Daming pirates

"Musketeers, get ready, guns down from your shoulders! Get ready to fire!" someone in the queue shouted.

The musketeers unloaded their flintlock rifles from their shoulders one after another, checked the condition of the fire door, and after confirming that the loading was correct, there was a clicking sound, and they opened the hammer with the flint stuck in it, and were ready for the final launch.

.

The first row of musketeers leveled their spears with a clang at the command, and pressed the butts firmly against their shoulders. The biggest difference between the Sea Wolf's muskets and the Ming Dynasty's bird guns of this era is probably the biggest difference in appearance.

It's not an inconspicuous flintlock device, but their gun butt.

The muskets of this era did not have a shoulder butt. There was only a dog-leg shaped curved grip on the back of the gun, which could be held by the musketeer. When the musketeer was holding the gun, the aiming was not stable.

, all the recoil force when firing is borne by the wrist.

How could Yu Xiaotian still use such a butt? Since Seawolf produced the first matchlock gun, they have adopted a shoulder butt that is close to that of later generations. The butt is made of hard oak, walnut or even lychee wood.

, very strong and durable. When fired from the shoulder, the musketeer can obtain a stable support point, making aiming easier and the shooting accuracy improved.

After these musketeers leveled their spears, they began to look for their targets through the rear sight and front sight. After finding a suitable target, they locked on the target and waited for the order to fire.

After the official and army archers fired their arrows, they felt very nervous. Seeing that the first round of arrow rain did not cause much trouble to the Sea Wolf, they quickly started to shoot arrows. The arrows kept flying towards the Sea Wolf's battle formation, but

The threat to Sea Wolf's soldiers is not great.

"Fire..."

"Bang bang bang..." In front of the sea wolf warrior array, a stream of fire suddenly spurted out, followed by a cloud of gunpowder smoke.

Looking at the front of the formation, a dozen archers suddenly screamed miserably, spitting blood, threw away their bows and arrows, and fell down in front of the formation. Their whole bodies were twisted in pain, and they were rolling on the ground holding the wounds on their bodies.

Got up.

Sea Wolf's flintlock gun has a larger caliber and greater power. Although the range is somewhat affected, the effective range still reaches about 70 steps. However, the precise shooting distance can only be guaranteed to be about 40 steps. The two sides are now separated from each other.

It's probably less than sixty steps, and it's within the effective range, but accurate shooting cannot be guaranteed.

But this has little impact. Anyway, in the era of front-loading muskets, firepower relied on concentrated fire and volleys, firing many projectiles together to create a full-scale killing effect. Therefore, Li Dazui did not care about this. He did not disarm the opponent's bow and arrow.

Before threatening him, he decided that it would be safer for his soldiers to stay outside the effective killing range of the opponent's bows and arrows.

The first row of gunmen had just fired, and the musketeers who had already fired did not even check the effectiveness of their shooting. They turned around and moved the musketeers in the back row to the front, quickly returned to the back of the queue, and began to put down their muskets and quickly reload them.

.

Without saying a word, the musketeers in the second row immediately lowered their guns and began to take aim. Soon they fired Sea Wolf's second salvo, and another group of officers and soldiers on the opposite side fell immediately.

Li Dazui was a little surprised, because after the two rows of guns were released, they had already knocked down twenty or thirty officers and soldiers of the opponent. However, these officers and soldiers did not collapse and were still crowded together. This made him feel a bit confused.

Because he thought that this group of officers and soldiers should be a mob at all. If they fired a row of guns, they would be blinded. However, after two rows of guns were fired, the other side was not in chaos. Could it be that the guards of Chongwu Station were all elite soldiers?

?

So he ignored the musketeers and beckoned the twenty gunners carrying the Crouching Tiger Cannon to come forward and ordered them to lower the Crouching Tiger Cannon. The twenty gunners of the Crouching Tiger Cannon immediately began to deploy and load the cannon.

stand up.

At this time, the musketeers had fired three salvos in succession, knocking down a group of officers and soldiers. Just before the Sea Wolf's Tiger Crouching Cannon opened fire, suddenly the officers and soldiers of the Chongwu Institute let out a cry of exclamation, and suddenly it was like

As if the nest was exploded, chaos began to appear, and they rushed towards the Acropolis.

The chaos of the officers and soldiers happened so quickly that Li Dazui and his men were shocked. It took them a while to realize that it was not the officers and soldiers who were resisting the beating and were well-trained, but the officers and soldiers who had just been beaten.

Their volley of musketry was so shocking that the Chongwu Guardsmen were stunned for a moment and were unable to react for a short time.

After being hit by three rows of gunshots, this ragtag group of people finally reacted formally. Each one of them was so frightened that they no longer cared about other things. They all let out wild screams and roared towards the Acropolis after losing the guy.

