The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Min Xi held Yun Ji's hand tightly: "Okay! Where are the Baron and the Lord?"

"They went to the cab." Yun Ji led him forward.

Min Xi's eyes had adapted to the darkness, but when he walked out of the cabin, he still felt like he had fallen into ink, so thick that he had no idea where he was. There was no light in the corridor, and there was no light on this floor, because light would expose them to the enemy and turn them into sitting ducks.

The sailors in the cabin had already left, and now there were only two of them left.

Min Xi asked: "Do you know which country these pirates are from?"

Yun Ji said: "How do we know? It's so dark, we can't see anything."

Min Xi thought, they came to rob in such a dark place, aren't they afraid of robbing their own country? But for pirates, everyone except themselves is a fat sheep, even those from their own country are no exception.

Yun Ji led Min Xi down the stairs in the dark, and there was finally light downstairs. This cabin was where the cannons were located, and the crew had to light up the lights if they wanted to fight back against the enemy.

These two ships are caravels. Although they are obsolete ships, they are not small in size. Their length is over 30 meters, which is only about three or four meters shorter than that of a galleon. They are equipped with two fewer guns than a galleon, with a total of eight cannons on both sides.

Since it was the king's ship, it was fully loaded with cannons, that is, eight cannons, four on each side.

However, the biggest problem now is that the cannons are full, but there are not many sailors to fight back, because some crew members are now raising the sails and trying to drive the ship out of the attack range of the pirate ship. After all, many members of the delegation on the ship are not as proficient in water as the sailors.

At this moment, the sailors were stuffing shells into the barrels, filling in gunpowder, and lighting the fuses, then covering their ears and turning their heads away.

After watching for a while, Min Xi and Yun Ji knew how to load the cannonballs. They picked a cannon without anyone in it and followed the same pattern, stuffing the cannonballs into the barrel and loading the gunpowder.

As they worked, they asked, "How do we aim at the opposite ship?"

The answer they got was: "Just put it anywhere so they don't dare to get close."

Min Xi asked loudly, "Don't we need to worry about the other side?"

"No, the other side is our other ship, and they are responsible for the attack on the left." The sailor also answered loudly.

It seems that this is the experience they have summed up in the long war. If they encounter the enemy, their two ships will run parallel to avoid being attacked from both sides by the enemy. Of course, this is also very risky. If the two ships are too close, the hit rate of the enemy's shells will be greatly increased. So this strategy has both advantages and disadvantages. After all, when a large ship is sailing on the sea, no matter how skilled the ship is, it cannot be operated as it pleases.

Min Xi asked: "How many pirate ships do you think there are?"

The sailor replied: "I don't know exactly, but there are at least two."

At this time, the two men had already loaded the shells. Min Xi asked, "Is this how we ignite it?"

Yun Ji said, "Let me see." He looked out from the lookout on the muzzle, then stepped back, adjusted the position of the barrel, and lit the fuse with a torch.

Min Xi hurriedly covered his ears, Yun Ji plugged the torch and quickly covered his ears. After about twenty seconds, a "bang" was heard and the cannon fired.

Min Xi found it unbelievable. He never expected that one day he would actually participate in a war, and use hot weapons, and fight the enemy with cannons.

The sailor next to him shouted excitedly: "It hit the target! The last shot hit the target! Quick, quick, quick, keep reloading the cannon and keep firing!"

However, his joy soon turned into sorrow, because the enemy's shells also hit their ship and directly blew through the planks. The shells fell into the bottom cabin and blew through it. The sea water rushed in frantically and the ship began to sink.

Although the bottom cabin is designed as a watertight compartment, if it takes in water, the draft of the ship will become deeper and the speed will become very slow. This situation is quite fatal when being attacked by the enemy.

At this time, the captain was already sending the delegation members into the sea to escape in lifeboats, and they needed to transfer to another ship.

In a panic, Baron Fernando said, "We need to send someone to inform the others. Min and Yun are not here either."

The captain replied perfunctorily: "Don't worry, sir. I have sent sailors to inform them."

In fact, the sailor who was sent to notify turned back halfway because another shell exploded beside the ship. He was worried that if he went to call for help, he would not be able to catch the escaping ship in time, so he lied that he had already notified them.

Baron Fernando boarded another ship, but when no one showed up, he asked the captain, "Did the notification really arrive?"

The captain said: "I sent someone to notify them and left them a lifeboat. If they heard it, they would definitely escape."

"Has anyone been notified? Who was asked to notify them? Call them over!" Fernando said angrily.

Lord Fernando then came over and said, "I see the boat has gone. Shouldn't we wait for the rest of the party?"

