The autumn rain in Suzhou City in October poured off the withered yellow leaves on the ground. But even if the weather is bad, there are still many people in the government who will run to the dock from time to time to constantly look at it, hoping that the official and military fleets that had gone to sea before would return triumphantly.

It's just that it's been more than 20 days since these more than 1,000 elites left the land, but there is still no news, which makes people unconsciously start to worry. Could it be that even the elite sailors of these ships are no match for the sea bandits? Or maybe we're not dealing with people at all...... A faint feeling of uneasiness slowly arose in everyone's hearts again.

After all, if it were normal, the fleet should have met the enemy long ago, and even if those pirates had taken precautions and hid, their own fleet would have returned, right? If you don't return for a long time like this, it naturally makes people suspicious, and you feel that this thousand elites may have followed in the footsteps of those merchant ships before.

People on land would not have imagined that the weather at sea would be unpredictable, and that those pirates would get lost at sea and delay the encounter between the two sides. They were just worried, and from time to time they ran to the pier to look out at the calm, sometimes rough sea.

In the afternoon of that day, several more officials ran to the dock to look into the distance, and suddenly, one of them was shocked, pointed to the end of the sea level in the distance, and shouted: "Look, what is that? ”

When everyone heard this, they hurriedly looked at it, and sure enough, at the far end, a few faint black spots appeared, which made everyone feel unconsciously refreshed: "Could it be that our army has finally returned triumphantly?" ”

"Maybe those pirates took advantage of the situation after winning the victory." Someone whispered.

"Hurry up and report it, and let the coastal military horses prepare for defense!" At that time, some officials reacted quickly, and no matter whether they came from friend or foe, it was always good to get the relevant people to be prepared. After speaking, several people hurriedly turned around and ran towards the barracks behind them.

Half an hour later, when the soldiers and horses around the wharf have been spread out, those few small black dots finally let people get a glimpse of the whole leopard, which are the four big ships sent by my Ming Dynasty before, and in the distance, they can also see the Ming flag fluttering high on the mast of the ship, which proves that the Ming sailor has finally returned safely.

Suddenly, the people who raised their hearts breathed a sigh of relief, and a happy smile appeared on everyone's faces, and the people who rushed to hear the news let out bursts of cheers, celebrating the triumphant return of the imperial court sailors.

In this burst of cheers, Lu Zhen also brought his subordinate brocade guards, as well as the relevant officials of the local prefect and the city shipping department. At this time, everyone could already see the majestic Ming soldiers standing at the bow of the ship, so the cheers were louder, and the faces of Lu Zhen and the others finally showed a relieved smile.

During this period of time, the hearts of the officials, including Lu Jinzai, were always heavy, for fear that the four big ships led by Jiang Tao and nearly a thousand elites would make something wrong at sea. Once this happens, the responsibility on them will be too heavy, and the danger of going to sea will become extremely great. Fortunately, none of this came true, and seeing the safe return of their own fleet, and seeing the heroic and complacent appearance of the soldiers, everyone could guess that this voyage would inevitably achieve a great victory.

Sure enough, when the ship docked and the officials stepped forward to meet the dock, Jiang Tao had already jumped ashore first, and then immediately saluted on one knee and reported: "Report to all my lords, the last general is fortunate not to be dishonored, this time I went to sea, and finally defeated and annihilated all the pirates who had been at sea for many days, and captured 56 related thieves!" ”

"Good, good!" Lu Zhen said yes with satisfaction, and then stepped forward and helped Jiang Tao up: "Jiang Dusi really didn't disappoint this official, you have made great achievements for Suzhou and my Ming court." This official will definitely show credit to the court for you according to the truth, and you and all the soldiers who go out will be rewarded! ”

"Thank you, Lord for appreciation!" Jiang Tao was also overjoyed when he heard it. The status of this Lord Lu is extremely high, as long as he has made war exploits to the imperial court, then he can go further, and maybe he can get a knighthood for this war exploits. This is an honor that is extremely difficult for military attaches in the south to obtain, after all, there are no wars here than in the north, and if you want to make meritorious service, you must not only have some real skills, but also need to have strong luck.

Subsequently, the prefect Xiao Wentong and Tiju Tao Yong also brought their officials forward to congratulate, and naturally said something for a while. At this time, the attention of many people was drawn to the many strange-looking captives who had disembarked from the ship.