Escape.

Li Dazui cursed secretly, and then laughed. He did not give any orders to pursue the defeated soldiers, and allowed them to flee into the acropolis like crazy. He closed the door with a bang, and then the cannons began to fire on the city.

With a loud sound, several cannons on the Chongwu Fort guarding the city roared.

The dock is still a few hundred meters away from the Acropolis, and the place where the two sides fought just now is also a few hundred meters away from the Acropolis. If it were not for Western-style artillery at this distance, it would be difficult to reach the queue of Sea Wolf soldiers, so the Acropolis

The cannons did not pose much of a threat to them at all. The cannonballs fell to the ground far away from the Sea Wolf battle formation. They bounced a few times and then stopped on the ground. At best, they gave the soldiers at the guard station some psychological comfort.

That’s all.

Li Dazui didn't care what the officers and soldiers were doing inside the acropolis! He left a detachment to monitor the acropolis, and the remaining more than a hundred soldiers immediately rushed to the dock, mounted the gun mounts, and aimed at the merchant ships on the dock.

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At this moment, the people on the merchant ship were all scared out of their minds. There was a fleet of sea wolves at sea blocking their escape route. Even the officers and soldiers on the shore were defeated by the sea wolves and surrounded the dock.

At this moment, they were crying all the time, complaining that the earth and the earth were not working properly. They were all so frightened that they lay on the boat and didn't know what to do.

At this time, a sea wolf warship sailed into the harbor and shouted at the merchant ships in the harbor with a large copper trumpet: "Listen, I won't provoke you, but you are going to help the government deal with me. Today

Don't any of you even think about escaping. Take a boat and follow me immediately. Otherwise, we will burn you all with fire and kill you all! Now you all follow my instructions, pull up the anchors and sails, and follow me honestly.

The boat must go away, otherwise my cannons will not be vegetarian!"

A boatman on an approaching merchant ship shouted: "My dear man, spare your life! You guys do not want to be enemies with you. It was the government that forced us to come here to help in the war. How dare we, a common people, not listen and still do this?"

I hope you all good men will be more generous and let us go!..."

"Bah! Stop talking nonsense. If you say anything more, show your boat to the public. If you dare to talk so much nonsense, I will open a few holes in your boat now! If you don't want to die, just follow me. I don't have time to delay with you here.

Time!" The tribesman on the Sea Wolf ship yelled back with a loudspeaker.

At this time, the boatmen on these merchant ships were so frightened that they no longer dared to talk nonsense. Li Dazui on the shore also ordered people to shout loudly at these merchant ships in the harbor, and forcibly seized several sampans on the shore, and arranged

The soldiers divided into groups and began to board the merchant ships. They controlled the boatmen with swords and guns, ordered them to raise the sails and anchors, and left the port of Chongwu Suo.

There were more than 60 merchant ships on the dock, and more than half of them were soon controlled by the Sea Wolf. The rest couldn't leave and had nothing to do. In order to save their lives or save the ship, they had to follow the Sea Wolf's fleet.

Driving away from Chongwu Suo, heading towards Nanyue Island.

On the periphery of the fleet, there were two "Fei" clippers cruising slowly around the fleet, monitoring the movements of these merchant ships.

When it got dark, all merchant ships were ordered to light lanterns to illuminate the location of their ships. After going to sea, Sea Wolf sailors boarded the ships that had not been controlled by the Sea Wolf tribe in batches and completely controlled them.

Merchant ship.

After it got dark, the boatmen on one ship in the fleet, led by their steward, tried to resist and escape from the fleet. However, as soon as they started, the steward on the ship was chopped down by the Sea Wolf tribe who were escorting the ship.

On the deck, the resistance was quickly quelled.

Therefore, these merchant ships followed Liu Yidao back to the voyage and were escorted back to Nanyue Island.

Chapter 13: Discussing Crime and Accountability

Zhu Qinxiang, who was in Xinghua Prefecture and prepared to personally command the attack on Nanyue Island, was the first to learn about the attack on Nanyue Shuizhai and Puxi. After hearing the news, Zhu Qinxiang stood up in shock.

, and quickly asked what the result was.

When he learned that Sea Wolf actually destroyed the naval warships gathered in Nanyue Water Village in one fell swoop and set fire to Nanyue Water Village, Zhu Qin was so angry that he flew into a rage and asked why the navy of the navy was so miserable.

So the person who reported the news quickly told Zhu Qinxiang in detail how Hailang had sneaked into Nanyue Water Village and bombarded Puxi City. He inevitably exaggerated and doubled the number of Hailang's fleet.

, saying that seventy or eighty warships came at once.

