Song Sichen visited for a while, then lowered his telescope and said: "The ship with the Blue Shark flag must be a pirate ship of the 'Blue Shark Group'. We must turn east and sail eastward, hoping to get rid of them!"
The "Blue Shark Group" is a notorious pirate force along the southeast coast and one of the "Six Bandits". They often rob merchant ships and plunder coastal villages. When the "White Oriole" encountered them, it was really bad luck.
The Zhengde Taoist priest of "Shangqing Sect" snorted and said: "In my humble opinion, we don't need to escape, we just go forward to meet it. It's just a pirate ship, and the 'Six Big Bandits' are just a few pirates." Why should we be afraid of water thieves? With us here, we can definitely kill them in one fell swoop and eliminate all harm!"
Before Song Sichen could answer, a person next to him said with a "hehe" smile: "This Taoist master is so arrogant. If he wants to do as you say, I'm afraid that all of us on this ship will fall." Go to the sea and feed the bastard."
Taoist priest Zhengde was furious when he heard this. He raised his eyes and saw that the person speaking was a vulgar-looking man. It was Peng San. He also came to the stage at some time. He was just short in stature and did not attract attention.
Taoist Master Zhengde turned over his hand and grasped the hilt of the sword on his shoulder, saying: "Who are you? If you look down on my Shangqing Sect's swordsmanship, I need to learn a lesson from you!"
Peng San smiled but didn't speak. Song Sichen quickly said: "Don't blame Zhengde Zhenren. Everyone knows that Guimen's 'Nine-curved Sword Technique' is powerful in the world. This gentleman must not look down on Guimen's martial arts." .It’s just that we really can’t go forward now, otherwise as this gentleman said, the ship will inevitably sink into the water.”
Master Zhengde asked: "How do you say this?"
Song Sichen said: "The 'Blue Shark' opposite is a heavily armored gunboat with many cannons on it. If we sail up to meet it, we will definitely be sunk by their cannons before we get close enough." There is no chance of hand-to-hand combat."
"Shangqing Sect" is a sect located in Longhu Mountain in the Gansu Province. It is located inland. Although Taoist Master Zhengde has extraordinary swordsmanship, he knows nothing about sea battles and has no idea at all. I heard Song Sichen say this , which is indeed the case when you think about it.
But after all, he was unwilling to admit his mistake and lost face, saying: "That's not necessarily true. Since they are pirates, they must have regarded us as an ordinary merchant ship. They haven't robbed the cargo on the ship, so how could they sink it with artillery without any explanation? "
Peng Sandao: "Do you think that the 'Six Bandits' who robbed the ship will only come out with one ship? I guess there are at least two or three ships following the gunboat. They used artillery to blast our sailboat until it leaked. , unable to move, then send one of the ships to come up and loot the property. Even if we kill all the pirates on that ship, the other gunboats will definitely not show mercy and will immediately fire and sink the ship into the sea. At that time, If we can't swim home, we will have to report to the Crystal Palace."
Before he finished speaking, a sailor who climbed far away on the mast shouted: "There are three more ships behind the black ship. They have four ships in total!"
What Peng San said was immediately confirmed. Even though Taoist Zhengde was not angry, he had nothing to say.
Cao Muyun on the side said: "Mr. Peng San hit the nail on the head. He was able to accurately describe the robbery methods of the 'Six Bandits'. It's really amazing! But I don't know where Mr. Peng San's fairyland is. Where can I find a higher position?"
In fact, not only Cao Muyun, but also Hua Bushi was very curious about the origin of Mr. Peng. Not only was this man weird in martial arts, he was also good at juggling. Chai Lin said that he was proficient in sailing and sailing, which was true when he thought about it. At this time,
Everyone looked at the young man, waiting for his answer.
Just listen to Peng San's answer: "My hometown is from Liao Province. Now I work in Chai Dashan's house and make a living. I used to do a little business at sea, so I know this trick of pirates."
A little bit."
When he spoke, the expression on his face was sincere and not strange at all, and it didn't seem like he was lying. However, no one knew how true his words were.
Song Sichen immediately ordered down and ordered the "White Oriole" to turn to the east, preparing to escape from Xiezili and avoid a head-on confrontation with the pirate ship.
Although the hull of the "White Oriole" is large, it is quite flexible. The captain Luo Zhong personally steered the helm. The sailors pulled the direction of the sail. In a moment, the bow turned at a right angle, facing the east.
.It’s just that when it was originally traveling south, it was going with the wind, but now it turned to the east, only one side was affected by the wind, and the speed of the sailboat immediately slowed down a lot.
Luo Zhong gave a loud order, asking the sailors on the ship to go to the steerage cabin on the bottom of the deck to row the oars. Soon, more than ten large oars were stretched out from both sides of the "White Oriole", and a group of sailors shouted their horns.
Lift the boat and paddle hard, and the speed of the sailboat will immediately increase a lot.
Looking from the sea, we saw that the pirate ship in the distance also turned its bow and faced the east. Previously, only the front ship could be seen, but now the direction changed, and all three ships behind were revealed.
