After exterminating all the Japanese bandits entrenched near the Zhoushan Islands, Hu Zongxian did not rush to return to the court, but chose to let the soldiers repair for a day before setting off.

"Anchor!"

With the order given, the Ming warships docked near the port began to move in an orderly manner, and then formed a tight formation and marched in the direction from which they came.

In the cabin, Hu Zongxian was holding an idle book in his hand and looking at it with relish.

The ups and downs of the plot in the book make people can't help but immerse themselves in it, just when the mood of the whole book is at the highest point, Hu Zongxian flipped back, only to find that the back was empty, only four big words: "Waiting for the next volume." ”

"What a broken book!" After Hu Zongxian finished speaking, he threw the idle book in his hand on the ground quite angrily, perhaps feeling uneasy, and stepped on it a few times.

At this moment, Qi Jiguang's voice came from outside the cabin: "Your Excellency, that Wang Zhi has explained some information. ”

When Hu Zongxian heard this, he hurriedly picked up the idle book on the ground, and then sat upright, and said lightly: "Come in." ”

"Your Excellency the Governor, here are some of the situations that Wang Zhi explained!" Qi Jiguang said, and respectfully handed Wang Zhi's confession to Hu Zongxian.

"Well, I'll see." Hu Zongxian said and began to browse the content above.

After a long time, Hu Zongxian put down Wang Zhi's confession and said in a deep voice: "I really didn't expect that this Wang Zhi not only converted to a pagan religion, but also colluded with that group of Hongyi people!" ”

"Hongyi? My subordinates heard that their cannon is very powerful, not only powerful, but also has a long range, and our Furlong cannon is copied from the Hongyi cannon! What do these Hongyi people look like? Qi Jiguang saw that Hu Zongxian suddenly mentioned the Hongyi people, and asked closely.

"Actually, the official can't tell the difference, this group of Hongyi people looks the same! With blue eyes, curly hair, white skin, and a language that people don't understand, the last time the weaving bureau was selling silk, the official had seen a few Hongyi people. Hu Zongxian said, and began to recall.

"Report to the Governor, an unidentified fleet has been spotted ahead!"

At this moment, a soldier hurried into the cabin and reported it.

"What?"

After Hu Zongxian and Qi Jiguang glanced at each other, they came to the deck one after the other.

"Give me the monocular!" After Hu Zongxian finished speaking, he took the monocular from the hands of the soldiers on the side and began to observe the fleet in the distance.

In the distance, a fleet of twelve two-masted ships was approaching this direction, and the costumes of the people on board were obviously not in the style of the Central Plains.

"Pass the order down and get the fleet ready for war!"

After Hu Zongxian put the monoculars down, he gave the order.

"Yes!"

After Hu Zongxian's order was issued, some soldiers climbed the mast and waved the flag in their hands to deliver the order to the rest of the ships.

Soon, thirty-six ships were lined up, and the cannons on board were also aimed at the enemy fleet, and they could open fire just as soon as they came into range.

"Your Excellency Governor, I'm afraid the fleet on the other side is a ship from the Japanese side!"

After Hu Zongxian, Qi Jiguang also put down the monocular and said in a deep voice.

"Oh, how so?" Hu Zongxian saw that Qi Jiguang was so confident, and he couldn't help but feel the intention of taking the school examination.

"According to Xiaguan's observation, the costumes of the people on the boat are obviously not the style of the Central Plains, this is obviously the style of clothing on the Japanese side! Besides, this sea route leads to the Zhoushan Islands, and we have just finished exterminating the Japanese pirates there, and the answer is already coming out. ”

"This fleet is with Wang Zhi!"

Qi Jiguang paused for a moment and replied.

"Well, yes, yes, this official thinks so too."

Hu Zongxian was quite satisfied with Qi Jiguang's answer, and nodded, agreeing with Qi Jiguang's idea.

On the other hand, Maeda Shin is not so calm, a week ago, he set off from the Zhoushan Islands to ship the collected goods to Kyushu, Japan for sale, and made a lot of profits!