More importantly, there were many Hongyi cannons on the pirate ships, which fired far and hard. Although the navy warships fought hard, they were outnumbered and attacked by waves, so they were finally defeated. General

Liu Yinglong was "seriously injured" and is currently being treated at Nanyue Shuizhai.

In addition, Hailang also tried to attack Puxi Institute. Under the leadership of Zhang Jiace, the deputy general who was stationed at Puxi Qianhu Institute, the army repelled him and killed more than a hundred thieves. Their heads were already delivered to Xinghua Mansion and are waiting for them.

Prime Minister Zhu Qin sent someone to check.

After Zhu Qinxiang heard this, he was very frightened. He didn't understand water warfare, and of course he didn't know that the Ming Dynasty's warships couldn't carry Hongyi heavy artillery. He could only listen to what the messenger said. As for Zhang Jiace's words about repelling the pirates

Although he didn't know much about military affairs regarding the attack on Puxi Institute, he was not a fool either.

Puxisuo has gathered more than 2,000 officers and soldiers. No matter how fierce the Sea Wolf is, he should not take the risk of attacking Puxisuo City. In fact, Zhu Qinxiang is not stupid. He can guess after just thinking that the Seawolf must be

Ships were sent to bombard Puxi City to restrain Zhang Jiace's troops so that they could not go to Nanyue Water Village to support them. As for killing more than a hundred pirates, it was probably just a lie.

However, the person who came to report said that the captured thieves' heads had been transported to Xinghua Prefecture. He probably guessed that this was probably Zhang Jiace and his men who killed some coastal refugees or petty thieves and then used

Their heads are used to take credit in order to reduce their guilt.

As a high official in the imperial court, Zhu Qinxiang was very familiar with the behavior of local officers and soldiers. However, although he had doubts about this kind of thing, he had no real evidence. There was no way to punish warriors like Zhang Jiace. Moreover, now that the navy had suffered a new defeat, the sea

He didn't know what Wolf would do next, and it was inconvenient for him to expose Zhang Jiace's tricks when it came to hiring people.

Just when he was extremely angry about the defeat of Nanyue Water Village, another news came from Quanzhou on the third day, saying that Chongwu Station had been attacked by pirates, and all the merchant ships gathered at the dock of Chongwu Station were captured by sea wolves.

Go, and several naval warships were sunk by the pirate fleet.

But like Puxi Institute, Mr. Bai Qian over there also said that they repelled the pirate attack on Chongwu Institute, killing dozens of pirates and damaging several pirate ships, but because they were outnumbered, they failed in the end.

Can those merchant ships be saved?

Fortunately, Mr. Bai Qian was not extremely shameless. He just said that he had killed dozens of thieves, but he did not recover any heads. There was no real basis for his claim.

All in all, this time Sea Wolf must have found out the news that he wanted to invade Nanyue Island in a large scale, so he decided to strike first, and before the government took action, Prime Minister Zhu Qin gave him another powerful attack.

As a result, his plan to mobilize troops on Nanyue Island this time has basically come to nothing. The naval warships assembled at Nanyue Water Village are the main force of this operation, and the Fujian Navy assembled at Xinghua Bay

However, there were only forty warships, and a large number of the merchant ships that he had managed to seal were also robbed by sea wolves, making the number of ships available to him simply not enough to use troops against Nanyue Island.

After calming down, Zhu Qinxiang had a feeling of horror. This time he still greatly underestimated the strength of Sea Wolf. Sea Wolf really had many Hongyi cannons and a considerable number of ships as rumored.

The strength of the navy at the hands of the government was so inferior.

From this battle between Nanyue Water Village and Chongwu Suo, he can roughly guess that Sea Wolf is quite powerful at sea. If not, even if Sea Wolf sneak attacks Nanyue Water Village, Nanyue Water Village gathers

With more than 60 naval warships, it is unlikely that the sea wolf will take the blame.

Moreover, from the battle reports, he did not see anyone saying how many Sea Wolf warships were destroyed. So although he did not see this battle, he could guess that it was a one-sided battle. Sea Wolf completely suppressed the official army.

The navy, which had almost no power to fight back, was destroyed by the sea wolf's fleet.

Although he was very angry about this result, when he calmed down and thought deeply, coupled with the opinions of his two subordinates who were his masters, Zhu Qinxiang was still shocked and broke out in a cold sweat.

Because if Sea Wolf hadn't taken a preemptive approach this time and came to Nanyue Water Village to destroy the naval warships he mobilized and took away the sealed merchant fleet at Chongwu Station,

Once he sent troops to attack Nanyue Island under unknown circumstances.

And Sea Wolf has enough strength to destroy the fleet he sent on Nanyue Island. By then, Fujian's losses may not be what they are now.

At that time, it is very likely that the tens of thousands of soldiers he sent to Nanyue Island will be destroyed by the sea wolves. If that is the case, he may not only be dismissed from his official position, but he will also start provocations, which will lead to the defeat of the officers and soldiers.

