In the northern waters of Dinghai, more than twenty rocket boats, like flying fish, sailed on the sea from east to west at an astonishing speed.

The slender hull swept across the sea, leaving behind long white water lines.

Zhuo Yiqing stood on the deck of one of the rocket boats. She was holding the mast with one hand and holding a single-barrel telescope in the other hand.

"Commander, in front of us is Yangshan Island. This is the place where merchant ships from Zhejiang must pass through. Do you think we can really stop the silver ship?"

"The government is extremely careful when dispatching ships to deposit money. How do the ANBU people know when the ships will come out?"

Zeng Tai felt that this operation was a bit mysterious.

News came from the secret service that the Zhejiang governor's office had escorted 200,000 taels of official silver from Hangzhou and was preparing to escort it to Tianjin.

Originally, these official banks had to go through the canal. There were officers and soldiers from the canal transport yamen along the canal, so security was higher.

However, because the Taiping Army besieged Nanjing and the Yangtze River was full of Taiping naval forces, the escort ship was diverted by sea and land this time, with the Dinghai Navy responsible for escorting along the way.

"This is not something you and I need to figure out. As long as the head of state knows about it, all we have to do is complete our tasks well."

"Wait a moment when we find the silver ship, we separate five ships to attack the silver ship. The other warships disrupt the formation of the escort warships. This time we not only want to seize the official silver, but also attack the Dinghai Division.

Inflict heavy damage. Without the Dinghai Division, our operations in the Zhoushan Islands will be more convenient." Zhuo Yiqing said.

During this period, Zhuo Yiqing led a privateering fleet to take the initiative and hijacked two foreign merchant ships, attacked a Qing navy camp, and once landed on Liuheng Island in the south of Dinghai.

However, the Dinghai Division responded quickly, and thousands of Qing troops quickly counterattacked.

Zhuo Yiqing's men fought with the Qing army on the island, but did not gain any advantage.

These pirate-turned-private fleet sailors are indeed lacking in land combat capabilities.

Moreover, Dong Liang had not yet had time to equip them with muskets on a large scale.

Zhuo Yiqing then withdrew from the island.

This time she happened to seek revenge from the sea master.

Last time we were on land, this time we met at sea.

The Dinghai navy spent most of its time hiding in the port.

The Dinghai Fort was a key fort built by the Qing army. It was not cost-effective to attack it by force just with Zhuo Yiqing's ships.

"I'm going, it's really here, it's the Dinghai Navy's warship." Zeng Tai exclaimed.

To the southwest of the privateer fleet, there was indeed a fleet heading this way.

This Qing fleet consisted of five shuttle ships and four centipede ships.

The four centipede boats went in front to explore the way, and the shuttle boats followed behind.

"Start taking action!" Zhuo Yiqing asked the flagman to convey the order to each ship.

"That's not right, Commander, I didn't see the silver ship." Zeng Tai said.

"Idiot, the government must have put the money on the ship." Zhuo Yiqing said.

Under normal circumstances, the government would use lucky ships to carry silver.

But the speed of the fuchuan is much slower than that of the shuttle boat.

This time they learned a lesson and put the silver coins directly on the shuttle boat.

"Did you see the shuttle boat in the middle? Does it have a deeper draft?"

Zeng Tai looked carefully and saw that the shuttle boat in the middle was surrounded by four other shuttle boats. It was obviously a silver ship.

This means that the government does not have three hundred taels of silver here.

Under the command of Zhuo Yiqing, more than twenty rocket boats have a clear division of labor and orderly actions.

Quickly approach the Qing Navy.

"No, it's the Red Flag Gang." On the Dinghai Navy warship, the person in charge of escorting official silver was Guerrilla San Yuxing.

At this time, when I saw a group of small warships in the distance, my eyes almost popped out of my head.

He has dealt with the Red Flag Gang several times.

These people don't know where they got so many new small ships.

The rockets loaded on it are very powerful.

One shot can severely damage a shuttle ship. What's more important is that they are extremely fast. As long as they are targeted, it is basically impossible to escape.

"Get ready to fight!" San Yuxing shouted loudly.

The task of escorting official silver is unusual.

This money was urgently needed by the court.

