Chapter 251 - Moon Island Naval Battle (Part 1)
Chapter 251 - Moon Island Naval Battle (Part 1)
Translator: TeamTWO
Editor: Nora
October 22th, Ouyang Shuo arrived at Beihai City again.
This time, none of his guards could be seen; only Director Ge followed him.
In Beihai Port, the Beihai navy fleet were ready. Every Meng Chong warship was fully refurbished. Ouyang Shuo took out a bag of military grain pills and distributed them to every warship.
The sailors transported bundles of arrows, barrels of water, and alchemical oil to the warships.
One by one, the warships sails rose, along with the Shanhai City lord’s flag and also the flags of the Beihai navy fleet. The flag of the Beihai navy fleet, which also acted as the Shanhai City navy flag, was modified from the lord’s flag. The volcano was changed into a five-level tower warship and a blue dragon soared above it instead of a golden one.
Before they departed, Ouyang Shuo led the fleet and prayed to Mazu. He hoped that the whole expedition would go smooth and sound.
After the prayers, the fleet stayed in the attack formation, and they officially departed from the port.
Due to the lack of tower warships, Beihai navy fleet could only select a Meng Chong warship as their flagship, and it sailed in the middle of the formation.
Under Pei Donglai’s accompaniment, Ouyang Shuo boarded the flagship. Before this, Ouyang Shuo had stated that the authority to command the naval battle laid in Pei Donglai’s hands. He had stated he would not intervene in it.
Paddles powered the Meng Chong warships, and a half-body high parapet wall protected both sides of the ship. There were slots for the paddles under each of the two bulwarks and twelve paddles on each side. The sailors rowed on the deck.
The deck had 3 levels of cabins, within each had 5 feet of canopy. On the first floor of the cabin was another parapet wall. Navy flags were on the four sides of the ships and the commanding war drums and flags were situated at the middle of the first floor.
Ouyang Shuo walked onto the deck. Then, he went to the first floor of the cabin and finally stopped at the command seat. Pei Donglai waved the command flag. When the drummer saw the signal, he played the drums. In the thrilling rhythmic beats, the fleet sailed on the mighty ocean.
Moon Island was over 500 nautical miles away from Beihai Port, about 925-kilometers. Meng Chong warship sailed at a speed of 14 knots—14-nautical miles per an hour. When the wind blew in its favor, it could even sail at a speed of 20 knots.
Sailing in the sea would not stop regardless of day and night, the only difference was that they sailed slower during the night.
Under normal circumstances, Meng Chong warships could sail 300-nautical miles a day. Therefore, it would only take less than two days for them to reach Moon Island.
Ouyang Shuo stood in the front of the ship bow and gazed at the endless ocean. As far as his eyes could reach, he saw nothing but seawaters—plain and dull. The sea breeze blew on his face and brought about a salty wet taste.
On the deck, the sailors sang in unison, as they paddled in hard work.
“Marquis, you should return to the cabin and rest!” Pei Donglai said.
Ouyang Shuo nodded and returned to his room. Then, he shut the door and practiced his techniques.
When the night fell, strong gusts of wind blew on the sea. At times like this, the prayers from Mazu temple, [Sea God’s Blessings] came in handy. The Meng Chong warships sailed steadily on the turbulent sea waves and advanced toward Moon Island.
Morning, the next day, Ouyang Shuo exited his room.
The sea shimmered in the sunlight, as the reddish-orange bright sun slowly rose above the sea level.
Thanks to the strong gust of wind yesterday night, sailing had gone particularly smoothly. According to Pei Donglai’s estimation, they would arrive at Moon Island by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.
The navy soldiers woke up one by one and a simple brush up, they consumed the freshwater and military grain pills to ensure they had the required energy consumption for the day.
The experienced soldiers took advantage of the extra time and began to wipe their weapons. The archer checked the adjustments of their bows, while the sentry stood on the summit of the cabins, as they kept a close watch on every change on the sea.
They took alchemical oil and arrows onto the deck. The soldiers stood in their positions, ready for war.
It was nearly afternoon when an island appeared in the sights of the sentry. Without any further delay, he waved the signal flag and passed the message to the drummer.
The drum had woken up the fighting spirit in Pei Donglai, and he immediately ordered the fleet to stay in the attack formation and charged forward.
The Beihai navy fleet’s appearance stunned the Black Shark pirates. Fortunately, they did not leave for another round of looting today, so all of them were on the island.
As soon as the ringleader of the Black Shark pirates, Black Beard, received the news, he instantly gathered his men to prepared for war.
Suddenly, the little Moon Island turned chaotic.
During their free time, a pirate’s life was immensely boring. They had no entertainment options other than the only tavern on the island.
The old and shabby tavern was open twenty-four seven, and the customers would enter like an endless stream. Those drunken pirates laid down and slept right on the wet tavern floor.
“Bang!” A man ruthlessly kicked open the tavern door.
The group leader saw the pirates asleep on the floor. Wordlessly, he ordered his men to pour cold water on these drunken fellas. Then, he shouted, “Damn you brats! Get up! We are under attack!”
“Ahhh?!” the pirates shouted. They hadn’t fully regained their conscious yet, and one of them mumbled, “We are under attack! Under attack!”
