Cheng Xishou circled around the territory of the 'Ji Shi Kingdom', made on-the-spot surveys of the terrain, cities, ports, and straits, and asked people about the tides and hydrological conditions here in detail, and had a spectrum in his mind, and formed a preliminary battle plan. Because his main battleship is tall and powered by sails, it has a deep draft, clumsy movements, and a large turning radius; The enemy's battleship, on the other hand, is long and narrow and powered by galleys, has a shallow draft, moves flexibly, and has a fast speed, and can complete a U-turn within a small radius.

The characteristics of the warships of the two sides determine the adaptability to the battlefield is different, Cheng Xishou is well aware of the advantages and disadvantages of his own warships, and it is most beneficial for him to choose the battlefield on the vast sea, but he should avoid entering the strait to fight a decisive battle with the enemy, otherwise it is very likely that a collision will occur due to the failure of the rotation. Therefore, the main battlefield should be placed on the west side of the island, and even if the port is captured, artillery support can be provided for the attack on the city, but in order to prevent the enemy warships from escaping to the mainland, troops should be sent to blockade both ends of the strait.

The plan has been decided, but you can't just say it in black, you can fight when you come up, you have to find a reason. And what is not lacking in the world is an excuse, especially for the Great Song Dynasty Navy that comes from thousands of miles to find fault, and there is no reason to create a reason! After whispering a few words in the ear of the shopkeeper of a caravan in the Great Song Dynasty, Cheng Xishou quietly boarded the boat and returned to Suder Harbor, not staying on the island.

Shengzhongtang was a merchant group specializing in maritime trade in the Emperor's Fourth Hall, and at first its business was limited to coastal countries such as Goryeo, Fuso, and Southeast Asia. After the emperor ascended the throne, in response to his development of maritime trade, he began to set foot in countries such as Arabia and India, and became the leader of some routes, so he was in the leading position among the merchant groups engaged in maritime trade in the Great Song Dynasty, and enjoyed high prestige. Basically, what they do, and what other caravans follow suit.

Sheng Zhongtang was divided into two after the emperor's accession to the throne. One part became the basis of the new naval army of the Great Song Dynasty, and the other part was still engaged in maritime trade. Cheng Xishou is the actual founder and former controller. Naturally, the top and bottom were respectful to him, and this time he led a huge fleet to sail with them, understanding that this was by no means as simple as claiming to escort merchant ships, it should be another mission, so he looked at his eyes and acted all the way......

'Ji Shi Guo' is the Chinese name, but it is actually just a small city under the jurisdiction of the Seljuk Empire, the same country they call 'Black Clothes and Big Food'. Because the merchants of the Great Song Dynasty were required to trade in the designated area and had never been to other places, they were called a country. However, it can also be seen that the lord of the city has a certain degree of autonomy, and it can be said that he is the emperor of the soil. This year, as the Great Khan was at war with the Black Khanate, the military expenditure was huge, and as an important source of wealth for the empire, the taxes required of them also increased significantly.

But the lord of the country will not dig out one of these money, and the wool will come out of the sheep. Therefore, he demanded that the total value of the goods paid in previous years be increased by 20%, that is, the merchants had to pay seven percent of the transaction tax on the goods transported here after all the hardships, and only 30% of the goods were left for their own transactions. Although ocean trade is lucrative. It can even be called a huge profit, but it also comes at great risk, and the storm at sea and the ubiquitous pirates can destroy their ships and lose their money. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is exchanging his life for money. And seventy percent of the tax basically drained the profits of their trip!

The order to raise taxes caused an uproar among the island's merchants, who expressed opposition, but only against it. I have to bow my head on other people's turf. Besides, if you don't obey, you can only leave, but where can you go? Maybe as soon as he left the port, he was robbed of nothing by the 'pirates'. If you don't get it right, you have to take your life, and now you have to save a little for yourself. It's better than losing all your money, so most people pinch their noses and admit it.

Surprisingly, the order to raise taxes was unanimously resisted by the Great Song caravanserais, who refused to pay it, demanding that it should still be carried out according to the old practice, or they would rather leave than trade here. In recent years, with the development of the maritime trade of the Great Song Dynasty, they occupied the lion's share of the trade volume of the Jishi Kingdom, and the Seljuks also relied on these exquisite silks, porcelain, and tea from the East to monopolize the Oriental trade with Europe and earn a lot of money. If they leave, the loss to the country will be enormous, and it will serve as a bad example for caravans in other regions.

Therefore, the lord of Ji Shi decided to punish the Great Song merchant group for daring to challenge his authority, and he sent troops to forcibly board and seize the merchant ships, announcing the confiscation of all goods and their expulsion. The banditry behavior of the city lord of Ji Shi naturally caused a conflict between the two sides, resulting in dozens of injuries on the Great Song side, more than 100 people were seized, and the ships were also towed into the military port and detained.

