"Do you still have to wait?" The person standing nearby who was responsible for contacting Liu Xiang spoke up, and it was a woman's voice.
Aragones cast a dissatisfied glance at the woman next to him. She was wrapped in a black cloak, like a monk, with long curls exposed beside the hood.
"Li, I think I am the captain of this ship. You are just the contact person sent by Liu Ling."
"That's right. But in another hour, the tide direction will change, and then you won't be able to take advantage of the high tide to enter the harbor. And you won't be able to take advantage of the low tide to leave the harbor."
Aragones knew that the woman was right. For a clumsy ship like a Spanish galleon, it was not easy to turn around and turn around. Although it could be towed by a rowing boat, riding the tide in and out of the bay was still the best option.
He just doesn't like a woman making irresponsible remarks about his command. Even though the woman was beautiful and spoke fluent Spanish.
"Let's start." Aragones ordered. After solving this problem, he will continue to go north to find the bad luck of Zheng Yiguan.
The fifty sailors who had been waiting on the deck climbed over the side of the ship and climbed into the two rowing boats. Most of these sailors are Southeast Asian natives on the Malay Peninsula. Many of them were indigenous pirates who used to paddle canoes and wait for opportunities to rob merchant ships. This is his old profession. There are only a few Spaniards who are gunners, and each rowing boat has a 2-pound light cannon. Liu Ling seems to be very afraid of the enemy's firearms and insists on the Spaniards bringing out enough muskets and cannons. Come.
On the boat behind them, Liu Xiang's men also transferred to sampans. It was said that these small boats were filled with Gang Leader Liu's best warriors. Aragones was not interested in this. Anyway, he was just cooperating with Gang Leader Liu to seize a few of these people's boats and capture some prisoners - Gang Leader Liu was afraid of the enemy's firearms.
"Monkeys, please serve the Catholic King well." Aragones made no secret of his contempt for these dark-skinned, sinister-looking native sailors. If it weren't for the fact that it was too difficult to replenish Europeans in Southeast Asia, how could such a thing be allowed on the ship? The existence of low-level pagans, their crooked yellow eyes always flashing with cruel and cowardly light, Aragones knew that he was like a circus animal trainer, who always had to keep his whip and candy in hand, otherwise he would be killed. Eaten alive.
To enter an estuary port like Bopu, Spanish galleons not only had to ride the tide, but also had to be towed by rowing boats. The sailors on the rowing boats were unprotected and could easily be injured by gunfire and muskets from the shore, which was very dangerous. big. If Aragones was facing a well-fortified port in Europe or America, he would not dare to do this. However, the native sailors were just used as cannon fodder, and he didn't care if some died. Moreover, this was China, and Aragones was convinced that the Chinese did not understand naval warfare at all, let alone fortifying the port. His predecessors had robbed ships in the Pearl River many years ago, roaming freely as if there was no one in the area.
The gunners on the ship were already in their positions, the gun windows on the side had been opened, and the black muzzles were pointed at several possible targets on the coast. He had full confidence in his artillery superiority. Can those Chinese artillery be considered cannons? They were poor imitations of cannon from a century ago.
According to the plan, the Countess of Scarborough will use artillery fire in the bay to support Liu Xiang's landing operation. Liu Xiang will use sampans to transport 500 people ashore, with the purpose of seizing the four iron clippers anchored on the shore. Liu Xiang already knew the combat effectiveness of these ships from the people who defected to Zhu Cai Lao. Obviously, this ship is very attractive to any pirate.
The naval battle between Zhu Cailao and the time traveler brought several basic impressions to Liu Xiang:
Iron clippers are very strong and cannot be penetrated by ordinary artillery;
Agile and very fast.
The men who piloted these ships did not have cannons. Zhu Cailao's people said that the boat was equipped with something like a large crossbow machine, which could not shoot accurately at all, but they had very powerful blunderbuss, which could shoot far and accurately.
With these impressions, the pirates will mainly rely on the Countess of Scarborough's gunfire to suppress the enemy. No matter how powerful the cannon is, it is no match for the cannon. With the support of artillery fire, one group of pirates will pass through the mangroves of Bopu and wreak havoc on the enemy camps to attract the attention of these Orientals. Then another group of pirates will wait for the opportunity to rush into the port and seize at least 100 ships parked in the port. An iron clipper. Liu Xiang gave instructions to his leader to capture a few "Australians".
To this end, the Spanish sold them 8 rowing boats and special towing equipment. After the pirates succeeded, they would use rowboats to tow the iron ships out of the port, with the intended goal of capturing at least one.
Aragones had no objection to this plan, but he could not quite understand the Chinese pirate leader's obsession with these iron ships. In his opinion, this kind of iron ship is too weird. A ship that can move by itself without paddles is either a miracle of God or a creation of the devil - in his opinion, the latter is more likely.
