Gu Jiang and Zheng Sen stood on the back deck of the "Endeavour" cruiser together, looking into the distance. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info On Western-style sailing ships, because of the existence of bow masts and triangular sails, the space on the bow deck is generally limited, and the view is not very good. So the senior command staff stayed on the aft deck most of the time.

"Brother Ning Ren has tanned a lot these days. In the future, if you wear an official uniform, you will be recognized as a Bao Gong. Zheng Sen leaned on the railing and looked at the junction of the sea and sky, and said to Gu Jiang.

"I'm strange, before I went to sea, Damu, you were a lot darker than me, but now look at this sun as if it only basks me and I don't bask you, it's really unfair!" Gu Jiang laughed.

Smiling, Gu Jiang sighed again and said: "It's been two days since I went to sea, and I haven't found the Spanish fleet yet, the sea is so big, do you think we missed it last night." Or did they go on a different route? We've declared war on them, and they may be wary......"

A few days ago, the Zheng family's fleet received information from the scouts in Manila in carrier pigeons in Batavia, saying that four relatively large Spanish merchant ships had left Manila, and according to their draft, the scouts judged that the four ships were full of goods and should have intended to go to Europe by the trade winds.

After receiving this information, the Zheng family's fleet prepared for another two days, then left the port of Batavia and began to search the South China Sea for Spanish fleets that might pass through here.

"Brother Ningren, remember the trade wind belt and the windless belt I mentioned to you." Zheng Sen said, "We are now located in the trade wind belt, where there is a northeast wind for many years, and it is very convenient for ships to sail with this wind." But if you go a little further south, near the equator, you will enter the equatorial windless zone. There was almost no wind in that area. If such a large sea ship enters the windless zone, it is not possible to rely on human oars, and many times it can only drift along the current. If you're unlucky, it's not impossible to get trapped there. So under normal circumstances, no one would sail a boat into a place like that. As for whether it will be missed at night, it is a little likely. But judging by the charts, given their speed, I think we should have to wait another day before we can meet this fleet. In addition, I scattered several clippers to monitor the larger sea, hoping to catch them. But tomorrow ......"

Speaking of this, Zheng Sen sighed and said, "If you haven't found them tomorrow, it will be a real headache." ”

……

While Zheng Sen had a headache about not finding his prey, his prey was actually worried about the fog at sea. At the beginning, it was just a thin layer of water vapor, floating low in the air close to the sea surface, and the height was less than the deck of the ship, but the fog soon became thicker and thicker, and the sight of the ship quickly deteriorated, at first, the lookout on the mast could still see the sea more than ten kilometers away, but after only ten minutes, he was almost unable to see the deck of his own ship. In such fog, it is best to keep the ships closer together in order to avoid the loss of the fleet. But the closer the ship is, which increases the risk of collision. For the sake of safety, Captain Villa, who led the team, had to order all the ships to drop sail and anchor immediately.

"Let them go to the stern and shout, let them all drop sails, drop anchor, and wait for the fog to clear before they go. What the hell! Villa took the captain's hat off his head, crumpled it in his hand, and said to Boatswain Gonzares.

"Yes, Captain!" Just as Sareth replied, a few moments later there was a shout from the stern of the ship. Then, in the fog, there were also voices in response: "The Gannet has fallen sail and is anchoring...... "The Albatross is anchoring...... "The Downwind is dropping sail......"

"It looks like it's still there." Captain Villa nodded, and said to First Officer Igor, "Alright, let's let our ship drop sail and anchor." ”

Four boats cannot be lowered and anchored at the same time, because the speed at which these maneuvers are carried out cannot be exactly the same, especially now when no one can see anyone, if the ship in front stops, but the boat behind does not stop because the movement is a little slower, then it is likely to have a serious collision. Therefore, the ship in the last position must first slow down and lower the anchor, and then the ships in front of it will perform this action one after another to ensure safety.

The fog did not dissipate until noon, which delayed Captain Villa's fleet for another time.

……

It was already the evening of the next day, and Zheng Sen's fleet still found nothing. The four boats that came out of Manila were completely gone, as if they had melted into the sea.

"It stands to reason that they can't be here yet." Anxiety began to appear in the fleet, and even Zheng Sen was a little anxious. But Zheng Zhibao didn't care too much. He smiled and said to Zheng Sen, "Asen, you're still too anxious. Have you ever seen a net-fisher? Do those fishermen, when they have their nets laid and see a fish coming around the edge of the net, go and put the net away and do it all over again? When intercepting merchant ships at sea was originally stopped, and when they couldn't, a lot of it was luck. Your uncle and I were at sea with your father...... , not every time you go to sea, you can get something. Besides, this is the first time you have commanded such an operation, in fact, you have already done a good job, not to mention sending people to monitor the port, using carrier pigeons to transmit information remotely, calculating the enemy's itinerary, such a thing, we have not done such a detailed thing before. Luck is actually very fair, no one will always be lucky, and they will never be unlucky.

