With a "bang", the hatch was violently rushed open. Fan Liang frowned www.biquge.info and was about to get angry, but he saw the deputy general Zhang Kun shouting in a panic, "The general is not good, a large fleet has appeared behind us, and it looks like a pirate!" ”

"Pirates!?" Everyone exclaimed in unison, stood up in a panic, and anxiously asked Fan Liang, "General Fan, how can this be done when the pirates are here?" ”

"Panic!" Fan Liang interrupted everyone's gossip with an angry shout, and reprimanded Zhang Kun with a sinking face, "It's just a pirate, look what scared you!" Have I been afraid of anyone in the world? Zhang Kun, you'd better give me a perfect explanation, otherwise Lao Tzu will recognize you, and military law will not recognize people! ”

Zhang Kun ate Fan Liang's scolding, his face turned red for a while, and he knelt on one knee and asked for guilt in shame, "Humble and wrong, please punish the adult!" ”

"Humph!" Fan Liang snorted coldly, "This time I will write it down for you first, if there is a next time, I will not spare it!" Fan Liang waved his sleeves, sat back on the chair, rolled his sleeves and said, "Say, what's the situation?" ”

Zhang Kun touched the cold sweat on his head, was silent for a moment, and replied, "According to the sentry at the lookout just now, a fleet of ships of considerable size has appeared more than ten miles behind us. The flotilla did not fly any flags that would identify it, and according to experienced sailors guessed that it might be pirates! ”

"Pirates? What is the scale? Have you ever seen it clearly? ”

"According to the observations of the sentinels, they are not much smaller than ours, and they are all battleships! The number of them is between fifteen and twenty. Among them, there are two large three-masted warships, and the number of other small warships such as horn bluff ships, turtle ships, and Ataka ships vary! ”

"It's finally here!" Fan Liang slapped the case and ordered loudly: "Pass me, order all warships to enter an emergency state of readiness and hang up the battle flag!" Get ready for battle! ”

After hearing Zhang Kun's answer, Fan Liang immediately realized that this pirate was Wang Zhi and his gang. At this moment, at this place, such a huge fleet has a clear target behind his own fleet, except for Wang Zhi and others, Fan Liang can't think of anyone who would dare to attack the Jiaozhou fleet so blatantly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the enemy is already close at hand, we can't show our cowardice, go out with me and meet this pirate!" After saying that, he ignored everyone's reactions and strode towards the deck with the guards!

When everyone heard this, they looked at each other, and it took a long time before one of the stewards cautiously asked, "Everyone, what should we do?" Do you want to notify everyone to evacuate? ”

"Evacuate!?" Steward Liu said sarcastically, "Let's not talk about whether we can send the news back on this ship full of officers and soldiers, and even if we can, where are we going to retreat?" How to withdraw? Can we outrun pirates with the speed of our merchant ships? People come with the wind and it's a clipper, I'm afraid we can't get out of the encirclement and be dumplings! Staying here, with the protection of the officers and soldiers, there is still a glimmer of life, and reckless escape is a dead end! ”

"Enough!" The steward of the Li family shouted angrily: "The great enemy, what kind of system are you arguing about at the moment? If General Fan hears it, what should I think of you and me? Know that we represent more than just ourselves. There is a way to run a monk, but you can't run to the temple. Our relatives and families are all in Shandong, even if we are lucky enough to escape now, will the Broken Army spare us when we go back? Don't mention the evacuation again, everyone, the strength of the Jiaozhou fleet is obvious to all, and it is not something that can be defeated by just pirates! We have to have faith in General Fan! Let's go, let's go out with me to have a look, don't let General Fan wait for a long time, and don't let people underestimate you and me! ”

Steward Li is one of Li Si's clansmen, and the strength of the Li family is the strongest among the merchants who came with him this time, so Steward Li's words still carry a lot of weight. And what Steward Li said just now is very clear, and now their fate is one with the Jiaozhou fleet. Like a grasshopper on a rope, no one can get rid of it alone. No one is a fool who can become a steward, and everyone knows very well how to choose now!

Fan Liang didn't hear the quarrel of everyone in the cabin, and even if he heard it, he didn't have time to care about it now. In the face of the menacing pirates, Fan Liang must use all his energy to deal with it.

"How's Captain Slade doing?" Fan Liang strode to the end of the deck and asked Slade in a loud voice

Hearing Fan Liang's voice, Slade turned around solemnly and said, "Your Excellency, the situation seems to be a little bad, the enemy is far stronger than we imagined!" See for yourself! With that, he handed the monocular in his hand to Fan Liang.

Fan Liang did not borrow Slade's clairvoyant glasses, but took his delicate binoculars from Zhang Kun's hand and carefully observed the movements of the enemy troops in the distance.

"Hiss...," Fan Liang gasped and exclaimed, "Didn't you say that there were only twenty warships?" Why are there so many popping up now? Am I dazzled? ”

Fan Liang was indeed stunned by the scene in front of him, where are these twenty warships! There are no less than 30 ships, with the clear sight of the telescope, Fan Liang clearly saw the dense battlefield on the sea in the distance, including not only two three-masted warships that are no less than the "Qingdao", but even many small and medium-sized warships far beyond the Jiaozhou fleet, which are mixed with a large number of arsonist ships, turtle ships, and fast sail small warships. Purely in terms of the size of the fleet, this pirate force is far stronger than the current Jiaozhou fleet in terms of quantity and quality. At this moment, Fan Liang was already convinced in his heart that this pirate was the Wang Zhi Pirate Group.

Looking at all the maritime forces along the coast of the Ming Dynasty, although the nascent Jiaozhou fleet is not strong, it is not a soft persimmon to be kneaded. Except for the Zheng family and the Dutch who were far away in the South China Sea and the South Seas, in terms of the northern coast of the Ming Dynasty alone, there were few forces that could defeat the Jiaozhou fleet. And Wang Zhi and the others were one of the few of them, because apart from them, there was no other fleet of this size that had always been deeply hostile to the Jiaozhou fleet along the coast of the northern Ming Dynasty.

"Your Excellency, General, you are not dazzled, as you can see, the strength of the enemy army is indeed very strong, so I suggest that the fleet should immediately shrink its formation and escape from the current unfavorable environment as soon as possible! You can also see that they are on the upside, and we are on the downwind, completely in a passive situation, once the war starts, the enemy can calmly choose when to attack, we can only passively face the battle! Slade is still very professional, and when he saw Fan Liang's reaction, he immediately put forward his own suggestions in a timely manner.

"So what are you waiting for! Pass my order, the warship will meet the merchant ship, beat the drum, and raise the battle flag! All ships are fully rudder to the left and seize the upper hand! (To be continued.) )