Zhang Lei stood on the bow of his boat, his heart was not happy at the moment, his cheap brother-in-law actually contacted the Wang brothers who were quite luxurious on the nearby sea without telling him, and when he waited for the merchant fleet of Wantong and quietly followed from Nansha, a fleet much larger than him also pasted up. After some contact, he learned that it turned out that Guo Zengfu was worried that he and his subordinates would not be useful, so he temporarily found a new helper.

Tomorrow your ship will be in front of you, and if you take it, you will be allowed to take thirty percent of the cargo. ’

The person sent by the Wang brothers to deliver the message was extremely unkind, and almost regarded himself as their subordinate lackey, completely ignoring it.

But in front of such a big gang, he really can't shake up such a 'single household', so he can only hide this sullen breath in his heart, but he has no other plans.

This time, there are more merchant ships going to sea than last time, and the ships are also larger, a total of three, and the largest one is a Daifuku ship with more than 800 materials, which is a serious offshore merchant ship, even if he has been going to sea all year round, he has not seen it a few times. According to the news from Guo Zengfu, it was full of cotton goods, and there were four or five thousand quintals of cotton bales on a ship with a draft, which was nearly 10,000 taels of silver.

After the last time, Guo Zengfu gave him 1,000 taels of silver to recruit people to increase his armament. The manpower is easy to manage, those people who fight for sand in Chongming County have always been brave and ruthless, and it is very easy to find suitable and willing to do it, but he can't easily get the artillery gunpowder, so he only found a place to smelt dozens of bird guns, and a few tiger squat cannons made in the Jiajing period that I don't know how many hands were also pulled onto the boat, and the only few barrels of gunpowder were found at a high price from the acquaintances of the Chongming Sha Institute.

Compared to the Wang brothers, his strength is really weak, and even more than half of the bandits in the fleet are still gathered from Chuansha and Chongming to fight for sand, not his real subordinates, but they have come to gang up after hearing about the benefits.

He summoned a few of his brothers to the main ship, and said with a calm face: "Brother-in-law said that you don't want to live this time, you have heard a lot about the people of the Wang family yesterday, and they will not give in if they really fight, and now it seems that only we will grab a boat first." Later, after listening to my orders, they swarmed up and surrounded the big ship, grabbed the ship and escorted it to the west. Wang Zhong and Wang Jin were both registered in the Haidao Yamen, and they probably didn't dare to go to Suzhou Yang, where there are many reefs around the Big and Small Seven Mountains that we are most familiar with, and the Wang family's ship will not rush in, and there are two other ships there. We only make this one, and then go back to Chuansha, and let them grab the rest by themselves. ”

Some people expressed concern, "Will this offend the Wang family's gang?" Aren't they good? ”

Some people are not convinced, "What are you afraid of, this time it is the recommendation made by the cloth company, and after winning the first prize, there will be this bite to eat, don't forget that our foundation is still in Songjiang after all, what are those goods, and we will go back to Fujian to avoid the limelight in a few days." ”

As soon as these words came out, more people also echoed them, "Boss, this should have been done a long time ago, I have always seen that the gang of dead eight is not pleasing to the eye, just let them see our methods." ”

'Morale is available. Zhang Lei looked satisfied, this is exactly the result he wanted.

In the eyes of these bandits, although the lucky boat of Wantong is large, as long as they can clip their boat bags, it is naturally foolproof to grab one, and the only thing to worry about is that they are worried that the unruly behavior of the Wang family gang will attack them. The ship does not have a pillar, and although the shape of the small square bow treadmill is stable, safe and conducive to ocean navigation, it has some impact on the speed. The Zhangjia bandits' boats are mostly wave-opening bird boats, although they are smaller, they are good at breaking the waves and sailing faster, and there are many people who can be temporarily sent to rock the boats, which is also the usual means used by the bandits.

After a few people finished speaking, they split up and boarded the boat again, and the arrangements were not table.

