Silva nodded, he knew what the priest meant, there were still more than a hundred people alive, but that small boat could only hold thirty people, just who got on the boat, who was waiting on the island was a big problem, and it was only possible to succeed if everyone didn't fully realize what was going on. He got up from the ground and patted the dirt on his hands: "Priest, come with me on the boat!" ”

"No, Silva, I am a servant of the Lord, and I must stay here to watch over the Lamb of the Lord!" The priest's voice was not loud, but it was firm. Silva looked him in the eye, and the words of persuasion came to his lips but did not come out.

"Boat, boat! God, we are saved! ”

A shout from the beach caught the attention of the two men, and Silva and the priest looked out to sea, and a little shadow of a sail appeared on the sea level in the distance, which was just a black dot at first, but soon grew larger and larger, and the ecstatic sailors rushed to the beach, waving their hands wildly, and some of them danced their clothes and flags overhead, trying to attract the attention. Silva looked at the bulging sails with his swollen eyes, trying to distinguish the sound of the sails being blown by the sea breeze. Now he could be sure that the boat was coming for him. Unless the other party changes course, the voice above will soon be heard, and I am saved! All are saved!

But what about the mission? What about the task given to me by the Governor? He thought to himself, Merciful Mary, the Governor has trusted me to lead an army and the Queen Mary to China, to make an alliance with the general called Yiguan, against the damned Dutch. But what could be more shameful than a broken ship and a hundred soulless people waiting to die now?

On the deck, Ke Congwen, Zhao Youcai, and Wang Xingguo stood side by side, staring silently at the stranded ship, broken mast, and broken side panels on the shark reef hundreds of meters away. The devastated deck, the ship was like an escape from hell.

"Is this the red-haired pirate ship?" Ke Congwen asked the sergeant on the side.

"Lord Huidusi, it's the Hongmaoyi Pirate Ship that docked on Daishan Island a few days ago! Other boats are different from him, and few are so big! ”

"Hmm!" Ke Congwen nodded, and said to Zhao Youcai and Wang Xingguo on the side with a smile: "Mr. Zhao, Mr. Wang Qian, it's really unpleasant retribution!" Although this group of pirates escaped the conquest of the king. But he didn't escape God's punishment! ”

"What Toji-sama said is very true!" Zhao Youcai said with a smile: "This is also an adult, who has made great contributions!" “

"Where, where!" Ke Congwen stroked his beard and smiled very happily, the anxiety not long ago had long since disappeared, and at this time he was already thinking about letting his master write a good article on meritorious service.

"Master Ke, is there fresh water on this island?" Wang Xingguo asked suddenly.

Ke Congwen looked back at the fishermen accompanying him, and the fisherman hurriedly stepped forward and said, "If you go back to the two adults, there is no fresh water on this island, it is a desert island. Fishermen only come to take shelter from the wind! ”

"That's great!" Wang Xingguo said with a smile: "If the lower officials are not mistaken, this group of pirates will soon send someone to beg for surrender to the adults!" ”

"Not bad!" Ke Congwen also understood: "As long as they don't want to die of thirst!" ”

Just as Wang Xingguo had predicted, a few minutes later, a small boat came rowing on the shark reef, and a man on the bow of the boat shouted to them while waving a wooden stick in his hand, the top of which was tied to a white shirt. Through the interpreter's explanation, everyone on the ship has understood that this is a sign of begging. Ke Congwen sneered: "Count these barbarians who know the opportunity." Otherwise, they will be turned into powder. ”

Silva stood on the deck, looking up at the enemy ships that were close at hand. Behind him, there was only a black spot left on the Queen Mary, and there were a few shadows on the sea level, which were nearby islands and reefs, as if he was in his mind at this time.

The general of the Ming Kingdom was waiting for him on the deck, and like all victors, with him were armies, ships, wealth, and honor. And although he has not fought a war, he has nothing left, and the god of fate always seems so cruel to the loser, Atahualpa (the last emperor of the Inca Empire, after being captured by Pizarro. extorted a room full of gold, but was still hanged by Pizarro) in the morning as the ruler of a great empire, but at night he was reduced to a prisoner. Do you want to fight to the death, or wait for the right time to complete the task given to you by the Governor? Thinking of this, Silva touched the dagger in his arms.

