For the two sides of the confrontation, it is now a distressing Japanese weather, the wind speed is between twelve and fifteen knots, under such a wind speed, even if the sail is full, the speed will not exceed three and a half knots, but for Aaron, it is a good weather, the wind is light, the sea is relatively calm, and his shouts can be heard by the people on the flagship London.

On the London, the commander of the fleet, William, had a grim face, and as he listened to the people below report the information he heard from Aaron's mouth, a great anger had risen in his heart.

He tried to stay calm, but the yellow tassel dangled from the gold epaulettes, indicating that he was not calm at this time. William was surrounded by a lot of people, but no one dared to speak before he spoke.

Commander William was a tyrannical fellow who had fought the Muscat and Portuguese in the Strait of Hormuz for many years, and had a feared notoriety.

"Duke, I'll give you this ship, I'm going to take command on the Indy." William was silent for a while, then said to a young man beside him.

"Yes, Commander." The young man responded excitedly.

William's fleet has three ships, namely the Flute Ship London, the Yahat Ship Indy and the Oriental, the so-called Flute ship is a flute-shaped ship, which is a kind of merchant ship invented by the Dutch, with a large belly that extends upwards and tightens, resulting in a very narrow open deck, this is because in many European countries, customs taxes and fees are collected by measuring the width of the open deck, and the clever Dutch keenly grasped this loophole.

However, because the open deck is narrow, resulting in a small operating space, the sail rope system must be simple, because the sail line is simple, so the power is weak, the speed is slow, and because the ship's side is retracted, the ocean performance is not good.

But the large belly gives it more space inside, so it can be used as a flagship, but at sea, speed and firepower are everything, and the London is a comfortable hotel for long journeys, but not a warship for dealing with crises.

William took a group of warlike sailors and went to the Indy in a dinghy, Duke took over the ship, and after seeing William off, an Oriental face appeared in front of him and asked in Portuguese, "Dear Lord Duke, what has happened?" ”

Looking at the cunning face of the philistine, Duke said lightly: "You Chinese launched a riot and occupied the Dongfang. ”

Speaking, Duke slapped the man's face: "But don't worry, Commander William has already dealt with it, and all the Chinese who rioted will die, all!" ”

The Chinese businessman couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva: "This ...... It won't affect me. ”

"Why, you're a friend of Commander William. Mr. Hai, don't worry. Duke laughed.

The merchant surnamed Hai returned to the cabin where he lived, and after a moment's pause, he opened a small box, looked at the golden coins inside, and thought about how much he had to take out to keep himself out of the situation.

Vostok.

The three men leaned into the boat in a dinghy, and the crane lifted them up, led by a young officer, and beside them were two dark-skinned natives, who seemed to be from the subcontinent.

"My master doesn't speak your Oriental Chinese language, may I ask if you can communicate in Portuguese?" An indigenous said.

Li Zhaoji shook his head and said directly in English: "No, we will use English directly." ”

The young officer was visibly stunned, not expecting that there would be Chinese who could speak English. The reason why Li Zhaoji insists on using English is very simple, he only knows English, and everything is according to his own meaning, but there are many people who can speak Portuguese.

"Well, Mr. Chinese Pirate, we use English. By order of Commander William, I negotiate with you on behalf of the East Indy Company of England. First of all, we demanded that all English gentlemen be kept safe, and that I be allowed to take them safely, from Captain Johnson to a lowly sailor. Beth said loudly, the young officer.

Li Zhaoji smiled: "Mr. Bass, Captain Johnson, you can't take him away, if you want, you can take him away." ”

Chen Liuzi sent a tray, a tablecloth covered with something, Chen Liuzi lifted the tablecloth, revealing Johnson's head, and his face was full of unwillingness and resentment.

"You actually killed Captain Johnson, Commander William's most loyal subordinate." Beth said angrily.

Li Zhaoji ridiculed him: "If you don't agree to my request, all English people will die." ”

"Bes, for God's sake, don't provoke him, he's a crazy guy who never hesitates to kill. Oh, God........ Aaron shouted from the sidelines, and was gagged by Liu Shun with a Bible stone that brushed the deck.

Even Captain Johnson was killed, and Bess understood that Lee was not so easy to provoke, and he continued: "Chinese pirates, tell me about your conditions." ”

"I ask for an exchange of prisoners, and I can give you back these English gentlemen, but all the Chinese sailors on the London and the Indy must be sent to me." Lee Siu Kee said.

"It's as simple as that?" Bess asked.

Li Zhaoji nodded: "It's as simple as that." ”

Bess thought that the pirate in front of him should ask for some gold and silver, and let Commander William let them go according to his promise, but Li Zhaoji did not ask for anything except to exchange prisoners.

