Chen Zuyi wanted to escape; he had already realized something was wrong. Although he had been operating in Southeast Asia for quite some time, and the surrounding indigenous countries were powerless against his pirate group.

However, for these pirates, escaping was not necessarily a simple matter.

The Ming Dynasty fleet's sentry ships had already departed the main fleet and were rapidly approaching the pirate ships. Seeing that the Ming Dynasty officials and soldiers seemed about to take action, some of the pirates appeared somewhat flustered.

They did indeed roam the seas, but often relied on sheer bravado or overwhelming numbers. Even some seasoned pirates possessed considerable courage and strength.

However, these people were ultimately a mob, not well-trained soldiers. Seeing the Ming Dynasty's massive fleet and those towering ships, many pirates actually began to feel intimidated.

boom

boom

The cannons on the Fujian-style ship began to fire. Although most of the solid cannonballs landed in the sea, the tremendous noise terrified many pirates. Many pirates had never experienced anything like this before; it was unlike the merchant ships they usually encountered.

The bombardment yielded little result, but it dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of some pirates. This caused the pirate ships, which had previously maintained some order, to begin to disarray, with some pirates now considering fleeing.

Bang

Bang

Suddenly, a sentry boat appeared about a hundred meters to the left of Chen Zuyi's flagship. He saw about a dozen Ming Dynasty soldiers holding muskets. Pirate leader Chen Zuyi had seen these things before and knew that those muskets were quite powerful.

He was relatively at ease for the time being, because his ship was taller and larger than the sentry ship, so he basically had nothing to worry about. However, many of the bullets fired by the muskets landed in the sea or hit a small pirate ship next to him.

In an instant, screams rang out. Chen Zuyi saw that some of his brothers had been injured, and one unlucky fellow had even been hit on the head and looked to be dead.

That doesn't make sense. Using firearms at sea isn't that easy. Weren't the gunpowder from the Ming Dynasty afraid of getting wet?

In fact, Chen Zuyi was quite knowledgeable; he was able to organize a pirate group of tens of thousands of people, even though many of them were coerced. But over the years, he had come into contact with a number of things.

Firearms aren't exactly new. Generally, gunpowder is in powder form. Not only is it ineffective at sea, but even in places like Southeast Asia, the gunpowder often clumps up and fails to fire.

Standing at the broad bow of the ship, Yu Tongyuan and Ma Sanbao watched as the patrol boats and others began to chase after the pirates. They knew that the situation was largely settled and there was nothing to worry about.

Seeing the muskets firing amidst the smoke and hearing the constant roar of cannons, they knew that this was a major battle.

However, we must also thank His Majesty the Emperor at this time; His Majesty is indeed farsighted. Despite many saying His Majesty has put the cart before the horse, consistently providing talent and funding to the Ministry of Works Academy, some scholars even believe that if His Majesty had invested the resources meant for training artisans into cultivating scholars, the Ming Dynasty would have been filled with Confucian scholars long ago.

This is no exaggeration. In fact, the Ministry of Education did spend a lot of resources on the college, which left many students feeling dissatisfied.

But so what? Over the years, there has been much discussion even in the imperial court, but His Majesty has persisted in training artisans. Many artisans have even obtained official positions as a result, much to the dismay of orthodox Confucian scholars.

Veteran generals like Yu Tongyuan know the immense importance of His Majesty's Ministry of Works Academy, such as the firearms currently in use.

Compared to firearms from twenty or thirty years ago, the firearms of the Ming Dynasty are now far more powerful. Leaving aside the casting techniques, as they don't appear to have changed much.

But gunpowder is different. It used to be made of powder, which was vulnerable to rain and fog. Now, however, it's in granular form, making it much easier to transport and use. Unlike before, when mixing powders often had to be done on the spot.

Using firearms on the ocean was no problem at all; with a little care, there was no need to worry about the firearms getting wet.

Chen Zuyi was now panicked. Although some of his men had escaped, most appeared to be surrounded. The Ming Dynasty's fleet consisted not only of those massive, mountain-like ships, but also of all sorts of smaller vessels.

The large ship at the front was bombarding them with cannons, and the left and right sides were also blocked. The only remaining gap for escape was getting smaller and smaller, and the small Ming Dynasty ships were about to close in.

Suddenly, Chen Zuyi began to panic as flames suddenly appeared at the breach. The Ming people were using fire; they were burning the ships, which would inevitably cause even greater panic and chaos.

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Yu Tongyuan couldn't help but say to Ma Sanbao, "I thought he was a fierce bandit, and it would be difficult to wipe him out. Who knew he was nothing special, not even a match for the imperial court."

Ma Sanbao, who had some knowledge of military affairs, said, "If we allow them to hide on land, it will be time-consuming and laborious to wipe them out. However, for them to try to contend with the imperial court on the ocean is like throwing an egg against a rock. Such overconfident individuals are not worth the imperial court's concern."

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