open sea

Chapter 177
The cabin was shaking, and Chen Mu sneezed.

There is no trace at sea, and the long pursuit is far more difficult than land battles. Fortunately, they have binoculars and centipede boats. With their vision and speed, they lost three times and caught up three times.

The fleet has been separated by eight or nine miles, all relying on the fast boats in the middle to take care of it. Even Deng Zilong's centipede boat has become a lighthouse at sea, and Chen Mu's boat is at the forefront alone, and it is still three times away from Zeng Yiben's fleet. Wuli, dare not get close.

The wind direction changed, and the continuous rain made a lot of gunpowder on the ship damp. Chen Mu didn't want to face the siege of tens of ships fighting hand in hand alone.

The only benefit of avoiding the war is to let the Xiangshan army get enough rest. Although sleeping in the cramped and humid cabin is not comfortable, they are too tired. Even if they sleep in the pigsty, as long as they let them sleep, Chen Qianhu's proud flag army will be very happy .

The weather was beautiful, two consecutive days of cloudy rain finally saw the sun again on the third morning, the morning glow was thousands of miles away, the sea and the sky were the same color, especially when served with delicious boiled fish soup, it made people feel open and even forget the haze of the upcoming battle.

They are very close to Tuen Mun.

"Thanks to Chen Shoubei, otherwise we wouldn't even have fish soup!"

Chen Mu was very satisfied after eating a meal with a smile. Standing on the forecastle, he watched the flag army clean up the damp gunpowder and wipe the gun barrels, and wrote down the fishing gear and cook in the dried and brittle notes. Design for coastal rainy conditions.

Their boats were full of combatants, and their sea experience was far inferior to that of Chen Lin. Without fishing gear, they could only cook porridge. If it weren't for Chen Lin's sailors to catch fish along the way, they would not be able to drink fish soup at all.

Moreover, the cooks on the centipede ship and the flag army cameo were too good, and the good ingredients were all in vain.

The closer he was to Tuen Mun, the more relaxed Chen Mu felt. Zeng Benben did not lead the fleet to go elsewhere, but went straight to Tuen Mun, the only way to go back to Nan’ao, Fujian. Burn down and rob most of the warships in Guangzhou, and there are only three or two kittens left behind who can't catch up with him, so you can sit back and relax.

Only he didn't expect that the government army had organized a huge fleet to lay a net in Lingdingyang, just waiting for him to go to Tuen Mun for a decisive battle.

"Master Chen, there's a fight ahead!"

Qi Zhengyan rowed down the sail rope, turned somersaults on the deck to relieve the momentum, got up and ran up the forecastle holding the telescope, handed out the telescope to point out the direction to Chen Mu, and said, "It should be Li Dan!"

Chen Mu frowned, and raised his binoculars to look in the direction Qi Zhengyan pointed. In his field of vision, he could see several sloops approaching Zeng Yiben's fleet, and the black-tailed lucky boats of the pirates fired fiercely at them.

He recognized at a glance that those boats were the rewards he gave Li Dan for capturing the boats for him in Haojing!
"Order to prepare for battle, advance at full speed, and put two small flag arrows on the rear ship."

The sound of Xiaoqi arrows exploding on the sea surface behind him reached Chen Mu's ears. He concentrated on watching the battle on the sea ahead. The few small boats could never be Zeng Yiben's opponents. Once impulsive, fleets appeared in several directions towards the center of the battlefield for reinforcements.

On the sea level in the far southeast, hundreds of small boats of various types are approaching rapidly one after another. Needless to say, it is naturally Bai Yuanjie's fleet that has already arrived in Tuen Mun.

In the southwest, huge sails and masts were raised on the sea level, and a huge red cross was painted on the light yellow sails with oil paint. Then Chen Mu saw the hull. The shape of this ship was larger than any warship he had seen before. It is half as long and wider than Captain Centipede. The bow deck has three floors, and it is taller than Fuchuan.

