The black line representing the coast gradually disappeared into the sea, and Captain Hawke couldn't help but let out a long breath and finally left the terrifying waters of Formosa.

Once upon a time, Formosa was a welcoming harbor for their fleets of sea-going ships, because it was home to the East India Company, and every time they passed by, they could get enough supplies, and even rest in the harbor for a day or two to relax.

Now, however, Formosa has become a nightmare for all the employees of the East India Company.

A few years ago, in the First Battle of Penghu, the East India Company was defeated, and Navy Captain Gao Luwen and more than a dozen naval soldiers were captured by the Ming Empire and beheaded.

To be honest, it wasn't too scary, and last year, it was called scary.

Last year, he was stationed in Formosa Navy Captain de Murphy. Waite and his more than 1,000 men were suddenly silenced, and immediately afterward, the bribed spies came with the news that the castle of Geranza had been occupied by the Ming Empire, and that not a single employee of the East India Company, including the port, could not be found!

That's more than a thousand people, just disappeared, with the style of the Ming Empire, they are estimated to be .......

Thinking of this, Hawke couldn't help but shudder.

He shook his head and smiled self-deprecatingly, this is all past the sea area of Formosa, what are you afraid of!

In a few days, I will arrive in Dongying, where the women are thin and tender, which is really nostalgic.

The fleet continued to move forward, getting closer and closer to Toei, Hawke's mood was becoming more and more relaxed, the long and boring voyage was finally coming to an end, and after arriving at the Nagasaki base, he must find a few Toei women to relax completely.

Just as he was thinking about it, a terrible whistle suddenly came from the mast, and the sentry shouted in panic: "There are pirates, there are pirates, there are pirates ahead!" ”

When Hawke heard this, he flipped out the telescope from the cabin in a panic, raised it and looked ahead, and sure enough, there were more than fifty large and small ships in front of him scattered into a semi-circular arc and rushed towards the fleet.

Look at the flag, what skulls, skull shelves, and some messy animals, you can tell that they are pirates at a glance!

If you want to lead more than 20 high-level armed merchant ships, more than 50 pirate ships, you can easily destroy them.

Unfortunately, the flagship of the fleet was a high-level armed merchant ship, and the others were ordinary armed merchant ships, with a gun in the bow.

More than twenty against fifty, he was not without a chance of winning, he gritted his teeth, and ordered loudly: "All merchant ships, turn half sail, slow down." The bow gun, loaded with ammunition, is aimed at the pirate ship directly ahead, ready to fire. ”

The range of pirates' artillery is limited, and their side has the advantage of firing two rounds first, hoping to kill a dozen or so pirate ships, so that the balance of strength will fall to their side.

He nervously measured the distance between the two sides with his binoculars, and when he felt that it was about five miles, he immediately ordered without hesitation: "Ignite the fire, open the cannon." ”

"Boom, boom", soon, a roar of artillery sounded, and more than ten columns of water suddenly rose near the pirate ship in front, and luckily, seven or eight pirate ships were shot.

Hawke put down his binoculars and continued to yell, "Quick, quick, keep reloading ammo, fire freely, don't stop." ”

It takes time to reload the ammunition, and before the pirate ship can get within two miles, they have one more chance to fire, and within two miles, the pirate ship's guns can also attack their side, and at that time, it will be a chaotic battle.

The pirate ship in front of him was getting closer, and all the merchant ships here were desperately reloading their shells, and Hawke raised his binoculars and stared nervously at the pirate ship in front of him.

He looked at it for a while, and suddenly felt that something was wrong, it seemed that seven or eight pirate ships had been shot, why didn't any of the more than twenty pirate ships in front of him slow down and sink?

It shouldn't be, cannonball shells can't be stopped by the general deck, and small ships without a deck can be blasted through with one shot, how come these pirate ships have nothing to do!

He couldn't help but raise his binoculars to look at a small pirate ship that had just been shot, the distance between the two sides was close to three miles, and he could see the situation on the ship clearly.

There was a gap in the bow of the boat, a bag of rice or a sandbag, and there was a clear gap in one place, and the fine-grained stuff was scattered everywhere, he estimated that it was sand, and the cannonball hit the sandbag, and the momentum would be reduced at least by the general, no wonder the ship sank.

He couldn't help but sweep the binoculars towards the other pirate ships, and there was a big circle of sandbags piled up in front of each pirate ship, who the hell came up with the idea!

