Late Ming Dynasty: The Counterattack Begins with Sea Pirates

Seeing Shen Er's frightened expression, Chi Honghai didn't know what had happened, but he knew it couldn't be anything good.

"Master, the boat! The boat!" Shen Er gasped for breath, clutching Master Chi's clothes, so nervous he was almost gagging.

"What kind of ship?"

Chi Honghai couldn't understand why the ship could excite Shen Er so much. Could it be that it capsized when it set sail?

Shen Er quickly recovered after gagging twice and told Chi Honghai an answer that was even more serious than the capsizing of the boat.

"Master...someone...someone hijacked the ship! Another ship that went out to sea has been hijacked, and all the men on board, except for some who jumped overboard and were pulled ashore, have been killed!"

Upon hearing Shen Er's words, Chi Honghai's eyes immediately turned even redder than Shen Er's, and he slammed his fist into the beam next to him.

"This is outrageous! Who dares to hijack my ship! Set sail for the north shore!"

Upon arriving at the north shore, Chi Honghai rushed to the training ground without saying a word: "Everyone, grab your weapons and board the ship immediately!"

With a loud shout, the people who were training glanced at Master Chi, then rushed to the barracks warehouse, grabbed their things, and ran onto the deck.

Chi Honghai ran to the deck, and after confirming that everything was ready, he immediately ordered, "Southeast! Drive there at full speed!"

Liu Qingjiang stood next to Chi Honghai, originally thinking that the master had found another opportunity to commit a heist, and was about to go up and ask which ship they were going to hijack this time when...

"Damn it, they're robbing my ship! Since I started out here, I've always been the one robbing others, never the other way around!"

"Shen Er, speak! Who dares to hijack our ship!"

Shen Er, his voice trembling with tears, said, "Master! We were far away then, and the ships and clothing on the other side didn't look like foreigners, nor did they speak our language."

After Shen Er finished speaking, Chi Honghai knew roughly what kind of people these people were.

There are very few people left who dare to rob ships along the southeast coast. Westerners are busy doing business, and with Zheng Zhilong keeping a close watch on them, it's hard to get them to act. Local counterparts in this area are almost all gone. All things considered, there's only one reckless fellow—the Japanese.

Thinking of this, the leader of the pond became even more furious and slammed his fist on the side of the boat: "Faster! Go faster! If we don't catch up with that boat today, nobody will eat."

Liu Qingjiang was furious when he heard that it was one of their own ships that had been hijacked. After all, he had been a pirate before, so he could only accept hijacking people himself. He had never heard of any pirates accepting that others hijack their ships.

Both sailing ships are of the Caravelle style and are very adept at sailing against the wind.

With the help of the sails, it quickly caught up with the sailboat that had been hijacked, but the sailboat was just sitting alone in the water, not moving at all.

When Chi Honghai steered his boat past, he could clearly see that the boat was littered with the corpses of his own men, their bodies covered in knife wounds and blood flowing down the deck. Among these corpses were also one or two bodies dressed as ronin.

Seeing this scene on the deck, he gasped for breath and clenched his fists. Looking at the ship that hadn't gone far ahead, he ordered his men to run it over!

When the two sailboats caught up, the ronin on the first ship realized that the ship behind them was chasing them.

Whether they realized it or not, their oars and sails were not very useful in the open sea. No matter how hard they tried to swing their elbows, they couldn't outrun the sails. Besides, the ship was full of cargo, or rather, a ship full of fish—fish that Shen Er and his men had just caught.

Chi Honghai was also very puzzled by this. Why did they choose to rob a fishing boat instead of a ship carrying valuable cargo?

But if you don't manage and understand, and now that you've messed with me, don't blame me, Chi Honghai, for not understanding you.

"Bang!" "Bang!"

The two caravels followed diagonally to the left and right of the galley in front, closing the distance while gradually moving their cannons towards the ship.

Hearing that the approaching ship behind them had firearms, the ronin on board panicked. They shouted things like "Baka!" in Japanese, but when they drew their swords, they could only rage helplessly, as they could only slash themselves with them.

When Chi Honghai's two ships caught up completely and pointed their cannons at them, chaos erupted on the deck.

Some of the ronin acted as if they had done something wrong, rummaging through things everywhere. In their desperation, they even took off their pants in public, ripped off what looked like a diaper, hung it on the tip of their knife, and waved it around.

The white flag is white, and this is white too.

But he had only held it up for a short while when someone next to him kicked him down onto the deck, and the disgusting white thing fell down with him. Then people started beating each other up, and after some bloodshed, some of the people who had wanted to surrender were pushed off the deck and thrown into the sea, some alive and some dead.

Not far away, Chi Honghai could see the actions on the opposite deck very clearly, but instead of showing any smile, he became even angrier.

"They're all just cowardly bullies who prey on the weak. No matter what they're holding, bombard them! We'll just buy more shells when we run out!"

Liu Qingjiang finally received the master's order to fire, and shouted loudly across the lower deck: "Fire!"

The cannons on the lower deck emitted a plume of white smoke, while the light breech-loading cannons and muskets on the deck simultaneously unleashed a hail of ammunition toward the opposite side.

In an instant, bullet holes of varying sizes covered the enemy's deck and bodies. The Japanese huddled and scrambled on the deck, trying to avoid the attacks, wanting to retaliate but struggling because they had no ranged weapons.

A desperate ronin, as if driven mad, with a white turban on his head, stripped to the waist, drew his sword, and shouted at Chi Honghai, his face extremely ferocious.

Chi Honghai didn't tolerate this man either. He picked up his pistol, raised his hand, and fired a shot that struck the man squarely in the forehead, causing a blood-red spot to appear. The man fell to the ground.

After several rounds of bombardment, the people on the ship had resigned themselves to their fate of being slaughtered.

Those who were too proud and arrogant to handle Western bullets chose the traditional knife to end their sins.

The instinct for survival had not yet been extinguished; the man cried out for something like "Mama-san" and climbed onto the deck, kneeling and begging for mercy.

But Chi Honghai acted as if he didn't see either of them, only repeating the same sentence over and over: "Hurry up!"

It wasn't until the lower deck of the enemy ship took on too much water and the entire ship could no longer withstand the bombardment and began to sink that those people finally realized reality. They stopped hesitating and raising their knives, and stopped kneeling and crying out. Instead, they all climbed to the edge of the ship, flipped over, and jumped into the sea.

Actually, it doesn't have to be so complicated; we'll eventually end up in the sea anyway.

Many people started fighting in the sea over a half-plank, punching and kicking each other, and in their desperation, their mouths and heads also became weapons in the fight for ownership of the plank.

"Sir, they can't swim any further. Shall we retreat?" Liu Qingjiang said.

"Withdraw? Withdraw what? Move the boat away and let me see how well you've practiced your long-range target shooting."

Liu Qingjiang was stunned for a moment. Looking at Master Chi in front of him, he understood a sentence from the bottom of his heart: you can mess with anyone, but never mess with Master Chi.