Eunuchs who traveled through the Qing Dynasty

Having nothing to do in the afternoon, Xiao Ran asked someone to find a fishing rod, and led his two wives to the stern of the boat to go fishing.The Sea of ​​Japan in summer is the season for the famous Pacific bluefin tuna, so fishing is effortless.Lin Qing'er was calm by nature, only smiling at the side.Nayan Ziqing danced excitedly, chatting and laughing non-stop.Xiao Ran was so dizzy from her noise, he couldn't bear it anymore and pushed her on the side of the boat, patting her pink butt indiscriminately.

At this moment.Suddenly I heard someone laughing on the deck, and when I looked over, it was Monk Hua who was trying on a strange dress, tight black, like gym suits of later generations.However, he was too big, so he couldn't put it on. It was easy to put it on his shoulders, but the clothes were torn.

Lin Qing'er and Nayan Ziqing both covered their mouths and couldn't hold back their smiles when they saw the strange clothes he was wearing, but Xiao Ran was suddenly taken aback: This is clearly a water jacket—an ancient diving suit!

Immediately, he called Monk Hua and said, "Where did you find this thing?"

Monk Hua said: "When I was in Lushunkou, Xu Shichang specially asked someone to make it. He said it was called Shuikai."

Xiao Ran wondered, "Oh? Why don't I know?"

Sheng Zuo came over with a smile when he heard the words, and said, "My lord, it's like this: when I was at Lushunkou, Xu Shichang asked me to pick out some brothers with good water skills, take them to practice diving every night, and specially find someone to do it for them. Old Xu called them water ghosts, and said that they might be useful in case of encountering pirates. I don’t understand the above and below water activities, and what he said is

I agreed.You were busy with equipment and supplies at that time, I am sorry. "

"Water ghost! All right, this old Xu really has a trick! What I didn't expect, he did it quietly!" Xiao Ran was very excited. It seems that Xu Shichang, a pirate for half his life, is really not for nothing. !

Monk Hua was very depressed because he couldn't put on the water tank, threw the torn water tank on the deck, and said angrily, "What's the use of this thing? I can't even wear it, so I might as well go into the water with bare buttocks." Everyone chorused in unison. After laughing loudly, Monk Hua distinguished: "So it is! Look at the shadow of a pirate on the way? Old Xu's mouth is so vague, I think his mother is probably trying to deceive people..."

Before the words fell, the sailor on the watch on the mast shouted: "No! There is a ship coming!"

With just this cry, there was a sound of "Oh my God" on the boat.These are not the brothers under his command, but the original sailors on these ships.Because the cannons were removed from the ship, Xu Shichang simply disguised the ship as a merchant ship, and asked the sailors to change into civilian clothes.If you say that these guys can be regarded as the navy of the Qing army, but they have already been terrified by the foreign devils warships and pirates. When they heard that there was a boat, they were so frightened that they almost peed their pants.

Sheng Zuo raised his hand and punched Monk Hua, and said angrily, "Fuck you crow's mouth!" He pulled out his hunting knife, ran to the bow of the boat, and roared, "Shut up! Who's a motherfucker?" If you dare to yell again, don't blame me for recognizing swords but not people!"

With this roar, it was like a thunderbolt from the ground, and the Qing army sailors immediately stopped talking, but their bodies were still shaking like chaff.At this moment, someone Fei Ye seemed to have called Xu Shichang, and hurried to the deck, Nayan Ziqing was impatient, and was about to stop him to ask, but Xiao Ran grabbed her and said: "Don't disturb him, everything is arranged by Lao Xu!"

The situation was urgent, and Xu Shichang didn't have time to salute Xiao Ran, so he ran directly under the mainmast, raised his head and shouted at the watchman: "How many ships? What flag?"

The watchman looked around for a while, and said: "Four ships, no flags, but the ships are very big, like... Hey, it seems to be a brig!"

Xu Shichang's heart skipped a beat, the big ships that dared to haunt this sea area were probably pirate ships!As for Luofan and not playing the flag, it is to confuse others by pretending to be a merchant ship.Xu Shichang yelled: "Send a secret signal, tell all ships to slow down and maintain formation; brothers on board hide for me! All water ghosts, get through the water and obey orders!"

A sailor quickly drew out two small red and yellow flags, ran to the stern, and waved desperately at the ships behind.Monk Hua waited for a group of brothers to surround Xiao Ran and the two wives and went down to the cabin, only the thirty or so water ghosts and Sheng Zuo remained on the deck.Xu Shichang drank the watchman from above, climbed up with both hands and feet, and set up a pergola with his hands to see, secretly shouting: "It's broken!"It really is a pirate!

On the port side, four sailboats were heading straight towards this side.These are indeed four large ships. According to visual estimates, the displacement must be at least one thousand tons!With such a size, it should at least be a three-masted sailing ship, but these guys slyly dropped one mast.Xu Shichang turned his head and shouted: "The water ghost is ready to go to the back string, listen to my order, and prepare to go into the water!"

