Daming: Brother, there is no future for monks, let's rebel

Chapter 189 The Ancient Pirates’ Raiding Experience 【Full Decision】

As a businessman, no matter how rich he was, he was just a junior official of the seventh rank, and he was not at the same level as Tang He, a first-rank official.

But even with such a disparity in status and status, Tang He was very polite to Maru Ali. Even after the two left Yingtian Mansion and started sailing, the more they chatted, the more speculative they became. Maru Ali betrothed his two younger sisters to Soup and concubine room.

Maru Ali knew that as long as he could establish the relationship between Tang and the Duke of Ming, then no matter what kind of business he had in the future, he would be able to flow unimpeded between Daming and Xiyang.

"Duan Gong doesn't know whether he is reliable or not?" Tang He knew that as long as he crossed the Strait of Malacca, he would be in a completely unfamiliar area.

Many city-states and island countries near the seas of Nanyang know the prestige of the Ming Dynasty, or the strength of the Central Plains Dynasty, and they will obediently provide fresh water and food.

Once entering the Indian Ocean, according to the chart provided by Zhu Han, there are hardly many islands that can provide supplies, only a vaguely marked Duan Gong Bengal.

Since Duan Gong fled from northern Myanmar to Bengal, he sent people to contact the Ming Dynasty by sea.

He offered local specialties and hostages at his location, and was granted the canonization of Zhu Yuanzhang, Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty.

One of the more important goals of Tang He's voyage to the West this time was to deliver some military supplies to Duan Gong, and to check the reliability of Duan Gong by the way.

After all, if Duan Gong can be cultivated into a shit-stirring stick, it will not only make Yunnan behind Chen Youliang unsettled, but also provide a springboard for Daming to enter Tianzhu in the future.

"Firuzisha of the Delhi Sultanate has always had the ambition to unify the whole of India. How could he tolerate a foreign invader occupying the rich Bengal? So Duan Gong's situation must be very unstable. Once the Ming fleet arrives, He will definitely receive his sincere support and welcome." Maru Ali's analysis of the situation in the Indian mainland was very clear, which gave Tang He a reassurance.

Because India has always been in a state of fragmentation in history, and they have no reliable historical materials to record the past. When Zhu Han formulated the navigation manual, even if he obtained a lot of information, he could not make a reliable description of the current situation in India. , so at this time the role of Persian merchants such as Maru Ali came to the fore.

This is also the purpose of Tang He's wooing Maru Ali along the way. Although Daming's army is strong and powerful, but on the western ground, they are always unfamiliar with the place.

It is necessary to make good use of leading parties like Maru Ali and shit-stirring sticks like Duan Gong.

Tang He and Maru Ali were on the bow of the boat, admiring the sea scenery along the way, while talking about the next stop, India and Bangladesh.

suddenly.

Dots of ships appeared on the sea ahead.

And these ships are getting faster and faster from far to near.

Maru Ali has been sailing in this sea area all year round, and just by visual inspection from a distance, he can immediately see that these ships are coming with bad intentions.

"General Tang is not good. I'm afraid the pirates are here." Maru Ali exclaimed all over his body.

"Pirates? How dare we use pirates to rob such a powerful fleet?" Tang He couldn't believe his ears.

You must know that after Tang He set up the Ming fleet to enter Nanyang, let alone pirates, even all the country and city-states treated them respectfully and politely. No one dared to show any disrespect to the powerful fleet of Ming Dynasty.

Why did these blind pirates appear when they were about to leave the Strait of Malacca?

"Old horse, don't make a mistake, use my binoculars to take a good look." Tang He couldn't believe it.

He really couldn't figure out how many unscrupulous pirates would catch up with him and die with such a powerful fleet?
"The general is indeed a pirate, quickly send someone to repel them!"

Through the soup and the binoculars in his hand, Maruali soon saw many arsonist ships among the sudden appearance of ships.

This kind of arson ship is the most frequently used offensive method by Tianfang believers in the West.

All of them use light sails and hulls, which are almost irresistible and terrifying weapons in offshore waters.

Because the draft of these arson ships is very shallow, they sail very fast on the water.

As long as they are targeted by them, it is almost impossible for ordinary ships to escape the pursuit.

These arson ships were filled with heavy kerosene provided by Western Tianfang Cultists. These heavy kerosene came out of underground black springs. After being ignited, even if they were poured with water, they could not extinguish the raging flames.

