"It's unpalatable." Lu Donkey complained while eating the dried meat.

Chen Xin chewed tea in his mouth, did not speak, and still had that professional smile on his face, Lu Donkey didn't know what they said at the bow of the boat that night, he just thought that the owner had something to explain to Chen Xin. And Chen Xin didn't seem to be affected by that night, and still mingled with the sailors as usual, since the Zhao Dongjia still intended to recruit him as a son-in-law, he didn't worry about anything for the time being.

This was the twentieth day on the ship, and yesterday they passed through Jeju Island in Korea, and instead of going through the Jeju Strait, they continued south from the west side of Jeju Island to the vicinity of the route south of Nagasaki. At this time, the crosswind on the left side of the hull blew, and the sailors hurriedly adjusted the sail surface, and put down the right side of the water board to reduce the horizontal drift, and the crosswind blew on the wide sail, and the hull shook slightly.

Lu Donkey didn't know what the course was, Chen Xin didn't know how to look at the star-pulling board, he wanted to learn a few times, but Hei Cannon and others said a few perfunctory words, and they didn't want to teach him. After passing through Jeju Island yesterday, he had a reference object, and he could barely find the direction of the point. Knowing that this trip was quite smooth, he was almost in Japan, he didn't encounter big storms and waves along the way, and he didn't encounter other pirates, twenty days have passed, and I don't know how the Ningjin War is at this time, and Liu Min's clothing store.

Almost all the sailors have arrived on the deck, everyone has put their weapons around, mainly knives, spears and hooks, and some flying claws, Wang Zugui and other gunners have moved out two barrels of gunpowder, and are loading the guns of the big franc machine, Zhu Guobin is still in the middle of the fight, his eyes are bright, looking at the sea, his dark skin is covered with sweat, the sun is shining, the oil is shiny, Zhao Dongjia also inserted a knife in his waist, and took the second master Han Bin and others to look at the side of the ship.

In this era, maritime merchants can instantly transform into pirates at any suitable time without the slightest technical hurdle. Especially this ship, most of the cargo on board belonged to other people, and the best source of good income for sailors was to rob other ships, and after crossing Jeju Island, it was not far from Nagasaki, Japan's only treaty port, and there was a great possibility of encountering other merchant ships.

The atmosphere on deck was markedly different from the usual, except for a few old thieves who closed their eyes indifferently and restlessly to recuperate, the other sailors seemed to be very excited, fidgeting, and often pulling out half of their knives and putting them back in. After Lu Donkey finished eating the jerky, he seemed to be aware of it, and was about to open his mouth to ask Chen Xin, Chen Xin had already whispered in his ear: "Brother Lu, if you encounter other sea ships today, I'm afraid there will be a battle, we are not here to fight hard, don't rush to the front until the last resort, it is important to save your life." ”

Lu Chuanzong said with a big grin: "I know, Brother Chen, don't worry, if you give up this life, you will also be safe." ”

Chen Xin was a little moved, Hai Gouzi and Zhang Dahui brothers also said so, although they have not been verified, but he believes that they are sincere, he actually does not give much to these people, and even some deception, their return has far exceeded his expectations, the simplicity of people in this era is what he did not expect, if he is in a different position, he asked himself if he can't do this Cheng dù, facing them, he can't help but secretly feel a little ashamed.

Lu Donkey took out the cigarette holder and handed it over, Chen Xin has also started smoking in the past few days, the boat is such a big place, after a long time, people are a little irritable, smoking a little cigarette does have a relaxing effect.

was about to take the flint and knock it, but he heard Zhu Guobin suddenly shout on the middle mast.

"There's a boat ahead!!"

There was a noise on the deck, everyone stood up, Zhao Dongjia jumped to the helm tower in a few steps and step by step, lifted a sailor who was about to go to the toilet back to the deck, stood on the helm tower himself, covered the sun with his hands, and looked in the direction of Zhu Guobin's finger, there was indeed a black spot on the sea in the distance, and he couldn't see it very clearly, and said to the two sailors at the helm under the helm: "Lean over to Lao Tzu to see." ”

The two immediately adjusted the course, Han Bin also took the others to change the direction of the sails, so as to better borrow the wind, the ropes on the deck were vertical and horizontal, and every time the sails were adjusted, they had to untie and tie them, which was not an easy job, and suddenly there was a lot of noise, and they were busy.