Soon a few bird boats on this side approached, and the Zhangjia bandits adopted the strategy of dividing and attacking together, which was also to bully the few boats on the opposite side, and planned to speed up from three directions to help, as long as they took the side, everything was easy to do.

Since the other party's ship did not have a rocking oar, I am afraid that there are not enough people, and the difference in ship type, it will be caught up quickly anyway, but it is a matter of time, seeing the fat sheep in front of them, a group of pirates are red-eyed, and the minions on the deck are also clamoring.

At this moment, behind the Zhang family pirates is a team of more than forty large and small ships, which is the Wang brothers' gang.

Xiang Gong's Haicang boat is at the forefront of this team, and he has always been the first in the big gang, and he is a member of the Wang family's big gang.

A pirate hurriedly ran to him, "Boss, it seems that the Zhang family's gang is about to attack the ship, shall we also go on?" ”

Xiang Gonglao stroked a broken arhat barrel from Satsuma Tanegashima on the bow of the ship (the Japanese call for the Franco's machine gun), showing a look of indulgence, as if he was still recalling the wonderful flavor of those Dongying women not long ago, "What are you panicking, the big gang hasn't spoken yet, let's see the quality of this group of people first, and besides, either they grabbed it or they are theirs, and in the end, they have to rely on their own abilities." ”

"It's still the boss who thinks it through." The pirate nodded, and looked into the distance.

Xianggong also glanced at the south and said, "I'm catching up." ”

But his mind is not here, he can't look down on the gang of cobbled together tankers, then again, if it weren't for the changes at sea this time, they wouldn't have come to Zhejiang.

Originally, the Wang family's big gang was entrenched in southern Fujian, although there was Shen Yourong in Fujian, but it was not possible to suppress such bandits as they were not a large stock, and at that time, there was also Dongfan, a supply place, and it could be connected to Japan, whether it was serious business or robbing merchant ships.

But the appearance of the Australians disrupted the 'career plan' of the Xianggong Guy, and after a long time, those short hairs not only occupied the large and small ports of Dongfan, but also formed a sailor to exterminate such pirates everywhere, and for a time the waters of Fujian could no longer gain a foothold.

The big gang was going to go to Guangdong, but there was a new rise of a sea lord named Liu Xianglao, the power is great, Wang Zhong, Wang Jin is reluctant to join the foreigners who are subject to the Cantonese Mansion, so they have to go to Japan, the last half a year to return to the Ming Dynasty Zhejiang, but soon in the Haidao Yamen to hang the number, this time just by the cloth line to find the people, the Wang brothers are trying to rely on this matter to seek a long-term livelihood, but also to find a way out for their brothers, this time their attitude towards the Zhangjia bandits is extremely domineering.

The people of the Wang family's gang were all watching the scene in front of them on the boat in the distance, and the boats of those Tanhu were getting closer and closer to the Dafu boat.

Zhang Lei's ship was less than a mile away from the Dafu ship, although the bow and arrow could not be shot at this distance, but the good eyesight could roughly see the ship in front of him, and since the other party also hung up the full sail and began to accelerate southward, it was obvious that he had discovered himself.

He was feeling strange, there was actually a lookout on the top of the mast of the ship in front, this kind of layout is usually only available to sailors and warships, even if it is an ocean-going merchant ship, although it is necessary to wait and see, but it is only a temporary light body along the monkey's head (note: the pulley line on the mast of the lucky ship is commonly called) to climb to the mast to see a glance will come down, the wind direction is indicated by the phoenix flag on the top of the mast, there is no need to set up such a thing on the top of the mast, not to mention that there seem to be people on it who have been looking at this side, somehow that feeling makes him extremely uncomfortable.

However, this idea is also fleeting, and the fat is current, and these questions are naturally not important when the ship is snatched.

After nearly an hour of pursuit, the distance between the two sides has been shortened to less than half a mile, this distance, with the equipment of the Zhang family pirates, although it is not able to threaten the Dafu ship, but it does not prevent those ships rushing in front of them to start firing one after another, this victory seems to be within reach, at this time the only thing that makes Zhang Lei feel a little pity is the gunpowder that has been wasted.