"Then I'll contact Commander William first, wait a minute." Bess's resignation to Lee Siu-gi took out some brightly colored flags from the box he was carrying, waved them and spliced them, and contacted William, who had arrived on the Indy, a kind of flag language, one of the many and varied signal systems of the seventeenth century.

After a while, Bess lowered the small flag and said: "The commander agrees to exchange prisoners, and requires that the exchange of prisoners be carried out at the same time, for the sake of convenience and safety, all ships are due north and downwind, only hang sails, bow and sails, maintain speed, I don't know if you agree." ”

"Agree to the course, oppose the sail, I ask for a full sail." Lee Siu Kee said.

"But it's not safe." Bess said to Lee Siu Kee, but Lee Siu Kee still insisted on his idea, and Bess said a few words to his natives, who explained the dispute between the two to the Chinese sailors under Lee Siu Kei's command in Portuguese.

Chen Liuzi understood, and asked Li Zhaoji: "Big brother, it's really not safe to move forward with full sails." ”

"Sixth son, it is for safety that I ask for full sails." Li Zhaoji explained to him in a low voice.

The wind is now less than fifteen knots, and the speed of the ship at full sail will not exceed four knots, and it will be slower if only the sail and bow halg sail are hoisted. The upper sail provides capability, and the bow support sail provides more lift and reduces the ship's burying head, but this way of hanging the sail is a combat mode.

The sail line system is the most complex on the ship, and the sail line on a battleship requires hundreds of people to operate, but when the battleships face off, only the sails are hung.

The reason is simple, if there are too many sails and too fast, the artillery will not be able to hit accurately, and if there are too many sails, there will be more sailors and fewer people to operate the guns. It was precisely for these reasons that Li Zhaoji insisted on advancing with full sails and increased his speed, and once he started fighting, the artillery would not be able to hit accurately.

Although neither side was allowed, the Dongfang had not yet formed combat effectiveness, and those gun officers and the like were prisoners, and Li Zhaoji did not believe them at all. The speed increased, and the two sides could not get on board, so Li Zhaoji did not have to command this group of honest Chinese sailors to fight with those elite English sailors.

Chen Liuzi was an experienced sailor, and after listening to Li Zhaoji's request, he immediately agreed, convincing other people who disagreed.

"Now, you can transport Johnson's body back, it's my sincerity. At the same time, a group of Chinese sailors were transported. Li Zhaoji said to Bess in an unquestionable tone.

Bes returned to the Indy with Johnson's body, and William was furious when he saw the headless body, Johnson was a veteran captain with whom he had fought for more than twenty years, and the two had an unquestionable relationship.

"Continue to exchange prisoners, and when it's over, I will personally lead someone to take over and cut off the head of that Chinese pirate!" William vented for a while, holding Johnson's bloodless hand, gritting his teeth and swearing.

The first batch of four Chinese sailors was brought to the Dongfang, and Li Zhaoji immediately called to inquire, and these people also suffered a lot and provided a lot of information, including the number of Chinese sailors and injuries.

At this time, all three ships sailed in the same direction with full sails, and the advantages and disadvantages of speed were revealed, the London was the slowest, the Vostoks was in the middle, and the Indy was the fastest, and the distance between the three ships was getting farther and farther.

There were twenty-two Chinese sailors on board the Indy, so it was not a one-to-one exchange of prisoners, and Lee insisted that the last prisoners were English.

After arranging the order of the exchange, Li Zhaoji returned to the captain's room, where Chen Liuzi was also there, wrapping a bloody white cloth around his head, and on the side, an Englishman with a wounded face was tied to a chair.

"Liuzi, what are you doing!" Li Zhaoji said angrily.

Chen Liuzi took two steps back, dodging Li Zhaoji, who was about to snatch the white cloth, and said: "Big brother, I will listen to you for everything else, but not this time, on this ship, whoever dies is fine, but you can't do without you, so you can't take risks, but I can't trust others, so I can only go." ”

As he spoke, Chen Liuzi took off the unlucky man's clothes, put them on his body, turned around, and said, "How is it, big brother?" ”

"Good brother!" Li Zhaoji knew that he couldn't persuade Chen Liuzi, so he grabbed his hand.

"Well, I'm sure I'm going to come back with a lot of hair."

The exchange of prisoners was going on, and when Li Zhaoji returned to the deck, most of the Chinese sailors had already arrived, and the penultimate group of English prisoners got into the dinghy, and Liu Mingde came over with a Chinese sailor, pointed at Li Zhaoji and said: "This is our leader, and also everyone's life-saving benefactor, you tell him what you just said." ”

The Chinese sailor said, "Sir, there is also one of our men on board the London, I have seen him with my own eyes, he appeared on deck, black-haired, dressed in our clothes. ”

"Aaron, you lied to me!" Li Zhaoji pressed Aaron, one of the last captives, to the deck, and Aaron screamed in fright, crying, "I don't know, I don't know anything." ”