At present, he is leading the fleet back to the Zhoushan Islands for repairs.

Nobu Maeda is a retainer of the Otomo family, and has served the Otomo family for generations since his grandfather's generation! The current head of the Otomo family, Otomo Sorin, attaches great importance to him and puts him in charge of the smuggling business with Wang Zhi.

"Bastard! Where exactly did the opposite fleet come from? ”

After Maeda finished speaking, he picked up the monocular and began to observe the ships of the Ming army in the distance.

"Nobu-sama Maeda, it seems to be a warship of the Ming army!"

"What? Ming Army! This sea route is the only way to the Zhoushan Islands, and the huge fleet is returning, does it mean that the army has ......?"

After listening to the report of his subordinates, Maeda Shin suddenly had a hint of foreboding in his heart.

"Could it be that the Ming army has already annihilated Wang Zhi and them?"

Just as Maeda was thinking about the possibilities, the splash of water around him pulled him back to reality.

"Bastard! What the hell is going on? ”

"Nobu-sama Maeda, the cannon has been fired on the other side! The other party is too strong, should we ......"

Seeing this, the subordinates on the side trembled and opened their mouths to comfort.

"Well, too, order the fleet to turn the bow and escape as fast as possible!"

Maeda Shin took the advice of his subordinates and immediately issued the order.

"Lord Governor, those pirates are turning the bow of the ship and trying to escape!" Qi Jiguang took off the monocular and reported to Hu Zongxian.

"Order the whole ship, keep in formation, speed up the voyage, rush up and entangle them, don't let them run!" Hu Zongxian was holding a telescope, still observing the situation in the distance.

"Yes!"

After Hu Zongxian's order was issued, as before, the order was conveyed through the banner waved in the hands of the soldiers.

Soon, the ships of the Ming army accelerated to catch up with the formation without dispersing!

"Hurry up, hurry up, the Ming army is about to catch up!"

Seeing that his own speed of turning the bow of the ship was so slow, Maeda Shin couldn't help but urge.

At this moment, a cannonball exploded near the ship he commanded, sending off a five-meter-high wave!

"These Ming soldiers are really bastards, shoot back at me and open fire! Fire! ”

At this time, Maeda Shin's whole body was soaked, and after seeing that the distance between the two sides had been shortened, and his fleet was bitten by the Ming army, and there was no possibility of escape, Maeda Shin gritted his teeth and gave the order to fight back.

It's just that the cannons carried on the ships of this group of Japanese are countless times worse than those on the ships of the Ming army, whether it is the accuracy, power, loading speed, or even the proficiency of the gunners, they are far weaker than the Ming army!

One consequence of this was that Maeda Nobu's side could only be beaten passively, because the range of the cannons on their ships was not as far as that of the Ming army! In order to be able to attack the Ming ships in the distance, Maeda Nobu could only order all the ships to approach the Ming fleet.

In this process, the ships on the side of the Ming army were able to hit the warships on the side of the Japanese without much effort.

'Boom! With a loud bang, a cannonball fired from the Ming army hit a two-masted warship on the side of the Japanese Invaders.

The hull of the brig that was hit began to tilt gently, and the second round of detonation was triggered by the previous shell hitting the compartment where the gunpowder was stored! The ship quickly disintegrated, and the few survivors on board jumped off the ship and swam to a nearby ship in an attempt to be rescued.

"Good, good fight!" Hu Zongxian took off the monocular and said excitedly.

As the battle progressed, a second sunken ship soon appeared on the Wako's side.

"Ahh Shoot me, shoot me! ”

Looking at the ship that was slowly capsizing not far away, Maeda Shin's heart was like a knife, this is all white silver!

'Bang bang bang' Soon, there was another volley on the side of the Ming army! This time, instead of sinking the ship, it set off a higher wave.

'Bah, Bah, Bah' Maeda Shin leaned against the side of the boat in embarrassment, spitting out the seawater, and his mouth was full of salty and bitter taste.

