nucmednet Chapter 209 Board Jump and Hand-to-Hand Combat
Chapter 209 Board Jump and Hand-to-Hand Combat
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The waters off Fujian are calm and peaceful; a fleet of ships is heading towards...
Zheng Hongkui stood at the bow of the boat, observing the movement of the sea. The sea was quite calm in the early morning, without a single fishing boat in sight; everything seemed normal.
This time, the Zheng family was transporting a batch of raw silk to Hirado for sale. Because of the large quantity, Zheng Zhilong sent his reliable fourth son to personally escort the shipment. So far, the journey has been very smooth, and the raw silk has been exchanged for a whole ship's worth of silver, which is now lying quietly in the ship's hold.
However, Zheng Hongkui dared not be careless and proceeded cautiously until they were close to Kinmen before finally letting out a sigh of relief. The fleet was only two hours' journey from Kinmen Island. There were Zheng's fleet and men on the island, and under their escort, they would be completely safe heading to Zhongzuo Fortress.
He gave the order: "Tell the brothers on the island to get ready to return to Zhongzuo with the fleet."
A nimble single-masted boat left the fleet to deliver a message to Kinmen.
Zheng Hongkui watched the small boat leave at a relatively fast speed until it became a blurry black dot on the horizon.
Suddenly, a large black shadow appeared in front of the small black dot and swallowed it up in the blink of an eye, like a monster emerging from the sea to pounce on its prey.
Zheng Hongkui's heart tightened. Based on his years of experience navigating the seas, this was no monster, but a massive fleet. The appearance of such a large fleet at this time was definitely premeditated, and their intentions were certainly not friendly.
After swallowing the small boat, the dark figure headed straight for the fleet, its target very clear.
He gripped the gunwale tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.
"Enemy attack! Notify all ships to prepare for battle!"
Zheng Hongkui's judgment was correct; this was a premeditated attack. What puzzled him was how the enemy could have such accurate knowledge of the fleet's movements and choose such a clever ambush location.
Zheng Cai ran out disheveled and hurriedly asked, "Fourth Master, what happened?" He was a cousin of the Zheng family. Because of his eloquence and social skills, he was a capable assistant in the Zheng family's business. Naturally, he was also indispensable on this trip to Hirado.
Zheng Hongkui gritted his teeth and said, "There must be a traitor among us. We'll dig him out and skin him alive!"
The shadowy figures drew closer and closer, and could be seen with the naked eye as a large group of three- or four-hundred-ton Fujian ships, interspersed with many two-hundred-ton Haicang ships.
In the entire Fujian sea area, besides Liu Xiang, there was no one else who dared to attack the Zheng family's fleet and could mobilize so many ships at once.
Zheng Hongkui forced himself to calm down. If it really was Liu Xiang, things would be much more difficult. His fleet consisted mainly of merchant ships, and although they had a few cannons and quite a few capable sailors, they were likely in grave danger in the face of such a large-scale attack. Judging from the enemy's formation, Liu Xiang had probably deployed all of his main forces.
What on earth had gotten into Liu Xiang that made him so desperate to launch this attack? Zheng Hongkui was completely baffled. However, now was not the time to speculate on his opponent's motives; how to defuse the crisis was the real issue he faced.
Zheng Cai was somewhat flustered: "Third Master, what should we do? Should we confront them head-on, or avoid their sharp edge?"
"Avoid the enemy's advance my ass!" Zheng Hongkui cursed. "We're surrounded by the sea on all sides. There's no time to run anywhere. They have the wind at their backs. If we turn around at the last minute, we'll definitely be caught up. The only thing we can do now is to hold out and send a few more ships to break through in the chaos and send a message to Kinmen so that our brothers on the island can attack us from both sides. Only then will we have a chance of winning."
Zheng Cai sighed; this was the only option. Meeting at sea, turning back at the last minute was a major taboo—it would be tantamount to handing one's back to the enemy. They had no choice but to face the challenge head-on.
The Zheng family's sailors were all seasoned pirates who had fought countless battles. Although they were outnumbered, they did not falter. They rushed onto the deck, waving their Japanese swords and shouting loudly to cheer themselves on.
As the enemy fleet approached, their flags indeed bore a large "Liu" character. Liu Xiang's fleet split into two groups as they drew near, flanking Zheng's fleet from the left and right, seemingly determined not to let a single ship escape.
Zheng Hongkui took a deep breath. This attack was the biggest crisis of his life. Given the grudge between the Zheng family and Liu Xiang, he had no hope of surviving if he fell into their hands. He took his knife from the sailor, raised it high above his head, and shouted, "Men of the Zheng family, fight them to the death!"
The sailors on board struck the hull with the back of their knives, making a "bang bang" sound, and shouted, "Let's fight!"
The shouts reached the ships behind, and the sailors on those ships also joined in the shouts. For a moment, the shouts of the Zheng family fleet were deafening, creating a tragic and heroic atmosphere of fighting to the death.
Liu Xiang's fleet, however, remained eerily silent, like a predator eyeing its prey, poised to strike.
As the two ships drew closer, the Zheng family, unable to contain themselves, fired first. The breech-loading cannons and bow-loading cannons opened fire, sending spherical projectiles of all sizes hurtling toward the other side with a whooshing sound.
Some of the bullets landed in the water, creating splashes, while others were lucky enough to hit their targets, striking the side of the ship and creating a hole, but very few caused any casualties.
Zheng Hongkui ordered: "Change to grape bullets!"
Given the caliber and power of the ship's cannons, the destructive power of solid shot was pitifully small. It might be effective against small sampans, but against Liu Xiang's 400-ton Fujian ship, it was like tickling an itch.
As the distance closed, the power of the grapeshot became apparent. Raindrops of small iron balls rained down, hitting sailors on the opposite deck one after another, their screams audible even a hundred or two paces away. At that moment, Zheng Hongkui suddenly thought of the short, heavy cannons of the Qiongzhou camp. If they had used those cannons, a single shot would likely have left the decks of the opposite ship barren. Unfortunately, the delivery was agreed to be in the spring, and this fleet wouldn't be able to catch up with the cannons.
Liu Xiang's fleet also had cannons, but they did not retaliate with grapeshot. The cannons fired, and long, dark shadows spun and flew over, but their target was not the deck; they aimed at the sails and masts.
"Chain bullets!" Zheng Hongkui recognized this deadly weapon at a glance. Chain bullets consist of two projectiles linked together by a chain. After being fired, one projectile drags the other, causing it to fly out centrifugally. A hit on a sail would tear a large hole, and a hit on a mast could snap it, rendering the enemy ship powerless. Although this weapon was powerful, its fatal flaw was its short range, even shorter than grapeshot. No wonder Liu Xiang's fleet had approached under cannon fire; it was to fire chain bullets.
It seems their objective was clear: to capture these merchant ships regardless of casualties, rather than to burn or sink them.
The chain shot was very effective. After losing many sailors, Liu Xiang's fleet achieved its goal. Most of the Zheng family's ships either had their masts broken or their sails destroyed. In addition, the silver they were carrying was too heavy, so they were basically unable to move.
The Liu Xiang fleet, which had been silent all along, finally erupted in a deafening battle cry; they were about to board and engage in hand-to-hand combat.