Any ship on the sea that is stained by them will be reduced to ashes in a short time.

"The arson ship, general, is a terrible arson ship!" Maru Ali's voice trembled a lot.

The pirates in the Western and Southern Seas are basically composed of Tianfang Cultists, and the largest Tianfang Cult city-state near Malacca is the city of Uka where they stationed not long ago. Maru Ali has guessed that this time the so-called pirates, the sneak attack must be with Suleiman III, the lord of the city of Uqa, was inseparably linked.

People deliberately planned to ambush him, and they also used these terrible arson boats. Maru Ali felt that he was really in danger this time.

However, it was obvious that Maru Ali's words did not panic Tang He in the slightest.

"It's just a few pirates. Even if there is some kind of arson ship, it's nothing for birds in front of our cannons." Tang He waved his hand and ordered the sailors beside him to issue a flag order to make the surrounding warships do their best. Ready for battle.

At this moment, many ships appeared on the sea ahead.

There are almost two or three hundred ships, which completely cover the passageway in front of them.

Not only that, but many light ships also appeared in the mire and swamps on both sides of the bank.

Thousands of ships in four directions, front, back, left, and right, almost surrounded the Ming army.

Although Maru Ali has seen the strength and wealth of Ming Dynasty, he also knows that the ships of the Ming army are almost invincible in the seas of East Asia.

But this is Nanyang after all, and the most powerful navy is still controlled by the Tianfang Cultists, and the size of the ships used by these pirates is almost 10 times that of the Ming army.

Maru Ali had never seen the power of the Ming Navy with his own eyes, so he always felt that this time might be more ominous than good.

Even if these pirates can be repelled, they will suffer serious losses.

Maru Ali loaded the accompanying merchant ship full of valuable goods such as silk, tea and porcelain, and any loss would be unacceptable to him.

Hearing the commander Tang He's order to launch a counterattack, Maru Ali immediately persuaded from the side.

"Don't worry, general, why don't we send someone to negotiate with them first!"

"Negotiation? How can my dignified officers and soldiers negotiate with these pirates." Tang He refused the proposal of negotiation without hesitation.

"The generals and the others have terrible arson ships in their hands. Once these ships burn, they will ignite raging fires even on the sea. If they don't burn all the ships, they will never stop!" Maru Ali began to ask Tang He Describe the horror of setting fire to a ship.

Unexpectedly, after Tang He heard it, he didn't feel the slightest panic or fear.

Not only that, but Tang He smiled slightly and relieved Maru Ali: "Old horse, I know what you said, and it's nothing unusual. His Royal Highness once told me that when we were in Song Dynasty Shen Kuo once recorded the oil in northern Shaanxi, and that thing also burned with black smoke, and ordinary water and soil could not extinguish them, and these arson ships were probably loaded with such things.”

Regarding Tang and these big guys, under Zhu Han's suggestion, Zhu Yuanzhang did not relax at all in training and improving these princes and generals. Popular science books like Shen Kuo's "Mengxi Bi Tan" were naturally learned by them. Transparent, after all, the vivid graphics and texts in it are very helpful to improve the cognitive level of ordinary people.

"General, you know such terrible weapons, why are you not afraid that they will set fire to our ships?" Maru Ali was already extremely puzzled.

Logically speaking, Tang He knew that the arson ship was using a secret weapon called oil, and naturally knew the horror of this weapon, so logically speaking, he should agree to his proposal to negotiate with the pirates.

"Although this kind of arson ship is scary, as long as they don't get close!" Tang He said confidently.

"Don't let them approach, how can we do it? These ships are sailing very fast." Maru Ali said while pointing to the arson ships in the distance that started to unfurl their sails.

At this time, there was already a slight westerly wind in the strait. As long as the sails on the arsonist ship were supported, they could immediately launch a suicide attack on the warships of the Ming army.

Tang He smiled coldly, "My Ming ships are strong and powerful. We only need to use artillery to smash these arson ships from a distance, so that they can't get close! Even if we have great skills, our ships will not be hurt. One cent!"

Maru Ali has only heard of the Great Ming Cannon, which is extremely powerful, but he has never seen it with his own eyes.

Now that Tang He is so calm, Maru Ali can't help calming down.

Under the command of Tang He, the Ming army quickly launched a defensive formation.

