"Mr. Balabu, the Straw Hat Pirates have arrived."
"I saw it!" Balabu moved his fat body: "Just a ship like this? Even sixty ships are nothing! If I had known better, I wouldn't have agreed to this meeting. It was a waste of my time. "
In the distance, he could see six warships heading towards Dama Island. To be honest, in his opinion, these six warships were too small, only one-third to one-half the size of those warships in the Wei Navy. look like.
In this era where big boats are powerful, five small boats like this are really out of his sight.
Not to mention the navy of the Wei Dynasty, this ship was not even comparable to his own fleet of sea warships. He even felt that the large merchant ships under his banner were not afraid of these pirate ships at all.
After all, the opponent's ship is small, has no ramming angle, and has not seen a crossbow. It is estimated that the opponent can only engage in a gang-up battle at best, but how many sailors can such a small boat have? I'm afraid there aren't as many guards as there are on my own merchant ship.
So before meeting the person, Balabu already looked down upon the other person.
There is no large pier on Da Ma Island. Although Tang Ping's boat was small, it could not completely dock, so it parked about one mile away from the beach.
Tang Ping wanted to go ashore in a small boat.
"Sir, let us follow you!" Qian Laosan and Luo Siye said.
"Okay, I'm here to discuss business with others, not for a fight. Why do I bring so many people with me? You guys stay on the boat. Gui can just watch my gestures and act accordingly."
"Don't worry, sir!" Xue Rengui put the gun on his shoulder and climbed up to the observation deck. From it, he could see the entire beach where Balabu and Tang Ping met.
As long as Bala Bu dares to act rashly, he can lift the opponent's Heavenly Spirit Cover in one second.
When Tang Ping got off the boat, he took Lao Cui, Lao Du, Old Man Pei and an interpreter sent to him by Shang Sixian from the Ryukyu Kingdom. With Old Man Pei and the three of them, he could naturally ensure his safety.
When the boat docked, someone came to search them, but the focus was on Tang Ping and Lao Cui Lao Du. As for old man Pei, a skinny little old man, they just touched them casually.
Seeing how the old man could be knocked down by a gust of wind, if he wanted to harm Master Balabu, he could knock him over with just one kick.
Although it was just a beach, it was decorated quite luxuriously by Balabu, at least in his opinion, it was quite luxurious.
Cashmere carpets from Tubo were spread on the ground, and overhead were luxurious bead curtains imported from East Vietnam. The shore table in front of them was filled with various fruits special to Southeast Asia.
Because he felt that the "Straw Hat Pirates" had a false reputation, he lay down on his lounge chair and didn't even get up to greet him. He put his feet on the wrong side of the beach and asked lazily: "You said you wanted to see me, didn't you? You know what you’re doing!”
"I have met Lord Balabu." Tang Ping smiled and then said, "I had no choice but to hide it before. I am Tang Ping, the Duke of Tang Ping."
"The Tang Dynasty?" Balabu frowned: "Is it the Tang Dynasty that occupied a piece of land in the Sui Dynasty?"
He had naturally heard of the Tang Dynasty, but it was news several years ago. After all, the Tang Dynasty was not close to the sea, and some of the East Vietnamese merchants they could come into contact with would not take the initiative to mention the current prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.
After all, East Vietnam was the richest country in the past, but the Tang Dynasty was developing so fast that it would catch up in a few years. How could those proud East Vietnam merchants admit that there were people richer than them?
The Tang Dynasty that Balabu heard about had always been a poor and backward Central Plains country that was besieged by various forces in the Central Plains.
As for a country like Ryukyu that was attached to the Tang Dynasty, in his eyes, it was just a shabby fishing village. How could the suzerain country they were attached to be a powerful country?
Of course, Shang Sixian of Ryukyu would not take the initiative to mention the current prosperity of the Tang Dynasty to Sri Lanka.
So when he heard that Tang Ping was from the Tang Dynasty and was some kind of prince, he didn't show any respect at all.
"So, you are not a pirate group?"
"It's not true. In fact, we are the Taihao Fleet and the East China Sea Fleet of the Tang Dynasty." Tang Ping said truthfully.
"How many fleets does the Tang Dynasty have?" Balabu asked curiously.
"Just these two!"
After listening to this, Balabu understood that the Tang Dynasty had found some broken ships somewhere, assembled sixty of them, and then came to Nanyang.
He asked Tang Ping to only bring five ships. When he wanted to come, Tang Ping would naturally bring the best warships. These five best ships were only of this grade. You can imagine what this fleet would be like. .
"I heard that your ruler Zhen of the Tang Dynasty and Wei Dynasty had a deep hatred?" He had heard about why Zhen Xiong came to Nanyang.
"Master Balabu is really well-informed. I am here this time just for Zhen Xiong." Tang Ping said directly without going around in circles.
"Hahahaha!" Balabu laughed, and the fat on his face trembled: "According to what I know, the current Wei navy has more than 300 large and small warships, of which almost half are large warships. , wouldn’t you just bring sixty broken ships like this to trouble him?”
"You bitch, you dare to look down on our Taihao ship. If the young master hadn't told you, I would have opened his eyes with these artillery pieces." Fourth Master Luo gritted his teeth and heard Balabu's words clearly through the headset.
