Chapter 643: Closing the Net on Zheng Zhilong

Standing at the bow, Qi Yuanbi was furious at the sight.

These people actually dared to sail toward them even after seeing the Imperial Navy approach?

Turning to glance at Yu Zigao beside him, Qi Yuanbi asked, "What do we do?"

Without a moment's hesitation, Yu Zigao said directly, "Open fire. Sink a few of their ships first, then we'll talk."

"Good." Qi Yuanbi nodded.

The order was passed down quickly, and no one found anything strange about it.

After all, we are the Great Ming Imperial Navy. Setting everything else aside, the very fact that you dared to follow us is your crime. Out here on this vast sea, we're already doing others a favor by not robbing them—and you actually dare to sneak along behind us?

Of course, that single charge alone was enough to justify killing them all.

If the other side truly had business to discuss, they should have sailed up, sent a message at the first opportunity, rather than swaggering along behind us like that.

In the eyes of the Imperial Navy's officers and men, this was naked provocation.

Against such provocation, there was nothing to discuss—just answer with cannon fire.

They quickly removed the gunport shutters, adjusted the muzzles, and loaded the shells. Steady and swift, just as they had trained.

Zheng Zhilong's men stood by his side, and seeing this, one of them said hesitantly, "General, something feels off to me. They've clearly raised sail and picked up speed, and their warships have turned broadside."

"They've dropped their gunport shutters—they're pushing out the cannons!"

"They're going to open fire!"

The subordinate was panicking, his tone shifting, urgency laced with fear.

They truly had no intention of going to war with the Great Ming's Imperial Navy—who knew how formidable the Imperial Navy actually was?

News had recently arrived of the Great Ming's victory in the northern war. It was said the Ming army was unstoppable, and the force that won that battle was the Imperial Guard Corps.

And now before them stood the Great Ming's Imperial Navy. Anything bearing the name "Imperial" was known to be an elite force that the current Emperor of the Great Ming had spared no expense to build.

The Great Ming's Imperial Navy was certainly no slouch in combat power, especially in terms of firepower.

And these men, who had fought at sea for years, knew very well how important cannons were in naval combat. If the Ming had better warships, cannons with longer range and greater power, then things would get very difficult.

Zheng Zhilong understood this as well.

He lowered the telescope in his hand and said, "What's there to panic about? They're still so far away. At this distance, how could their cannons possibly reach us? Don't rush."

"All they're doing is trying to intimidate us and stay on their guard. If we launched an attack, they'd be ready for it in advance."

"I have to say, this is a well-disciplined army, and their commander is no fool."

Meanwhile, Yu Zigao, standing on the Ming warship opposite, turned to Qi Yuanbi and said, "Ready?"

"Ready." Qi Yuanbi nodded.

"Then open fire, and tell the surrounding warships to be prepared to press forward. Once we fire, move in and surround them. I want to see just who dares to follow me!"

"We're not driving them off?" Qi Yuanbi was taken aback and spoke hesitantly.

"Drive them off? Why would we drive them off?" Yu Zigao sneered. "Whoever they are, since they dare to act this way toward us, we have every right to strike them. And since we're fighting anyway, we might as well go all the way in one move."

"Look at their ships—many of them are cargo vessels, all fine goods. Seize them all. Setting everything else aside, just selling them in Joseon would fetch a fortune. After we hand some over to the court, we can skim a bit for ourselves on the side."

"Isn't that inappropriate?" Qi Yuanbi said hesitantly. "We are the Imperial Navy. Openly robbing people out on the high seas isn't exactly a good look. If someone files an impeachment, we won't be able to get past His Majesty."

Yu Zigao shot Qi Yuanbi a glance and rolled his eyes at him. "Didn't you grow up on the battlefield with your father? How can you still be so naive? Who are those people over there? They're enemies!"

"When we defeat enemies and take their things, can that be called robbery? That's called confiscation, and what we take is called the spoils of war."

"Tell your men—don't aim those forward cannons at the cargo ships. Aim directly at their warships. You must shoot true—one volley should take out a third of their warships."

"Understood." Qi Yuanbi nodded.

Though still worried inside, he felt Yu Zigao's reasoning made sense—yet something still felt off.

But remembering that Yu Zigao was of his uncle's generation, Qi Yuanbi stopped mulling it over.

Your rank is higher than mine, and your seniority is greater too—so let's just do it this way.

Once the order was passed down, the Imperial Navy moved into action swiftly.

With the waving of signal flags, cannon thunder erupted in an instant. Shells spun through the air, hurtling straight toward the opposing fleet.

"They're firing! They're firing!" Zheng Zhilong's subordinate shouted in panic beside him.

