As he arrived at the town’s dock, he saw warships of various sizes floating on the sea.
Warships, not rchant ships!
Under the brilliant sunlight, the sharp arrows twinkled with a cold and forbidding light.
Even from a great distance, he could see those shining crossbow bolts.
"Crossbows! A large number of crossbows!"
"Is this Da Rong’s navy?"
Zhu Ming only needed one glance to guess the origin of these warships.
Though large crossbows were not unique to Da Rong, in the entire East South Sea Domain, only Da Rong had the capability to outfit an entire fleet with so many crossbows.
"What’s going on?" he asked the panic-stricken sailors nearby.
"Sir, we have no idea!" a group of sailors replied, their faces pale with fear.
Zhu Ming took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
What did Da Rong want with Dongyang Island?
Attack Dongyang Island?
That shouldn’t be the case!
They from Earth Fire Island had not provoked Dongyang Island!
"It’s not about Dongyang Island, but the trade routes!"
In just a mont, he understood the key issue.
He had heard that Da Rong was planning to attack Star Moon Island and knew that they were amassing the Navy at Zhao Wu Guard. He had thought that this had nothing to do with Earth Fire Island, but now it seed that Earth Fire Island might also be dragged into the conflict.
"Soone, dispatch a small boat to ask!"
Right after Zhu Ming spoke, he saw a small boat approaching the dock, "Nevermind, soone from the other side is coming!"
Seeing a small boat coming, he was no longer in such a panic, but rather a bit relieved.
The arrival of a small boat ant there was room for negotiation.
Xue Ping took a small boat to the dock of Dongyang Island and looked at the vigilant sailors on the dock, shouting with a grin, "I, Xue Ping from Da Rong’s Tenglong Advanced Guard, am here to request an audience with the person in charge of Dongyang Island. I would appreciate if you could pass on the ssage!"
"I’m the person in charge of Dongyang Island, what business do you have?" Zhu Ming quickly replied.
Xue Ping also saw Zhu Ming, and with a bow and clasped fists, called out, "We need to patrol near Dongyang Island in the coming days, and I hope you could grant us convenience!"
"Patrol?" Zhu Ming pondered, "No, you being here would affect our business!"
He did not wish to stir up trouble, and Earth Fire Island did not want to get involved in the fight between Da Rong and the Star Moon Sect.
His idea was simple: maintain a neutral stance, neither aiding Da Rong nor the Star Moon Sect.
Xue Ping looked at him and shouted, "Sir, doing a favor for others is doing a favor for yourself. Grant us this convenience today, and we will surely return the favor to you another day!"
Zhu Ming was initially flustered, but he had since cald down.
In his view, since Da Rong had already gone to war with the Star Moon Sect, they would probably not start a war with Earth Fire Island.
"This Dongyang Island is the territory of Earth Fire Island; it would be best if you all left quickly! As long as you leave, I shall pretend today’s matter didn’t occur!"
Xue Ping frowned; this manager seed unbendable!
Even after ntioning it was just a matter of convenience, he still refused.
Yang Zhenshan had not said anything about occupying Dongyang Island, and he and Yu Tonghai had not considered provoking Dongyang Island, but if they were to patrol here, they would need a place to rest and recuperate; they couldn’t keep drifting at sea!
Just as Xue Ping was about to try persuading him again, a dull horn sound suddenly ca from a distance.
Wuuu wuuu wuuu~~
The horn bellowed a prolonged sound; Xue Ping paused and quickly looked behind him.
This was the signal to prepare for battle!
No, wait, didn’t Mr. Yu say to let him try to persuade them first?
He hasn’t returned yet, why is he launching an attack?
Upon hearing the horn, Zhu Ming also beca tense, even though he was not clear on Da Rong’s military orders, he felt it was definitely not a good sign.
"What is the aning of this?" he demanded sharply.
Xue Ping paid him no attention and instead pulled out a telescope to look in the direction of the Da Fu Ship. He quickly realized sothing was amiss, as the signal flags on the Da Fu Ship clearly indicated an order to attack, but the direction was not Dongyang Island, but eastward.
He hastily turned his gaze to the east, and within the telescope, shadowy figures erged. The distance was too far to see clearly, but it was certain they were ships.
"Could it be such a coincidence!"
"Turn around, head back!"
Xue Ping hastily ordered the accompanying soldiers.
Indeed, it was just such a coincidence. The ships approaching from the east were those of the Star Moon Sect, specifically the New Moon Banner Army and the Crescent Flag Army, two of the Four Flag Armies.