What happened to the boat? At that time, these dozen or so small ships were almost destroyed by his pirate group in one round. From then on, in the eyes of Fourth Master Luo, the Taihao Ship was a god!
This Lord Balabu doesn't know anything and dares to speak arrogantly. It's really hard for my uncle to endure it, but even my aunt can't bear it!
Tang Ping was not angry. This was due to poor information. In modern society, some people in Wanwan still believe that mainlanders cannot afford tea eggs and Fuling pickled mustard. How much more so in this era when information is even more limited?
This Bala Divination may be the first person from the Tang Dynasty that he has seen in his life, so it is normal for him not to understand how powerful the Tang Dynasty is now.
"Actually, sometimes the outcome of a naval battle does not necessarily depend on the size of the ship." Tang Ping said with a smile while maintaining his grace.
"It's a joke. I've been traveling in Southeast Asia for decades. What else can I see if I don't look at the size and length of the ship?" Bala Bu frowned disdainfully: "Oh, by the way, I heard that you Tang Dynasty people are also good at conspiracy. What about the Wei Dynasty? Isn’t it because you and the East Yue royal family teamed up to frame the Lord Zhen?"
Tang Ping couldn't help laughing. He didn't expect that Zhen Xiong had gone to Nanyang and actually portrayed himself as a victim here in Sri Lanka.
"Lord Balabu, have you ever thought about why Zhen Xiong came to Nanyang since his navy is so powerful? There is a saying in the Tang Dynasty that in the face of absolute strength, all tricks are vain."
"So you are saying that your strength is stronger than that of the Wei Dynasty?" Balabu didn't believe it: "I think you came to me today because you wanted to unite with me to deal with the Wei Dynasty? But I really can't find a reason. , why should I help a weak force like you and offend the powerful Wei State next to me." "Because we in the Tang Dynasty also have a saying that one mountain cannot tolerate two tigers. In the past, Sri Lanka had the final say in Nanyang, and Bala Divination Your Excellency, one person is inferior to ten thousand people. In one sentence, the whole of Nanyang will tremble. But now that the Wei Dynasty is here, their naval strength is stronger than Srivijaya. Therefore, Sri Lanka has the right to speak in the entire Nanyang. The Buddha became much weaker after his death, am I right?"
Balabu's face began to look a little gloomy. Of course Tang Ping was right. If Srivijaya's family was the only one in Southeast Asia in the past, now it was the Wei Dynasty that stepped in forcefully.
They would definitely not be willing to say they were willing, but there was no way. The navy of Wei was powerful, and Srivijaya's business was spread all over the island countries in Southeast Asia. If they had a bad relationship with Wei, it would cause devastating damage to Srivijaya's sea trade. blow.
"Young man, my patience is limited!" Balabu became a little unhappy when his pain points were pointed out: "You haven't answered my question yet, why should I offend a powerful Wei State for you?"
"Of course we are more powerful than Wei. Lord Balabu, do you want to see it?"
Balabu asked doubtfully: "Here? Are you the only one with these small boats?"
He felt that this man named Tang Ping just wanted to be a free man. He had lost his patience and no longer wanted to waste time.
Time.
"Then I will be offended, Mr. Balabu!" Tang Ping raised his hand to make a gun look, and then made a shooting motion at a flagpole of Balabu on the beach, and made a snap in his mouth. A sound.
Balabu wondered if this young man was crazy. At this moment, there was a sudden snap, and the wooden flagpole pointed by Tang Ping's finger broke in the middle without any warning.
Such sudden changes made Balabu jump. Even when Tang Ping turned around and looked at him, he looked at Tang Ping's fingers in horror.
Is this witchcraft? It must be, right? This was facing the flagpole just now. If it was facing my own head, would my head also be blooming now?
When Tang Ping saw Balabu's appearance, he thought it was funny. He turned around and made the same move to the remaining two flagpoles.
Then there were two more snaps, and the remaining two flagpoles burst from the middle and broke into two pieces, and then fell limply on the beach.
Although there were several muffled sounds from the distant sea, Balabu did not connect what happened here with the muffled sounds from the sea at all.
This flagpole was arranged by his men when he came today. Not to mention that Tang Ping couldn't move his hands and feet, even if he could, Balabu couldn't even imagine how he could do it.
People at the beach are usually superstitious, and it is not surprising that Balabu is like this. He has now attributed what Tang Ping did to the theory of ghosts and gods, and determined that the young man in front of him probably has some kind of witchcraft. Otherwise, how could he be like this? How about becoming the Duke of a country at a young age?
As for what he said that his fleet was stronger than the Wei navy, he was half-convinced. After all, he didn't know if the power of his witchcraft was limited to this. If it was farther and more powerful, it would be the ships of the Wei navy. No matter how big or numerous they are, they are no match for the power of ghosts and gods.
"Does Lord Balabu now believe that we are stronger than Wei?"
Today, Balabu must be persuaded. Whether through coercion or inducement, Tang Ping needs him to cut off Zhen Xiong's retreat on land.
If he still didn't believe in this divination, then he had no choice but to let the Taihao ship fire a few shots to open his eyes.