The wooden structure of the whole ship is painted black. The people in Haojing call the ship driven by Franji people the Big Black Ship. Its real name is Carrick. It is a huge merchant ship in the Mediterranean Sea that is about to disappear into the long river of history.

Although there is only one ship, Chen Mu can imagine how intimidating Zeng Ben's pirates would be if such a huge monster appeared on the sea. In fact, if this ship is his enemy, there are only two choices he can make.

Either lead the small fleet to rush up and burn it, or rely on speed to throw it away and fly away.

Artillery battles and boarding battles are impossible.

Deng Zilong's centipede boat obviously received the message from the small flag and arrow, and it swung at full speed to catch up.

"It's a war, it must be a war! Chen Erlang didn't wait for me!"

A few miles away at sea, Chen Lin could not see the firefight in the distance, but could only see Chen Mu's two centipede ships driving away from them at a high speed. He was so angry that he patted the bow of the ship and complained.

In fact, the speed of the sailing boats is about the same. The Clippers and the Fuchuan use the same size sails, so they are faster, but the speed is also limited. However, since the appearance of the two centipede boats, Xiangshan, everything has changed.

In the past, sailors didn’t like to see centipede boats, because the cabin couldn’t fit too many fire attack equipment, and just rushing into the enemy’s line at a fast speed would be burned to death. Enlightenment - No need for fire, fast enough boats, strong enough murder cannons, everything!
The sailor's lucky boat swayed, but the centipede boat broke through the waves, and even crashed into the battlefield one step ahead of Bai Yuanjie's large boats, spinning around and shooting a cannonball at the end of the pirate fleet.

"Bump it!"

After only a moment of artillery battle, Chen Mu leaned on the mast and ordered to Shi Qi who was steering: "Bump his bow!"

In the middle of the battlefield, the four single-masted boats were thrown by the pirates and burned the sails of one of the boats in a blink of an eye.

Not far away, the Fuchuan, the largest in the pirate fleet, had just adjusted its sails and turned the rudder, and rushed towards the other two sloops rushing to the rescue with a distance of one mile, looking like it was going to hit and sink them directly.

On the two small boats rushing to the rescue, Chen Mu clearly saw Li Dan with a boat rope tied around his waist and a knife ready for battle.

If the lucky boat cannot be stopped, it will be crushed once it is hit... Chen Mu used this method to overturn three small pirate boats in succession the night before, and he knew too well what would happen if a big ship collided with a small boat.

Although it is a adopted son who was picked up, but a adopted son is also a son, the sound of father is not in vain.

"The flag army is on the forecastle, ready to jump!"

The rope was wrapped around the right forearm several times. Chen Mu stepped on the bow of the ship and ordered the warship to drive in at full speed. The Japanese pirate fleet dashed left and right, hitting and slapping the small boats along the way, bringing continuous vibrations to the hull. The Fran machine guns on the side of the ship bombarded frequently, making the surrounding Japanese pirates cry for their fathers and mothers.

The Japanese pirates on the lucky boat saw that this huge monster was going to hit their leader's ship and turned around quickly, but it was too late, not to mention that they didn't have the speed to intercept them, so they could only watch the centipede boat getting closer and closer to their leader's lucky boat. closer.

Zeng Yiben also saw this big ship piercing into the heart of the ship array like a sharp sword, but it was obviously too late to adjust its direction at this time, so he could only shout loudly: "Hurry up!"

boom!
Click!

Loud noises and earthquake-like vibrations almost threw Chen Mufei out. If it wasn't for the bow parapet to stop him, many of his flag troops would fly out. The ship almost tilted past.

Chen Mu stood up and shook his drowsy head. Without his order, the flag soldiers with blunderbusses were already condescending and shooting at the Japanese pirates on the blessing boat, and then jumped off the bow of the boat.

Not to be outdone, Chen Mu dragged the boat rope and swung among his flag troops on the deck, grasped his left hand tied with a splint and hung on his chest, looked around at the Japanese pirates swarming up with soldiers, and drew out his waist knife with his right hand.

"Kill them!"

　Good morning!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)