The governor rushed to the Holy City of Rome to report to the Pope, and at the same time sent someone to notify the English fleet on the sea to intercept the English merchant ship.
When the Governor came to the Holy City, the Pope had already rested. We can only wait in the holy hall and ask the attendant to report to the Pope. The Roman Holy Hall is a typical ancient Roman architectural style. The circular atrium is like the sky, very high, and painted with pictures of angels. Twelve huge round stone pillars around it support the huge Holy Hall, and there are twelve huge bonfires. The entire holy hall was illuminated extremely brightly; beside several surrounding doorways, two papal guardsmen wearing heavy armor and holding halberds stood respectively.
The governor waited in the holy hall for a moment, only to hear the sound of clumsy footsteps coming from the doorway opposite, and he quickly looked up. The pope, dressed in casual clothes, walked out of the doorway and came to the holy hall, supported by his attendants. The Governor immediately bowed his head and stood respectfully. When the Pope sat down on the Holy See, he bowed and said: "His Majesty the Pope, Holy Annunciation!"
The pope is an old man in his seventies with snow-white beard and hair. He has a kind face, but his eyes are shining with arrogance. Four black-clothed and masked attendants, tall and graceful, stand at the east, west, north and south of the Holy See. .
The governor said: "The reason for disturbing your majesty's rest late at night is really because of an unexpected incident. Not long ago, some Han people robbed a merchant ship parked in the port and broke out of the port! I think this incident is extraordinary. It’s unusual, so I came here to report to His Majesty!”
The Pope did not show any special expression, and seemed not to take this matter to heart at all, and asked: "Is this the matter?"
The governor felt that the Pope seemed a little displeased, so he couldn't help but become nervous, and said quickly: "Your Majesty, I think these Han people who robbed the merchant ships should be spies from the evil country of Ming Dynasty. They must report this to their evil emperor. Condition!"
The Pope said proudly: "So what? We uphold the glory of God. Even if they know that we are going to attack them and prepare carefully, they cannot withstand the sword of God! Since God has drawn the sword, their fate is already doomed It's over!" He looked down at the governor and said, "Let them report the news and tell the Eastern Emperor and his subjects that God has been angry, the sword has been unsheathed, and they are about to suffer God's judgment! Let them live in fear. Tremble!" The governor bowed and promised. …
After Zhou Yang led his men to rob the English merchant ship, he immediately left the port and headed southeast. Zhou Yang was originally most worried about the interception of the English fleet, but things developed as he expected. Seeing that it was their merchant ship, the English fleet not only did not intercept it, but their sailors also stood on the side and laughed loudly in this direction.
The ship passed smoothly through the English fleet and continued to sail to the open sea. The overlapping sails and dotted lights behind him became farther and farther away, until eventually, only the stars and the moon were left in the sky. Only the sound of waves could be heard above the sea, and otherwise it was completely empty.
Zhou Yang stood on the deck, looking at the empty night sky and sea, with a thoughtful look on his face. This Zhou Yang is the middle-aged man in charge of Western intelligence work in the previous article. The leader of Huajin Yiwei was originally a horse bandit leader on the Northwest Road. After the Ming Dynasty annihilated Xixia, Zhou Yang and his horse bandit members joined In the Ming Dynasty, he was placed under the command of Jin Yiwei. Zhou Yang has made a lot of contributions to the Ming Dynasty in the past few years, and is now a member of Jinyiwei.
The ship traveled on the sea for many days without any incident.
This morning, the lookout on the mainmast suddenly pointed forward and shouted: "Boss, Kunlun Island is just ahead!" Kunlun Island is an island named by the Ming Dynasty. It is located at the mouth of the current Gulf of Aden. It is not very big, but it is the forefront of the bridgehead controlled by the Ming Dynasty. It is not only the station and rest place of the Ming Dynasty's business brigade, but also stationed a thousand-man naval force.