The two mighty Banner Armies ca sailing with vigor, ready to raid Songhe Prefecture City.
The two forces encountered each other at Dongyang Island by sheer coincidence.
Of course, it wasn’t entirely coincidental. Yang Zhenshan had dispatched the Tenglong Advanced Guard to Dongyang Island because the Secret Martial Guards had reported unusual activities with the New Moon Banner Army and the Crescent Flag Army. Now, their arrival at Dongyang Island confird the accuracy of the intelligence provided by the Secret Martial Guards.
On the Da Fu Ship, Yu Tonghai held up his telescope looking at the increasingly clear image of the enemy ships, revealing a radiant smile on his face.
"Hahaha, good! They’re coming!"
He hadn’t expected the battle to co this fast, to be honest, he wasn’t even prepared for a fight.
But since the enemy was delivering themselves to him, he didn’t mind swallowing them up.
"Report, the enemy has two Da Fu Ships, ten Hai Cang Ships, and over three hundred smaller ships!"
"Report, the enemy’s Da Fu Ships were modified from rchant ships, with masts only nine ters tall!"
"Report, the enemy has discovered our forces and has stopped advancing!"
Reports stread in, painting a clear image of the enemy situation in Yu Tonghai’s mind.
In terms of the number of warships, the enemy had many more than the Tenglong Advanced Guard, but most of the enemy’s vessels were small ships, with only ten dium-sized Hai Cang Ships.
The most important thing was that the enemy’s Da Fu Ships had been modified from rchant ships. While both warships and rchant ships were Da Fu Ships, there was a significant difference between the two.
For instance, Da Rong’s first Da Fu Ship had a mast that was 14.4 ters tall, larger sails, a faster sailing speed, and most importantly, mounted crossbows. While rchant ships might also carry crossbows, they were nothing compared to those on warships in terms of the number, range, and power.
Here, one must ntion the shipbuilding and crossbow technologies of Da Rong. In the various forces of the East South Sea Domain, Da Rong’s shipbuilding and crossbow technologies were certainly the most formidable.
Even the majority of the forces in the East South Sea Domain couldn’t build Da Fu Ships and could only make small and dium-sized ships. Only the Lv Sheng Dynasty managed to build Da Fu Ships, but theirs were far inferior to those of Da Rong.
The vessels of most forces in the East South Sea Domain were plundered rchant ships, so their warships were mostly modified from rchant ships.
At this mont, Yu Tonghai was brimming with excitent, but Li Chengzhang and Wang Mingjian on the opposite side were utterly frustrated.
When they set sail from their respective bases with the intention of raiding Songhe Prefecture, it was with high spirits—an opportunity they found to be exceedingly rare. For this reason, they had fought over this mission with Han Changshun and Cheng Wuji for a long ti before snatching the task.
But they could never have imagined that shortly after they set out, they would run headlong into Da Rong’s Navy.
"What should we do?" Li Chengzhang asked Wang Mingjian beside him.
Wang Mingjian’s face twisted as if he had swallowed a fly.
"To fight or not to fight?" Li Chengzhang asked again.
Wang Mingjian assessed the wind direction, "We’re upwind; we could try!"
They were not completely upwind. Today, a northeast wind was blowing, not very strong, but compared to Tenglong Navy, they did have a slight advantage regarding wind direction.
"Then let’s try it. If the situation turns, retreat imdiately!" Li Chengzhang felt that retreating now would be embarrassing, so he decided to try a battle first.
However, they seed to underestimate the Tenglong Navy. As they were preparing to dispatch their vanguard fleet to et the battle, Yu Tonghai had already ordered his fleet to disperse.
If one were to look down from the sky, they would see that the Tenglong Navy, originally gathered together, had split into three groups: one heading northeast, one southeast, and the main fleet was charging straight toward the enemy ships in the east.
The fleet sailing northward aid to secure the upwind position. The so-called upwind position doesn’t need to maintain alignnt with the wind direction but rather depends on the angle between the wind direction and the sails.
In fact, sailing boats can sail against the wind, but this requires adjusting both the hull and the sails to turn the headwind into a crosswind. Once the wind becos a crosswind, the boat can move, but its direction will deviate from the target. So, after sailing a certain distance, the ship needs to adjust its course and sails again, to move in a zigzag pattern. This sailing thod is called "tacking."
For the sailors of the Tenglong Navy, utilizing crosswinds for navigation was second nature.
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