When the morning light brought thousands of lights to the black water ocean, the sailing of the sea fleet entered the early morning of the third day.

The well-dressed commander walked up to the stern of the boat, then solemnly picked up the suona hanging on his chest, and started to get up and sing the song "Mulan joins the army".

The use of suona for military orders is not a clumsy imitation of the PLA military horn by Mr. Zhao, but a method of transmission of orders that has been used in the Qi family army. Qi Jiguang's "Ji Xiao New Book·Wu Bei Zhi" says, "All the trumpet flutes are the playing of suona."

The loud and light sound of suona soon spread throughout every corner of the Wuwei ship.

Hearing the trumpet of getting up, Chu Liuxuan opened his eyes in a conditioned reflex and turned over from the hammock.

The recruits from the gun team got up early and prepared a wet cotton towel for him to wipe his face.

Chu Liuxiang took the cotton towel and wiped his face hard, dispelling the remaining sleepiness. The recruits handed him over his blue turban, black waist-length armor, double-breasted blue linen jacket, and linen shorts of the same color, and served him to dress neatly one by one.

This is also the unified outfit of the security team members. The only difference is that there are two eye-catching red bars embroidered at the front collar of his cotton armor.

Because he has now been promoted to the gun team leader of the flagship bow gun team and has been promoted to the second-level police officer.

The other gunners who had been in the army for one year had a red bar embroidered on the collar. The new recruits who had just joined the security team were empty on the collar.

According to the "Regulations on the Level of Security Personnel" promulgated by Jiangnan Security Group, you can be a reserve policeman for the first year of joining the security team. After one year and passing the assessment, you can be promoted to a third-level policeman. Only after three years and passing the assessment can you be promoted to a second-level policeman.

The security brigade has only been established for a year, and even the security guard who joined the earliest was not qualified to be promoted to a second-level police officer. Chu Liuxiang was able to embroider two bars, so he was promoted one level beyond the standard because the shot was accurate during the first voyage.

Don’t underestimate this level. The security team is of strict rank. Usually, when subordinates meet superiors, they should take the initiative to give in and use respect. Moreover, the income of each level has been significantly improved. The monthly allowance for police officers plus the sea subsidy can get 2 taels of silver. Third-level police officers can increase to 5 taels in a month. Second-level police officers like Chu Liuxiang can even get 8 taels!

A skilled worker in Suzhou City earns only one tael five per month. The maritime security team members receive extremely high salaries. Even if it is not considered as a subsidy for overseas trips, Chu Liuxiang can get 4 taels of silver a month, but it is still extremely high salaries.

Of course, this high salary is not that easy to get. It was the result of their perverted torture by Tong Zigong and their persistence day after day under Wang Rulong's strict military rules. Only half of the brothers who entered the training brigade at the same time as him were able to board the boat in the end, and the rest were sent to the shore to stand guard.

Chu Liuxiang knew that the brothers on the boat were envious of his superiority. While proudly sorting out his police rank, he was also polite to reminisce about his past. "How come I, a farmer in Yimeng Mountain who can't eat enough, is so accurate in shooting artillery?"

Between the smelly fart, suddenly a shrill sound of gongs sounded on the boat!

Chu Liuxiang was stunned, and then his blood surged upwards, and he hurriedly shouted to his brother who was sorting out the internal affairs, "Go to the cannon position!"

That is a signal of alertness to the enemy!

Although it is mostly exercised, no one dares to neglect at all. Otherwise, in addition to having to withstand the captain's scolding, he also has to wash the deck and toilet for the entire ship. In severe cases, he may even be denied.

It’s terrible to remember a demerit. Once you remember a demerit, you’ll be defeated when you were promoted. twice you won’t be demoted. Three times you have to get off the boat!

~~

Chu Liuxiang rushed out of the cabin with the gunners and climbed onto the bow deck. The gunners unbuttoned the fixed ropes, lifted the rainproof felt, revealing four cannon trucks.

The filler and the gunpowder officer lifted the wooden floor beside the cannon truck to reveal the hidden shell cabin. He then lifted the powder barrel from the cabin and unbuttoned the rainproof cloth. Then the gunpowder officer took a quantitative wooden spoon to fill the launching medicine, filled the hand-filled cast iron solid bullet, and inserted the fuse.

After the gunpowder clamped the powder barrel and raised his thumbs up, the deputy gunner lit the torch. The four main gunners, including Chu Liuxiang, held the fuse and waited for the firing order.

It took only three minutes from the time they heard the sound of the gong to the completion of the launch preparation. All the movements were flowing, and there was no gap. They all depended on day after day practice, leaving them with the physical memory.

The order to fire the cannon was not heard for a long time, and Chu Liuxiang was able to look around and see what was going on now.

He had the best view at the bow, and he could see it without a glance.

The navigator stood outside the door of the helm room in the stern building, whistling rhythmically, directing the sailing drivers to pull the sail cables of the wild fox sails at the stern to assist the thirty-meter-long ship to turn the rudder at three o'clock.

The gunners on the stern and side strings were already in place, although Chu Liuxiang never regarded the Folang machine as a cannon.

The Marines spread out the bamboo thorns that prevented the enemy from catching strings, and carried sandbags to pile up bunkers on the deck, and finally covered the broken quilt soaked in the sea water to cover the positions on the ship that were easily attacked and caught fire.

Looking further away, the entire fleet was also struggling to change its formation under the command of the flagship signal flag.

Ten black-tailed ships were heading towards the east, preparing to form a single formation to meet the enemy.

The other ten ships were sailing a hundred meters away from the Wuwei ship and preparing to form a second battle line.