As soon as the qiē was adjusted, the fortune boat was already diagonally parallel to the sailboat in the distance, Zhao Dongjia went to the bow again, and he got on the foremast Wangdou, and from time to time issued orders from the Wangdou to adjust the direction, and the distance between the two ships approached rapidly.

Chen Xin occupied a position with a good angle of view on the starboard side near the bow of the ship, and at this time he could already see the general structure of the ship opposite, and several sailors squeezed around behind him.

The ship was sailing southwest to northeast, must have returned from the coast of China or the South Sea, a total of four sails, the bow was the first slash mast, obliquely stretched forward, hung a white soft sail, the stern hung a Western-style square soft sail, but the two soft sails were not large, the middle two masts hung the same folding balance sail as the fortune ship, the mast did not look at the bucket, the bow was a "Yamato-type" bow with a wooden railing, like a hybrid of Eastern and Western sailing ships. Someone could be seen moving around the ship, and there was a figure at the top of the mainmast, presumably looking this way.

Han Bin opened his mouth and said to the black cannon: "It's the Zhu Yin ship of the Wa Kingdom." ”

"That's right." Zhao Dongjia had already come down from the foremast and said in front of the two.

Han Yong also walked over: "Big brother, look at this draft, there should be a lot of goods, do you want to do it?" ”

", why don't you do it, why don't you do it, why don't you go to sea."

The black cannon turned his head sharply and shouted to everyone on the deck: "The guy is making a deal!" Grab the boat and give each person a hundred taels, cut off a head for a hundred taels, and if you want to divide the silver, your mother will shout. ”

Han Yong also shouted loudly: "Take more flying claws, don't use fire bottles." ”

There was a cheer of ghosts crying wolves on the deck, and the weapons collided with each other, and even Lu Donkey was very excited when he heard a hundred taels of silver, and after the sailors called, they began to prepare, they took the spears, hooks, flying claws and other things to the starboard side and put them away, many people took out simple leather armor and began to wear it, and a few people with bird guns were already starting to load, Chen Xin was not very cold to that thing, and the medicine bullets were all three or four yuan, and the power was too small.

Wang Zugui and the other gunners loaded the big Franc machine with the sub-gun, and then inserted the iron flash behind the sub-gun, and then began to load the Hongyi cannon. The process of loading is no different from that of the gun, but they use more tools, they remove the wooden wedge under the gun mount, move the gun body backwards, and then Wang Zugui holds a charge shovel with a long rod, scoops up a shovel of gunpowder from the gunpowder barrel, loads it from the muzzle, and then takes out an iron ball weighing about six or seven catties from the wooden plate on the ground, fills it into the muzzle, and compacts it with a round-headed push rod. Finally, pour some primers on the fire door, and the reload is complete. It seems to be a lot faster than the turtledove's foot.

Chen Xin returned to the second floor, took his turtledove foot gun, he knew that the kind of vermilion ship opposite, Tokugawa Ieyasu for the development of trade, to the Japanese maritime merchants issued the seal certificate, but also to the Chinese maritime merchants, its full name is "foreign sea crossing the sea seal", holding it, you can go to Nagasaki to enter the port, there is a seal can be called a seal ship.

There was chaos on the deck, Chen Xin was not busy going up after he arrived on the third floor, he first loaded all the medicine bombs next to the cave ladder, and then stuck the Japanese knife on his waist, although he didn't want to fight hard, but he also had to be prepared, the sea is not as good as the land, there is nowhere to escape, it is really an emergency, and there is only a fight.

As soon as he turned his head, he suddenly saw Song Wenxian sitting leisurely at a wooden table in his cabin, half-squinting and drinking slowly, seeing Chen Xinzai, he raised his cup and said with a smile: "Why is Chen in such a hurry, do you want to drink some wine to strengthen your courage?" ”

Chen Xin smiled, went over and took the wine glass and drank it all. Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, he said to Song Wenxian: "Mr. Song is not surprised, but the kid has not yet cultivated this thing, but the two ships are fighting, in case of defeat, the goods held by Mr. Song will be gone, why don't you stop the big boss?" ”

Song Wenxian still squinted his eyes, turned a deaf ear to the noise on the deck, and said to Chen Xin: "I am only in charge of the goods, only the goods, not the ship, even if I pull down the old face to stop it, cut off everyone's financial route, and provoke resentment, what's the point." ”

Chen Xindao: "It's a matter of life, Mr. Song is not afraid at all?" ”

"Wealth and danger are sought, the big boss has experienced a hundred battles, and he can't lose if he wants to, if he wins, those who see him have a share, and he can also get a piece of the pie."

