Dragon Sea Empire

At this moment, wind and waves are sweeping in from all directions, and the sky has completely darkened.The strong wind blew away the fore-mast square sail that was too late to furl, and the sailors put down the main-mast canvas desperately, but the bowsprit above it was broken by the storm.The bow of the boat was drawn into the waves again and again, and struggled out of the water again and again.

Yin Feng and Bernardo stumbled down to the bottom of the bilge, where water had already collected up to their ankles.All the people, regardless of color or nationality, were busy, and a few wine barrels and benches were floating along the current under people's feet.

There was water seepage in the front part of the keel of the ship, and a large amount of sea water seeped in on the port side, and the water level in the bilge was getting higher and higher.The crew desperately used cloth and cowhide to patch the holes, and blacks, Indians, Malays, and Chinese languages ​​were noisy and chaotic.

The captain, first mate and others stood firm on the deck, while the dozens of people below the cabin were completely confused.Bernardo has never traveled the route north of Macau, and has no experience in typhoons in the Northwest Pacific; Zeng Jingshan has only been doing business on the mainland all year round, and has no sailing experience; Years of experience in field interviews made him calm down quickly.

Yin Feng yelled: "The crew should repair the leak, and the others will drain the water!" He first organized the servants of the Zeng family to drain the water out with all devices that can be used to bail water. This is the first priority: otherwise not only the cargo in the cabin would be damaged, and the ship itself would be finished.Then he ordered the crew in Portuguese to use all means to plug the leak, and the crew who were familiar with the situation of the ship also began to concentrate on plugging the leak, but the situation was only slightly relieved: more sea water was poured in from the hatch mixed with wind and rain.

It is impossible to open the porthole at this time, and the water cannot be discharged if the hatch is closed. If it is not closed, more and more seawater will be poured in.

Yin Feng climbed out of the hatch with difficulty, and saw the first officer lying on the hatch and was about to come in. Yin Feng shouted: "Tell the captain, more and more seawater is pouring into the bilge, but the problem with the hull is not serious. ,what to do?"

The first officer did not hesitate: "Close the hatch!"

The hull was creaking, and the sound of the wind and waves was getting louder.The dampness in the pitch-black bilge could almost squeeze water out of the air, and it was getting hotter and hotter, and all kinds of strange smells hit people's noses.Everyone was swaying along the bumpy hull, and from time to time someone bumped into the boards, objects or people, making painful muffled noises.The muddy water rolled over people's feet, bringing up unknown sundries.This was the first time Yin Feng encountered such a dangerous situation, so he could only force himself to remain calm.

After an unknown amount of time, "Boom!" The hull of the ship shook suddenly, and a creepy creak came from the deck.Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, and the members of the Zeng family began to kneel in the sewage to pray for Mazu; the blacks prayed to God, the Indians prayed to Varuna, the water god, and the Malays prayed to Allah; Bernardo and his men kept on praying. sign the sign of the cross on his chest.

Fortunately, it was just a broken foremast.The first officer went down to the cabin and told everyone that the wind had subsided, and asked everyone to continue to drain water.

Yin Feng got out of the cabin, it should be daytime now, but he still couldn't see anything clearly except the waves and the storm.Lin Ashui, the guide guide, was looking at the compass on the bow of the boat. He told Yin Feng that the storm had been blowing for three days, and the boat had at least drifted with the wind for thousands of miles.

"Then where have we been?"

"I don't know." Boss Lin said bluntly: "For a while, our ship was spinning in place. Last night when the wind and waves were the strongest, the ship shook violently, and the compass was useless, and we couldn't figure out the direction."

Captain Rodriguez also came to the bow at this time, and Yin Feng translated the guide's words to him.The captain was not nervous at all, and patted Yin Feng on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, God blessed us last night, as long as the ship is fine, we will be safe."

"This is Mazu's place, your god is probably useless." Of course, this sentence is only what Yin Feng said from the bottom of his heart.

The wind and rain were indeed gradually decreasing, and by noon, the sky began to brighten.One of Goa's two masts snapped off, and the remaining mainmast lost nearly half of its sails.In addition, the crew of the bilge reported that the water tank storing fresh water was broken, and the remaining fresh water could be used by the whole ship for up to 2 days.

