Water Margin people

"So I'm not going to go north. I'm going to go directly west, deep into the sea, and cross this sea."

Li Jun pointed at the vast ocean and spoke.

"Crossing! Isn't this riskier?"

Zhang Shun quickly said that although they now have ironclad ships, the problem is that they don’t know how wide the unknown sea is, and their exploration so far has been based on the principle of following the coast.

"You must know that if the sea is too wide, you will not be able to get any supplies, and the most important coal on the ironclad ships will be useless at sea!"

Ruan Xiaoqi said that the ironclad ship was powered entirely by the burning of coal. Once the coal was exhausted, the ironclad ship would lose power and drift with the ocean currents.

"Of course I know, so I asked His Majesty before I came out. His Majesty suggested that I try to cross this ocean. His Majesty said that this ocean is only about 10,000 miles long!"

Li Jun spoke and took out an exquisite compass. As long as he had this thing he would not get lost on the sea.

"Your Majesty has said so? Then there is no problem!"

Ruan Xiaoqi and Zhang Jun said that the emperor's words must be correct. If he said it was more than 10,000 miles, then it was more than 10,000 miles. As long as the ships were fully loaded with coal, sailing tens of thousands of miles would not be a problem.

After getting ready, Nesbar slowly formed up his ships.

As the Qi ships left the port, Nesbar also called on the ships to follow.

"Lord City Lord, those ironclad ships are so fast, we can hardly keep up!"

A boatswain came running over breathlessly to report that they had hoisted all the sails and were rowing the oars on the bottom row as fast as they could, but they still couldn't keep up.

“It’s windy today!”

Nesbar looked at the full sail and said, "Let's sail with the wind today."

"I'll go talk to the generals of Qi!"

Nesbar looked around and found that they had tried their best, so he could only say helplessly.

"What? You can't keep up? You're such a loser! I even slowed down."

Ruan Xiaoqi was a little angry when he heard the news. His time was very precious, and those people dared to drag their feet. If this happened in the army, they would be beheaded on the spot for missing the opportunity to fight.

"Their ships are so outdated!"

Zhang Shun said that Qi's current sailing ships could keep up with their speed, but the ship technology here was backward and the speed was simply not enough.

"Why don't we just wait for them? We can still make it to the strait without them!"

Li Jun is a little anxious now. He wants to solve the problem here quickly and then explore westward.

"We still need these people. Many things need cannon fodder to do."

Ruan Xiaoqi shook his head and said that the situation in the West was very complicated now and it would be difficult for them to get close to the people over there, so they would let these people go when they were ready to die.

"Report! General, an unknown fleet has been spotted in the north!"

A soldier ran into the cabin and said.

"Unknown fleet?"

Ruan Xiaoqi walked out of the cabin in confusion, looking towards the north with a telescope.

"What is this? Pirates?"

Li Jun was also looking at the north with a telescope. He found that there were quite a few ships coming, but the ships were all outdated versions that he had never seen before. Just by looking at those ships, he knew that they were not good.

"Slow down and wait for Nesbal to come!"

Ruan Xiaoqi gave the order, there were quite a few ships in the north.

"Order, the First Fleet and the Second Fleet to move left and right! Ensure the radio is open!"

Zhang Shun gave the order.

One on the left and one on the right, two fleets left, each with a dozen ships.

"What is this for?"

Nesbar saw the Qi fleet slow down and split into two teams to move to the left and right. He felt a little uneasy, but he still approached honestly because the Qi flagship had already raised flags. "Nesbar, look who's over there?"

Ruan Xiaoqi asked, pointing at the fleet on the northern sea.

The Qi fleet had telescopes and discovered the enemy in the north at the first time, but the northern fleet only discovered the unknown fleet on the sea when they got closer.

"That... um... flag is the Kingdom of England? Norway... Vikings?"

Nesbar squinted at the fleet in the distance.

"The Kingdom of England? Viking pirates? So they are enemies?"

Ruan Xiaoqi looked at the fleet in the north.

"Of course they are. The Kingdom of England and the Viking pirates have always been active in the northern waters and rarely come here. They will definitely want to take a ship into the Mediterranean to deal with the State of Qi!"

Nesbar spoke up.

"I didn't expect that the Pope would call all the pirates here."

Ruan Xiaoqi touched his chin and spoke.

"Your Excellency doesn't know that the Kingdom of England originally belonged to the Anglo-Saxons, but the Vikings invaded England decades ago, and the Viking King William was crowned King of England. They must want to be recognized by the Pope."

Nesbar said that the Vikings were pirates and had always been engaged in plundering, which was despised by the nobles. However, it would be different if they were recognized by the Pope.

"That's a nice thought, but are they destined to have that fate?"

Ruan Xiaoqi said with a smile.

"My lord, be careful! The Vikings are a northern barbarian tribe with strong fighting power!"

Nesbar spoke up, saying that although he had not seen the Vikings' fighting prowess himself, he had heard some from northern merchants in the port.

"hehe!"

Ruan Xiaoqi and others all laughed.

As the whistle sounded, the ironclad ships lined up and charged towards the Viking pirates.

"Fight!"

"Fight!"

The Viking pirates shouted wildly, waving their swords and axes and beating their armors like a group of excited wild beasts.

"What on earth are these? Are they people or animals?"

The Qi soldiers on the ship were speechless. They were wondering why there were so many weirdos in the West and no normal people.

As the two ships collided, the Vikings had already climbed onto the mast, each holding a flying claw, ready to engage in close combat by jumping onto the board.

"Boom boom boom!"

The Qi ships were not polite and would fire a round of artillery fire at the enemy as soon as they came into range.

The dense artillery shells hit the Viking pirate ships, causing wood chips to fly everywhere and large holes to be made on the hulls.

The clamoring Viking pirates were stunned. They couldn't understand this. They were still several miles away from the enemy, so how could the enemy hit their ship?

The artillery on the Qi ships did not stop, and continued to bombard the enemy with rounds of bombing.

The Viking ship in the front was sunk directly. The Viking ships behind discovered the problem and hurriedly dispersed to the left and right, not daring to gather together again.

"He has been on the sea for a long time!"

Seeing that the enemy ships reacted quickly and did not panic and cause collisions, Ruan Xiaoqi smiled and said that these Vikings were indeed good at naval warfare and had their own way of controlling ships.

But it was all in vain, the Qi ships' artillery fired precise strikes, and the ships chased and bombed directly.

Seeing that they couldn't escape, the Viking pirate ships turned their ships around and fought for their lives.

But they could not contend with Qi's steam ironclad warships. They used cannons at a distance and spears at close range. The Vikings could not even touch Qi's ships. (End of this chapter)