On the rough sea, the dark blue sea reflects the blue sky, the white clouds float leisurely in the air, the white clouds will become camels and small fish under the blowing of the wind, the breeze on the wide sea ripples, blowing the hearts of people, if a person who goes to sea for the first time sees such a scene, he will definitely praise him with the most beautiful words.

And now, in the midst of this sea came a large fleet, which consisted of eight ships, and among these ships there was a large ship that stood out the most.

The ship is about seventy-eight meters long, about thirty meters wide, seven meters deep, five meters in draft, one and a half meters high in the bulwark, with a displacement of about 6,000 tons and a load of more than 3,500 tons, with a total of 9 masts and four decks, with stairs connecting the decks. The upper floor is a palace-type building, divided into the bow (front cabin), the middle building (middle cabin), and the stern (rear cabin). The middle floor is the bedroom, and the lower two floors store tributes, gifts, and treasures. There is a "needle room" in the stern, which is equipped with a magnetic compass, a star-pulling board, a sounding cable, a burning incense and a nautical chart. There are 32 cannons on both sides of the upper deck and 16 cannons on the middle deck, which is a veritable giant of the sea in this era.

Next to this jumbo were two smaller ships, two of which looked very Spanish in a long direction, and eight three-masted ships, which were now sailing mightily across the endless sea.

This fleet is the fleet that Pang Gang photographed to send to the Netherlands, it is composed of a big treasure ship, two Spanish galleons and five Dafu ships, with a total of more than 3,000 people, including more than 300 merchants, and the rest are sailors and soldiers, although this number is more than what Pang Gang said to Puttersmann at the beginning, but Putsmann and others did not care too much, anyway, the more people it means, the more attention Pang Gang attaches to the Netherlands.

Lin Feng, the supreme head of the mission, stood on the deck of the big treasure ship, holding on to the mast beside him, and said to Lieutenant Commander of the Royal Dutch Navy who was standing beside him, "Major Ney, how long will it take to reach the Netherlands?" ”

"It's about two months away." Nain said helplessly: "Lin, you have asked this question no less than twenty times, can't you change the question?" ”

"No way!" Lin Feng shook his head resolutely: "Nain, do you know how many pounds I have lost since I went to sea?" ”

Without waiting for Nain to answer, Lin Feng raised three fingers and said, "Thirty catties, thirty catties!" If this continues, I don't think I'll be done before I get to the Netherlands. ”

After a few months of wandering on the sea, Lin Feng became acquainted with the Dutch major, who was said to have been driven back to China on his own initiative, and the two of them didn't talk so much.

A smile appeared on Ne Nain's emaciated face and said, "I didn't expect you to be adrift on the sea for a few months, and you still couldn't overcome the problem of seasickness, it seems that you Ming people are destined to have no fate with the sea." ”

There is a certain reason for Nain's words, these days, in addition to the experienced sailors, including Pang Gang's brother-in-law Kong Lin, everyone has different degrees of seasickness, the difference is only big or small, but what surprised everyone is Lin Feng, the fat man, after experiencing the first two months of seasickness, he was the first batch to return to normal, although the cost is to lose thirty pounds, but it can't but be said to be a miracle, for example, after the storm just yesterday, He was the first to get up today.

Nain patted Lin Feng's shoulder and comforted, "Lin, don't worry, you will wait for one day." ”

After two months of getting along, Naien knows that don't look at the fat man in front of him is now spitting out bitterness, but his vitality is not ordinary tenacity. This was evident from the fact that the merchants were still lying on their stomachs in the cabin, but he was able to go up to the deck to let off steam.

"Alright, Lin, let's talk about something else, like this ship under our feet." After living in Taiwan for five years, Nairn has learned Mandarin that is not fluent, but has no problems communicating.

Lin Feng didn't want to deal with Nain's question, because this guy didn't look down on the people of the Ming Kingdom, although this was two months ago, it still couldn't change Lin Feng's wariness of him.

Lin Feng said lazily, "Okay, what do you want to talk about?" ”

"Lin, I'm curious to know, how did you build such a huge ship, it's amazing, this is at least a 7,000-ton super battleship, you know? It could have placed more than a hundred guns, but you have less than fifty, which is a shame. ”

As soon as he mentioned this ship, Nain's eyes lit up with excitement, and he clearly remembered that when this ship first sailed into the port of Taiwan, he and Putsmann and a group of Dutch officers were almost suffocated, such a large ship was something they had never seen before, even the current first-class battleship recognized in the Western world was only about three thousand tonnage, and the displacement of this big ship was twice as much, but unfortunately, the Ming people positioned this battleship as a battleship carrying soldiers and goods, Otherwise, if it is loaded with artillery, not to mention a hundred, it will be able to fit two hundred guns, and then there will be that warship in the whole world as its opponent.