Thanks to Maeda's efforts, the ships on the Ming side's side finally entered the range of its attack.

After a salvo of 'bang bang bang', it did not hit any Ming ships.

"Bastard, what are these rice buckets for? Missed a single shot! ”

Seeing that he had paid such a big price but didn't hit a single shot, Maeda Shin suddenly became furious and scolded angrily.

Perhaps it was found that the Ming army soon fired another salvo on the side of the Ming army, and this time two more warships were hit on the side of the Japanese invaders, and the speed was greatly reduced!

Just as the two ships were trying to speed out of the battlefield, they were soon hit by shells flying from nowhere, and the whole ship soon began to leak and tilt, and after a few moments, it sank completely into the sea.

"Lord Maeda, let's hurry up and escape, if we continue to fight like this, there may not be a few ships left in the fleet!"

Less than an hour after the battle began, Nobu Maeda's fleet had already sunk a third, and such a tragic loss almost made Nobu Maeda lose his mind.

"Bastard! You cowards, you want to run away when you encounter an enemy, and you can't even fight back, do you still have the face to call yourself samurai? ”

Maeda Shinichi pushed his subordinates who came to admonish him to the ground, and then gave the order: "Keep fighting, don't retreat!" ”

As he spoke, two more warships were sunk by the shells of the Ming army!

"These bastards, send the order down and aim for that ship over there!"

Seeing that two more ships had been sunk, Maeda Shin was already on the verge of losing his mind, and he was now desperate to be able to injure the Ming ship, even if it was only a single shot, it was acceptable.

Maeda's order was quickly conveyed, and on the Japanese side, the remaining six warships began to gather firepower and concentrate on targeting a warship on the Ming side.

Listening to the 'boom', the hard work paid off, and the cannon on the side of the Japanese finally hit a ship of the Ming army.

Seeing this, Maeda Shin couldn't help but cheer on the deck, and kept shouting: "Anotesu God bless!" ”

However, the sinking of the battleship that Maeda Nobu expected did not happen, and because the power of the cannons carried by the Japanese was too small, they were not able to sink the Ming warship, and it was only damaged.

And soon, the wounded ship, under the cover of the remaining ships of the Ming army, calmly withdrew from the battlefield.

"What a bastard! Ming Army, these bastards! After observing this scene through the monoculars, Maeda Shin couldn't help but scold.

Soon, there was another volley on the side of the Ming army, and two warships were hit again on the side of the Japanese army! And Nobu Maeda gradually sobered up from his previous outbursts and regained his senses.

When Nobu Maeda regained his senses, he began to reflect on what he had done before.

"What did I do?"

Eight of the twelve ships were sunk, and only four remained, and most of the gold, silver, jewelry, etc., that had been exchanged for goods had also been lost! When the time comes, when you return to Kyushu, you will inevitably be punished by the master's family.

"Let's run away first!"

At this time, Nobu Maeda finally made up his mind and prepared to run away.

"Give the order, turn the bows of all the remaining ships and retreat at full speed!"

Maeda's order was quickly conveyed, and the captains of the remaining three ships were also relieved, and began to turn their bows one after another, trying to get out of the battlefield.

"Catch up, don't let them run away so easily!"

Hu Zongxian saw that this group of would-be robbers no longer had the will to continue fighting, so he hurriedly issued an order.

"Yes!"

Soon, Hu Zongxian's order was passed on by the soldiers, and the Ming army also increased the coverage of artillery fire, fortunately, sank a Japanese warship that turned its bow in time again.

"This group of shameless bastards, this hatred, I've written it down."

Seeing that another of his warships had been sunk, Maeda Shin looked at the huge Ming fleet behind him, and after putting down a cruel word, he led the remaining three warships and left in disgrace.

After a period of pursuit, the Ming army returned the same way.

After this battle, Maeda Shin was very sure in his heart that in a short period of time, he would definitely not set foot here half a step again!

PS author Jun rewarded himself for unsuccessfully, and got up from the bed in a rage with 3000 words!

(End of chapter)