In the sea off the coast of Xiangshan County, the sky is bright, and near an island more than 60 miles south of Zhoushan, the war broke out suddenly.

There are more than 30 large and small sea vessels hidden in the natural island harbor. Although there was a mist in the early morning, the sentry was still the first to notice that there were enemy ships outflanking from the east and west.

The vigilance of these pirates is not low, and they were anchored in the harbor last night, and even the sails did not fall.

When the enemy situation was discovered, the first batch of seven or eight Kou ships took dozens of breaths to cut the anchorage cable, roughly determined the direction of the wind and the situation, and then turned to meet the enemy ships that were circling to the west, trying to create a gap and avoid being surrounded.

It would be better if we could grab those three thousand ships, even if it was just one of them.

It's a pity that the difference in strength is too big.

There is not even a thousand ships in the sea vessels, and the largest is only a few five or six hundred lucky ships.

When the seven or eight ships gradually approached the three Qianliu sea ships, they thought that they could take the side by virtue of the wind direction and reduce the disadvantage of their own small ships, but unexpectedly, a burst of explosions and screams suddenly broke out on the three Qianliu sea ships.

This is the bowl mouth gun and rocket crossbow that the Ming army's naval divisions began to equip very early.

Although many of the projectiles and crossbow bolts missed, a series of explosions accompanied by a terrible howl soon rang out from the approaching Kou ship.

The first 500 ship was the most attacked, but it was also too unlucky, and after a piercing click, the mainmast suddenly toppled down, and the force was so strong that it not only overturned the entire ship, but also sank a nearby oarboat.

What's more, this burst of firearms instantly frightened the hearts of many pirates on a dry ship.

Half of the remaining six ships immediately turned around and planned to escape.

The pirates on the last three ships were not much better, seeing that their companions were killed or injured under the cover of a round of firearms, they had lost much fighting spirit in their hearts, and they just felt that they couldn't run, and they wanted to get on the enemy ship as much as possible and fight for a cushion.

When the three ships finally approached one of the large ships, they were greeted by a whole row of Ming troops on the deck with three-eyed guns ready to attack.

The other three ships that escaped were also directly run over by another large ship.

While solving a wave of ease here, a huge giant ship figure that was quite familiar to this group of pirates also appeared in everyone's field of vision.

Hua Gao stood on the top deck of the 5,000-material giant ship, holding the monocular that he loved these days to watch a battle in the west, muttering a few words about his nephew Hua Yue not running a house, dealing with a group of trash fish is such a waste of firearms, so he turned the camera to the natural harbor on the other side in the shape of a 'concave'.

Sensing that it was impossible to break through, the group of pirates began to go ashore and try to burrow into the forest.

In the field of vision of the telescope, Hua Gao also saw a lot of women and children, crying and staggering, and a group of sturdy Haikou took the initiative to stay on the shore, trying to buy time for the women and children to escape.

Why bother.

Silently, Hua Gao had already seen his fast paddle boat rush to the shore.

The first big man jumped out with a spear in hand.

That's Joan.

A little ancestor's brother who wrote his mother's side.

Since he wanted to fight for his life to earn a reputation, Hua Gao didn't mind giving him a chance, and he deliberately asked him to be a pioneer before.

If it is done, it is creation.

If anything goes wrong, it's fate.

Seeing that Qiao An easily picked up a few arrows and quickly broke into the enemy formation, and stabbed the throat of the enemy in front of him with a single shot, Hua Gao began to nod.

Then he kept nodding.

"This type of broken gun is really powerful."

"It's the throat again."

"Tsk, mother, skewers."

"Tiger General!"

"Alas, this is fancy, it is very good to provoke people, and I don't know how to save energy and how to last, in the end, I will be less in battle."

Hua Gao commented here, on the coast, the battle formation that two or three hundred Kou soldiers had barely organized was killed by Qiao An with his hundred-man team in a blink of an eye, and seeing that the follow-up Ming army also came ashore one after another, the Kou finally collapsed and fled to the jungle more than ten zhang away from the coast.

