Wang Zhi, the head of the Hui merchant vice-chairman, was from She County, Huizhou. He was a fellow villager with Luo Longwen, the Mo merchant. His original name was Wang Zhen. "Zhi" was just his nickname, but everyone was used to calling him Wang Zhi, but he ignored the original name.

Because Wang Zhi reacted quickly, he led dozens of thugs under his command to escape from Shuangyu Port and drove a three-masted sailboat to the south. Originally, Xu Dong, the first Hui Chamber of Commerce, should have been on the island today, but this guy was lucky. He drove off the island at noon and returned to Ningbo Prefecture City to attend a banquet, so he escaped by luck.

Although the local officials in Ningbo Prefecture had already managed to make clear arrangements, even the 500 battalion under the imperial envoy has arrived. Wang Zhi did not think that the local officials of Ningbo Prefecture could protect him, so he did not dare to sail the boat back to the mainland to dock, but kept running south, intending to escape far away, and avoid the limelight first. If it really doesn't work, he simply fled to the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong to start a new job.

Because it was a good wind, the three-masted sailboat bulged its sails and drove very fast, which made Wang Zhi's uneasy mood slightly calmer. However, at this moment, a sail shadow appeared on the sea behind him. Wang Zhi was shocked and hurriedly took out a monocular telescope.

Wang Zhi's monocular telescope is not the kind "invented" by Xu Jin, but was purchased from Westerners. The lens is also made of glass, and both the clarity and magnification are better than crystal-sharpened lenses.

Wang Zhi held the monocular lens and observed for a while, and couldn't help but let out a long sigh. Two large six-masted ships were indeed chasing behind him. Fortunately, they were not from the Ming army. He recognized the lion flag hanging on the ship, which was the ship of the Franchis merchant.

These two Franco Merchant ships have six masts, totaling thirty-two sails. Therefore, although the ship is huge, it is fast under the wind and gradually catches up and surpasses the three-masted sailboat that Wang Zhi was riding.

"Hey! Hey! Wang Yuanwai, let's go first!" A bearded Yangfan waved to Wang Zhi on the boat from the air, saying that he was half-baked in Chinese, which sounded very funny.

Wang Zhi had done several business with this bearded fan, so he recognized each other that the bearded fan was Spanish, and his name was translated as Ronaldo, but this guy gave him a very sexy Chinese name - Ximen Junxiu.

Wang Zhi was in a bad mood at this time, so he was so mentally that the foreigner waved his hand casually in response. At this time, the foreigner's second six-masted sailboat passed by again. Several foreigners carrying a meddle-rope gun whistled at Wang Zhi jokingly, while mocking loudly: "Too man (slow)... Niman is too full, beg!"

Wang Zhi's men were so angry that they raised their middle fingers to respond. This was a common gesture of contempt for Westerners.

The two six-masted sailboats of Franchise surpassed Wang Zhi and continued to drive south quickly. The bearded Ronner said to his companion next to him with a graceful look: "The artillery of the Ming people is very backward. If our shells are charged enough, they might be able to destroy the Ming navy."

The first mate next to him nodded and echoed: "It's really strange that the artillery levels of the naval troops in different parts of the Ming Dynasty are so different. The artillery of the Ming Dynasty naval troops just now is much worse than that of the Guangdong naval troops!"

It is necessary to mention here that Xu Jin presented the drawings of the Franco cannon to Zhu Houzhao, Emperor Wuzong of Ming Dynasty. At that time, Emperor Wuzong of Ming Dynasty ordered the Nanjing Military Arts Bureau to try the construction. After almost two years of repeated experiments, the Nanjing Military Arts Bureau finally built the first batch of imitation Franco cannons last year and handed them over to the Guangdong Navy for trial. In the naval battle of Tuen Mun Island last year, the Guangdong Navy used the Franco cannon to defeat the Portuguese who tried to invade Tuen Mun Island.

Because of this, the Westerners felt that the equipment gap between the Ming army's local naval divisions was large. In fact, the young emperor Zhu Houcong issued an order last year to order Nanjing to cast 500 Franco-machine cannons, but it has not been equipped to the coastal garrisons yet.

Just as the bearded Ronaldo and others were talking contemptuously about the Ming army naval division, a sailor in charge of the guards on the mast watchtower suddenly issued a loud warning.