Just as he was cursing to himself, "Boom, boom", a burst of artillery sounded, and he subconsciously looked back and saw that there was no cannon fire on his side, and all the ships were loading ammunition at this time.

Oops, it's the pirate ships, do their guns have such a long range?

Before he could figure it out, there was a crackling sound, followed by a scream, and many boats on his side were shot!

He raised his binoculars and looked at the merchant ship next to him who had been shot, and there were a lot of black balls the size of eggs, and the other party actually used scattered bullets!

Immediately afterwards, "boom boom", there was another roar of artillery on the opposite side, scattered bombs rained over, his ship was also shot, and several people were smashed and flew upside down with blood, screaming incessantly.

What the hell is going on, why is the Ming army's reloading speed so fast, are they all using Franc cannons?

The Franc cannon isn't so fast!

Before he could figure it out, "boom, boom", there was another roar of artillery on the opposite side, and another rain of scattered bullets smashed over.

Thinking of this, he hurriedly dodged under the side of the ship, and then shouted: "Quick, pay attention to concealment, the other party is a Fran cannon, and there are two rounds." ”

Sure enough, soon, the pirate ship roared again.

After five rounds, the distance between the two sides was less than two miles, and the cannon was basically useless, and he hurriedly shouted: "Quick, the musketeers reload their ammunition and prepare to shoot, and the others are ready to engage in broadside combat." ”

On their side, each ship had a dozen or so arquebuses, and there were more than two hundred of them in total, and he believed that with so many muskets firing two rounds, the pirates would suffer heavy losses before they could take the gunwale.

He gritted his teeth, stood up and drew his saber, and was about to shout to open fire, "Bang Bang Bang", when a dense burst of gunfire suddenly rang out on the pirate ship opposite, and that density was that there were thousands of muskets.

This is exactly what Zheng Zhilong mobilized and gave to Chen Hui and them.

The Dutch merchant ships were quickly completely suppressed, and after a while, the two sides were on board.

"Broad Silk!" "Follow! "Hayakku! ......, a chaotic cry sounded, and countless pirates swarmed up, swords, all swords, they were pirates!

Hawke yelled in despair: "You shoguns have said that you are not allowed to hurt us!" ”

"Smack", Sarutobi Sasuke ghostly jumped up and slammed the back of his head with a knife.

Hawke snorted and threw himself forward, Sarutobi Sasuke hooked his right foot, hooked up the telescope he had fallen, shoved it into his arms, and then ghostly rushed to the middle of the deck.

There were only four or five hundred people on the merchant ship, and on the side of the "pirates", the Dongying people, the Nanyang people, and the Kunlun slaves, there were more than a thousand in total, and the battle ended quickly, and most of the employees of the East India Company were knocked unconscious, and as for the dead, Sarufei Sasuke directly ordered them to be buried at sea for free.

Under the command of Sarufei Sasuke, all the captives were quickly transferred to the "pirate ship" and locked directly in the cabin, and more than 20 merchant ships were quickly controlled by the "pirates" to turn around and sail to the east coast of Dongfan, while all the pirate ships went directly to the south, passing through the west coast of Dongfan, passing through Penghu, passing through Dayuan, and heading straight for Luzon.

A month later, Batavia, the Doge's Palace.

Governor Spex was staring at the map of Formosa in deep thought, when a voice suddenly came from outside: "Report, Lord Governor, Second Lieutenant Maier of the Dongying Branch has urgent matters to see." ”

Spex was stunned when he heard this, the Dongying branch, thousands of miles away, ran over to ask for a meeting, something must have happened, he hurriedly said loudly: "Let him in." ”

Soon a young second lieutenant walked in and saluted, "Second lieutenant adjutant of the Dongying branch has seen His Excellency the Governor. ”

Spex returned the salute and asked, "What happened to the Dongying branch?" ”

Second Lieutenant Meyer replied aloud: "Report to Your Excellency the Governor, the East India Division is fine, but we have not received last month's cargo, and our subordinate has not encountered our East India Company's cargo fleet along the way. ”

When Spex heard this, he almost jumped up from his chair, he knew very well that last month's goods had been sent, and this month's goods had been sent out for almost twenty days, and it stands to reason that Captain Hawke, who was in charge of delivery, should be pulling Dongying's cargo back at this time, and this Ensign Meier didn't meet a cargo fleet all the way over!

I'm afraid something happened, the more something happens, the more you can't panic, he calmed down, thought about it carefully, and then waved his hand and said: "Well, I know, you go down to rest first, don't go back first, wait here for a few days." ”

When Second Lieutenant Meer heard this, he gave another military salute, and then respectfully withdrew.

