"Captain Johnson, please believe that this has nothing to do with me, in fact, I am on your side, but the will of His Excellency William cannot be disobeyed by anyone, neither you nor me." Aaron, the young commercial commissioner, said to Captain Johnson in a slightly prodigal London accent.

Johnson was visibly angry: "Now that I don't have enough manpower, I keep even those five damn Chinese dogs, do you want me to kill more than twenty sailors?" This ship will not be able to reach China because of this. ”

"I'm helpless, Captain, this is an order from His Excellency William, and we can only listen to him." Aaron spread his hands and shrugged.

This time, Aaron returned from the flagship London, bringing the news that all the Chinese sailors on the Vostok, which made Captain Johnson, who was troubled by the lack of manpower, very dissatisfied. Johnson still had to talk about the conditions, and Aaron immediately said: "Captain, for the success of the trade, you must kill them all, even that 'high'." ”

When the two were arguing, they didn't know that at their feet, Gao Jia, who had offered all his loyalty to the two, was already paralyzed with fright, and almost became incontinent.

"Is this dog mongrel crazy?" Seeing that Gao Jia was at a loss, Chen Liuzi sneered and whispered.

Li Zhaoji got up, walked in front of Gao Jia, squinted at Gao Jia, Gao Jia smashed with a punch, and was grabbed by Li Zhaoji's wrist. Li Zhaoji said in a low voice in English: "You who relied on enslaving your compatriots and seeking glory and wealth from the red-haired devils have been reduced to the same ending as us, which is really an eye-opener." ”

"You....... You ........ too. Gao Jia's eyes widened, and he couldn't believe that Li Zhaoji also understood Aaron and Johnson's conversation.

Li Zhaoji smiled and patted Gao Jia on the shoulder: "If you want to live, cooperate with us." ”

The two had been talking in English, and Chen Liuzi and the others were at a loss, when they were pulled to push the winch after eating a dry and unpalatable meal. Chen Liuzi asked, "Brother Li, what are you talking about with that miscellaneous chatter?" ”

Li Zhaoji said: "Brothers, don't bother looking for any iron nails and sharp weapons, Gao Jia's miscellaneous pieces will send us knives and axes." ”

The five people were puzzled, Li Zhaoji beckoned everyone to work, and it took half an hour to drain the sewage in the bilge, and Gao Jia drove the five people back to the bilge in despair. When the bilge door was closed, Li Zhaoji said to Gao Jia: "Time is running out, you have to think clearly." ”

Gao Jia had long lost the arrogance of the day, his whole face was distorted, and the bottom bilge was closed.

The last busy day of the evening was over, and into the evening the Vostok fell silent, with only a small number of night sailors sailing in the general direction under the command of the boatswain, and in order to maintain the liaison of the fleet, the most experienced sailors were assigned to the most experienced sailors.

It was easy to fall silent, and Chen Liuzi and the others immediately gathered around Li Zhaoji and asked this and that. Li Zhaoji simply said bluntly: "Sixth son, why does Gao Jia understand what the red-haired devil says?" ”

"This miscellaneous was on the ship of the red-haired devil in the port of Malacca five years ago........." Chen Liuzi explained.

Liu Mingde also came over and said: "I suspect that he caused the three of our uncles and nephews to be in trouble." ”

Six years ago, the British Getting Federation organized a fleet to come to the Ming trade, named after the commander Weddell.

In June of the ninth year of Chongzhen, three ships of Weddell's fleet arrived in Guangzhou, China, to trade with Daming, and the two sides clashed, Weddell once led LinkedIn sailors to occupy the Humen Battery, after which the British paid reparations and left in ashes, according to Chen Liuzi, Gao Jia had served as a sailor in Weddell's fleet, so he learned English.

It's just that this time Gao Jia didn't show that he knew English, because he had other plans, after Pattani left, William's fleet docked in Hoi An, Quang Nam, according to Liu Mingde's guess, Gao Jia eavesdropped on the location of Captain Johnson's gold coins, and stole his gold coins, but for some reason did not get off the ship, but framed Liu Mingde's uncle and nephew for theft, confiscated property, did not find gold coins, and threw them into the bilge.

But all this is just suspicion, and when Li Zhaoji was about to tell these partners who lived and died together about what he heard, there was a knock on the bilge door, and Gao Jia's voice was heard.

"Remember, everything is at my disposal, no matter what happens, don't interject." Li Zhaoji carefully instructed Chen Liuzi and the others and came to the bottom bilge.

