The dark shadow of the island is getting closer and closer.
Although it was not a full moon today, the night sky was cloudless, and the moonlight poured down like mercury, reflecting the sparkling waves on the sea and illuminating the large ship anchored on the edge of the island's shadow.
"Brother Yan, isn't that the bird-boat shape we had on Daishan Island before?"
Zheng Haizhu asked behind the telescope.
Yan Siqi said: "It's not a bird boat, it's a seal boat."
Zheng Haizhu was even more surprised: "There is such a small Feng Zhou?"
Fengzhou is a boat used by the Ming Dynasty to send envoys to Ryukyu and other vassal states to confer or reward people. In order to demonstrate the majesty of the country, the boats sent by the imperial court were very large, often exceeding fifteen feet, which is equivalent to fifty or sixty meters in modern times.
Yan Siqi also became curious: "Azhu, do you also know about boats?"
"Songjiang is not far from Taicang County in Suzhou Prefecture. The shipbuilding industry there is as prosperous as ours in Fujian. So I also heard that the craftsmen who came to Songjiang to build ships boasted about some cowhide. Some said that their ancestors built ships for eunuch Sanbao to sail to the West. Where’s the treasure ship?”
"Oh," Yan Siqi explained, "the sealing boats built by the imperial court were indeed too big. If the wind on the sea was not strong enough, they would probably spin around in circles. So not only did we make them much smaller, we also imitated the Frankie boats. The sails, masts and yards of the ship.”
Zheng Zhilong laughed at the side and said: "But we still learned the general appearance of the imperial court sealing a ship. It's majestic. The imperial court can't control us anyway, and there's nothing we can't do or not. So when we look at that ship, it belongs to us."
However, in an instant, there was only a "pop" sound, and a copper arrow and Zheng Zhilong's last words fell on the deck almost at the same time, nailed two or three steps away from the young man, the tail of the arrow was still shaking.
"Ah!" Zheng Zhilong jumped back quickly and stared at the arrow.
Yan Siqi's expression changed, and he hurriedly pulled Zheng Haizhu behind him and ordered the sailors: "Set the trumpet and tell the brothers on the ship that we are back."
The sailor quickly lit a bamboo tube, and several bright purple rays shot straight into the sky.
At this time, the distance between the two ships was only about ten feet. Under the bright light spread by the flare cannon, Yan Siqi, standing on the small boat, could clearly see the keel and side of the opposite ship.
He shouted in surprise behind the telescope: "That's not our ship!"
…
When there was a sudden bang and bright smoke on the ship opposite, Ma Xianglin, the Sichuan soldiers, and Eunuch Liu's royal guards all thought it was a blunderbuss and instinctively lowered themselves down on the deck.
Realizing that it was just a cannon with toner, Ma Xianglin straightened up first and raised the telescope that he had been unable to do without for the past few days.
"Miss Zheng? Eunuch Liu, Zheng, Miss Zheng is on the opposite boat."
The illumination provided by the cannon suddenly gave Ma Xianglin clear vision, but it also made him unable to believe his eyes for a moment.
How could Zheng Haizhu appear on this approaching sand boat of unknown origin, with a tall man standing beside him?
In a brief moment, Ma Xianglin, who was accustomed to quickly identifying enemy cavalry commanders on land battlefields, could see that the man was not an ordinary sailor in appearance and appearance, but that he was a captain.
"No arrows allowed!"
Before Eunuch Liu could say anything, Ma Xianglin ordered the left and right arrows to point toward the deck, picked up two more lanterns, jumped onto the bow of the ship, and waved them in several directions alternately, using the sign language he learned during this trip to sea. It is said that in Fujian and Zhejiang, All ships at sea should be able to understand it.
On the opposite boat, Yan Siqi frowned and said, "The other party asked us if we were in danger and asked us to move closer."
He was still hesitating, only to hear a few calls from the other party called "Miss Zheng, Zheng Haizhu" from the sea breeze.
Zheng Haizhu snatched Yan Siqi's telescope and carefully discerned the sign language person illuminated by the lantern.
"Brother Yan, that is the guard general of our Weaving Bureau. Well, you can see clearly. Next to him is Eunuch Liu, the admiral of the Weaving Bureau."
Zheng Haizhu was happy and surprised.
Fortunately, we didn't encounter any official ships patrolling the sea route.
Surprisingly, what was on the other side was not the lucky ship that the Weaving Bureau was heading to Yueyang for this trip. Why were Eunuch Liu and Ma Xianglin on it?
She put down the telescope and met Yan Siqi's equally suspicious gaze.
"Azhu, how come the Weaving Bureau uses a small boat like ours? Where is our boat?"
Zheng Haizhu shook his head: "It's not the Weaving Bureau's ship, maybe they sailed from Moon Harbor?"
"Impossible," Yan Siqi said firmly, "There is no way there is such a ship in Yuegang."
Years of sea trade experience made Yan Siqi very adventurous, but since there were people from the imperial court on the opposite ship, Yan Siqi immediately became more wary and began to think about how to send Ah Zhu back while keeping a distance.
The two sides suddenly fell into a silent confrontation, and the only sound of waves crashing on the island's rocks was heard.
