On December 1, Port Recife, Brazil.

After supplying fresh water and fresh vegetables, the escort squadron of fruits left the Dutch-ruled port, and then the entire fleet turned northwest and headed towards the Wind Islands.

After the Second Escort Squadron left, two fast ships in the Recife Pier left the port in the first time and sailed northwest. At the same time, a news in the port began to spread at a rapid speed: that is, the fleets of the East Coast people have all sailed towards the Caribbean Sea. At present, there are only a few limited number of fishing boats in their local ports. Maybe everyone has the opportunity to try their luck in the rich East Coast area.

Although most of the captains were more steady and cautious, and they had some doubts about the authenticity of this news, there were still some Dutch captains who were fascinated by money. In the afternoon of that day, several boats left the Recife Pier and headed south.

On the sea in northern Recife, within the bridge of the battleship "Common Market", Wang Tiech held a binoculars and carefully observed the two fast ships looming on the sea behind him. It was a sailboat with an aspect ratio of nearly five to one and three masts. The downwind speed reached about 10 knots, which was faster than any ship in the East Coast escort fleet.

"It's so gloomy!" Wang Tiehui muttered, and then began to order: "Hang the green follow flag, and the entire fleet will turn 20 degrees northeast to the east, pay attention to adjusting the sail trusses and sail with the sidewind."

The escort squadron, which had been prepared to be spying by the enemy, began a slow turn on the sea under the order of Wang Tiech.

The warship of the "Maritime Lieutenant Han Dezhi's Navy Lieutenant, followed by two bulky transport ships "Penglai" and "Yingzhou" filled with potatoes and arms; the French armed merchant ship "Nightinging" followed closely, and the battleship "Red Trout" was sailing hundreds of meters behind the right rear of the "Nightinginging"; the battleship "Common Market" landed behind the back of the hall.

Considering the complex and sinister situation that this escort operation had to face, the Admiralty decided to give up the popular route along Recife-Wind Islands-East Coast of North America to the Bay of Biscay, and then chose a relatively unpopular route from Recife-Guinea-Canadian Islands-Canadian Islands-Biscay.

This route has only sailed once before. Since it was sailing against the ocean currents throughout the journey, the ships could only rely on the wind direction, so it was more difficult. But because of this, there were many miscellaneous forces on this unpopular route, and the safety was much stronger than the chaotic Caribbean.

The entire escort formation was heading east against the westward current, and the sailors ran around the deck, constantly adjusting the sail trusses to make the sail surface use the crosswind to sail to the maximum extent. The six ships were moving slowly at a low speed of two knots. There was only one left in the two clutchs behind, and one was gone. Maybe they were going to inform the fleet that was cruising on the sea somewhere nearby.

Wang Tiechui put down his telescope and sat back on the bridge. He had never expected this voyage to be smooth sailing before departure, but the feeling that it seemed like he was staring at a wolf still made him feel very unhappy.

Of course he was a little nervous. It was the first time for him to command such a large sail fleet, and he was also facing the difficult situation of the country and Britain at this time. The pressure was imaginable. The navy is only in such a small amount of family assets, one person died less, and one person was sunk less, which could not withstand too much trouble.

"I don't know who the people are following the sea. It's probably only the British. The Dutch don't have the time to play hide-and-seek with us at the sea. I don't know where the British ships are hidden and how far away they are. Their ships are empty and should not be slow. Maybe they can catch up before they arrive in Fort Elmina in West Africa." Wang Tiechong was bored drinking the green tea brewed by the orderly soldiers while thinking about it.

On December 5, the previously disappeared clutch appeared again on the sea behind. As she arrived, the clutch that had been following the escort squadron in the past few days finally disappeared, and I don’t know where she went.

Yesterday, Wang Tiehai ordered the Red Trout to turn to try to attack the fast ship that was reluctant to leave. But he regretted to find that the other party's ship was indeed very fast, and the Red Trout was no match at all. He had no choice but to give up and continue to endure the other party's shameless tracking.

Today, she came to "take over" another clutch and became even more unscrupulous. She kept close to the rear of the entire fleet almost all day, surveillance at close range, which made all the officers and soldiers escorting the squadron very angry when they saw it.

"Our ship type still needs to be optimized." Wang Tiechui said depressedly to his adjutant, the second lieutenant of the Navy.

