"Do you still have to wait?" The person standing nearby who was responsible for contacting Liu Xiang spoke, and it was a woman's voice.
Aragones glanced dissatisfied at the woman next to him. She was wrapped in a black cloak, like a monk, with long curly hair exposed beside the hood.
"Li, I think I am the captain of this ship. You are just the contact person sent by Leader Liu."
"That's right. But in another hour, the tide direction will change. At that time, you will not be able to take advantage of the high tide to enter the harbor, and you will not be able to take advantage of the low tide to leave the harbor."
Aragones knew that the woman was right. For a clumsy ship like a Spanish galleon, it was not easy to turn around and turn around. Although it could be towed by a rowing boat, riding the tide in and out of the bay was still the best option.
He just doesn't like a woman making irresponsible remarks about his command. Even if the woman is very beautiful and can speak fluent Spanish.
"Let's get started." Aragones ordered. After solving this problem, he will continue to go north to find Zheng Yiguan's bad luck.
Fifty sailors who had been waiting on the deck climbed over the side of the ship and climbed into the two rowing boats. Most of these sailors were Southeast Asian natives from the Malay Peninsula. Many of them were indigenous pirates who used to paddle canoes and wait for opportunities to rob merchant ships.
.This is his old profession. There are only a few Spaniards who are gunners, and each rowing boat has a 2-pound light cannon. Leader Liu seems to be very afraid of the enemy's firearms and insists on the Spaniards bringing out enough muskets and guns.
Here comes the cannon.
On the boat behind them, Liu Xiang's men also transferred to sampans. It was said that these small boats were filled with Gang Leader Liu's best warriors. Aragones was not interested in this. Anyway, he was just cooperating with Gang Leader Liu to seize these boats.
They would use several fast boats to capture some prisoners - Gang Leader Liu was afraid of the enemy's firearms.
"Monkeys, please serve the Catholic King well." Aragones made no secret of his contempt for these dark-skinned, sinister-looking native sailors. If it weren't for the fact that it was too difficult to replenish Europeans in Southeast Asia, how could such a thing be allowed on the ship?
The existence of low-grade pagans, their crooked yellow eyes always flashing with cruel and cowardly light, Aragones knew that he was like a circus animal trainer, with whips and candies always in hand, otherwise he would be killed.
Eaten alive.
To enter an estuary port like Bopu, Spanish galleons not only had to ride the tide, but also had to be towed by rowing boats. The sailors on the rowing boats were unprotected and could easily be injured by gunfire and muskets from the shore, which was very dangerous.
Big. If Aragones was facing a well-fortified port in Europe or America, he wouldn't dare to do this. But the native sailors are just cannon fodder, and he doesn't care if some of them die, and this is China, Ala.
Goness was convinced that the Chinese did not understand naval warfare at all, let alone fortifying ports. His predecessors had robbed ships in the Pearl River many years ago, roaming freely as if there were no people in the country.
The gunner on the ship was already in place, the gun windows on the side had been opened, and the black muzzles were pointed at several possible targets on the coast. He was fully confident in his own gunfire superiority. Those Chinese artillery can also
Cannons? They are poor imitations of cannons from a century ago.
According to the plan, the Countess of Scarborough will support Liu Xiang's landing operation with artillery fire in the bay. Liu Xiang will use sampans to transport 500 people ashore in order to seize the four iron clippers anchored on the shore. These Liu Xiang already knew about the ship's combat effectiveness from the people who defected to it from Zhu Cai's side. Obviously, this ship is very attractive to any pirate.
The naval battle between Zhu Cailao and the time traveler brought several basic impressions to Liu Xiang:
Iron clippers are very strong and cannot be penetrated by ordinary artillery;
Agile and very fast.
The people who piloted these ships did not have cannons. Zhu Cai Lao's people said that the ships were equipped with something like a large crossbow, which was not accurate at all, but they had very powerful blunderbuss, which could shoot far and accurately.
With these impressions, the pirates will mainly rely on the Countess of Scarborough's artillery fire to suppress the enemy. No matter how powerful the cannon is, it is no match for the cannon. With the support of artillery fire, a group of pirates will pass through the mangroves of Bobu and attack the enemy. The enemy camp would wreak havoc to attract the attention of these Easterners, and then another group of pirates would take the opportunity to rush into the port and seize at least one iron clipper anchored in the port. Liu Xiang gave instructions to his leader, be sure to Several "Australians" were caught.
To this end, the Spaniards sold them eight rowing boats and special towing equipment. After the pirates succeeded, they would use the rowing boats to tow the iron ships out of the port, with the intended goal of seizing at least one.
Aragones had no objection to this plan, but he couldn't quite understand the Chinese pirate leader's obsession with these iron ships. In his view, this kind of iron ship was too weird and could move by itself without paddles. The ship was either a miracle of God or a creation of the devil - in his opinion, the latter was more likely.
