? Chapter 396: Ambush at Sea, Aggrieved Captain

On the blue sea, a standard Dutch Navy warship converted into an armed merchant ship, swaying its body, desperately heading towards the top of the "T" shape in front, behind him, from time to time there was a rumbling sound, and the projectiles falling from the sky splashed a column of water around the ship.

This is Gavin's Pioneer, the reason why he is so embarrassed is because this is already the inland sea of the Ming Empire, and he would never have thought that he would meet the company's old rivals here, those damn Spaniards. He didn't even have to look back at the two ships that had just sailed out of that reef, and at the moment he was dotted with them, just listening to the sound of the other party's cannons and the frequency of the 'firing', he knew that this must be the ship of the Spaniards, and only those clumsy fellows would have such a bad 'shooting' attack.

Damn it! These Spaniards dare to ambush themselves here. Gavin's mouth was dry, this is not counting, the worst thing is that the guns on both sides of the Pioneer are a decoration at the moment, if he does not seize the "T" prefix of the "T" position first, and then cross the hull, then until his Pioneer sinks, he will not have a chance to 'shoot' at the opponent.

"These damn cowards, Spanish fishermen, will only do these dirty things, when will they dare to fight our fleet in a dignified manner!" Gavin cursed in his mouth, sandwiching his venting work in one order after another, and issued it, and Angel was also nervous beside him.

She had studied such tactics in school, and Gavin's judgment and reaction reflected the quality of a competent captain, and in Angel's professional level, although the guns of the two larger enemy ships in the back kept firing, but both the number of guns and the caliber of the guns were far inferior to the Pioneer, they were just a surprise to the Pioneer, as long as the Pioneer had a chance to fight back, it was definitely not difficult to send the other party to the bottom of the sea.

She didn't have Gavin's command duties, and she didn't even have the duty to fight, and her weapons were now used as ballast stones in the bilge, and the Pioneer couldn't stand the recoil of the twelve-pounder gun, as long as she fired a shot, she was afraid that without the enemy's attack, the Pioneer would fall apart and go to see His Majesty the Poseidon herself.

Therefore, she even had time to observe the enemy ship calmly, and ignored Gavin's order to tell him to go to the cabin to avoid the shelling, at this moment, the Pioneer was already a "chaos" and "chaos", Gavin saw that she insisted on doing so, and he had no time to say more to her, just to ask her to stay by his side all the time and not leave his sight.

Angel saw that at the forefront were two armed ships without any markings, of course, even if there were no recognizable signs, this type of frigate unique to the Spanish Far East Fleet, in the eyes of a person like Angel, who was born in a professional class, it was as obvious as writing his origin on his forehead. In the Far East, the biggest competitor of the Dutch East India Company's fleet, or the enemy, was the Spanish Far East Fleet, and every soldier or mercenary who was about to join the East India Company must be familiar with the enemy's ship information.

However, the dozens of small boats that followed these two big ships were a bit strange, such small boats were simply sampans, as long as the Pioneer opened fire, it didn't have to hit, and the water column smashed by the cannonball on the side of the ship could overturn such a small sampan, and the cannon fire of such a large warship hit the 'shot', and such a small boat simply did not even have the qualifications to be cannon fodder.

"How long is it before we can turn the rudder!" Gavin roared loudly, and in the wheelhouse, several helmsmen were like octopuses, pressed against the rudder, controlling the Harbinger to make a slight arc as it moved forward.

"Captain, at least ten minutes!" Someone in the wheelhouse replied loudly.

"Damn, then I'm not going to be pressed and beaten by these cowards for ten minutes, don't fucking 'mess around' on the deck, look for death, find your own head, whoever fucking 'messes' again, just throw it into the sea!"

On the Pioneer, there have been casualties, and the performance of the old sailors is quite calm, but the artillery instructors who came with the ship are a little uncalm, and their uncalmness directly affects the work of the sailors on the ship, which makes Gavin very annoyed.

"Brother, I'll help them!" Angel, please.

"No, you don't want to go anywhere, just stay by my side obediently, I will kill them, maybe, among these guys, there are Spaniards' 'spies', otherwise, how can we be ambushed!"

The two ships in the back, tightly biting the stern of the Pioneer, the cannonballs smashed over as if they didn't need money, fortunately, whether it was the East or the West, the cannons now used are solid iron ball shells, and the luxury of using the 'flower' bomb, that is a finger can be counted, the casualties on the Pioneer are mostly those who were directly hit by the cannonballs or were injured by the iron balls that fell on the deck into ricochet, although the injured people were miserable, but in fact, the proportion of casualties was not very large.

"Don't be nervous, Angel, see how I'll teach these fishermen a lesson!" Gavin was full of confidence in the Harbinger, ten minutes, all he needed was to survive the ten minutes, and then, he had to beat these two little wrecked ships, even their mother didn't recognize them.

