Chapter 1338: Side Story: Having the Whole World in View (15)
Chapter 1338: Side Story: Having the Whole World in View (15)
Editor: Atlas Studios
Although Tiger Head and Little Lion were bratty, having stayed by their father’s side all along, they had always been able to see the big picture of the relationship between countries. Their horizons were naturally much more expanded than Lieutenant Lin and the others. Therefore, the two of them did not agree to Lieutenant Lin’s suggestion to kill the captives. They said, "Since there are just eight of them, it’s not troublesome to bring them along. If they can survive until we return to Great Qi, it’ll be more beneficial to us."
Recalling the widely circulated story of King Rong capturing prisoners for ransom, Lieutenant Lin thought that the two young masters were going to imitate their father. He recalled the ransom that King Rong had set back then and realized that they could earn quite a significant sum from these eight people.𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
The two young masters would definitely not covet these ransoms, so in the end, the soldiers would still split the money.
Lieutenant Lin, who had been transferred from Jiangzhe Province, thought so too. The soldiers who had been soldiers under King Rong had thought of this before him. Hence, the news that captives could be exchanged for money immediately spread throughout the entire camp. The soldiers looked at the eight of them with covetous gazes.
The six captives who refused to speak up could not help but shiver as they looked at the soldiers warily.
However, the Qi soldiers suddenly became polite to them. Although they were still locked in the dark cabin on the lowest floor, they were no longer beaten up for no reason and now had some basic foods to eat.
It wasn’t that no one had ever thought of escaping, but the Qi soldiers watched them even more closely now. There were four people guarding outside the cabin 24 hours a day, and they always seemed to be chatting merrily, sometimes even laughing out loud. Unfortunately, the captives didn’t understand Mandarin.
The soldiers were discussing the next time they attacked the pirates, they would capture more captives and exchange them for ransom. The ransom for capturing captives would not be distributed by the entire army, but split equally between their vanguard battalion. This way, they would be able to obtain a lot of extra money.
Therefore, the soldiers were in high spirits.
The happy soldiers quickly welcomed their second mission—that is, to go to the sea to lie in ambush and wait for the Second Vanguard Battalion to arrive. They also waited for the escorting merchant ship to arrive in this sea region. If they discovered any traces of pirates, they would immediately attack the enemy with the Second Vanguard Battalion.
After staying on this island for eight days, they had already disguised the ship again. They had painted a huge skeleton on the hull and installed on their warship a skeleton flag retrieved from the pirate ship. Although it still did not look like a canvas ship from the west, what did it matter?
Who said that pirates were not allowed to use a merchant ship seized from Great Qi as a pirate ship?
Most of the Great Qi merchant ships in Guangzhou were produced by the Maritime Shipping Bureau, and the warships were also built by the great craftsmen of the Maritime Shipping Bureau. Hence, there were more or less some similarities between the two. Previously before setting off, they had already erased the markings of the warships and simply disguised them as merchant ships, so it was not difficult to disguise them this time.
However, ships could be disguised, whereas humans could not. This was because it was too easy to distinguish between foreigners and Qi people.
Lin Chengxiu could only order the soldiers on the deck to cover their heads and faces before putting on the pirates’ clothes. In order to avoid being exposed, he even brought Tiger Head and Little Lion with him. This way, if they really encountered the pirates and had no choice but to speak, they would not be exposed.
The modified pirate ship sailed steadily towards the territorial waters where they were previously. In less than four hours, they saw the two warships of Great Qi, followed by a row of merchant ships.
Lin Chengxiu put down the telescope and said, "Put away the sails. Don’t go over yet. Look for our Second Vanguard Battalion and see if there are any traces of the pirates."
The Second Vanguard Battalion arrived at this sea area at night and had long hidden themselves. From afar, they saw a pirate ship appear in the territorial waters. Before they could be happy, they realized that there was a red ribbon wrapped around it. Zhou Zhou immediately grimaced and put down the telescope. "It’s one of us."