When everyone heard the shouting, they rushed out of the cabin and looked forward. Sure enough, they saw a small island floating between the sea and the sky in front of them, and their faces couldn't help showing joy. After staying in a foreign land for a long time, now that I see the territory of my own country, I can't help but feel particularly friendly.
The ship headed straight for Con Dao Island. Soon the island was in sight. Seen from a close distance, the size of the island is still quite large; on the surrounding docks, merchant ships from various countries are coming in and out, and the island is bustling with people, making it look particularly lively. The island is like a huge market.
The ship slowly sailed towards an empty spot on the pier.
One of Zhou Yang's subordinates looked around and found that there were many English merchant ships. He asked in confusion: "The English merchant ships are here, but where are the English navy forwards? Why are there no traces along the way?" Zhou Yang's Another subordinate said: "What's so strange about this? They must have taken another waterway. In fact, the fact that these English merchant ships came here means that the English fleet does not intend to attack here, otherwise the English merchant ships would never come here." "The person who spoke before nodded.
The ship docked, and Zhou Yang left only a few people to guard the ship, but led most of the people off the ship and ashore, and ran straight to the military camp on the island.
The person guarding this island was just a commander of the Ming Dynasty navy named Wang Gu. He was originally a pirate who followed Wang Hai and Wang Rong's brothers and sisters on the sea. Wang Gu has a thousand naval officers and soldiers and a dozen small warships under his command. Their main responsibility is to guard Kunlun Island.
When Wang Gu heard that Zhou Yang, a member of the Jinyiwei family, was coming, he hurriedly came out to greet him. When the two met, they immediately hugged each other, laughed, and walked into the office together.
Wang Gudao: "Why the hell did you come here suddenly? There must be nothing good!" The two sat down, Zhou Yang laughed and scolded: "If I have something good for you, wouldn't it be turned into a bribe? What the hell do you think? Don't even think about it!" Wang Gu said angrily: "If you want to bribe me, I will bribe you. You are a member of the Imperial Guards, and your military rank is half a rank higher than mine! Stop talking nonsense and tell me something!"
Zhou Yang's expression became solemn and he said: "Things are completely different from what we had expected. The scale of the enemy's troops has greatly exceeded expectations. So far, the enemy's assembled army has exceeded 200,000, and the English navy has The main force has all moved to the sea off Rome, and its strength is much stronger than we previously expected. I am afraid that in terms of scale, it will exceed our fleet!"
Wang Gu frowned slightly, "Is there such a thing?" Zhou Yang nodded and said, "I need a fast ship. I will rush back to the country as soon as possible to report to His Majesty. Do you have a fast ship here?" Wang Gu said with a smile: " I don’t have anything else here, but there are plenty of ships!” After a pause, “Tomorrow morning, a merchant ship from the Luo family will return to China. Their ships are fast, so you can take their ship!” Zhou Yang asked: "Is it the merchant ship of Luo Niang's family?" Wang Gu nodded and smiled: "Apart from Luo Niang's Luo family, which other Luo family is there?" Zhou Yang nodded, "Okay, I'll take their ship." Then he said: "I wish to set sail immediately!"
Wang Gu frowned and said, "In such a hurry?"
Zhou Yang nodded, "The matter is urgent!" He remembered something, "By the way, before we left Rome, we received intelligence that a forward fleet of the English fleet was heading east. Did you find anything?" Wang Guyao Zhou Yang shook his head and said, "There's nothing unusual." Zhou Yang said, "Brother, you have to be careful!" After a pause, "I think this place is difficult to defend. If the enemy attacks, it's better to give up." Wang Gu laughed. Said: "As the commander of the Ming navy, how can I abandon the island and escape?" Zhou Yang stopped trying to persuade him, and then worriedly said: "There are many merchants and a lot of wealth on this island. Shouldn't we take advantage of the fact that the enemy is still there?" Evacuate as soon as possible in the future to avoid falling into enemy hands?"
