Colin had won another battle, and he had reason to rejoice, because it was against a new country, which meant that he, the British officer, had defeated another nation's army.

Harald couldn't be happier, first of all, the battle was won, but from the beginning he didn't think it would happen, it was his miscalculation that brought about the war, secondly, several of his friends died here, and most importantly, there was a problem with the ship.

Last night, the ship was first burned, although it did not cause a whole fire, but the south hull was scorched with gunpowder, and finally soaked in water, and it cracked in many places, the most deadly of which was the explosion. Because the explosives buried by the fishermen are at the bottom of the boat, the bottom is the beach, the top is the bottom of the boat, and it is relatively close to the keel, due to the ground reflection energy, resulting in a blasting effect, the hull bears most of the ability of the explosion, not only in the bottom of the ship to blow up a hole, but also may injure the keel, if the keel is damaged, it means that a ship is almost scrapped.

A captain scrapping his ship is more shameful than a soldier losing a weapon, but in Western maritime culture, there is a tradition of the captain and the ship dying together.

This made Harald feel extremely humiliated, and the most humiliating thing was that he was still alive. So he didn't say a word after the war, and his mood was very low.

Zhou Lang's mood is not much better, but it has come to this, and his extremely pragmatic personality makes him no longer entangled in losses, and he can even easily pat Harald on the shoulder.

"There is an old Chinese saying that misfortune depends on good fortune, and this is not necessarily a bad thing."

Harald can't understand this kind of truth at all, in the consciousness of Westerners, bad things are bad things, good things are good things, Zhou Lang's truth sounds more like quibble, but he still feels a lot better in his heart, after all, how to look at it, Zhou Lang should feel more depressed, this is his ship.

"Call Colin, let's go and interrogate those Qing soldiers!"

Zhou Lang had a slightly commanding tone, but Harald did not refute it, and unconsciously, the psychology of confrontation between him and Zhou Lang collapsed.

It is said that it is a joint interrogation, but it is better to say that it is Zhou Lang's interrogation, and at the same time act as an interpreter. When you need to ask a professional question, ask Harald and Colin.

To be on the safe side, they questioned the captives individually, almost always asking the same questions, and the answers were almost the same, so that after the interrogation of the four captives, there was no need to continue the questioning.

"Now people basically know where we are. Let's share our opinions. ”

Deputy General Manager Zhou Langyi presided over the meeting.

Harald sighed: "Our ship is not in good condition, there is a hole in the bottom of the ship, there are many cracks in the hull, and the keel may also be damaged. It's all my fault—"

Zhou Lang waved his hand: "Don't talk about this, it's just a small setback, not worth mentioning." We are a team, so the direction of our efforts should also be one, and the most important thing we should do now is to unite and get out of the current situation. Harald, can you tell me when we'll be able to set sail? ”

"If the keel is not damaged, it will take at least a month, and if the keel is badly damaged, the ship may be scrapped," Harald said. I'm willing to take it—"

Zhou Lang interrupted Harald's self-criticism again. This kind of person, if he continues, they must be willing to be responsible, but what responsibility can he bear as a hired captain, the most he can do is to take the blame and resign, and he has no benefit from resigning at this juncture.

Zhou Lang turned to Colin: "Lord, what do you think?" ”

Colin's mentality is more relaxed: "I don't think it's that serious. Everyone has seen the combat effectiveness of the Chinese, hasn't it? ”

Obviously, after a battle, Colin completely looked down on the combat effectiveness of the Manchu soldiers.

Zhou Lang said: "Go on." ”

Colin shrugged: "Obviously, I don't think they still have the courage to continue attacking us!" ”

Zhou Lang asked, "So you think we can be free to repair our ship here and then set sail in a month?" ”

Colin nodded, "Isn't that so?" ”

Zhou Lang sighed: "I only hope that you will analyze from a military point of view, if the other party comes again, and uses more troops, will we be in a disadvantageous state." ”

Colin shook his head: "It can't be. The Chinese soldiers just now said very clearly, there are only five companies like Zuo Ying in the vicinity. The total strength of the army is only 200 men, and with their combat strength, I don't think 200 men can pose a threat to us. ”

According to the confessions of several prisoners, there were four flood lands like Zuoying around, and this time they participated in the attack on Chishan Xun on Zuoying and nearby Dagu Mountain, in addition to Qihou Xun, who was responsible for guarding Dagou Port, Fengdanxun on Fengdanshan (Bijia Mountain) near the county seat, and Xixixun guarding the estuary of Tamsui Creek (Gaoping Creek). Below the flood is the pond, but the number is smaller, and there is no combat effectiveness, and above the flood is the Nanlu battalion stationed in Fengshan County, which is the most powerful armed force south of Taiwan's capital city. But these armed forces add up to only two or three thousand people, which is on paper, but in fact there may only be more than a thousand people, and it is impossible to send them all, so Colin has nothing to fear.