Although the merchant ship was one step ahead, it was now basically sailing against the wind, and it was necessary to constantly adjust the sails to maintain the course, and it was fully loaded with cargo, so the speed was naturally much slower. In the case of headwinds, Ji Shiguo's warship can rely entirely on the human flesh engine to row the oars to obtain power. So the distance between the two sides is getting closer and closer, the game of cat and mouse is staged on the sea, and the merchant ship can only rely on constantly swinging the hull to prevent the enemy ship from coming up.

The warships of Ji Shiguo, which had been pursuing all the way, finally found a chance to overtake the merchant ships of the Great Song Dynasty and began to move closer to their sides, the soldiers on the bow were ready to throw the cables, and the soldiers were ready to jump to seize the ship. There was a panic on the Great Song merchant ship, and the sailors were scurrying around, as if looking for a safe place, but suddenly they stopped their movements and let out a burst of cheers, dancing their clothes, and ran towards the bow of the ship with both hands.

"Aren't they crazy?" The abnormal behavior of the sailors on the Song ship stunned the sergeants on the Ji Shiguo warship, wondering if they were stimulated too much, so that they became insane and lost their minds when they fell ill collectively. But as they looked ahead, their hearts beat wildly, and two three-masted ships, which were twice as large as they did not know, came down the wind, and although they could not see the dress of the people on the bow, they could be judged by the flags fluttering on the masts.

'Boom', just as the soldiers of the Shiguo Navy were stunned, they saw a flash of fire on the bow of the ship, followed by a loud thunderous sound, and a column of water that soared into the sky immediately exploded on their port side. Even if they were stupid at this time, they understood that those ships were demonstrating to themselves, and what they didn't understand was that something could be so powerful that it could hit the 'stone bullets' so far, and now they were seven or eight hundred steps away from the ships of unknown origin!

"This is the warship of Mozhina (the Arabs call it for China), how can they be here?" The captain of the Ji Shiguo warship saw the clue from the performance of the crew of the Song ship, and said in surprise.

"Are you still chasing?" The Song ships had been temporarily out of danger when the ships of Shiguo had been suspended by a sudden artillery attack, and the ships were getting closer and closer to them, and the sailors asked for advice uneasily.

"Let's stop them and tell them to go back and report the news!" The captain was brave enough not to be intimidated by the mysterious weapons of the enemy ships, and he told the other warship to quickly return to the ship to report that he wanted to single-handedly take on two enemy ships.

After a short period of communication, one of Ji Shiguo's warships turned around and sailed back, and the warship at the head accelerated towards the Song Dynasty warship, and he wanted to give the enemy ship a dismount to sink one first, and then deal with the other. In order to maximize the impact of his ship, he gave up the head-on impact, and chose the weakest side of the ship as the point of impact, intending to seriously injure it in one fell swoop. According to the past combat experience, there was nothing wrong with Captain Ji Shiguo's approach, but he was outrageously wrong this time!

The most threatening weapon of the Song Navy warship was the artillery equipped on both sides, so it often used the side side to face the enemy in order to give full play to the power of the gunwales salvo and increase the hit rate with density. When the warships of the country of Ji Shi launched an attack on its side, they were not caught in a net. Seeing the enemy ship rushing towards him with all his strength, when the two ships were 400 paces apart, the Song ship began to fire air cannons to warn, and 200 paces began to fire warning shots around the enemy ship, but the enemy ship still accelerated and rushed over.

'Boom, ......boom' Ji Shiguo's warship, which turned around to report the news, heard a series of roars behind them, and they all looked back together, only to see that their own warship seemed to have been hit hard, and it was spinning in vain on the sea, and then after a few loud noises, a few fires rose on the warship, but after a few breaths, it began to sink, but no one could be seen jumping into the water. When they turned back, only a section of mast was left on the surface of the sea.

The sergeants of the returning warship were shocked to see their warship sink into the water in a blink of an eye, and they knew that if such a large warship could sink so quickly, it must have been seriously damaged below the waterline, so that the sailors did not have time to jump into the sea to escape. In their line of sight, the two warships were sunk without fighting, or even touching. What kind of mysterious power can this be created? Could it really be the legendary Thunderbolt of the East?

As a world-class commercial port, the most important thing for Ji Shiguo is to bring new things from all sides, and the businessmen who travel from south to north will bring everything that happens in every corner of the world here, and it is appropriate to call it an intelligence transit station. A few years ago, a naval battle between the two great powers in the East would certainly not be missed, and legend has it that the victorious side used this thunderbolt-like artifact to sink hundreds of warships.

The sergeants of Ji Shiguo did not have time to think about it at this time, and they found that the enemy ship that had sunk their friendly ship did not seem to intend to let them go, and puffed up their sails to chase after them...... (To be continued......)