Chapter 516: Decisive Battle

"Island Master, this time all sixty-four of our Wufeng Island warships equipped with Artillery have been dispatched; the Black Shark Sea Bandits have no way to escape."

On the vast ocean, a massive fleet was slowly sailing westward.

Among the many warships, the lead warship was exceptionally large, nearly twice the size of the others.

At this moment, Five Peaks Island Master Lu Zheng and Vice Island Master Hua Chen were on this very warship.

Lu Zheng nodded.

Wufeng Island had over three hundred large and small warships, but he had only brought sixty-four.

It was not because he was arrogant, but because the other warships lacked Artillery.

He knew very well that a warship with Artillery facing one without was essentially no different from walking to one's death.

"Do not underestimate the enemy," Lu Zheng said with a solemn expression.

Originally, he had merely held the Black Shark Sea Bandits in contempt.

Even knowing that the Black Shark Sea Bandits had sunk all the Beidi warships had not made him take them very seriously.

After all, they, the Five Peaks Island Pirates, could also accomplish this.

But it was not until Hua Chen went to Beidi and Wulanba described the Black Shark Sea Bandits' warships to him that he began to take them seriously.

Because what Wulanba described was very similar to the Sailing Warships of the Franks in Yizhou.

Precisely because of this, he had mobilized all the warships equipped with Artillery.

To him, this issue was very serious.

If the Black Shark Sea Bandits continued to grow and their warships increased in number, their Wufeng Island would suffer defeat after defeat, eventually losing control of the sea.

Therefore, before the Black Shark Sea Bandits grew stronger, he had to completely kill them while they were still just a seedling.

Then, he would focus on controlling the Yanzhou sea area, not giving the Black Shark Sea Bandits any chance to head out to sea.

"Could it be that there really is a Missionary from Europe by the side of this Yan Wang?" Lu Zheng muttered.

Otherwise, how could one explain the Black Shark Sea Bandits' warships?

Or perhaps some country in Europe was secretly supporting Yan Wang?

After all, Europe was not a monolith; they also fought among themselves.

Dongying currently had the support of Britain.

It was not impossible for other countries to trip up Dongying and Britain.

After pondering for a while and truly unable to figure out this connection, he shook his head and simply gazed at the distant sea surface.

Waiting for the coming great battle.

Ever since the battle with the Franks, which forced the Franks to split Yizhou in two, their Wufeng Island had never experienced such a large naval battle.

This time, the Goryeo Navy was attacking Chrysanthemum Island, responsible for pinning down a portion of the Black Shark Sea Bandits' warships.

He hoped this plan would proceed smoothly.

In this way, he would be able to defeat the Black Shark Sea Bandits' warships one by one.

They sailed westward for another half an hour.

The soldiers standing in the small pavilion on the warship suddenly began to shout.

Lu Zheng looked westward as far as he could see, only to find some black dots appearing on the sea surface ahead.

The black dots gradually grew larger, and he saw fluttering sails.

"The Black Shark Sea Bandits are here!" A hint of ferocity flashed in Hua Chen's eyes. "Island Master, the time to eliminate the Black Shark Sea Bandits has arrived."

"Prepare for battle! Divide the fleet into three routes: one to flank from the left, one to flank from the right, and the center will engage with me!" Lu Zheng instantly tensed up, issuing orders in quick succession.

Upon hearing this, Hua Chen immediately had the soldiers raise three flags.

This was their method of conveying military orders.

Immediately, the sixty-four warships split up, forming three routes as they closed in.

At this moment.

Zhou Yi was also on the Flagship; through a Telescope, he could observe the Wufeng Island warships more clearly.

Gong Ying also held a Telescope, looking ahead.

"They look like Tower Ships, yet they are different," Gong Ying said.

The Wufeng Island warships looked like a wooden box with a ship's hull as a base.

On top of the wooden box was a small pavilion, similar to their Observation Deck.