"General, our warships are escorting the merchant ships over. Should we raise the sails?"
"Let’s wait a little longer, but we can start preparing."
At the same time, the pirate ship that was gradually approaching also discovered the two ships that had the canvas lowered. The pirates on the ship immediately cursed. It was very difficult for anyone to discover a ship that had lowered the canvas. Since they must have already appeared in the other party’s line of sight at this moment, it was impossible to dodge.
Though the sea stretched as far as the eye could see, there were actually blind spots. These pirates lived in the sea all year round and were very familiar with this sea area. Naturally, they knew how to avoid being seen by others.
However, the soldiers of Great Qi were not bad either. Although they were not familiar with this sea area, they knew a lot about it. Therefore, they’d docked their ship at a spot where it was unlikely to be detected.
By the time everyone discovered each other, it would be very difficult to avoid being seen by each other unless they turned around and left.
However, the pirates were not cowards. Since they dared to come, they naturally would not leave so easily.
Thus, all the ships gradually appeared and started to block this territorial waters.
Lin Chengxiu got someone to raise the canvas first and waited quietly for the Great Qi’s warship to arrive.
The two warships in the distance naturally discovered these pirate ships. The captain immediately ordered the merchant ship to dock, and the warships went forward to open a path.
Not daring to interfere in the war, the merchant ships stopped almost as soon as the lieutenant gave the order. Some even wanted to find an island nearby to dock there for the time being.
The two warships quickly left the merchant ships and rode the wind and waves towards them. From afar, they asked the soldiers to flag and order the pirate ships to move aside. As these were all Great Qi’s warships and merchant ships, they had no right to stop them.
After counting, Lin Chengxiu said, "There are a total of five pirate ships in sight. Including us, there are six in total. However, they didn’t attack the Second Vanguard Battalion, nor did they respond to the flag signals of the Great Qi warships. They didn’t even communicate with each other. Since it’s obvious that their relationship isn’t harmonious, perhaps we can make use of them."
The pirates were indeed not on good terms, because the five ships that came belonged to four countries which were not on good terms with each other.
Portugal and Italy were not on good terms, so the two ships were far apart. England and France were mortal enemies, at least recently. Two of the pirate ships belonged to England.
However, in the eyes of the other pirates, the situation was even more serious. The real reason why they were unwilling to attack was that England had three pirate ships here.
That’s right. The skeleton flag that Lin Chengxiu and the others had installed on their warship belonged to England. Hence, in the eyes of the pirates, out of the six pirate ships here, three of them belonged to England.
England had always been domineering, plus the coastal area of India was in their control. It should be said that other than Italy, England was the most powerful country in this area.
They were not sure if they could get enough benefits after taking down the warships and merchant ships of Great Qi. What if the three pirate ships of England joined forces and seized everything?
France, in particular, was the most distrustful of England, so they did not make a move.
On the two English pirate ships, the pirates cursed endlessly. Didn’t they agree that they would only be sending out two ships? Why were there three? Even if they were crazy about money, they should use their brains.
Two ships served as intimidation while three ships would be seen as threatening.
They had three ships, so they were naturally unwilling to be the first to make a move. Otherwise, their three ships could destroy Great Qi’s warships without the help from the other countries. In the end, not only would they draw the hatred of Great Qi, but they would also have to share the benefits they had obtained with others. Just thinking about it made their hearts ache.
In any case, they had three ships. Since Great Qi’s fleet could not defeat them no matter what, and the pirates of other countries would not dare to compete with them, they figured they might as well wait.
With such considerations and scruples, everyone actually waited motionlessly for the Great Qi warships to approach.
Zhou Zhou was overjoyed to see this. As soon as the Great Qi warships entered the battlefield, he immediately ordered the cannons to blast at the Portuguese pirate ship. After Zhou Zhou took action, Lin Chengxiu immediately ordered the cannons to be aimed at the French warship.
In mere moments, both sides reached a tacit understanding to sow discord and let the pirates fight each other!