Episode 67 Bloody warm-up

So far, 35 pirate corpses have been placed on the deck, 12 have been captured alive, and according to the approximate number of pirates on the ship, almost all of them are here. The two bodies in the movie screening room were dragged out for the pirates to identify, and they were identified as the two pirate leaders, Mutawakkir and Ibni.

The sailors searched the ship thoroughly and found no pirates. Now the whole ship is under control.

Three sailors were killed in the fighting, and one sailor was shot in the thigh. In addition, three passengers were wounded by pirate light machine gun fire. The captain immediately called a seaplane not far away, and the military doctor briefly treated the wounds of the four wounded, and then the sailors transported them to the plane in lifeboats and sent them back to the military hospital at the Songkhla naval base for treatment.

The three fallen sailors were to be buried at sea as usual. But now that the corpses were floating in the surrounding sea and sharks were crowding, the officers and men couldn't bear to throw their comrades-in-arms down like this, and watched their bodies being torn apart by sharks. Although they knew that even if they were buried at sea elsewhere, the corpse would eventually be eaten by the fish, but they were always more comfortable.

Xiang Xiaoqiang took Qiu Yu in a dinghy and also boarded the Princess Yong'an. Qiu Yu immediately went to the rescued women, comforted and cared for them, and poured water for them. Many of the women had abrasions on their hands and feet, and some were beaten by pirates, and Qiu Yu rubbed medicine on them with the military doctor.

Many women and their families recognized that this was the famous Mrs. Xiang, and they were all surprised to see the even more famous General Xiang. During this time, the whole Ming Dynasty paid the most attention to a series of things in Nanyang, and Xiang Xiaoqiang and his wife have been on the cusp, which is the time to attract attention. Normally, it would have been a lot to ask for autographs, but now, the pirates have killed more than forty men and raped more than fifty women, and their families are hugging and crying for their lives, and most of the intact families are crying with joy. Xiang Xiaoqiang and Qiu Yun can do something for everyone silently like ordinary people.

"Well done brethren!" Xiang Xiaoqiang shouted to the 116 sailors in a neat line, "I ask Your Majesty for your merits!" ”

Suddenly, these sailors let out an earth-shattering cheer. They knew that Lord Xiang had fully witnessed this, and Her Majesty the Empress had always been obedient to Lord Xiang, which was also something that everyone had heard. If you ask for merit from adults, then in addition to remembering the merits, they will inevitably get medals.

After throwing all the pirate corpses into the sea, Xiang Xiaoqiang led people to the luxurious suite on the top floor. Two sailors were guarding here, they opened the innermost bedroom door, and Xiang Xiaoqiang was almost dazzled by the jewels in front of him. Such a big bed, full of gold and silver treasures. Half of it is all kinds of jewelry, gold watches, jade, and some precious luxury goods carried by passengers, and the other half is a large pile of bills and cash.

"These pirates, this net has caught a lot!"

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled slightly, and ordered several officers to immediately classify and register these things, and give them pen and paper to the passengers, asking them to write down what they had been robbed. Then send them back one by one. He was worried that the large pile of banknotes would not be returned, after all, there were no marks on them, and it was not as much as anyone wanted to say. But I didn't expect that in the end, the difference in these cash notes was not large.

He was very emotional, and he didn't know if he was preconceived by the atmosphere of later generations, or if these passengers had just escaped death in a catastrophe, and they didn't have the heart to use their brains at all. In short, everything that these hundreds of passengers showed in the process of claiming their property is very in line with their social status, and it is also very in line with Xiang Xiaoqiang's feeling about the current Daming.

……

At noon, the captain of the Yongan Princess asked the cooks to make a simple but sumptuous feast to reward all the officers and men of the Kui Wood Wolf. Even the officers and men who were sticking to their posts on the Kuimu Wolf were each given a large sumptuous meal.

While they were eating, a joint telegram from the General Staff of the Maritime Department and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs came. The telegram asked the Kui Timber Wolf to escort the Wing On Princess to Singapore to anchor, where the Wing An Princess would be repaired and cleaned. Just tonight and tomorrow night, a Daming passenger ship will pass through the Strait of Malacca from the opposite direction, one will return to China and one will go to Europe. If the passengers on the ship are willing to return to their home countries, they can take that ship back to China tonight, and if they are still willing to go to Europe, they can take another ship tomorrow to continue their journey to Europe.