The distance is closer, it is less than a hundred steps, and this time the firearms have also joined, although it is still difficult to hit at this distance, it still fails to pose much threat to the Daifuku ship, but at least the momentum is amazing, especially the iron projectile shot from the tiger squat cannon has been able to reach the hull of the Fukufu, leaving some traces of different shades on the wooden hull. I believe that after this, as long as we rely on help later, the resistance will be much weaker.

Thinking like this, Zhang Lei saw a sudden loud noise on the Daifuku ship, and then a row of white smoke rose up, and then sawdust flew on his ship, and several pirates standing on the bow of the ship fell backwards one after another.

When Zhang Lei reacted, he found that the pirates who were lying motionless on the ground had long since lost their breath, only the terrifying wounds on their chests showed Fang Cai's terrorist attack, and the few who were still alive also had terrible wounds, and the blood couldn't stop flowing onto the deck, and they couldn't live for a long time.

"They have firearms...... one of the pirates almost howled, as if he were the one with the hole in his chest.

But Zhang Lei still had to grit his teeth and hatefully say: "Hurry up and shake the oar." ”

He had already known that there was some precaution on the other side, but he still didn't expect that his ship was not close to the other party, and the ordinary firearms would just be heard.

In his opinion, now that several of his own boats have chased after him, he has formed a trap on the Daifuku ship, as long as he approaches the jump gang, it doesn't matter if some people die, but when they get on the boat, the guards will not be a simple knife.

He got the news from Guo Zengfu in advance that the ship was full of cotton bales, and the draft should be good, so even if it exceeded eight hundred, the number of guards that could fit on this ship would not exceed half a hundred, in fact, he was not wrong, even the elders, the total number of fighters of the Dafu ship was only forty-seven, and now they had just finished shooting a round of muskets, and they were busy loading while waiting for the battle.

A bird boat on the port side also approached at this time, and it was Zhang Lei's cousin Zhu Feng on that boat.

Seeing that the people on his side were outflanked in place, Zhang Lei's face finally looked better, and he hurriedly sent a signal to let other ships follow suit.

But at this moment, a puff of white smoke rose from the side of the Daifuku ship, and the sound of gunfire followed and echoed on the sea.

Zhang Lei couldn't see the situation on his cousin's boat in front of him clearly, but the screams that appeared from time to time with the sea breeze reminded him that the situation ahead was not optimistic. It doesn't seem that there are many people on the other party's boat, but the firearms are extremely sharp, and this interval is inevitably too fast. At this time, Zhang Lei still felt that those firearms were only pre-loaded, and they should have been ready as soon as he found them following.

The only good news is that with the end of the two rounds of firearms, the situation of the three bread clamps has been completed, and the opposite side looks like it is about to be overwhelmed.

Zhang Lei could even see the strange costumes of the guards on the Daifuku ship...... It's a little weird.

The men were covered with an off-the-shoulder rattan armor over the sailor's suit, and a semi-circular rattan helmet on their heads, and they looked a little stupid.

But it was this group of 'guards' who looked a little stupid, and the two rounds of gunfire just now showed good combat power.

'Their firearms are good, and they'll be mine later.' Zhang Lei somehow popped up such a thought in his heart, which made him suddenly a little overjoyed.

The musket fired another round, and this time the pirates suffered even heavier losses, Zhang Lei finally wavered a little, but immediately became firm again, at least the firearms on the Daifuku ship seemed to be more than he imagined. Seeing that the two nearest ships were several poles away from the Daifuku ship, he couldn't accept it by turning around and running away at this distance, after all, the temptation in front of him and the Wang family's gang in the distance did not allow him to have such thoughts.

"Brothers, go on, the first one to rush aboard the boat will be rewarded with fifty taels of silver." It didn't matter whether the people on the other ships heard it or not, anyway, the horn of the attack had already sounded on his ship, and Zhang Lei saw that the two bird boats in front of him that were about to take over had already set up planks for jumping.