The Cantonese bandits have reached Jiangning, and the court must quickly send troops south to support them.

But dispatching this large army requires money.

However, after Xianfeng succeeded to the throne, his old man Daoguang left him an empty treasury.

In the past two years, banditry has continued throughout the imperial court, and the Yellow River has burst its banks, so the money in the household department has been spent like running water.

Huang Zonghan, the governor of Zhejiang, was a capable official. He was well aware of the court's predicament, so he urgently raised 200,000 taels of official silver in Zhejiang and sent it to Beijing to relieve the court's urgent needs.

This Huang Zonghan is just fifty years old this year and is a fellow Dong Liang from Quanzhou. He lost his father when he was young and was raised by his elder brother.

In the second year of Xianfeng's reign, he was promoted to governor of Yunnan, but before he took office, he was changed to governor of Zhejiang.

After taking office, Huzhou's first-line grain supply was stranded, and he lost more than 300,000 taels of silver due to changes in price. The chief envoy Chun Shou committed suicide in a hurry. Huang Zonghanshu asked the original rice to be transported to the capital according to the newly established water transportation route, and obtained permission to ensure the grain supply of the capital.

Jiangning City was besieged by the Taiping Army, and Huang Zonghan dispatched three thousand troops to support.

This time, an additional two hundred thousand taels of silver were escorted to Beijing.

San Yuxing knew that if he lost this official silver, his life would definitely not be saved.

As the rocket boat formation approached, the Qing army's shuttle boat took the lead in firing.

On the sea, the flexible rocket boats dispersed immediately when they saw the opponent shelling them.

Although the distance was still far and the Qing army's artillery fire was basically not accurate, the rocket boats were small in tonnage and lacked defensive capabilities.

No one wants to be shot and die before they can get out of the battle.

"Group into groups and attack!" Zhuo Yiqing ordered, and the flag bearer standing behind her quickly passed on the order.

The training during this period is still effective, at least these former pirates already know how to act according to orders.

The two dozen rocket boats immediately divided into five groups and attacked the five shuttle boats.

Four centipede boats rushed up and tried to intercept it.

But if this kind of centipede ship is hit by a rocket, it's basically doomed.

"Whoosh..." The rocket boat leaning in front fired its rocket decisively after getting closer to the centipede boat.

Because the Centipede ship also has no decent attack methods, the rocket boat can attack closely.

This greatly improves the Rockets' hit rate.

"Boom, boom, boom..." The four centipede ships turned into fire ships one after another.

The five shuttle boats of the Dinghai Navy had already completed their U-turn at this time and were preparing to escape back.

San Yuxing thought the centipede boat could delay the attack for a while, but he didn't expect it to be sunk as soon as it encountered him.

And the speedboats of the Red Flag Army were chasing his fleet like a pack of wolves.

"Disperse and retreat." San Yuxing really had no other option but to spread out and increase the success rate of the retreat.

The silver was placed on his boat. Therefore, the shuttle boat he was on had the deepest draft.

Two hundred thousand taels means twenty thousand catties.

The Qing navy's dispersed retreat was actually in line with Zhuo Yiqing's wishes.

They have a large number of rocket boats, and the opponents are spread out, which makes the combined attack of the rocket boats easier.

Under the attack of four or five rocket boats, not a single Qing shuttle boat was able to escape.

…

The battle ended quickly. All the rocket boat had to do was to catch up, withstand the bombardment from the opponent's shuttle boat, and then successfully launch the rocket.

The sound of gunfire on the sea finally stopped, and none of the five shuttle ships sank, but the decks were in a mess due to the explosion and burning of rockets.

Zhuo Yiqing was dressed in a bright red willow leaf shirt, with his hair tied high on his head, and he jumped onto Sanyu Xing's shuttle boat with extraordinary agility.

Most of the officers and soldiers on the shuttle were killed in the battle, and most of the remaining ones surrendered and are now being imprisoned.

"Found it."

Zeng Tai's voice came from the cabin. He was Zhuo Yiqing's important helper.

"We found it when we found it. Clean the battlefield and let's leave quickly." Zhuo Yiqing shouted to the bottom of the deck.
Chapter completed!