A day ago,

A three-masted warship is sailing across the ocean.

Behind the ship, a three-masted bird ship was closely following, and behind it was the silhouette of a similarly shaped warship, looming in the morning sun.

"According to the time, it is time for the offshore merchant fleet to arrive." On the deck, a sailor general was looking at the distant skyline with a solemn face.

"Could it be that I met pirates halfway through and delayed my trip?" An adjutant general spoke.

"It's possible, but with the firepower of the Chinese merchant fleet, ordinary pirates can't help them." Qin Yu, the general of the water division, shook his head.

"It's still too far away from Luzon, and we can only learn about many things through the merchants of the East India Company, not to mention the lag in news, and I don't know much about the situation of the South Seas sea route, so we can only explore it slowly." The lieutenant sighed.

"Report, our reconnaissance ship is back." A co-chair walked over and reported.

"Oh, the big bird ship of the Merchant Fleet is back." Qin Yu's face was overjoyed.

This is good news, it has been twenty days since the Chinese merchant fleet parted ways with the Fuyang Town Naval Division.

Soon, a naval division officer boarded the main ship and came to the deck.

"How's it going, have you found the Chinese merchant fleet?" Adjutant General Ge Shu asked.

"No merchant fleet has been found, but we have encountered pirates in the waters about thirty miles away." The sailor officer said.

"Oh, pirates?"

"How many people there are and what is the configuration of the firearms." The deputy general asked hurriedly.

"There are about eight big ships and more than a dozen clippers, as if they are rushing to the northwest, and they have also discovered us and others during this period, but they have only sent two clippers to chase us, and they have been thrown off by our warship." The Bird Boat Officer spoke.

"Eight big ships, more than a dozen pirate clippers." Qin Yu frowned, looking at the sea in the distance with some uneasiness.

This is already a not weak pirate force, if it is off the coast of Luzon, the Ming army will even gather a town of sailors to encircle and suppress.

"The sailors of Fuyang Town are assembled and immediately catch up." The town general Qin Yu commanded.

"The last will understand."

Soon, the fleet of sailors chased in the direction that the big bird boat had arrived.

Fuyang Town Water Division is the latest water town established by the Ming Court in Luzon, and it is a new town specially formed for the Ming Court to go to the sea.

Previously, the Ming court had been suffering from the lack of new warships and heavy artillery, so the Ming army's naval division town and the formation of Fubo Town were both offshore divisions, and with the Ming army's expedition to Dongpu and the merchant ships of the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce sailed all over the South Seas, coupled with the service of new equipment, the Ming court formed a special Fuyang town for far-sea operations.

However, the current Fuyang Town has only just been formed, and the launch time of the Tiger Ben ship is too short, so only two Tiger Ben warships are in service.

To this end, the Ming army sailors specially transferred several Fu ships and ten large bird ships from Fubohou Town and the shipyard.

In terms of artillery configuration, the Ming army also racked their brains, not only put the powerful Zhennan general cannon on the artillery deck, but also moved the improved and simplified version of the ten-pounder tiger heavy cannon onto the big bird ship.

This time it appeared in the waters off Batavia, mainly because of the presence of the merchant fleet in the open sea.

In addition to sea trade, the most important thing to go to Batavia by sea was to send an envoy to Batavia on behalf of the Luzon Ming court to ask for trade.

In order to avoid a repeat of the last land and sea trip to Quang Nam and to protect the merchant fleet in the open sea, the Ming court deliberately sent the newly formed Fuyang Town Naval Division to Nanyang.

"Bang bang." A muffled cannon fire rang out on the sea.

The pirate clippers who had just approached the Fufu ship in the far sea were named one by one.

The Franc cannon equipped on the far-sea ship was originally a rear-loading gun, coupled with the high accuracy, under the operation of the mercenaries, the pirates on the clipper ship were beaten miserably.

Seeing that it is impossible to board the ship directly.

The pirate ships cruising around the perimeter began to bombard the ships of the distant sea.

For a while, thick smoke billowed on the sea, and bursts of artillery roared one after another.

The number of pirate ships is significantly greater than that of the far-sea fortune ships, and there are also many three-masted ships.

Most importantly, many of these pirates were mercenaries who had retired from Spanish merchant ships, and sailors were even formerly part of the Spanish Navy.

Therefore, whether it is artillery skills or combat quality, they far exceed the traditional South Sea pirates.

This made the gunners of the Fukufu ship feel great pressure.

"How can their guns hit so accurately?" A gun commander waved the thick black smoke beside him and looked at the pirate ship not far away.

"It wasn't so hard to fight the Luzon pirates in the first place." One of the gunners muttered.

Just now, a chain bomb directly hit the side sail of the ship, and the whitened sail was directly torn open a large opening, and the speed of the ship dropped significantly.

Not only this lucky ship, but also three lucky ships were hit by chain bullets in their sails at one time, and some even had their masts grazed by lead bullets.

It was obvious that the Chinese merchant fleet was at a disadvantage, and the stone cannons and falcon cannons on the ship fired one after another stone bullets and lead bullets, and smashed them on the Fu ship in the open sea.

Not to be outdone, the gunners on the Fu ship fired back one after another.

However, most of the ships were equipped with small-pound Franc cannons, and there were only a few six-pounder Hayabusa guns.

And they all retired from the Ming army's naval divisions.

Previously, Liu Yu allowed the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce to purchase firearms to arm the merchant fleet, but at that time, the production capacity of the Firearms Division was limited and it had to give priority to supplying the Ming army's naval divisions, so he sold a batch of artillery returned to the factory for maintenance to Chinese merchants.

Therefore, the quality of the falcon guns prepared by the Chinese merchant fleet was not as good as the artillery of the Ming army's naval divisions, and it suffered especially in such naval battles.

The Ming sailors were not passively beaten, but were still bombarding the pirate ships on the sea in the distance with the falcon cannons on the fortune ship.

Even a few pirate clippers that wanted to rush over and sneak attack were directly sunk by the gunners with Franc cannons.

"I didn't expect that this Ming man's merchant ship turned out to be a difficult bone to gnaw." Ahha, who was watching the battle not far away, looked at the artillery battle in front of him with a solemn expression.

They have been rampant in this sea area for more than ten years, but they have also plundered the merchant ships of the Ming people, compared to the merchant fleets of the natives such as Banten, these Ming caravans have always been known for being weak and bullying.

However, the Chinese merchant fleet in front of him injured several pirate ships one after another.

Presumably, it will not be possible to take these merchants for a while.

"Lord Aha, a fleet of warships has appeared in the rear." Suddenly, a leader ran up anxiously and shouted.

"What?" Aha was startled and hurriedly looked behind.

I saw that at the intersection of sea and sky, warships appeared in front of Ahha's eyes.

"Ship Master Zhao, look." Upstairs, a sailor pointed excitedly to the fleet in the distance.

"Finally caught up." Looking at the offshore merchant ship in front of him, Qin Yu breathed a sigh of relief.

"The whole army will attack and rescue the merchant fleet in the open sea." Qin Yu drew his Han sword and pointed straight at the fleet ahead.

Soon, the big bird ships set sail forward and began to drive away the pirate clippers cruising around the merchant fleet in the open sea.

Qin Yu's two Tiger Ships and several Fu Ships directly met Aha's pirate ship.

"This is the water master of the Ming people, how can he appear here?" Looking at the oncoming Ming warship, the Spanish merchant's face turned pale.

Han does not extinguish