Wang Gu nodded and said: "I will take care of this matter immediately!" Then he shouted outside: "Come here!" When an officer came in, he clasped his fists and asked: "What are your orders, commander?" Wang Gu said: " Go and call the person in charge of the Luo Family Chamber of Commerce here." The officer agreed and ran down. Wang Gu turned to Zhou Yang and said, "Brother, just wait here for the person in charge of the Luo Family Chamber of Commerce. I'll go make arrangements." Zhou Yang cupped his fists and said, "Brother, please do it." Wang Gu left the office.
Zhou Yang stood up and walked out of the hall door. The administration office on this island was very simple. It didn't have a front yard or a wall like other administration offices in the Central Plains. Except for the entrance hall, it was outside. Since the administrative office is located at a high altitude, Zhou Yang stood at the door and the entire port scene came into view. I saw groups of sailors mobilizing, and at the same time, the leaders of the Han caravans gathered in the military camp not far away.
"Sir, the person in charge of the Luo family's caravan has arrived." The officer reported to Zhou Yang.
Zhou Yang turned around and saw a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, with dark skin and very thin skin, following behind the officer. The middle-aged man stepped forward and said, "Common people pay homage to you, sir!"
Zhou Yang said: "No need to be polite. There is such a thing, and I need to rush back to the country immediately to see His Majesty. Therefore, I hope that the ship your caravan will set sail tomorrow morning can set sail immediately!" The middle-aged man said: "Since your Excellency has For urgent military affairs, the grassroots people will naturally give their full assistance! The grassroots people will make arrangements now. Please come with the grassroots people!" Zhou Yang nodded and said to the officer: "I will tell Commander Wang later that we will go to the Luo family caravan. There it is!" The officer bowed and promised.
Zhou Yang and others followed the middle-aged man to a relatively quiet port. There are only a dozen merchant ships docked at this port, all of which are merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty's state-owned departments and major chambers of commerce. There are no foreign merchant ships. It turns out that this wharf is a wharf that specifically serves the state-owned ministry and domestic merchant ships carrying large amounts of precious cargo. General merchant ships and foreign merchant ships are not allowed to enter.
The middle-aged man pointed to the large five-masted merchant ship not far away that was transporting water and food to the ship and said, "That's the ship!"
Zhou Yang looked in the direction of his finger, nodded, and asked: "How soon can we set sail?" The middle-aged man said: "Now we only need to load water and food and recruit sailors to board the ship. It will take about an hour. Around." Zhou Yang said: "Then I'll help you." The middle-aged man chuckled and said, "You're welcome, sir. Please wait a moment, sir, I'll go give them instructions." He bowed his hand to Zhou Yang and hurried off. I saw him giving instructions to everyone on the dock, and the dock immediately became busy.
At this moment, there was a sudden commotion from the large dock in the distance. Zhou Yang and others couldn't help but follow the sound, and saw the looming figures on the large pier. People were running around thinking, and many foreigners armed with long knives and axes rushed into the crowd on the pier and chopped at random. Some people fell to the ground. , someone was chopped down to the ground, shouts and screams rang out. A bad feeling immediately arose in Zhou Yang's heart, and he turned around and ordered: "Get ready to fight!" Everyone pulled out their swords one after another, waiting for Zhou Yang's order.
When the dock was in chaos, groups of sailors rushed onto the dock and fought with the foreigners. The two sides fought together, with swords flashing and blood flying. The leading Ming general was none other than Wang Gu. He was the first to rush into the enemy group, his sword flying up and down, killing the enemy until their flesh and blood flew everywhere, like a tiger or a pack of wolves, he was unmatched in courage!
Zhou Yang became excited and shouted: "Let's go help too!" He immediately led the assassins of the Jinyi Guards to rush over.