Li Zhaoji didn't wait for Gao Jia to ask, and said directly: "Gao Jia, do you want to die or live?" ”

"Of course I want to live." Gao Jia blurted out, for fear that his momentum would be weak, and he would be manipulated, and said: "But I may not die!" ”

"Others don't know, don't you know what happened to the Weddell fleet and the Ming Dynasty five years ago at the mouth of the Pearl River? This group of English merchants came to ask for trade, and they did not dare to provoke the Ming government. Do you think, if anyone on our ship runs away and sues the government, saying that Hongmaoyi is abused, will the court let Hongmaoyi go? Li Zhaoji asked.

Of course, Gao Jia knows the virtue of the imperial court, he has participated in the Weddell fleet, according to the virtue of the Ming government, there are really people to sue, the Ming court may not conflict with William's fleet, but it is certain to take the opportunity to blackmail.

Weddell sent people to Guangzhou to trade, and brought a total of 22,000 silver dollars for the purchase, of which 10,000 silver dollars were used as bribes, and only one general soldier, Chen Qian, swallowed 6,000, and even so, he was deceived by the Guangdong government.

"Say, what are you going to do?" Gao Jia gritted his teeth and asked, he was cornered, this is the South China Sea, there is not even a piece of land around, there is no way to enter the heavens and the earth.

Li Zhaoji said: "We are going to break the weapons compartment, occupy the powder magazine, and become a pirate and directly seize the Vostok." If you want to live, help us and get us some tools. ”

"Then how can you guarantee that you won't harm me after the deed is done." Gao Jia knew his situation, not only the five people in the bilge, but even the Chinese sailors who came on board in Pattani had an enmity with him, and if the Dongfang was controlled by these people, he might not be able to live.

Li Zhaoji said: "I swear by my personality, if you help, if you succeed, whether it is Chen Liuzi or Liu Mingde's uncle and nephew, I will not be able to kill you, if I can't save your life, I, Li Zhaoji, will make five thunderstorms." ”

When Gao Jia heard this, he was stunned in place, he was now in a dilemma, if he did not cooperate, he would be killed by the British, and if he cooperated, he might be killed by those he had abused. Even if you go to ventilate and report the news yourself, you won't survive.

The weapons compartment of the Vostok is located near the stern, the stern is the safest and most secure place on a ship, the captain, the commercial commissioner and all the dignitaries on board will live here, and there will always be many weapons on board, but the firearms are kept by the captain in the weapons compartment, the cabin is located under the captain's room, the door will be locked, and only the captain can open it.

The stern building is separated from the hull, all of which is designed to keep the ship under the control of the captain.

In the seventeenth century, sailors were definitely one of the most arduous professions, enduring the loneliness of the voyage and the harsh living conditions, especially in the East-West trade, often a quarter of the sailors died in a round trip. Only the poorest of the poorest would become sailors.

For example, the Dutch East Indy Company recruited people from Germany as sailors, and it was not uncommon to obtain sailors by means of deception and kidnapping. The English captain liked to pay people to drink in the tavern, get a group of people drunk, and then tie them up to the ship, and when he woke up, he was already in the ocean.

It was another morning, and Captain Johnson's room was violently knocked, and he let out a vicious roar, and took off the knife and leather whip hanging on the wall, thinking that he must let these two things work to see which hapless man dared to challenge the captain's authority.

However, when he opened the door, he found a large number of people standing outside the door, including Aaron, the first mate, the boatswain, and the navigator, all of whom were the ship's speakers.

"What happened?" Johnson put away his anger, he knew that something big must have happened, otherwise they wouldn't have come together.

"There's a noise in the weapons bay, Captain Johnson, and we're going to make sure you're safe." Aaron said, and peeked inside.

The door to the weapons compartment was in the captain's private room, and they thought something was wrong with Johnson, so they rushed together, but saw that Johnson's room was nothing special except for clutter. Johnson said angrily: "Why didn't I hear it, the weapons compartment is fine." ”

As he spoke, he walked into the room and pushed the solid wood coffee table open, revealing the locked hatch, and everyone was a little relieved.

"Who said there was a problem with the weapons compartment!" Johnson looked at everyone with a cold face.

"It's him!" Aaron pointed to a young man who was interning on a ship and who also lived in the stern.

The young man hurriedly said, "I obviously heard people talking inside and the sound of carrying things. ”

"I'm up there, why didn't I hear it?" Johnson said angrily.

"That's because you slept like a dead pig and fucking snored." A dull sound came from underground, from the door of the weapons compartment, which had been knocked on several times, and the lock had moved.

When Johnson heard it in English, he took it for granted that some British sailor was going to do something, perhaps a sailor mutiny, and he was very experienced in this kind of thing, so he directly unlocked the hatch and opened the hatch, revealing an oriental face, his face was full of dirt, but his teeth were very white, and his face was sincere with a smile.

As soon as the hatch opened, the Oriental sent Johnson a home-like greeting: "Hello, Mazefak!" ”