Admiral Pi led all the main forces of the Penglai navy to Changdao before dusk, hid in Moon Bay, and waited for the fleet of unknown origin to arrive.

There is a fort on the east side of Long Island. If there is a battle tomorrow, I will feel more at ease facing the enemy with my back to the fort.

After an unbearable night, the clipper sent to spy on military intelligence finally returned.

Under the nervous gaze of Admiral Pi and others, the scout reported: "The fleet is flying the Sun and Moon flags, it should be a fleet of Ming civilian ships."

It was difficult for ships to communicate at sea, so they flew different flags to identify themselves. Civilian ships of the Ming Dynasty liked to fly the Sun and Moon flags, and the navy of the garrisons had their own military flags. For example, the flag of the majestic Kunpeng was flown in the Denglai Water City.

After repeated questioning, it was confirmed that there were no other flags hoisted, and Admiral Pi and his men breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it was the Ming fleet, no matter how powerful it was, he would not dare to offend the government troops.

"Brother, should we..." Seeing the tiger turning into a fat sheep, the guerrilla couldn't help but become greedy. The other generals also looked at Lieutenant General Pi with hope, obviously they were used to this kind of business.

It's no wonder. After all, the Ming Dynasty has not lifted the maritime ban. This is the key point to protect the capital. Even if your fleet is completely sunk, you have no place to complain. As the saying goes, those who carry sharp weapons will naturally kill. These water camp officers have more blood debts on their bodies than pirates.

"Hmm..." General Pi Shen hesitated.

The scouts just confirmed that the enemy did have 50 patrol boats with a capacity of 400 tons, and they were very deep in the water, so they were obviously fully loaded. If we could just capture a few of them, the brothers would be able to make a lot of money.

But how could he rashly attack such a large fleet without knowing its origins? He carefully recalled the big ship owners in the Nanzhi area of ​​Shandong, and after thinking about it, it seemed that only the sand ship gangs at the mouth of the Yangtze River could put up such a large formation.

"The Sand Ship Gang, aren't they fishing in the Yangtze River? Why are they running to our Shandong?" Lieutenant General Pi was puzzled.

"Who cares what he's doing here? He's overstepping his boundaries and must pay the price!" the men shouted.

"That's right, where did you stick your hand? If I don't chop it off, do you think there is no one in Shandong?"

Unable to resist the instigation of his men, Lieutenant General Pi finally made up his mind to stop the fleet. Regardless of right or wrong, he first seized the ships according to the usual practice and waited for the other ship owner to redeem them.

"Leave the bay, line up on the waterway, and don't let a single ship pass!" Admiral Pi made up his mind and gave the order with great courage.

"Ahhh!" The sailors on the ship howled excitedly upon hearing the order. Although they were full of resistance to fighting, they never felt tired of robbing.

~~

When the morning mist dissipated, the Penglai Navy's fleet lined up in the Changshan waterway, and soon the huge fleet was seen approaching from the east.

Admiral Pi stood on the top deck, holding a bamboo tube with two holes dug out at both ends, and put it close to his eyes to look. He could already see the masts of those ships clearly, and there were indeed ordinary sun and moon flags hanging on them, without any other flags.

The ocean current in this area is eastward, and the sand ship on the opposite side is fully loaded. Although its sails are fully set, it still looks slow and bulky.

Admiral Pi was experienced and had chosen the most advantageous position to form his array. Not only did he have the support of the artillery on the shore, but if the enemy tried to escape, he could immediately hoist the sails and pursue downstream, and catch up in a blink of an eye.

Everything is under control!

Admiral Pi was completely relieved and ordered the gunners to load ammunition and prepare to fire a salvo to scare off this arrogant fleet.

Gradually, the fleet got closer and closer, five miles, four miles, three miles... still no sign of stopping.

"Fire!" Lieutenant General Pi gave a stern order, wanting to teach these ignorant little brats a lesson.

The gunners lit the fuse with torches, and the cannons hissed with sparks.

Suddenly, the guerrillas beside him pushed General Pi hard and screamed in a deep voice: "Don't fire, there is a dragon flag!"

“Ah?!” Admiral Pi followed his subordinate’s pointing and saw that in the opposite fleet, the largest ship with 600 tons of sand was flying four blue flags with golden dragons, as well as clearing flags and lowering flags!

The big ship was blocked by the ship leading the way in front, and its flag could not be seen until it was closer.

Cangjiang Pi and others were immediately scared to death.

Shandong has many vassal kings, and the nearby Qingzhou is the fief of King Heng. Otherwise, they would not recognize it. This is a flag that can only be used when the prince is on tour. Of course, the flag is not a dragon, but a dragon, which is not something they can distinguish.

"Stop, stop, don't fire!" General Pi screamed, wishing he could pounce on him and block the muzzle of the gun.

But it was too late. More than a dozen cannons roared dully one after another.

More than a dozen shells whizzed out and landed on the water surface four or five hundred meters away, causing a series of splashes.

Fortunately, the range is limited and it is still far away from the fleet.

"What should we do, big brother?" All his men were in a panic. Although the princes were not allowed to leave their fiefdoms without permission, they were even less allowed to fire at them.

"Calm down, we are just doing our duty. No one will be killed if we fire blanks." Lieutenant General Pi forced himself to remain calm. He no longer cared about robbing and was only thinking about how to escape.

