In fact, the situation was better than what Li Mingxun thought. Although the fake ship was slightly lower than the San Juan, the difference between the two was not much. It was not until dawn the next day that the captain of the San Juan discovered that they had been chasing for one night, and with countless shells, they only sank a pile of rotten wood.

In this era, the boring voyage life is destined to make the captain of every sea ship not have a hot temper. After careful calculations, the captain of the San Juan found that it was difficult for him to catch up with the "gold and silver ship" and was forced to give up. After all, he still had more important tasks and could not waste his time on Coquera's private commission.

Seven days later, the Taiwan Strait.

The sun rose from the sea level and the wind rose again. Lin Cheng ordered the sails on the rear mast to slow down the ship speed. He had already entered the strait. The island covered with lush trees on the east side was the destination of the trip, but it was also a dangerous place. The place near the coast was covered with reefs, and the hydrological conditions of the Taiwan Strait were very complex. This is also the main reason why it is very close to Fujian but not developed.

The situation of the Yongjin Ching was not good. After a long time of sailing, the bottom cabin had begun to seep water, the sails were damaged, the water in the bucket was stinking, and everyone's stomach was tortured by dry cakes, bacon, and beans. Lin Cheng came out of the bottom cabin and was about to go back to take a break, he found Ma Wei sitting on the stairs leading to the stern of the boat, muttering disdain: "What's the use of singing? I think Mr. Li is just a false reputation, just pretending to be a ghost here."

"Shut up and don't control your mouth well, so I will sew it up with a line!" Lin Cheng cursed.

Near the deck of the bow of the ship, including Ah Hai, more than a dozen young and a half-year-old boys were lined up in two rows, chanting some strange songs loudly there. Lin Cheng listened to Ah Hai's singing, which was not a dirty joke, nor an opera, but a ballad compiled by Li Mingxun. All the processes of using a cotspeare are compiled into songs, so that all children can learn to sing. After singing, there will be a competition to load and clean muskets. The slowest person has to take on the fastest person to clean the deck.

With a burst of laughter, Ah Hai raised his arms happily, and the slowest person ran to the bottom cabin, brought a big basket, and distributed the rope to all the children. Under the supervision of Li Mingxu, the children began to tie knots while singing. If it weren't for their movements, some people might think that this was the monks in the temple doing rituals. At this time, many idle sailors joined in and watched there, and many people learned.

Lin Cheng brought a glass of water, mixed it with honey and some wine, so that it could remove the stench inside, walked to Li Mingxun, handed it to him, and asked, "Mr. Li, what are you doing? Are you knotting? These children have learned a long time ago."

Ah Hai took a knot just tied and handed it to Lin Cheng and said, "Uncle, Mr. Li teaches the Thai people knots. There are dozens of them. Let us learn the twenty-four most commonly used ones. Look, you have never taught me this kind of knot."

Lin Cheng took it over and looked at it for a while, and found that he had never seen it before, but found that although it was simple, it had obvious effects. He was amazed. He slapped his thigh and said, "All of you, no matter who you are, can learn the fighting style taught by Mr. Li, and I will give him a tael of silver!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone on the boat shouted excitedly, and Lin Cheng said again: "The first one to learn, I'll give him five taels!"

Another burst of excitement made more people join in. Everyone was busy. One person suddenly pointed to the west and shouted loudly: "There are ships, and there are ships!"

Everyone was quiet now. Ah Hai climbed up to the top of the mast like a monkey and shouted loudly: "It's not a plywood boat, it's a lucky boat and a bird boat, maybe it's a member of the Zheng family."

Ma Wei and others also gathered over and looked at the ships in the distance with vigilance. At this time, the Yongjin was already in the Taiwan Strait, and it was the most dangerous black ditch. For thousands of years, this black ditch was the biggest restriction on the mainland's development and migration on Taiwan. It was extremely dangerous. Lin Cheng obviously did not want to fight in this ghost place. He held down Ma Wei's Japanese knife pulled out: "Old Ma, don't be impatient, figure out the situation before talking about it."

The Zheng family ships in the distance had obviously occupied the upper wind direction, and the faster bird boats came first. At this time, it was clear that there were two lucky ships and four bird boats. One mile away, because it could clearly see the armor reflected by the people on the ship. On the coast of China today, only the Zheng family fleet could equip soldiers with armor.

When Lin Cheng saw the deck full of rude men holding weapons, he knew that this battle was inevitable. The group of hideous guys would never return without success. Lin Cheng ordered: "Song Laoqi, hold the rudder, Ma Wei, you and I will lead people aside. Mr. Li, take the children and the gunners to the stern of the ship, and the people there will be given to you to command."

