Li An felt a burst of excitement in his heart. After raising such a beautiful girl for so many years, it was finally time for him to enjoy her. The night before the battle with the pirates, Li An was very busy. It was unlikely for him to get a good night's sleep.
The beauty was just a maid without any human rights. She was completely Ang Lee's vassal. If she could get a little favor from Ang Lee, it would be her blessing. At least, she could be regarded as a woman. Moreover, Ang Lee was not a disgusting old man. Ang Lee, who had a handsome and tall appearance, had charmed many girls. How could the beauty not fall for Ang Lee?
"Of course I remember."
The corner of the beautiful woman's mouth curled up into a smile. She looked rather shy.
Ang Lee asked naughtily, "What do you remember?"
"If this servant loses, I will serve Young Master tonight."
The beauty said shyly.
"Haha! It's good that you remember. Alang will love you tonight. "
Ang Lee laughed and waved his hand, asking his subordinates to take the big yellow croakers away. He would make steamed yellow croakers in the evening.
In White Wolf King's lair, the head of the pirates, White Wolf, was drinking and partying with his subordinates. After so many days, they had learned about the fighting power of the imperial army. Their lair was less than a thousand miles away from Yazhou of the Tang dynasty. Therefore, they did not intend to fight head-on. They wanted to retreat thousands of miles away and join another group of pirates to preserve their strength. When the Tang dynasty shifted their attention to other directions in the future, he would bring his men back to continue robbing merchant ships.
"Brothers, eat, drink, and play to your heart's content."
White Wolf was in a good mood.
He had just received a letter from Black Wolf not long ago. He had agreed to join him and made it clear that he would treat him like a brother. If he wanted to leave, he would never stop him.
White Wolf was happy to get the promise of Black Wolf's brother, and it was a promise that satisfied him. This made him feel relieved and bold to join him.
"Your Majesty, Black King is really generous. He not only agreed to take us in, but also promised to give us an independent camp. In this way, we won't be living under his roof. We can leave whenever we want."
One of his subordinates said excitedly.
White Wolf said happily, "Of course. Black Wolf is my sworn brother. He is extremely righteous. I didn't make this friend for nothing. Come on, let's continue drinking."
"Your Majesty, Black King is a good friend. We can't be too shabby. We have to prepare a generous gift for him!"
One of his subordinates suggested.
White Wolf thought for a moment and nodded, "That's right. They are righteous, so we can't be too casual. Tomorrow, you go to Yazhou and snatch a dozen beautiful fisherman's daughters and give them to the Black King as a meeting gift.
As a pirate, the best gift he could think of was a young girl. The Black King would definitely have a lot of gold and silver. If he gave too little, it would seem insincere. If he gave too much, he would be reluctant to part with it. Therefore, no matter how he looked at it, giving a beautiful girl was the best way to move the Black King's heart.
.............................................................
. "One of his subordinates said worriedly.
"What are you afraid of? Isn't there still more than a month before the imperial army goes south? There's still time. "
White Wolf didn't seem to care.
"Your Majesty, it's better to be careful. Send some brothers to Yazhou now. We have to leave as soon as possible. When they finish their mission, they will catch up with us."
The subordinate cautiously suggested.
White Wolf nodded and agreed. "What you said makes sense. We will leave the day after tomorrow. Now send people to Yazhou to grab the girls. We have to pick the most beautiful ones. The ugly ones won't do."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The subordinate accepted the order and immediately went to spread the order, sending dozens of pirates and a medium-sized ship to Yazhou.
Ang Lee's ship was equipped with large diameter high-power binoculars. Ang Lee used the binoculars to observe the surrounding situation from time to time. If there were seagulls, there must be islands around.
In addition to using binoculars to observe, someone also had to keep an eye on the compass to avoid deviating from the course and causing the fleet to go somewhere else.
Of course, the most important thing was whether they could encounter fishing boats and merchant ships on the way. As long as they encountered fishing boats, there was basically no problem. This was because a large number of fishermen were very familiar with the waterway. Meeting them was enough to prove that there was not much problem with the waterway. Most of these fishermen went to Xisha to catch fish.
