Haeju Port, North Korea.
After watching the merchant ship loaded with cargo leave, Shi Lang withdrew his gaze and looked at Shang Kexi beside him.
Shang Kexi immediately stepped forward and said with a smile, "Is Lord Shi busy?"
"What are you going to do?" Shi Lang said with a vigilant look on his face: "We agreed before we sent out the troops that we are only responsible for defending the port and will not take the initiative to attack the Ming army."
"Master Shi, you misunderstood," Shang Kexi waved his hand quickly, "You and your people have been away from home for several months, and even spent New Year's Eve and New Year's Day here. It's inevitable that you feel homesick. I would like to treat you to wine and meat to relieve your homesickness."
Shi Lang didn't want to communicate too much with Shang Kexi, but he would be wasting his time if he didn't eat the meat that was served to him.
So he said, "You can have meat, but don't drink wine. Drinking wine can easily cause trouble!"
"That's all fine. If you say you don't want to drink, then we won't drink." Shang Kexi agreed without hesitation.
"In that case, thank you very much." Shi Lang said calmly.
Under Shang Kexi's arrangement, the naval soldiers brought by Shi Lang came to the shore to eat stewed meat.
Shi Lang himself was among them.
He said he didn't drink, but he couldn't resist Shang Kexi's persuasion.
As a veteran in the drinking scene, Shang Kexi is very good at persuading people to drink.
"Wine is the essence of grain. The more you drink, the younger you become!"
"Home-brewed, not very strong!"
"Just drink one bowl, no more!"
"I've already drunk it, what's the point of this one bowl?"
"Come on, pour another bowl, and let's share this jar of wine!"
"It's hard to drink it once, let's have another jar!"
......
With Shang Kexi's "help", Shi Lang soon drank too much.
His eyes were blurry, he staggered from side to side, and his consciousness began to fade.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Shang Kexi secretly winked at the guard at the door.
The soldier quickly signaled with hand gestures to the people outside.
Soon, a soldier ran in and knelt on one knee in front of Shang Kexi: "Your Highness, urgent news from Korea!"
"explain!"
"Yes," the soldier lowered his head, "Our patrol boat discovered a large number of Ming warships in the southwest, heading towards the port."
"What?" Shang Ke stood up excitedly: "What flag did the other party fly?"
"The national flag of the Ming Dynasty and the flag of Marshal Zheng!" the soldier replied.
When he heard the general flag with the character Zheng on it, Shi Lang sobered up half way.
He stared into the soldier's eyes and asked, "Are you sure it's the Zheng Zi Marshal flag?"
"Yes, in order to see the words on the flag clearly, we got very close and were almost sunk by the enemy patrol boat!"
"It's bad!" Shang Kexi stood up and shouted, "Order all troops to assemble and board the ship immediately to prepare to resist the enemy."
After giving the order, Shang Kexi looked at Shi Lang and said in a pleading tone: "Master Shi...you said you would protect the port. Now the Ming navy is coming. Please help!"
Shi Lang shook his head vigorously: "I did say that we should protect the port, but the premise is that the attacker is not Zheng's army."
"But..."
"No buts, this is a principle!" Shi Lang refused again and walked out of the house and ordered: "Order all troops to board the ship immediately and prepare to evacuate."
"Don't go!" Shang Kexi almost cried. He pulled Shi Lang's clothes and said, "If you leave, I alone can't stop the Ming army."
Shi Lang shook his head and said, "In that case, you should evacuate as soon as possible!"
After saying that.
He ran out with his personal soldiers in the yard and rushed to the shore.
After boarding the ship (the flagship), Shi Lang's younger brother Shi Xian asked, "What's wrong, brother?"
Shi Lang looked towards the southwest and said worriedly, "Young Master (Zheng Chenggong) is coming, hurry up!"
Shi Xian was about to wave the command flag when he suddenly thought of a question: Which direction to retreat?
Because he didn't know which direction Zheng Chenggong was coming from.
If you go in the wrong direction and meet it head-on, everything you have done will be in vain.
"Where are you going?" Shi Xian asked Shi Lang.
"Lower the flag and retreat to the northwest!" Shi Lang shouted in response.
The coast where Haizhou Port is located runs from northwest to southeast.
Zheng Chenggong came from the southwest, so the safest way was to retreat to the northwest.
As for why the flag was lowered, Shi Lang also had his own ideas.
For him, not flying the flag is the safest option.
Especially if there is a possibility of encountering the Ming army.
"Okay!" Shi Xian waved the command flag and ordered the navy to evacuate.
After sailing for a long time, Shi Xian reminded Shi Lang: "Brother, we can't go any further! The island ahead is Pi Island. Jiannu has no troops stationed there. It is very likely that it has been occupied by the Ming army! If they find us, we will be in big trouble."
"Indeed!" Shi Lang nodded and thought for a while, then said to Shi Xian, "Turn west immediately, and then turn south in the evening to avoid the Fujian Navy as much as possible."
Before Shi Xian could convey the military order, the command flag on the sentry boat far ahead kept shaking.
"There is a fleet ahead, and we don't know whether it is friend or foe!" Shi Xian, who was proficient in flag language, immediately explained to Shi Lang.
"It's bad!" Shi Lang cried out, "The enemy must be the Ming army. Get out of here quickly and don't get entangled with them."
However, the weather was not good.
At that time, there was a strong northwest wind on the sea.
Shi Lang had just come from the southeast, and if he sailed with the wind, it would be equivalent to returning along the same route.
He couldn't go back the same way, so he had to sail west.
The fleet heading west caught up with the help of the wind.
As the two sides got closer, Shi Lang quickly saw the flag on the fleet.
"Huh? How...why is it the Zheng flag!?" Shi Lang couldn't believe his eyes at all.
When he got the same answer from Shi Xian, Shi Lang finally realized that he had been deceived.
Shang Kexi deceived him.
Zheng Chenggong did come.
But the direction it came from was not southwest of Haizhou Port, but northwest of Haizhou Port.
Under the misleading information, he not only failed to avoid Zheng Chenggong, but met Zheng Chenggong head-on.
Fortunately, he did not fly the flag and his identity was not exposed.
"Full sail, turn southeast!" Shi Lang ordered again.
As he adjusted his course, the two fleets came closer.
......
Looking at the fleet in the distance ahead, Zheng Chenggong was a little confused.
He asked the people around him: "What do you think, is the other party an enemy or a friend?"
"They are definitely enemies!" Zheng Chenggong's trusted general Hong Xu said, "If they were friendly forces, they should have verified their identities immediately after seeing the Ming flag, instead of adjusting their course to escape."
"That makes sense!" Zheng Chenggong asked the others, "What do you think?"
The vast majority of people thought they were enemy troops, but a few thought they were friendly troops carrying out special missions.
Zheng Chenggong hesitated for a moment, then pointed to the last ship in the fleet ahead and said, "Order all ships to sink that ship. We will know whether it is a friend or an enemy once we capture the prisoners and ask them!"
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