Chapter 156: 156 pirate ship

 Chapter 156 156 Pirate Ship

 A merchant ship from the Kingdom of Dorne was swaying on the sea. The sailors on the deck were nervously operating their sails, and behind them, there was a sailboat that was moving at full speed.

●On the vast sea, the distance between the two sailboats is getting closer and closer, and the atmosphere seems to be getting more and more tense.

On the deck, the captain held his hat, leaned on the side of the ship, looked at the approaching ship in the distance, and shouted loudly to the busy sailors behind him: "Quick! Adjust the sail! They are about to catch up. !”

 Their ship has been fully loaded with sails, and its speed has approached 10 kilometers per hour, which is considered a good speed among sailboats.

 Because their ships are very new and are deliberately designed to be high-speed merchant ships, the purpose is to avoid harassment by some pirates with older ships.

Unfortunately, this time they seemed to have encountered a group of well-equipped pirates. The speed of the pirate ship was extremely fast, apparently exceeding 14 kilometers per hour.

As time passed by, the other party seemed to be impatient in pursuit. With a dull sound of cannon, a cannonball landed near the merchant ship, causing a column of water to rise into the sky.

Unfortunately, due to the skill of the gunner, the shell was really far away from the merchant ship, and even the sea water it stirred up did not splash on the merchant ship.

However, this shot still made the sailors on the merchant ship panic a little. Some people shouted in fear: "They fired! Damn it! These **** pirates!"

The captain knew not to let the pirates succeed, because the cargo on the ship was their lives and fortunes.

If the ship is attacked by pirates, it is not up to them to decide whether their lives can be saved.

Therefore, the captain shouted desperately and encouraged his sailors: "Hurry! We are about to enter the waters of Bunas Port. When we get there, we may encounter other merchant ships, and then we will be saved."

They are indeed not far from Bunas. At least according to the chart, they have actually entered the sea area under Bunas' jurisdiction.

Encouragement calmed down many sailors, but the first mate still reminded his captain in a frustrated voice: "But, Captain! They are going to catch up!"

It is true that the opponent's ship is very fast. This merchant ship is loaded with steel, so it is obviously impossible to sail very fast.

It was also because he heard that the sales of steel in Bunas had surged recently, so the captain got a shipload of in-demand goods and planned to send them to Bunas to make a lot of money.

As a result, he met pirates here, which made him regretful. If he hadn't been greedy, he might not have encountered such a desperate thing.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed aside his first mate, climbed onto the slipway, grabbed the steering wheel from the helmsman, and shouted loudly: "Damn it! I'll steer it! Their ship is faster than ours!"

 “We are finished!” A sailor was already kneeling on the ground, roaring in despair.

Beside him, there were some sailors holding harpoons, as if they wanted to fight at the last moment. But the way he was trembling, anyone who looked at him could see that he was fierce and angry.

Just when many people were desperate, a sailor pointed to the other side and shouted loudly, his voice full of excitement: "Look! Captain! Starboard! Starboard!"

"Huh?" The captain looked at the boy's finger and saw a ship on the sea in the distance, which seemed to be rushing towards them.

"There's a ship over there! It's a battleship!" Another sailor shouted excitedly. His shout gave everyone hope of survival.

“That’s an elven battleship!” The experienced old sailor could tell at a glance that it was an elven battleship.

"Battleship?" The captain looked confused and looked carefully at the approaching battleship in the distance. He didn't see the flag of the Elf Kingdom, only a red dragon flag that he had never seen before.

The old sailor explained in detail: "Marans type ship, three decks! It is an elven warship!"

 He smiled when he spoke, because he knew that it was impossible for a pirate to have the courage to challenge a warship.

That's a battleship! With a large number of naval guns, a single salvo can fire a dozen or even dozens of shells, destroying a pirate ship with little effort.

 “Why are the elven warships here?” But at this time, a sailor became confused.

The captain pushed aside the adjutant who was blocking him, with a look of salvation on his face: "No matter why it is here, we seem to be saved! Send them a signal! Quick! Let people shout at the top of their lungs! We need help !quick!"

"Help!" Upon hearing the captain's reminder, a sailor immediately shouted at the top of his lungs.

Beside him, another sailor shook his hands and shouted: "We are being attacked! Help!"

“Hey! Hey! Look over here!” More sailors joined the shouting team, and for a moment the whole deck seemed to be having a screaming party.

