Chapter 441: True Colors

Latest website: "But Your Highness, wouldn't this expose us?" Zhou Yi said.

He worried that if news traveled back, the Northern Di would cancel their plan to move south by sea.

Zhao Xu curled his lip, "Be a little bolder. Since we've already struck, would I give them a chance to go back and report the news?"

Before today, Yan Wang had strictly forbidden them from clashing with Gaoli warships.

Now that Yan Wang had said this, he couldn't have asked for more; just now, he had only been testing the waters.

Now that he had Yan Wang's order, the look he cast toward the Gaoli warships flashed with cold glints.

At this moment, the six warships from Gaoli seemed to have spotted Zhao Xu and his party, yet these Gaoli warships not only did not retreat, but on the contrary, charged toward them.

"Your Highness, it is dangerous here; you should temporarily go into the cabin to take cover," Zhou Yi said to Zhao Xu.

"I have fought so many battles, what kind of formation have I not seen? No need to worry," Zhao Xu said.

Having personally been on the battlefield several times, his courage had long since been tempered.

Now, even in the midst of ten thousand troops, he would remain calm and composed.

Hearing this, Zhou Yi and Gong Ying could not help but feel a surge of admiration.

In the Prince's Mansion army, the worship of Yan Wang from generals to soldiers truly did not come from nothing.

In a moment of danger, being able to live and die with the soldiers—this was the wise master they were worth serving.

Ignoring the two, Zhao Xu looked at the opposing Gaoli warships through the Telescope.

These were typical Gaoli Tower Ships, modeled after the Great Song.

This type of Tower Ship was massive in size and could carry nearly a hundred people; its sailing speed was relatively slow, but in battle, it only required a few dozen sailors to operate flexibly, and the Gaoli navy often used Tower Ships as their main warships.

Continuing to observe, Zhao Xu saw over a hundred Gaoli soldiers on the deck of the Tower Ship; some of these soldiers held bows and arrows, some held blades and swords, and some Archers were firing at the fishing boats.

The Tower Ship was not a Sailing Warship; its main power came from the wooden oars in the lower cabin and the large Hard Sails above.

At this time, the oars beneath the Tower Ship were being rowed by the ship's laborers, chasing after the fishing boats.

"Your Highness, shall we attack now?" Zhou Yi said.

Zhao Xu was a bit puzzled, and he said: "These Gaoli soldiers are quite interesting. Have they not seen our warship? Why are they still so arrogant?"

"Your Highness, these Gaoli soldiers likely think we are a Merchant Ship, because Yanzhou has never had warships appear, and there are not many soldiers on our deck, nor are they wearing Armor or holding blades and swords," Zhou Yi said.

Zhao Xu nodded and said: "In that case, we shall play with these Gaoli warships. We will now disguise ourselves as a Merchant Ship; wait for my command to act."

"Yes, Your Highness," Zhou Yi said.

The fishing boats ahead were rapidly approaching Zhao Xu's warship under the pursuit of the Gaoli warships, and the Gaoli warships remained in hot pursuit. At this time, Zhao Xu ordered the gunners on the warship to be fully prepared, while simultaneously having the crew on deck take up Flintlocks, load ammunition, and hide under the gunwales to await orders.

On the Tower Ship, a general wearing Scale Armor and a Helmet was scrutinizing the Great Song vessel, which was somewhat overly large.

This type of ship was one they had never seen before; the tall hull and excessive sails had not appeared in either Dongying or the Great Song.

"General Jin, we came to drive away fishing boats this time, but didn't expect to encounter a bigger fat sheep," a Vice General said with a smile: "This Great Song Merchant Ship is so big, it would be a pity to burn it; if we seize it and take it back, the King will surely reward us."

Jin Taixi frowned deeply.

Although war was about to break out, their Gaoli pearl-harvesting affairs still had to proceed as normal.