Seeing the defeat of Haikou, Hua Gao put down his binoculars, turned his head and said to a pro-soldier: "Pass the order, don't chase into the forest, catch everything you can catch, and withdraw the troops for the time being." Well, Yue'er's place is also fished up, and they are all big animals. ”

Waiting for the soldiers to give the order, Hua Gao did not raise the telescope again, but looked at Zhao Xu, who was also holding a monocular beside him, and said with a smile: "Mo Yanxian, listening to your accent, it is the Huaixi people, not only have they all survived, but also took the initiative to go to the battle array to find death, and guard your little master, where is your greater future." ”

Zhao Xu looked at a brave figure who was still rushing left and right on the shore, smiled bitterly, and nodded.

However, this time, he was forced by his own petty officials to take a thousand of his subordinates to the sea with the order of 'the general will not be subject to the orders of the foreign king', but he could only watch others show off, which was really disturbing.

Hua Gao only persuaded and said no more.

Turning around and walking down the gangway, he came to the conference hall on the second floor, and as soon as he entered the door, Hua Gao walked straight to the long table covered with various drawings, and admired the recently completed drawings with admiration.

Zhao Xu also followed.

He also walked over to the long table and picked up a page of artwork.

This is a view of an island.

Using the sketching technique, according to the direction of going up and down, south, left, west, and east, with a kind of overlooking vision, the general appearance of the island is very vividly depicted, and the mountains and rivers on the island are clearly visible under the meticulous brushstrokes.

There are also various annotations in the margins around the artwork, including the name of the island, the height of the peaks on the island, the length and width of the island, the depth of the surrounding water, whether it can be used as a port, the distance from some surrounding islands, and so on.

This is the result of the Yinghai Division in recent days, a survey and mapping of a series of large and small islands off the coast of Mingzhou. Because of the introduction of concepts such as sketching, scale and triangulation, compared to the once large circles and small circles of the island, it is almost a heaven and an underground.

Hua Gao led the fleet to sea three days ago, on the one hand, to demonstrate to the pirates entrenched in the islands off the sea, and on the other hand, to proofread and supplement these drawings.

Of course, only a fraction of what has been done is now possible.

After all, there are thousands of large and small islands and reefs off the coast of Mingzhou, and the artwork on the desktop is only a small part of the offshore waters.

Speaking of which, in addition to some necessary information, it was mainly the help of this pile of drawings on the table, but it was just comparing the terrain and looking for a suitable harbor for hiding nearby, and it was quickly rewarding.

Zhao Xu put down the artwork in his hand and walked to the side of several officials who were busy compiling a large picture.

Looking at the accurate map of the island that would be colored in the plan, Zhao Xu once again thought of a certain statement that his petty officials had mentioned more than once these days.

Fear stems from the unknown.

In the past, people were reluctant to go to the sea because of the word 'unknown'.

Looking around, not knowing where is the sky, where is the shore, not knowing whether to keep drifting like that, if you are afraid. In the past, there was little difference between the so-called nautical charts and those that did not.

Now, looking at this gradually perfected map of the new islands, not to mention the exact location of each island, through what scale, as long as you measure it with a ruler at hand, you can determine the approximate distance.

With such a reference, and with that kind of brand-new navigation methods, compared to the beginning, Zhao Xu has become less and less afraid of the sea.

There was a voice in my ears.

Zhao Xu interrupted his thoughts and looked at the opposite side, it was Tu Xiao, the director of the Surveying and Mapping Office under the Yinghai Division appointed by Zhu Yuan.

This tall and thin young man in his twenties, who was the same age as himself, studied the "Island Arithmetic" by Liu Hui, a big math arithmetic in the Wei and Jin dynasties, combined with other knowledge such as sketches and scales given by his own junior officials, as well as various surveying and mapping tools he had recently made, and integrated and created the current surveying and mapping method.

Therefore, he was awarded the official eight grades.

Tu Xiao was expounding one of his thoughts with Hua Gao, who was also inexplicably more and more amiable while standing in front of the island map: "Dudu, the lookout on the ship is not high enough, if our mast can be ten zhang higher, Xia Guan thinks that this picture can be more accurate, if there are twenty or thirty zhang ......."