Suddenly, the silence was broken by Eunuch Liu's shouts and questions on the sealed ship.
"Over there! Why does it look like a Frankie sailing ship?"
Yan Siqi heard this clearly and hurriedly turned back and raised the telescope.
Sure enough, two ships appeared on the sea not far to the south. Under the moonlight, the shapes of the sails were quite obvious.
One of them was obviously a rigid bamboo sailboat common along the coast of the Ming Dynasty.
The other, larger ship had a sprit that stretched forward like a sharp sword, raising a square cloth sail that reflected a gloomy white light.
"It's the Frankies who occupy Luzon Island." Yan Siqi said in a deep voice.
Spanish ship? Zheng Haizhu had a vague feeling of ominous premonition.
But then he heard Yan Siqi continue: "The boat next to it, like the boat patrolling the Ming Dynasty's sea route, is it driving away these hairy monkeys?
"wrong!"
Yan Siqi suddenly raised his voice, put down his telescope, and shouted to the sailors: "The foreign ship is coming across, and they are going to fire over here! Turn the sails, turn the sails, and turn the rudder! Go east, and go to deep water!"
Amidst a series of trembling and urgent orders from the master, the sailors quickly started to perform their duties like parts that suddenly rotated at high speed.
However, a moment later, sparks shone under the deck of the Spanish galleon, "Boom, boom..." and the cannonballs were flying straight over.
"Bang..."
The deflected shell exploded the nearby reef, and the huge shock wave shook Yan Siqi's sand boat and Liu Eunuch's boat, causing them to shake violently. The splashing gravel made the hulls of the two boats ping, and there were even stones. He jumped onto the deck and hit two or three sailors who were lying down, causing them to scream in agony.
As soon as he saw the firelight on the opposite side, Yan Siqi, who was about to push Zheng Haizhu into the cabin, opened his arms, wrapped her up in his chest like a hen guarding her chicks, and threw her on the deck.
In the chaos, Yan Siqi and Zheng Haizhu heard orders from Feng Zhou who was closer to the shore than they did.
The rising anchor chain rattled. Apparently, Eunuch Liu and Ma Xianglin realized that they must restore Feng Zhou's ability to move quickly in the shortest possible time and could not sit idly by this unreasonable attack.
"Boom, boom..."
Two more cannon shots were fired in succession.
The cannonball went straight in the direction of Fengzhou. Although one hit too far and fell directly into the bushes beside the island, the other one flew past Fengzhou's tail and shattered the vertical trusses that built the semicircular observation tower. It exploded like fireworks, but fortunately it didn't damage the nearby mast.
"Damn it, those hairy monkeys who can kill a thousand swords, what are they going to do!"
Eunuch Liu, who had always been elegant and gentle, couldn't help but cursed in shock and anger.
"Father, could they have mistakenly identified the ship?" Ma Xianglin said loudly, "Hurry up and hang up the imperial flag!"
Liu Shimin agreed and ordered the subordinates around him: "Hang the flag, hang the flag quickly, and there are lanterns from the Weaving Bureau."
He believed that General Ma's judgment was probably correct.
Anyway, today, he and Ma Xianglin have met the people they should meet at sea. Whether it is money or some important news about the capital and Jiangnan, they have also brought them. At this time, they put out the Weaving Bureau sign again, Ruoxun When asked about it by the ship from Haidao, they only said that they came to Penghu for a visit on behalf of the Holy Spirit, and there was nothing unreasonable about it.
But what Liu Shimin was curious about was why the Ming Dynasty patrol ship and the Frankie galleon that was firing on the opposite side seemed to be sailing together?
At this time, Zheng Haizhu on the sand boat also saw the flag and lanterns quickly raised on the Feng boat.
"Brother Yan, there are firearms on the Weaving Bureau's ship. At least we can carry it when we escape. We must get on board."
"What if those two ships are not targeting us?" Yan Siqi was still hesitating.
"The sea is so big and they are so close. Do you think we won't be silenced?" Zheng Haizhu's tone became louder. "Besides, how did you know that we are not the target. In the middle of the night, this desolate island is not the target." Why do two ships, one official and one foreign, come to this dock for merchants and smugglers, and start firing without saying a word? Frankies, Frankies from Luzon, think about who you have just offended?"
Yan Siqi stared at Zheng Haizhu, and he saw the woman's eyes were brighter than the firelight.
Yan Siqi suddenly turned around and glanced at the five or six men on the sand boat, including Zheng Zhilong.
He clearly remembered that these brothers killed the Frankies the most at the port of Luzon.
They shouldn't betray him.
Zheng Haizhu was furious. At this time, where was Yan Siqi's decisiveness?
She turned to the side of the ship and looked down at the height. She said, "I don't want to accompany you to death. If you don't come over, I will swim over by myself."
Yan Siqi grabbed her and turned around to order the helmsman: "Go and join Feng Zhou!"
On top of the sealing boat, some sailors saw Shachuan's intention and reported: "They are coming, do you want to mention anyone?"
Ma Xianglin got ahead of Liu Shimin and said, "Tit, mention, helmsman, please slow down, otherwise how can the brothers lower the ladder?"
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