Late Ming Dynasty: The Counterattack Begins with Sea Pirates

The battle didn't last long. By the time the Dutch moved closer and began to hunt down the last ship that had landed on the outer edge, together with Instructor Lang's ship, the battles between the other two ships were essentially over.

The last English merchant ship, bombarded from all directions by the three ships, realized that all was lost and soon raised a white flag, lowered its sails, and awaited its fate.

However, the Dutch did not rush to board the ship; they maintained a certain distance and deliberately concealed their presence.

"This Dutchman is a bit blinded by his own limited perspective. I can see his white face and red beard clearly from this distance, so what can't the Englishman see?" Chi Honghai mocked.

However, even if you do see them, it's not a big problem. Those who can clearly see the perpetrator's face are unlikely to be able to see the sun rise the next day. As long as no new ships on this route see this situation for the time being, it's fine.

The Dutch waited for a while before approaching Chi Honghai's ship.

"What kind of fighting style is this? I thought you were scared," the Dutch captain asked.

"As you can see, traditional boarding action, friends, isn't that how you started?" Chi Honghai spread his hands and continued, "We are not afraid, nor will we break our promises. Cooperation is business, and you Dutch people understand the importance of business integrity, friends."

"Well, I'm surprised by your performance. These days you're using the stuff down below deck to solve problems, I didn't expect you to still be resorting to hand-to-hand combat." The Dutch captain said, glancing at the corpses on the British warship's deck. "Are they all dead, my friends? No prisoners?"

"These guys are pretty good fighters, not one of them surrendered," Chi Honghai said, glancing slightly at the cabin of his ship.

"Oh, this doesn't seem like them. But it's good that they're all dead. If there were any still alive, we absolutely must not let them go back, my friend! Otherwise, the trouble between us would be much more than what we have today."

"Of course, of course, none of us want trouble coming our way, right? What pirate group would invite trouble upon themselves?"

After saying this, the two realized that he was mocking the English pirates for getting themselves into trouble, and they burst into laughter.

The Dutch were fulfilling their contractual obligations and had no interest in the cargo on the three English ships. They simply reminded Chi Honghai to act quickly, or they would be discovered soon.

Before leaving, Chi Honghai inquired when the Zeelandia would deliver the agreed-upon craftsmen to him. The captain replied that before their departure today, the Governor had already sent a ship with the craftsmen to Hong Kong Island, and they would likely arrive by the time Chi Honghai returned.

After the Dutch left, Chi Honghai began to manage the remaining battlefield.

"Pang San, go tell them to send men to these three ships and find a way to sail them all back together," Chi Honghai said, lightly tapping the deck with his foot. "Such good ships shouldn't be wasted."

"Yes, sir, but wouldn't there be enough men on deck...?"

"What are you afraid of? There shouldn't be anyone else around here besides us. Besides, these sailboats are propelled by sails, not by your hands. People will avoid us if they see six boats."

"Yes, sir, I'll go right away!"

After the manpower was redistributed to the other three ships, the workforce was indeed stretched thin.

Based on the initial 600-person crew of the three ships, plus losses from battle, each ship now had only about 100 crew members, barely enough to maintain basic operations and not much else.

Chi Honghai positioned the three English ships in the middle, while his own three ships formed a triangle around them, escorting them all the way back to Hong Kong Island.

By the time they rushed back to Hong Kong Island, the thirty craftsmen sent by the Dutch had already arrived and had been assigned accommodations by Ai Si. Since the situation on the island and the work were handled by his fellow countrymen who had arrived earlier, he didn't need to worry about anything else.

Six warships lined up in a row, and cargo and prisoners of war were being transported ashore.

Chi Honghai first had Ai Si take people to inventory the goods, and then handed over the wounded of all kinds, including the more seriously wounded prisoners of war, to Shen Er, who took them to the doctor for treatment. He specifically instructed that these Westerners should not be mistreated.

"Master, what are these people called? What kind of trouble did they cause at Humen? Why are we still rescuing them today?"

"What do you know? These people are sailors who spend a lot of time at sea. They have much more experience at sea than we do. We should try to learn something from them, in case there are some techniques that we don't have."

Shen Er slapped his forehead: "Master, I understand, Master! You're using other people's strengths for your own benefit. I'll go right now!"

Chi Honghai looked at the remaining dozens of people surrounded in a group and counted them to be about eighty-five.

The number of people isn't a problem; naturally, the more the better. But now the problem is—there's no way to communicate. The other party simply won't listen to what Chi Honghai is saying.

Although Chi Honghai has been in business for many years and is fluent in foreign languages, his business dealings are with the Franks and the Dutch. So, his fluency in foreign languages ​​only applies to Frankish and Dutch; he really doesn't understand English.

Chi Honghai looked at these people, trying to recall his memories of his past life. He spoke broken English, uttering each word one by one, but the people opposite him looked at him blankly. They even felt like they were chanting some ancient incantation, so they were frightened and quickly knelt down and begged him not to curse them.

Finally, with no other choice, Chi Honghai managed to utter: "OK, OK."

These people understood the term, and their expressions softened considerably.

It wasn't that Chi Honghai was gritting his teeth and spitting out words incoherently or anything; it was just that the era was so long ago that modern English was so different from English back then. It's like if you're a northerner and you've settled down in the mountainous area of ​​southern Fujian, everything you hear sounds like a foreign language.

Left with no other option, Chi Honghai had to send someone to find a translator on the island to see if anyone there could speak English.

Upon searching, they found several people who could speak English. Since the Netherlands and England are geographically separated by the sea, people there inevitably interact with each other, whether it's fighting or socializing. Therefore, speaking English is not uncommon in their country.

With the arrival of the translator, a bridge for communication was finally established.

"Tell them that if they want to live, there's only one way: stay here and do what they used to do. If they do well, I guarantee they'll be paid better than they are now. If they don't want to do it, then they can go see their God."

As Chi Honghai listened to the unfamiliar yet somewhat familiar words uttered by the translator, he looked at the group of people in front of him and waited for their reaction.