The rowing boat began to slowly drag the Countess of Carrboro toward the harbor, and the water depth measuring boat led the way. Everything is peaceful.
"What I want to tell you is," Aragones said to Lisya beside him, "my ship must leave at low tide, regardless of whether you have captured the ship or not."
"One hour is enough." Li Siya smiled lightly. Although she didn't make the plan herself, she was still involved in it. Among the pirates, she was the only one who had direct contact with the Australians. Last year's attack on the beautiful Australian had severely hit her self-esteem, during which even an official became suspicious of her. In anger, she claimed that her ship needed repairs and returned to Macau. When she was in Macau, she sent people to inquire about people in Australia. They left behind their houses, goods and slaves, but she disappeared as if she had evaporated from the world.
Until not long ago, news came that a group of people, Kun Short Clothes, and a huge iron ship appeared on the coast of Qiongzhou. This characteristic of Kun's short coat reminded her immediately of Wen Desi. Wasn't this Australian maritime merchant the same as Kun's short coat?
In order to find out, she sailed out again. Zheng Zhilong was busy recruiting people in Fujian, so she joined Liu Xiang in Guangdong as a guest. Li Siya was a single owner on the coast, although she sometimes took refuge in a certain Under the gang, pay the protection fee. But she never participated in the battles between the gangs. She was only interested in robbery and adventure. With her superior speedboat and cannon, she always lived freely.
"Wen Desi, are you on the shore too?" She whispered, showing a cold smile.
"Captain Li?"
"?"
"Why did Gang Leader Liu send 400 people ashore during the day?" Aragones had always been puzzled by the fact that Chinese pirates sent 400 people ashore during the day. In his opinion, such an action is simply a matter of death.
"Let the Australians win the war." Li Siya said, "Although they claim to be from Australia, they do not deny that they are of Chinese descent. The Chinese will drink and have fun when they win the war."
"It's the same with us Spaniards."
"After drinking and having fun, you won't be so alert."
"Just to make them lose their vigilance, you sent 400 people to die? God!"
"You can get such a result for 400 piastres, don't you think it's worth it?" Lisya glanced at Aragones. Compared with the Chinese, the Spaniards who just know how to barbecue human meat are like those in the monastery. Like a virgin. Even the lovely Italians know that people who do great things should not be bound by any moral principles. They only need to consider whether the effect is beneficial, not whether the means are harmful. What's even more amazing is that these cannon fodders actually thought that they were serving Mr. Zhu Cai. This idiot Zhu Cai Lao would probably have a headache in the future. She felt wonderful when she thought of this.
Aragones was surprised that the pirate leader could treat his compatriots as expendables without hesitation. But the woman in front of her actually only counted how much money she spent recruiting them. In his heart he despised it. However, the life and death of pagans has nothing to do with him. The matter of saving souls should be taken care of by the priests - and he, Aragones, is the person who is least willing to deal with priests.
He suddenly remembered that the woman in front of him was half Portuguese: "Captain Li, are you still the Lamb of Christ?"
"I often go to church, as much as you do." Li Siya replied with a teasing smile.
"There is a sampan!" The person in charge of the observation gave Xue Ziliang a push.
"Continue to observe!" From the moment the ship began to turn towards Bopu, Xue Ziliang knew that something was not good, and that the sea attack might be about to start soon.
“So many sampans!” the observers exclaimed, “Densely packed, countless—”
Xue Ziliang grabbed the telescope, and the scene in the camera was really spectacular. No less than thirty sampans were heading towards Bopu on the sea, with large ships following behind.
25o meters……
2oo meters……
The shirtless pirates with knives in their mouths could already be seen in the camera, and Xue Ziliang even felt that he could even see their ferocious smiles.
"Report to Bopu, quickly!"
"Report—report—captain," the team member who was calling suddenly became frightened, "The phone is not working!"
The moon sank, and the water and sky became pitch black again. Xue Ziliang had not yet heard the sound of the alarm in Bopu - I wonder if the watchman on the beacon tower saw this situation and saw that the sampan was getting closer and closer to the port. , he grabbed a sks and fired at the nearest sampan.
"Bang!" In the silent night, the sound of gunshots was particularly crisp, and a tracer bullet pierced the night sky, as fast as a meteor. In this flash of lightning, there seemed to be a figure on the small boat that shook for a moment and then fell.
Li Di, who had been a little drowsy for a long time, was startled when he heard the gunshot - he almost fell asleep! He quickly grabbed the telescope and looked in the direction of the gunfire. After adjusting it for a while, suddenly the sampans and ships on the sea became clearly distinguishable. He was so frightened that he almost sat down on the ground, and ran to the watch room on the beacon tower, where there was a hand-cranked alarm that shook violently.
