Chapter 1398: Han Banner World (Eighty-Eight) Sudden Encounter

A warship sailed out from the thin mist in the early morning. Zhai Qing, a lieutenant general of the Chu army navy, stood on the bow, staring at the ship in front of him that was slowly enlarging in his pupils. It was a smuggling ship.

In the past two years, trade with Han has been expanding, especially silk. Because of the strong control of Fan Zhuo's faction, Chu bought silk at a low price and then sold it to Han at a high price to make huge profits. While grabbing a lot of wealth, it also gave rise to countless smugglers who took risks. A shipload of silk from Chu to Han was enough for a person with nothing to live a worry-free life in Chu for the rest of his life. Such high profits naturally attracted countless people. Even though Chu continued to increase its crackdown every year, smugglers could not be eliminated.

The main way for smugglers is to go through waterways. The land route is basically impassable. Large-scale smuggling from land is basically a dead end in Chu. But walking is different. A ship of silk can go directly to Han as long as it avoids the inspection of the navy. In Han, no matter whether you smuggle it or get it through formal channels, as long as you pay taxes, you can sell it in Han openly. In order to curb this situation, Chu's navy has continuously expanded its scale and vigorously cracked down on water smuggling.

On paper, Chu's navy is now very powerful, with hundreds of large and small ships and tens of thousands of soldiers. Chu is located in the south and has many rivers, so it is not short of sailors.

But even so, it is still banned. Although large-scale smuggling has disappeared, sporadic smuggling still occurs from time to time. However, these smugglers have now become a shortcut for the navy officers and soldiers to get rich. If they catch a ship, they can privately divide the wealth of the ship.

Zhai Qing lost a large sum of money in gambling a few days ago, and now he owes a lot of debts. In order to pay off this debt, he can only set his sights on smugglers. Regardless of the hard work, he personally led a warship. Patrolling on the river, waiting for the opportunity, he never returned to the port at night. First, smugglers are desperate guys, most of them sail at night, and second, when they return to the camp, the debt collectors will come to the door immediately.

God has mercy on him, and he really ran into a smuggling ship. When the warship lit up the lights and shouted loudly to the ship that was still sailing on the river in the dark to be inspected. This ship actually ran away.

Since the traces were exposed, the smuggling ship also lit up the lights and tried its best to escape. If it was caught by the Chu Army Navy, it would not be as simple as confiscating property. They also wanted money and life. The goods were confiscated on the spot. People were beheaded on the spot.

What annoyed Zhai Qing was that the sailors on the smuggling ship were obviously veterans. They were not only very familiar with the waterway, but also had great ship-handling skills. If it weren't for the fact that his navy warships were better than the smuggling ships, and the other side was heavily loaded, today's trip would have been in vain. But even so, he chased them down in the middle of the night. He was only closing the distance a little bit. Damn, it was always a tailwind, helping him while helping the smuggling ship.

When it was getting light, the transfer finally began. The wind direction changed.

Both sides were against the wind, and he showed his advantage. The ship was full of young and strong soldiers, and the other side was heavily loaded. The distance between the two sides was finally greatly shortened. However, the people on the smuggling ship were also ruthless. While escaping, they actually threw the silk on the ship one by one. Zhai Qing's eyes were burning with fire, and his heart was bleeding. All the money thrown was his money! If he caught the other side, he must cut these damn smugglers into pieces.

"Come on, catch up. If you catch up, each of you will get an extra 10 taels of silver." Zhai Qing roared.

Under the heavy reward, the sailors were all trying their best. The distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer. Zhai Qing estimated the distance and thought that they could catch up with the damn smuggling ship at the bend ahead.

The sailors on the ship also cheered. After chasing for half a night, it was finally over. Although it was a favorable wind before, the sailors on the ship were exhausted at this moment. Finally, they could catch up with these smugglers and get a large reward. Everyone was smiling.

"Can't run anymore? Haha, don't even think about slipping away from my palm!" Zhai Qing finally breathed a sigh of relief and sat down. After commanding the warship to chase for half a night, his legs were sore.

The smuggling ship in front seemed to be possessed by evil spirits, or they had used up all their strength. At this time, they were just drifting on the river, letting the water flow slowly carry the boat forward.

Finally, they reached the bend, and the river ahead was suddenly visible. But at this moment, Zhai Qing jumped up like a cat whose tail was stepped on. He finally understood why the smuggling ship in front of him stopped running. It was not because they could not run anymore, but because on the other side of the bend, the warships that covered the sky and the sun were sailing towards him with full sails. On the top of the mast, the yellow dragon flag fluttered in the morning breeze, showing its ferocity in the wind.