The crew below the deck were still draining the stagnant water. After Yin Feng and Bernardo got on the deck, the wind and rain gradually stopped.Suddenly, a ray of light in the southeast sky tore through the dark clouds, and everyone's eyes lit up: in an instant, thousands of rays of sunshine cut through the dark clouds in the sky, the blue sky suddenly appeared, and the sea immediately calmed down obediently and obediently.A piece of emerald green land suddenly appeared in front of everyone, with a winding coastline.

The storm finally passed.

However, the Goa had lost her foremast, most of her sails, and had lost power.The boat slowly drifted into an open bay along the high tide and the westerly wind. There seemed to be residential houses on the coast with sandy beaches and rocks in front of it.Further inland are rolling green mountains, mostly smoky.When the boat approached the coastline, everyone saw a simple bamboo trestle beside the beach, and a few small fishing boats parked on the beach.The residential area by the beach in the distance is a mess of Chinese-style buildings. There is a fence surrounding the entire residential area. There are gates and a simple watchtower at the exit of the fence.

The captain looked at the settlement with a telescope, and asked the guide Lin Ah Shui: "What is this place?"

Lin Ah Shui looked around and said, "The Pirate's Nest."

Yin Feng ignored the translator and asked in surprise, "The Pirate's Nest? Could it be..."

"This is Yaogang, and this island is what the government calls Dongfan or Beigang."

This is the Hong Kong of Taiwan Island. In Yin Feng’s world, it was the so-called Daofeng Inner Harbor by the Dutch. It was located in the Haomeili area at the mouth of Bazhang River in Chiayi County, Taiwan Province. Later, because of the diversion of the Jishui River, the flood destroyed Maojia. The peninsula is connected to the entrance and exit of the land, and Yaogang has become an isolated island. In addition to the siltation of the waterway, its status as a port has been replaced by Budai Port; the bay to the south is Dayuan Port. The embedded city is there.

Yin Feng didn't expect that in this era, he would arrive in Taiwan for the first time when he traveled overseas. He was very excited: "Ah, this is Taiwan!!"

"Dayuan Harbor in Taiwan's Wowan is further south, and this is Demon Harbor." Lin Ah Shui was busy correcting the mistake, but did not pay attention to Yin Feng's excited expression.According to legend, the name of Taiwan comes from "Taiwan Bay". The Dutch occupied Anping in May of the fourth year of the Apocalypse (1624). At first, it was only called Hong Kong Road, but later it was changed to the name of the whole island.

Of course, there are other sayings: Taiwan is a homophonic word for Dayuan: the word "Taiwan Member" is contained in the "Yuan You Bian Dong Fan Ji" written by Quanren Zhou Ying, and now "Taiwan" is still read as "Taiwan Member" in Hokkien of.In his previous life, Yin Feng always wanted to travel to Taiwan but failed. Now that he suddenly came to Taiwan 400 years ago, he couldn't help dancing.

The captain looked at Yin Feng's excited look, and asked for no reason: "Mr. Yin, what is this place? Can I get supplies and repairs?"

Yin Feng hurriedly said: "This is the base of pirates along the coast of China. It's called Yaogang. You should be able to get everything here..."

The captain frowned and was very puzzled: What are you, a businessman, excited about when you arrive at the pirate's lair?

He loudly ordered the crew to take out their weapons from the cabin, and ordered to temporarily stop the drainage, and try their best to repair the sails.It happened to be low tide at this time, and the Goa lost power and could not be steered, so it had to follow the current and start drifting towards the sea again.But the sea ebbed too fast, and after a while of shaking and creaking, the ship ran aground on a seabed beach about 1000 meters away from the coastline.You can only leave here when the tide rises again in the afternoon.Ships must have their sails repaired and power restored before they can ride the tide out of here.

The situation was not optimistic, and when everyone rushed to repair the sails, a sailboat appeared from the east of the bay, with crooked rigid sails, and the stern was higher than the bow.Someone exclaimed: "It's a Japanese pirate's ship!"

That's right, this is the so-called "Yamato" sailboat, a Japanese sailboat built on the basis of the advantages of Chinese hard sails. In appearance, the stern is taller than the bow.The authentic "Yamato-type" pirate ships from Japan often hang the Hachiman Bodhisattva flag, so they are generally called Hachiman ships.

The resistance of Japanese ships to wind and waves is very poor. This ship must have been avoiding wind and waves in the port. Now it can take the opportunity to rob the immobile Goa.

Everyone panicked. The reputation of the Japanese pirates was notorious in the East Asian maritime circles, and the Portuguese had always been inseparable from their friends and foes.Seeing the Japanese ship sailing straight towards the Goa, the sharp blades of the knives and guns reflecting in the sun, its intention was obviously not a friendly visit.