These four pirate ships are all blue and black in color. The first ship has six masts and large black sails. The size of the hull is about the same as that of the "White Oriole", while the three ships next to it are smaller.
, both are two-masted clippers.
Not long after, the four pirate ships had formed a line, traveling side by side and chasing after the "White Oriole".
Everyone on the deck, from Song Sichen and Cao Muyun to Taoist Zhengde, had serious expressions on their faces. Even Peng San, who had always been playful and smiling, had much fewer smiles on his face.
These people are all martial arts masters. If they were on land, one or two hundred robbers would not pay attention to them at all. But now in the vast sea, surrounded by vast oceans and no land, it is like a ship being sunk by artillery.
, no matter how high your martial arts skills are, you will inevitably be buried in the belly of a fish.
Cao Muyun asked: "Manager Song, in your opinion, are we sure we can get rid of them?"
Song Sichen frowned and said: "Although the speed of our 'White Oriole' is not low, those pirate ships seem to be rare fast ships. It is hard to say whether we can escape."
Peng San on the side said: "There is nothing to say. In the current situation, we will be overtaken by them in an hour at most."
Cao Muyun frowned and said, "Is this true?"
Peng Sandao: "Of course it can't be false."
He pointed at the pirate ship in the distance and said: "That big six-masted ship has about the same speed as our sailboat, but those three small boats are all loach ships driven by human power. They are waiting for the headwind here."
On the same course, the speed is twice as fast as our ship. When they outflank us, we will not be able to escape."
The so-called "loach boat" is a flat-headed wooden boat equipped with paddles that rely on human power to drive the turbine and travel on the water. This kind of boat existed as early as the Song Dynasty. By the Ming Dynasty, it had undergone many improvements.
There are three smaller pirate ships on the sea diagonally behind the "White Oriole". Although there are masts and sails on the ships, it is obvious that the main driving method is the propellers on both sides of the ship.
Although the "White Oriole" also has sailors rowing the oars, the hull is huge after all. It only relies on more than a dozen wooden oars for rowing, and when the wind is insufficient, the speed is far less than that of the loach boat.
When Song Sichen heard Peng San say this, he immediately stared at the pirate ships in the distance and said, "Oh, those three small boats are really all loach ships. This is a bit troublesome!"
Only a moment later, the three loach ships had sailed in front of the big pirate ship, and the distance between them and the "White Oriole" was obviously closer. Although these three ships were smaller than the "White Oriole" and the
Large pirate ships are small, but are still more than ten feet long. They must be equipped with artillery. If they approach and fire, the "White Oriole" will definitely be doomed.
Cao Muyun said: "If this continues, I'm afraid they will catch up in less than an hour. What should we do?"
Song Sichen was at a loss and kept silent, obviously there was no good solution.
In terms of intelligence, Cao Muyun and Hua Bushi are both clever and good at planning. However, even though they are smart, they know nothing about naval battles, and they cannot think of any countermeasures at this time.
Hua Bushi turned his eyes and saw Peng San standing aside with a rather leisurely expression. He couldn't help but feel moved in his heart and said, "Does Mr. Peng San have any good strategies to deal with the enemy?"
Peng San said: "If you want to fight, you will definitely not be able to fight. If you want to escape, it is not completely impossible."
Cao Muyun was overjoyed and said: "Mr. Peng San really has a way to escape. Can I ask for advice?"
Peng San glanced at the people around him with his triangular eyes and said: "From now on, everyone on this ship will obey my command, Peng San. I may be able to help us escape."
As soon as he said this, everyone around looked at each other in confusion. The Taoist priest Zhengde of the "Shangqing Sect" said: "No, you are just an ordinary man, what are your abilities? You can only talk without shame, how can you command me and others!"
Hua Bushi said, "As the saying goes, a capable person is a teacher. I think that if Mr. Peng can lead us to escape the pursuit of the pirate ship, it would not be a bad idea to let him command everyone."
Taoist Master Zhengde snorted and said: "He is yours, you can say so, but it is not that easy to ask a poor Taoist to obey his orders!"
Cao Muyun said: "What the Taoist said is wrong. Now we are in danger. If Mr. Peng San has a way to deal with it, I will listen to his command and my younger brother will have no objection."
Nangong Qi on the side said: "Brother Cao's words make sense. At this critical moment, I should obey my authority in everything, and I also agree to obey Mr. Peng San's command."
Among the four heads of the four families on the ship, Cao Muyun, Nangong Qi and Hua Bushi all agreed. Even if Taoist Zhengde didn't want to, he had no choice but to lower his head and stop talking.
But he heard Peng San say: "It's not enough for the guests on this ship to obey my orders. All the sailors and crew must obey my orders. Manager Song, what do you think?"
Song Sichen was still hesitating, but Luo Zhong, the captain of the ship who was standing at the helm, said: "Peng Sange's sailing ability is much better than Luo Zhong's. If he takes command of the ship, he will definitely have a chance to escape."