The rowing boat began to slowly tow the Countess of Carrboro toward the harbor, and the water depth measuring boat led the way. Everything was calm.
"What I want to tell you is," Aragones said to Lisya beside him, "my ship must leave at low tide, regardless of whether you have captured the ship or not."
"One hour is enough." Li Siya smiled lightly. Although she did not make the plan herself, she was still involved in it. Among the pirates, she was the only one who had direct contact with the Australians. The Australians were beautiful last year. The attack dealt a huge blow to her self-esteem. During this period, even an official became suspicious of her. In anger, she claimed that her ship needed repairs and returned to Macau. While in Macau, she sent people to inquire about people in Australia. According to the news, they left their houses, goods and servants behind, but they themselves disappeared as if they had evaporated from the world.
It wasn't until not long ago that news came that a group of people appeared on the coast of Qiongzhou, wearing short blouses and a huge iron ship. This feature of the short blouses reminded her immediately of Wen Desi, didn't this Australian maritime merchant back then just have short hair and a short coat?
In order to find out, she sailed out again. Zheng Zhilong was busy recruiting people in Fujian, so she joined Liu Xiang in Guangdong as a guest. Li Siya was a single owner on the coast, although she sometimes took refuge in a certain She is a member of a large gang and pays protection fees. However, she never participates in the battles between the gangs. She is only interested in robbery and adventure. With her superior speedboat and cannon, she always lives a free life.
"Wen Desi, are you on the shore too?" She whispered, showing a cold smile.
"Captain Lee?"
"?"
"Why did Gang Leader Liu send 400 people ashore during the day?" Aragones had always been puzzled by the fact that Chinese pirates sent 400 people ashore during the day. In his opinion, such an action was purely a matter of death.
"Let the Australians win the war." Li Siya said, "Although they claim to be from Australia, they do not deny that they are of Chinese descent. The Chinese will drink and have fun when they win the war."
"It's the same with us Spaniards."
"After drinking and having fun, you won't be so alert."
"Just to make them lose their vigilance, send 400 people to die? God!"
"You can get such a result for 400 piastres, don't you think it's cost-effective?" Lisya glanced at Aragones. Compared with the Chinese, the Spaniards who just know how to barbecue human meat look like they are in a monastery.
Like a virgin. Even the lovely Italians know that people who do great things should not be bound by any moral principles. They only need to consider whether the effect is beneficial and do not need to consider whether the means are harmful. What's even worse is that these cannon fodder actually think that they are doing it for others.
Cai Lao served, Zhu Cai Lao, this idiot, might have a headache in the future, she felt wonderful when she thought of this.
Aragones was surprised that the pirate leader could treat his compatriots as consumables without hesitation. But the woman in front of him only counted how much money was spent recruiting them. In his heart, he despised it. However, the life and death of the pagans had nothing to do with it.
He had nothing to do with it. The priests had to worry about saving souls - and he, Aragones, was the last person to deal with the priests.
He suddenly remembered that the woman in front of him was half Portuguese: "Captain Li, are you still the Lamb of Christ?"
"I often go to church, just as much as you do." Li Siya replied with a teasing smile.
"There is a sampan!" The person in charge of the observation gave Xue Ziliang a push.
"Continue to observe!" From the moment the ship began to turn towards Bopu, Xue Ziliang knew that something was not good, and that this sea attack might be about to begin.
"So many sampans!" the observers exclaimed, "Densely packed, countless—"
Xue Ziliang grabbed the telescope, and the scene in the camera was really spectacular. No less than thirty sampans were heading towards Bopu on the sea, with large ships following behind.
250 meters…
200 meters……
The shirtless pirates with knives in their mouths could already be seen in the camera, and Xue Ziliang even felt that he could even see their ferocious smiles.
"Report to Bopu, quickly!"
"Report - report - captain," the team member who was calling suddenly became frightened, "The phone is not working!"
The moon sank, and the water and sky became pitch black again. Xue Ziliang had not yet heard the sound of the alarm in Bopu - I wonder if the watchman on the beacon tower saw this situation and saw that the sampan was getting closer and closer to the port.
, he grabbed a sks and fired at the nearest sampan.
"Bang!" In the silent night, the sound of gunshots was particularly crisp. A tracer bullet pierced the night sky as fast as a meteor. In this flash of lightning, a figure on the boat seemed to sway and then fall.
Li Di, who had been a little drowsy for a long time, was startled when he heard the gunshot - he almost fell asleep! He quickly grabbed the binoculars and looked in the direction of the gunshot. After adjusting for a while, suddenly, on the sea
The sampans and ships became clearly distinguishable. He was so frightened that he almost sat down on the ground, and ran to the watch room on the beacon tower. There was a hand-cranked alarm inside, which shook violently.