Xiao Ming came to Kaijing and returned to his home in Hangzhou first, if he wanted to travel in the East China Sea, he would bring his family with him, and as a portable guard, the Tiger Guard was still loyal to the ship, and the current Tiger Guard Battalion in the Hangzhou base was only used as a rotation training base, although the military power of the entire Great Song Dynasty nominally belonged to the Privy Council, but to mobilize the Tiger Guard, Xiao Ming had to allow.

In fact, the current Tiger Guards have added too many newcomers, and the old Tiger Guards, except for some officers in the Royal Tiger Guards and the Guards, basically serve as instructors in the new army training camps of several major bases, and Liaodong, Weihai, Taipingcheng and Hangzhou actually still belong to Xiao Ming.

In fact, there is another point that others ignore, that is, the navy, at present, the entire naval force built by Xiao Ming has not yet been incorporated into the entire Great Song Dynasty Royal Naval Division, because the navy is too expensive! If you want to raise a huge maritime armed force, the Great Song Dynasty court was frightened after the calculation, and no one except Xiao Ming could afford to raise it at this stage.

The chimneys of the warships that used to rise to the sky on the docks in the Hangzhou base are gone, replaced by some small warships, which are used for patrols, and a large number of warships have been arranged by Xiao Ming at the naval base in the Zhoushan Islands, and there are also a large number of ships in Weihai and Liaodong.

In fact, although these warships are very strong in combat, they are not the most powerful warships at sea, and the most powerful warships are currently under construction in the large dock of the Hangzhou Shipyard, which is a pure steam-powered ship that is completely iron-clad as required by Xiao Ming, and the reason why such an iron-clad ship is built is also the result of experiments conducted by Hongshanren and Meng Kang and others for many years according to Xiao Ming's suggestions.

This kind of experiment is to determine whether steel can float on the surface of the sea, and in the key area of ship design, this experiment is called the actual displacement experiment, and the steel ship can not only float on the water, but also has a variety of benefits, one is that the armor can be eliminated, the second is that the interior design can be diversified, and the third is that the speed of the ship can be much higher, and it is more fire-resistant than the wooden hull.

In fact, such an experiment also came from the diving ship that Xiao Ming captured at the beginning, and the submarine wrapped in iron sheets also made great contributions in the South Sea Naval Battle, since it can achieve the result of sealing, then the steel battleship is not afraid of water at all, so in addition to this steel battleship, the shipyard also built several large submarines.

Originally, Xiao Ming wanted the shipyard of the Weihai base to build the submarine, but at present, only the shipbuilding facilities and steel manufacturing industry of the Hangzhou base can support the construction of such a high-strength pure steel ship, but although the size of the submarine has been enlarged, because it can only be driven by manpower, he is destined to be only an incidental vessel to a large ship.

Xiao Ming only took his family to the holiday villa in the Ryukyu Islands this time, so he did not ask the warship to follow, but took a flight between Shuri and Hangzhou, but the 200 tiger guards who accompanied him needed to spend more money to buy tickets, and such a flight could carry nearly 600 passengers at a time, which was a relatively large ship.

The tall chimney of the steamship emitted billowing black smoke, sounding the whistle and sailing quickly towards the east, it is already the weather in June, the sky is high and cool, the breeze on the sea is blowing, listening to the chirping of seabirds, it can't help but make people feel refreshed, Xiao Ming's family is all on the deck to watch the sea view, such a beautiful scenery of course makes people forget to return.

But while everyone on the deck was enjoying the beautiful sea view, laughing and talking, suddenly there was a violent collision between the hulls of the ship, and then the speed of the ferry slowly slowed down, and finally it didn't move! The passengers on the ship were so shocked by the sudden collision that their faces all changed color.

Xiao Ming's two daughters were so frightened that they cried, Li Bing'er and Su Cai'er hurriedly hugged and coaxed, Xiao Ming's face sank, and Guo Shouxin said, "What's the matter?" Go and call the boat boss! ”

The current captain is still called the captain of the ship, and after a while, an old man who is more than a samurai is brought to Xiao Ming, and when he learned that the other party is the imperial master, the old man was so frightened that he immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Xiao Ming, Xiao Ming had no choice but to reach out to help her up, and asked him what was going on.

The boss of the boat told Xiao Ming that he didn't know what was going on, and the impact came from the port side, it seemed that some big fish had hit it, and there should be no problem with the hull, although it was wooden but the shell was covered with iron sheets, there should be no water leakage, not to mention that the ship was designed with a watertight cabin.

But what is confusing now is that the engine room is already running at full power, but it seems that the propeller that is propelled seems to be entangled in something! He has already sent someone to deal with it, and it is estimated that the result will be available in a while, which is the first time he has encountered such a thing on this route.

Xiao Ming looked at the sea, this place was close to the Ryukyu Islands, because there were several small islands scattered not far away, and at this time, suddenly there was a gunshot from the direction of the bow, and everyone's faces changed again, the shot must have been done by the tiger guard who was on guard at the bow of the ship, but what happened to make the tiger guard have to shoot?