"Assistant Minister Li, there is a ship ahead. It doesn't look like a fishing boat or a merchant ship."
A small official from Guangzhou opened his mouth.
Ang Lee went south this time. In addition to bringing enough soldiers and horses, he also brought a lot of low-ranking officials. There were officials from the capital and local officials from Guangzhou. After all, there were many things that the small officials were very clear about, but Ang Lee knew very little.
Ang Lee looked sideways at the small official and frowned. "It's not a merchant ship or a fishing boat. You mean it's a pirate ship?"
"Assistant Minister Li, this subordinate often goes to sea and has some understanding of pirate ships. The ship ahead is suspicious no matter how you look at it. There's an eighty percent chance that it's a pirate ship, but this subordinate can't be completely sure and can only guess."
The small official said cunningly.
Ang Lee smiled and said seriously, "That's enough. Immediately send the order to send two steam gunships to capture this suspicious ship."
The order was immediately given. Soon, two steam gunships rushed toward the suspicious ship at top speed.
At this moment, the steam gunships under Ang Lee's command had already begun to move, and the suspicious ship in the distance was still leisurely moving forward.
Because the suspicious ship had not yet discovered Ang Lee's huge fleet, they could only rely on their eyes to find the ship. All the warships led by Ang Lee had binoculars that were dozens of times stronger, so they could find the movement on the sea faster and better.
Seeing the two steam gunships leave the main force and go to capture the suspicious ship at the fastest speed, Ang Lee nodded with satisfaction. The steam gunships were much faster than ordinary sailing ships. As long as they found a hostile ship on the sea, the other party had no chance of escaping.
This ship was a pirate ship. That's right, it was the ship that White Wolf had sent to Yazhou to capture the beauty. At this moment, more than thirty pirates were driving the ship quickly towards the northeast.
"There's two black smoke in the north. Is there a merchant ship on fire?"
A pirate with sharp eyes noticed the black smoke in the distance.
"It's a very big ship. It should be a merchant ship! Fishing boats don't have such a big ship. "
Another pirate said.
"There must be a lot of good things on the merchant ship. We're going to be rich."
"What are you talking about? Our next mission is to capture women for the King. It's better not to complicate things. "
"This is an unexpected fortune that we encountered on the way. It's a waste not to take it. Don't be so polite."
"Yes, it's a waste not to take it. It won't take long anyway."
A few of the leading pirates felt that it would be a waste not to take it. Even if the merchant ship was on fire, they could still make a lot of money.
The pirates immediately adjusted their course and sped towards the black smoke ahead.
"No, something's wrong! It's not a ship on fire at all. "
"It's a very big warship. It's a warship, not a merchant ship."
"Why is there smoke on a warship? What kind of ship is this? "
"I know, this is a steam gunship of the imperial court. It's a warship of the imperial court."
"What? Oh no, we've walked right into the trap. Retreat, retreat immediately."
The pirates were frightened and quickly turned around, preparing to escape.
The pirate ship wasn't very big, so it wasn't difficult to change course. Soon, the pirate ship changed direction and headed towards their lair.
"No, we can't lead the warship of the imperial army to our home. Let's go take over the city!"
"That's not right! The warship of the imperial army is getting closer and closer. We can't outrun them. It's over, it's completely over now. "
"Look, it's black smoke. There are dozens of black smoke behind. What's going on?"
"This … is the army of the imperial court. The imperial court's imperial army has gone south."
"The imperial army has gone south ahead of schedule. Oh no, let's speed up and go back. We have to tell the king to evacuate quickly."
The pirate leaders were scared silly. The steam gunship of the imperial army was getting closer and closer, causing them great pressure. Moreover, there were more warships coming quickly behind them. This deterrent force was definitely not small, and it was enough for them to suffer.
They paddled desperately, trying to return to their nest quickly. However, their pitiful speed could not compare with the steam gunship. Soon, the steam gunship caught up with them.
Looking at the frightening behemoth behind them, the pirates were all scared silly and did not know what to do.