It's coming to an end. He thought to himself that as long as the first pirate boarded the Daifuku ship, it would be the second and third .......

Suddenly, a louder bang interrupted his slightly wandering thoughts.

"Cannon! There are cannons on the Daifuku ship! ”

A pirate standing in front of him watched the wind waited for a while before he came back from the shock and shouted, some of the armaments on the merchant ship were originally normal, but what all the pirates didn't expect was that not only the guards on the ship put up their guns quite orderly, but now there were also powerful cannons, because in front of his eyes, the two bird boats that were sandwiched by the left and right sides of the Daifuku ship were pierced by the cannonballs on the opposite side, and the one on the starboard side simply turned sideways, revealing a terrible breach in the waterline, which is not an ordinary 'cannon' that can be made with one hit.

The other was no better, the mainsail became a sieve, and the people on the deck lay in one piece, their entrails flowing all over the ground.

"It seems that the shotgun works much better."

Without the need for a telescope, Qian Suiting was already able to confirm the approximate results with the naked eye, and the killing of personnel was obviously more conducive to the final victory of the battle than the destruction of the hull, and during the time when he was stunned on the opposite side, the firepower on the Daifuku ship began to pour a wave on the approaching pirate ship.

After the first round of artillery firing, Zhang Lei had already retreated, and when he recognized the difference in strength between the two sides, he no longer had hope that he could take the Dafu ship, and only hoped to leave safely from this sea area as soon as possible.

It was only then that he realized that he seemed to have missed some important information.

I had heard Shanniang mention it before, saying that Wan Tong seemed to be the power of the Australians, and he only felt familiar, but now that he has reacted, in the past two years, aren't the Australians who are rumored to account for Luzon and Dongfan? It is not surprising that the Australians were the sailors with short hair, and that they were able to expel the Francophiles of Luzon, and that they must not have come to touch the mold.

His ship was struggling to turn the rudder, perhaps because there was no time to communicate, several bird ships together had rushed in front of him at this moment, and after another round of shelling, they all began to turn around, but because of the damage to the mast sail or the hull, the speed of these ships slowed down significantly, and the gunpowder on one deck was ignited, and for a time the sea area was extremely chaotic, and two pirate ships even collided directly with each other.

Zhang Lei's heart sank to the bottom, he wanted to at least take his brother's ship out, and was about to shout, when he saw a fleeting light in the bucket of the tall mainmast on the Daifuku ship, the pass flashed very fast, he didn't have time to react, a blood flower had burst out in the center of his eyebrows, and finally what stayed in Zhang Lei's mind was only the sound of chaos around him.

The fleet of the Zhangjia bandits quickly collapsed, and all this was seen by the Wang brothers not far away, and the war drums of the big gang began to beat gradually.

Xiang Gongyan spat on his hand and rubbed it, and then twitched the saber on his waist, "It's time for us to get up, we all cheer up, it looks like a hard stubble on the other side." ”

[References]

1, "Daming Huidian"

2, "Records of Emperor Mingshen Zongxian"

3, "History of the Late Ming Dynasty" Fan Shuzhi

4, "Wanli Ye Ed" Shen Defu

5. "The Record of Crimes: The Biography of the Economic Ministers"

6, "Jinjiang County Chronicles"

7, "The Biography of Erchen"

8, "Examination of the Origin of Science in Fujian" Li Qingfu and Xu Gongxi

9, "Weiya Anthology" Huo Tao

10, "Wan Department Miscellaneous Notes" Shen Bang

11, "History of the Ming Dynasty, Volume 240, Biography 128"

12, "Jinling Trivia" Zhou Hui

13, "On the Process of Processing Cannons" Wen Liqin

14, "Fortune Boat Source Examination" Liu Yijie

15, "Preparation of Sea Charts" Zheng Ruozeng

16, "Recent Matters of Washing the Sea" Yu Dayou

17, "Ji Xiao New Book" Qi Jiguang