The newly-maintained bird boat circled the island, turned its rudder to the east in search of the Kuroshio, and the brand-new Rolling Sea Dragon King flag fluttered in the wind. The two bowls on the shore roared together to see off the partners who were about to sail away, and the ship also fired a salute to greet the partners who stayed on the island.

Nohime and Hanako's master and servant stood on the corridor of the stern, silently looking in the direction of Ryuo Island.

Chongwen stood behind them and said in a deep voice: "You'd better not go near the divine cabin, in Dakang, it is not lucky for women to board the ship. ”

Nohime looked at the sea and whispered, "It's the same in the country, but I'm different, you don't have to treat me as a woman on the boat." She turned gracefully, looked at Chongwen with dark eyes, and continued, "Please give me a knife, I can kill the enemy as well." ”

Chongwen nodded, untied the knife at his waist and handed it to Nonghime, and said: "Women are not suitable for growing up blades, use this, to the point where you have to take a knife into battle, it means that we are all dead, take this knife and kill it, how far can you run." ”

Nongji took the sword and pulled out half of it in front of her, the snowy blade was reflected in her eyes, and Chongwen instantly felt the heroic spirit of this woman. This is Dakang's military knife, from Nanjing Taipingqiao West Ordnance Bureau, the steel mouth is very good, and the quality is high. Nodding with satisfaction, Nohime put the knife back into the sheath and inserted it into the belt around his waist, revealing only a hilt.

She raised her head, swept Chongwen with a flowing wave, and said calmly: "I won't run away, if I can't fight in battle, I will stab myself in the throat with this knife, I am a samurai, not a pirate." ”

A gust of sea breeze struck, Chongwen's eyes narrowed, and he regretted giving her a weapon for a while, even if it was only a short knife a foot long, it could still end this beautiful life.

The winter wind direction in the Nanqi Sea is uncertain, Aban Baijie skillfully manipulates the sail mast to facilitate the wind direction, the fire commander and the chief soldier hold the rudder steadily, and the bird boat sails eastward. After about two more voyages, I saw a black current in the distance, which was really headwinding towards the northeast, colliding with the surrounding sea water, forming layers of light waves.

Because of the Kuroshio Current's heating, there is a certain temperature difference between it and the surrounding seawater, and there is a light haze over the Kuroshio.

They finally found Kuroshio, and there was no cheering on the upper deck, for fear of annoying the dragon king, but the sound of dice coming from the cabin was more cheerful.

The bird boat turned the rudder and entered the main Kuroshio current, and the burners shouted to each other to adjust the direction of the second mast, forming a pressure difference between the two sails, which can also produce the power of headwind forward, plus driving downstream, the speed is not slow. The only minor annoyance is that the smog somewhat obscures the view, and it often rains in the waters of the Kuroshio Current.

Everyone is not familiar with the sea area in this area, and it is necessary to determine whether the course is correct according to the needle path thin reference object, and it is always not beautiful if the line of sight is not good. But this is not a big deal, this is an open sea, and the possibility of hitting the reef is very small.

In the evening, the catfish boy suddenly found Chongwen and whispered: "Go to sea, something is wrong, I found that there is less gold on the ship." ”

Chongwen was stunned, if he wanted to say that there was a thief on the ship, he didn't believe it if he was killed, they were all brothers who were born and died, not to mention that it was everyone's gold, everyone in Baoshan had a share, how could there be a reason in the world to steal themselves.

He asked in a low voice, "Who else has the key to the Naoka besides you?"

Catfish Boy said: "I am the only one who has a key, and no one else has it." ”

Chongwen frowned and thought for a while, and said, "I don't have to wait here, you work hard tonight, hide and stare at Zhiku to see what is going on." ”

The catfish boy nodded and said, "I plan to do the same." ”

Chongwen instructed again: "Don't say anything about this matter, it doesn't chill the hearts of the brothers." ”

The catfish boy said smartly: "Don't worry, I'm not that stupid." ”

The ship continued to sail in the northeast direction, and saw many desert islands and reefs along the way, and compared with Liu's needle road, there was no mistake in the course, the atmosphere on the ship became more and more relaxed, and the sailors moved forward in an orderly manner.

At noon, the catfish boy yawned and pulled Chongwen out of the compass cabin, and whispered in the corridor: "Evil door, I secretly stared at Zhiku last night, I didn't dare to blink my eyes, absolutely no one has ever entered, I thought it was impossible to lose gold, and I slept after dawn." I just got up and went to the straight warehouse to order again, and the mother lost the gold again, it seems that the ship is haunted! ”

Chongwen thought about it, his heart was crossed, and he said: "If you enter the mother, if you encounter some strange things, you will be scared and dare not go to sea, then you will be a sailor with a ball." Let's go on, I don't believe that we have a cannon in hand, and any evil demon dares to stand in our way. ”

Sailing in the Kuroshio for 5 days, the sea waves were not prosperous all the way, but the gold was always lost, which made the catfish very annoying. Although there were 30,000 taels of gold on the ship, less than 200 taels were lost, which was really a drop in the bucket, but it made the freshly baked treasurer as disgusting as eating a fly. If you enter the mother, will the gold also run by itself with long legs?

Finally, when the sail top saw Tanegashima, Takafumi ordered the rudder to be turned to the Wuxin position, and the bird boat headed west into the Osumi Strait.

