On the foreign ship.

Uncle Mi handed the telescope to his boss, and Zhao Hao could then see clearly that it was a ship on fire.

In the light of the fire, you can vaguely see a three-masted sailing ship nearby, with shadows floating above it and small orange dots constantly flying out.

"Is that shooting rockets?" asked Master Zhao.

"Yes." Uncle Mi nodded and asked in a deep voice: "Sir, should we stop and wait until the battle is over before moving forward?"

"What do you think?" Zhao Hao asked back.

"Hehe." Uncle Mi stroked his gray beard and said with his true character, "Both ships are not big. The one on fire is a two-masted sand ship with no more than ten people on board. The three-masted one is a Fuzhou ship with no more than thirty or forty people on board."

"What does uncle mean?" Zhao Hao pressed his straw hat. "Shall we join in the fun?"

"Yeah." Uncle Mi nodded and said, "We have more people and a big boat, so we can scare them to death. It's good to let the boys broaden their horizons."

"Then let's go!" After going into the sea, Master Zhao changed his prudent style of putting safety first on the shore and became brave and aggressive.

So when it comes to role playing, sometimes people get too deeply into the role. I wonder if Mr. Zhao will become a rubber man with retractable limbs in the future and cultivate the domineering aura of the king.

After receiving the order, Captain Mi immediately ordered the helmsman to send a signal with the ship light.

When the sailors on the two five-masted ships saw the flagship hanging red lanterns, they quickly sounded the alarm.

Upon hearing the alarm, the Jiangnan Company security guards in the cabin immediately picked up their weapons and, under the leadership of their respective team leaders, rushed to the deck to take their positions.

Strict training is not the purpose, and strict military discipline is not for appearance. It is all for the soldiers... oh no, the security guards to stay calm and not get into a mess when encountering an emergency.

Torches were lit, illuminating the deck as bright as day.

Wooden boxes were brought out one after another, and when they were opened, they were all filled with brand new muskets, all smuggled from Guangdong by Tangji Nanhuopu.

It's not that Zhao Hao, the supervisor of the Nanjing Armory Bureau, was incapable of obtaining guns from official channels. Rather, the quality of the privately made muskets by Guangdong craftsmen was far superior to those made by the Armory Bureau, not to mention the explosive guns made by local guards.

Of course, it is very expensive. One Guangdong-made cigar is worth two official-made cigars.

But is Mr. Zhao a person who cares about money? He immediately ordered 500 sticks as a gift for his disciple.

Take it out now and try out the gun first.

~~

Whether it is the Kunshan Gunner Battalion or the Security Brigade, the training time is too short and they still have to shoulder heavy patrol tasks.

Even if the veterans of Qi's army came to train, two or three months would only be enough to help them get rid of their lax habits and make them obey orders.

As for military proficiency, it is not even good enough to carry shoes for the real Qi Family Army.

The recruits were in a panic and finally completed the reloading, but they didn't get a chance to fire a single shot.

Their task was only to help the veterans of the Qi family army in the front row load bullets.

Compared to the panicking new recruits, the veterans were much calmer.

They tilted their necks to glance at the two boats in the distance, then calmly placed their guns on the railing, waiting for the next order.

"Captain, why don't you shoot?"

"What the hell are you doing? Why are you making a splash from such a long distance?" He even had the leisure to teach his new recruits a lesson.

"Don't panic, you don't have to shoot, just treat it as training. If anyone panics again, I'll throw him into the Yangtze River."

Under the scolding of the veterans, the recruits gradually calmed down.

Two five-masted ships gradually approached the scene of the conflict.

Although Zhao Hao's ship lagged behind, he could see without a telescope that the brig had been turned into a brazier.

Everyone on the boat jumped into the river.

But the people on the pointed three-masted ship still did not let them go, and cruelly shot those who fell into the water with bows and arrows.

Just as he was wondering whether he should shout first or establish his authority first, he suddenly heard the sound of frying beans on the big ship in front.

Then thick white smoke rose up, which was particularly obvious in the blue night.

The security team actually opened fire first.

Zhao Hao looked at Uncle Mi in confusion, and Uncle Mi looked at Master Zhao helplessly.

"It's difficult to give orders at sea. Each ship makes its own decision. I can't control that."

"Okay." Zhao Hao smiled bitterly and turned back to look at the battle situation.

Then I saw the three-masted Fuzhou ship adjusting its sails and turning quickly to the north.

"They are trying to escape." Uncle Mi said in a low voice, seeing through the other party's movements. He couldn't help but sighed: "Our boat is too stupid, I'm afraid we can't stop it."

The square-headed sand ship is inherently clumsy, and Zhao Hao and his crew's five-masted sand ship is not a warship. How can it be as maneuverable and flexible as the small three-masted Fu ship that is easy to turn around?

"Then stop chasing and save those people." Zhao Hao sighed with some regret. He hadn't even seen the scene yet, how come it was over?

Uncle Mi asked the helmsman to go out and turn on the light, and the two large sand ships really stopped chasing and lowered the small boat to rescue people.

~~

Half an hour later, a small boat came over and reported the situation to Zhao Hao.

"Japanese pirates?" Master Zhao was surprised. This was the mouth of the Yangtze River and they hadn't even put out to sea yet.

"It's the Japanese pirates." The person who came to report was Ma Yinglong, the former deputy captain of the Xishan Island Security Battalion and now the captain of the special security team.

"Brothers, we saw that the people on the Fu ship all had shaved heads, so we opened fire." Ma Yinglong was a captain of the Qi family army. Seeing that there were still Japanese pirates causing trouble, he naturally felt a little embarrassed.

"We also caught a fake Japanese who was shot and fell into the water."

"What about the other group?" Zhao Hao asked again, "Are they also Japanese pirates?"

"They said they were from the Sand Ship Gang." Ma Yinglong said with a strange expression.

"We're from the Sand Ship Gang..." Zhao Hao stroked his straw hat gently. The Sand Ship Gang on Chongming Island mainly engaged in shipping on the Yangtze River, so it was reasonable for them to run into them.

He asked Uncle Mi, and he was told that it was still eighty miles away from Chongming Xisha Island, and that the current was against the current, so it would take until the second half of the night to reach the shore.

Mr. Zhao realized that he had not imagined how big Chongming Island was. He thought that he could reach Chongming by walking downstream for dozens of miles after leaving Wusongkou, but he didn't expect it was still so far away.

Since he had nothing to do anyway, he asked Ma Yinglong to bring the leader in for questioning.

While no one arrived yet, Zhao Hao went down to the cabin and told the three girls that everything was fine and they could have a good sleep and he would call them when they arrived in Xisha.

When he was forced by the girls to drink the sweet soup and came out of the front cabin, he saw Ma Yinglong and three others on board.

The leader was a young girl... She was wearing a green dress and a white headband, which was the attire of a widow.

The other man and woman should be her followers, standing behind the young widow with vigilant expressions.

"This is my young master." Ma Rulong introduced in a deep voice.

"I, the widow Shen Chen, would like to thank you for saving my life, young master." The young widow bowed to Zhao Hao.

Zhao Hao saw that she was beautiful and graceful. Her clothes and hair were not yet dry, and her slightly messy hair was sticking to her forehead. Her lips were also frozen and pale, but she still couldn't hide the determination between her brows.

'A girl should be pretty and filial.'

Six inappropriate words suddenly popped up in Master Zhao's mind. He apologized inwardly and quickly asked the guards to prepare cotton towels and boil ginger soup for the three people. He then asked about their identities and why they were attacked.

ps. The first chapter of three consecutive updates, please give me your monthly votes!