It's not just the land that's in danger, it's the sea as well. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

On the rocking deck of the Lanfang, Wei Yuan, a fleet intern, stood on the side of the ship, holding a half-paper cigarette in his mouth, helping Chen Jian, who had been staring at the sea, to catch fire.

In the smoke, Wei Yuan suddenly asked, "Mr. Chen, you have found the future, why don't you just return and continue to the south?" ”

Jian Chen took a sharp puff of his cigarette and stared blankly at the cyan smoke, the corners of his mouth showing not a smile, but a slight exhaustion.

"The future? Whose future? That land is the future of the poor for the time being, but I have not yet found the future of the rich merchants. People are separated from each other, and the future will naturally be different. That land of immigrants is the future I have found for a part of the group of people that the new Mexican Party represents. But as a collective member of the Progressive League, I also want to find a future for this person who claims to make life better for all my countrymen. Because since it is everyone, it must always include those rich merchants and big families and big workshop owners. ”

Wei Yuan lay on the side of the boat, threw away the cigarette butts, looked at the paper and tobacco leaves scattered in the seawater, and sighed.

"Mr. Chen, is this possible future to be the same?"

Jian Chen shook his head and said, "I don't know either. When the world is not just us, for the sake of our cotton cloth being cheaper than other people's, when other people's workshops are working for sixteen hours, we pursue an eleven-hour workday, and we will be condemned for treason. I don't know when I'll be charged with this. ”

Looking at the intern in front of him, Jian Chen said as if chatting with someone very casually: "Wei Yuan, do you know? I made kerosene in search of light. But there is always a shadow under the light, and some workshops use kerosene lamps to extend their working hours. There is no light without shadows. ”

Turning around, he asked again: "You have been on the ship for two or three years, and as one of the earliest interns, you can be considered to have grown up now." Do you have a dream? ”

Wei Yuan scratched his head, not knowing how to return to the word dream, and said for a long time: "There were." It turned out that he was poor, and his dream was to buy his father a knee pad in lambskin, and his knee always hurt; I bought some meat for my mother to eat, and when I was a child, I was beaten for stealing the family's lard; As for myself, I wanted to taste what it was like to be a woman. Later, I went to sea, I got the money, and all this came true. As for now...... I don't know, I guess I just want to live better than before. ”

Chen Jian laughed and patted Wei Yuan's shoulder, and his mood was much better than before.

"yes, it's better, that's the dream."

With these words, he paced back to the cabin and continued to sort out the charts of this voyage.

Wei Yuan shrugged, and for the first time really thought about dreaming.

In the afternoon, he was on duty on deck, and most of the off-duty were having dinner in preparation for the evening duty.

Suddenly, Wei Yuan heard a short whistle coming from the mast.

"There's a boat!"

Comprehending the meaning of the short whistle, Wei Yuan suddenly became excited. It's in the tropics, and it's far from its homeland, so it's not going to be a ship on your own side at all.

And because of the man named Janssen who was saved before, the people on the ship were looking forward to meeting a real ship they had never seen before.

Barefoot quickly climbed up the mast and took a look at the binoculars.

In the distance, there was indeed a ship about twenty paces long and three masts, but it was about to be damaged and sailed very slowly.

The style of the ship is a little strange, a little far away, plus the light is not too good, it is not clear to see.

According to the regulations on duty, if a ship of unknown origin is found, it is necessary to give an early warning as soon as possible.

At this time, it was shift time, and Wei Yuan couldn't care so much, picked up the gong on duty, and struck it with a bang.

After a while, Chen Jian ran to the deck, took out his binoculars and looked at it, but he didn't know what kind of ship it was.

But just in case, the order to prepare for wartime was immediately given.

The boatswain and the trainees immediately ran to the passage of the cabin, shouted loudly, and all the people on board began to get busy.

The side portholes opened, and the gunners pushed the cannon out, carefully hiding out of the recoil recoil retreat. Once fired, the huge recoil can crush a person directly.

The rest of the idle sailors retreated to the outside of the gun storehouse, which could not contain a large amount of gunpowder, and could only be used and taken on the spot. Their task was to deliver packets of gunpowder when needed.

The seamstresses and sail repairers were also to deliver gunpowder when the battle began, and the carpenters and apprentices all ran up and down the waterline. With planks, hammers, nails and the like in hand, you are ready to mend your ship.

Although after several years of training, this was the first time they had actually faced war. Young people may be excited, but more people are scared or panicked, but fortunately, the previous rigorous training has made them familiar with this chaotic situation, and the difference is a real battle.