The expression of the general of the Tang Army standing on the steam gunship could only be described with one word at this moment. Looking at the panicked pirates on the pirate ship, he laughed and shouted, "Stop the ship immediately and accept the inspection."
Pirates were most afraid of the imperial army. At this moment, they were very guilty and did not dare to stop the ship. They could not wait to use all their strength to row the ship faster.
"The ship in front, stop immediately and accept the inspection."
The general of the Tang Army was angry.
"Brigade Commander, the ship in front refuses to stop. There must be something wrong. It should be a pirate ship."
The general of the Tang Army nodded and ordered with a sneer, "Fire, fire immediately. If they refuse to stop the ship, sink it."
"Front deck, get ready. Fire."
Most of the cannons of the steam gunship were arranged on both sides of the hull. There were only three cannons at the front and at the rear. However, it was still very easy to deal with a pirate ship that was not equipped with cannons.
"Boom, boom, boom …"
The three cannons fired at the same time and hit the pirate ship.
Caught off guard, more than a dozen pirates were injured or killed in an instant. Some of the equipment and daily necessities on the ship were caught in the sea of fire.
"I'll say it again. Stop the ship immediately and accept the inspection. Otherwise, you'll be fed to the fish in the sea!"
The general of the Tang Army said loudly.
"Surrender, we surrender."
The pirates could not stand it anymore. They all came out of the cabin one by one and raised their hands, ready to surrender.
As pirates, they were usually very fierce, but at this moment, they were like pitiful worms, obediently staying on the deck and not moving.
After the ship approached, dozens of Tang Dynasty soldiers on the steam gunship immediately jumped on the pirate ship, took control of these pirates, and went into the cabin to search for other fish that escaped the net. "
"Quite a lot! There are more than 30 people in total. Tie them all up. "
The general of the Tang Army chuckled and ordered his men to tie up all these suspicious guys.
A few miles behind, Ang Lee had already seen everything that happened in front of him with his binoculars. Seeing these suspicious guys being arrested, Ang Lee breathed a sigh of relief.
Needless to say, these suspicious guys were undoubtedly pirates. Their next job was to interrogate these pirates and obtain valuable information from them.
If everything went well, they might be able to obtain a lot of important information about the pirate's lair. Thus, they could smoothly break into the pirate's lair and minimize their own losses.
"Assistant Minister Li, the people on the ship have confessed. They are indeed pirates. There are a total of 36 people."
The official reported excitedly.
"Oh, they are really pirates. What else did you get?"
Ang Lee asked curiously.
"The interrogation hasn't started yet?"
"Then how about this? Interrogate them separately to prevent them from colluding. "
Ang Lee requested.
"Yes, Assistant Minister Li. This humble one understands."
The official got off the ship, ran to the steam gunship, and began to interrogate these pirates.
The process of the trial was very fast. Under threats and promises, most of the pirates confessed and told everything they knew. They were all interrogated separately, so many of the results of the investigation could be verified with each other, and there was no need to be afraid that they would lie.
In the evening, the official finally got all the information he could get. He wrote it down on paper in an orderly manner and presented it to Ang Lee respectfully.
"Not bad! You got so much information. "
Ang Lee took the results of the interrogation and nodded with satisfaction.
"Assistant Minister Li, this humble one followed your instructions and interrogated these pirates separately. I compared the information they confessed. Everything that can be confirmed is here."
The official said treacherously.
Ang Lee looked carefully and smiled. These pirates were about to die, but they still wanted to go to Yazhou to snatch beauties. They really didn't know what was good for them.
The information provided by these pirates about the pirate's lair was extremely convenient for Li An. This information was extremely important to Li An, especially the hydrological information in the vicinity of the pirate's lair.
After all, most of the fleet commanded by Ang Lee were large ships. They had a relatively deep draft. Once they encountered a reef, it would be troublesome.
The archipelago area where the pirate's lair was located was full of islands and reefs. There were a lot of shallow waters. If one was not careful, a large ship would be stranded there.
Ang Lee redrew a map of the Xisha Sea according to the information given by the pirates. On this map, not only was there the location of each island, there was also information about the depth of each area, as well as the distribution of reefs.
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