After saying that, he didn't wait for the answer to the rest, and continued to murmur himself: "The aspect ratio should be at least 5 to 1 or more, the center of gravity should be reduced, and more sails and spinnakers should be placed, otherwise the speed will never rise. Especially when the wind direction or ocean current is wrong, look at our speed now, it is not much different from the turtle climbing. Otherwise, will we let the two followers look so despise it?"

An Chu smiled awkwardly.

He could see that Wang Tiehui was a little nervous. He hadn't had a good sleep every day for the past few days. He often got up from bed in the middle of the night to check on the sailors on duty. He went around every corner of the boat several times during the day, and ordered the sailors to rectify any inappropriate places he thought, as if he was relieved of pressure in this way.

This is the difference. An Chu sighed secretly. Compared with Navy Major Lu Ming's light weight, Wang Tiechu was still a little worse after all. He could not achieve Lu Ming's calmness of calmness in the face of change.

Wang Tiechui chatted with Director An for a while, and then went to check the various artillery positions.

The next day, the escort squadron continued to sail on the Atlantic Ocean. This place was already the North Atlantic Ocean north of the equator. Due to the strong pressure in the South Atlantic Ocean, strong southwest winds have always been prevalent on the sea surface. It is this southwest wind that has provided sufficient power for the entire fleet so far.

Of course, the southwest winds don't always bring benefits.

At noon on December 6, two three-masted sailboats appeared on the southwest sea, with a speed of about 2.5 knots to 3 knots. They did not hang any flags that indicate their identity and followed slowly. For such ships, old sailors who have been running on the sea for a long time know that more than 80% of them may be pirate ships, and the remaining 20% ​​may be pirate ships that are temporarily guest-played by a certain ** ship or an armed merchant ship. Either situation means that you may be in trouble soon.

The appearance of these two ships made the escort squadron's nerves suddenly tighten. The gunner took off the cannon's jacket under the command of the officers, and the ammunition hand also placed the shells and the launching medicine bags one by one. The gunman of each cannon stared at the newly emerging "enemy" behind with a serious expression.

The gunman stood on the deck of the stern building, stretched out his right hand and kept gesturing, estimating the distance between the two sides through visual methods. Then he carefully observed the ups and downs of the waves and wind direction on the sea surface, and the magnitude of the wind, so that he could have a clear idea of ​​the shooting and try to hit the enemy ship as soon as possible.

In the evening, a three-masted Garen sailboat appeared again on the sea just west. Through the telescope, it can be clearly seen that about 20 cast iron cannons were placed on the deck of the sailboat, and the ragged sailors were still pointing at the ship escorting the squadron.

This situation made Wang Tiechhui very worried. There are more and more ships with bad intentions in his field of vision. In addition to the two Clippers that have been surveillance behind, three three-masted Garen ships also appeared. These three ships are conservatively estimated to carry more than fifty cannons. Although their gun caliber, range, rate of fire, and accuracy are far inferior to their own, they cannot guarantee that several enemy ships will appear in the next few days, which would be a bad idea.

Wang Tiechhui felt that his escort squadron was like a herd of bison migrating on the African grasslands, with ferocious hunters standing behind, waiting for the right time to give him a fatal blow, or at least biting off a large piece of meat.

"You immediately take a traffic boat to contact each other. After nightfall, turn to the northeast. All ships will turn off the lights and do not make any noise. The weather is not very good today, and the visibility will be very poor at night. We can't hesitate anymore and turn around at night to get rid of them. Otherwise, God knows how much followers will increase tomorrow." Wang Tiechhui gritted his teeth and said. The enemy behind him has put too much pressure on him in the past two days, and he can't bear it anymore.

"We won't go to Fort Elmina?" An Chu understood Wang Tiech's mood, but he still reminded: "The fresh water and fresh fruits on our ship are limited. If we don't go to Ghana, we can only go to Cape Verde to replenish supplies. It's very dangerous there. The nearby Gambia is the sphere of influence of the British Guyana Traders Company (also known as the New Africa Company). They built cities and dug gold mines there. I heard that there are still many ships. Is it not appropriate for us to pass by nearby..."

"Go and execute it, lieutenant! I know it in my heart." Wang Tiechu ordered firmly.
Chapter completed!