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The calm sea was like a blue mirror. Under the golden sunlight, the mirror seemed to have countless golden carp swimming in it.
A gentle sea breeze blew, bringing with it a salty scent of the ocean. Yue Yun and Liu Chen commanded the warships to sail smoothly with the wind.
White seagulls circled in the sky above the warships. They had no idea that a war was about to begin.
Leaving the dock, the pirate warships suddenly appeared in everyone’s sight. At this moment, Liu Chen picked up his telescope and looked over. The two sides were now only three or four li apart. With the telescope, he could clearly see the personnel on the Japanese warships.
“General, it’s Sakai and Hu Hai,” Liu Chen said.
“As I expected. Not capturing Hu Hai that day was a hidden danger,” Yue Yun also picked up his telescope and began to scout.
There were not many Atakebune among the warships that came to the Sanmyo Kingdom this time, perhaps only about thirty. The other warships, in his opinion, were not warships at all; strictly speaking, they were merely converted merchant ships.
At this time, many people dressed as Japanese samurai stood on these merchant ships, and besides them, there were pirates disguised as soldiers of the Sanmyo Kingdom.
Liu Chen also seemed to notice something. He said, “They brought fire ships this time.”
“These Japanese pirates seem to have learned their lesson.” Yue Yun’s face was solemn. These fire ships were small boats, manipulated by two or three people to charge into the enemy’s warships and set them ablaze. Some fire ships even carried explosive barrels. If they were to be stuck by such fire ships, it would be extremely troublesome.
Sometimes, these fire ships didn’t even need to be manned; they just needed to drift with the wind into the enemy’s fleet to cause damage.
After a moment of thought, he said, “We are currently upwind. Immediately order the fleet to engage in a ‘crossing the T’ maneuver to prevent them from moving upwind.” “Yes, General,” Liu Chen said solemnly.
Every time they engaged in naval combat, they dealt with it seriously. Although they were confident, they were not arrogant.
“Two hundred and thirty-six!” Yue Yun counted the number of Sakai’s and Hu Hai’s warships. If they could annihilate this batch of warships this time, he believed that incidents of Japanese pirates attacking merchant ships at sea would become much rarer.
Because these pirates were very active at sea right now.
And this time, they had a total of twenty-four warships stationed in the Sanmyo Kingdom, excluding one second-rate sailing warship, there were also twenty-three third-rate warships.
Currently, the focus of shipbuilding was on these types of warships because, compared to large warships, third-rate warships had a more balanced combination of flexibility and speed. Their sailing speed at sea greatly surpassed that of Japan’s Atakebune. Once targeted, these Japanese pirate warships could not escape.
More than twenty warships appeared on the sea, and Sakai and Hu Hai were both instantly shocked.
“How is this possible!” Hu Hai looked at the suddenly appearing Qingzhou fleet as if a basin of cold water had been poured over his head.
For the past half year, he had regularly sent men to scout the dock. Each time, there were only three warships berthed at the dock. This time, their plan was to directly charge into the dock and seize the Qingzhou fleet’s ships.
Once the Japanese obtained the warships, they would cooperate with him to attack the star fort and completely drive Prince Qi’s army out of the Sanmyo Kingdom.
Sakai’s face was extremely grim. “You traitor! You must have sold us out to Prince Qi to claim credit, letting their fleet ambush us here!”
“Lord Sakai, absolutely impossible! I could never betray you!” Hu Hai was also somewhat flustered at this moment.
During this period, they had engaged in many skirmishes with the Qingzhou patrol warships at sea, but the Qingzhou warships’ sailing speed, firepower, and maneuverability greatly surpassed those of their own warships.
Every time they attacked a merchant ship and were discovered, there was only one outcome: sinking under the Qingzhou warships’ cannon fire.
It was for this reason that Sakai became enraged. Because they were so close now, more than 200 warships couldn’t turn around in time. This couldn’t help but make him suspect it was a trap.
“Is that so? In that case, you will now lead your fleet forward to block them,” Sakai said angrily. He would not be so foolish as to engage the Qingzhou warships at sea now.
Hu Hai’s face instantly turned white. He took a step back, also recalling the terror of the Qingzhou warships half a year ago.
“Heh heh, I knew you betrayed us. Now you have two choices: either you lead your men to attack now, or I kill you with my own hands. Which do you choose?”
“Sakai, I didn’t betray you! You can’t treat me !” At this moment, two Japanese soldiers responded by grabbing Hu Hai. Hu Hai’s face immediately turned deathly pale.
“Anyone can talk. Now you don’t even want a chance to prove your innocence. How can I believe you?” Sakai said, then gave the two soldiers a look.
The two soldiers immediately pushed Hu Hai to the bow of the ship, while he drew his katana, ready to strike at any moment.
Hu Hai finally despaired. He pleaded, “I’ll go, I’ll go!”
Hearing this, Sakai revealed a satisfied smile. He said, “If you had made this decision earlier, you wouldn’t have had to suffer.”
Hu Hai’s face changed. At this moment, he understood that Sakai and the Japanese daimyo had never treated him as a human being. In their eyes, he was nothing more than a dog.
Despite his inner sorrow, he still directed his fleet to charge towards the Qingzhou warships. Yue Yun had been observing them, and their movements on the ship also fell into his eyes. The chaos on the ship only lasted for a while before ending. Then he saw some warships moving towards his direction.
Yue Yun was a little puzzled, not understanding what was happening, but he only thought about it for a moment before no longer pondering the issue. At this moment, the warships commanded by Liu Chen had slowed down, preparing for battle.
Indeed, soon the warships began to turn, one side facing Hu Hai’s fleet. Because Hu Hai’s fleet had too many ships, Liu Chen dared not risk letting the warships get too close, otherwise, once Hu Hai’s ships approached the warships, they would have countless ways to deal with his warships.
At that time, once contact was made, the enemy sailors would jump into the sea to attack their warships using tactics like scuttling and setting fires. In previous naval battles, they had suffered from these despicable tactics by the Japanese pirates.
And most importantly, with Xiao Ming on the island this time, he was even less likely to take that risk.
This time, Liu Chen’s warships were divided into three routes. He led the center, and as he prepared, the left and right fleets outflanked the pirate ships.
They intended to cut off the pirate ships’ retreat and annihilate the enemy in one go. Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✦𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✦𝙣𝙚𝙩
Their responsibility now was to contend for naval supremacy, and they absolutely could not miss any opportunity to eliminate Japan’s viable forces.
Hu Hai and Sakai stood at the bow, watching the Qingzhou warships turning, their faces growing increasingly grim. They understood this was a sign that the Qingzhou warships were preparing to open fire.