Sheng Zuo still stayed on the deck, quickly changed into a cloth shirt, raised his head and said, "Old Xu, what should we do?" , staring at the sea.

Closer, closer!The four sailboats saw that they were less than one nautical mile away, and suddenly pulled up the third sail, and suddenly accelerated.As the cloth sail was raised, a large flag was raised at the same time, hunting against the wind.From this distance, it can be clearly seen that it is the infamous "Hachiman Bodhisattva" flag!

Xu Shichang couldn't help but gritted his teeth and cursed: "Damn it, it really is a pirate!"

Sheng Zuo also saw it at this time, and his heart sank suddenly.I think I have been a soldier for half my life, and I am brave, but I have never been so scared like today!I couldn't help but look back, the dozens of grasshopper boats behind me looked so thin and pitiful on the wide sea.Although there is a group of water ghosts trained by Xu Shichang in the back, what can we do with these dozens of people?Chisel ship?Damn, that's a cannon, before you can blow up their boat, they'll blow you up and sink it long ago!

And the most terrible thing, Xu Shichang only practiced these water ghosts for five or six days in total.What amazing tactics can be trained in such a short time?Sheng Zuo couldn't help wiping the cold sweat off his forehead.

!boom!boom!

Three cannon shots were fired in succession, and three groups of thick white smoke were seen rising from the three boats sailing in the front respectively.Then, three jets of water rose less than [-] meters in front of the port side, the waves splashed, and huge ripples rippled away.

"Calm down! I'll kill anyone who dares to mess around!" Xu Shichang still leaned on the mast and shouted down in a low voice.Hearing this, Sheng Zuo pulled out the hunting knife that had just been sheathed just now, and the sailors on the ship trembled in fright when they saw his ferocious appearance.

The sea breeze swayed the mast, and Xu Shichang's whole body seemed to be welded to it, motionless.All the sailors held their breath and looked up at him eagerly, waiting for him to say "withdraw" before running away desperately.Now it is the southwest wind direction, the boat is small and relatively brisk, if more than a dozen boats escape together, those pirate ships may not be able to catch up and sink all of them.As for who can escape smoothly and who stays behind, it depends on who God takes care of more!

"Sail down! Anchor down!"

Xu Shichang stretched out his arm and swung it down decisively.The sailors felt that their eyes were dark, and they almost fell to the deck.Lowering the sails means surrendering, but falling into the hands of pirates means nothing more than two paths: one is to be beheaded and killed on the spot; the other is to be sold as a slave trader, life is worse than death!

Due to the particularity of their profession, pirates have developed a very terrifying professional habit: bloodthirsty!They will never capture captives and force them to become sailors on their own ships, as they do in the movies.You must know that sailing on the sea will bear huge risks, so they will never easily take in a person of unknown origin!This is a profession full of blood, killings and adventures, and usually only two kinds of people can join: the offspring of pirates inheriting their father's business, or heinous exiled criminals.

The sailors have heard a lot about pirates, and this guy Xu Shichang.He looked like an old sailor at first glance, and he should understand this truth even more. How could he ruin his only chance of survival in vain like this?The sailors immediately became agitated. Seeing that the situation was not good, Sheng Zuo grabbed a sailor and took him into his arms. He slashed across the hunting knife from left to right.Blood spurted out like a fountain, and looking at the sailor again, his throat was completely cut.He couldn't even hum, his hands and feet twitched, struggling for his life.

Sheng Zuo let go, kicked the corpse into the sea, stared at a pair of fierce eyes, and said in a low voice: "Who wants to try?" His eyes were everywhere, everyone's teeth chattered, looking at the ruler handle The hunting knife, which was shining with cold light, was still dripping with drops of blood, how could it dare to fart?

Surrender to words.Die in a while; if you resist, you must die now.In desperation, the sailors had no choice but to lower the sails and anchor according to Xu Shichang's instructions.All the boats behind saw that the main ship lowered its sails, and they all followed suit after a while.Faintly heard a few splashes into the water.It is estimated that some sailors refused to obey and were killed by the brothers.

After all the sails were lowered, the pirate ship also lowered half its sails, sailed to a place of 400 meters, anchored, and hit a horizontal line. Rows of black hole muzzles protruded from the perforations, pointing at the grasshoppers in unison. fleet.

This distance has been fully seen, among the other four ships.There are two large three-masted battleships with a visual draft of at least 1700 tons.A salvo of gunfire, at least fifty or sixty!The other should be a three-masted fast battleship of about [-] tons.There should be about thirty guns on the double armored deck.The remaining one is a transport ship, which should be used by the pirates to load the looted property.

Xu Shichang held the mast so tightly that his nails were almost embedded in the wood.Now our streaking fleet and more than 1000 brothers are completely covered by the opponent's artillery fire. If the pirates fire at this time, these thirteen ships will not even have a chance to resist, and they will be buried in the sea in an instant!A bead of sweat crawled across his forehead and dripped into his eyes along the brow bone. He blinked vigorously, but didn't dare to reach out to wipe it.

quiet!Suffocating silence!

