"They changed direction."

The sailor on the watchtower shouted: "They changed their formation and started running south."

Shopkeeper Qian was even more excited when he heard this. He put his hands on the side of the ship and saw that the seven pirate ships were rapidly changing direction, obviously trying to escape to the south.

"They realized something was wrong." Shopkeeper Qian thought that if they could defeat this group of pirates and even find their lair, that batch of goods would be back in their hands. With that batch of goods, the Qian family would definitely not collapse.

, at this time, he was really afraid of being escaped by the pirates, and said anxiously: "They saw that we sent out a signal and knew that we had reinforcements ambushing us, so they wanted to escape."

Shopkeeper Wanqi has been restless these past few days. Thinking of the threat of pirates, he has trouble sleeping and eating, so he is in a state of confusion. But now the situation has changed drastically. He has understood the key and turned around and said loudly: "Speed ​​up, don't let them escape.

Let’s bite them hard.”

He naturally understood that if those pirate ships competed for speed, they would definitely not be able to match the larger ships, but their advantage was that they were light and flexible and could quickly change direction and course.

The sky has begun to get dark. If it gets completely dark, as long as these pirate ships are able to get rid of them, it will be difficult to find their traces on this vast sea.

The ambushed warships have not yet appeared. Of course, we cannot let these ships escape under our noses at this time.

As long as two merchant ships bite each other, the fire above the merchant ship's mast becomes the coordinate, and the reinforcements only need to follow the fire.

Fortunately, the sky has been clear these two days, and there has been no wind or rain on the sea, so there is no need to worry about the torches going out.

And since the Liaodong Army has made sufficient preparations, the torch must have been manipulated. Even if the sea wind is strong, it will definitely not be able to blow out the torch.

The sailors acted quickly. They saw that the seven pirate ships had all turned around and were quickly escaping south. The two merchant ships also quickly changed their course. Although the change of direction was a bit slow due to the large size of the hull, it was much slower than those of the other ships.

The pirate ship was light, but after turning, the sailors in the bottom accelerated, and the speed was not comparable to those of the pirate ships. Originally, the pirate ships had already opened a considerable distance, but as the speed of the merchant ship increased,

, the distance between the two parties is getting closer and closer.

The sailors on the merchant ship were also excited at this moment.

The opponent's seven ships can only count about 200 people, not to mention the reinforcements ambushed on our side. Even if there are only two merchant ships fighting the opponent, they may not lose. With reinforcements, these pirate ships are equivalent to

A sheep caught in a tiger's mouth will surely die.

"They are separated!" After less than ten miles, the lookout shouted loudly: "They separated on the left and right to escape separately."

Shopkeeper Qian was startled, but saw that the shooter leader from before had already run to the bow of the ship and observed the situation. Shopkeeper Qian also followed. Although he didn't know the identity of this leader, he also knew that he must be a general of the Liaodong Army.

, cautiously said: "Master, they must want our two ships to separate, don't be fooled by them. We only need to keep an eye on the pirates all the way, capture them alive, and find out their lairs, and we will be done. There is no need to kill them all."

Capture.”

The military master glanced at Shopkeeper Qian, disapprovingly, and obviously did not take a mere merchant into his eyes. He just raised his head and asked loudly: "Can you see any signs of reinforcements?"

"There is fire in the northwest." The lookout replied, "It's going very fast and is approaching this way."

Shopkeeper Qian was shocked when he heard this and said happily: "Master Jun, are you our reinforcement?"

The military master said calmly: "That's natural. This time, the commander-in-chief used the strategy of luring the snake out of the hole. In order to plan this operation, a lot of effort was spent. All the thieves and bandits could not escape. They separated into two groups. If this

The second bandit leader is among them. If we let one of them escape and let him escape, wouldn't that be like letting the tiger go back to the mountain? If the commander takes action, it will naturally be to hunt down the bandit leader and annihilate them completely."

"Lord Commander?" Shopkeeper Qian said even more ecstatically: "The military master is talking about General Zhou, the commander of the Liaodong Navy?"

"Who can it be if it's not Commander Zhou?" The military master didn't talk nonsense and said to the watchman above: "Send a signal to the other ship and ask it to pursue it to the left and leave the one on the right to us. Tell them,

Don't do anything, just bite them hard."

The signal was immediately sent to another ship.

Shopkeeper Qian felt extremely at ease at this time.

Although he came from a merchant family, the Shibafang in the north relied on the protection of the Liaodong Army, so he naturally knew the Liaodong Army quite well.

Although the Liaodong Army has many generals, there are not many generals who can really take charge of their own affairs. Zhou Lie, the commander of the navy, is obviously one of the most famous generals.

Shopkeeper Qian knew very well that pirates were once rampant along the waters of the four northeastern counties, and there were even pirates composed of Bohai and Dongyi people, who were arrogant and arrogant for a while.

However, after Zhou Lie became the commander of the navy, he relied on the Liaodong navy, which was not very strong, to kill the pirates along the route almost from beginning to end.

The Liaodong Navy is well-trained and has full combat effectiveness. Coupled with Zhou Lie's proper command, it only took a few years to almost eliminate the pirates along the coasts of the four northeastern counties. The appearance of the flag of the Liaodong Navy on the sea is enough to scare away the pirates.

