Who Is the Master of the Ocean?
However, what Abdel said made sense.
The slave trade was the best commodity.
It was more profitable than spices, silk, tea leaves, and porcelain combined. The craftsmen of the Great Tang, in particular, were the best slaves in the west. The women of the Great Tang were also admired by many nobles in the west.
In the eyes of the westerners, the Great Tang was a paradise. If any of the western nobles had a Tang woman in their palace, it would be something worth showing off.
Thus, Zheng Da would not stop the other party from buying and selling the Tang.
If there was even a chance…He himself wanted to get involved in this lucrative business.
"Let's not talk about this anymore." Zheng Da shook his head and said," We'll do it in a mysterious place. We can't let Zhang Xun escape." The most important thing was to take his head and exchange it for the trading rights of Yangzhou.”
"You can't run!" The other Arab pirate leader, Omaha Adnan, laughed."Our Arabian dhow is much faster than the Tang ships!" Moreover, Zhang Xun's ship was full of people and goods, so it couldn't move fast at all. We can fish them to the east and intercept them!”
-------------------------------------
There was no way for such a large fleet to be kept a secret.
"Viceroy, the great merchant Zheng Da of Quanzhou is leading this operation. Three great Arabian clans have gathered nearly a thousand ships, and I'm afraid there are another hundred thousand!”
Zhang Xun had already boarded the three-masted ship named Sea Dragon. The narrow cabin was packed with officers, and they were surrounding a map that had been spread out. On it was the location of the Arab fleet.
This was the only three-masted ship equipped with cannons. Eight bronze cannons weighing six pounds were placed on this ship. At the same time, the 1,000 kilograms of gunpowder produced during this period of time were all equipped on this three-masted ship.
The other twenty-four three-masted sailing ships that were built at the same time were equipped with the twisting stone machine that was originally equipped on the Q galley.
In this way, the twenty-five fast and agile three-masted sailing ships would become the main firepower output turrets, while the thirteen galleys, after reducing the weight of the torsion-type stone machine, would be thickened with armor, becoming the heavy cavalry at sea-a ship type that specialized in killing enemies by ramming.
Zhang Xun no longer planned to build a galley. However, at this stage, this type of ship was still usable. This time, they had encountered a group of pirates, and it was also the last moment of this type of ship.
"100,000 people. These sea merchants are quite powerful.”
Zhang Xun was also a little surprised.
Because there were not many descriptions of sea merchants and pirates in history, although he knew that the maritime trade of the Tang Dynasty was developed, he really did not expect that a few sea merchants could actually gather thousands of warships and 100,000 people.
"Most of them are pirates that have been hired. The Zheng Clan has five thousand men, and the three Arab pirates have twenty thousand men. However, they have thirty-eight powerful dhow ships, all of which are White and Black warriors. They are extremely famous in the Zhenla and Three Buddha Seas.”
Yang Ada carefully analyzed the situation of the enemy fleet.
Manichaeism was a religion that originated from Arabia. As the leader of Manichaeism in Yangzhou, Yang Ada had a certain understanding of the merchants and Arabia.
"Big brother, why don't we leave the merchant ships at Surging East Island and gather the warships to fight them? We have twenty-five three-masted sailboats and thirteen galley ships.”
Zhang Shiba said.
His finger poked at the location of the Arab fleet on the map."Actually, the most powerful ones are the thirty-eight dhow ships with a sea of armaments on them. However, we have the torsion-type engines, incendiary bombs, and cannons. Who's afraid of who?”
Zhang Xun waved his hand and said," We can't leave the merchant ships behind. Most of these 100,000 people are pirates who have been hired. The command is not in sync. If the merchant ships are left on the island, those pirates will probably not come back to chase us. Instead, they will go to Surging East Island."”
Although these pirates were hired, their eyes were naturally on Zhang Xun's 40,000 men, as well as gold, silver, treasures, and food.
Without the attraction of these things, the pirates would not have much money.
"Eighteen, this time, you will command fifteen three-masted ships to cover the merchant fleet. I will only dispatch ten ships and thirteen galleys for the naval battle…Just watch how I fight in the sea.”
"Twenty-three ships, Viceroy. There are more than a thousand ships on the other side.”Ada grinned and looked at Zhang Xun in disbelief.
Zhang Xun's old brothers around him laughed and said,""Old Yang, in this sea battle, having more ships is useless.”
"Look at how we broke a thousand from twenty-three!”
"I don't want to break 1,000, but…" Zhang Xun smiled coldly. Those 38 spinnakers, don't even think about escaping from my hands!”
He stretched out his palm and squeezed it hard, as if he wanted to crush the enemy in front of him.
"This time, Your Father will ruthlessly beat up the Arabs in front of a group of pirates and let them see who the true King of the Sea is!”
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。