Zhu Yourong's telegram also came. She received a report this morning that she knew about the Yongan Princess. Her first feeling was that Princess Yongan was going to become the second in Xiangjiang. But after a while, a report was received that the sailors of the Kui Wood Wolf had recaptured the Yongan Princess from the pirates, successfully rescued most of the passengers on board, and killed all the pirates (Xiang Xiaoqiang had no intention of bringing the dozen pirates back alive at all). However, more than 40 passengers and staff on the ship were killed by pirates, and more than 50 women were raped, which made Zhu Yourong angry.

After reading Zhu Yourong's telegram to Xiaoqiang, he nodded approvingly, and then announced to the sailors eating in the restaurant:

"Brethren, Your Majesty's decree has come! The captain of the Kui Wood Wolf and the 120 officers and men who participated in the boarding battle will each receive a first-class plum blossom medal and a bonus of 1,000 Ming Yang! The other officers and soldiers of the Kuimu Wolf will each receive a second-class plum blossom medal with a bonus of 500 Mingyang! Another Admiralty is for everyone! ”

Before he finished speaking, the cheers in the restaurant shook the sky. They did not expect that as soon as they said to the Lord to ask for credit, and as soon as they sent the telegram back, His Majesty's promise came. And it's so lucrative. For officers, the Plum Blossom Medal will become an important reference mark for their future development and promotion in the army, and for ordinary sailors, the Plum Blossom Medal will also become the pride of their lives. What's more, there is such a generous bonus, 1000 Ming Yang is a lot of wealth for these sailors.

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and pressed his hands down, and after the cheers subsided, he said:

"But Your Majesty has one request for you. This time, dozens of women on the ship were raped by pirates, for the sake of their family harmony and their normal life for the rest of their lives, His Majesty asks you to keep it secret, not to tell this matter, it must rot in your stomach! Do you hear that? ”

"I heard you!"

"Don't worry!"

"It's going to rot in your stomach until you die!"

"Very good," Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled, and continued, "You are so determined, then don't be afraid." Because, Your Majesty also said that if this matter leaks out one day, even if only one person leaks it, all your medals will be recovered. ”

The dining room fell silent and silent, and all the sailors stared at him with their mouths wide open. Finally, a sailor stubbornly asked, "What about ...... What if they leaked it themselves? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled: "The same must be recovered." ”

“……”

Xiang Xiaoqiang continued to announce:

"In view of the fact that the island of Pazia is still being handed over, and the coastal fishing villages are basically in a state of anarchy, piracy activities will become more rampant, in order to ensure that our Ming ships will not be hijacked again during this time, our Ming Navy will carry out a large-scale cleanup of the pirate nests off the coast of Sumatra. His Majesty ordered the Kuimu Wolf to take on the task of striking the first blow. That is, let the pirate caught in the early morning lead the way and go to their lair for a ruthless sweep. On the one hand, it is to avenge the victims of the Princess Yong'an, and on the other hand, it is also to fight the arrogance of the pirates of Malacca, so that the Malacca area understands that Sumatra has a new owner! …… Well, I've consulted with the captain about tonight, and it's best to do it tonight. ”

The sailors were excited, ready to eat, and the "buzzing" of the restaurant suddenly rose an octave.

……

In the afternoon, the Timber Wolf escorted the Wing On Princess into the port of Singapore.

Originally, the captain wanted him and the delegation to stay in Singapore for Xiang Xiaoqiang's safety, but Xiang Xiaoqiang had to follow. In this way, the three old advisors were just left in Singapore temporarily, and Xiang Xiaoqiang took Qiu Yu and a few guards to follow the Kui Mu Wolf to sweep.

The Timber Wolf buried its three fallen sailors off the coast of Singapore, then turned south and burrowed into the waters of the secluded Riau Islands, where it hid and waited for dark.

At this time, it was already past five o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was sinking in the west, and the Kui Wood Wolf was surrounded by tall mountains, and at dusk, the waters in the middle of the mountains looked even more eerie.

There was a scream on the deck. The sailors threaded the twelve pirates they had caught in the morning through their collarbones with thick wire, threaded them in a string, and tied them to the railings. Later, when it gets dark and goes to the pirate's den, he is ready to throw them into the sea, and like this, he drags them behind the ship with wire through his collarbones until they die.

