"What a pity! Pity! "Zhao Jiaren stood in the captain's position, that is to say, at the helm. He gripped the steering wheel handle tightly and said meaninglessly.

Zhao Yong and Zhou Weiyong, a sailor about forty years old, stood on Zhao Jiaren's left and right to protect, and the pirates dispatched four ships, one on each of Zhao Jiaren's two ships. Listening to Zhao Jiaren's words, there was a feeling of unfinished business, Zhao Yong said anxiously: "Third son, you go to the cabin to take refuge." ”

Just then, the pirates moved some cage-like gadgets to the side of the ship. When Zhao Jiaren saw it, he 'roared' and laughed a few times. It is a torsion ballista that can only be seen in professional history museums or history books. Naturally, the pirates did not bring out the Greek torsion ballista, which was claimed to be extremely exquisite, but a simplified version of the Arabs.

Zhao Yong looked at Zhao Jiaren's attitude towards this battle as if it was child's play, he grabbed Zhao Jiaren's arm and begged: "Third son, don't laugh!" Let's hurry to the cabin! ”

Pulling Zhao Yong's arm away from him, Zhao Jiaren looked intently at the pirate's ranged weapon. This torsion ballista is a square or rectangular cage with several coils of hemp rope wound from top to bottom between the two sides of the support stick on two sides that are not fired in the direction of the fire, and a short wooden stick is inserted into the center of the many twisted twists of hemp rope, and then the hemp rope is twisted. After twisting the short sticks on either side a few times, hang a rope pocket at the end of the two sticks near the boat, and put stones in the rope pocket. It is said that some of the more well-made ones can also be put in javelins. Pull the rope pocket back and aim at the target. After releasing the rope pocket, the stone or javelin is projected with the twisting force of the rope. This is how the torsion ballista works and how it operates.

The torsion ballista on the ship that attacked Zhao Jiaren was equipped with projected stones, and several flying stones the size of bowls flew over a distance of more than 30 meters and flew towards Zhao Jiaren's ship. The sailors on board raised their shields and kept themselves and the gunners behind them. There were a few thuds, and the stones either hit the shield or hit the deck. Judging from the sound and the reaction of the shield, the strength of the stone after flying more than thirty meters was no longer strong.

The Great Song Dynasty was very supportive of private shipbuilding, and strictly private military ships. Of course, warships have their own warship styles, and Zhao Jiaren's ships and pirate ships are not warship styles. That is, such a ship is not suitable for gang hopping. Behind those torsional ballistas, many pirates looked at Zhao Jiaren's two ships with weapons in hand. After each torsion ballista fire, they let out a cheer.

Judging from the situation, Zhao Jiaren felt that the pirates had taken out all the things at the bottom of the box. So Zhao Jiaren shouted at the top of his voice, "Fire!" ”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

On Zhao Jiaren's ship, there were three one-pound guns on each side of the left and right boats, and one one-pound cannon on the bow and stern. The gunners had been nervously preparing for battle, and as soon as they heard the order, they immediately lit the arquebus, and a moment later, a pound of iron shells and smoke erupted from the muzzles. According to a large number of tests in the past two years, the effective firing range of a pound gun is 60 steps, that is, about 90 meters. At this time, the distance between Zhao Jiaren's ship and the pirate ship was more than 20 steps, that is, a distance of more than 30 meters. The cannonballs carried a powerful kinetic energy and flew over this distance in an instant, and instead of cheers, there were screams and exclamations from the pirate ship.

When the gunners saw that they had hit the enemy, the tension that they had not dared to come out of the atmosphere was dispelled in an instant, and they all cheered. Not only cheering, but the deputy gunner quickly wrapped his head in front of him with his hands and feet, and cleaned the muzzle of the gun with a wooden stick soaked in water, and then filled the cleaned gun with gunpowder and stuffed it into the shells.

There is no gun carriage for the one-pound gun, and there are two outward protrusions in the middle part of the barrel, and the bracket is a thing similar to a two-strand tuning fork, and the top of this double-strand fork is cast into a ring, and the protrusions on both sides are stuck into the rings on both sides. In the middle of the fork is a sleeve, and a pound cannon can be very easily moved up and down, left and right. The double-stranded fork-shaped bracket has a sharp cone under it, and the nails are stuck in the center of a large wooden block in the deck. Because the recoil is not large, it is completely dependent on the fork itself to bear it.

However, in a dozen seconds, a pound of cannon sprayed a pound of shells weighing a pound on the pirate ship again. Zhao Jiaren could clearly see that on the boat on his left, one of the pirates' torsion ballista was hit by an iron cannonballa, and the crossbar in front was broken, and the cannonballs and flying fragments beat the pirates operating the ballistas behind them screaming miserably.