A large number of warships lined up on the periphery, and all the ships used their sides on the deck to aim their artillery at the pirate ships on the periphery.

Because of these new warships, all the destructive power comes from the artillery on the side of the deck, so aiming at the pirate ship with your weak side is the best way to take advantage of the artillery.

But for those pirates, they felt that these Ming warships were already scared out of their wits.

Because in the impression of pirates, although their naval warfare weapons include the scorpion crossbow and catapult on board, there are only two weapons that play a decisive role in naval warfare. It is the sharp ramming angle directly in front of the battleship.

Right in front of every pirate battleship, there is a sharp ram wrapped in bronze.

When the warship sails to the highest speed, these sharp bronze rams can carve out a huge hole in the enemy's warship.

As long as the hull is damaged, the rough waters will destroy these poor ships.

Suleiman III and the pirate chiefs around him had already made predictions.

They felt that the Ming army would definitely send people to negotiate for peace when they saw such a powerful pirate fleet.

At that time, the pirates will first pretend to agree to negotiate to let the Ming army relax their vigilance, and then use arson ships and warships to destroy all the warships of the Ming army, snatch the remaining cargo ships, and minimize their own casualties.

After all, Suleiman III had seen the excellent equipment of the navy soldiers of the Ming army in Wuka City. Once the Ming army escaped the attack of the arsonist ship, the subsequent hand-to-hand combat would definitely cause a lot of casualties to the pirates. .

But the subsequent reaction of the Ming army was beyond everyone's expectations. Instead of sending anyone to negotiate, they put up a defensive formation.

"By Allah, these stupid Ming people are planning to die here."

Seeing this, Suleiman III couldn't help showing a ferocious smile.

Since they were unable to carry out their own conspiracy, Suleiman III and the pirates decided to show their cruelty to the fullest.

The city of Uka, where Suleiman III was located, and these pirates all believed in the Tianfang religion.

According to their teachings, robbing the property of pagans and killing their lives is as natural as harvesting crops in the field.

"Issue an order for the arsonist to attack."

Suleiman III, as the leader of this group of pirate chiefs, issued an order to fight.

According to the estimates of Suleiman III and the pirates, the group of Ming army ships in front of them did not understand the key points of naval battles at all. They dared to expose the fragile sides of their hulls in front of the pirates' arson and rush ships, so wait for them There is only failure and death.

"Kill it!"

"The true God is great!"

"Arau Akbar!"

With a sound of shouting, dozens of pirates' arson ships were released by the wind, and rushed towards the warships in front of the Ming army.

These fireships are very thin and flimsy.

As long as it hits the battleship of the Ming army, it will inevitably be scattered into pieces. At that time, the kerosene in the arsonist ship will leak out and ignite the battleship of the Ming army.

As dozens of arson ships with billowing black smoke were released, Suleiman III and a group of pirates drove the ships behind and approached unhurriedly.

They know the power of arson ships, so they must keep themselves at a safe distance.

Seeing dozens of arsonist boats rushing towards him, Tang He immediately ordered that the battleships in the front row snipe these small boats with artillery.

"Heavy shotgun!"

"Load, heavy shotgun!"

Following the issuance of a burst of orders, a command sounded immediately from the Ming warship ahead.

When Zhu Han was building the navy of the Ming Dynasty, he was already familiar with the naval warfare techniques around the world today, and he made corresponding checks and balances.

Among them, the arson boats often used by Tianfang believers are also what the Ming navy officers and soldiers often need to deal with in exercises.

To deal with such a thin and fragile arsonist ship, it does not need a powerful projectile.

Just heavy shotguns slightly larger than ordinary shotguns can smash these arson ships at a very safe distance.

"fire!"

"fire!"

...

As the order sounded on the battleship of the Ming army, dozens of artillery roared horribly.

"Boom boom boom!"

"Boom boom boom!"

The continuous sound of cannons was like the roar of thunder, which stunned the pirates in the distance.

The artillery of the Ming Army not only shocked the sky, but also made them dumbfounded by its power.

I saw that the artillery on the warships of the Ming army only fired one round, and almost [-]% of the arsonist ships were destroyed. The detonated kerosene raged on the sea surface. Because the kerosene did not find any attachments, it was quickly torn apart under the washing of the waves. , did not pose any threat to the warships of the Ming army at all.

(End of this chapter)