According to the operational plan, the four fleets of the Jiangnan Group - the Coast Guard Fleet, Chen Huaixiu Fleet, Lin Feng Fleet and Ryukyu Fleet - should try to operate with Nan'ao Island as the center, and should not be more than 100 miles away from the port unless there are special circumstances, so as to avoid losing contact and facilitate fleet replenishment.

For this purpose, the headquarters assigned a "Beidou" team to each of the Lin Feng and Ryukyu fleets, responsible for navigation, communication, and shipboard reconnaissance missions. The Coast Guard Fleet and Chen Huaixiu's fleet have all been professionally trained, so Zhao Hao doesn't have to worry.

Each Beidou team is fully equipped. They even carry a hot air balloon. After taking off, with the help of telescopes, as long as the weather is good, they can see the fleet dozens of miles away.

With four fleets, four Beidou teams and four hot air balloons, the reconnaissance range can basically cover the entire combat area.

So as soon as the sun rose, the Lin Feng fleet and the Ryukyu fleet discovered the pirate fleet that had attacked Qing'ao Bay.

Although they were shocked by the pirates' elusiveness, according to the rule of soldiers against soldiers and generals against generals, they only needed to keep an eye on their targets and did not need to care about others without orders, and were not allowed to do so.

Zheng Yu found it difficult to accept this inhumane order.

He saw through the telescope that the Lin Feng fleet ten miles away had sailed towards Qing'ao Bay, so he asked the captain of the Beidou team whether we should also return to provide support.

The young police officer with two black five-pointed stars embroidered on his training uniform was resolute and capable, and answered straightforwardly: "Resolutely execute the plan!"

"But Lin Feng's fleet has already returned to provide support?" Zheng Yu pointed at the fleet consisting of thirty medium-sized Wuwei ships.

"Your Excellency does not need to be influenced by others, nor worry about others. Just make the best judgment for our fleet." The young police officer paused and said, "The staff only gives suggestions. The decision-making power lies with you, Your Excellency."

"Hmm..." Zheng Yu was tall and strong, and he was also a decisive person. He quickly adjusted his position. He calmed down, thought for a while, and remembered the agreement that Lin Feng had made with him before he set out.

"When you see me move, follow me. Keep a distance of about ten miles. It will definitely be beneficial."

He decisively gave the order: "Follow Lin Feng's fleet and keep a certain distance."

"Yes!" the young police officer answered without any nonsense.

Zheng Yu's twenty galleys, each with forty oars, naturally had an advantage in short-term speed. Seeing the commander's warship speeding up to the southwest, the other warships also turned and fell far behind Lin Feng's fleet.

~~

The pirates' battle plan was simple. Zeng Yiben's fleet would lead the attack on Qing'ao Bay, while the rest of the fleet would ambush at the upper wind outlet of the sea. Once the Jiangnan Group's fleet came back to help, they would attack from behind and take advantage of the wind direction and posture to eat it up.

So when they saw that there was indeed a fleet rushing towards Qing'ao Bay, the sea lords were very excited. They immediately told their men to hoist the sails and give the Jiangnan fleet a good kick in the ass.

That was Lin Feng’s fleet.

After getting on the boat, Lin Feng no longer needed to seduce her master, so she put her hair up and put on a black helmet. Otherwise, the strong wind on the sea would blow her like a crazy woman.

She wore long leather boots, a black police robe without a badge of rank, a wide leather belt with a copper buckle, and a short whip given by her master. Although she was not a cavalryman and could not drive, she did not know what the master gave her for, but it was quite handy for whipping people.

At this moment, she put one foot on the railing, the whip in her right hand unconsciously whipping her right hand wearing a white glove, and she looked at the pirate fleet that was following her with a sneer on her face.

"Liu Hongyan, Damahou, Huojiao Lao..." Xiaoheimei carefully distinguished the flags of the fleets and said, "What a gathering of heroes. It has been many years since we have seen such a neat gathering."

"What a bullshit gathering, it's more like a carrot meeting." Lin Feng snorted disdainfully and ordered: "Turn the rudder!"

Following her order, the fleet, which was originally heading towards Qing'ao Bay, turned southward. With the favorable wind and water, the speed increased suddenly, and the distance between them and the pirate ship that was about to enter the range was increased again.

"Hey, why don't they go into the bay? Don't they care about their old nest?" The sea lords in the distance were stunned. This was not what they expected.

This was a hodgepodge of more than a dozen fleets. Some sea owners turned and continued to chase, some wanted to stop and see what was going on, and some wanted to continue sailing into Qing'ao Bay to see if there was anything they could get. As more and more ideas came together, more than 200 ships gradually became a mess.

~~

At this time, Zheng Yun arrived with twenty paddle boats, right in front of the pirates.

However, there were a total of 200 large and small sailboats of various colors, forming a huge formation covering an area of ​​ten miles. The Ryukyu fleet was like an ant shaking an elephant in front of them, and it was hard not to be afraid.

"Damn it, is this the benefit that woman talked about?" Zheng Yu looked at the huge fleet to the south with great distress.

Even though the two sides were outnumbered ten to one, the postures were so comfortable that it was hard not to kick them.