This time, they had been ordered to come and supervise the Gaoli fishing boats in harvesting pearls to offer to the King.

Originally, their ships were collecting pearls on the side of Pearl Island.

Just then, a Gaoli fisherman collecting pearls in the sea told them that there were Great Song fishing boats secretly collecting pearls to the south, so they immediately rushed over.

They just hadn't expected that besides finding some fishing boats, they would also find this huge Great Song Merchant Ship.

To them, Pearl Island was now a source of pearls exclusively for the Gaoli King, and they absolutely would not allow Great Song fishermen to fish there, even though Pearl Island was over two hundred li from Gaoli and only sixty li from the Great Song.

"Something is wrong. This Merchant Ship is a bit too big, and the fishing boats in front have all run away; why aren't they running?" Jin Taixi refuted the Vice General's claim.

The Northern Di had repeatedly suffered losses at the hands of the Great Song, and all of this was caused by that Imperial Prince known as Yan Wang.

And this area was precisely under the jurisdiction of this Yan Wang, which made him have some misgivings in his heart.

After all, it was rumored that this Yan Wang was not someone who could be easily provoked.

"General Jin, when did your courage become so small? Who doesn't know what the Great Song is like? Don't think too much; look, not a single person on this ship is wearing Armor or holding a Weapon; it must be a fishing boat or a Merchant Ship. If General Park doesn't launch an attack, this subordinate will have to command the soldiers to go up himself," the Vice General said sarcastically.

Jin Taixi's expression suddenly became extremely ugly; this Vice General came from the Royal City and had a deep background, and although his rank was lower than his own, he had always been disobedient to orders.

"Vice General Li, for the sake of safety, it would be better to send a vanguard to test them," although he was very unhappy with this Vice General, Jin Taixi still did not want to risk the soldiers' lives.

Vice General Li snorted and said: "Fine, let four warships go forward to capture them."

Saying this, he ordered the warships to attack.

At this time, the four warships slid their oars, and the Tower Ships moved toward the Great Song ship; as they approached, they discovered that the people on the ship were hiding in terror, which made them relax their vigilance once again.

Seeing they were getting closer and closer, following an order on the ship, the soldiers on the Tower Ships immediately threw out hooks and hooked onto the Great Song ship.

"Kill!"

With the ship hooked, the Gaoli soldiers immediately became excited, because this basically meant they had captured this huge vessel.

But their excitement immediately turned into fear.

"Boom, boom..."

Deafening sounds rang out, and the Tower Ship tilted as a whole from the side of the Great Song vessel, as if the ship were about to capsize.

The massive sound made the Gaoli soldiers on the Tower Ship almost deaf.

And just as they were standing unsteadily, a row of people suddenly stood up on the gunwale; Flame mixed with the loud noise, and the Gaoli soldiers on the Tower Ship fell in swathes.

"Fire at them, hit them hard! These sons of bitches, I've endured you for too long," Zhou Yi shouted.

Under the bombardment of the Artillery, countless wood chips flew up from the four Gaoli warships.

These wood chips flew into the sky and then fell into the sea.

And under the fire of the Flintlocks, the Gaoli soldiers kept falling into pools of blood.

Having been struck by two types of firearms simultaneously, the soldiers on the Gaoli warships were immediately thrown into chaos.

But this was only the beginning; after the first round of shelling, the second round of shelling came immediately.

A third-rate Sailing Warship possesses one hundred and thirty-six pieces of Artillery.

Distributed on both sides, there are sixty-eight pieces on each.

At such a close distance, the Cannonballs easily pierced through the hulls of the Gaoli Warships.

The Gaoli Warship began to sink.

"Pursue the remaining two." The commotion here had evidently terrified the other two Gaoli Warships.

The two Warships immediately fled toward the north.

But how could Zhao Xu possibly let them return safely to report the news?

Seeing that the sinking of the four Gaoli Warships was already a certainty, he gave the order to pursue.