Li Zhen and Li Yun both wanted to know how Li Su could control the Strait of Malacca without using force? It's a pity that although Zhu Chong knew, he could only reveal one thing to them, that is, he pointed to the Malay Peninsula across the sea from Mo Luoyou, and as for the rest, he didn't want to say a word, which made Li Zhen and Li Yun have no choice.

The fleet moved along the Strait of Malacca, and in this narrow strait, Li Zhen and Li Yun also encountered many fleets coming and going, and they also found that the size of these fleets was generally large, at least twenty or thirty ships traveled together, and the ships were also equipped with simple weapons, according to Zhu Chong, this was mainly to guard against pirates.

After passing through the Strait of Malacca, they anchored for the night on a small island in the northwest corner of Jinzhou, and then they would head west, and if nothing else, they would soon reach the island of Ceylon, where they would land and begin the first step of their conquest.

However, when Li Zhen rested on the island for one night, and the fleet set sail again the next day, no one expected that just when their fleet had just turned around the island and was about to move forward, they suddenly saw that in front of them, there were two ships frantically heading towards them, and behind these two ships, there were more than a dozen fast boats pursuing.

For this situation, Li Zhen and Li Yun encountered it for the first time, so they didn't react for a while, but Zhu Chong raised his eyes and looked at it, and immediately showed a trace of anger on his face and said: "What is not long-eyed, even our Han merchant ships dare to rob?" ”

Hearing Zhu Chong's words, Li Zhen, Li Yun and the others reacted. It turned out that they had encountered the legendary pirate, and looked at the style of the two merchant ships that escaped in front of them. It is the lucky boat produced by Datang, which is the symbol of the Han merchants on the sea. As for the dozen or so smaller ships in the back, you don't need to ask to know that they are pirates.

Zhao Qiu is now crying without tears, originally he was a maritime merchant in Guangzhou, and his business was not very big, he only had two ships under his name, and he usually transported all kinds of goods from Datang to Tianzhu, and then pulled back a boatload of specialties from Tianzhu, and made the difference twice, generally speaking. As long as he can walk back and forth a year, then it will be enough for him to eat for several years.

For example, after Zhao Qiu transported a batch of silk to Tianzhu last time and sold it, he bought a batch of exquisite woolen blankets from a Persian merchant, as well as a few small boxes of gems, and then transported these goods to Datang, and sold them at a price of more than ten times, which made him make a lot of money, and this time Zhao Qiu transported a batch of Datang goods. Preparing to go to the southernmost island of Ceylon in Tianzhu, he has an old customer there, and he has already negotiated it last time, as long as the goods arrive. The other party paid immediately.

But as the so-called happiness is sad, originally he was traveling with a Tianzhu fleet returning from the Tang Dynasty this time, but in the middle of the way. But there was a big storm and one of his boats was unlucky. It hit a reef and needed to be repaired. But the Tianzhu fleet that was with him was unwilling to wait for him, and finally left first, and Zhao Qiu had to scold the Tianzhu people for having no faith, while letting people quickly repair the ship, and then go on the road tremblingly.

Zhao Qiu had already made several trips on the route from Datang to Tianzhu, and he also hired a surveyor on his two ships, so he didn't have to worry about getting lost at all, but Zhao Qiu was not worried about these, but about pirates. Especially on the route from Malacca to Tianzhu, there are even more pirates, these pirates include Tianzhu people, Persians, and the emerging cannibals, and even pirates who have fallen here from Daqin. With the strength of Zhao Qiu's two ships, if he encounters pirates, he will definitely die in nine deaths.

When Zhao Qiu was thrown away by the Tianzhu fleet, his ship had just passed through the Strait of Malacca, and the next voyage was very dangerous, and if he was not careful, he might encounter pirates. But they had already passed through the Strait of Malacca, and it was impossible to go back at this time, and they wanted to partner with other fleets, but they did not encounter the Han fleet for a while, and finally Zhao Qiu gritted his teeth and simply ventured out of Malacca, and then went alone.

As the so-called fear of something, they just walked out of the Maliu Strait not far away, they were targeted by a group of pirates composed of more than a dozen ships, don't look at the other party's ship is small, but the speed is very fast, and these pirates are all outlaws, although there are many crew members on their two ships, but when they are on these dozen pirate ships, they are definitely dead or alive.

Relying on the flexibility of his ship, Zhao Qiu turned around and fled in the direction of Malacca, the pirates on this side of the Tianzhu Sea generally do not chase into the strait, so as long as they can escape to the strait of Malacca, then they still have a chance to survive. It's a pity that they are not far from Malacca, but God suddenly doesn't help them, the wind direction on the sea has changed, and they have turned into ships sailing against the wind, and as a result, they can only watch the pirate ship behind them getting closer and closer, Zhao Qiu and his crew can't help but have a desperate look, and many young people even draw their weapons, ready to pull a pirate pad on their backs before they die.

