The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 240: Tigers Return to the Mountains, Fish Return to the Sea

"They can't run away!"

In the dark night, a cannonball passed by the mast of the Fu ship at high speed, flew obliquely over the port side of the ship, and landed on the sea surface full of ice, splashing a ball of cold water.

The water splashed on Pei Dahu, and the sea water turned into ice in an instant. Pei Dahu shivered with cold and couldn't help but take two steps back, away from the dangerous sea.

Two hundred steps away at the Tianjin dock, thousands of torches formed a red wave, confronting the Fujian ships across the sea.

"I told you guys to chase me! Jump into the sea and chase me!"

Pei Dahu was panting, waving his fists and shouting on the other side of the river.

There was a buzzing sound of vibrating bowstrings on the shore, followed by the dense explosion of muskets. Pei Dahu subconsciously shrank under the side of the boat.

In the darkness, hundreds of heavy arrows fell softly into the sea halfway through their flight. The lead bullets shot from the muskets left no trace and completely disappeared into the darkness.

The Fu ships had sailed out of their range.

The barbarians who chased to the shore waved torches and shouted, pushed the belated Portuguese cannon to the beach, and fired indiscriminately at the dark sea in the distance.

The cold wind howled on the deck, and the injured brothers had all returned to the hold. They were strong men on shore, but on the boat they had to huddle down, and all the work on the boat was left to the sailors.

Amid the sailors' urgent shouts, another sail rose into the night sky.

The sea breeze blew the sails, and the huge Fu ship sailed rapidly towards the deep sea like a gliding Kunpeng.

The artillery fire behind them became more and more frequent, and the two French cannons at the stern of the Fu ship finally lost their patience and began to fight back at the shore.

The two sides' falconets fired at each other between the coasts. The muzzle-loading artillery had little accuracy, and they could not see each other clearly. The two sides were like weak chickens pecking at each other. The fierce bombardment lasted for a long time, and the shells fell into the surrounding sea.

All four guns of Tianjin finally arrived at Zhangjiagang, and this nonsensical bombardment was finally decided.

Amid Tian Ergeng's hysterical roars, 150 French machine guns continuously bombarded uncertain targets on the sea. Pei Dahu, lying on the deck, could feel the distant coast shaking slightly.

The two small cannons at the stern were shocked by the grand scene and dared not fight with the madman on the shore anymore, so they immediately fell silent.

The shelling was one-sided.

More and more shells hit the sea around the Fujian ship, splashing water.

The sailors climbed up and down the bare masts like monkeys, skillfully maneuvering the large ship forward carefully among the ice floes. The Fu ship was like a big fish dodging a harpoon, avoiding the intensive artillery attacks with superb movement.

The splashing sound of the iron ball hitting the water was getting closer and closer. Pei Dahu felt uneasy, and the joy of escaping from the tiger's mouth just now had long disappeared.

Although he had never experienced a naval battle, he was very clear about the power of the Portuguese cannon, especially in this cold winter. If the ship took on water, they would be in trouble.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang above my head, and a high-speed rotating iron ball hit the mast.

The flying wood chips carried a sailor who was pulling the sail back to the deck, and his body was torn to pieces.

The other sailors seemed to be accustomed to this kind of scene and did not show any confusion at all. They climbed up the mast with hammers in their mouths and started hammering in the cold wind.

The Fu ship gradually sailed away, and the last few iron balls created splashes of water at the stern. The splashes disappeared and everything returned to calm.

Pei Dahu let out a long breath and looked back at the sailor who fell on the deck. He had already died and a pool of blood could be faintly seen on the deck.

Pei Dahu had seen life and death so often that he naturally felt no sadness. He held onto the side of the boat and looked around. The dark sea resembled the face of a giant beast, ready to open its mouth and swallow everyone up at any moment.

However, at this moment, he felt a sense of relief he had never felt before, just like when he escaped from Sarhu with Ping Liaohou, a kind of pleasure of surviving a disaster.

However, everyone knew that the danger was not over yet. A hint of dawn had appeared in the eastern sky, and daybreak would soon approach. If they did not move far before daybreak, they would be overtaken by the water camp ships. By then, there would be no escape to the vast ocean.