The defenders and attackers fought in a melee. Originally, the attackers were very fierce. Killing the merchants was like slaughtering chickens and ducks. However, now, under the strong counterattack of the Ming army, they seemed a little overwhelmed. A particularly burly attacker with blond hair and blue eyes rushed towards Wang Gu with a large ax in his hand. With a howl, he swung the ax and struck Wang Gu on the head. Wang Gu turned around to avoid it, and at the same time, the big knife in his hand was cut off. One of the opponent's thighs. The blond man screamed loudly and fell to the ground. Wang Gu stepped forward and swung the big knife downwards in his hand. The blond man's screams suddenly stopped. His big head had been separated from his body! Several foreigners who were about to come up to besiege Wang Gu were shocked when they saw this and couldn't help but stop. At this moment, several whooshing sounds were heard, and the foreigners were hit by arrows one after another. They screamed and fell off the pier into the sea. The bright red color spread quickly in the seawater like paint.
The Ming army and the Jin Yiwei killers continued to fight back, and the blond foreigners were chopped to the ground one after another, while some people continued to fall into the sea. The remaining more than a hundred foreigners were surrounded in an open space on the pier. These more than a hundred blond and blue-eyed foreigners saw that they were surrounded by wolf-like opponents, and they all showed fear and bewilderment.
Wang Gu shouted: "Put down your weapons!" All the soldiers roared angrily. The foreigners couldn't help but feel frightened when they saw the other party's fierceness, but they didn't understand what the other party meant, and they all seemed at a loss.
A subordinate next to Wang Gu shouted in English: "Put down your weapons!"
All the foreigners looked at each other. The foreigner who looked like the leader hesitated and put down the weapon in his hand. At this time, all foreigners put down their weapons.
Zhou Yang came to Wang Gu. Wang Gu glanced at him and saw that his body was covered with blood, and the horizontal knife in his hand was still bleeding. He smiled and said: "This is my business, you don't need it." Help!" Zhou Yang said with a smile: "You think I want to help you? Who told me to run into it!" Wang Gu laughed.
Zhou Yang glanced at the blond and blue-eyed foreigners, frowned and said, "Where do these people come from?"
Wang Gudao: "According to the report, these grandsons all emerged from the English merchant ships! If I hadn't listened to your words and made preparations, I would have been caught off guard by them!"
Zhou Yang was stunned, then frowned and said: "So these English merchant ships are carrying these sergeants to sneak attack on Kunlun Island?" Wang Gu nodded: "That should be the case. These are sneak attack troops, and their follow-up troops should appear soon. ."
As if in response to Wang Gu's words, an officer next to him suddenly pointed to the sea in the distance and shouted: "General, look!"
Wang Gu and Zhou Yang immediately looked towards the sea and saw countless black spots between the sea and the sky, and their expressions changed. The prisoners who were originally frightened and frightened were all excited when they saw this scene. The leader shouted excitedly: "Our army is coming. If you don't want to die, just surrender!"
Wang Gu was furious, stepped forward, raised the knife and dropped it, but before the golden-haired ghost could even scream, his head was gone. When the foreigners suddenly saw such a scene, they all remained silent and did not dare to speak out. Their originally pale faces looked like zombies. They could not believe that the other party was so fierce. Under such circumstances, You dare to be cruel.
Wang Gu glanced at the foreigners, his eyes showing infinite murderous intent. Suddenly he raised his bloody sword and pointed it at the foreigners and shouted: "Kill them all!" After receiving the order, the sergeants immediately stepped forward and slashed with spears and bayonets. Blood flew. More than a hundred golden-haired ghosts fell into a pool of blood one after another. The screams continued for a while.
Wang Gu turned to Zhou Yang and said: "There is no time, you must leave immediately!"
Zhou Yang looked at the approaching enemy fleet, frowned and said, "I'm afraid there is no time."
Wang Gu slapped his chest and said, "As long as I'm here, I'll buy time for you!" Then he turned around and ordered: "Send all the warships to attack, and the other teams are ready to fight!" All the officers agreed and ran down. Then Wang Gu said to the two messengers: "Go and tell everyone immediately and tell them to evacuate quickly. There is no time!" The two messengers agreed and ran down.
Wang Gu turned around, faced Zhou Yang, and said, "Brother, leave quickly!"
