Chapter 771: Wufeng Island

"Island Master, the British steamships are heading our way."

At the southeast corner of Wufeng Island, Island Master Xiangtian Tailang was practicing his swordsmanship in the courtyard, his samurai sword viciously hacking at a wooden post again and again.

Wufeng Island Vice Island Master Matsushima Yasuo walked in at this moment.

Upon hearing this, he frowned, "British fleet? What are they coming here for?"

In the Battle of Qingcheng in Qizhou, all of the Wufeng Island warships were destroyed by the Yan Wang Fleet.

Afterwards, he followed Sato Masahisa and the clan south, fled to Lincheng, and then returned to Wufeng Island.

In the Battle of Gaoli, Wufeng Island had no warships to use, but still dispatched over a hundred merchant ships to participate in transporting Dongying soldiers.

The war effort failed, and these merchant ships suffered losses of over half, with only forty-some vessels escaping back.

For this reason, he had been resentful for a period of time, imagining the wooden post to be the Yanzhou Fleet every day to vent his anger.

"Perhaps they are here to deliver sailing warships to us." Matsushima Yasuo's eyes held hope.

They originally belonged to the Dongying Navy, but were tasked with taking charge of the Wufeng Island Pirates in a time of crisis.

Currently, Dongying's sailing warships had already been launched; giving them, the Wufeng Island, three or five should not be a problem.

Xiangtian Tailang's sword-swinging motion froze, and the corners of his mouth slowly curled upward.

He had waited too long for this day.

Ever since he took over Wufeng Island, he had been beaten by the Yan Wang Fleet and unable to fight back.

Now, they in Dongying also had sailing warships, and he was going to take revenge on the Yan Wang Fleet.

"Let's go, go and welcome them." Xiangtian Tailang strode outward.

His residence was built against a mountain, with a vast plain below the mountain.

Wufeng Island was mountainous, and this was the largest piece of plain on the island.

Several small streams flowed down from the mountains, passed through the plain, and flowed into the sea.

On both sides of the small streams were lush green wheat fields.

These slaves from Da Song and captured merchant ships were working in the wheat fields.

Ever since they could no longer run rampant on the sea, Wufeng Island could no longer intercept merchant ships or extort the Liang Family for silver and grain.

The remaining ten thousand or so pirates on the island could only rely on the thirty thousand or so slaves planting rice and wheat to survive.

Arriving at the Wufeng Island pier, Xiangtian Tailang looked toward the distant sea surface.

Sure enough, twenty-four warships were emitting plumes of smoke as they came toward them.

Each steamship was towing a sailing warship.

Behind them followed thirty ordinary sailing warships, and further behind seemed to be troop transport ships.

However, as the warships drew closer, Xiangtian Tailang gradually realized something was wrong.

He had already been suspicious about the quantity, but thinking that the British reinforcement fleet might have arrived, he felt a surge of joy again.

But as the warships kept approaching, through the telescope gifted to him by the Shogunate, he discovered that the style of these steamships was very different from the British warships he had seen.

Not until they were close enough did he see the characters on the flags clearly, and his expression changed drastically, "This... this is the Yan Wang's fleet!"

"How could this be?

How could the Yan Wang's fleet have steamships?" Vice Island Master Matsushima Yasuo felt a tremor in his heart, his face instantly turning pale.

"Quick, quickly have the artillerymen enter the forts, and have the others take up flintlocks and prepare for battle." Xiangtian Tailang shoved Matsushima Yasuo hard.

During this time, as the confrontation between Dongying and the Yan Wang became increasingly intense.

Their matchlocks had been replaced with flintlocks, thirty-six forts had been set up on the pier, and there were twenty-three field artillery pieces on the island.

All of this was to guard against an attack by the Yan Wang Fleet.

Matsushima Yasuo swallowed his saliva and hurriedly ran into the island.

At the same time.

Zhou Yi stood on the Le Ting warship, comparing the map in his hand while observing Wufeng Island.

Wufeng Island was five hundred li east of Jinyin Island, about the same length as Jinyin Island, a full hundred li, but very narrow, with the widest point from east to west being no more than thirty li.

The entire Wufeng Island was actually composed of five islands, each with a towering mountain peak, hence the name Wufeng Island.

Among them, the Wufeng Pirates were mainly distributed on the largest island in the south.

"They've discovered us." Zhou Yi noticed the two people on the pier, "Blockade the entire island and round them all up."

Their orders were issued, and the warships split to both sides like water meeting a stubborn rock, preparing to control the sea area around the South Island.

At the same time, Zhou Yi left nine sailing warships in front of the pier and issued combat orders.

In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the sailing warships turned one after another, aiming their gun positions at the pier.

Through telescopes, the captains of every sailing warship discovered the forts on the shore.

They needed to clear these forts to create conditions for the marines to land.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

With the two sides five hundred meters apart, the sailing warships initiated the bombardment first.

The warships' artillerymen operated the rifled cannons to aim at the forts, firing one conical explosive shell after another.

Unlike smoothbore cannons, rifled cannons had higher precision.

In one round of firing, seventy-two rifled cannons on the nine warships had six shells directly hit the forts.

Instantly, explosions occurred at the forts.

"Boom, boom, boom..." While they were firing, the opponent's artillery also began to return fire.

But the forts hit by the explosive shells were immediately silenced.

The pier.

Hiding behind a fort and directing the counterattack, Xiangtian Tailang was drenched in cold sweat.

Just a moment ago, the cannonball to his left exploded violently.

The Artillerymen in the Fort were blown away, and he and the soldiers in his Fort were left nearly deaf.

"What on earth is happening!" Xiangtian Tailang stared fixedly at the Warships in the sea.

Overnight, the Yan Wang Fleet had acquired Steamships; why had their shelling also become so unusual?

While Solid Shots streaked past one after another, why were violent explosions appearing on the battlefield from time to time?

"Boom, boom, boom..." The cruel battlefield would not give him an answer.

The Yanzhou Warships were still firing cannonballs capable of exploding.

The coastal Forts were shrouded in Gunpowder and thick smoke from time to time, while the screams and groans of wounded Artillerymen echoed out.

In a mere quarter of an hour, only six guns remained in the thirty Forts to return fire, while all the other Forts had fallen silent.

Xiangtian Tailang was anxious and furious, and he was urging the Artillerymen to continue returning fire.

At this moment, a cannonball suddenly exploded in front of the Fort where he was located.

"Boom!" A loud noise accompanied a tremor that shook the earth; Xiangtian Tailang only felt a strong gust of wind lift him into the air, and then he lost consciousness.

He did not know how much time had passed when he slowly woke up and discovered that swarms of Yan Wang soldiers were landing.

Some Yan Wang soldiers were firing toward his rear.

Three Artillerymen lay beside him, all of them blown to death.

Seeing this scene, he looked behind him and saw Vice Island Master Matsushima Yasuo leading the sea bandits in battle against the Yan Wang soldiers.

However, the sea bandits were shot dead by the Yan Wang soldiers from a great distance and were completely unable to fight back.

Looking ahead and then looking behind, he lay on the ground again, preparing to play dead.

But just then, three Yan Wang soldiers suddenly rushed onto the Fort; one soldier raised his rifle butt and struck him on the back of the head, and he fainted again.

In his final moments of consciousness, he felt a wave of terror; clearly, his attempt to play dead had been seen through.