It was only a distance of thirty meters, and the enemy's torsion ballista was used as a bull's-eye, and the gunners under Zhao Jiaren could fight by taking direct aim. However, the pirates did not seem to be aware of this problem, and in the face of the fierce attack of Zhao Jiaren's two ships, the pirates also tried to return fire with the torsion ballistas on their ships.

However, it takes about a minute for a torsion ballista to complete a round of fire, and it is not easy to adjust the direction. The one-pound cannon has been tested in the historical time and space of Zhao Jiaren's history, from naval battles between different ships to the suppression of slave riots within the same ship. It took only ten minutes for at least thirty pirates to be hit near the torsion ballistas of the four ships. There were also twice as many pirates who were hit in other positions.

encountered hard stubble, and the pirates were shouting something in words that Zhao Jiaren didn't understand. Zhao Jiaren only understood the movements of the pirates, and while they hid behind various objects that could hide their figures, they moved the rudder and pulled the sails to prepare to escape.

"Catch up, so that none of them can escape!" Zhao Jiaren ordered. At first, he was amazed that the number of pirate ships was too small, only four. However, these four ships are all small and medium-sized vessels of more than 100 tons, and one of them has a tonnage of about 220 tons. For Zhao Jiaren's current fleet, it is an incomparably huge benefit.

Two days later, a convoy of six boats stopped outside the mouth of the Minjiang River, and a small boat took the lead against the current. The people who sailed along the coast and the people in the port were accustomed to the appearance of the Zhao family's ships, and they were not particularly surprised. The only thing that was somewhat unexpected was that the Zhao family brig had two sails hanging from the foremast instead of a sylander. Until the ship entered the harbor, the sailors disembarked with a number of ropes and ties. The port of Fuzhou became a sensation.

The people brought down from the ship all looked injured, and they looked quite different from the sailors of the Great Song Dynasty. The Fujian sailors were well-informed, and they had already seen that some of these people were Japanese and some were Zhancheng. Zhao Jiaren immediately sent someone to beckon the official from the port to come over and help bring people. Knowing that Zhao Jiaren was attacked at sea, the officials at the port were so frightened that they rushed over. Seeing so many captives, and seeing Zhao Jiaren standing in the port with all his beards and tails full of vitality, their hearts were put back in their stomachs.

On the same day, after the attack on Zhao Jiaren in Fujian Lutidian Prison, the news of defeating the pirates and capturing the pirate ships spread throughout Fuzhou. Every household is discussing the bravery of this Zhao Tidian. Xu Yuanzhi, the governor of Fuzhou, did not participate in such discussions, and he sat opposite Zhao Jiaren, the protagonist of the incident.

At this time, Zhao Jiaren was already sixteen years old, and his once round and round face had edges and corners, and he would obviously grow into a square face in the future. Zhao Jiaren didn't laugh or get angry, only a little tired. That kind of composure made Xu Yuanzhi feel a little pressured. The young man said in a very cold tone: "Zhao Zhizhou." According to the law of the Great Song Dynasty, these pirates must be beheaded. ”

As a pirate, he attacked the imperial court officials and was caught. Xu Yuanzhi couldn't think of any other punishment. But when Zhao Jiaren said this, he always felt that he was plotting something. Xu Yuanzhi nodded, and said tentatively: "I don't know how Zhao Tidian is going to deal with it." ”

Zhao Jiaren replied: "I myself am the one who was attacked, and it seems that the case is not the right way to try the case directly. ”

"......" Xu Yuanzhi didn't know how to answer for a while. The boy's style was too much to do at his age. Although the Song Dynasty did not have particularly clear regulations, the Great Song Dynasty also knew that there were many times that they needed to be circumvented. The problem is that Zhao Jiaren, as the attacked party, talks about things related to himself calmly as if he were talking about others.

"Did Zhao Tidian want to execute them earlier?" Xu Yuanzhi asked decently.

Zhao Jiaren still had that cold expression, he was actually quite excited after he had just dealt with the pirates. After the excitement dissipated, all that was left was that somewhat empty indifference, "I just somehow feel that there might be someone behind these pirates." Maybe the people behind the pirates will do something. There are a lot of pirates here in Fujian, and four ships of pirates robbed me at the same time, doesn't Xu Zhizhou think that this group of pirates is unusual? ”

There is no fool who can be a Zhizhou, Xu Yuanzhi nodded slightly after listening, "Zhao Tidian rest assured, according to the laws of the Great Song Dynasty, these pirates are capital crimes." The difference is only beheading or hanging. If someone tries to rescue them, I'll care. ”

"Thank you Xu Zhizhou."

"That's how it should be."

After making an agreement, Zhao Jiaren said goodbye to Xu Yuanzhi. As soon as he entered the house, Zhao Jiaren saw his mother rushing over from the door of the hall. She grabbed Zhao Jiaren and looked up and down. Zhao Jiaren saw his mother's lips trembling unconsciously, with tears in his eyes. It suddenly dawned on him that it was good to be home. Only family members will truly love themselves.