Five small boats floated in the shape of arrows between the blue sky and the blue sea, and the sails on the masts hung obliquely, like boatmen leaning on the boards and doing nothing.

The coastline to the west is like a gray mark on the horizon.

No one casts a net, and the wooden boats are not well drawn. These five boats are not fishing boats, nor are they cargo ships. There are sailors looking bored at the winding horizon on both sides of the ship.

The ship to the west of the second row is the largest. There is a desk in the middle of the cabin, with a big fish with an arm on it.

Gu Sanmazi rolled up his sleeves and held a sharp bone-clearing knife in his hand.

He was as quick as a leopard. His wrist trembled and his sharp knife flew into the sky. Before Shi Lang, who was sitting opposite, hadn't come to his senses yet, the handle of the sharp knife was held firmly in his hand.

"This raw fish must be killed by yourself, sliced ​​by yourself, dipped by yourself, and also..." He looked up and showed a smile that he thought was charming to the young man opposite, "...Eat it by yourself."

However, his pockish face became ugly the more he smiled.

His wrists trembled, and a shiny sharp knife woven a shiny net in the air. The scales were turned up and rushed from the head to the tail. After a moment, the tender fish meat appeared in front of him. He whistled with satisfaction, turned the fish in his hand over, and scraped off the scales on the other side.

"Okay," he shouted, then raised his knife and cut it into the fish neck, and stroked his wrist hard. After the "crunching" sound of the fish bone breaking, bright red blood stained the blade.

Shi Lang sat upright on a small wooden stool, holding his chin with both hands, and watching intently.

In the past two months, they walked north from Chongming Island to the Liaodong sea north of Dengzhou. They encountered several storms on the sea and fought with pirates in Liaodong.

The sailors on these three ships are all good players, and the storm will not hurt them, and pirates are even more of a bit of food. Pirates in the north also used the primitive attack method of jumping ships. After several rounds of artillery, they continued to chase for half a day until they sank all the invading pirate ships.

If the road was smooth sailing, he might not be able to make friends like Gu Sanmazi.

Gu Sanmazi is twice as old as Shi Lang. To describe him in one word, it is "passion". It is said that he was a pirate in the past, and Shi Lang had never seen such a passionate pirate. The pirates are very cold-blooded, just like...

Shi Lang thought of that person, he was also a person who made a living in the sea, shouldn’t be afraid, but who can really get rid of fear?

A row of bright red fish with a well-proportioned thickness was piled up in the white plate, and the small green mustard greens were piled aside. Gu Sanmazi's rough hands reached in front of Shi Lang.

"Come on, it's delicious"

Shi Lang took the plate with a bitter face: "No matter how delicious it is, Is Uncle Gu not tired of eating it for two months?" His uncle Shi Fu and Gu Sanmazi brothers, and he naturally called Gu Sanmazi uncle.

Gu Sanmazi smiled "hehe": "You kid, you will be able to serve in three or five days."

Gu Sanmazi pointed to the west. There was mist on the sea today, and the coastline was hidden from time to time: "I have reached the boundary of Yangzhou Prefecture."

Shi Lang gave a piece of fish into his mouth. He dipped a lot of mustard greens. He grew up and exhaled his mouth. It took him a long time to recover and asked in surprise: "Uncle Gu is so familiar with the waterway?" He could not tell where he was now from such a vague scene.

"How can you not worry about such a big thing?" Gu Sanmazi looked into the distance, "The Battle of the Northern Expedition"

Shi Lang stuffed another piece of fish into his mouth. When he heard Gu Sanmazi's second half of his words, he couldn't help asking: "Uncle Gu, where did you say the Regent let me get in the Ming Dynasty?"

Gu Sanmazi thought for a while and said, "It's the same everywhere." They specially investigated the defenses of the Qing court along the way, and the combat power of the navy was almost the same as that of the pirates.

"You said, will the Regent go directly to Liaodong?" Shi Lang's eyes glowed. The Northern Expedition was the opportunity that the Ming generals dreamed of making meritorious contributions. He was very glad to catch up with this opportunity.

Gu Sanmazi immediately shook his head and replied very crisply: "It won't be too cold in winter there. There is only eight or nine months of suitable sailing season, and southerners can't stand there."

No matter where you log in, it makes people feel excited. Shi Lang quickly changed to a topic he was more concerned about: "Uncle Gu said, who will the prince send as the commander of the navy?

Gu Sanmazi returned to the desk, stabbed a piece of bright red fish with a sharp knife and put it in his mouth, and said while chewing: "After returning to Nanzhili, you can ask the Regent yourself.

Shi Lang curled his lips, "How dare I?"

The Regent was preparing to let the navy participate in the Northern Expedition, but not many people knew about it. But Gu Sanmazi heard that before they set out to investigate the route, several top figures in the navy were already fighting over this matter.

At the beginning of the year, Shi Fu was commissioned by Zheng Zhilong and went north under the order of the Regent to take over the Yangtze River defense line. Will the Regent let a Fujian and Guangdong man be the chief general of the navy? Gu Sanmazi thought it was impossible. There was no one in Nanzhili and Zhejiang navy.

Shi Fu and the young Shi Lang in front of him both thought Shi Fu had firmly taken the position of commander of the Northern Expedition Navy.

After passing Yangzhou, there was the estuary of the Yangtze River in front of him, and there were immediately more ships on the sea. Gu Sanmazi ordered the sailor to hang the Ming Dynasty flag.

After driving forward for an hour, two huge navy ships came towards us.

Shi Lang saw that it was the warship of the Fujian Navy, and walked to the bow and waved his arms excitedly. In Fujian, every ship returned safely to the sea and had a reason to be excited, whether it was a fishing boat or a merchant ship.

The big ship exchanged flags with the sailors on the boat, and finally, they were like two big eagles escorting the chickens, accompanying the five small boats south on both sides.

It was already late at night when the warship arrived at Chongming Island, and countless bonfires were lit on the pier. Shi Fu received the news and had been waiting at the pier. He was not here to pick up his nephew, but Gu Sanmazi.

The wooden boat docked, and Shi Lang followed Gu Sanmazi and jumped off the boat, taking a breath of the air with the smell of grass.

"General Shi"

"Deputy General Gu"

Although Gu Sanmazi is the deputy general, he is the real manager of Chongming Island. Shi Fu's navy was just temporarily arranged to station here.

The two of them greeted each other and walked side by side towards the Navy Gu Biao. Gu Sanmazi's brother-in-law Gu Biao led his personal soldiers to wait outside the dock.

Shi Fu said: "Deputy General Gu, the Regent sent an order ten days ago to go to Yangzhou to meet you immediately after you come back." He was a little envious and jealous. As the general commander of more than 10,000 naval troops, he was not as good as this deputy general with a pockmarked face in the eyes of the Regent.

"Ah, I guess the prince is anxious to wait." Gu Sanmazi rubbed his eyes.

"Thank you for your hard work, is it going smoothly along the way? My nephew didn't cause you any trouble?"

Shi Lang followed behind the two of them, pricked up his ears and eavesdropped on what his uncle and Gu Sanmazi were saying.

Gu Sanmazi praised: "You have a good nephew, and when he shows off his skills."

"The prince is anxious to summon Lord. I am afraid that the Northern Expedition has reached a critical moment. My uncle and nephew have come from Fujian to serve the country. I want to serve the Northern Expedition. Please give a few good words in front of the prince." Shi Fu bowed, his eyes were still hot by the torches behind him. "If you succeed, you will thank you very much."
Chapter completed!