The oarsrow boat landed on the enemy's big ship, which was half the size of Queen Mary but five or six times the size of the boat at Silva's feet. He saw a rope ladder dropped from the side of the ship, an officer watching him warily, and on either side of him, several soldiers hiding behind their shields, and a faint smell of sulfur in the air, the smell of burning inquired ropes. Silva pulled the dagger from his bosom and threw it on the deck without a word. When he climbed up the rope ladder to the deck a short time later, he couldn't help but congratulate himself on his caution. The heavily armed soldiers stood by the rope ladder, and each person who came up searched from head to toe, and a sailor who was found to be armed was immediately tied up and escorted to the bottom cabin.

Zhao Youcai looked at the enemy in front of him curiously, dark skin, high raised nose bridge, sunken eyes, and emaciated cheeks, which reminded him of the evil ghosts in listening to monks and Taoists when he was a child, but he was already past the age of listening to stories, and he knew very well that although the enemies in front of him had strange appearances, they were all human beings like himself.

"Lord Dusi, this man claims to be their chief, in the name of the governor of the Kingdom of Spain in Luzon, he went to my Daming to trade, because of the storm, the ship was damaged, and he had to dock on that island to repair the ship, and for some reason he was attacked!" Probably because of the accent, the translation was very bad, which made everyone listen to it very laboriously, but Zhao Youcai didn't care too much, his attention was attracted by the Spanish galleys and their weapons, he was surprised to find that this boat was very similar to the paddle clipper made by Liu Cheng in Chaoyi, almost out of the same mold, and the firearms of the Spaniards were also very similar to the bird guns equipped by Liu Cheng's subordinates, which aroused his curiosity more and more.

"Nonsense!" Ke Congwen's reprimand interrupted Zhao Youcai's reverie, and he decided to go to the Spaniard's ship to see what was going on, and he had a feeling in his heart that there was a chance for him to soar in this group of Rakshasa ghost-like strangers.

Ke Congwen didn't let Zhao Youcai wait long, this is not to say how high the negotiation skills of this Lord Dusi are, the huge advantage occupied by the Ming army determined that the Spaniards had to accept any harsh conditions. After a meal of kung fu. Zhao Youcai stepped onto the deck of the "Queen Mary", and he was immediately amazed by the huge and special shape of this foreign ship.

"Master Zhao really has a good eye, this is the plywood boat of Hongmaoyi, the most durable and durable, traveling far and wide, and not afraid of breaking waves!" A familiar voice came from behind him. Zhao Youcai turned around and saw the smiling face of the interpreter.

"Oh? I'm from Shaanxi, and I'm not proficient in boating, so please explain! Zhao Youcai arched his hand and made a gesture of please. The interpreter saw that Lord Dusi respected Zhao Youcai very much, thinking that he was a noble person from Beijing, where did he dare to be lazy, and hurriedly agitated: "Master Zhao, if you talk about the size of the ship." I have a big plywood ship, but when it comes to sea navigation and warfare, there are few that can match this red hairy ship, and this plywood ship has three benefits! “

"Oh? Please come and hear it, sir! ”

"The first thing is not afraid of wind and waves, my lord, you can take a look at the bottom of this plywood boat, what is the difference between it and my Ming boat?"

"The difference?" Zhao Youcai looked at his own boat, and then poked his head out to look at the bottom of the "Queen Mary". smiled: "I don't see anything, it's just that my Daming boat seems to have a flatter bottom!" ”

"Sure enough, I can't hide the eyes of Master Zhao!" The interpreter gave a thumbs up. Praise: "We are taking a sand boat this time, also known as a square boat, the width of the boat, the shallow side, the draft is shallow, this boat can not only go to the sea, but also enter the river, even if it sits on the shoal, it does not hurt." We have a lot of mud and sand on the beach here, and there is a tide. This sand boat is the most convenient; But the sand of the ship is wide, and the water is large, and the speed is slow, and if it is far from the shore, the wind and waves are great. It is easy to overturn. The foreigner's plywood boat is different, the tip of the bow is conducive to breaking the waves, the draft is not afraid of crosswinds, the ship is not afraid of strong winds and waves when the side is high, although it can not enter the river, it is not good to approach the shore, but it is a good ship to run the ocean! You see that there are so many damages on this ship, if the ordinary sand boat had sunk a long time ago, this plywood boat can still survive, it is really beyond the reach of my Daming sand boat! ”

Zhao Youcai heard about this for the first time, and couldn't help but become more and more interested, and asked, "What about the second benefit?" “

"Sir, do you see if the bow and stern of this plywood ship are very high?"