~~

Jiangnan Shipping Fleet.

Wang Rulong's three warships had already lined up in front of the fleet, and the other two were at the rear to prevent them from being surrounded.

Looking at the water column more than two miles away, Wang Rulong put down the telescope hanging around his neck, wiped his red beard with contempt and said, "Shame on you!"

Don't be fooled by his nonchalant look; he is actually acting for the people below him.

Wang Rulong knew that although the enemy's dozen or so cannons had a short range, their firepower was enough to suppress his side and cause huge casualties. This was the case at sea. The era of fighting with manpower had long passed. Now what mattered was the strength of the ships and the power of the cannons.

"Captain, do you want to fight back?" asked the squadron leader in a deep voice.

"Damn it, when have we never fought back?" Wang Rulong spat fiercely and said, "Fire a few rounds and let them hear the sound."

In fact, he only has three snake cannons that can be used, and the effective range of the Portuguese cannon is only more than 100 meters, which is embarrassing enough.

But you must never lose your momentum, fire a few shots in return first.

The gunners had already finished loading, and upon hearing the order, they immediately used a long fuse to light the fuse of the snake cannon.

The so-called snake cannon is the mainstream long-barreled cannon in Europe. This cannon has a long range and can fire directly, which greatly improves the shooting accuracy. It plays a leading role in the navy and army of European countries.

However, now that the distance exceeds one kilometer, we still need to give it some elevation to increase the range.

No one expected to hit the target anyway. If it was a deterrent shot, the farther the better.

The three bronze snake cannons carefully crafted by the Bugalao Cannon Foundry spewed out long tongues of fire and whistled out three solid cannonballs!

The two sides were more than one kilometer apart at this time, already within the range of the snake cannon, but the chance of hitting was very small, so the security team did not hold out much hope, and the government troops on the opposite side did not care either.

Who would have thought that when two shells flew over the heads of the government fleet, the third shell hit, hit...

And it hit the ship where Lieutenant General Pi was.

He stared blankly at the huge hole on the deck, and was so frightened that he couldn't close his legs. What kind of cannon could be so powerful? Could it be the legendary Red Cannon? It was too scary!

Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty's ships all had watertight compartments, so even if they were hit by a shell and flooded, there was no risk of the ship sinking.

But this shell completely destroyed the courage of the government troops. Seeing that the enemy's tactics were tough and ruthless, they knew that they would not get any good results if they continued to fight.

Of the Thirty-Six Strategies, running away is the best one.

"Retreat!" General Pi calmly ordered, "Even if the sky falls, we have the military commander to hold it up."

"Brother, we must at least find out the other party's identity. Otherwise, how can we report back and inform the Tianjin Guard?" a captain reminded.

"That's right. Then you take a boat and stay here to find out the situation." Admiral Pi straightened the captain's uniform and said kindly, "You are the leading officer today. None of us have ever been out to sea. What do you think?"

"Oh, well..." Mr. Qian wanted to jump into the sea. He only blamed himself for talking too much and becoming the scapegoat.

~~

Jiangnan Shipping Fleet.

Wang Rulong was relieved to see the fleet of the government troops withdraw. He was really worried that the cannon would irritate the enemy.

Fortunately, the enemy was not so angry. That's right, if the government troops were not used to bullying the weak and fearing the strong, how could they let the little Japanese pirates ride on their necks and make them shit.

After declaring the end of combat, the sailors extinguished the burning pine oil torches, emptied the barrels, and reloaded the shells... The Portuguese guns were simple to fire, just take out the sub-guns. The trouble was the snake cannons and muskets, which could not be unloaded after loading, so they had to be fired.

But this time the security team learned their lesson and fired blanks at the open sea. Amid a burst of intense gunfire, a gunner was brought to Wang Rulong by the squadron leader.

"Captain, this guy was the one who fired the cannon just now." The squadron leader said with a strange look on his face.

"What's your name?" Wang Rulong looked at the gunner, dark and thin... well, this is the most common appearance in this era. He looked dull, not like a spirited young man.

"Captain, my name is Chu Liu." The young man spoke in Shandong dialect. "A gunner of the artillery team directly under the Coast Guard!"

Zhao Hao's security team had three sources of soldiers: the former Qi family soldiers who defected and the Zhejiang soldiers they brought with them; the rural militia recruited from Kunshan; and the northern refugees supported by the Xishan Company, mainly from Henan and Shandong. As soon as Chu Liu opened his mouth, it could be heard that he was from the third category.

"Slip out? Where are you planning to slip out?" Wang Rulong couldn't help but laugh. "This name is not good on a boat. You might slip out into the water. I'll give you a new name."

"Okay, good." The name Chu Liu is not a serious name, but of course he is happy for the captain to give him a new name.

"What should I call you..." Wang Rulong stroked his red beard and said, "Your shot was really loud! I'll call you Chu Liuxiang."

"Hey, thank you captain for the name. From now on I'll be called Chu Liuxiang." Chu Liu nodded happily.

"Chu Liuxiang, how do you think I should punish you?" He had to admit that northern dialect was very contagious, and even Wang Rulong's accent was distorted by it.

"What? I still have to be punished?" Chu Liuxiang was dumbfounded. "Is it a crime to hit the target?"

"That was a government ship. You fired at them and someone died. Who's responsible?" Wang Rulong slapped him on the back of his head.

ps. First update, please give me your monthly vote!