The drunken pirate’s shitty state enraged the group leader, so he started to kick the fellow. Then, he furiously shouted, “Get up and follow me, stop behaving like a sissy!”
The pain shook the drunken pirate conscious. He helped himself up from the floor and followed the back of his group leader, while walking he asked, “Leader, who is attacking us?”
“It doesn’t matter who, just kill.” In truth, the group leader didn’t know the answer either.
“Right, who dares to play with the Black Shark pirates? Are they courting death?” A drunk man was truly full of courage.
Scenes like this had started to occur around the island, as the group leaders rushed out in search of their members before they gathered to the dock.
On the dock, Black Beard was aboard the flagship, as he listened to the latest reports from the scouts.
“Great leader, their raised flag is that of Shanhai City’s.”
A frown crawled across his face, “How many warships do they have?”
“A total of 25, all Meng Chong warships.” Clearly, the pirates had a level of understanding in regards to the navy fleet of Beihai.
“They come with ill intentions.” Of course, he knew the capabilities of these warships.
“Then, what do we do?”
“What? Just kill them!” Black Beard said in heavy killing intentions.
“Prepare for battle, as this is a war that we cannot afford to lose. Tell the brothers to fight with their lives if they don’t want their island to be eradicated!” Black Beard proclaimed.
“Understood!”
Under the command of Pei Donglai, the Behai navy warships spread out and pushed forward in a fan-like formation. No matter how the pirates arranged their formations, they would still remain within the fire range of the Meng Chong warships.
On the sides of the boat stood countless little torches.
The archers dipped the arrowheads in alchemical fire. Then, they lighted the arrows to form fire arrows.
Pei Donglai watched closely, as the pirate ships approached. Once they entered the fire coverage area, he waved his command flag.
An order was given and the rhythmic drums beats sounded out in unison.
A volley of fire arrows shot into the sky, the scene like stars in bright daylight.
The fire arrows accurately struck the pirate ships and set them on fire.
Black Beard panicked. Quickly, he ordered the men to put out the fires.
But it was too late, volley after volley of fire arrows formed a dense net that rained down onto the pirates. Although the pirate ships were prepared against fire, but it was useless against the endless fire arrows.
The fire arrows struck the sails and set them ablaze; they hit the cabin and the cabin followed the footsteps of the sails; they impacted the deck, which started to produce smoke. If an arrow struck a pirate, they could only blame their bad luck.
When the pirates around them saw the unlucky fellows that ran around the deck, they would avoid them like the plague. In the end, the burning pirates could only jump into the sea to save their own lives.
Ship after ship, all ablazed. The smoke from the fire rose into the sky and formed a simply breathtaking scene.
The fire occupied the pirates, as they tried to put the blazes out. They couldn’t even defend themselves, or for that matter counterattack. It only led to one end, the addition of their demise.
Amidst the flames, the pirates began to dive into the sea to escape.
Black Beard was on a skiff, as he tried his best to paddle to the beach. The naval battle was over the moment they clashed. His only hope was to form a defensive line and push back the intruders on the island.
However, Pei Donglai knew that although the pirate ships were now groaning in the fires, a large number of pirates remained safe in the sea, as they tried hard to swim toward the island.
Decisively, he commanded the archers to switch to ordinary arrows and direct their weapons from the ships to the pirates in the sea.
Without the need to dip the arrows in the alchemical oil, the shooting rate of the arrows doubled, and the arrows rained heavier onto the pirates.
Due to the fact that the pirates were in the sea, only half of their heads were visible. As such, the archers couldn’t aim and target them precisely. Hence, the archers chose to rain down arrows on them, covering a large area. This lacked accuracy but helped in suppressing the pirates.
The arrows shot past the sky and flew down to the sea at lightning speed, stirring the sea into a mix of chaos and blood. Every pool of blood denoted the death of a pirate.
It was simply impossible for a pirate to survive if he got shot in the sea. If they were shot, even if it was not a major injury, the bleeding would still exhaust them. Eventually, they would drown in the sea.
Pool after pool of blood floated on the territorial waters. Slowly, they formed a bloody red sea in the area. Bodies of the pirates floated on the sea, which told the tale of endless desolation.
The pirate ships groaned in the burning flames. One by one, they sank to the bottom of the ocean.
As the direct result of the sinking ships, torrents and swirls formed around them. Some unlucky pirates too near these vortexes were drawn in. Along with the ships, they were taken on a trip down to the bottomless ocean.
The naval battle went extraordinary smoothly. The alchemical oil had done a great job again.
When the Beihai navy fleet approached the pirate ships, only a few were left. These ships occasionally emitted smoke.
As an experienced navy general, Pei Donglai was cautious. He instructed the warships to keep their distance from the pirate ships to avoid the swirls. Under his command, the warships steered away from the hell that they created and pressed forward to the island.
As the Meng Chong warships made their way, some pirates screamed for help.
“Help!!” the pirates cried.
As a general of Shanhai City, Pei Donglai knew his lord’s captive policy very well. They would not kill those they could capture, and they would not decline those that surrendered.
Therefore, he ordered his men to give out ropes and salvaged the pirates on board. Of course, they would tie up the pirates with ropes.