Zhao Youcai looked in the direction of the interpreter's finger, and sure enough, as the other party said, the bow and stern of the ship are much taller than the ship, and they are closed, like two watchtowers: "Yes, it is a lot higher, it seems to be two watchtowers." ”

"Sir said it was wonderful! The bow and stern of the ship are high, so that when sailing, they will encounter strong winds and waves in time, and the sea will not flood the deck. ”

"Yes, what about the third one?"

"Sir, come with me!" The interpreter led Zhao Youcai to the center of the boat, and opened a cover on the ground, revealing a black hole. The interpreter took a lantern, lit it and walked down from the cave, Zhao Youcai hesitated for a moment, and then followed. He thought that the bottom should be a place for Hongmaoyi to load goods or let the crew rest, which was very cramped, but when he came down, he found that it was empty, and it was the same as the surface of the cabin, a large layer, without any interval. Zhao Youcai was surprised, but he heard the voice of the interpreter: "Master, this is the third benefit of the plywood boat!" ”

"The third benefit?" Zhao Youcai looked left and right, and with the help of the faint light of the lantern, he could see the black-brown side panels around him: "Isn't this a chase shop for sailors to rest?" Why don't you separate them, these red-haired people are also very stingy! ”

"Master, the sailors of the Red Haired Strip are indeed resting here, but the lack of interval is not because of stinginess, but for the convenience of water warfare!"

"Water war convenient? Where does this begin? Zhao Youcai looked around in surprise, and he didn't know what the all-accessible cabin on this floor had to do with the naval battle.

"Master, this Hongmaoyi is different from my Daming, and the water battle does not rely on rockets throwing stones and crossing the side to get on the board first, but on the artillery on board. A few years ago, during the siege of Ningyuan, my Ming Dynasty repeatedly defeated the Eastern Capture, and the red-clothed cannon that I relied on came from the Yi ship. ”

"I see!" Zhao Youcai said staggeredly: "I only know that there were a lot of red-clothed cannons that Ning Yuan relied on for his great victory back then, but I don't know that they came from the Yiren ship, but what does this have to do with this cabin?" “

"Sir, you think, this Hongmaoyi water battle is bombarded with this artillery, naturally whoever has more guns on the ship, and whoever has bigger guns, who can win. At first, these people put the cannon on the deck, but the red-coated cannon weighed a thousand pounds, and it was inevitably top-heavy, and if there was a wind and waves, it would capsize. In order to avoid shipwrecking, a ship can only be equipped with a few guns, and only a few small cannons. Later, a clever man from the Hongmaoyi people placed the guns on the lower deck, so that the loaded cannons not only did not hinder navigation, but also played the role of ballast stones, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone! “

Although Zhao Youcai is a native of the northwest and rarely sees things in the boat, he still understands the truth that the lower the center of gravity, the more stable the object, and when he heard this, he couldn't help but smile and said: "Yes, if this is the case, it makes sense, there are a lot of artillery, gunpowder, and projectiles to be placed here, and they must be carried up and down when the war starts, and it is indeed much more convenient to remove the interval." “

Seeing that Zhao Youcai was quite interested in this, the interpreter smiled and continued to explain: "Master Zhao, in fact, there are several advantages to Yiren being placed like this!" ”

"Oh, and the benefits? Let's hear it! ”

"Master Zhao, please take a look!" The interpreter put the lantern on the ground, stretched out his finger and licked it in his mouth, and then explained while drawing on the deck: "The placement of this cannon on the ship is also very knowledgeable, and it must be balanced in front and back, left and right, otherwise if the cannon is fired, I am afraid that the ship will capsize; secondly, it is placed on the lower deck, and the gun window only needs to be closed on weekdays, so that there is no need to worry about rust on the gun barrel and gunpowder moisture; Moreover, the boards and ribs on the side are made of high-quality hardwood, and ordinary guns cannot be hit at all, and they are extremely strong; Third, the hull is long and narrow, and the number of ships with the same number of materials, the number of guns that can be loaded on the warship of Hongmaoyi is far better than that of our Ming warship, and its power is naturally far superior. “

The interpreter wrote and drew on the floor, Zhao Youcai listened to it with relish, he had never heard such an interesting thing in his life, as if someone suddenly opened a window for him, saw a new world outside, and faintly felt that the achievements of the second half of his life were on this Hongmaoyi warship. Thinking of this, Zhao Youcai looked at the translator and said with a smile: "What's your name?" Who's the people? Why do you know so much about the maritime affairs of Tamui? (To be continued.) )