Zhou Yang felt excited and wanted to stay and fight the enemy with Wang Gu. However, he knew that he had a more important mission, so he could only nodded and said: "Brother, you must survive!" Wang Gu laughed boldly. Several times.
Zhou Yang led the way down.
When the people from the Luo Family Chamber of Commerce saw that Zhou Yang and the others were back, they hurriedly greeted them. The leading middle-aged man asked anxiously: "Sir, what happened?" Others also looked anxiously asking.
Zhou Yang looked back at the busy crowd on the pier in the distance, then turned around and said: "We have no time, we must leave immediately! The forward of the English fleet has arrived!" Although everyone had expected it, when they heard this, Still shocked. The middle-aged man turned his head and gave hurried instructions, and everyone immediately became busy. Everyone ran to carry water and food. Although time is tight now, the necessary water and food must be prepared. Otherwise, if the ship runs out of water and food in the middle of the journey, where will it be replenished on the vast sea?
After a while, hundreds of warships, large and small, were seen densely on the sea, all flying the flag of England. More than a dozen Yanyun warships sailed past everyone's eyes, and unexpectedly faced the enemy's huge forward fleet.
The general of England's forward fleet couldn't help but show contempt when he saw his opponent approaching with more than a dozen warships. He raised his right hand and waved forward, and the orders were passed on one after another. The entire fleet continued to move towards Kunlun Island without stopping at all! They obviously did not pay attention to the dozen or so warships of their opponents, thinking that the army could take care of them all by the way.
Boom boom boom...! A dozen forward warships of the English fleet roared, and white smoke was seen billowing from the sea. Almost at the same time, a column of water rose into the sky between the Ming warships. The two warships were hit by artillery fire and fell apart in an instant. When Zhou Yang saw such a scene from a distance, he couldn't help being surprised and murmured: "The English fleet actually has artillery!?"
In the blink of an eye, the Ming warships rushed into the middle of the enemy. At a very close distance, they put on their ballistae and fired at the enemy's side strings. The huge guns and arrows tore the air and made a sharp whistling sound. There was a loud banging sound, guns and arrows penetrated the ship wall, and the huge force knocked the sailors into the sea; at the same time, the Ming sailors took their bows and crossbows and fired rockets at the opponent's ship, and saw fire raining all over the sky. In an instant, the sails of several English warships were ignited and burst into flames.
The English general did not expect that the enemy's counterattack would be so determined and swift, causing considerable losses to his own side in an instant, and he couldn't help but be surprised. Immediately ordered the fleet to stop advancing and ordered each ship to encircle and destroy the enemy's warships. At this moment, those Ming warships continued to rush towards the group of English warships, firing rockets and ballistae in all directions, causing the English to panic.
However, the English fleet was not a vegetarian. After a brief period of chaos, each team and each warship reacted and counterattacked under the orders of their respective generals and officers. For a moment, artillery fire rumbled and arrows flew all over the sky. The water column on the sea where the Ming Dynasty warship is located is soaring into the sky, as if it is boiling. Cannonballs are constantly hitting the Ming Dynasty warship. The rafts and masts are collapsed, wood chips are flying everywhere, and arrows are falling like raindrops on the Ming Dynasty warship. On the ship, Ming sailors were seen constantly being hit by arrows and falling into the water, while the warship was swaying and gradually losing power.
The officer of the Ming Dynasty was struck by several arrows, but as if he was unconscious, he shouted sternly: "Gunpowder ships attack!" Immediately, a sailor ran to the back, jumped on the boat tied behind the ship, untied the cable and steered the boat towards the nearest The enemy warships rushed over. The English sailors paid no attention to those small boats and only concentrated on attacking the opponent's larger ships. I saw large boats sinking crookedly into the water.
Boom! Suddenly a loud noise shook the entire sea surface, and a huge mushroom firework rose into the air! The English soldiers were startled and hurriedly followed the sound. They saw that one of their own warships was engulfed in fireworks and was being torn apart. They couldn't help but be horrified.
What happened after all, let’s see what happens next.
