Chapter 1131: Attack of the Demonic Ships
"This isn't right, this monster isn't right."
"Ahhh, quickly, shoot arrows into the water!"
The soldiers actually did shoot arrows into the water, but the arrows lost all their force once they hit the surface, neutralized by the current, utterly failing to hit the rapidly swimming monster.
They didn't know that even if they did hit it, it would be useless.
The entire fleet was thrown into disarray by the monster, even relaxing their vigilance over the surrounding waters.
Of course, even if they had maintained vigilance, it wouldn't have mattered. A swarm of small troop transports designed for sneak attacks couldn't hope to contend with mighty warships.
So, when the first colossal vessel, the Wanli Sunshine, appeared on the horizon, the entire Qing fleet froze in stunned silence...
"What is that?"
"A giant ship!"
"Is it a demonic ship?"
Having just been "greeted" by an underwater monster, their first thought upon seeing a massive, dark ship emerge before them wasn't the Ming army, but rather a demonic vessel.
"A demonic ship! Ahhh!"
On board the "demonic ship," the sailors were busily loading cannons. Since the enemy consisted entirely of small boats, solid shot wasn't necessary; they switched entirely to shrapnel shells.
The Gao Family Village sailors were quite familiar with shrapnel shells, but the reformed pirates and new recruits had little experience with them.
A reformed pirate picked up a shrapnel shell, humbly asking a nearby Gao Family Village sailor, "Brother, which way does this shell go into the cannon barrel?"
The Gao Family Village sailor cheerfully explained, "See, one end of the shell has a wooden sabot, and in the middle of that sabot is a fuse. That end goes in first. The moment the cannon fires, the fuse ignites, and the shell is propelled out. By the time it reaches the enemy, the fuse will have just burned down, and it will explode perfectly."
The reformed pirate exclaimed, "I see! Haha, I've got it, I've got it!"
"I've been wanting to try these for ages. Now it's finally our turn to show what we can do!"
The reformed pirates were even more excited than the Gao Family Village sailors, enthusiastically thrusting shells into the cannon barrels.
Meanwhile, the Qing soldiers opposite them were still shouting, "Demonic ship! There are monsters!"
"The monsters are coming! Ahh!"
"Boom!"
A cannon roared, and the monsters actually fired a shot.
The Qing soldiers: "???"
Why would monsters use cannons?
What kind of high-tech monsters were these?
In a blink, the first shell soared into the Qing fleet. After all, a dense mass of small boats was an impossibly easy target; no aiming was even needed. It was impossible to miss.
The shrapnel shell burst with another "boom," a secondary explosion.
Terrifying shrapnel scattered in all directions. Qing soldiers on several nearby boats screamed in unison, tumbling into the water in various postures.
"Damn it, it really is a demonic ship! These monster cannons even bloom!"
"Ahhh, monster cannons!"
Brave as the Qing soldiers were, their courage was against men, not against monsters.
Everyone was terrified beyond belief.
The commanding general, Samushika, was utterly numb. "What is happening? Someone, please tell me!"
He scanned his surroundings, and instantly realized that there wasn't just one demonic ship, but many. They were converging from all directions across the dark sea. Under the deep night, these phantom vessels were almost indiscernible, their shadowy forms, like small mountains, merely looming on the distant water.
Only the flash of their cannons firing allowed Samushika to glimpse the barest edges of one of these ships.
After a chaotic barrage of shrapnel shells, Samushika saw that his elite army was no longer itself. Everyone was wailing in terror, their will to fight stripped away, morale plummeting to rock bottom.
If this were a land battle, the army would have already collapsed, with everyone fleeing. But here, on the sea, the fleet was packed so tightly that those in front couldn't retreat, and any ships trying to fall back would be blocked by the smaller vessels behind them.
This was the only reason the entire fleet didn't *appear* to be in utter collapse.
In reality, it had already shattered.
Samushika made a split-second decision: Run...
The sailors on the flagship desperately rowed backward, fleeing, hoping to reach the shore where they wouldn't fear those terrible demonic ships.
By then, the fleet of demonic ships was already surging forward.
Bombarding them with cannons alone clearly wasn't enough; cannons had limited accuracy, and some shells, poorly aimed, detonated only after hitting the water, a wasted shot.
"It's more satisfying to use muskets!" the musketeers shouted. "The artillerymen can't have all the fun; we want to participate too!"
The helmsmen also cried out, "We want to participate too! Ram them!"
The reformed pirates brandished their blades. "We want to..."
"You cannot!" the Heavenly Lord's majestic voice boomed. "No boarding actions! Absolutely no boarding actions! The enemy ships are all small. It's too dangerous for you to jump onto them; a slight jostle and you'll fall into the water."
The reformed pirates countered, "If we fall in, we'll just swim back! We're not scared."
The Heavenly Lord replied, "Just now, I pierced the bellies of a few Qing soldiers in the water. The scent of blood has already spread... you understand."
Hearing this, the reformed pirates flinched in alarm.
"The sharks are coming!"
Sharks were extremely sensitive to the scent of blood. The blood Li Daoxuan had shed from those few men would undoubtedly attract them.
Just as a Qing soldier, having fallen into the water, tried to clamber back onto his ship, he suddenly stiffened, then swiftly sank beneath the waves. A splash erupted, and blood bubbled to the surface... the fleeting shadow of a shark darted past.
The reformed pirates awkwardly sheathed their knives. "No boarding actions then. In this situation, falling into the water means certain death."
Indeed, falling into the water meant certain death!
This situation was an immense advantage for large ships, but for small vessels, it was an absolute nightmare.
The colossal ships of Gao Family Village surged forward, smashing into the Qing's small fleet. With a cacophony of crashes, several small boats were overturned, their sailors screaming as they plunged into the water.
The luckier ones were sucked beneath the large ships, drowning.
Others were dragged into the propellers of the electric ships, their bodies torn to shreds.
But the most unfortunate were those who encountered the sharks. The great sharks, already famished, suddenly saw large chunks of meat drop into the sea and rejoiced: "Thank you for nature's bounty! Dinner is served!"
The sharks tied on their napkins, picked up their knives and forks—oh, wait, these were sharks from the Bohai Strait, unaccustomed to knives and forks. They preferred chopsticks. So, they picked up their bowls and chopsticks and happily rushed over.
The naval battle was a one-sided annihilation from the start, utterly devoid of suspense.
Samushika's soul nearly fled his body as he bellowed, "Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!"
He was luckier than Aobai!
Aobai had commanded a small flotilla, which was easily surrounded and couldn't escape.
But Samushika commanded a huge fleet, comprising hundreds of troop transports. Even Gao Family Village couldn't encircle such a massive force completely, ultimately allowing him to find an escape route.
Samushika, in utter disarray, fled back to land.
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