Guo Shouxin, who was beside Xiao Ming, could leave left and right in one step, but there was still a guard who immediately went to check, and after a while, the guard ran over with a cold expression and said, "There are pirates!" ”

Xiao Ming said: "Notify everyone to gather, let's go and see!" ”

At this time, the gunfire from the port side rang out again, and more than one person fired, when Xiao Ming ran to the position where the port side fired, he found that at least five or six tiger guards were shooting downward, he looked down on the side of the ship, and there were hundreds of pirates on the sea densely packed with water, all wearing water and approaching the port side.

"There!" Guo Shouxin pointed to the distance: "It's the fog hidden again!" ”

As he said, in the direction pointed by Guo Shouxin, a big black pot bottom is upside down on the sea, with a length of six or seven zhang, it is a big guy, it looks like it is obviously a "submarine" hidden in the fog Xiao Ming couldn't help frowning after seeing this thing, "Isn't the hidden thunder hidden in the fog dead?" ”

The form was already a little critical, the pirates were not afraid of death in the tiger guard in the rain of bullets swam to the side of the passenger ship, and then threw the rope on the side of the ship, and then prepared to help the rope up, originally standing on the port side to watch the lively passengers panicked, crying dad and mother ran towards the cabin, thinking to find a place to hide.

The many tiger guards had already gathered, looking at Xiao Ming calmly, Xiao Ming commanded: "You all know what to do, don't kill them all, catch a few alive!" ”

The tiger guards took the order and left, the atmosphere was a little depressed for a while, Xiao Ming's family had been taken back to the cabin by the tiger guards, and the ship boss also rushed out with sailors with knives, guns, bows and crossbows, and when they saw Xiao Ming, they naturally obeyed his command, because the tiger guards were more powerful.

The tactics adopted by the tiger guards are very simple, if they shoot through the side of the ship, although they can repel the pirates, but the people on the submarine will definitely escape, and they will not be able to catch them alive, they first concealed, waiting for those pirates to climb the deck first, and the accomplices below saw that they had been able to board the ship, and the people would not retreat, but would return to the ship, and this was the opportunity to attack.

There were a large number of pirates on the deck, they screamed and boarded the side of the ship, and the weapons used were mostly swords, crossbow arrows, and fishing nets, and with the order, the tiger guards took action, and immediately the guns burst into action, and the pirates were killed and driven away from the side of the ship, and another team of tiger guards seized the ship's side and began to shoot at the targets that were still boarding the ship and in the water.

The battle soon ended, none of the pirates under the ship were killed, and after most of the pirates on board the ship were killed, the rest all surrendered, Xiao Ming ordered immediate interrogation, although these people were outlaws but also afraid of death, after several people were beheaded, finally someone was willing to confess.

"The villain is just a little boss! The big boss is him," the man said, pointing to the bearded Humpty Dumpty, adding, "They're all Fuso Ronin!" ”

Xiao Ming asked, "Is there anyone else on the dive boat?" The man nodded, and Xiao Ming asked him, "How to get in touch?" ”

"Use a pyrotechnic signal!"

Xiao Ming suddenly laughed and said to the man: "You go and call them over, and you will say that you have succeeded, this matter is done, I can spare your life!" ”

The man hesitated, looked at which Humpty Dumpty, stood up and walked to the side of the ship, and at the same time took the fireworks from his bosom.

"Bagya ......!" Humpty Dumpty's angry scolding came from behind him, but then he was hit in the back of the head by the butt of Tiger Guard's rifle and passed out, and at this time the fireworks had been released, and a silver-gray signal rose into the air.

Sure enough, the submarine docked in the distance was fooled, and most of the hull rose on the water, and then slowly leaned up, and at the same time, there seemed to be a small door above the hull that was opened, and a few people crawled out of it.

The submarine slowly leaned next to the passenger ship, and then someone wanted to fix him, Xiao Ming gave an order, and the tiger guards immediately threw the grenade downward, and with the continuous roaring explosion, the submarine was sunk in an instant, and sank to the bottom of the sea together with the pirates above, and the tiger guards stayed by the side of the ship, and immediately killed it when they saw a leak coming out of the water.

This attack on the sea was quelled in a very short time, and all the pirates were wiped out, twenty-one pirates were captured, and there was a big leader of the Fuso Ronin! The captain of the ship and the sailors looked at each other in a stunned manner for a long time with knives, guns and clubs in their hands, but they did not help in any way.

After dealing with the things on the ship, Xiao Ming took the captives back to the cabin and continued to interrogate, while the ship's boss sent his men into the water to check the damage to the ship's hull and what made the ship unable to leave! When the sailors came up, they learned that the propellers on the propellers had been entangled in fishing nets by pirates' water ghosts.

On this side, Xiao Ming specially began to interrogate the Fusang Humpty Dumpty, but this person is a tough guy, don't talk about it! The knife holder on the neck does not frown! The translator was the guy who set off the fireworks signal after surrendering, and the man saw that Humpty Dumpty did not confess, and the sweat on his head broke out.

Xiao Ming sneered: "My mouth is quite hard, right, do you think I can't deal with you?" I'll let you taste the power of my Great Song Criminal Law, and you'll be recruited. ”

He raised his hand: "Come on----! ”