They were frightened when they heard the news, and Zhou Lie was even more famous, and he was once praised and praised by the court.

However, after the pirates along the route were eliminated, the sharp blade of the East China Sea Navy has no real use, and has been quiet for a long time in recent years.

In fact, because of this matter, many people also know that Zhou Lie is indeed a capable general on the battlefield, but his temperament is too straightforward, and he does not even understand the principle of self-respect for the bandits. His brain does not seem to be very bright.

Moreover, Zhou Lie's temperament is easy to offend others. He is considered an unsociable person among the Liaodong Army. He doesn't have many friends and almost no one has anything nice to say for him.

The Liaodong Army controls the four counties in the Northeast, and there are huge differences. With Zhou Lie's ability, he can fill many positions, and no position is better than the navy army, which is in decline. However, Zhou Lie has not been transferred for many years.

In Wang Xingchao's words, Zhou Lie was good at water affairs and was the most suitable commander of the navy, and could not be replaced by anyone else.

However, some people knew in their hearts that Zhou Lie was not only upright, but also an honest man. The Liaodong Army's generals and officials, large and small, were running wild in the four northeastern counties, but Zhou Lie never participated in it and lived in poverty. Such a person was certainly

He was loved by the people, but he was out of place in the Liaodong Army.

By leaving him in the navy, the Liaodong navy can still maintain some combat effectiveness. If he is transferred to other places, it is inevitable that he will conflict with his colleagues and even cause trouble.

Shopkeeper Qian heard that this operation was personally planned by Zhou Lie, and from the military master's tone, it seemed that the ambushed reinforcements were personally commanded by Zhou Lie. If this was true, then this group of pirates would be in great danger.

He simply ran to the stern of the ship with Shopkeeper Wan Qi. At this time, the sky had darkened. Above the sea, he saw a few lights in the mid-air to the north. He knew that if nothing unexpected happened, it would be after receiving the signal that he would quickly

The naval warships came to kill the pirates.

Once the warships are deployed, the overall situation is decided.

"The general is indeed smarter than others." Shopkeeper Wan Qi took a deep breath and smiled at shopkeeper Qian: "This time the Liaodong Navy will definitely wipe out this force in Haikou, which will give us a lot of vents."

Shopkeeper Qian stroked his beard and said with a smile: "The general is certainly smarter than others, but General Zhou is also very strategizing. I have always wondered why Mr. Wang came to Hangzhou in person and asked us to purchase a large amount of goods? I thought he was worried about the trade market.

If there is trouble, we must purchase goods as soon as possible and send them over. Unexpectedly, the general has set a trap. Hehe, use us as bait to lure out the pirates. This bait is really worth it."

"Shopkeeper Qian, this group of pirates appeared for no apparent reason. We were robbed of goods last time. After thinking about it, the pirates may have something to do with Long Ruijun." Shopkeeper Wanqi said bitterly: "Long Ruijun cut them off.

The land trade route of Shibafang has colluded with the sea pirates to cut off our sea route. If General Zhou captures the bandit leader this time and has personal and material evidence to prove that it is Long Ruijun's conspiracy behind it, can he send troops to attack Long Ruijun?

Ruijun?"

Shopkeeper Qian was stunned for a moment, but said nothing.

"If Long Rui's army is not eliminated, we will not be able to live a good life." Shopkeeper Wan Qi said with fists: "They are still not on a stable footing. If they wait three or two years, it will not be so easy to start fighting again.

Send troops to retake Liaoxi, drive those bastards back to the pass, and take Yuguan back, so that we can live in peace."

Shopkeeper Qian sighed and whispered: "Shopkeeper Wanqi, if we really want to fight, we will be the ones who suffer."

"How do you say this?" Shopkeeper Wanqi asked curiously.

Shopkeeper Qian snorted coldly and said: "If everything is peaceful, the Liaodong Army will count on us to help with business. They will eat meat, and we can also drink some soup. If there is a war, they will definitely recruit troops and spend a lot of money."

It's gone to sea. Behind Long Rui's army is the imperial court. If the imperial court has money, it will only give it to Long Rui's army. But the Liaodong Army will not get even one tael of silver. You said that it will cost countless taels of silver to recruit troops and horses. Who will pay for the money?

?You still count on those grandfathers of the Liaodong Army?"

Shopkeeper Wanqi's body was shaken, and he woke up the dreamer with a word, and said with a change of expression: "Then...then it will definitely be divided on our heads."

"The people will be plundered if they spend extravagantly, and the merchants will be plundered if there is a civil unrest." Shopkeeper Qian sighed and said softly: "These merchants behind Shibafang, after so many years, have only eaten the leftovers of the Liaodong Army.

, but after accumulating a lot, they also have a large family business. When it comes to war, the Liaodong Army must rely on the people to fight and fight hard, and it does not dare to exploit the people too harshly. When the time comes, it will only take us merchants first.

Surgery. In fact, what I am most worried about is that if the two sides really start fighting, then all our decades of hard work will be in vain."

--------------------------------------------------

----

ps: I have returned to the fertilizer industry. There have been problems with updating in the past few days. I would like to apologize to everyone again. I quickly wrote a chapter after arriving. I will post it first. I will rest for a night and write hard tomorrow!



7017k
Chapter completed!