When Fernando heard this, he became furious: "You just abandoned him like that?"

Another captain said, "Sir, we are being pursued by the enemy. For your safety, we need to get away from the scene as soon as possible."

Fernando understood: "Are you abandoning them in exchange for our escape?"

Another captain said: "This is a last resort. We need to ensure the safety of your Excellencies."

Fernando's veins popped out: "But there are two of my friends on that ship, and Mr. Min is an honorary citizen awarded by His Majesty the King."

The captain of the same ship said timidly: "Please calm down, sir. Their lives are not necessarily in danger. They may just be captured by pirates, and pirates generally do not kill people."

Fernando gritted his teeth, his eyes spitting fire: "You'd better pray that they are okay!"

Min Xi and others noticed that the speed of the boat was not right. Min Xi said, "Why is our boat not moving? Someone go up and take a look at the situation."

A sailor ran up to check the situation and found that the captain, the delegation members and other sailors were gone, and the other ship was nowhere to be seen. He ran down in a hurry: "Oh no! Oh no! They are all gone and abandoned us!"

Min Xi and Yun Ji were shocked: "How could it be?" The baron and the lord could not abandon them, there must be something wrong. Of course, at this moment of escape, if any link went wrong, this kind of situation would occur.

The four sailors looked pale at this moment, they were abandoned!

"How to do?"

"We're going to be caught by pirates."

"I want to go home!"

Min Xi asked: "What will happen if the pirates catch them? Will they kill people?"

"Some can, some can't. It's hard to say," said a sailor.

"Let's go see if there are any escape boats. If there are, we'll get on them," said Yun Ji.

It was almost impossible for them to escape by driving a large ship with a hole in the bottom. The ship was too far from the coast and would sink sooner or later.

Abandoning the cannon, several men ran to the deck, only to find a lifeboat.

Min Xi frowned as soon as he saw it: "Can such a small boat accommodate the six of us?" He was familiar with the English Channel. The waves in this sea area were high and the water was fast. Even in summer, the water temperature was only about ten degrees Celsius, which was not suitable for escaping by a small boat.

Yun Ji said: "Then we can dismantle the deck and use it as a life raft."

Min Xi didn't respond. The small boat wasn't working, let alone a life raft. Were they going to freeze to death in the North Atlantic like Jack and Rousi?

The four sailors were panicking: "How do we dismantle it?"

Yun Ji said, "Get an axe."

They had been on the ship for several days and were familiar with every corner of the ship, and they also knew where the axe was. Yun Ji quickly found the axe and began to chop the deck hard.

Why choose the deck instead of the hatch? Because the hatch is nailed together and can easily fall apart in strong winds and waves, while the entire deck wood is long and wide enough to withstand any wind and waves.

While Yun Ji was splitting the deck, he asked Min Xi to find the necessities for escape. Min Xi had actually been thinking about the chances of being killed after being caught by pirates. He went to the kitchen to search for some food and fresh water, but he doubted whether they could be used. After all, if he was not rescued to the big ship in a short time, how long could he survive relying on this small boat and wooden planks?

While the two of them were busy, the sailors had quietly lowered the lifeboat, and the four people got on it one by one.

When Yun Ji had cut the deck and Min Xi had collected the supplies, they found that those people had left. The two didn't seem surprised to see this. Min Xi looked at Yun Ji and smiled helplessly: "I didn't expect that in the end we would have to escape together." This time it is still the difficult mode, to challenge the raging waves and low temperatures of the North Atlantic.

Yun Ji patted his head and said, "It seems that this sea doesn't like us very much. Let's go, let's leave here."

Yun Ji put the axe on his waist, picked up the wooden board, walked to the side of the boat, saw the rope for lowering the lifeboat, tied the wooden board with the rope, and lowered it into the water first to avoid groping in the dark in the water for the wooden board.

Yun Ji said to Min Xi, "You go first."

Min Xi grabbed the rope and was about to go down when he suddenly heard a voice: "Put your hands up! Otherwise I will shoot." It was spoken in English.

Min Xi felt relieved, stopped his movements, and said to Yun Ji, "The pirates are here, and they asked us to raise our hands. I guess they have guns."

Upon hearing this, Yun Ji quietly put his hands behind his back and drew out the axe from his waist.

Min Xi raised his hand, turned around slowly, and saw two bearded men pointing spring-loaded shotguns at them and walking slowly towards them.

Min Xi said: "Seventh brother, don't act rashly, they may not necessarily hurt us."

Upon hearing this, Yun Ji threw the axe in his hand to the ground, took a step forward and blocked Min Xi behind him.