Besides the Hard Sails hanging at the front, middle, and back, there were oars sliding below.

Even so, their speed was very slow.

"This is called a 'flat-house ship'," Zhou Yi put down the Telescope, having made his assessment.

"How does the General know?" Gong Ying was somewhat surprised, as he had never seen such a ship before.

"My father once told me," Zhou Yi said.

His father had once saved a Dongying merchant at sea in his early years.

At that time, Dongying was still in the era of warring feudal lords.

Because he was a general in the Navy, his father had asked about Dongying's warships.

The Dongying merchant then spoke of this flat-house ship.

However, in his father's view, this flat-house ship was merely a Tower Ship with its surroundings enclosed by wooden boards.

In this way, Dongying soldiers could fire outward with Iron Cannons through holes in the wooden boards.

This Iron Cannon was, in fact, a Matchlock.

However, that was decades ago.

Since the Wufeng Pirates' warships had Artillery.

Then, these flat-bottomed boats might have undergone further modifications.

But even so, the gap between these flat-bottomed boats, built only for coastal combat, and their own warships on the open sea remained vast.

This could be seen from the degree of swaying the flat-bottomed boats experienced amidst the waves.

Currently, the warships of Wufeng Island were swaying left and right.

This greatly affected the use of their Artillery.

Meanwhile, the degree of left-and-right swaying of their own warships was minimal, and they were basically not affected much.

"Split into eastern and western flanks, and use the speed of our warships to counter-encircle them," Zhou Yi ordered.

Since they had encountered them, this battle had to be fought to test the depth of the Five Peaks Island Pirates.

At the very worst, if they were outmatched, they could retreat and stop the decisive battle with Wufeng Island, instead engaging in guerrilla warfare at sea to pick them off one by one.

The order was given, and the crew members immediately sprang into action.

Three Soft Sails were hoisted high, and under the blowing of the sea breeze, the Soft Sails bulged like half a watermelon.

The wind power immediately increased the speed of the warships, rapidly approaching the Wufeng Island fleet.

In less than half an hour, the distance between the two sides' warships was less than five hundred meters.

Zhou Yi and his men successfully executed a counter-encirclement, wrapping the Wufeng Island warships within it.

And to prevent themselves from being flanked, the warships of the Five Peaks Island Pirates also attempted a counter-encirclement.

Their warship speed ultimately could not keep up, and they only succeeded in stretching out their own formation.

"Prepare for bombardment." Having successfully surrounded the Wufeng Pirates, the warships began to turn their sides toward the warships of the Wufeng Pirates one after another.

The distance between the two sides continued to shrink at this moment.

From five hundred meters to four hundred meters, and then to three hundred meters.

"Boom, boom, boom..." Just then, one of the Wufeng Pirates' flat-bottomed boats was the first to open the shutters over its gun ports.

Four pieces of Artillery extended from its side and began to fire.

Then, the other flat-bottomed boats also opened their shutters one after another, revealing the gun ports inside.

However, because they were being encircled, most of the flat-bottomed boats were squeezed in the middle, and only the warships on the outer side could fire.

But there were too few Artillery pieces on their warships, and with the large gaps between each warship, the Cannonballs were sparse and scattered.

Nevertheless, there were still Cannonballs that struck Zhou Yi's warship.

"Thud!" A Cannonball slammed into the Mast, the Mast shook violently, and the spot struck by the Cannonball dented slightly.

"The power of their Artillery is average," Zhou Yi walked over to take a look.

If it were their own Cannonballs hitting the Mast at this distance, the Mast would basically have snapped directly.

Having gauged the Wufeng Island warships, Zhou Yi said: "Attack! Even if only one ship remains, we must annihilate the Five Peaks Island Pirates!"

His order was issued, and in an instant, the surface of the sea seemed to tremble.

The gun ports on the sides of every Sailing Warship were revealed, and dozens of pieces of Artillery fired in unison.