"What's there to panic about? At this distance, it's at most a warning shot—they can't possibly hit us." Zheng Zhilong glared at his subordinate.

Then he raised his telescope to look—and the next second, his expression froze.

Through the telescope, he could clearly see the trajectory of the shells.

The shells were incredibly fast. Before Zheng Zhilong could even react, one shell had already landed beside a warship.

Boom—an explosion rang out, instantly blasting a plume of water from the sea.

Then came explosion after explosion. Though not many struck true, two warships were still directly destroyed.

The shells struck the wooden warships and detonated instantly, blasting huge holes straight through the hulls.

One should know—the Great Ming's cannons and shells did not use black powder, but a far more powerful explosive, with longer range and greater destructive force.

In this era, no nation on earth could produce cannons that rivaled the Great Ming's. Under such circumstances, wooden warships had absolutely no defense against such shells.

Zheng Zhilong's face changed drastically. He hurriedly lowered his telescope and shouted, "Quick, quick, quick! Retreat!"

But although their warships weren't large, they weren't small either—turning around was no easy task.

And most of the fleet were cargo ships laden with goods, making it even harder to stop and turn about.

Yet Zheng Zhilong was frantic, because he knew that this volley hadn't missed due to poor aim—it was simply the first salvo, with the gun muzzles still roughly adjusted.

With this experience under their belts, the Imperial Navy would fine-tune their aim, and the next volley would be a lethal strike.

Judging from the two warships that had been shattered, the enemy's cannons had longer range and greater power—nothing he could compare with. As for charging in, that was out of the question; there was no hope at all, the range disparity was far too great.

Even if he could close the distance into firing range, his warships would likely be all but destroyed by then—counterattacking was simply unrealistic.

So running away as fast as possible was the key.

The enemy still had to load their shells and swab their barrels, so there was time to spare.

At this moment, the subordinate hurriedly said, "Yes, General."

Having said that, the subordinate scrambled away to find people, preparing to spread the order immediately so everyone could flee together.

But neither he nor Zheng Zhilong had expected that the Imperial Navy on the opposite side would reload their cannons so quickly.

The Imperial Navy of the Great Ming now used breech-loading cannons—all they had to do was eject the spent casing and load a fresh shell before they could fire again. Their rate of fire was far beyond what older cannons could achieve.

The metal-cased ammunition also meant there was no need to clean the bore—at least not after every single shot.

Before Zheng Zhilong's messenger could even relay the order, the cannons on the opposite side roared once more.

"Boom! Boom-boom-boom-boom!" The explosions thundered across the entire sea in an instant as shells came spinning through the air.

Impacts, explosions, and screams—all manner of sounds filled the air.

Zheng Zhilong's eyes went wide, and his heart trembled.

This time, even though he had already overestimated the enemy's cannons, he had still underestimated them. Setting aside the rate of fire, their accuracy was far too precise.

How in the world are you firing your cannons with such accuracy?

Zheng Zhilong stared with wide eyes, unable to believe it.

But before he could react, the enemy's cannons roared again—"Boom! Boom-boom-boom-boom!"

Just like before, shells spun down into the midst of Zheng Zhilong's fleet, and countless ships were blown straight into the air.

Of the fleet's more than two hundred warships, after three volleys, absolutely more than fifty had been sunk.

At this point, Zheng Zhilong's fleet finally came to a halt and began to turn around, but they still couldn't pick up speed.

Zheng Zhilong watched the Imperial Navy on the opposite side with terror in his heart.

The fact that they didn't fire this time let him breathe a sigh of relief.

But before Zheng Zhilong could catch his breath, the Imperial Navy's warships charged forward like arrows loosed from a bow, directly forming an encirclement around his fleet.

Zheng Zhilong's heart lurched—were they trying to surround him completely?

Zheng Zhilong had guessed correctly. On the Great Ming side, Yu Zigao nodded with satisfaction and said, "That round of cannon fire was well done. It seems the training has paid off."

"Too poor," Qi Yuanbi said with irritation. "In my view, the accuracy should be at least twice as good as this."

"Take it slow, don't be too greedy." Yu Zigao patted Qi Yuanbi on the shoulder and said with a smile.

Qi Yuanbi curled his lip. "Our firearms are this excellent—if we can't even get satisfactory results from cannons like these, we'll need to train them harder later."

Yu Zigao said nothing more.

Qi Yuanbi's strict standards weren't a bad thing. More tears in peacetime, less blood in wartime. And this was a naval battle, at that.

If a ship were sunk, the chances of survival would be far too low. So the best approach was to annihilate the enemy first. While they couldn't manage one shell per enemy, firing more accurately was always better.

"Their ships don't look bad!" Yu Zigao changed the subject.