Section 152: Zheng Bao's War and Peace

Zheng Bao was disappointed but still gave Wang You the title of master - at least Wang You still has a set of management copywriting books, and Zheng Bao also lacks such talents. Later, he took the money from the ships he recruited to the coastal waters around Dianbai, robbing salt ships and coastal residents. He also went to the waters of Vietnam to participate in several maritime conflicts between the North and the South and the DPRK, and reaped a lot of benefits. After hearing that Liu Xiang's fleet had left the mouth of the Pearl River, he hurriedly led the fleet to Lantau Island, preparing to take advantage of this gap and rush into the Pearl River to get a big deal.

When he arrived on Lantau Island, he found that there were already a number of small groups of pirates scattered there, all of whom were ready to storm the Pearl River inland waters. The crushing defeat of the officers and soldiers at Chengmai and Liu Xiang's sudden departure from the mouth of the Pearl River gave them great hopes of making a fortune.

After Zheng Bao came to Lantau Island, he used his strength to quickly integrate all the ships here. Now this makeshift group has expanded to 70 large ships. There are more than 200 long sampans and more than 4,000 pirates.

Just as Zheng Bao was about to wait for the right tide and wind direction to rush into the mouth of the Pearl River in one fell swoop, the news of the arrival of the Australian fleet made him temporarily dismiss this idea.

The construction of a pier on Hong Kong Island by the Australians shows that they are interested in staying here. And also sent a lot of ships. Zheng Bao thought: If we don't establish an alliance with them, once the fleet enters the Pearl River, it will be very bad for the Australians to take advantage of the fire and rob the Pearl River estuary.

Either you can get the alliance of the Australians, and the two sides will sit on the ground and share the spoils. Even if he had a little more blood, he was willing; Or, completely cross the Australian fleet, so that they do not dare to come to grab territory.

It was with this consideration that Zheng Bao sent Jin Cai. In addition to the attempt to test the Australians, there was also an intention to inquire about the military situation. In particular, it is necessary to inquire clearly, has the most powerful "clipper" of Australians that does not need sails come?

He carefully inquired with the two henchmen about the number of Australian ships, the number of cannons on board, and the number of defenders on the shore. He was relieved to hear that the Clippers weren't coming; When he heard that the Australians had more than fifty ships moored, he sighed regretfully. If there were only one or twenty of them, the Australian ships, although most of them looked no different from those of Canton and Fujian, were far from being matched by the local ships in terms of speed and firepower. At the beginning, the big treasurers took a fancy to their "clippers", so they wanted to send people to seize the ship. I didn't expect their sailboats to be so good

In particular, the "fast cannon" on their sailing ship is a column of water that fills the sea in an instant, and the enemy's sailors are swept away from a distance of one or two hundred zhang.

Zheng Bao has been itching with this idea. In his opinion, although the Australian cannon is very well-heard, it is nothing more than another copy of the Hongyi cannon. This kind of cannon is expensive and heavy, and it will explode on its own in battle. The most haode is still this "fast cannon" that hits far and accurately, and can also fire in bursts, if you can get a few, you can sweep the enemy on the ship.

"Master Wang" Zheng Bao saw Wang You come to the cabin and hurriedly greeted him.

"This gang of thieves is very angry," Zheng Bao has been smooth sailing since he became a pirate, and he can't bear this breath, "He actually wants us to make a register of soldiers and ships and send them over - isn't this TMD surrendering?" Even if you defect to the big gang, you don't bury people like this."

Wang You looked at the "boss" without saying a word. Zheng Bao is not a fool - Zheng Bao is very cunning and murderous, but unfortunately it is only the highest point of the level of the local tyrant. In terms of knowledge, talent, and Zhu Cai Lao and others are not on the same level at all, even second-way shopkeepers like the fourth black flag are much stronger than him.

It's a pity that Zhu Cai Lao has died in Nanri, and the shopkeepers under him are dead and descending. himself has also been reduced to the point of being a master for this number one person. Wang You is very unwilling.

Don't say it, just come to the mouth of the Pearl River. Wang You thinks this is self-defeating. The next step in the Pearl River Estuary Basin must be the focus of contention between Liu Xiang and Lingao's Australian Group - it is exactly the place that everyone avoids, how can a small group like himself easily wade into troubled waters? Besides, this was originally Liu Xiang's territory. Although Liu Xiang's main force has moved to the waters of Fujian, it does not mean that he will give up this territory to others.

Zheng Bao's actions were "two crimes" in Wang You's view, offending both parties. In the end, it will definitely end up in a bad death.

But Zheng Bao felt complacent. He now holds the so-called title of Guiyi Marquis of the Great Li Dynasty and General Ninghai, and he feels like a "big official", and he uses all kinds of bells and whistles on the clothing and flag honor guard. made Wang You despise him very much.

