Global colonization began with Ming Dynasty pirates.

On the beach of Dongluo Island.

The ship that had been towed ashore stood there all alone. In the bay, there was another ship abandoned by the Lin family, with all its sails lowered and quietly moored on the sea.

Shen Wangshu sent men to search the ship, but found no one inside.

Then Shen Wangshu said to the butler beside him, "Haha, both ships are still here. These remnants of the Lin family didn't even have time to escape. This is truly a stroke of luck."

"Young Master is right. Judging from the condition of the boat that was towed up on the beach, it was probably badly damaged in the fight with Zhou Daye, and they are still repairing it," the Shen family butler replied with a smile.

However, he felt that the two ships looked somewhat familiar, somewhat like Zhou Daye's two ships, but they were quite different from those two ships. They were obviously much cleaner and tidier. However, he was not often at sea and did not know many ships. In addition, ships in this era generally looked similar, so he did not think much of it.

"This battle won't be easy." Zhong Gui, who had just disembarked, looked at the distant stockade walls and the Lin family members standing guard on them with a serious expression.

He and his group had made a ruckus after disembarking for so long, but the people in the village hadn't made a sound at all. This kind of discipline frightened him.

The other side was either terrified or bound by extremely strict rules, which in itself represents a powerful army.

He had never seen anything like this among pirates before. Even the large pirate groups of thousands would still be in chaos when they encountered government troops, and some would even flee on the spot.

But when Zhong Gui looked around, he saw that apart from occasionally moving his neck, there were hardly any people on the opposite wall who were even leaning to one side.

"Hey Zhong, are you scared?" Shen Wangshu glanced at Zhong Gui with disdain.

"Hmph, I'm just being cautious. If you think it's too easy, you can send someone up there and try it yourself," Zhong Gui sneered.

"So that's all the courage you have. No wonder you've been a lowly centurion your whole life. Xiao Liu, take a few men up there and test the waters with bows and arrows." Shen Wangshu immediately gave the order.

Xiao Liu was the best archer among his servants. Upon hearing the order, he immediately selected three servants and then chose six more archers from among the other soldiers, and they slowly approached the stockade wall.

When they got within a hundred paces, Xiao Liu and his men began to fire arrows. Of course, they couldn't hit the target at such a distance, but Xiao Liu's purpose was merely to test the waters.

Chop, chop, chop.

Most of the arrows were stuck in the ground in the distance. Only the arrows of Xiao Liu and two of the servants were able to fly to the wooden wall, but they were exhausted and barely managed to stick to the wall. However, they were too shallow and fell down after a while.

Even so, it was quite terrifying for the new recruits who had never encountered an arrow attack before. The ranks immediately began to stir. If it weren't for the strict military training that had instilled discipline in their bones, some of them would probably have fled after just one volley of arrows.

This is also a common tactic used by government troops to deal with unorganized peasants; peasants who have never experienced war are simply unable to withstand this kind of intimidation.

"Don't move! This is a test. The musketeers are not allowed to fire. Someone, bring me my bow!" Lin Hao shouted to reassure the group while sternly staring at the recruits.

If anyone dares to run away, I won't show any mercy.

A moment later, Lin Hao's bow was handed to him. At the same time, the probing men had moved to eighty paces away. At this distance, there were many more arrows hitting the wall, and they were much more powerful, embedding more than a dozen arrows into the wooden wall.

"Young Master, the muskets can already cover them at this distance. Should we..." Lin Yi, who was in charge of the musketmen, suggested to Lin Hao after seeing that his side was being suppressed by the archers.

"No! The musketeers are not allowed to fire. Lin Yi, you keep an eye on them. Anyone who dares to fire indiscriminately, I'll chop them up." Lin Hao decisively rejected the suggestion.

What a joke! Who reveals their strongest weapon right at the start? The enemy's arrow rain hasn't even hurt a single person yet.

"Yes, young master, I'll try archery too. Otherwise, with them suppressing us like this, our morale will keep dropping."

Lin Yihui is skilled in both musket and archery. Lin Hao never holds back, and when he practices, he also pulls others to practice together. Unfortunately, bows and arrows are much harder to obtain than muskets, and among the teenagers, only five or six can truly shoot accurately.

"No need. Like I said, the key is to manage the musketeers. Don't worry about the others. I can handle these grunts by myself." Lin Hao finished speaking, took an arrow from his quiver, and nocked it.

Since the villagers offered no resistance, Xiao Liu's arrogance grew, and even the soldiers who had initially cowered became bolder.

They fired at eighty paces for a while, then boldly stepped into sixty paces. At this distance, their accuracy improved significantly, and someone was hit by an arrow in an instant.

"Ah!" A new recruit was hit in the shoulder by an arrow, and then screamed in pain, throwing his spear aside and clutching his shoulder as he howled in agony.

Everyone was terrified by this scene, and the newcomers were trembling with fear, wishing they could shrink themselves completely inside the walls.

Lin Er approached expressionlessly, a gleaming longsword in his hand. He said coldly, "I'll count to three. If you dare to shout again, you're dead."

"one"

"two"

Li Er then immediately raised his knife, ready to finish off his opponent.

The man who had been hit by the arrow was actually terrified; the arrow hadn't penetrated his flesh very deeply. Now, seeing Lin Er's knife, he dared not be careless and scrambled to his feet.

"Pick up the spear. This little injury is nothing. Everyone else, stand up straight! Anyone who dares to lock their head behind the wall, I'll chop them down."

Lin Er had trained this group of people for so long that he was like a living Yama in their hearts. Immediately, no one dared to hide anymore. They trembled and stuck their heads out of the wall, praying that they would not be shot.

"Haha, these people are too cowardly. I think just the ten of us can take down this stronghold." Xiao Liu was in high spirits. He was the one who just shot that arrow, hitting the person on the wall from a distance of sixty paces. That's quite an achievement.

A torrent of flattery immediately followed.

"They actually dared to show their faces!"

Xiao Liu stared at the direction of the stockade wall, a fierce glint in his eyes. "Get a little closer, this time I'm going to shoot them all down!"

A moment later, the crowd pressed forward fifty paces.

This distance was already a range that Xiao Liu was quite confident in. He stopped and raised his bow, ready to release the arrow, when he suddenly saw a figure on the stockade wall also raising a longbow.

The man stood ramrod straight, his bow fully drawn, the arrow resting steadily on the string, aimed directly at him.

Xiao Liu's heart tightened suddenly, but he quickly regained his composure.

—It's only fifty paces; not everyone can shoot accurately.

Besides, the other side's bow looks big and long, it's probably just a bluff, and they might not be able to draw it.

"Pretentious."

Xiao Liu snorted coldly, quickly adjusted his position, and aimed the arrow at the person holding the bow, "Watch me shoot you dead!"

next moment--

Two arrows shot off the bow almost simultaneously.