And what makes Nairn and Putsmann and other Dutchmen even more curious is where and how such ships are built, as far as he knows, there is no shipyard in the current Ming Kingdom that can get such a large ship early, for this reason, he often knocks on Lin Feng, but this guy surnamed Lin is very tight-mouthed, and he can't ask anything useful.

As for Lin Feng, due to preconceived reasons, although he and Naine were quite reasonable, when it came to Qingzhou's confidential tone, it was unusually tight, which made Naine scold in his heart. But Nairn still didn't give up, and now he began to turn the conversation back to the person sitting on the treasure ship.

"Major Neon, you know, I don't know anything about shipbuilding." Lin Feng slyly diverted the topic.

Nain, who secretly hated in his heart, only felt itchy teeth, but he also knew that Qingzhou must have done a good job of keeping this giant ship secret, and it was naturally very difficult for him, a foreigner, to find out what he wanted.

Just when Nairn was at a loss for what to do, the voice of the lookout suddenly came from overhead: "Report, an unknown fleet has been found ahead, and there are at least ten or more ships!" ”

"What, unidentified ships found." Lin Feng came as soon as he heard the interest, he had been sailing on the vast sea for several months, he had seen almost nothing except the seagulls, and now he was naturally a little excited when he heard the fleet in front of him.

"Hurry up and ask them"

Before Lin Feng's excited words could be finished, he was interrupted by a loud voice from behind him.

"Pass my order, raise the battle flag, open all the artillery doors, and all the gunners are in place!"

Immediately afterwards, a burly middle-aged man wearing light armor appeared on the deck, he was Mo Hui, the deputy commander of the Qingzhou Naval Division. I saw Mo Hui holding the scimitar hanging from his waist in his right hand, and walked to Lin Feng's side with a solemn face and said to him: "Lord Lin, the current situation is unknown, you better go back to the cabin to rest, right?" ”

Lin Feng was stunned, "Let me go back to the warehouse?" Commander Mo, what are you doing here, you didn't even know who the other party was and ordered to raise the battle flag, isn't that right? ”

"You"

Mo Hui was amused by Lin Feng's layman's words, and pointed at Lin Feng helplessly: "Lord Lin, don't talk nonsense if you don't know, although the huge people appointed you to be in charge of the affairs of the mission, but the war is still left to me, as for why I ordered the battle flag to be raised, you should ask this Major Nairn." After speaking, Mo Hui gave another series of orders, and the entire fleet began to change formations with the orders.

Lin Feng, who was bored by the boss, turned his head to look at Nain, his eyes were full of strange question marks, Naine had to explain helplessly, "Lin, what Commander Mo said makes sense, it is better to leave professional things to professional talents, as for why the battle flag is raised, it is because anything can happen in the vast sea, we not only have to fight the storm, but also fight the same kind, and sometimes the same kind is even more terrible than the storm." Don't you Ming people have a saying? It's called being prepared, that's probably what it means, right? With that, Nairn took out a clairvoyant mirror from his body and looked at it.

After listening to Nain's words, Lin Feng pursed his lips and stopped talking, he also knew that he was a layman, and it was better not to participate in the war.

Seeing that the opposing flotilla was getting closer and closer, the distance between the two sides was already less than three kilometers, and the flags on the opposing masts could already be seen from the clairvoyant.

"Commander Mo, this fleet is under the banner of the British."

After a while, Nairn saw a familiar rice flag in the clairvoyant mirror.

"Well, a three-masted schooner, ten two-masted schooners, their ships are not big, only about two hundred to four hundred tons, and they look like armed merchant ships."

Naien skillfully told his observations to Mo Hui beside him, but Mo Hui was silent, for the sea, this naval officer from the country of sea coachmen was more familiar than him.

"Isn't that time to lift the alarm?" Lin Feng on the side asked curiously.

"Not yet, I'll have to wait a little longer." Mo Hui shook his head, although he didn't know much about the Western world, but in the intuition of a soldier, he always felt that there was something wrong with the three ships opposite.

Mo Hui ordered: "The galleon came up and ordered them to reveal their identity, origin and purpose. ”

With Mo Hui's order, the two Spanish galleons outside the treasure ship left the fleet and pressed forward.

Just as the two Spanish galleons were speeding up and approaching, the atmosphere on the opposite side was so tense that it almost froze.

On the foredeck of the largest three-masted galleon, stood a Western man in his thirties, very tall and sturdy. Thick blonde hair covered his large head, and his forehead was very low, almost connected with the eyebrows that covered his azure blue eyes in the shape of apricots, and his eyes, though not very flexible and expressionless, were easily frightened by their fierce gaze and strong body.

He was wearing a pair of yellowish trousers with wide red stripes embedded in them, an old-fashioned military uniform, a pair of black leather shoes on his feet, and a slender command knife at his waist.

