From then until the death of the Ming Dynasty for more than 30 years. The number of smuggling merchant ships to trade with Japan generally rose sharply, according to the twelfth volume of "Mr. Luo Shan's Clerks": "The number of merchant ships in Nanjing and Fujian has increased since then (referring to 1610).

Two days later, the lookout on the mast spotted the target and shouted: "There is a ship!" There's a boat! In the southeast direction. ”

The whole ship was in an uproar. The boring days of Hangzhou merchants are really not good, but it is still interesting to fight! Liu Pei quickly ran to the bow of the boat, raised his binoculars and looked in the direction of the lookout's guidance, and sure enough, he saw a small black dot on the horizon of the sea. It seems that it was a sea ship heading for Daming from the direction of Japan. There were no binoculars on that ship, and Liu Pei's fleet could not be seen, so the two sides were walking in opposite directions.

Liu Pei immediately ordered: "Beat the flag to inform the Zhenyuan behind that there is a fat sheep coming!" Turn, catch up. ”

The family cheered and steered the sails and turned to meet them. As the distance between the two sides approached, the opposite sea ship inevitably spotted them. The captain of the ship also seemed to be an old sailor, and he keenly sensed that something seemed to be wrong, and tried to turn around and shake off Liu Pei and them. But Liu Pei, how could they let go of this fat sheep to their mouths!

Moreover, Liu Pei's fleet is empty, which is much faster than the fully loaded merchant ships. After some chase, they finally caught up with the merchant ship before evening. The two ships separated and crossed from the left and right sides.

Liu Pei had already seen the sailors preparing for battle in the binoculars. Liu Pei could even see their desperate expressions. After all, in a two-on-one situation, they also know that there is little hope of escaping.

As the three ships got closer and closer, Liu Pei arranged for a loud sailor to shout. Since two small cannons were found on the opposite ship, the fleet did not get too close, but stopped approaching seventy or eighty paces. The sailor stood on the side of the ship, holding a tin canister and shouting, "Ship opposite, you hurry up and lower the sails and still have a way to live." We rob money, we don't kill people! ”

But where would the opposing crew believe the words of a group of pirates, the ship still writhed and tried to escape. Liu Pei sneered and said: "I really don't cry when I don't see the coffin!" Tell the gunner to shoot two solid shells! But don't hit the boat, hit the front and back of that ship! ”

A moment later, only two loud "bangs" were heard, and two solid bullets were fired from the Dingyuan, each causing a wave in the bow and stern of the opposite ship. The sound of artillery frightened the people on the opposing ship. In an instant, the sailors were all on the deck. But then they found that there was no tremor coming from the ship. However, the sharp-eyed crew saw the spray of the cannonballs and informed the people on board.

At this time, the sailor who shouted continued to shout: "See? Next time, I'll hit the hull. ”

At the same time, the two ships were slowly approaching the counterload, putting pressure on them. Liu Pei clearly saw that there seemed to be an argument on the other party's boat. A chubby, richly dressed young man seemed to be the owner of the ship, and it looked like he was frightened by the two cannon shots and seemed to want to surrender. But the sailors did not seem to want to surrender. Because it is already common for pirates to hijack ships and kill people at sea, no one will believe in the credibility of pirates.

Liu Bei instructed the sailors to shout again. The sailor raised the tin canister again and shouted, "This is the last warning!" If you don't lower the sails, you will really hit the boat! ”

At this time, the Dingyuan had already approached within thirty or forty steps of the opponent, and could clearly see every move of the personnel on the other side's ship. The young man and the old sailor were arguing even more! Liu Pei is very happy to have this young man here, and there is such a demoralizing person within the other party, which is a big scourge for them! If it were a sailor, it would have been good to dispose of it directly. But this man was the owner of the ship, and the sailors could do nothing about him.