A red sun jumped from the top of the mountain in the distance, and the dazzling sunlight dazzled Zhai Qing's eyes. At that moment, he almost thought he was dazzled. He rubbed his eyes, and the next moment, he screamed: "Han Navy, turn the rudder, raise the sail, and run!"

Although they are both navy, Cui Qing is very clear about the huge gap between the two. Both sides are on this river. The Han Navy is very domineering and often crosses the border into Chu State. There have been conflicts between the two sides. , but after several confrontations, the Chu Navy never dared to provoke the opponent again. The opponent's ship was basically one size larger than the Chu Navy's ship, and the weapons and equipment on the ship were even more amazing. The Han Navy , the bow is equipped with a collision angle, and the sides of the ship are hung with steel plates. Even if those weapons are not used, the collision alone will make the Chu Navy's ship sink into the river to feed shrimps and turtles.

What's more, now the opponent is a large group, and I only have one ship. Don't say that the other party is a wolf and you are a sheep. Even if the other party is just a group of sheep and you are a wolf, you can still scratch yourself to death today.

The large-scale attack by the Han navy means that the Han people are going to war with Chu. No matter how stupid Zhai Qing is, he now knows that something is wrong. "Run away, hurry up, if you still want to live." He shouted loudly.

The exhausted Chu navy officers and soldiers also understood their situation and used all their strength. The warship drew an arc on the river and turned the corner extremely lightly. At this moment, only I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to achieve what I did today after practicing countless times. The sail that had been lowered due to the headwind was now raised at an alarming speed. Each sailor burst into his own small universe, going crazy at a level far beyond his usual level. Escape on the road.

And the smuggling ship was just floating on the river. The smugglers on the ship stood blankly on the deck one by one, staring dumbly at the dark warship approaching endlessly.

"There's going to be a war, there's going to be a war. The Han people are coming!" the smuggler murmured.

"Boss, think of a way quickly, or we will all sink into the river to feed the fish!" A big, bare-armed man screamed wildly, and his scream finally woke up the smuggler, "Raise the white flag, no, no, no, Raise the semaphore, raise the universal semaphore, we are not enemies, we are just ordinary people, ordinary people.”

the smuggler screamed.

Oncoming was the Han River Navy commanded by Li Quan. In order to maintain the surprise of the attack, Li Quan chose to sail at night. In the past few years, the River Navy under his command had sailed the river on the river. He had a clear grasp of the hydrological conditions. He even disguised himself several times and walked through this channel in person. Even with his eyes closed now, he could clearly see where there were dangerous shoals and reefs on this channel.

Everything went smoothly. In the dark, the danger of sailing in such a large formation was quite high, but fortunately, Li Quan had been planning this attack a few years ago, and all possible dangers were taken. With detailed plans, the journey was smooth sailing.

But he didn't expect that when he was about to approach the target, he would actually encounter the Chu army's naval battleship.

"Commander, the ship in front should be a smuggling ship, what should we do with them?" the adjutant next to him asked.

Li Quan waved his hand and said: "Send the flag and ignore this smuggling ship. Team A divided into two speedboats to catch up and destroy the Chu Navy ship that escaped."

Zhai Qing was horrified to find that two warships were coming out of the Han Navy fleet behind him and chasing him quickly. Unlike the Chu Navy, these two warships were like a Like a thousand-legged centipede, dozens of paddles were drawn out from the side of the ship near the water, rising and falling in a uniform manner, stirring up vast swaths of river water.

"Quick, faster, speed up, speed up!" Zhai Qing shouted in panic.

The two sides chased and escaped, and the officers and soldiers of the Chu Navy showed their amazing potential. Although the distance was getting closer, the time of a stick of incense passed, and the other side still failed to catch up with them. It seemed that the other side had lost patience, and then With a loud bang, Zhai Qing saw the Han warship on the right rear suddenly slumped backwards, and with a plume of thick smoke rising, a black thing rushed towards his warship. come over.

"Quick move, left, turn left!" The Chu army's warship turned left, and a huge water column rose into the sky above their original channel. Zhai Qing, who had just escaped the disaster, could not recover in time. The Han warships on the left and rear also started to rise in smoke. This time, he finally ran out of luck. The black thing hit his ship. On the boat, there was a really huge roaring sound. As the hull swayed left and right, Zhai Qing saw that a big hole had been punched out of the solid hull, and a miserable scream was coming from the underwater cabin.

The boat lost control and suddenly landed on the river.

"Raise the white flag, I, I surrender!" Zhai Qing shouted. (To be continued.)