Zhao Weiji once read an article in his previous life, in which he analyzed very well why the battleships that were once expected to become a generation of maritime hegemons actually did not rule the seas for many years and then withdrew from the stage of history.

One thing is very clear, that is, the battleship is too large, the draft is too deep, and the sea movement is very inflexible, and it can easily become a living target for aviation units and submarines.

And now Zhao Weiji is facing a situation that allows him to understand the pain of the battleship very deeply, because they are now driving the Black Pearl around the sea with a group of pirate ships dominated by Vikings.

The reason for the trouble with the Vikings was a complete coincidence, and the Black Pearl had never encountered Vikings in this area before.

Although Zhao Weiji had encountered a Viking pirate ship when he was looking for the New World, it was a long time ago, after all, the main area of Viking activity was still the waters near Europe, so that encounter with Viking Zhao Weiji just regarded it as a coincidence.

But in fact, the range of Vikings reached Baghdad as far east as this time, and there were many Vikings in Baghdad who were both merchants and thieves.

The Vikings had a habit of putting down roots everywhere, and since they arrived in Baghdad, it was naturally impossible to let go of the Persian Gulf, which was not far from Baghdad, so soon, some Vikings who had accumulated a certain amount of wealth in Baghdad rebuilt their own Viking ships in the Persian Gulf, and then resumed piracy.

And in this era when the 10th century is about to enter the 11th century, if there is no such an open person as Zhao Weiji, the real overlord of the sea has always been the Vikings.

No pirate or navy in this era could compete with the Vikings at sea, which made the Vikings full of domineering.

But even so, they are a minority in the Arabian Sea after all, and there are more Arab pirates in this area, and even Indian pirates, who have become Song pirates.

However, this did not diminish the power of the Vikings in this area, and before the appearance of the Black Pearl, these Vikings were the kings of this area.

Coincidentally, however, these Viking ships never acted alone, they all went out to sea to hunt, and they just left when the Black Pearl appeared in the waters.

The group sailed into the Red Sea in a sea ship and then went to Egypt. By the time they returned to the Persian Gulf after leaving Egypt, the Black Pearl had swept the waters and then stopped for a while.

It was this coincidental time difference that prevented the two sides from encountering.

But why did they meet again at this time, it was because when the Black Pearl stopped, the Vikings heard the legend of the Black Pearl's devil ship in the harbor of the Persian Gulf.

These legends did not deter the Vikings, but rather inspired them to fight, because they had never faced a challenger in their centuries of sailing.

And the way the legendary Devil Ship ransacked ships was something that even their Vikings couldn't do, it was a powerful, brutal, unreasonable way.

Feeling challenged by this, the Vikings were motivated to fight, so they set sail in their ship in search of the Black Pearl, hoping to meet the devil's ship for a while, and if possible, snatch it.

But when they went out to sea, the Black Pearl went into hiding for the time being, and they circled and circled, but they didn't find anything. The Vikings were annoyed by the fact that nothing had been done, so in order to vent their anger and make some extra money, they began to rob passing ships.

Coincidentally, at this time, Wang Dayuan took a small boat with men and gold to buy a big ship in Aden. Soon after they went to sea, they ran into a Viking ship.

At this time, the Vikings had already gone crazy, and they didn't care about the size of the ship, as long as it was a ship, they had to scrape something down.

So Wang Dayuan's ship was targeted by them, but fortunately, this ship was relatively small, and the sails were slightly modified before departure, so the speed of the ship was faster than that of the Viking ships.

So Wang Dayuan quickly retreated after being targeted, and was lucky to escape the pursuit.

And when Zhao Weiji was at the beach before, he learned from the sailors that it was Wang Dayuan and their ships that were heading towards their island base.

Since Wang Dayuan and they fled back in embarrassment, then this revenge naturally cannot but be avenged, plus Zhao Weiji was very sure that it was a Viking sea ship after listening to Wang Dayuan and others describe the enemy ship, and Zhao Weiji, the overlord of this era, had long wanted to take a moment again.

After all, the Vikings he met last time had no decent combat power due to the lack of water and food at sea, so this time he was able to face the Vikings in their heyday, and Zhao Weiji naturally couldn't let go of this opportunity, so the Black Pearl set off again after hibernation for a short time.