Hua Gao interrupted with a smile and scolding: "Why don't you turn into an immortal on the spot and fly up for me to see?" ”

Everyone laughed.

Zhao Xu also laughed along.

But I couldn't help but think, flying, I don't know if my petty officials have this ability, of course, that sick and weak body, it is impossible to fly by yourself, but...... Maybe there's another way.

While he was talking, someone outside the council chamber was reporting.

Soon, Qiao An, who was covered in blood, walked in with a middle-aged man in a bundle.

Throwing people on the ground, Qiao An hugged his fists and said: "Du Du, mark the fortunate not to disgrace your life, and capture Kou Shou Yan Xun." ”

Hua Gao retracted his expression, walked over and looked at the man on the ground who was silent with his eyes closed, glanced at the other party's left hand tied behind his back with two fingers missing, and sneered: "Banquet three fingers, banquet thousands of households, it's really a life where you don't meet, that day in Pingjiang, you stood out from Lao Liao, but let him be scolded by the lord." ”

The man on the ground still didn't open his eyes, but he said, "If you want to kill, you will kill, and what will you do to humiliate me with the verses of my ancestors." ”

Hua Gao was stunned.

This...... Where is it to the ancestors?

Tu Xiao, who was beside Hua Gao, saw the doubts of Lord Dudu, but he knew that 'Where do you not meet in life' comes from a poem by Yan Shu in the Northern Song Dynasty, called "Golden Garden", which was gradually introduced to the people, because it was very catchy, and gradually became a common saying with no source by everyone.

And the one on the ground, also surnamed 'Yan', is a famous family.

However, Tu Xiao didn't help explain, and cleverly pretended not to know.

Hua Gao didn't bother with this kind of detail, shook his head and said: "If it is possible, I Lao Hua also wants to chop you all up, just this...... There is a little ancestor who wants to 'attack the heart', and I can only go along with it. ”

Yan Xun was silent again.

Hua Gao was very patient, so he simply squatted down and said to Yan Xun: "I know that you are a righteous person, and you also know the current affairs, and when I heard that the Navy Governor's Mansion was established, I planned to cross the ocean to Ryukyu, Japan, to change my life, but I just wanted to bring more brothers with me, so I waited until now, and I didn't want to be sold." Oh, if I hadn't had a new map, you would have been hiding outside the corner of the channel, and it would have been really hard for me to find. ”

Yan Xun still didn't say anything, but just twisted his head slightly, not wanting to listen to Hua Gao's continued verbosity.

Hua Gao stretched out his hand and forcibly twisted Yan Xun's head, and continued to ramble: "Let's discuss, you call out all the arrangements that escaped into the forest, and count you as surrendering." I took the official documents, all the islands along the way have been posted, the southeast sea should be robbers, within 30 days, take the initiative to surrender to the coastal guard, all can spare the death penalty, only need to serve, as short as one year, as long as ten years. If the thirty-day period has passed, there will only be one dead word left. ”

Yan Xun remained silent.

Hua Gao was very patient: "Old Yan, I know that you are not afraid of death, and you are not afraid of death, so I think about those women and children on the island, don't you take them with you to ask for a life?" The island outside is only two or three miles in radius, and if I don't go in, I can trap people to death. I am showing mercy and giving you a way to live. ”

Yan Xun was silent for a moment, and finally opened his eyes, looked at Hua Gao and said, "How can I believe you?" ”

"It's all said, there are documents," Hua Gao said and beckoned, and soon took a proclamation, shook it open and showed it to Yan Xun: "Look, the Great Seal of the Navy Governor's Mansion, the Great Seal of the Camp Haisi, and this, this is terrible, it is the knife handle seal of my lord's saber, you are well-informed, you must have known the 'first cut and then play' thing, with these three seals as a guarantee, you said that if I lose my integrity, how to face the people of the world, I am afraid that the history books will give me a note, and the stench will be left for 10,000 years." ”