After thinking for a moment, he decided to give the new tactics drafted with the help of the General Staff a try.

"Keep moving forward and prepare the artillery!" Zheng Yun gritted his teeth and ordered.

Seeing the flagship continue to move forward, the Ryukyu warship, which was about to stop, had no choice but to follow.

The pirates were numerous and had many eyes, so they naturally discovered the unidentified fleet at the stern of the ship at the first time.

But the panic soon subsided because they saw that the approaching ships were not only small in number, but also a fleet of galleys.

China has never developed galleys, but the Portuguese originally had some similar galleys, but they have basically been eliminated in recent years. So the sea masters can tell at a glance that this is a Ryukyu ship.

In the era of cold weapons, in boarding battles, the side with a height advantage usually has the upper hand. Therefore, for a long period of time, the idea of ​​shipbuilding in the East and the West was that the bigger and higher the better. Not only the freeboard should be high, but also the forecastle and poop should be added, which made small ships sigh.

In Macau, the Portuguese used a carrack like this as a castle to attack the Zeng Yiben fleet from a high position. Zeng Yiben's largest ship at that time was more than ten feet lower than the enemy's side, not to mention the forecastle and poop. The result was like a siege, and it was a siege on the floating sea, so it is understandable that it took a long time to capture.

It was after that incident that Zeng Yiben made up his mind and spent a lot of money to build the Wuwei ship. But before it was put into use, the government troops raided its base, and Mr. Zhao got it for nothing...

~~

The sides of the galleys were very low, and the stern was less than half the height of the side of the pirate ship, so the pirates did not take them seriously at all.

Moreover, these Ryukyu people must have been coerced. I guess a few shots would scatter them...

But unexpectedly, the Ryukyu galley fired first...

The roar of the cannons stunned the sea lords. When did the Ryukyu people start installing cannons on their ships?

They watched helplessly as a cannonball whizzed through a sailboat, flew several feet away, punched a hole in the side of another boat, and then bounced back into the sea...

Before the sea lords could come to their senses, more frequent artillery fire rang out, and this time more than a dozen shells flew over.

The pirates' warships were gathered together, and it was harder to shoot off target than to hit the target.

The gunners on the galleys were all properly trained coast guard, so naturally every shell would hit the target and they all aimed at the vital parts of the pirate ship.

The only regret was that each galley had only three guns installed. One Hongwu cannon at the bow, two Yongle cannons at the stern, and a few large Portuguese cannons for close defense. This made it difficult for them to cause much damage.

It wasn't that Master Zhao was reluctant to arm them because of personal affinity. It was because of the structure of the galleys that it was impossible to install guns on the sides, and only one main gun could be installed on the bow. In fact, even if there was a place to install them, Zhao Hao didn't dare to install them. The structure and wood of these ships were very crude, and they would probably fall apart if a few guns were fired at them.

Even these twenty Hongwu cannons made the pirates feel like being stung by a bee. Although not fatal, it was very uncomfortable. The sailboats in the north turned their bows and aimed at the approaching galleys. They were ready to shoot them to death as soon as they came into range!

Who would have thought that at this moment, the leading paddle boat actually turned around on the spot - the oarsmen on the left rowed together desperately, while the oarsmen on the right rowed in the opposite direction. It took only a dozen seconds to complete the turn...

The other Ryukyu ships immediately followed suit, turned around on the spot, and then rowed desperately to the north, quickly leaving the battlefield.

"Damn, they run away so fast..." Seeing this, the gunners of the pirate ship helplessly put the torches into the bucket beside them.

Unexpectedly, the galley fleet reloaded its ammunition in the distance, turned back, and sailed quickly back to the battlefield with its sails. Relying on the long range of its cannons, it fired at the pirates again.

The irritable captain immediately ordered his men to get closer and not let them escape again!

However, there is a nearly constant northeast wind from the Taiwan Strait in late autumn, and a cold coastal current moving southward. A pirate ship sailing only with sails moving against the wind and current is probably not as fast as walking.

They could only watch as the other side raised countless oars and left the battlefield again.

The pirates were caught in a dilemma where they could neither catch up nor defeat the enemy. Several ships were destroyed in vain, but they could only stand there and curse.

Now their actions became even more chaotic. The sea lords sailed in all directions with their fleets for their own purposes.

Among them, the Guangdong ship owner named Jiao Hua Lao, in order to avoid a collision, chose to sail east with his twenty or so ships.

This way you can avoid those pirate ships that are like headless flies and ensure your own safety until they figure out what's going on.

Although everyone came to join the war in order to survive, there were so many sea lords, and it didn't matter if I was a little cunning, the most important thing was to preserve my strength.

Old Pepper was just congratulating himself on his wise decision when suddenly a terrified shout was heard from the mast!

"Boss, someone smashed the kiln!"

"What?" Old Pepper ran to the side and saw, as expected, thirty black-tailed ships were speeding towards the northeast with full sails.

It was the Jiangnan fleet that fled southwards under their pursuit!

While the Ryukyu fleet was moving in and out, causing chaos in the pirate fleet, Lin Feng led his team in a circle to the northeast, gaining the upper hand and moving diagonally!

p.s. Try to publish the next chapter an hour earlier.