Ronaldo hurriedly raised his telescope and saw hundreds of ships of all sizes appearing on the sea in the distance. The sails covered the sky and the sun were blocked, and the waterways were blocked for several miles.

"The cunning Ming Navy set up an ambush!" Ronaldou cursed in shock and angrily.

The first mate Pilair laughed disapprovingly and said, "What are you afraid of? The artillery is opened and you just rushed over!"

Ronaldo showed a grim smile on his face and shouted loudly: "Prepare for battle!"

The sailors on the two large ships immediately acted with great enthusiasm, carried ammunition in an orderly manner, and adjusted the gun positions. Dozens of Fran machine guns aimed at the Ming army's fleet. As long as the captain gave the order, tens of thousands of guns would be fired together.

It is worth mentioning here that the Fran machine cannon is a smooth-bore cannon that loads the rear ammunition. It adopts the method of a mother gun. A mother gun is equipped with several child guns, so changing the shells is very fast, and three cannons can be fired within 20 seconds at the fastest, which is very abnormal.

However, the Fran machine cannon also has a fatal disadvantage, that is, the rear-loading elastic sealing technology is not up to standard, the barrel tolerance is large, causing serious air leakage, so the range is generally not high.

Of course, if the Fran machine cannon is facing the traditional bowl-mouth cannon of the Ming army, its advantage will be crushing.

"Fire the cannon!" When the distance between the two sides entered the range, the bearded Ronaldo grinned and shouted, and dozens of Franco cannons roared and fired at the same time.

At the same time, the Ming army on the opposite side also fired guns. Although the fire rate was not as good as the Fran machine cannon, hundreds of guns were activated at the same time, and the power was extraordinary.

Boom boom boom boom...

The sound of cannons was deafening, and the sea was filled with smoke. Wang Zhi, who was coming from behind, was startled when he saw this situation and secretly thanked that two Western ships ran to the front and became scapegoats.

"Switch the rudder, turn the rudder quickly!" Wang Zhi shouted loudly. Dozens of people on the boat were busy for a while, and finally adjusted their direction, swept the edge of the battlefield and turned the rudder and fled eastward.

At this time, more ships fleeing Shuangyu Port arrived, and they all followed Wang Zhi's butt in a hurry and drove eastward to the depths of the sea. Originally, it was safest to sail along the coastline, but in order to escape, they didn't care about so many, so they could only escape to the depths of the vast sea.

Xia Yan naturally would not let these pirate ships run away easily, so he immediately transferred half of the ships to chase Wang Zhi and others, while half of the ships continued to besiege two Western ships.

Boom boom boom boom...

The artillery battle continued. The ancients' artillery was not accurate, not to mention that it was on the undulating sea. Although the artillery fire was fierce, few hit the target. It would be good if you could hit one shot in ten shots. So both sides set off the cannons with the chance, while hedging, preparing to fight in close combat.

However, as the distance between the two sides became closer, the accurate head of the shells naturally increased. At this time, the advantage of the fast firing speed of the Fran machine cannon was reflected, and the flames at the muzzle were almost never broken. Therefore, several large Ming army ships were sank in an instant, including the ships Yu Dayou was riding.

However, Yu Dayou was lucky and was not injured by the bomb. He was rescued by the marshal as soon as he fell into the water.

"Boss Yu, no, the Western artillery is too fierce to hold back." Feng Laoliu said anxiously.

Yu Dayou wiped the water marks on his face and said angrily: "You can't stand it, you can't stand it, fire!"

At this time, the distance between the two sides was less than 100 meters. Boom, two Ming army shells finally hit one of the Western ships, knocking down a mast on the spot, and the Western ship immediately deviated from its course.

Yu Dayou said happily: "Yes, just fight like this!"

The foreigners on the Western ship quickly adjusted the angle of the sails and made it difficult to correct the ship's course.

The ships on both sides were getting closer and closer, and several more Ming army warships were injured and sunk. When the two sides were fifty meters apart, Yu Dayou decisively ordered the fleet to be divided into two, and the two sides spread out to make way out.

The Westerners were overjoyed when they saw this, but they were not afraid of being deceitful and rushed through the gap.

"Hehe, the green snake should be ready!" Feng Laoliu smiled sinisterly as he looked at the two Western ships that were escaping.
Chapter completed!