But when Zhao Weiji really encountered the viking in his heyday at sea, he finally understood why this nation was able to dominate the four seas in this era.

"Fire, quick." At this time, Zhao Weiji's heart is like a dialogue of Sun Wukong in Journey to the West, a fly is buzzing around your ear, but you can't do anything about it.

In the current situation, the Vikings were too agile compared to the Black Pearl due to their narrow hulls, light hulls, shallow drafts, and the fact that they were more often rowed by manpower.

The cannons on either side of the Black Pearl couldn't effectively cause any trouble for the Viking ships, and the only thing that bothered them was the spray of the cannonballs hitting the water.

The mortars in the bow and stern of the Black Pearl could not accurately hit the target due to the shaky hull of the ship and the fact that the enemy ship was too far away.

So it became that the Black Pearl had empty cannons in place, and the Viking ships were constantly spinning around, occasionally finding a dead spot in the cannon to approach the Black Pearl, and then attack each other with their weapons.

"He's meowing, if I catch these flies, I'm going to pull them out of my intestines and wrap them around their necks, strangle them, and then knife them down."

Zhao Weiji thought so, but now they didn't have any effective way to deal with these Viking pirates for the time being.

But in fact, the Vikings are also not very comfortable, because although the Black Pearl has nothing to do with them, they also have nothing to do with the Black Pearl.

Although the Black Pearl is relatively bulky, it has high defense, because the hull is wrapped in a layer of steel, although it is not thick, but the strength is still very good. Therefore, the Viking attack could not cause any damage to the Black Pearl at all.

Since both sides have nothing to do with each other, there is a word that comes to the minds of both sides at the same time, and that is the boarding battle, and only by boarding the ship can it be possible to end the battle.

But how to board the ship, generally speaking, if you want to board the ship smoothly, the broadside battle is the only way, but if the broadside battle is carried out at this moment, Zhao Weiji will undoubtedly faint with laughter, because the broadside battle must be carried out, then it means that all the Viking ships have properly entered the range of the Black Pearl.

But Zhao Weiji knew this, and the Vikings also knew, although they couldn't figure out what the cannon was, but they combined the legend and the muzzle on the side of the Black Pearl ship to deduce that it must be a long-range weapon, which may be stronger than a catapult.

Therefore, from the very beginning of the naval battle, the Vikings tried their best to avoid the ships facing the muzzles of the guns, and the actual combat also proved the correctness of their decisions, and the waves set off by the cannonballs falling into the sea had already made the Vikings suffer a little, so they were even more afraid to expose the hull to the possible range angle of the cannon fire.

It would certainly be impossible for the Vikings to engage in broadside battles at this moment.

But it is impossible for both sides to spend on this sea like this, Zhao Weiji's ammunition is counted, and the Vikings' supplies are not too much, so no one can take advantage of such consumption.

Just when everyone on Zhao Weiji's side was worried, Zhao Ling'er, who had been watching the battle from the top of the mast, suddenly returned to the deck.

"What are you doing down? Don't know the dangers? Seeing his daughter suddenly running down, Zhao Weiji was a little angry.

"Dangerous fart, the other party is so far away from us."

This sentence made Zhao Weiji angry enough, but he was powerless to refute it, because this situation was indeed not dangerous on the deck, and the only possibility was that the Vikings threw their spears on the deck, but this situation was really unlikely.

"Well, I'll admit it's basically not dangerous, but what are you doing down here?"

"I've come down with an idea, I've got an idea, do you want to hear it?"

"What idea can you come up with, little girl?" Before Zhao Weiji could speak, Wang Dayuan preemptively denied Zhao Ling'er.

But Zhao Weiji doesn't think so, he knows how smart his daughter is, and his daughter has been watching the Three Kingdoms recently, maybe it's not impossible that she will be inspired by it.

"Oh, I'd like to hear what you think?"

Since her father wanted to hear it, Zhao Ling'er told her attention, and when she finished speaking, even Wang Dayuan, who was disappreciative just now, thought it was a good idea, so the crew on the Black Pearl side was ready to carry out Miss's plan.

When the Black Pearl's plan began, the Vikings were surprised to find that the Black Pearl's guns had listened to the fire, and the whole ship had quieted down, the smoke had stopped, and the sails had been lowered.