This Song Wenxian is a scholar, but he is unabashed when he speaks, Chen Xin smiled dumbly, "Mr. is really extraordinary." The kid admires, if there is a battle for a while, Mr. can go to the second floor for a while, it is safer. ”

"Thank you, Brother Chen, for reminding me." Song Wenxian smiled and arched his hand, and then picked up the wine jug and poured the wine.

When Chen Xin returned to the deck, the boat on the opposite side felt the bad intentions of the Fu boat, and had already changed direction, turned around and drove in the direction of south-east, it seemed that he wanted to run, but the speed was not as good as the Fu boat, and the distance was still gradually shortening. It's still morning, and if they want to delay until the evening, I'm afraid it will be difficult.

At this time, the wind direction has changed, compared with the course of the two ships, it is already a headwind, but it is not a complete headwind, it is a slightly left-side headwind, adjust the sail surface to be slightly parallel to the wind direction, you can still borrow part of the wind power, the fortune boat put down the water plate on the right side, the three balanced sails at this time are fully displayed, and the two soft sails before and after the Japanese ship are completely reactionary, have been lowered, only two hard sails remain.

An hour later, the Fu boat had chased within less than a mile, and the difference in performance between the two sides was obvious, and the Zhu Yin boat probably understood that it could not run away, so it did not continue to turn. The distance quickly narrowed to two hundred paces, the Fu boat was slightly higher than the Zhu Yin ship, Chen Xin could already clearly see the people and a few cannons on the other ship, as well as the shaking spears and hooks, the deck under the sun flashed from time to time, and the man standing on the Zhu Yin ship's mast was still shouting loudly to his side, not knowing what he was calling.

As the distance approached, the sailors on the Fu ship made a strange sound with weapons in their hands, and there was also a loud shouting and scolding on the opposite ship, listening to the noisy sound, Chen Xin was a little nervous, his palms were slightly sweaty, and he secretly observed Zhao Dongjia, seeing that he looked calm, and his eyes never left the ship opposite.

The battle was imminent, Chen Xin went to the port side where there were few people and was ready to light the fire rope, but when he moved, his hands were a little trembling, and he knocked the flint a few times but did not light it, but Lu Donkey came to help, and the two of them lit the fire rope. Lu Donkey had already pulled out the two knives, and his face was red and nervous.

Wang Zugui and the others had already loaded the Hongyi cannon on the bow of the ship, and the other person took an ignition rod with a forked front end and stood beside it, with a burning fire rope wrapped around each of the two forks, and when it was ready, Wang Zugui turned his head to look at Zhao Dongjia, but Zhao Dongjia still looked at the opposite side quietly and did not say anything.

The Vermilion ship in front may have also seen the artillery on this side, and wanted to hit the hull horizontally in front, so it had to use a few guns on the side of the ship to return fire. Zhao Dongjia finally nodded slightly, and the ignition rod immediately fell towards the fire door.

"Boom" There was a loud bang, the cannon body retreated suddenly, the deck trembled, the bow was filled with smoke, the Fu ship continued to move forward, through the white smoke, the heavy smell of gunpowder smoke filled the nostrils, Chen Xin's eyes were smoked and wanted to cry, with the sound of the cannon, his heart pounded wildly, and he grabbed the turtledove foot gun in his hand tightly, and the part of his hand was full of sweat.

As soon as the cannon sounded, Zhao Dongjia's shout came: "Turn the rudder to the left!" ”

Fuchuan quickly began to turn the rudder and sail, the course pointed to the Zhuyin ship diagonally ahead, and the Zhuyin ship moved side by side, and at the same time narrowed the distance, Fuchuan took advantage of the speed, and every adjustment of the Zhuyin ship was in a passive state.

"Boom", the port side of the opposite Zhuyin ship spewed out a cloud of white smoke, a black iron ball with a sharp whistling swept from the front of the Fuchuan ship, far into the sea outside the port side, "whoosh" brought up a large splash, at this time the Fuchuan has completed the turn, Wang Zugui and others returned fire with the Hongyi cannon on the starboard side, and the iron bullet fell behind the Zhuyin ship, and it still did not hit.

"Am I going to die here today?" Listening to the sound of the cannon, Chen Xin suddenly jumped out of his mind with such a question, he traveled hundreds of years to the Ming Dynasty, would he die in a robbery silently, looking around in a daze, in the smoke, the figure of Zhao Dongjia stood on the bow of the ship, and the wind did not move.