A short, stocky, fierce-looking sailor shouted from the mast:

"Check the damage to the mast and repair it quickly! Clear the dead bodies on the deck!" Five or six sailors immediately got busy.

When boarding the ship, Yang Hao told Pei Dahu that the short and strong man was named Han Chao, the boss of the sailors on this Fu ship, and a former pirate.

When they boarded the ship just now, Han Chao was rude to others, but in front of Yang Hao, he was respectful and behaved like a completely different person.

It seems that the relationship between this pirate and Yang Jinglie is not simple. Pei Dahu was too lazy to guess. He stayed on the deck for a while and then hurried back to the cabin.

People could freeze to death on the deck, so except for the sailors, everyone else hid in the second-floor cabin.

Pei Dahu had thirty-five men under his command, but now only nineteen are still alive.

The survivors also had wounds on their bodies. Shen Lian and Lin Yu's chain mail was full of arrow feathers, and the bright helmet on Wu Xiao's head disappeared.

At the last moment, it was not just Lin Yu and the other three who were responsible for covering the rear, but the others were all dead.

If the three of them had not run fast just now, they would have become three cold corpses on the beach. Their heads would have been chopped off by the East Factory guards and taken to the Ministry of War for verification.

Lin Yu, like a giant bear, pulled out the arrows from outside the chain mail one by one. He glanced at the two wounded soldiers lying on the ground. They were Wei Zhao's servants, and they were still groaning in pain.

Lin Yu took out his coconut ladle and handed the water to the two servants.

Both of them were hit by muskets. Although they were not injured in vital parts, they were bleeding all over the floor and it seemed that they were not going to survive.

"Big Lin, don't waste your energy."

Wu Xiao waved at Lin Yu. The Shaanxi guard was slumped on the floor, no longer having the strength to speak.

Half an hour ago, when Wu Xiao jumped onto the deck of the Fu ship, he faintly heard the sound of wind behind him. He subconsciously shrank his head, and his helmet was hit by a flying axe and fell into the dark sea.

He still felt terrified thinking about it now. If he hadn't dodged, it wouldn't have been his helmet that fell into the sea, but his head. "We'll fight our way back! Back to Tianjin!"

Pei Dahu saw that his men were exhausted and looked tired, so he comforted them.

"That depends on when your Ping Liao Hou will lead his troops into the pass. No matter how powerful his East Factory is, it's nothing more than an ant in front of the Kaiyuan army!"

Shen Lian is now completely fed up with all this fighting and killing. Many people have just died under his knife.

Until the last moment, the scoundrel Xu Xianchun didn't show up, and his revenge would be postponed again. He was depressed, but fortunately his two subordinates were still alive.

Zhao Yuanzhi was shot in the arm and Lu Jianxing was stabbed in the calf, but fortunately, neither was a serious matter.

Shen Lian spat, said hello to Pei Dahu and others, stood up and went to the back to see his mother.

As he stood up, he ran into Yang Hao coming from behind.

Seeing that everyone looked dull and had no joy in surviving the disaster, Yang Hao glanced out the window and walked up to Pei Dahu and said,
"I heard from Shen Lian's mother that you're not going to Liaodong, but are taking her to Dengzhou to enjoy a good life?"

"Yes, go to Dengzhou."

Seeing Yang Hao's surprised expression, Pei Dahu had no choice but to add:
"Yang Jinglue, when Ping Liaohou sent me to the capital, he told me to return to Dengzhou and Wendeng County after finishing my business."

Yang Hao knew that his son-in-law had returned to Kaiyuan, and he found it unbelievable that Pei Dahu said he was going to Shandong.

"General Liu has already returned to Liaodong. Why are we still going to Shandong?"

"But Ping Liaohou said that I should return to Dengzhou. These are his exact words."

Yang Hao said angrily:

"Why didn't you say so earlier? Shandong is far from peaceful! I just escaped from the dragon's den, am I going to venture into the tiger's den again?"

(End of this chapter)