Gradually, you can see that there are fishing boats fishing, three or three, two by two, all of them are small sampans that cannot go out to the open sea, and the sailors look at these little ones like grasshoppers on the sea, and they have a fun greeting to the servants. Where have the servants seen such a behemoth, and when they saw the high banner of the Rolling Sea Dragon King, they hid without a trace, thinking that this was another way for the navy to go to sea to do business.

Nohime's master and servant kept leaning on the railing of the cloister and looked forward, and finally, Nohime pointed to a peninsula looming in the sea fog and said, "Look, Cape Zota." Tears flowed down his face.

It turned out that they had reached the southernmost tip of Honshu Island, which was the country of Honshu. After a few months of suffering, Nohime finally saw the land of her homeland again, and she was naturally excited.

The bird boat circled the huge reefs of Cape Zota, turned its rudder along the cape and headed northwest, when two small boats appeared in the mist ahead. These two boats are not like ordinary fishermen, not only do they not avoid the bird boats, but slowly sail towards the bird boats.

These two boats have a low freeboard, always 3 zhang long, 20 oars on each side, a bamboo sail, and a flag at the tip of the mast. The two boats rowed hard, getting closer and closer, and it was clear that the flag was a black circle, and inside the circle was a black cross. Nohime looked at the incoming ship and said, "Marucross Flag, this is the Shimazu clan's vigilantes, the Fangzu Navy. ”

Liu Guan smiled: "Joining the mother, are you here so soon?"

Chongwen calmly ordered: "Let the brothers put on armor, wind bows and crossbows, raise Hao Erjia to hold guns, light the fire rope, and put on good medicine." Ah Gan Sanjia holds a bow and crossbow, you go to the upper deck to control the big hair, there is no need to fire indiscriminately to deal with this kind of small morning boat. I'll take Yijia to the terrace, and if necessary, just give him a blow with a gun, don't kill people indiscriminately. ”

Liu Guan agreed loudly and ran to the upper deck shouting to prepare for battle. Chongwen carried a deerskin sack and arrows Hulu on his back, the catfish boy also carried a bow and arrow, and Laicai Niu stood behind Chongwen with a big axe. Chongwen ran to the terrace with the people, and shouted below: "Xu Hai, come up above and translate for me." ”

The flower monk Xu Hai grabbed a Yanling knife in his hand, ran along the wooden ladder to the terrace, and also stood behind Chongwen.

The sailors ran out of the cabin with a curse, each in his own position, and quickly prepared for battle. The Fangjin sailors also approached 50 paces away from the bird boat, stopped paddling, blocked the way, and the two small morning boats fell together with the waves.

The bird boat lowered half of its canopy, reduced its speed, and continued to move forward. One morning stood up a sturdy man with an axle, dressed in linen and with unkempt hair, carrying a log tube in his hand, and putting it to his lips and roaring at the bird boat.

Xu Hai lowered his voice and translated for Chongwen: "He said that he is the Shimazu sailors, let us stop the boat, and they will board the ship to collect sail rice." ”

Chongwen shook his head with a smile and said, "You told him that we are the sailors of Dakang Longwang Island, and only the Dakang sailors on the sea levy barbarian water feet, and there is no reason to hand over the sails and don't pay for them, let them get out of the way." ”

Xu Hai translated loudly, and the axle man jumped like thunder, and the two small morning boats suddenly set up a row of big trees, covering the side side tightly.

It was so tall and small, and it was hidden behind it and only above its eyes. This may be Xiaozao's standard combat mode, and they don't want to think about it, the stern of the bird ship is one foot higher than the gunwale of the Xiaozao ship, condescending, what can the wall prevent?

The axle man's shouting came, and Xu Hai translated: "He said that if we don't drop the sails again, they will shoot us into hedgehogs with random arrows." ”

The upper deck had already annoyed the second day of Longwang Island to go to sea, and Liu Guan shouted loudly: "Second class and one army!

The five clangs rang out in no particular order, and the wooden piece of paper in front of the axle man was torn into several pieces, and a big gap suddenly appeared in the array, and several pirates screamed and fell into the water. Sawdust flew wildly in the unarmored flesh forest, and several people nearby were screaming and rolling in the boat.

How powerful the bird gun is, only 30 steps away, two layers of iron armor can't stop it, not to mention less than half an inch of the card, a salvo to hit the Shimazu sailors on their backs. The axle man was miraculously alive, and there was a meat shield in front of him to block the lead. Where in his life had he ever seen such a ferocious murderous weapon, and the blood splattered on his body and face frightened him like a chicken.

However, this man was very brave, and although his legs were weak, he still shouted heartbreakingly: "Release the arrow!"

The bows are all single bamboo bows, there is no bow tire, the bow power is very weak, and the ultimate range is only 30 steps, and this distance is basically no longer lethal. In addition, the salvo was really shocking, with a loud bang, thick smoke filled, and there were already dead and wounded when he turned his head. The big ones couldn't stop it, which made the hearts of the navy people tremble, their arms were weak, and the arrows naturally had no strength and no accuracy. Except for seven or eight arrows, which were nailed crookedly to the broadside planks, the others fell into the sea.

Liu Guan shouted again: "Second Wu, continue to fight that boat, open the gun!"