Chapter 377: Fat Sheep

In the placid waters of the Lei Yue Mun channel, a string of wind-sail gunboats with white sails and slender hulls were filing through in formation.

Lei Yue Mun was, of course, the sea gate east of Hong Kong Island in later generations. This narrow channel, less than 500 meters wide, was now being pointed at and appraised by a group of sentimental people.

Since there were no supply ports after passing Xiamen, the fleet had begun using sails to save fuel. Even so, the fast fleet, with structural advantages in hull design, wheel rudders, and powered sail rigging, still maintained an average speed of 7 knots in a crosswind, far surpassing all ship types of this era.

After covering the 400-plus-kilometer sea journey from Xiamen to Hong Kong in two days, the fleet arrived at Lei Yue Mun early on the morning of July 17th.

Originally, according to Commander Wang Bo's intention, since they were at Hong Kong, the fleet should definitely take the southern route, circle around Lamma Island, and say hello to Chief Liu — the main base of the Liu Xiang Gang was no secret; their main force was on Lamma Island.

Because Liu Xiang was a native of Lamma Island, he usually stationed himself there whenever he came to Guangdong. What Chief Liu of the 17th century could never have imagined was that, in later generations, he would be casually mentioned from time to time as one of only two famous people from Lamma Island... the other being Brother Fa.

Then Commander Wang Bo's proposal was vetoed. One must realize that besides him, the ship also carried a bunch of idle passengers like Zhang Dongdong. The guests naturally had no desire to visit some damn Lamma Island: since they were already at Lei Yue Mun, wouldn't it be better to pass through the channel and see Tongluo Bay, Central, and Tsim Sha Tsui?

Thus, Commander Wang was shamefully defeated by the tourists. Fortunately, this fleet's mission was merely to open the Pearl River waterway, not to annihilate Liu Xiang's main force, so Commander Wang could only helplessly order the fleet to take the Lei Yue Mun channel.

Less than ten li after passing through Lei Yue Mun was Tongluo Bay, a name that rang like thunder among the Transmigrators. Most of the passengers on board were now in their thirties; Tongluo Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui, Chen Haonan — these names were precisely the indelible memories of their youth.

However, reality was bound to disappoint everyone. In the 17th century, Tongluo Bay, Central, and Tsim Sha Tsui across the channel — where was the slightest trace of the Pearl of the Orient? What met their eyes were not towering skyscrapers, but lush vegetation and dilapidated fishing villages; what appeared in their telescopes was not Brother Haonan in leather pants, but emaciated, sallow-faced fishing folk who didn't even have proper trousers to wear.

"Damn, this is boring. When I, Situ Haonan, retire in the future, I'll develop this whole area!" Intelligence Bureau Deputy Director Ma Yue, dressed in a Nanjing satin merchant's robe, his hair tied in a topknot and a DSLR hanging from his neck, was sullenly putting away his phone, no longer intending to take photos.

Indeed, in the eyes of the Transmigrators accustomed to the primitive landscapes of the 17th century, this bit of vegetation on Hong Kong Island really wasn't worth wasting phone storage on. As for the DSLR, even less so — better to go photograph some girls instead.

Hearing Old Ma's nonsense, another middle-aged scholar, wearing a straight-hemmed robe, a square cap on his head, and a cigarette between his fingers, immediately shouted: "Old Ma, you said it yourself, everyone here today is a witness. When the time comes, this land will be allocated to you first!"

The speaker was Ding Liqiu. This gentleman had originally served as an Adviser in the General's Mansion in Fujian and had even commanded the Bandit Suppression Campaign in Longyan County. With this new push to develop Guangdong, Ding Liqiu had naturally become the General's Mansion's chief representative in commercial matters; the plan was for him to be permanently stationed in Guangzhou City to oversee the overall situation, a very important position.

Hearing Ding Liqiu's words, Ma Yue, who had just moments ago been brimming with heroic ambition, immediately wilted: "That was Situ Haonan who said that, it's got nothing to do with me!"

The group at the bow burst into laughter...

In the old time-space, Hong Kong was first a colony, and later, due to the two opposing Eastern and Western blocs, the bridgehead was forcibly compressed into a highly concentrated, deformed metropolis.

However, in this plane of the Transmigrators, without that unique historical opportunity, Hong Kong Island was ultimately just an ordinary island of very low concern — no Transmigrator would give up their land share in a major city to develop this place instead.

After the fleet passed Hong Kong Island, it quickly passed through the narrow Kap Shui Mun. The sea surface was now calm and tranquil; the majestic Kap Shui Mun Bridge and Tsing Ma Bridge were completely absent.

Beyond Kap Shui Mun lay the trumpet-shaped Pearl River Estuary. According to the plan, the fleet now needed to circle the estuary and greet the surrounding powers. Thus, Wang Bo ordered the fleet to reduce speed, raise alert levels, and pay attention to searching for anomalies.

Slightly reducing speed and sailing a zigzag course, the fleet passed Shenzhen Bay in the early afternoon. Just as the lookout in the mast's basket could already see Dragon's Den Island at the narrow mouth of the Pearl River, a message came from the escort ship "Green Island," leading the fleet: pirates sighted.

Ge Erye was not in a good mood at the moment.

As a core chieftain under Shopkeeper Liu, this was already his third time leading a team to collect tolls in the Pearl River Estuary. Thinking of those useless fools who hadn't managed a single lucrative job so far, theoretically, he should be elated. However, after tallying the day's haul in the hold, Ge Erye's mood instantly turned extremely foul.