When they saw these men, who were much taller than themselves, with red and yellow hair, and frighteningly white skin, hanging their heads and being driven off the boat like defeated roosters, there was even a burst of exclamations among the people: "What is this?" Is it a youkai? Can I, the Great Ming Sailor, still be able to capture such a terrible monster? ”

Lu Jin's eyes also straightened a little, of course he wouldn't treat these white Europeans as some kind of monsters, but he was very curious about how these guys suddenly appeared in the range of my Ming Dynasty's sea territory. It stands to reason that the Age of Discovery, which arose in Western countries, still needs nearly a hundred years to brew, so why did such a group of guys appear here?

Subconsciously, Lu Zhen leaned over. This made the guards beside him a little nervous, and they hurriedly followed, for fear that these strange-looking guys in front of him would be unfavorable to their adults.

After looking at these captives for a while, Lu Zhen asked a little awkwardly in his already unfamiliar English: "Who are you, why did you come to my Ming Sea Frontier to do evil?" ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone around them looked weird, why, our Lord Lu still has such a strange language, can he still talk to these strange guys?

It turned out to be disappointing, and the pirates just stared at him blankly, completely unaware of what he was talking about, let alone responding. It's not that Lu Jin's English is so bad that people can't understand it, in fact, it's because these pirates in front of him are Dutch, and their language is too far from the English of later generations. Not to mention Dutch pirates, even pirates from England can't communicate normally with Lu Jin's modern English at this time. This is a reason for a traveler to go back to the afterlife and communicate with the ancients in Mandarin......

Since he couldn't ask anything from these captives, Lu Zhen no longer offered ugliness, and directly ordered the soldiers to be welcomed back to Suzhou City, and at the same time, the prisoners were guarded and brought back through the city.

Because of these pirates, Suzhou and other coastal cities have suffered great losses in the past year, and it is time to use them to break all kinds of unfavorable arguments about going to sea, and encourage the people to devote themselves to such good things as going to sea again.

At this moment, Jiang Tao suddenly remembered something again, and reported to Lu Jin: "By the way, my lord, the last general and others also found a small cannon from the shipwreck of these pirates that is very different from the artillery used by our Daming, which can actually be loaded on the ship and fired. "He was a general with some experience and vision in water warfare, and he noticed the cannon on the Black Pearl during the battle, so when he sank the ship, he ordered someone to pull the particularly piercing cannon with a rope and bring it back.

As soon as Lu Zhen heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up: "There is such a thing?" Let's go, take me over and have a look. As he spoke, he instructed Governor Xiao and other officials to take everyone back to the city first, and he and Jiang Tao went back to the boat again.

Over the years, Lu Zhen has actually been worried about future naval operations. Although Daming has artillery now, the cannon is too huge, and the recoil is also strong, not to mention sending it to the ship as a conventional weapon, even if it is put at the head of the city to resist the enemy, it is reluctant, and it is easy to hurt the gunners on the side.

And he knew very well that in the future, those seafaring ships in the world would be equipped with artillery, and if the Ming ships encountered those adventurers who were actually robbers at sea in the future, they might suffer a big loss. In desperation, he had no choice but to load the lighter, less recoiled ballista onto the ship, but it was better than nothing.

Now, as soon as I heard that this pirate actually had artillery that could carry fire on the ship, I was naturally very impressed, and I must see it clearly.

Others can't understand Lu Jin's thoughts, but he just gave himself such an opportunity to be in the limelight in order to take care of the face of many local officials, and he is really a little grateful in his heart.

Lu Zhen and the others moved against the crowd and quickly returned to the big ship with many scars on the surface, and then saw the small cannon that was half a man tall and the muzzle was thigh-thick. Lu Zhen immediately circled around it a few times, and then nodded frequently: "This cannon is nearly half smaller than the artillery used to defend the city in Suzhou City, and it is indeed much lighter." ”

"What the Lord said is that the lethality of this cannon doesn't seem to be too much. Look over there, ......" Jiang Tao remembered something again, pointed to the more damaged ship on the side, and said: "The thief's artillery has hit our ship before, but it has not hurt the roots. ”

Lu Zhen followed his point and looked at the scars on the ship, nodded and said, "Indeed, the ship is not damaged much, it should be a distance relationship." If we get close enough, we can hit our ship hard. In addition, it should be the problem of ammunition. However, these are not too serious problems, and the most important thing is to be able to create such a means of casting such a cannon that can be carried on a ship. If I can get the hang of it, it will be safer for my Ming ship to go to sea. "Moreover, these small cannons are also suitable for field combat, such as head-to-head confrontation with the Mongols...... Lu Zhen added another sentence in his heart.

At this time, he had already made up his mind in his heart, this time he must get the relevant information out of the mouths of these pirates, no matter what kind of price and effort he paid!

@@@@@

Remember, you can't be strong in winter, otherwise it will be too uncomfortable to catch a cold. I feel like I'm still complaining this time... Fever。。。。。。