Eighty grain transport ships were moving closer to each other, preparing to form a dense defensive formation. The sound of gongs and drums, shouts, and trumpets rang out throughout the sky, and the calm sea was in chaos.

Is this an exercise or a real encounter with a pirate?

Chu Liuxiang was full of questions and picked up the monocular telescope distributed to the bow gun group and looked in the direction of facing the enemy.

A small island appeared in the camera. This is the fourth time Chu Liuxiang has taken this route, so he naturally knows that it is Maro Island, fifteen miles away from Jeju Island, and it is also an important landmark on this route.

But usually, it should be to turn north instead of east...

While he was thinking about it, he suddenly saw a row of tiny black dots moving quickly from the direction of Maro Island!

"It's true that there is an enemy situation!" Chu Liuxiang's blood surged up again. This time I'm going to be promoted to a first-level policeman!

~~

In the helm room of the stern, Wang Rulong stood in front of the podium with a cold expression, looking at the unknown fleet that was approaching with binoculars.

It was the lookout on the main mast, and a moment ago it was found an ambush.

The sight at sea is very transparent, and the lookout post is equipped with a high-power telescope. Normally, the enemy situation will be discovered earlier.

However, the other party cleverly used the cover of Maro Island to hide his tracks.

It was not until they drove out from the back of the island and seized the upper vent that the lookout suddenly discovered the enemy and rang the gong to warn!

But at this time, the time to find the enemy first and turn quietly no longer exists. The enemy has seized the upper hand, and escaping is the worst choice.

What's more, Wang Rulong fought for half his life and never escaped without fighting.

So, there is only one battle!

The flagship captain Haiergo, who was standing by, also looked at the enemy situation nervously with a telescope.

Now you can see the number and type of enemy ships.

"Good guy, these are sixty or seventy boats..." Haiergo gasped. He was the captain of the Qi family's army back then. He had fought against Japanese pirates on the coast, but he had never seen such a big battle.

"Seventy Japanese ships." Wang Rulong said in a deep voice.

In this era, Japan's shipbuilding level was the level of the Song Dynasty. The styles were basically carved from the same mold, and they were all carried on the boat, just like the pleasure boats on the Qinhuai River. They were just different in size.

"The flagship is an A-Zhou ship, with more than a dozen passes around, and the rest are smaller Xiaozao." Wang Rulong frowned and concluded: "It must be the Japanese pirates on the three islands!"

"How do they know what our navigation arrangements are?" Haiergo said with a sinister face: "It seems that someone has informed the Japanese pirates!"

"Don't care about those!" Wang Rulong put down his telescope, moved his neck, and said with a grin: "In my life, my favorite thing is to fight Japanese pirates. I have to have a good time this time!"

As he said that, he walked to the door of the helm and shouted at the bow turret at the top of his throat: "Chu Liuxiang, have you seen the largest ship? It's the only ship with sails!"

"See it!" Chu Liuxiang replied loudly, the big ship that looked like a building was very conspicuous.

"If you have a range, just hit him!" Wang Rulong ordered loudly: "Let the Japanese pirates on the ship taste the power of our coastal security team!"

"Okay!" He heard that the enemy was a Japanese pirate, and Chu Liuxiang became even more excited. He usually heard his superiors boasted that he was so envious of the glorious deeds of killing Japanese devils back then. He had always been sorry for not getting a chance for himself, and he was deeply sorry for killing several Japanese pirates.

Unexpectedly, the opportunity suddenly came.

He turned his head excitedly and shouted to his brothers, "You heard it all! It's Japanese pirates, we can't lose the face of the captain!"

"Ao!" The gunners screamed. They all grew up listening to the deeds of the Qi family army, and naturally had natural contempt and hunger for the Japanese pirates.

Chu Liuxiang raised his finger to measure the distance, but it was still too far away, so he could only whisper: "Keep your breath first, get closer and then fire."

"Yes." The gunners who were planning to light the fuse stopped.

The coastal security team still focused its main firepower on the wide bow according to the traditional water war thinking of the Ming army.

Chu Liuxiang and his gunmen operated four guns in total. The four guns were similar in style, with a slender gun body and a slightly thick gun tail. The two in the middle were larger, with a length of 1.7 meters and weighing 1,000 kilograms. The gun body had three gun hoops, the muzzle had a sight, the gun ear was located in front of the third gun hoop, and the fire gate was equipped with a medicine pool and a fire door cover.

There is a large iron ring at the end of the tail of the cannon. Thick cables are used to pass through the large iron ring. The cannon cart can be fixed on the deck to offset the recoil when firing the cannon. It also makes it easier for soldiers to quickly pull the cannon out of the shelling position from the shelling position, so as not to delay combat.

At this time, the mainstream European naval guns were generally like this. Although their guns were all made of bronze, these counterfeit goods made in Foshan were all made of iron. However, the cannon gauge was cast with cooked iron and an iron hoop was added on the outside, which greatly reduced the risk of the blow-off chamber. It can be said that apart from being bulky, there was nothing big problem.

Of course, bulkiness is the biggest problem. Although the two bronze long snake cannons on the side look much more delicate, their caliber is actually a little smaller, their range and power are not much inferior, and they will hardly explode.

There is no way, the bronze cannons of this era are better than the iron cannons.

Chu Liuxiang kept the distance measurement posture. When the distance between the two sides reached 1.2 kilometers, he sternly said: "Prepare to shoot!"

The gunners lit the fuse.

"Start!" Chu Liuxiang ordered without hesitation.
Chapter completed!