When Ensign Meier's back disappeared into the doorway, Spex spoke to the door again, "Go and ask Mr. Brock to come over." ”

He has not been here for a long time, and he is not very familiar with the Far East, but Brock is different, this chief commercial representative is responsible for negotiating with businessmen or officials from various countries, and his footprints are almost all over the Far East, and he is very familiar with the Far East.

After a while, Brock walked in with a smile and saluted, "Your Excellency the Governor, I don't know what to do with my subordinates?" ”

Spex stood up, pulled him to the bench next to him and sat down, and then said solemnly: "Brock, do you know that the two cargo fleets we sent to Dongying are gone. ”

When Brock heard this, his face changed, the Dongying market was what he talked about, he naturally knew how important Dongying's silver was to the East India Company, he first confirmed: "Your Excellency the Governor, are you sure that these two cargo fleets are missing?" ”

Spex nodded solemnly and said: "Something must have happened, two fleets, a total of more than thirty armed merchant ships, I haven't seen one on the Dongying side, and there is no news from our side, the possibility of them encountering a storm is very small, it is very likely that they have encountered pirates!" ”

The storm at sea is terrible, but even if more than 30 ships encounter a storm at sea, there will always be a few ships that will escape, and it is impossible that none of the ships will survive, and there is no news yet, so it is very likely that they were killed by pirates.

Brock said in disbelief: "It's unlikely, from Batavia to Dongying, almost all the big pirates have been wiped out by the Ming Empire, and Liu Xiang survived, but he is our partner, it is impossible to plunder our merchant ships, and other small groups of pirates are not our merchant ships at all, where did this pirate come from!" ”

Spex's face was ugly and said, "Except for Liu Xiang, there are no big pirates, won't he really attack our merchant ships?" ”

Brock nodded and said: "It is impossible for Liu Xiang to attack our merchant ships, because he still has to rely on us to deal with the Ming Empire, the southeast governor of the Ming Empire is too powerful, and almost all other large pirates were exterminated by him, Liu Xiang is his last target, if Liu Xiang betrays us, he will not be able to escape the encirclement and suppression of the southeast governor of the Ming Empire." ”

Spex was a little skeptical: "Liu Xiang's strength is not weak, do they really have to rely on us to escape the encirclement and suppression of the southeastern governor of the Ming Empire?" ”

Brock explained: "Your Excellency the Governor, do you know that there used to be a Zheng Zhilong who was stronger than Liu Xiang, and now Zheng Zhilong has been subdued by the southeastern governor of the Ming Empire, and the strength in Zheng Zhilong's hands alone can defeat Liu Xiang. By the way, Zheng Zhilong, he used to be a pirate, and he used to cooperate with us, but he turned his face against us later, and our merchant ship wouldn't have been robbed by him pretending to be a pirate. ”

When Spex heard this, he asked, "What do you mean, is it that the southeastern governor of the Ming Empire sent Zheng Zhilong to rob our merchant ships?" ”

Brock nodded solemnly and said: "It is very likely that the sea area from Batavia to Formosa is almost the world of Liu Xiang now, and the sea area from Formosa to Dongying is the world of the Ming Empire, and we have sent Liu Xiang to plunder their merchant ships, although it has not succeeded, but they must know that we let Liu Xiang do it, and they are likely to retaliate, so the Ming Empire is very suspicious." ”

When Spex heard this, he angrily reprimanded: "The Ming Empire has gone too far, first robbed our Formosa branch, and then sent people to pretend to be pirates to loot our merchant ships, it is too much, Brock, or you go and warn them and let them return our merchant ships immediately, otherwise we will be unkind to them." ”

When Brock heard this, he secretly didn't like it, he was the chief commercial representative, you really treated me as an errand boy, I had to go to this kind of warning, I was in charge of negotiations, okay, he thought about it, and said euphemistically: "Your Excellency the Governor, if you don't send someone else, we have only a little more than a month left in the ultimatum to the Ming Empire, and then I will definitely go over and ask the Southeast Governor what the result is, if they are willing to accept our conditions, I'm afraid they will have to negotiate at that time." From here to Formosa, it will take at least one round trip, and if I go over now and come back with a warning, I may not have answered that Batavia will have to turn around and negotiate with him again. ”

Spex's time counted, and it was true, Brock couldn't have stayed in Formosa for a month, and if he had been sent this time, he would have been left floating around on the sea.

Thinking of this, he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll send the others." ”