As he said that, Lin Cheng stuffed a musket into Li Mingxun's hand, and he took the bow bag and arrow bag from his subordinates. Although Li Mingxun had seen the situation, he was still a little nervous at this time. He held the Portuguese mesh gun produced in Goa, his finger joints were a little white, and he hurriedly ran towards the stern of the boat. However, Ahai and his children were very calm. Ahai smiled and said, "Sir, just hit the group of those who rushed in front, kill a few leaders, and the ones behind will pee. Hehe, they are just like that."

Seeing that Ah Hai, who was only fourteen years old, was so calm, Li Mingxun was even more embarrassed. He forced himself to calm down. He carefully loaded the medicine and said to more than a dozen gunmen around him: "You all obey my orders, fire the muskets, Ah Hai, go and bring the gunpowder and lead, they will give you the command, and they will only be responsible for loading the medicine!"

Ah Hai was slightly stunned and said, "Okay, sir, we all listen to you."

At this time, the Zheng family's fleet was less than a hundred steps away from the Yongjin Ship, and the leader above had already started to shout.

The sea breeze tear the voices of the leader and Lin Cheng, but Li Mingxun could still listen to it. The two were negotiating about the water order flag. Since the Battle of Liaoluo Bay, Zheng Zhilong defeated the Dutch and forced the Dutch to offer sacrifices and offer crowns and scepters. Including the East China Sea and the South China Sea, Zheng Zhilong was the de facto maritime overlord and also obtained the power to issue the water order flag from the then Fujian Governor Xiong Wencan. The original intention of this power was that when the Ming Dynasty could not provide financial support for coastal defense, Zheng Zhilong came forward to raise food and wages to support soldiers. The so-called flag was the product of combining the water order salaries paid by Fujian and Guangdong sea merchants, with tax inductions of 3,000 taels per ship. At that time, people said that Zheng Zhilong could earn tens of millions per year alone, which is actually an exaggeration.

There is naturally no water sign flag on the Yongjin River. If Lin Cheng was willing to buy it, he would not have fallen into Manila and settled in. Of course, the lack of a sign flag does not mean that war will begin immediately. The Zheng Group was born into a pirate group, and corruption is an inherent problem. Lin Cheng naturally knew this and began to negotiate the price with the leader. He could leave safely after reaching an agreement on the price, but Lin Cheng would never accept it when the other party proposed to check on the ship.

There are more than 100,000 yuan of stolen silver on the Yongjin Centre. If it is found out, even a ship of people will not survive.

Li Mingxun held the musket tightly and hid behind the railing of the stern building. He listened carefully. At some point, the opposite side brought the Dutch into the topic. Suddenly the atmosphere became tense. Li Mingxun poked his head out and found that the people on the Zheng family were throwing grappling hooks on the Yongjin Ship, and he knew that this accidental encounter would not be good.

boom!

A violent cannon sound suddenly exploded at the bow of the ship. Li Mingxun knew that there had been a move ahead. Sure enough, the sound of shouting and killing and the sound of Jin Tie clashing. Li Mingxun poked his head and took another look. A bird boat had already been against the stern of the ship. Several hook ropes were thrown up. The two ships were approaching quickly. The gunman hiding in the stern of the ship had heard the slang of the people outside.

Li Mingxun listened quietly. After hearing the collision between the hulls of both sides, he immediately ordered the fire. Li Mingxun was the first to stand up, put the musket on the railing, and aimed at a small leader below who was waving his waist knife and shouting.

With a bang, Li Mingxun felt that his shoulder was punched, and then he was covered by the thick white smoke from the muzzle. However, at that moment, Li Mingxun saw the target being aimed suddenly tilted backwards, and his head turned into an exploded watermelon. At the same time, the sound of a bean-like gunfire resounded throughout the stern. In the thick smoke, balls of orange flames bloomed, and there were already casualties on the bird boat below.

Li Mingxun was stunned by the bloody scene in front of him. When hesitated, Ah Hai handed over a short flintlock gun, but there was smoke in front of him. Li Mingxun said to Ah Hai: "Hurry, bring a few hooks to cut them off, and they can't get up!"

Ah Hai lifted the short axe on his belt and stepped forward and slashed hard. Several young men also came forward to help, cutting the hook in a few strokes. The screams of falling sounded. Li Mingxun smiled. When the smoke dissipated, he saw more than a dozen corpses on the bird boat below, and many people fell into the water. He patted Ah Hai's head and said, "I'll leave five people for you to watch this bird boat, don't let someone climb up, the rest follow me!"

After allocating the personnel, Li Mingxun carried the bird gun loaded with the medicine, held the short gun, and ran to the front of the stern building. When he arrived in front, he found that a bloody battle had entered the deck. Ma Wei slashed wildly with a Japanese knife in his hand, protecting Lin Cheng back. Lin Cheng's body was covered in blood, and was obviously injured. Li Mingxun shot the guy who wanted to come up along the stairs and ordered people to line up on the stern building to shoot the crowd below.
Chapter completed!