Late Ming Dynasty: The Counterattack Begins with Sea Pirates

After Chi Honghai finished speaking, he told Shen Er to immediately set sail to the north bank and bring the brothers.

Originally, there was a single cargo ship that came, but this time Chi Honghai took both ships carrying cannons with him on the voyage.

The two sides met shortly after setting sail.

It was December, and the earlier southeasterly winds had turned into northwesterly winds.

The boats coming from the direction of Xin'an County sailed against the wind at an incredibly fast speed.

But after sailing for a short while in the southern waters, the cargo ship saw two unidentified sailboats approaching from the opposite direction.

The reason he was said to be unknown was mainly because the waterway he was traveling on was usually not frequented by ordinary boats. In addition, the two sailboats of Chi Honghai were different in shape, making it difficult to identify who he was.

But not knowing meant danger, and the cargo ship turned around almost without hesitation when it saw the two ships heading towards it.

However, when sailing with the wind, the boat moves faster and often has to make a sharp turn to turn around.

In addition, this section of the waterway was quite narrow, and turning too sharply could have caused us to run aground or even hit the shore, so it took quite a while to turn around.

As he waited to turn his boat around and prepare to sail away against the wind, Chi Honghai's two boats had already caught up with him.

The first sound of gunfire came from the ship where the leader of the pond was located. Seeing that the other side did not move and continued to flee on its own, he ordered his men to fire a shot into the front of the ship from the breech-loading cannon.

As the cannons roared, the waters ahead, which had not yet been parted by the bow of the ship, were rippled by the cannonballs.

It was this cannon shot that caused the cargo ship to gradually slow down until it came to a complete stop.

After Chi Honghai's ship had caught up completely, he ordered his men to use grappling hooks to hook the enemy ship and pull it to their side.

However, Chi Honghai did not order his men to board the ship directly. Instead, he had them aim their muskets and the breech-loading cannons on the deck at the enemy.

In contrast, the other side had about twenty guards armed with knives on their deck.

Upon seeing the various firearms on the deck, the guards wisely threw their weapons onto the deck, waiting for the other side to take possession of everything.

"Tell everyone below deck to come out, or you'll be blasted to pieces by a few cannon shots."

Upon hearing Chi Honghai's words, the leader on the deck turned and ran into the cabin. However, his legs were not very nimble after seeing the firearms, and he limped and stumbled with each step.

After the man had dragged everyone out and made them stand on the deck, Chi Honghai still cautiously asked, "Where are you from, and who are you working for?"

"Reporting to...reporting to our hero, we are a boat from Xin'an County, working for the magistrate of Xin'an County."

After figuring out the other party's tactics, Master Chi spoke to Pang San, who was standing to the side.

"Pang San, take some men over there and see what's on that ship."

"Yes, sir!"

Pang San led his men around the cabin for a while, then walked out onto the deck and spoke to the master.

"Master, inside are mostly porcelain, tea, and medicinal herbs. The brothers have taken a look, and they can't compare to the stuff from Guangzhou Prefecture."

Of course, they can't compare. Not to mention that Xin'an County is a county under Guangzhou Prefecture, in terms of professional competence, Wu Laosi is far inferior to Master Chi.

Hearing this, Chi Honghai naturally had this in mind. The money was definitely not as much as in Guangzhou, but even a small amount is still something.

Moreover, for Chi Honghai, the magistrate of Xin'an County's possessions were something he would take as many as he could get, and he would never have too few.

Then Master Chi had some ropes thrown onto the other side's deck, so that they could tie themselves up. Those who wanted to live could jump onto this deck and come back with him, while those who wanted to feed the fish could jump off the other deck.

Nobody wanted to die. After their brothers had their hands and feet tied, they all crawled to the side of the ship and then jumped with all their might onto Chi Honghai's deck. It really hurt, but if it didn't hurt, they would have jumped into the sea through the gap between the two ships and never felt pain again.

The cargo and the ship returned to Hong Kong Island. On the way, Chi Honghai noticed that Shen Er kept sneezing, so he asked about his health.

Shen Er simply said that he felt it was a bit cold these days, colder than at this time of year in previous years, and that he might have caught a slight cold, but it was nothing serious.

Chi Honghai didn't pay much attention to Shen Er's feelings, and just told him to go back and brew some medicine.

The magistrate of Xin'an County was furious.

The goods I painstakingly collected from various places, and after calculating the exact date, have all disappeared without a trace!

Wu Laosi, who was next to him, was also like an ant on a hot pan. It had been less than half a year since the last robbery. He had finally managed to get so much stuff back, and he had given up all his savings. But when the time came, he couldn't even see a trace of the boat, let alone any money!

The boatman can't just sell the boat and the cargo and run off without a care in the world.

But that doesn't make sense either. The first ship that was hijacked had his youngest daughter and the county magistrate's brother-in-law on board. It's impossible that the brother-in-law sold his brother-in-law's goods and went off to have fun with his daughter.

If neither explanation makes sense, then there's only one possibility—the ship has been hijacked!

The county magistrate was well aware of the pirates operating at sea, but he had never encountered anything like this on his waterway before; he always traveled safely and made money.

It's quite strange that our ship was hijacked twice since Chi Honghai died.

As for the waterway and the date, besides him and Wu Laosi, only Chi Honghai knows the details clearly.

Could it be that Chi Honghai is not dead?

Moreover, during the recent typhoon, several villages around Xin'an County were wiped out overnight, and no one was found during the investigation.

Could it be that Chi Honghai did this too?

The magistrate and Wu Laosi found the matter increasingly perplexing. If Chi Honghai hadn't died, their own affairs would surely have been exposed to the heavens.

The county magistrate shuddered at the thought and dared not think any further.

After that, he no longer stayed in the vicinity of Xin'an County, but instead expanded the search area under the pretext of searching for the whereabouts of villagers and eliminating pirates.

This time, with a proper reputation, they didn't try to operate in secret, but instead sent out a considerable number of officials to investigate.

It feels so good to be aboveboard; I can do things with a clear conscience now.

After investigating for more than ten days, an official from the Xin'an County government office responded.

The county magistrate, sitting on his desk, was already weary of the usual fruitless and unhelpful replies. Before the officials below could even speak, he said, "I know, go away."

But the kneeling official remained unmoved, and instead said, "Sir, something seems amiss to the south!"

Upon hearing that something was amiss, the county magistrate immediately became alert and hurriedly asked what exactly was wrong.

"My lord, the island south of Xin'an County was previously left unattended due to its lack of inhabitants. However, I took a stroll around the area a couple of days ago and discovered that there are now quite a few more houses on the island, seemingly numbering at least a hundred households."

A hundred households? That's over a thousand people! Could it be that all those villagers who vanished into thin air have gone hiding somewhere?

Evading government control is a crime even if you're not guilty! Now, they have yet another excuse to fleece these ordinary people.

But more importantly, his subordinates said they saw large ships docked on the island.

Although he couldn't see what the large ship looked like, the magistrate felt that it was his own ship.

No, it's my own money!!!

"Men! Assemble all the troops in the county!"