The captain ordered the first mate to take charge of the defense.There is a small copper cannon on the bow and stern of the Goa ship, which was originally used to fire shotguns to resist pirate attacks at close range; at the same time, the ship is equipped with 16 matchlock guns, 5 pistol-type trigger crossbows, miscellaneous Portuguese Several swords, as well as 6 short knives and two shoulder poles that also serve as weapons.The matchlock guns were assigned to the black crew, the trigger crossbows were assigned to several Malays, and the Chinese armed themselves with their own cold weapons, mainly defending the hatch area.

Yin Feng loaded ammunition into his revolver and stood among the armed crew.The Negro Magaro stood beside him, holding the ship's carpenter's iron hammer.The two looked at each other and smiled at each other.Yin Feng has a good impression of this black man: he doesn't talk much, but he is hardworking and willing to work, and now he regards Yin Feng as his master and follows him all the time.

The Japanese ship was getting closer and closer, and the flag hanging on the top of the sail was painted with the pattern of Hachiman Bodhisattva. The deck was full of pirates dressed as Japanese ronin, and more than a dozen long oars were paddling desperately on both sides of the ship.

"Crack!" With a sound, the Japanese pirate's boat stopped and ran aground.

There was a burst of cheers on the Goa, but soon there was a burst of exclamation: the Japanese ronin pirates lowered three small boats, and nearly 30 Japanese pirates boarded the small boats one after another, paddling and continuing to approach the Goa.They turned the boat towards the coast, then turned the boat towards the Goa, rushed towards the Goa merchant ship in the direction of the current, and yelled for a while.

No one on the Goa can understand Japanese, but everyone knows that the Japanese pirates' attack is about to begin.

"Boom..." There was a chaotic sound of firecrackers firing, and the crew of the Goa gathered on the deck bent down one after another, and a few Japanese iron cannons - arquebus bullets hit the ship's side and mast.The first officer suddenly shouted: "Okay, launch!"

The small copper cannon on the bow that had been prepared for a long time was fired, and with a loud "boom", countless iron sands rushed towards the three Japanese pirate boats.The Japanese pirates who were caught off guard suddenly had five or six people screaming and falling into the water, and four or five people fell on the small boat and screamed.

But these Japanese pirates were obviously all desperadoes, so they didn't panic because of this. Those who were not injured immediately fought back, and "bang bang" continuously knocked down the crew around the small bronze cannon in the bow of the ship, including the chief officer who had no time to dodge.Everyone was shocked, the black sailors rushed to the bow of the ship and fired indiscriminately. After more than a dozen gunshots, no Japanese pirates fell down. Instead, several blacks were knocked down by the Japanese pirates' bullets, screaming and wriggling on the deck. Blood began to flow.

Yin Feng was floating under the bow on the left side of the ship, a few bullets flew over his head, his palms were sweating, and his heart was beating wildly.He had already fired three shots, but it felt as if he had hit no one.Combat with this early firearm for the first time left him momentarily empty-headed about shooting and dodging shots.

This scene of gunfire was very unfamiliar to the other Chinese businessmen present. The servants of the Zeng family and Zeng Jingshan gathered at the cabin door, completely at a loss in panic with cold weapons.

Seeing that the situation was urgent, the captain ran to the stern with the second officer, dismantled the small copper cannon at the stern, carried it to the bow, put it on the side of the ship, and fired it.

"boom!"

A rain of iron sand splashed on the Japanese pirates on the sea.It's a pity that the bronze cannon was mounted on the ship's side this time, and the shooting angle was too high in the panic. This cannon only overturned one Japanese pirate in the sea.

But the Japanese pirates began to retreat. They had already suffered more than 10 casualties. It was not clear how many guns could be fired on the Goa, so they retreated first.

Before the Japanese pirates withdrew, they fired indiscriminately, wounding both the captain and the first mate, lying on the deck moaning in a pool of blood.This time, the crew who lost their leadership became even more flustered.

The Japanese pirate's small boat returned to its side, took away the wounded, boarded a group of fresh troops, and then rowed to the Goa again.

But there was chaos on the Goa, Yin Feng stood up and took a deep breath, looking at the Japanese pirate boats on the sea: there were not many of them, only about 30 people.There are more than 30 crew members and passengers on the Goa, but they are already in complete chaos.If this continues, the Japanese pirates' second attack will easily succeed.