was too much food, they couldn't finish it, and the joy of victory suddenly turned into a problem, and the two fledgling pirates were asked.

"Taishou said before that there are many islands on this sea, why don't you find one?"

Zhang Xuan's mention made Jiang Ning's eyes light up, originally they came out with the same mission, such a sea, without a place for supplies, the ship would not be able to drive for long. He is right, build a place to store things first, and grab them so that you don't have to worry about the future.

At about the same time, thousands of miles away in the Qiongzhou Strait, Yang Fei, who was patrolling the sea route with his subordinates, also encountered his first prey, which was a triangular schooner from the Great Food Country, if it weren't for the narrowness of the strait, it would have almost been let run.

"I want to protest, my ship has been registered in your Guangzhou City Shipping Division, there are legal entry procedures, you have no reason to stop it, this is a naked banditry!"

Blocked in a harbor by four Song ships, the big food sailboat could only reluctantly lower its sails and let the Song people take a small boat to inspect it. Owner Ali. Abdullah is a "big Song Tong" who is used to running this road, and when he saw that the boat was just an ordinary military academy, he immediately shouted in a slightly stiff Chinese.

According to his cognition, the Song people are still very good to the merchants, not only do they usually take good care of them, but even if they commit crimes, they can often reduce their crimes, and they live more comfortably here than in their own country, otherwise who would go so far and wide once a year?

"You're the shipowner?"

The visitor turned a deaf ear to his protest and asked as he looked up and down.

"Yes, I am the owner of this ship, and I still have Quanzhou City on me"

"I'm sorry, this place is under the control of Qiongzhou City, the strait has been blocked, you have to go with us, explain why you still don't stop the boat after the warning?"

The person who came interrupted him coldly, Ali was stunned for a moment, the reason why he was surprised was not because this person wanted to take him away, but because he heard an unfamiliar term from his mouth, "Qiongzhou City Bosi"? If he heard him right, what the hell is this.

"Small things, not respect, brothers, please have a drink."

The silver ingots sent over were thrown by the colonel to play, and his face was a lot soothed, but it was still an expression of invitation, Ali shrugged helplessly, and stopped his accomplices' radical actions, now the situation is unknown, and in other people's territory, of course he does not dare to make a mistake.

"This official is the new Qiongzhou Metropolitan Inspector, responsible for all matters of this strait, and now he is instructed by the imperial court to inform Huier and others that this place will be blocked, and the matter of the city will be transferred to the Qiongzhou City Ship Division. If you don't want to go, you won't be reluctant, but you can't travel during the trade winds, and you have to live in the local area temporarily, and you will be under our care. ”

On Yang Fei's own boat, he looked at this bearded businessman, with a businesslike face, and read the latest policy to him, regardless of whether he understood it or not.

"As for your behavior, this official will not be severely punished because you are a first-time offender. But the punishment is also indispensable, either you will be imprisoned for a month, or you will be fined, you can choose one of your own. ”

After speaking, he waved his hand, he didn't want to bother with this kind of person, as long as this person is not stupid, he naturally knows how to choose, if there is no oil and water, what will he do to settle the brothers in the army?

Ali was stunned and followed the sergeant out of the cabin again, he understood this time, the Great Song Dynasty would not allow them to trade in Guangzhou, Quanzhou and other places, and they could only do so in this so-called Qiongzhou City, otherwise they would be forcibly detained, and they would not be released until the spring of the next year, did he still have a choice? R1058