A huge defeat, the entire army was destroyed, and more than ten thousand officers and soldiers died in the battle. This is enough to behead someone many times.

Thinking of this, Prime Minister Zhu Qin didn't know what he was feeling in his heart. Since he arrived in Fujian to take up his post, he had planned to follow the example of his predecessor Nan Juyi and make achievements in the suppression of bandits at sea to add to his official reputation.

A stroke of heavy ink and color.

However, he chose the wrong target and targeted this group of sea wolves. When he took office, he just mentioned that he wanted to invade Nanyue Island and slay the sea wolves, which led to the pirate surnamed Yu.

Launched a large-scale raid on the coast of Fujian that lasted for more than a month.

It had only been less than half a year since he finally calmed down. He finally mobilized some strength and prepared to avenge his shame and severely punish this group of pirates. However, he didn't expect that his fists had not been extended, and they had to strike first.

The slap was thrown over and he was given a big slap again. This time he was probably in big trouble.

But the Sea Wolf's actions were only the beginning. After they successively killed the Nanyue Island Navy Fleet and robbed the Chongwu Suo Merchant Fleet back to Nanyue Island, the Sea Wolf began to harass people on a large scale again.

In the coastal areas of Fujian, just like last time, we only targeted some large families along the coast.

Moreover, most of these wealthy families had some criminal records. The Sea Wolf navy and soldiers cooperated with each other. In the next few years, they went on a rampage along the coast of Fujian and broke into dozens of villages.

Fortress villages, the people in these villages were kidnapped off the land, and their whereabouts were unknown.

Although Prime Minister Zhu Qin also expected that the Sea Wolf might launch such a raid and strictly ordered the coastal prefectures and counties to strengthen their defenses, the Sea Wolf now has many eyes on the land. Basically, they are aware of the coastal regiment training, the deployment of local braves and the official army.

If you find out, you can always choose to launch a surprise attack in a place where the government cannot take care of you.

Moreover, they never hesitate to fight, and they will leave with a single strike. By the time the officers and soldiers sent by the government arrive at the place where the accident occurred, the sea wolves have often retreated.

Of course, there are also situations where the Sea Wolf is doing something and has no time to retreat and is blocked by the officers and soldiers. But even if the officers and soldiers don't come, once they block the Sea Wolf tribe that landed ashore, the officers and soldiers realize that the Sea Wolf is really not easy to deal with. They

Equipped with a large number of "guns" and a lot of artillery, not to mention extremely powerful firepower, the Sea Wolf tribe was also well-trained and never backed down from battle, and they fought very hard.

Often, even if the official army barely manages to block the Sea Wolf tribe that has not yet withdrawn, even if they have a superior force, they are often defeated by the Sea Wolf soldiers and throw away their helmets and armor and return in defeat.

After more than a month of this, the coast of Fujian was like a boiling pot. The bustle was a mess. Officials in various places were pressing the gourd and raising the gourd. Either something happened here or something happened there. The officials along the coast were very worried about this.

I couldn't help but complain against Prime Minister Zhu Qin who provoked this incident.

No matter when, the Ming Dynasty never lacked people who wanted to rise to power. After Zhu Qinxiang took office as the governor of Fujian, he hardly made many political achievements. Instead, he made the coastal areas of Fujian a mess, which angered the people who were quite gentle before.

Sea wolf, the forced sea wolf started to become more ferocious.

In addition, the defeat of Nanyue Shuizhai caused heavy losses to the Fujian navy, so naturally some people started to talk about this matter to Prime Minister Zhu Qin. For a time, many people submitted ammunition and seals to the capital, including officials from the capital.

After hearing the news, he heard the news and participated in the impeachment of Prime Minister Zhu Qin. The charge was that Prime Minister Zhu Qin had provoked border provocations in Fujian, which resulted in a huge defeat, which led to increased banditry along the coast of Fujian, disturbing people and damaging wealth.

Originally, Prime Minister Zhu Qin also thought of this and sent people to Beijing to try to suppress the incident. However, the result was not ideal. The incident was too big and it was beyond his ability to suppress it.

Prime Minister Zhu Qin also thought about finding someone to take the blame for this matter. The best candidate was undoubtedly Zhang Jiace, the deputy general who was in charge of Puxi Institute at that time. However, don't underestimate Zhang Jiace. He is just a military general. This guy's mobility is quite powerful.

Afterwards, he immediately found Yu Zigao, the current commander-in-chief of Fujian Province, and entrusted the matter to Yu Zigao.

(Today is the Lantern Festival. I took my family out to play during the day. The update is a bit late, so I will just post two chapters at once. I wish everyone a happy Lantern Festival!)