The Groningen is a large Froot merchant ship. As long as necessary, it can immediately turn into a gunboat carrying more than 40 guns. It can be regarded as the biggest reliance of the Dutch in the Asian waters.
The "Western plywood giant ship" and the "red-haired plywood giant ship" described by the Ming Dynasty in a shocked tone at that time refer to it and the same type of heavily armed merchant ships.
This time, the Groningen set off from Siam with the purpose of going to Japan for trade. There was no need for combat. Therefore, there were no soldiers on board, not even enough naval guns and gunners. There were only 70 Europeans and more than 30 Malays.
servant.
The previous severe storm caused heavy losses to the Groningen, with more than 20 Dutch sailors and Malay slaves dead or missing. When the ship washed ashore and had no time to celebrate their escape, they were violently attacked by the Chinese. The captain
The boatswain and others were killed in the first round of conflict. The sailors were leaderless and exhausted. It was raining heavily and their firearms were ineffective... In short, they had countless reasons to surrender, so what reason was there not to surrender?
Under the lightning and thunder, in the violent storm, Guo Dayan looked at the red-haired men who were helpless in front of him. He grinned and chuckled, and then laughed. Having witnessed the powerful combat power of the "Houston", Guo Da
Big Eye originally thought that this time it would be a bloody battle, but he never thought that the red-haired fan was so helpless and surrendered without much fighting.
Guo Dayan waved his hand and said to his subordinates with high spirits: "I've tied them all up. Anyone who dares to resist will be shot to death." After saying that, he looked at the "trophies" and found that the image of the Groningen at this time was really detrimental to it.
The majesty of Asia's maritime hegemon, the topmast was completely broken, the main foresail was blown away by the strong wind, and the deck was in a mess.
Guo Dayan also noticed the roar of the water pump on the stern of the ship. It seemed that the cabin was leaking. The ship was probably carrying cargo. When he thought that the valuables worth thousands of gold might be flooded, Guo Dayan immediately took his hands
Enter the cabin to rescue the cargo.
Sure enough, when we came down, the bottom of the ship was already a vast expanse of water, with a depth of more than half a foot. The situation in the cargo hold at the stern of the ship was very bad. There was originally a batch of rice stored in it, but when the water rushed out of the loophole in the cargo hold, the grains slipped into the water pump.
It was clogged. Fortunately, the drainage pipe was not blocked and the other two water pumps were still working normally. The situation in other warehouses was not too serious.
After a lot of work, Guo Dayan and others successfully moved out most of the goods from the flooded warehouse. Spices, red silk, sandalwood, ivory and other items were piled everywhere. Of course, there were also white money and
Brilliant gold.
Looking at the surrounding men with burning eyes, Guo Dayan said with a smile: "Brothers, thank you for your hard work this time. Well... I am the master. Half of the property will be confiscated and the other half will be divided among the brothers." Everyone was ecstatic when they heard this and passed by.
80% of the loot obtained was confiscated and 20% was kept for the individual. Guo Dayan suddenly raised it to 50%. It was a huge surprise to everyone. Without waiting for cheers, Guo Dayan hurriedly added: "After all, this matter broke the rules.
.Just keep silent and make a fortune, please keep your mouths shut."
Everyone understood:
"The ship owner just needs to rest assured."
"Let's see who dares to spoil my good deeds!"
"Who dares to leak the news? We won't spare him without the captain coming forward..."
"That's right. Don't spare him..."
Chen Hui hesitated for a while and couldn't help but said: "Captain, is this not a good thing? What if the big leader knows about it..."
Guo Dayan glanced sideways at Chen Hui and said: "It's nothing but a little cargo. How can the big leader take it seriously? This big Xiyi plywood ship is what the big leader values. I told everyone to keep quiet, no.
I’m afraid that the big boss will blame me, and I’m afraid that other people will be jealous. Do you understand?”
Chen Hui still felt that there was something wrong with this matter, but when he saw everyone around him looking at him with unkind expressions, he didn't know what to say. He was a newcomer who had just established his feet, and he was going against everyone. Obviously, he was not
A smart move.
The powerful storm lasted from the afternoon until the early morning of the next day before slowly weakening. Both Guo Dayan's Big Bird ship and the Groningen were severely damaged. There were also some thrills during the period, but they finally got through the storm safely.
crisis.
This is directly related to their place of refuge. The island they are currently on is not the Bama Island they planned to go to before, but Lantau, the island at the southernmost tip of Penghu. It is shaped like a bream, with its head in the northeast and its tail.
In the southwest, the two ships were hiding just behind the right tail fin, and an extending cliff blocked them from the roaring storm, otherwise they would have been swept into the sea and submerged.
The rain gradually stopped at noon, but the wind was still strong. However, the wind was not a resistance, but an assistance to return to Penghu. Guo Dayan ordered everyone to speed up the ship repairs, and the detained Dutch were also temporarily released to participate in the ship repair work. In the afternoon
, the two ships could barely support the voyage, Guo Dayan did not dare to delay, and asked someone to drag the ship into the sea, and took advantage of the wind to sail to Penghu, dozens of miles to the northeast.
Guo Dayan never returned, and Lin Xishan couldn't help but feel pessimistic, thinking that he would probably not survive. He was worried about how to explain it to Huang Chen. What's more terrible was that Yang Dong and Guo Dayan were inseparable. Due to the former's temperament, he would definitely hate him.