On the elf warship opposite, the human adjutant held the long sword on his waist, walked up to his superior and reported: "Captain! Someone seems to be asking for help!"  Put away the monocular, and the uncle commanding the elven warship Nader affirmed: "That's the royal flag of Dorne! The ships following that merchant ship did not fly national flags, nor did they have identification flags... They were probably pirates."

 That's right, this is the only real warship in Tang Mo's hands. It is the Elf warship that came to see John off and was then detained.

Now its commander is Tang Mo's confidant Bernard, and its mission is to train the navy sailors of the Datang Group.

Bernard looked at another ship not far away and ordered: "Get closer! Prepare to fire! Prepare to sink that pirate ship!"

"Understood!" The adjutant nodded slightly. They have sunk at least 10 such pirate ships recently.

In fact, the pirate ship opposite obviously does not frequently operate in this area. Otherwise, they would not continue to commit crimes arrogantly near Bunas.

 Because there is a legend among the pirates here that when you see the dragon flag, you must run away as soon as possible, otherwise you will not even be qualified to be a ghost.

On the deck, an officer held his hands behind his back and raised his chin and loudly issued a combat order to all the sailors: "Load all artillery!"

On the other side, the officer in charge of the sails also issued his order at the same time: "Raise the sails! Raise the bow sail! Speed ​​up!"

The sailors skillfully manipulated the ropes, and a white sail was rapidly unfolding. As the sail swelled, the warship's speed became faster.

"Adjust the bow! Adjust the bow!" Bernard then skillfully began to adjust the course of his warship, preparing to aim the broadside at the pirate ship in the distance.

On this side, on Dorne's merchant ship, a group of sailors stared dumbfoundedly as the warship in the distance turned rapidly.

They cursed desperately, and some even cried: "Damn it, the elves' ship is turning around..."

“Didn’t they see us?” A sailor knelt down on the deck and cried, holding on to the railing.

 Another sailor was even more desperate, whimpering and complaining: "They must have seen it! They are ready to die without saving anything!"

"Maybe they don't want to meddle in their own business here, after all, this is the waters of the Kingdom of Wright." The adjutant also collapsed a little, and even forgot that the pirate ship was getting closer and closer to them.

The captain closed his eyes, as if he was preparing to face his last moments: "You are so considerate, and you are still thinking about others! Now we are finished! There is no hope!"

"But... they don't seem to want to turn the ship around and leave!" The collapsed adjutant seemed to have seen some clues.

 At this time, some people also noticed something was wrong: "They are hanging sails... They are preparing to speed up..."

 A sailor looked at the distant battleship again and muttered: "Are you kidding me?"

"Oh my god... they opened the gun doors!" Another sailor saw the Elf warship showing its side, and the gun windows on the side were opened one after another.

In the midst of the waves, the cannons on this beautiful battleship were pushed out one after another, revealing the black muzzles.

“Do they want to start a war with the pirates?” A young sailor seemed to have never experienced a naval battle and asked excitedly.

Beside him, the old sailor who had just seen that it was an Elf warship denied it in disbelief: "Are you kidding me? Do you know how expensive cannonballs are? In general, warships in the navy just scare away the pirates. Yet?"

 The army these days is actually very corrupt. They are unwilling to waste their artillery shells in unnecessary places.

If you encounter pirates on the sea, in most cases they will not pursue them. Even if they happen to see a merchant ship being robbed, they will probably stand by and watch.

 Unless the merchant ship belongs to their own country, or the other party has not yet captured it, in this case, they will often hoist the battle flag to scare away the pirates - that's all.

Of course, if they encounter a more corrupt navy, they will even act as pirates without anyone knowing. Kill all the sailors on the merchant ship, plunder the money, and then sink the ship and escape.

 In short, encountering a warship at sea these days is not necessarily a good thing. However, it is mostly safe to encounter warships in the waters near the port, because there are many ships passing by here and there are many people with mixed eyes. Warship commanders generally do not have any evil intentions.

But... it is too common to see death without saving anything. On the contrary, it is not that common to start preparing for war directly like now.

Listening to what the old sailors said, these new sailors also recalled some of the past events they had witnessed yesterday: "Yes, that's what those patrol ships of the Kingdom of Wright did yesterday, just to scare the pirates, and to No intention of firing."

 (End of this chapter)