Plus, this time you're taking the lead. Those people under your command ......" Zheng Zhibao looked around and said, "In terms of motivation and morale, they are stronger than our old brothers back then, but after all, most of them are newcomers, and few can calm down." You are taking the lead, and at this time, you must be able to calm down more than everyone else. ”

"Fourth uncle, you're right." Zheng Sen said, "Maybe they delayed their trip because of something?" We'll wait another day, and if we haven't waited, we'll go full speed toward Malacca, chase until we're almost there, and then come back. If that doesn't happen, they're lucky. ”

Until dark, Zheng Sen and the others did not find any ships.

Soon, the sun went down, but it was the fifteenth day, the moon was very large, and the silver moonlight illuminated the sea, Zheng Sen let the ships sail, which was more conducive to concealment at night, and in Batavia, Zheng Sen also used the paint he brought to paint the "Endeavour" a dark gray. Now, in the moonlight, the dark gray Endeavour and the other ships that followed it, also painted gray, seemed to melt into the sea. If the Spanish fleet passed by this side at this time, Zheng Sen was completely sure that he might be able to spot the Spanish ships with their white sails spread and sailing in the moonlight.

Seeing that the captain had arranged the night watch, Zheng Sen went back to his room. The "Endeavour" is a large ship, so the space is relatively richer, in fact, the cabin that Zheng Sen lives in now is larger and more comfortable than that on the "Feiyan".

After entering the cabin, lighting the whale oil lamp, and discussing some history with Gu Jiang, Zheng Sen was about to go to bed, but at this time, there was a sudden knock on the door.

"Come in." Zheng Sen said.

A seafarer walked in, saluted Zheng Sen and said, "Major General, fireworks have been found at half past ten!" ”

Zheng Sen jumped up all of a sudden, and said to Gu Jiang: "Ning Ren, we have caught those Spanish ships!" ”

The two men hurriedly ran to the deck, and the captain was already on deck.

"In which direction was the fireworks?" Zheng Sen asked.

"Over there, Major General." Old Jack pointed in the direction of half past ten and said, "The 'Wind' is in that direction, they must have spotted the Spanish ship first." They can't run away, at sea, as long as there are no strong winds and waves, no ship can escape the tracking of a ship like the 'Drifting Wind'. ”

"Captain Jack, you are the Commander. You give orders. Zheng Sen said.

……

The sudden fireworks in the distance startled the first mate Igor, who was on night duty, and he called for someone to call the captain while carefully searching the sea surface on the other side of the fireworks with his binoculars.

"Igor, what did you find?" Captain Villa asked as he ran out of the cabin, buttoning up his clothes.

"Someone has set off a fireworks signal over there, but I haven't found it yet...... Ah, Captain, I've found the boat! He's right there! Igor handed the telescope to Captain Villa while pointing in which direction.

"I'll see!" Villa raised his binoculars, "Damn, this should be the kind of ship of the Chinese, yes, the kind that came to declare war on us last time, I remember this kind of ship, in the entire sea of the Far East, only they have ships of this shape." You say they just signaled fireworks? Damn, that means their fleet is not far away. ”

Villa put down his binoculars, looked up at the moon again, and cursed again: "This damn moon!" Then he ordered: "Full sails!" Let's speed up, shake it off! ”

Now several of Villa's boats were sailing along the northeast trade winds, and he had seen it in the telescope just now, and the small boat was a schooner. Generally speaking, a schooner cannot reach the same speed as a schooner in downwind conditions. All four of his boats were sailboats, and although they were fully loaded, they could run seven to eight knots in the downwind conditions of today. Villa felt that speed was enough for him to get rid of the schooner.

All four ships, under Villa's command, spread all their sails and began to speed up, while Igor continued to stare at the schooner with binoculars. Villa gave netizen Kim back to him, because at night, his eyes were a little better than his own.

"Did we get rid of them?" Villa asked.

"No, they are keeping up, their speed is ......," Igor said.

It didn't take long for Villa to see the schooner with the naked eye: it was a slender ship, with gray sails, a gray hull that was not very noticeable even in the moonlight, and looked as if it could disappear into the ocean at any moment.

"What a ghostly ship. It can run so fast downwind. Villa said to himself, and at the same time he realized that something was wrong.