"Hell, how did you come across a fleet here?" The man cursed incessantly, and from time to time some saliva spurted out from between his yellow teeth, "Lookout, quickly show me their flags, and see which country's navy it is." ”

Soon, a voice came from the lookout tower in the heights, "Head, I can see their flag clearly, but I've never seen this kind of flag before, it's a sun and a moon, God, what do I see, is that a super battleship?" ”

At this time, the huge figure of the treasure ship appeared in his eyes, and it looked so huge and majestic when it was supported by the five Daifuku ships in the middle.

The voices from the lookout grew more and more urgent. "Oh no, the first two ships sent a signal, he asked us to tell us who we were, where we came from, and what we wanted, and asked us to stop the ship."

After seeing the flag sent by the other party, the middle-aged man suddenly burst into a rage, "Are these bastards trying to let us die, Rick, order the guys to put on a battle formation, show our flag, and tell them that we are not easy to mess with." ”

Soon, a strange flag was raised. The banner depicts a skeleton holding an hourglass in one hand, a heart pierced by a dart spear still dripping in the other, and a line of letters underneath the banner that reads "For God and Freedom."

"Damn, it's a pirate!"

On the Dabao ship, Nain's face suddenly changed, and he hurriedly said to Mo Hui: "Commander Mo, you quickly order the two ships in front of you to come back, these people are not merchant ships, they are pirates!" It's "Happy Roger"

"Roger?" Although Mo Hui didn't know what this Roger was talking about, seeing Nain's nervous face, he still decided to follow the other party's advice and return the two Spanish galleons in front.

But it was too late, and in the face of the pirate ship that was coming up with great momentum, the two galleons had already approached the other side to a distance of about a mile, and in an instant, the two Spanish galleons collectively made a beautiful left turn, aimed one side of the ship at each other, and the three twenty-four-pounder Napoleonic bronze cannons on one side of the two ships were the first to fire.

"Boom Boom"

A burst of white smoke flashed, and thirty swarthy iron pellets flew forward with a whistling sound, and the rapid cannonballs quickly covered the eleven ships in front of them, and the cannonballs fell into the sea like hailstones, splashing the seawater.

"Which dog mongrel released these boats, how can their cannons hit so far?"

On the boat led by the opposite, the middle-aged man looked at the rain of bullets falling around him with a shocked look on his face, the opponent's cannon could hit a distance of more than 500 meters, which really surprised him, because the guns that can hit 500 meters away in the West are at least 30 pounds or more, but according to his observation, those projectiles that fell into the sea are obviously only more than 20 pounds of artillery.

But this was not the time to think about this, and the middle-aged man began to yell, "All speed up, sink them!" ”

"My lord, Commander Mo ordered us to retreat quickly and join the brigade to form a formation!"

On the deck of a Spanish galleon, a herald panted and reported to the captain of the ship.

The Qian general manager said angrily: "Don't you see that now the enemy has surrounded us, and we can't retreat, you quickly send a banner to tell Commander Mo and ask him to come up quickly." ”

"Yes!"

Although the two Spanish galleons were unable to retreat in such a short time due to their large size, there was no problem in maneuvering with the pirate ships in front.

As the distance between the two sides approached, the guns on the pirate ships also began to fire, and after a while, the slower treasure ship and the five Daifuku ships also rushed over, and soon the smoke of gunpowder enveloped the sea.

"Aim for the biggest schooner ahead and fire!"

On the Dabao ship, Mo Hui commanded the fleet to line up in a line, pouring artillery fire on the other side, the distance between the two sides was only less than three hundred meters, from time to time there were sailors who were shot, and a scream also came from the surrounding ships from time to time.

This naval battle was the first naval battle commanded by Mo Hui Xuanli, and it would be a lie to say that he was not in a nervous mood at the moment, as evidenced by the sweat that constantly oozed from his forehead.

Qingzhou Sailor is a young sailor, and in terms of experience, it is naturally inferior to the previous pirates who have been adrift at sea for many years, but they also have their own advantages, that is, whether it is a Spanish galleon or a pair of five lucky ships, they are much more than the pirate ship in terms of tonnage and the number of guns.

In particular, the 32-pounder bronze cannon equipped on the Dabao ship made the pirates suffer enough, and once the cannon of this caliber hits the target, it will make a large hole the size of a basin.

As long as three to five shots are hit, the small boats of only about 200 tons are in danger of falling apart, and if they hit the part below the waterline, the ship will sink as quickly as a weighing stone into the water.

In less than half an hour after the start of the battle, three pirate ships were sunk, and both sides fought until the end of the fire, and the combat distance was close from 200 meters to about 100 meters, as long as the gunner was not too bad, one of the three shots would hit the opponent's ship.

On the gun emplacement of the Dabao ship, a gun commander gave the order: "Load the shotshot!" ”

A stout loader picked up a heavy bag and came to the gun, poured the iron beads into the barrel, and rolled countless iron beads into the huge chamber of the thirty-two-pound gun, and then stabbed it quickly with a long rod.

"Ready!"

"Put!"

"Boom"

Countless iron balls the size of thumbs flew towards the enemy ship with a whistling sound

(To be continued)