Melee sailors and convoys climbed the deck, reloading flintlock pistols or preparing hook locks for a possible engagement.

The gunners waited anxiously and did not give an order that they could not fire. The reloading speed of the cannon was too slow, and it was difficult to inflict much damage on the enemy's ships if it was not possible to seize the opportunity to get close with a salvo.

It's far away, and if you miss, you can't hurt too much. Too close, in case the enemy grabbed the first round of shelling, the losses on your own side were too great.

An intern from a professional class who was in charge of commanding the battle was nervous, although there was only one ship on the opposite side, although this side did not take all the ships, but the main force was still there, but the first time it was not a drill but a real battle was always a little scared.

In the fleet, the four small boats opened their sails and took advantage of their speed to go downwind first, so that they could intercept each other in case of a real fight.

The main force of several large ships gradually formed a concave formation, and the sail pilots carefully controlled the direction and sail surface of the sailboats, maintaining the formation of the fleet as much as possible.

The distance from the ship gradually approached, and Chen Jian found that there was a Galen on the opposite side, which looked like it was about one hundred to two hundred tons, and the ship was not big, and it was estimated that even if there were cannons, there would be at most twenty cannons.

On their own side, they have an absolute advantage, they don't understand the language on the sea, the flag is unknown, especially in this ideal country of pirates, everything is better to be careful.

It looked like the mast was damaged, and the ship was slow.

Jian Chen didn't plan to be a pirate, even if he did, he wouldn't be now. A few nautical charts and the like are now worth more than the gold of an entire ship, and this sea is either pirates or smugglers at this time, except for the ships of the Spaniards, and none of them are clean.

Before reasoning with this kind of person, you need to show your muscles first.

…………

At the other end, the poor ship also noticed the strange fleet early.

The crew was restless, and the ships were of an extremely strange shape, which they had never seen.

In this sea, and the nature of their work, it can be said that they are well-informed. However, such a fleet and ships were really not impressive, and they racked their brains to think of how such a fleet could appear.

The flag on the ship was completely unimpressive, and the only thing that was certain was that there were living people on board, and they seemed to be extremely alert to their side.

Their mast was damaged, and they were thinking of finding a small island to dock for a while, repairing it before setting off, but they did not expect to encounter a strange fleet.

The captain looked at the aggressive momentum shown by the opposite fleet, and reluctantly gave the order to lower the sails.

Lowering the sails, which means surrender or not being prepared to resist, is often used as a friendly gesture when the language is not understood.

The sailors carried out this order without complaint.

They knew that no matter who the other party was, if the other party was hostile, their ship would not win at all, and there was no second possibility except to be sunk.

The damaged sails were lowered, and the sailors had no choice but to hope that they would be a group of hospitable and warm gentlemen, except to pray for God to bless.

If it's a peer, it's not bad, at least it means surrender to join it. Especially such a large pirate fleet with more than a dozen ships is a formidable force.

On the Lanfang, Jian Chen noticed that the ship on the opposite side lowered its sails, and also slowed down his fleet.

The gunners, just in case of fraud, are still on standby. The sailors and escorts on deck were ready to hook the hooks, and in the event of any movement on the other side, they were ready to hook the opposing ships.

The two dinghys were lowered and rowed towards the Galen. There was a sailor on the dinghy, and he could only speak a few simple words of Dutch that he had learned from Janssen, and he didn't know if he could understand it.

Instead, they brought a picture that meant the captain of the ship had come to the ship.

After rowing past the dinghy, the sailors of the Lanfang said in broken Dutch: "Peace, Captain." ”

Unexpectedly, there was a burst of cheers on the ship, and the people on this ship could understand Dutch because they were Dutch.

A simple peace, almost like the sweetest kiss of the goddess, except that the way these people on the other side expressed peace was so peculiar that it shocked them.

Now, there is no need to question that there is fraud or the like, the balance of power is too great, the captain left the first mate, and he took a few sailors to the dinghy.

Looking at these yellow people, although the captain wondered why the yellow flotilla appeared here, he didn't ask too much, and was ready to ask again on the ship.

When he finally rowed to the Lanfang, the captain expertly climbed up the rope ladder and saw a young yellow man standing there, dressed in a strange blue and white striped shirt, greeting him in Dutch.

Immediately afterward, the gunmen behind the young man fired in unison.

In the smoke, the gunmen loaded their muskets at a speed not seen by the captain, and he saw no arquebuses, only in the smoke he saw the group firing again with twice the speed of the best gunners he had ever seen......

The sound of ping-pong gunshots may be the best way to welcome people in the case of language barriers, so that the other party understands what kind of attitude to use to communicate with themselves.