Zhou Lang asked: "If they are all dispatched, how can we defend?" ”

Colin said helplessly: "This is impossible, this is not in line with military logic at all." Not to mention that they will not conduct military operations like this, and it is impossible for the whole army to go out to fight us in a decisive battle. The military deployment near the left camp is very empty, and if it is purely from a military point of view, it should not be that we are worried that they will attack, but that they are worried that we will occupy the left camp. ”

Zhou Lang immediately said: "Then occupy the left battalion!" ”

Colin was stunned, and Harald was confused.

After a moment of coldness, Colin asked seriously, "Are you serious?" ”

Zhou Lang nodded very firmly.

Colin blinked, he was confused.

After thinking about it, I only asked one word: "Why?" ”

Zhou Lang said: "Because-"

As soon as they said this, suddenly there was a bang on the door to the captain's quarters, interrupting their meeting.

Harald opened the door, and the first mate hurried in.

"Captain, Lord, Sir!"

He greeted each of them, and then said:

"There was a group of people who came up and looked like villagers from the neighborhood, and it was very strange, most of them were women and old people, and they didn't know what they were going to do."

It is indeed very strange, among the attackers last night, there were villagers from a nearby fishing village, and in the end more than 30 people were killed, if it is not surprising that the villagers of the fishing village came to seek revenge, but they came with a group of women and old people, which is strange.

"Go out and have a look!"

Zhou Lang couldn't figure out the situation, so he could only put down the meeting for the time being and go out to see the situation first, in case the other party didn't come to find trouble, but it would be a pity to have a misunderstanding because of the language barrier between them.

Out of the captain's room, Zhou Lang immediately asked someone to call Lin Pu.

"Lin Pu, you go down and have a look right away, and ask them what they are going to do."

Lin Pu was the chef recruited from Malacca, of course he was only one of the cooks, and there were several cooks on board, one Danish cook, one Indian cook, the stove head was an Irishman, and six kitchen handymen, all Indian.

Lin is Fujian's surname, Lin Puzheng is a person who went to Malacca from Fujian to Nanyang, but he is not a coolie, because he went to his father, his father already has a small industry in the local area, grows vegetables for a living, and also runs a vegetable shop, the reason why Lin Pu is willing to go on the boat to be a chef, in addition to Zhou Lang's recruitment at that time, many rich salaries, mainly because of the letter from Lin Pu's family, let him go home and get married, he has been waiting for the ship to return to China.

The hesitation on Lin Pu's face flashed, and with a sigh, he was ready to get off the boat.

Zhou Lang suddenly stopped him again: "Be careful." Don't get too close, stay with our people. ”

Lin Pu snorted and finally walked down.

The merchant ship Oriental Dawn was now straightened up, and sat back in the bunker, with wooden rafters supporting around the hull. But nothing can go back to the past, the damage to the ship is still a trivial matter, and the key is that even if it can be repaired, it will be delayed. A conservative estimate of a month will not be able to catch up with Magalny's fleet.

Naming the ship the Oriental Dawn pinned great hopes on Zhou Lang, and now this ray of dawn has obviously become dim at the beginning.

But Zhou Lang was not as anxious as before, his brain was calm again, and he could make rational judgments.

The matter has already happened, he doesn't think about the reason, it is meaningless, the most important thing is to deal with the present.

Lin Pu walked down, slowly towards the villagers who had come from the fishing village, and there was already a group of soldiers in front of him. Lin Pu slowly passed the soldiers, and at this time he was very close to the fishermen, and he did not walk directly, but stood at a distance and shouted. The two sides talked like this for a while, and suddenly an old man among the fishermen slowly walked out, still on crutches, and walked on the beach with great difficulty. The old man approached the forest garden and talked to the forest garden face to face for a long time.

The air on the ship was not good, and there was a pungent smell that made people feel like they were in a crematorium. The surrounding sailors were cleaning up the beach, carrying the sneak attackers killed last night one by one to a pit dug in the beach, filling the bottom of the pit with firewood, throwing a few people and then setting it on fire. The person is burned to ashes, and when the next high tide comes, even the ashes are taken to the sea, and the traces of the person's existence in this world disappear.

The burned bodies were of soldiers, ruffians, and fishermen.

Zhou Lang suddenly seemed to understand something.

At this time, the things in front of him attracted his attention, he saw that the old fisherman in front of Lin Pu suddenly knelt down, Lin Pu pulled several times and didn't pull up, the two sides pulled for a while, I don't know what to say, Lin Pu shook his head and began to walk back.

I watched the forest garden walk up to the boat.

"Master Zhou, the villagers want to collect the corpse!"

Lin Pu came back and told Zhou Lang.

Zhou Lang nodded, he had already guessed just now.

"Well, I'll arrange it."