Liu Pei seized the opportunity and ordered: "Tell the gunner." Two more solid bullets! But this time raise the cannon and let the shells fly over the deck! ”

With the two cannon shots of "bang", the effect that Liu Pei wanted was achieved! That chubby young man was so scared that he sat on the deck! It looks like he was frightened by the whistling shells! The old sailor, who had quarreled with him just now, saw that everyone had no desire to fight, and his face turned pale one by one, so he had to order the sailors to lower their sails.

Hearing the order, the sailors lowered their sails as if they had been pardoned, and then dropped their weapons and stood on deck. The families on the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were thunderous, and they hurried to get to each other.

Waiting for the two boats to stop in the middle of the opposite boat, Liu Pei jumped into the other party's boat first. The sailors on the other ship, though they had given up their weapons, gathered together and wrapped their bodies in the old sailor and the young man.

Liu Pei pointed at them with the war knife in his hand and said, "Everyone sit down in place." Come on! ”

At this time, the other family members also jumped over and surrounded these people. Under the threat of knives and guns, these sailors had to sit down honestly. Now this ship is completely controlled by Liu Pei!

Liu Pei relaxed when he saw that the sailors were all sitting down, and he stepped forward to point out to the young man and the old sailor, and said to them, "You two come here, I have something to ask you." ”

The old sailor came with his head held high, and the young man followed the old sailor with a cower. Liu Pei knew that it was time to reassure them at this time, so he said, "Just now I saw that the two of you should be the ones who talk and count on the ship." Now I tell you, I say that if you surrender, I will not kill anyone. I'm talking, you're all right! ”

As soon as the words ended, the sailors sitting on the deck exhaled in unison. Hearing Liu Pei say that he would definitely not kill, the young man also straightened up slightly. With Liu Pei's inquiry, Liu Pei figured out a lot of things.

It turned out that the old sailor's surname was Wang, and he was the head of the ship. The young man was the son of the old owner of the ship. The old shipowner is old, and he has been running at sea for too long when he was young, and the rheumatoid joints are already difficult to move. So he asked his son to take over and run the sea for him. This young owner has just gone to sea once this year, and the second time he didn't die, Liu Pei blocked it!

According to the king's idea, he must fight to break the net! He was certainly not willing to put his life and death in the hands of others. But the young owner, who has been pampered since childhood, was frightened by the four cannon shots! Especially when the last two shells flew through the air, the shrill sound was really scary. But he is still one of the backbones of this ship. As soon as he collapsed, the sailors below naturally had no fighting spirit. That's why Liu Pei was able to successfully seize the boat.

After hearing the situation, Liu Pei secretly said in his heart that he was lucky! I didn't expect to meet a casual little sheep. If the old shipowner is here, maybe there will be a fierce battle between the two sides. Winning is sure to win, but the death and injury of one's own family members are inevitable. If you fight hard, whether you can get the goods or not is still two words.

As Liu Pei finished talking, the family members had already searched the ship and confirmed that no one was hiding, so Wu Yizhou came to report to Liu Pei. Liu Pei waved his hand and said, "All the goods, gold and silver were moved away thirty percent." Move fast! ”

Wu Yizhou was stunned for a moment, but still ordered the family members to carry the goods. After listening to Liu Pei's words, not to mention that Wu Yizhou was stunned, even Wang Jiaotou and the Shaodong family were stunned! It has always been good for pirates to board ships and kill less people, so why only take 30% of these goods?

Liu Pei said to them proudly: "Look at the flag hanging on my ship?" ”

The two looked up at the Dingyuan, and saw a black flag hanging on the tallest mast, painted with white skulls and crossed thigh bones. This is clearly one of the symbols of Western pirates, but it was used by Liu Pei.

Liu Pei said: "See my flag clearly. We don't eat at sea and kill people indiscriminately like those barbarians! As long as you obediently lower the sails and surrender, we will only take 20% of your goods of gold and silver! ”

At this time, the Shaodong family had already determined that Liu Pei would not kill anyone, and he became bold, and he actually began to feel sorry for the goods, and actually dared to contradict Liu Pei and said: "You just ordered them to take away thirty percent of the goods, but not twenty percent!" You don't talk about it! ”