Although with his current status, he is not afraid of Yang Dong, he can attract people's resentment for no reason. Is he unjust? So when his clan brother Lin Wan reported that Guo Dayan had returned safely, Lin Xishan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and even the so-called Hong
The giant wool plywood ship didn't care either.
Arriving to the port in the rain, Lin Xishan saw the barbarian ship parked beside Guo Dayan's Big Bird ship. He was stunned on the spot. He had heard that Guo Dayan had captured a barbarian ship and thought it was about the same size as the Houston. Unexpectedly,
It is so huge. Even if the head and tail are cut off, the ship is still fifteen or sixty feet long. It is like a city on the sea. Not to mention Guo Dayan's ten-foot-long bird ship, even Huang Chen's twelve-foot big fortune ship flagship is far away.
It can't compare to it. After a while, Lin Xishan came back to his senses, looked at Guo Dayan, who looked triumphant in front of him, and sincerely praised: "Brother Guo is so capable! Lin admires it, admires it..."
Guo's big eyes narrowed to a slit, and he grinned almost to his ears. He laughed and said: "I risked my life for this big Xiyi plywood ship. Isn't there a saying that if you survive a catastrophe, you must survive?"
You will be blessed later."
Lin Xishan once again raised his eyes to look at the barbarian boat, and sighed: "This plywood boat is majestic and magnificent, the best in the sea. It can be said that it has a blunderbuss, and it can be the flagship of the big leader. If the big leader knew about it, he would be very happy. Lin is here in advance
Congratulations to Brother Guo."
"Same joy, same joy..." Guo Dayan said with a smile.
On the way back to An'ao City, Lin Xishan asked curiously: "Brother Guo, I wonder what is on the boat?"
"Spices, sandalwood, ivory...many priceless Nanyang treasures, worth at least tens of thousands of taels of silver." At this point, Guo Dayan's smile narrowed and he shook his head regretfully: "It's a pity that this is a merchant ship, and the weapons
There are only fourteen large and small red barbarian cannons, more than sixty long and short muskets, ten pairs of iron armor, and more than twenty iron helmets."
"It's true that it's a little short." Lin Xishan nodded and added: "But weapons can always be bought by any means, and big ships can't be bought with any amount of gold and silver."
"Brother Lin is right." Guo Dayan couldn't help but smile and said: "By the way, Brother Lin, I wonder when I will return to Lieyu?" He couldn't wait to return to Lieyu and show his authority to everyone.
Lin Xishan looked up at the oppressive hazy sky and said, "It depends on when this storm (typhoon) dissipates."
"Disperse as soon as possible, don't delay me." Guo Dayan said.
Unfortunately, the weather failed to fulfill Guo Dayan's wish. The wind became stronger in the evening, and it started raining heavily. It didn't stop the next day. It was not suitable to go to sea in the short term. Guo Dayan could only stay in An'ao City in despair, looking forward to it.
The weather will clear up soon.
Wuzhou Island (Kinmen).
The center left is the base camp of the Pirate Alliance. Zheng Zhilong, Li Kuiqi, Zhong Bin and others are all here. However, not everyone is on the center left, like Huang Chen who occupied Lieyu and Zhou Lao who stole Kinmen.
In the lobby of the former Wuzhou Saltworks Directorate, Mr. Zhou Zhou sat at the main seat with a gloomy look. Dozens of people in the hall lowered their eyebrows and bowed their heads in silence. Zheng Zhilong had already reached an agreement with Fujian Governor Xiong Wencan on the matter of being supported, so he ordered everyone in the alliance to
No more plundering was allowed along the coast of Zhangzhou and Quan, especially Zhou Lao. Zheng Zhilong sent his confidants to warn him that if he dared to cause trouble again, don't blame him for having him stabbed to frighten the heroes.
He Sanlao, the right vanguard, glanced at Mrs. Zhou intentionally or unintentionally. His majestic body suddenly stood up and shouted: "Zheng Zhilong is afraid that the power of the big leader will overwhelm him. He usually relies on his reputation as the leader of the alliance to make things difficult for the big leader."
, and now they are forced to come to the door, how unreasonable! Chief, as long as you give the order, I, He San, will kill Zheng Zhilong even if I risk my life!"
"..." Zhou Lao's face became even more gloomy when he heard this. Huang Chen had originally been eyeing him, but due to the alliance, he could never find a chance to attack him. At this time, he had a conflict with Zheng Zhilong, which was tantamount to betraying the alliance.
, when a group of people attack him, even if he has ten lives, he will not be enough to be killed.
Zuo Xianfeng turned around and looked at He Sanlao and then at Mrs. Zhou with a playful look on his face. He Sanlao was Mrs. Zhou's person. He knew this. Mrs. Zhou tried to recruit him more than once, but he politely refused.
, but he never reported it to Mr. Zhou Zhou, so as to leave a way out for himself.
Ye Fu hurriedly said: "You must not, you must not...! You must not be impulsive at this time and do stupid things that seek death. The big leader, Zheng Zhilong is very afraid of us, and Huang Chen also hates us deeply.
, there is no place for us and others in the center and left, so it is better to return to Zhejiang."
"Return to Zhejiang?" Mr. Zhou Zhou's heart moved.
Everyone had different expressions after hearing this. (To be continued...)