"Did you see that? Gavin, behind the two enemy ships in the back, there are still a lot of small boats, oh my God, more and more, I thought there were only a few dozen, I didn't expect so many? ”

Angel let out a burst of exclamation, and he could see clearly that these small ships were more capable of keeping up with the speed of the enemy ships behind them, as if because there were ropes or iron cables between the enemy ships and these small ships, so these ships could follow them all the time without much effort.

"What the hell is this!" Although Gavin was also a little strange, he didn't think so: "Such a little sampan, let's rush over and crush them, it's not a threat!" ”

"Brother, I feel a little uneasy, these small boats must have their purpose, although you can't see it, but I think, if it doesn't work, will the commander of the other party carry such a group of burdens by his side?"

"The left rudder is full, the left rudder is full, once the enemy ship enters the 'firing' range, each gun bay does not need to wait for the command, and fires directly!" The ship turned slightly, and Gavin shouted loudly, as if it would not take him ten minutes to take revenge.

"Brother, they stopped!" Angel shouted.

The two ships seemed to have 'holed' the Pioneer's intentions, and when the Pioneer came over, they all slowed down, and then they actually stopped outside the range of the gunfire, and no longer entered the 'force', and the gunfire on their ships gradually stopped, and at this moment, the Pioneer did not fire a single shot, and there was a mysterious tranquility on the sea, for a while.

"Captain!" Someone in the wheelhouse shouted.

"Turn right forty-five degrees and lower the sail!" Gavin ordered that he had taken his position, and since the other party did not come, then he would pounce. was pressed and beaten for a long time, but he held his breath.

"Brother! You see, those boats! Angel shouted loudly as he finished speaking.

Those dozens or hundreds of small boats behind the enemy ships, suddenly, changed their previous appearance of slowly swinging behind, as if they had taken a strong pill, and they all accelerated towards the Pioneer, and hundreds of small boats actually erected a small white sail, quite a taste of thousands of sails competing for the current.

"I said they were ambushing here? It's really in collusion with these pirates of the Ming Kingdom! Gavin saw the boats clearly, and suddenly realized: "Beat them down, don't let them come close!" ”

The pirates of the Ming Kingdom, including the famous General Zheng and his subordinates at sea, seem to like the most efficient way of naval warfare is to approach the opponent's warship and then jump into the gang to fight, although for this kind of warship equipped with a large number of artillery, this way of fighting is not much different from suicide, but Gavin also has to admit that if these pirates are allowed to board his Pioneer, then it will be a disaster for the Pioneer, so he definitely does not plan to give the other party this opportunity.

"Boom!" The Pioneer, which had been silent, finally opened fire, and the Pioneer that crossed the hull, on this side of the ship, was equipped with sixteen 'guns', as mentioned earlier, the Pioneer was an armed merchant ship converted from a battleship, which is also the reason why Gavin, in the face of many enemies, has always been full of confidence, the general armed merchant ship, equipped with ten 'guns' and eight 'guns' on the ship, that is the top of the sky, compared with the Pioneer equipped with thirty-four guns, they are simply a scum.

If Angel thought of the same before, the first round of artillery fire directly overturned the first few small boats, and two small boats were directly hit by projectiles and turned into fragments on the spot.

However, to the displeasure of Gavin and Angel, there was no one on the small boats that had been hit or overturned, except for some groceries and some black garbage flowing on the sea.

What's more, what's even more worrying is that these ships have begun to burn, almost like torches lit by cannonballs, and even from such a distance, the two siblings feel as if there is a bit of heat.

"It's a fireboat!" Gavin and Angel finally understood the use of these small boats, which were not for fighting at all, they were just waiting for their ship to come across, and then, by the force of the currents and the wind, they treated the Pioneer like a shameless rascal to a lady, and leaned over very obscenely.

"We can't finish fighting!" Angel became calm at the moment, at this moment, she was more like a 'female' officer who was good at judging the situation: "Loading once in three minutes, our artillery can hit up to three rounds, what is the effect of this first round, we have all seen the remaining two rounds of artillery fire, we can't destroy these small boats no matter what!" And maybe in less than ten minutes, these burning boats will surround the Pioneer! ”

Gavin looked at the distance, then at his hull, at this time, and then turned to the wind, there was no time left, his face was a little ugly, it was like a fighter who had been training for two years, going to challenge his enemy, but as soon as they met, his enemy smacked him in the face, and then 'touched' a musket from his waist. This feeling is too embarrassing.

"Brother, you have to hurry up and make a decision!"

Gavin swallowed with some difficulty, and shouted a little hoarsely: "Drop the mainsail, fire with all your strength in the gun compartment, don't stop!" Everyone, go to the left side of the ship, and carry something long enough to don't let those damn pirate ships get close to our ship! ”

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