Chapter 1813

Xiao Jichen went to Rome for six times. Each time he came, he had 12 opportunities to be harassed by pirates.

Every three-month voyage, when he saw pirates, his reaction had changed from trembling, walking on thin ice, being frightened and so on at the first time, and quickly grew into a calm and steady old driver.

It was also these experiences that made Xiao Jichen more and more infatuated with such stimulation.

The Xiao family can be regarded as one of the top gentry families in the state of Lu. He is the second son of a concubine. In fact, he doesn't have much to play in Lu. He can't go into politics like his eldest son, nor can he live a life of wine and meat like his third brother and the second son's brother. After all, no matter how rich he is, he is the first son, There are backers to settle for him.

Xiao Jichen is not only a concubine, but also his mother died long ago. Although he has good feelings with his father, he dare not do whatever he wants based on the background of the Xiao family. Otherwise, the mistress of the Xiao family will let him understand what is called beating.

After taking such a route from an elder of the family, he flew to the seas on the sea and went to other countries. He was the master of the fleet, and the power that controlled everything was what fascinated him.

Of course, fighting with heaven and people in the ocean, whether it's the terrible scene when the storm comes, or commanding the fleet to fight with pirates, the stimulation on the life and death line brings Xiao Jichen's stimulation and makes him addicted.

12 one-way voyages, he was used to seeing pirates every time, but what he suffered most was that when he returned from Rome with a full load of goods, he was about to return to the state of Lu. Suddenly, a group of navies under Duke ventra were killed and disguised as pirates. That battle was really tragic.

Of the first 30 merchant ships of the Xiao family's caravan, four were directly sunk and nearly ten were damaged, with varying degrees of severity. Hundreds of people were killed and injured, including a large amount of property.

Of course, the Navy under Archduke ventra did not take much advantage. Similarly, after three ships sank and three were beaten and lost their navigation ability, the other ships ran back to their principality with scars.

You must understand that although the Principality of ventra will have Navy pirates to rob, they can't rob every day because they fight with Liu all year round, and the Xiao family is not the only merchant shipping caravan on this channel.

The merchant ships of big merchants and the merchant ships of the state of Zhao occasionally pass by the merchant ships of the state of Zhou or other countries. There are too many goals. How many families are there in a country? How many fleets?

Last time, Xiao Jichen first met the Navy under the Archduke posing as a pirate.

You know, most of the time, the pirates they encountered were really just pirates

The state of Lu goes to Rome from the main route. There are mainly two kingdoms along the way, the kingdom of Ross and the kingdom of West.

The treatment of the two kingdoms is similar to that of the state of Lu. They are basically the dishes on the tables of Roman nobles or churches. There are few regular military forces belonging to the Kingdom, and the noble caravans in the two kings? Aristocratic caravans are also very strong, but for the sake of reputation and long-term interests, aristocratic caravans rarely impersonate armed merchant ships as pirate ships.

Most of the pirates Xiao Jichen met along the way were really pirates.

Those pirates don't have many cannons and giant ships. Most pirates have limited fire rope guns, but more are bows and crossbows. They rob by jumping from ship to ship.

In the past, ordinary armed merchant ships were enough to deal with most pirates. Twenty or thirty ships, even in the face of the plundering of hundreds of small boats, could be handled by rows of bronze guns and refined Musketeers.

Even in the face of fierce stubble or thieves, the other party can pull out a batch of gun ships to bomb, but the Xiao family won't suffer much.

Only last time was the worst for them.

So before setting out this time, Xiao Jichen felt that as long as he left the port, he would encounter the navy of ventra to make trouble.

They didn't take advantage of it last time. They just lost six ships and a group of people in vain.

After all, there are 20% mixed race and more than 10% white people living in the state of Lu. As a grand duke of the principality, ventra wants to cast a little eyes and ears at their Xiao family and find a chance to revenge. It's very simple.

But these guys will never know that in order to give a vote to the white people in the Principality of ventra, two of his 17 merchant ships are real warships!

Or a large ship with a displacement of nearly 1000 tons.

A warship has 88 guns, all of which are the elite servants of the Xiao family. The other 15 merchant ships are also the products after upgrading. In the past, the Xiao family's armed merchant ships had limited tonnage. They tried to build warehouses and load fewer people. A ship has about 20 guns. Even if they are not shoddy, they are all made of the best wood, but they are not thickened.

It was a heavy loss last time.

This time, the tonnage of each merchant ship has expanded a lot. With a displacement of 700, 800 and 900 tons, it is in direct pursuit of the two warships, with no less than 30 guns per ship.

You should know that the appearance of sailing ocean going ships in this era is not very different from that of merchant ships and battleships. The biggest difference is that merchant ships build more warehouses, while warships basically have no warehouses, all of which are gun warehouses and sailor warehouses, and the armor is very thick.

Therefore, the Xiao family's fleet seems to have fewer ships this time, but actually its combat effectiveness is much stronger.

Looking through a hundred mile mirror at the fleet coming out in front of him, Xiao Jichen was not only in a hurry, but also wanted to laugh.

There's no way not to laugh. He has 17 ships, but he blows them in a row. How many guns can one side blow out at a time? Two warships have 88 guns and 15 merchant ships have more than 200 shells.

But the distant principality of ventra? Among the more than 50 ships, the smallest is only dozens of tons, and the largest is only 300 tons. I'm afraid the other party is not as good as them.

Compare the thickness of armor

The only concern is speed.

Since these guys robbed, there must not be so much cargo in the cabin. They will run faster.

But Xiao Jichen is still not afraid. There are not only a large number of artillery on his two warships, but also a large caliber of artillery!

Large caliber basically means a longer range. There are more than 30 elite artillery soldiers he spent a lot of money to invite from the big business empire.

Moreover, warships themselves run faster than merchant ships, and there are no goods on them. They are all guns and soldiers.

Those two warships are the most crucial and ferocious fists of this combat power.

During the rapid voyage, the Xiao family's fleet turned around at about the same time. Before they entered the range of the navy of the Principality of ventra, they lined up in a row, and the Black Muzzles were pushed out of the gun silos one after another. Of course, they were afraid of the dense guns of the two warships and scared the enemy. They were not in a hurry to push all the guns out of the gun silos.