Time passed by every minute and every second, and everyone's nerves were stretched like clockwork, tightened one by one by an invisible big hand.

Suddenly, a black spot appeared behind the battleship in the middle.Look carefully, it turned out to be a board.Xu Shichang only felt his muscles loosen, and he almost fell off the mast by mistake.

Sending the sampan over is undoubtedly for dialogue, which means that at least the other party will not fire immediately.The first danger is lifted.

Xu Shichang slid off the mast with hands and feet.The water ghosts hiding in the back were already anxiously waiting, a brother came out with his head poking around, and said in a low voice, "Captain Xu, are you going into the water?"

"Go back!!!" Xu Shichang turned pale with fright, and waved his hands desperately.The pirates are well-equipped. They must be spying on the ship with binoculars at this time. Once they find the water ghost, they will definitely fire without hesitation. This place will turn into a sea of ​​flames in an instant!

Fortunately, there was no movement from the enemy for the time being, so they probably didn't notice it.Xu Shichang wiped the cold sweat off his forehead.At this time, he also wanted to make a thousand

Take a look on the opposite boat, it's a pity that the Daqingshui division is so poor, the majestic Eight Banners Army can't even find a telescope!Pooh!Xu Shichang couldn't help spitting hard. <||, stopped.A short guy stood up and yelled a series of words in different languages, including a blunt Chinese sentence: "Which country are you from?"

Xu Shichang walked to the bow, waved his hands above his head and said, "Don't shoot, we are Chinese businessmen! There are goods on board, as long as you are willing to let us live, all the goods will be given away!"

"Businessman?" The man scanned the fleet.This guy has a wax gourd head and a bun in the middle of the top door, which makes people feel the urge to kick him hard.Just listen to the head of the wax gourd: "Businessman, what's the matter with the gun hole?"

Although the ships of the fleet removed their cannons and disguised themselves as merchant ships.However, six of the two-masted houseboats are equipped with armed decks and perforations, which cannot be camouflaged.However, Xu Shichang had already thought of a countermeasure, and said loudly: "These ships were requisitioned by the government and army earlier, and now there are no weapons on board. If you don't believe me, you can go to the ship and see!"

His words.The sailors around were scared out of their wits.But the Japanese pirate with the wax gourd head didn't say anything after hearing this.It turns out that in the old days, the navy of the Qing Dynasty often pretended to be paid. In order to falsely claim expenses, they often dug holes in merchant ships and even fishing boats to use them as gunboats, and called them "expropriation". This kind of practice is already commonplace.

The dwarf bent down, probably to discuss with his companion, and then straightened up again.Said: "Your, come here. Take your boat, come in threes and threes, understand? The consequences of resisting or escaping, you know?"

"Understand, understand! I know, I know!"

"Quick!"

The small sampan turned around and went back without going to the ship to scout for a while, obviously disdainful of this small and poor grasshopper fleet that didn't even have a cannon.Generally, pirates have a habit of looting ships one by one.The rest of the gunboats were watching to prevent accidents.But this group of Japanese pirates obviously didn't have this kind of patience. In fact, such a poor fleet was not worth their worry and defense at all.To know the battleship with a displacement of 1700 tons versus a 200-ton brig, what kind of concept is that?That is, people don't even need to fire a cannon, just a light bump.You just have to fall apart!

It is precisely because of this huge disparity that Japanese pirates don't even have basic awareness of prevention!Xu Shichang let out a long breath.The second danger is lifted!

Sheng Zuo, who was next to him, suddenly understood why Xu Shichang insisted on removing the cannon from the ship.How could it be so careless if the enemy found even the shadow of a cannon at this time?Pretend to be a pig and eat a tiger, just pretend to be thorough!

Xu Shichang didn't send a signal immediately, but glanced coldly at the sailors on board, and said in a low voice, "What will happen if you fall into the hands of pirates. You don't need me to tell you. It doesn't matter if you believe me or not." That’s fine, but right now is your only chance to survive! You can be afraid. You can pee your pants in fright, but you must obey my arrangement. Otherwise, none of us will leave here alive! Do you understand?”

"Ming...understand..."

They have already reached this point, so they can't help but stop listening.Many sailors also want to show the courage to face death and fight with their backs, but when they open their mouths, they can still hear the clear chatter of teeth.

Xiao Ran and the brothers in the cabin could clearly hear the conversation just now.Xiao Ran's heart has already reached his throat.He is not afraid of gambling. In fact, whenever life and death are at stake, he dares to risk everything to gamble.But he has never bet all his chips on others like this time!The only hope can only be pinned on the last moment of the flop, pinned on how Xu Shichang will lead the streaking grasshopper fleet, which is the best in history, to fight against the well-equipped sea giant!

Lin Qing'er and Nayan Ziqing, of course, were also aware of the urgency of the situation, they tightly grasped Xiao Ran's arms from left to right, their faces turned pale with tension.