But for now, he can only hold back. Zheng Bao was reluctant to reuse his subordinates from the original Zhucai Lao, and spent a lot of effort to divide and guard against them. Wang You knew that he had the highest reputation among the old departments of Zhucai, and Zheng Bao looked at himself very closely. If you are not careful, you are likely to "fall into the water and die" inexplicably.

"Master Wang, tell me, how did this thief make a difference? It seems that they are going to monopolize the territory of the Pearl River Estuary. Zheng Bao said indignantly.

Wang You coughed, the Australians arrived at the mouth of the Pearl River and built a village on Hong Kong Island, so it is clear why they came. Zheng Bao actually didn't have much choice, either to fight with the Australians and fight a battle, or to sail away and leave.

In his opinion, leaving is the most popular choice for the Zheng Bao Group - even if the Australians have half the fewer ships, the Zheng Bao Group will definitely not be the opponent of the Australians. It is simply impossible to deal with the Australians without a huge numerical advantage.

As soon as Wang You said a few words of the reason that "it is not suitable to go to war", he noticed that Zheng Bao had an impatient look on his face - Zheng Bao obviously did not intend to leave, and not only that, but he also started the idea of the Australians' ship cannons.

"I said Lao Wang, you are a person who was afraid of tigers and wolves, where is the arrogance under the hands of the great treasurers?" Zheng Bao patted him on the shoulder and laughed, "No matter how strong the Australians are, they are only forty or fifty boats, and there are no clippers and iron boats, so I think they are similar to our boats." He has a great firearm, and I told the brothers to stick it up and jump into the gang, and drown them."

He said confidently: "If you want to say that the ship cannon is powerful, of course, he is strong in Australia." However, when it comes to swords, guns and fists, I am still the most powerful in Chinese kung fu. As long as he gets on the boat, no matter if he is a real wig, the firearms on the deck can't be used, and we can't just slash and kill him? ”

"I'm afraid it's not that simple."

"Tell me, then, what's the difficulty?"

Wang You didn't want to talk about how to send people to the deck, the Australians had dozens of boats moored there, and the people on it were not necessarily deaf and blind, waiting for the enemy to climb up one ship after another.

"Even if we can capture a few ships, and the other ships find out, wouldn't it be in vain to besiege them together?"

"Well, you're right." Zheng Bao thought about it, and sure enough, it was so. But he immediately had a second thought:

The second thought was to capture the thief and capture the king. Zheng Bao is ready to select a hundred people who dare to die among the bandits, and promise a lot of money. And then each with a sharp blade. Then he pretended to go to the service and assassinated the big leaders of the Australians in front of the tent.

According to the description of Jin Caifa and others, although there were guards around the big tent of the Australians, there were only forty or fifty people. Zheng Bao thought that as long as seventy or eighty people entangled these people, the rest of the people rushed in with a single blow and could kill all the leaders inside.

Wang You couldn't help but laugh - this plan was more realistic than the previous one, but the possibility of success was that the Australians were all fools, and would allow a hundred strong men to casually approach their own center without searching their bodies beforehand.

Then Zheng Bao put forward several "strategies". All of them were vetoed by Wang You one by one.

"If the chief treasurer is bent on making enemies of the Australians and obtaining their cannons, there is only one word."

"What?"

"Wait." Wang You nodded, "Australians and I are almost the same in strength, if you rashly provoke." Even if we can win, it will be a miserable victory. At the moment, we can only act on the opportunity, and we will see how the Australians move. ”

In fact, it is just doing nothing and waiting for the opportunity. Zheng Bao was dissatisfied: "When will this wait?" When will we be able to enter the Pearl River? ”

"Entering the Pearl River is just a matter of effort, if you don't stop the affairs of the Australians, there will be endless troubles."

"Well, you have a point" Zheng Bao certainly didn't want to break into the mouth of the Pearl River alone, leaving such a fleet behind.

"Brother has a way." Seeing that there was an opportunity to interject, Jin Caifa hurriedly came out and said.

"What's the method?"

As if offering a treasure, he had to tell Zheng Bao and Wang You that he had met Shi 14 on the dock in Hong Kong.

“…… Shi 14 is now dressed as an Australian, if I hadn't dealt with him at the beginning, it really wouldn't be that the Australian is Shi 14. ”

Zheng Bao became interested: "Oh, what kind of official is he doing with the Australians now?" How many boats are in charge? ”

"I didn't dare ask. He was far away, on a boat on the dock. Jin Caifa said, "With his line, the matter of the big shopkeeper will be eyebrow-raising." ”

Wang You immediately understood: "Are you going to buy him?" ”

"Yes," said Jin Caifa, "as the saying goes, people die for money, and birds die for food." He Shi 14 was just a second-class shopkeeper of a small stock back then, and he didn't necessarily become a big shopkeeper under the hands of the Australians, and most of them were only in charge of five or six boats. As long as the big shopkeeper is willing to pay a lot of money, he can't help but be unmoved. ”

Whether it's to pull him out of the team, or to suddenly make a counterattack when the two sides are fighting, it's a great opportunity. Zheng Bao's eyes lit up.