Chapter 304: The Naval Battle at Devil Reef!

"Young Master Adams, those fire points ahead are the base of the Poison Wolf Pirate Gang. Their strength is not weak; there are at least three or four hundred of them!"

"Besides that, I heard they also have two warships and two merchant ships!"

One hundred and thirty li off the outer sea of Hou Jue Marquis Marquis Aosiding's territory.

This area counts as dangerous; under normal circumstances, ships do not come here.

After all, beyond one hundred li lies the region where numerous fierce sea beasts operate.

Even with the Sea God Stone, it is equivalent to half a foot stepping into the death zone; with bad luck, it means ship destruction and death.

However, at this moment, nine merchant ships of various sizes have gathered here.

Among them are six warships and three merchant ships.

Among the eight warships, one is a two-masted warship.

And this is precisely the Marquis Marquis Aosiding Hou Jue family fleet.

At this moment, Adams is on this two-masted warship.

Since obtaining information about the pirates he wanted to capture from a prisoner more than a week ago, he began formulating this encirclement and suppression plan.

At noon today, he used the excuse of inspecting the coastline and led half the family's naval forces away from the port.

At first, he indeed paraded along the coastline in a swaggering manner.

Not until evening did he suddenly change course, heading straight for this group of islands and reefs named Devil Reef.

"Vice Commander Wolf, let us begin!"

"Yes, Young Master!"

The reason Devil Island Reef is called Devil.

Is not that there are truly any unclean things here, but that this group of islands and reefs appears and disappears intermittently, with countless hidden reefs.

Even sailing during the day, one must be extremely cautious; otherwise, it is easy to hit a reef, run aground, or even sink.

Therefore, the Poison Wolf Pirates building their nest here indeed required great effort.

Although the location is close to the deep sea and carries considerable risk.

But similarly, if any wind or grass moves, they can rely on the complex terrain to increase their escape success rate.

To avoid such a situation appearing, although Adams had arrived nearby long ago, he only prepared to launch the attack until now, in the second half of the night.

Following the order, three modified merchant troop transport ships began moving toward the island ahead.

These merchant ships were specially prepared by him for the dangerous environment surrounding Devil Island Reef.

A layer of thin iron sheeting was added to the bottom of the ships.

This could effectively guard against the reefs densely scattered around the island.

Of course, if this also does not work, even if an accident truly occurs, they are just merchant ships, and losses can be minimized.

Under tense observation, the three merchant ships carrying six hundred soldiers continuously approached the island.

He even vaguely heard the creaking friction sound several times.

Time passed second by second; the three troop transport ships drew closer and closer to the island, but just then, the merchant ship on the left suddenly jolted, then stopped in place and advanced no further.

"Damn it!" Adams couldn't help but mutter a curse; what this meant was self-evident.

Fortunately, the other two ships continued moving forward and finally arrived at the beach after two or three minutes.

Wooden boats were lowered, and squads of soldiers began to approach the shore in the dark.

Of course, the merchant ship that ran aground behind had also lowered small boats.

But this ship was seven or eight hundred meters from the shore, so it probably could not arrive in time.

"A sudden surprise attack by four hundred people should be enough!" Although a situation had arisen, Adams felt the problem was not too great.

Three or four minutes later, everyone from the two ships had disembarked, then, using the moonlight, headed toward the Poison Wolf Gang's nest on the island.

"Kill!"

When the group approached the pirate nest, where bonfires were faintly lit, they no longer concealed themselves and roared as they launched a charge.

Then, the crowd rushed into the camp, and then... there was no then.

As the soldiers rushed into the camp and kicked open the doors of one dilapidated house after another, they found the interiors empty.

"Young Master Adams, the situation ahead is not right!"

Seeing this scene, the face of Commander Wolf beside Adams suddenly changed.

Because under normal circumstances, fierce fighting should have broken out by now, with cries of battle.

But the soldiers had obviously entered an empty camp.

And a pirate nest being empty on a night like this meant something was wrong, nine times out of ten.

Adams also reacted immediately, looking instantly at the prisoner beside him, "Choke, what is going on..."

Plop!

Splash!

But before Adams could finish asking, he saw the prisoner Choke, who had been standing beside him, had somehow quietly moved to the ship's railing.

Then, giving them a strange smile, he jumped directly into the sea.

"Damn it!"

The faces of Adams and Vice Commander Wolf changed drastically.

They never expected that this Choke, with shackles still on his hands, would dare to jump into the sea.

Of course, regardless, they understood that this absolutely meant a major problem had arisen.

"Young Master Adams, your subordinate suggests the fleet leave immediately!"

"What about the soldiers on that island..."

"Young Master, the fleet is paramount! Moreover, there are five or six hundred soldiers on the island; as long as we are safe, they can surely hold out for one or two days!"

"Good!"

Adams also knew how to make trade-offs.

Of course, just because they knew how to make trade-offs did not mean the enemy would give them that chance.

"Bad news, my lord, Young Master Adams! Sea ships! Our perimeter is full of sea ships! Judging by the fires, there are fully over thirty of them!"

"What?"

Adams and Vice-Commander Wolf's faces changed drastically.

Immediately, Vice-Commander Wolf quickly climbed to the lookout tower at the top of the mast.

Indeed, numerous faint lights appeared on the surrounding sea surface.

And these lights were constantly converging toward their position.

"Quick! The fleet must set sail immediately and return via the original route!"

"Yes, my lord!"

Vice-Commander Wolf was also experienced; he knew there was no choice left but to force a breakout with gritted teeth.

Otherwise, once the enemy drew near and trapped them in this narrow space full of hidden reefs, that would be the truly dangerous moment.

Soon, the fleet began its breakout, meeting the pirates who were closing in on them.

"So many!" Adams' expression changed again and again.

"Quick! Triangle formation! All ships, do not stop for any reason; each must ensure its own breakout!" Commander Wolf issued the order once more.

Subsequently, six warships charged toward the enemy in a triangle formation.

And the two-masted warship serving as the flagship was guarded in the center of the triangle.

The pirates, naturally, did not want to let such fat prey escape; they could be seen approaching regardless of the risk of collision.

Once close, they immediately threw out ropes and grappling hooks, wanting to pull the distances between them closer so they could board and fight.

"Quick! Cut the grappling ropes! Damn it, do not let these bastards get close!"

Amidst the shouts, the soldiers on the Marquis Marquis Aosiding warships began frantically swinging their swords to chop down the ropes thrown by the pirates.

At first, they were still able to chop them down in time.

But as more and more pirate ships drew near, the dense mass of grappling hooks had become too numerous for the soldiers to cut all of them.

And as more and more hooks latched on, the pirates began to pull with united strength.

"One, two, three, pull!"

Instantly, the ships of both fleets visibly began to draw closer.

When the distance shrank to only two or three meters, the pirates, who had been waiting for a long time, hurled long gangplanks directly at the warships' gunwales.

Bang, bang, bang.

Relying on the curved barbs at the ends of the planks to firmly hook onto the Marquis Marquis Aosiding warships' gunwales, the planks one by one formed stable single-log bridges.

"Haha! Brothers, charge across and kill these damn Kingdom Navy scum!"

"Kill!"