Because these twelve living mouths were not reported at all, the captain and Xiang Xiaoqiang agreed to hand them over to the sailors to deal with.

The young sailors hated the pirates so much that they were having lunch and were discussing what to do with them. At first, many people said they were going to throw them into the sea to feed the sharks, but many more people thought it was too cheap for them. Others said they were to be doused with gasoline and burned to death, while others were to be skinned alive, but that was unrealistic. In the end, everyone agrees on this approach.

The two pirates caught in the early hours of the morning spared their lives for the time being, and they were still handcuffed to the railing, because they were still required to lead the way. promised Xiaoqiang and them that if they cooperated, they could be brought back to China for trial. The captain also said in a hurry, the domestic law of the Ming Dynasty does not have the crime of piracy, but only the crime of robbery, homicide, and so on. But when they were caught, they neither killed nor robbed, they just threw grenades. Therefore, the maximum penalty is for the crime of illegal possession of weapons and the crime of violent resistance to arrest, which is a maximum sentence of more than 10 years.

Although the two pirates were skeptical, and reason told them that nothing was so good, they still clung to this life-saving straw, and cooperated with the interrogation with 12% enthusiasm, trying to please the young man, hoping to save their own lives. Not only were they willing to lead the way, but they also poured out all the big and small things in the lair.

In the area of the Strait of Malacca, there are countless large and small pirate gangs, but the vast majority of pirate gangs do not have a special nest. Most of them consisted of only three or five people, scattered in their respective fishing villages, and only called each other when they went out to "work" and sailed out together. There are only twenty or thirty special "pirate villages" in Malacca, and only a few of them are relatively large. Usually a pirate village does not have a single pirate organization, but several groups of pirates living together. Their leaders have a good relationship with each other, and the pirates of different groups also have good relations with each other, and when it comes to "big business", it is often two or three groups of pirates who go out to do it together.

The two groups of pirates who robbed the Princess Yong'an this time, they lived in a big pirate village, where in addition to the two of them, there were three other groups of pirates, and there were more than 100 pirates in total. On the surface, the pirate village looks no different from an ordinary fishing village, all of which are tall and low bamboo buildings with stilts, but in the pirate village, the "villager" component is much simpler, and there are only two kinds of people: pirates and **.

Due to the stark contrast between the high income of pirates and the poverty of ordinary fishermen, young men from the surrounding fishing villages often came running and offered to become pirates. Therefore, the Malacca pirates are never short of fresh blood. For the same reason, due to the high income of pirates, the women and girls in the surrounding fishing villages could not become pirates themselves, so they would often come to do the leather business and earn the blood money of pirates. There were very few women who plundered. After all, it is very rare for a passenger ship to be robbed once, first, there are fewer passenger ships, and second, the security of passenger ships is also tighter. And the freighter does not have a woman.

……

At eleven o'clock in the evening, the Kuimu Wolf pulled anchor and set sail, and black smoke rose from the chimney. The pirate village we were going to tonight was at the mouth of the Gamba River, more than twenty nautical miles to the west, which was an hour's voyage. According to the pirates, the pirates in the pirate village generally sleep in the first half of the night and go out to "work" in the second half of the night. Therefore, around 12 midnight is the best time to attack.

Gradually, the speed of the destroyer rose to 25 knots. The time of death for the 12 pirates has arrived.

The sailors wore each of them alone on a long, thick wire with the other end tied to a railing. Then, throw them into the sea one by one.

A miserable howl sounded around the destroyer. The twelve blood-laden pirates were dragged through the sea at a speed of 25 knots by wire through their collarbones. The pain in their shoulders made them almost faint, and their arms had to hold on to the wire so that their heads were exposed to the water in the waves and not drowned. They opened their mouths and screamed, but immediately a great wave came to their heads, pouring bitter brackish water into their mouths and noses.

These former demons have tasted hell. But each of them had blood on their hands, and each of them threw more innocent sailors into the sea to feed the sharks than the sailors had killed all the pirates today. Even if they were ten times more painful than they are now, they would not be able to repay a tenth of those unjust souls.

Qiu Yun stood on the bridge, listening to the screams that he couldn't stop, he couldn't bear it, and wanted Xiang Xiaoqiang to be the master and give them a good time. But Xiang Xiaoqiang hugged her and said lightly:

"Qiu Yun, you said that they did all kinds of evil in their lives, will they definitely go to hell after they die?"