Standing at the bow of his own great bird ship, he reached a hand into his crotch to scratch an itch. With a face covered in water rust and a mouth full of yellow teeth, Ge Erye couldn't help but crane his neck toward the Pearl River. He now fervently hoped a few more merchant ships would come down from upstream.

"Damn, fat fish are getting scarcer by the day. Can't stay in this territory anymore."

In stark contrast to previous toll-collecting operations, the number of merchant ships coming down from the upper Pearl River had dwindled recently. Even though the pirates had changed their "revenue generation" method from outright robbery to toll collection, it hadn't halted the trend of sharply declining merchant ship traffic.

Sweeping his eyes over the scattered fishing boats dotting the nearby river surface, Ge Erye was laden with worry.

Based on the life experience of this thirty-five-year-old pirate, since the Great Gang had already been intensively generating revenue in the Pearl River Estuary for several months, it was time to decisively pull out... there was little point in staying longer; hadn't he noticed the ships had stopped coming from upstream?

Yet Shopkeeper Liu showed no sign of leading everyone to relocate.

As a core member, Ge Erye did have some inkling of the Grand Steward's predicament. Those Yizhou Short-hairs, with their sturdy ships and powerful cannons who slaughtered pirates like flies, had now sealed the sea route along the Chaoshan line, so everyone could no longer go to Fujian as they used to.

However, Ge Erye's information channels stopped there. A mere Shopkeeper couldn't engage in strategic thinking like Liu Xiang himself. Erye only instinctively felt that continuing to linger near Guangzhou boded ill.

"Ah, let's go take a look westward."

After brooding for a moment, Ge Erye shook his head to clear his mind. The next instant, he loudly shouted orders to the Helmsman at the stern, and by the way, had the signalman send flag signals to the other four fast ships lingering nearby.

Thus, the five ships located on the eastern bank of the Pearl River began to turn their bows, their destination the western bank — Ge Erye intended to try his luck on the west bank, hoping to intercept some merchant ships sneaking southward from Xiangshan County.

Just as the fleet crossed the midline of the Pearl River, a loud shout came from the lookout basket on the mast: "Shopkeeper, fat sheep ahead!"

"Huh!? Fat sheep at last?" Ge Erye perked up at the sound. He nimbly leaped onto the sterncastle and craned his neck to look north.

"Shopkeeper, you're looking the wrong way, it's south!" The lookout in the basket shouted again.

Erye turned his head at the sound, and then he saw the tip of a mast gradually emerging from the southern horizon.

"What sharp eyes, boy, wait for your reward!" Ge Erye looked up and praised loudly... the lookout in the basket was a local, newly recruited into the pirate gang, and his work enthusiasm was very high.

Considering that the approaching ships were sailing with the wind while his own ships were in a crosswind, Erye made a prompt decision and ordered all ships to continue turning, planning to loop around on the open sea and intercept the incoming vessels head-on.

However, the next moment, the lookout shouted again: "Shopkeeper, there are quite a few fat sheep!"

"Ah!?" Erye was shocked stiff.

And when he leaped onto the sterncastle once more, shading his eyes with his hand to peer carefully, a chill shot from his tailbone straight to the top of his skull: in just two short minutes, that single mast had multiplied into a whole row. What terrified Erye the most was the faint white glint he saw on the masts — those were soft sails!

"You idiot! Do fat sheep like that exist?" Ge Erye now desperately wanted to gouge out the eyes of that fool in the lookout basket — any ship using soft sails on the East Asian seas was not something Ge Erye's ordinary vessels dared to trifle with, let alone the fact that there was more than one approaching.

Simultaneously, the surrounding ships also began frantically waving flags signaling danger: the old pirate hands in their lookout baskets had realized something was wrong.

"Turn the rudder, turn the rudder, head west!" Erye urgently bellowed, his voice cracking in his panic. At this moment, any damn toll collection was completely out of mind; quickly hiding to the west and clearing the channel was the only sensible thing.

But fate was unkind. The string of masts gradually sharpening on the horizon also slightly altered course at that moment, charging straight toward the pirates. At the same time, the surrounding pirate ships simultaneously hoisted the Fleeing Monkey signal, representing extreme danger.

Ge Erye now truly wanted to kill that idiot above his head: the lookouts on the surrounding ships must have spotted something he couldn't see.

The next instant, clinging to the mast, Ge Erye froze. A question suddenly struck him: his fleet's current position was in the Pearl River Estuary, forty li north of Macau, and neither the Franks of Macau nor any other foreigners had ever made moves in this area — it would provoke the Ming Dynasty Government.

Even the Franks' annual trip to Guangzhou City to place orders was made aboard Cantonese or Fujianese ships; their square-rigged ships with soft sails would absolutely never venture deep into the Pearl River Estuary.

At this thought, Ge Erye's snot and tears flowed simultaneously: he knew which divine beings were approaching... "Strike the recognition flag, strike it quickly! Send up the flag flower, scatter and flee for your lives, scatter and flee for your lives..."

In the howling sea wind, Ge Erye clung to the mast, screaming with all his might in a frenzy.

And in his pupils, dilating ever wider with terror, a string of strange, timber-colored ships, emitting faint black smoke and bearing pure white soft sails, were charging toward him with the speed of wind and lightning.