On the towering mast, the idle and bored lookout shouted loudly, and the monocular telescope in his hand tightly locked the shadow of the sail appearing on the sea level in the distance.
"To the southwest, ten nautical miles away, two armed merchant ships!"
Everyone on the deck of the Praise stopped what they were doing, waiting for the lookout's next words. Whether the sail shadow in the distance was an enemy or a friend would directly determine what they should do next. They stretched and lazily walked on the deck.
He was pacing up and down, still like a rabbit whose tail was burned, scurrying to his own artillery position.
The ships of the Dutch East India Company have only one opponent in this sea area that can be called an enemy and needs to be taken seriously, and that is the Portuguese Victor Chamber of Commerce.
However, this place is already far away from the route near Haojingao. In theory, ships from the Victor Chamber of Commerce will not appear here.
As for other ships, it depends on the scale and size of their ships. Is it worth it for these armed merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company to play a role as pirates? Anyway, it is normal for so many merchant ships to disappear on the sea.
The ship sank directly into the sea without even destroying the corpses and traces. Except for the goods and money they plundered, the plundered ship and people disappeared forever.
"It's the Galen ship!"
The lookout put his hand in the telescope and finally saw the opponent's sail clearly. He shouted loudly, and the whole deck suddenly started to boil. Everyone dropped what they were doing and started running towards them according to the orders of the captain and first mate and second mate.
From his position, when he heard that he was encountering a Galen ship, there was no need to question the identity of the other party.
The Galen ship is also called the Spanish treasure ship, with a total length of about fifty meters and a displacement of more than a thousand tons. It is a large-scale military and civilian sailing ship built with the carrack as the main frame. This Galen ship was even used in
The Spanish Armada was equipped with a lot of equipment.
More importantly, this kind of Galen ship is only owned by the Victor Chamber of Commerce in this area. They are the main force of the Victor Chamber of Commerce. Although I don’t know why there are two such ships on this route.
The large sailing ship appeared, but obviously, this encounter was not an unexpected encounter.
Like a frightened big fish, the Tribute suddenly began to speed up. Even the Dutch had always looked down on these vulgar Portuguese, but they had to admit that in this sea area, they, the sea coachmen, faced
Most of the time when dealing with these vulgar Portuguese people, they are at a disadvantage.
Especially armed merchant ships like the Praise, both in terms of speed and firepower, are far inferior to the opponent's Galenic galleons. Once the opponent approaches and picks up the ship, the encounter will basically be over.
These damn Galenic sailing ships were simply designed for boarding battles. They would first use powerful artillery to destroy all the opponent's defenses, and then boarding the battle to end the battle. This became the standard method of naval warfare for the Portuguese, and in
Under this tactics, the Dutch can only be said to have suffered repeated defeats.
"Hoist all sails!"
In the captain's cabin, the captain gave an order with a gloomy face: "Throw away all the cargo, as well as those damn black slaves, throw them all over the sea!"
"Captain, we will suffer a big loss on this trip!"
The first mate's face didn't look good either. All the gains from this trip back from Luzon were on these goods and slaves. If they were thrown all into the sea, their work would have been in vain in the past two months.
"If we don't reduce the weight of the boat, are you sure we can outrun each other? It's a four-gallon boat, please take a closer look!"
The captain's beard trembled: "The damn Portuguese are clearly ambushing us here. Carry out the order, otherwise they will approach. The goods and slaves on the ship belong to them, and our lives are also theirs."
!”
The captain's order was quickly implemented. Although there was a commotion during the execution, and even a few firecrackers were fired. However, as the heavy cargo and the wailing slaves were thrown into the sea, the entire
The speed of the Li Zan also immediately became faster.
In the eyes of everyone on board the Praise, the ferocious sail shadow in the distance not only did not gradually grow larger, but instead became smaller and smaller, and finally disappeared from everyone's eyes.
Many people knelt on the deck and began to thank God. Although they usually described God as a useless old guy, at this moment, they clearly felt his kindness.
"Get rid of them!"
The first mate appeared in the captain's cabin panting: "However, even a lot of food and fresh water have been abandoned. Captain, we need to resupply as soon as possible!"
The captain stared at the chart and said without raising his head: "If we don't get rid of them, they will always bite us from behind. Once they find that we are slacking off, they will pounce on us like hungry wolves and tell all the sailors,
Don’t relax even for a moment!”
"If the crew asks, where are we going?" the first mate asked.
The captain's hand moved slowly on the chart, and then finally stopped at a point: "In this direction, our goal can only be here. Yes, tell the crew, let's go to Naha. When we get to Naha
, these Portuguese people have nothing to do with us, we can seek protection from the local kingdom!"
More than ten nautical miles behind them, on the huge Galen ship, Jiang Yanran and Li Huamei stared at the Portuguese merchant ship in front of them with wide eyes.
He was vomiting and having diarrhea, throwing things and... people from the boat.
"Did we scare them?"
Jiang Yanran touched her smooth chin and said thoughtfully, while Li Huamei had no time to pay attention to her immediate boss. Instead, she directed the crew to put down the ship and began to salvage the cargo floating on the sea along the route.
and those who mourn.
Regardless of whether the merchant ship in front misunderstood them, once these goods and people are in their hands, they are theirs, and it is all money!
"I think they think of us as pirates!"
After issuing the orders one by one, Li Huamei answered Jiang Yanran: "But this situation is generally rare. Even if they think we are pirates, most ships will not act like it when they get close and see our flag."
They do!"
"Our ship is very fast. In fact, those merchant ships can't outrun us at all, can they?"
Jiang Yanran chuckled: "But it's interesting. This ship seems to know us very well. It doesn't even give us a chance to get close. As soon as it finds us, it immediately runs away without hesitation. I didn't even see their flag clearly.
Woolen cloth!"
"It's the Dutch!" Li Huamei said with an unchanging expression: "We are cruising around the Solace Department, and occasionally we see Dutch warships. There are some, but not many. Miss, you have to come out and cruise with me this time to meet them.
One ship is considered lucky!"
"I have always been very lucky!" Jiang Yanran laughed and looked at the direction in which the other party's ship disappeared in the distance: "Hua Mei, let's go back. They seem to be heading in that direction too. Will they?
They will think we are chasing them!"
"I don't care what they think. I just know that after being out for several days, I want to go back and take a good bath and then have a delicious meal!"
Li Huamei looked ahead, which was the direction of Naha Port: "But I think we should be able to see this Dutch ship in the port!"