"Well, then...... Definitely. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded and said:

"Yes, since they will go to hell, there must be our legendary knife mountain, oil pot, tongue pulling, and imp pulling a big saw in hell. Compared to the torture, it is just a warm-up for them. …… If Lord Yama sympathizes with them, feels that they have suffered such a great sin when they are dying, and feels that the punishment is enough, then maybe their sins will be eliminated and they will be directly approved to be reincarnated! …… So you see, it's for their good. ”

Qiu Yu was dumbfounded, his mouth was open one by one, and he wanted to say something to refute him, but he couldn't think of a reason.

……

Blood from the collarbones of these pirates kept pouring out and mixing into the sea. So at some point, a few gray dorsal fins appeared around and followed. Due to prolonged severe pain, excessive blood loss, and physical exhaustion, the pirates were basically in a semi-comatose state. Suddenly, a pirate hissed and howled, followed by a large area of red around him. He touched his right leg with his hand, but he couldn't touch it......

The arrival of the shark gave these half-unconscious pirates a good "refreshment". In the next few moments, seven or eight pirates were bitten by sharks. They struggled in pain for a while, burying their heads in the waves and not moving. The remaining five or six pirates were terrified, and desperately threw their heads up, wailing to the ship, begging to pull them up. Under the instinct of survival, two pirates still had the strength to climb up more than a meter with their bare hands holding the wire, allowing themselves to get out of the water.

At this time, the loudspeaker on the bridge said:

"Brethren, I am the captain of the ship. Now we are still a nautical mile from the mouth of the Gamba River, and the whole ship is in the first level of combat readiness. ”

The sailors understood what this meant. Several sailors took vices to clip the wires from the railings one by one, and the pirates below broke away at once, and were left far behind, becoming stationary floating objects. The sharks immediately surrounded and fought to bite. The twelve pirates instantly became pieces of meat in the shark's mouth.

At twelve o'clock in the night, like a foraging tiger, the Kuimu Wolf sneaked into the mouth of the Gamba River, and went up the river at a slow speed of 10 knots, and under the guidance of the two pirate "lucky ones", it approached the pirate village step by step.

The Gamba River is the largest river in Pazia, deep and wide, and has the flavor of the Amazon. In this section of the estuary, the river is several kilometers wide, which is incomparable to the Yangtze River, just like a small strait. The captain and Xiang Xiaoqiang were originally a little worried about whether the Kui Mu Wolf was in danger of running aground after entering the inland river. Now it seems that this kind of big river, not to mention destroyers, even if the battleships drive in, it is more than enough.

Although the length is not long, the volume of water is huge, which is also a common feature of rivers in tropical rainforest climate areas.

"Ahead...... It's just ahead......"

The pirate, handcuffed to the bow of the ship, suddenly pointed ahead and said to the interpreter.

The interpreter immediately asked:

"What's going on up front? Is it there? ”

The two pirates nodded.

"How far away? Left bank, right bank? ”

One of the pirates pointed to the right bank and said:

"It's over here, just ahead, less than a kilometer."

The interpreter immediately informed the bridge command room via the ship's telephone. The captain immediately ordered the engine to stop, and temporarily anchored here to make pre-battle arrangements.

Both Xiang Xiaoqiang and the captain agreed that this was not an operation to "arrest pirates", but a pure revenge, a prestige, or a bloodbath. There should be sixty or seventy pirates in this pirate village, and this time they will all be killed. The house will be burned down. It was also necessary to write in Malay script in the village so that the natives could spread the word in the Malacca area, because of the revenge received by the pirates for hijacking the Daming passenger liner.

The captain added:

"I also have to write the Xiangjiang number, so that they know that this also has a share of the Xiangjiang number."

"No," Xiang Xiaoqiang shook his head, "There is no Xiangjiang." Tonight is just for the Princess Yong'an. It would be too much of a loss to sweep once to avenge two ships. Xiangjiang, there is a series of sweeping operations below, and there is always a time to avenge her. ”

The purpose of this time is not to catch many pirates, but to make the entire Malacca pirates understand that now Sumatra has changed masters, and it is different from the weak Dutch authorities in the past. In the period before the Ming Dynasty took full control of Sumatra, the pirates trembled when they heard the name of the Ming navy, and they were terrified when they said that they were going to rob the Ming Dynasty's ship.