"Shopkeeper, look, there is a fleet, it is our Datang warship!" But at this moment, Li Zhen and their huge fleet turned out from behind the island, and some sharp-eyed crew members shouted loudly, their faces full of surprise.

Zhao Qiu also turned around at this time and saw the huge fleet in the distance, especially when he saw the dozen or so warships cruising around the periphery, his nervous heart suddenly relaxed, if it wasn't for someone next to him to help him, he would almost collapse on the deck.

The scar-faced pirate leader standing on the bow of the ship was still shouting proudly just now, but the appearance of Li Zhen's fleet was tantamount to smashing a hammer on his head, which made him stunned all of a sudden, and he didn't expect that there would be such a large Han fleet here.

"Saved! Hahaha~" Zhao Qiu's two boats immediately resounded with cheers, and the crew members who escaped death were all like crazy, desperately waving to Li Zhen and their fleet.

If they encounter other countries' fleets, they may also worry about whether the other side will come to their rescue. And even if it is rescued, people will ask for a reward afterwards, after all, no one wants to offend a group of pirates for no reason. However, the fleet of the Han people was different, and all the Han maritime merchants who went to sea were all led by the Qi Wangfu and formulated an overseas mutual aid agreement, in which when the merchant ships of the same clan encountered pirates, other Han merchants had the responsibility and obligation to help each other resist the pirates.

And the pirates behind Zhao Qiu all showed timid expressions when they saw such a huge fleet, and the scar-faced pirate leader ordered very wisely, and more than a dozen pirate ships drew a U-shaped arc on the sea, looking ready to retreat.

However, Zhu Chong looked at the pirates who were preparing, but he snorted coldly with disdain: "It's a dream to provoke our ship and still want to escape!" ”

With Zhu Chong's order, more than a dozen clippers immediately rushed out of the fleet, these clippers were auxiliary ships of the battleship, not only fast, but also equipped with three heavy crossbows, which could attack the enemy's sails from a long distance and buy time for the main battleship.

The pirate's ship was obviously built by Tianzhu, and although it was also very fast, it was much worse than Zhu Chong's regular navy-equipped clippers, so they didn't escape a few miles at all, and they were already caught up by the clippers behind. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the vehicles and ships were not conducive to long travel, and the steamships were limited by coal, it would have been easier to catch up with these pirates.

When the Scarface Pirate saw that he couldn't get out, a fierce feeling surged in his heart, and he turned the bow of the ship and rushed towards the clipper, apparently trying to fight hard. In fact, this is not to blame the Scarface pirates, because the battleships of the Tang Dynasty have never been here, and he doesn't know that those ships that are as tall as cities are battleships, and there are 50,000 grassland cavalry on the transport ship in the middle, otherwise he would not dare to turn back and fight hard with his two guts.

However, for the pirate ship that turned back, the dozen or so clippers did not carry it hard, but turned a small circle, let go of the direction of the opponent's charge, and then took a good time to put on the crossbow arrows, and they used special fire crossbow arrows, the front of the arrow is cotton soaked in fire oil, and it cannot be extinguished if ignited, and there is a crossbar at the end of the arrow, which can prevent the crossbow arrow from shooting through the canvas, but it is precisely because of the relationship between the crossbar that the range of this rocket is very close, but the crossbar can be removed with force, and it can be shot far away at that time.

"Whoosh~" The breaking wind sounded, and more than a dozen crossbow arrows with thick smoke were shot, because they were staggered, and the distance was very close, so most of the rockets hit the other party's ship, and as a result, the sails made of cotton cloth of the Tianzhu boat were quickly ignited, and spread along the rope to the hull.

These pirates are still used to gang jumping, and they didn't expect the other party to use this kind of long-range attack, especially after the canvas was ignited, which made them feel a little scrambling, and the scarface pirate leader reacted the fastest, kicking away one of his subordinates next to him, attracting everyone's attention, and immediately commanding everyone to extinguish the fire.

It's just that when the pirate ship was in chaos, Zhu Chong's main battleship had already caught up, and all the naval personnel didn't pay attention to these dozen or so small pirate ships, and they didn't even bother to prepare their weapons, so they directly put the speed to the maximum, and then directly pressed them with the help of the wind.

The ship of the scar-faced pirate leader is the largest ship among the pirate ships, but compared to Zhu Chong's warship, it is like the difference between giants and dwarfs, so there is no suspense next, the pirates on the ship only feel a darkness above their heads, and then their ship shook suddenly, with a loud noise, all the pirates stood unsteadily, and fell into the sea one by one, and the pirate ship was also pressed into the sea by the high bow.

Zhu Chong, who was on the battleship, looked at the pirates struggling in the water, and ordered very coldly: "Shoot them all!" (To be continued......)