Chapter 605-Out to Sea to Look for Treasure
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
Gaia 3rd year, 2nd month, 25th day, Beihai Harbor.
After ten days of preparation, the planned squadron for the treasure expedition was finally ready to set off. For this expedition, Admiral Zheng He would take the role of commander, while the three squadrons would each send one division to form an alliance squadron.
This squadron included three hundred ships, and twenty large turreted boats, equipped with 150 cannons. They had a total of 36 thousand soldiers and 38 thousand sailors.
Yashan Squadron Chief General Cai Mao, Beihai Bay Squadron Chief General Pei Donglai, and Jiaozhou Squadron Chief General Yanhuo Yaonie; these three generals followed along.
For these three generals to follow along, they had to thank to Zheng He.
Zheng He's recruitment operation went exceptionally smoothly, and it even exceeded expectations. In just three days, Zheng He brought over two hundred seafarers and two thousand advanced sailors.
Apart from that, Zheng He also recruited a batch of navy generals, including five advanced generals, eighteen intermediate generals, and forty-five basic generals.
From that moment, the quality of the Nanyang Navy rose by two grades.
The matter did not end there. After asking someone to send them back, Zheng He set out and made a trip to Jianye. Although he did not reap as great rewards, he still had a decent harvest.
Zheng He's two operations undoubtedly set a deep foundation for the Nanyang Navy expansion. Following which, as long as they managed to recruit normal sailors and soldiers and trained them up, the three squadrons could reach a full status.
Conservatively speaking, it would also take half a year.
The name of Zheng He was incredibly dominating, as he instantly established his prestige in the Nanyang Navy.
Beihai Bay Pier, the Dragon Head was like a lord, standing out amongst all the warships.
After considering the practical needs, Ouyang Shuo passed the command of the Dragon Head to Zheng He as the flagship of the Nanyang sailor. As for Ouyang Shuo, he did not need to own his own special flag ship.
The cannon modified Dragon Head could be called the strongest warship in China. In terms of cannons alone, the warship had twenty equipped. They were also well-equipped with weapons such as guns and fire arrows.
One could say that apart from the future iron warships, Dragon Head would be the strongest warship on the seas. Just the modification costs reached fifty thousand. If he took it out for an auction, he could probably sell it for a sky high price.
Since this expedition might cause conflicts between countries, Ouyang Shuo set out together with them to aid the decision-making.
Of course, Ouyang Shuo would not interfere in the detailed war decisions, as Zheng He would take the role of commander.
9 AM, after worshipping Mazu, the squadron left the harbor.
Using the winter season wind, the squadron rode the waves toward the unmarked island on the treasure map. The Beihai Bay Squadron had wiped the entire Beihai Bay clean, so no pirate organization dared to enter the area now. Otherwise, they would be mercilessly attacked.
Under this influence, the north coast of Annan had also turned extremely peaceful recently without the disturbances of any pirates.
The position of the island marked on the Blood Slaughterer's map was located in the middle of Annan Haiphong Prefecture and Rongping Prefecture. It was less than one hundred nautical miles away from the coast of Annan.
To the north of the two prefectures was the only imperial city in Annan Region, Henei.
When the squadron approached the Annan shore, the first group they met were fishermen. The fishermen had not seen pirates for numerous days, so they were naturally defenceless.
Seeing such a huge squadron, they felt terrified and quickly hid aside.
The squadron did not bother about the fishing boats and continued to proceed forward.
Finally, at around 150 nautical miles from the shore, they finally met the enemy navy squadron.
Sea bodies formed close to half of the Annan Region border. Hence, there was an exceptional number of players near Haijian City, and they were distributed along the shoreline.
The sea region was also a part of their territory of the Lords. Hence, they would more or less have some sailors and navy soldiers patrol the region and protect the fishermen.
Before this, these soldiers had met the Beihai Bay Squadron before. However, Pei Donglai had strictly followed Ouyang Shuo's instructions, and he did not start any conflicts.
The two of them co-existed peacefully.
This current situation was completely different.
To find the treasure, the alliance squadron needed to approach these territories near the sea region.
Undoubtedly, the Lords would take this act as a form of provocation.
The golden dragon flag of Shanhai City, and the sea dragon flag of the Shanhai City sailors, were not completely foreign to the Annan sailors.
The moment the alliance squadron approached, the enemies started to swing their flags to communicate. Their main message was that this was their region, so the Shanhai navy could not enter without permission.
"Lord?"
On Dragon Head, Zheng He sought Ouyang Shuo's instructions.
"Tell them we do not mean it. We are just using this route to complete a quest. After the quest, we will immediately leave." Ouyang Shuo's main goal was just to find the treasure.
As for country wars, it would be for the best if he did not need to start them.
"Yes, my Lord!"
When Zheng He received the reply, he immediately waved the flag to communicate.
Unfortunately, they did not trust Ouyang Shuo's kind intentions. Even someone like Ouyang Shuo, who was not well-versed in flag language, could see their resoluteness.
"What did they say?" Ouyang Shuo's tone was stern.
"Lord, they insist that we cannot enter, and their attitude is extremely resolute." Zheng He replied.
Ouyang Shuo shook his head and smiled, "Since they do not want to take the nice route, I have no choice. In that case, launch a strong attack. Sink any ship in our path as punishment."
"Lord, this…." Zheng He was a little hesitant.
In history, Zheng He took seven trips down the pacific. For these trips, his goal was not to trade or colonize. Instead, he sought to ask those small countries to head to Jingdou and worship the king.
This created a magnificent scene, where tens of thousands of small countries visited China to worship the king.
Every trip down the pacific placed a massive burden on the coffers. They sent out large amounts of jewels and silk, in return, they only received the worship of those small countries.
After the Yongle Emperor died, the Hongxi Emperor immediately stopped this practice.
Hence, Zheng He was a little unused to the direct methods that Ouyang Shuo employed.
The Yongle Emperor wanted to enrich the world; Ouyang Shuo could not comment on his ambitions. However, Ouyang Shuo was different, as he was a totally practical person.
He did not mind washing the world with blood to obtain his goals.
Furthermore, this was a game, and the wilderness was destined for war. There existed a large disparity between the wilderness and history.
War was the main focus of the wilderness.
The country war feature was just a type of war setting in the game that aimed to raise the playability. The current federal government was one that had united the world, so regions or countries had already ceased to exist per say.
"General!" Ouyang Shuo stared right at Zheng He and said solemnly, "General, please remember one thing: this is the wilderness, war is never about right or wrong. It's only the strong devouring the weak; the theory of the survival of the fittest."
Zheng He felt stunned and grudgingly replied, "Thank you, Lord, for your reminder!"
When Ouyang Shuo saw the general's reactions, he did not add anything more.
Changing a person's views and ideals of the world was a time consuming process. This expedition to search for the treasure was also a test Ouyang Shuo had set for Zheng He.
The future voyaging missions would definitely be more brutal and bloody than the war today.
Zheng He needed to change.
If not, how could a good man, who chased for peace, lead the strongest navy to fulfil Ouyang Shuo's wish of ruling the seas?
"Fire!" Zheng He turned around and ordered.
"Yes, admiral!"
As the military order was given, all of a sudden, the cannons fired.
Hong!
Hong!
The first round of cannon fire made Ouyang Shuo frown.
This was the first time that the Nanyang Navy had used the cannons in war, and the effects were exceedingly shameful.
Firstly, the command system was messy. The hundreds of cannons did not aim logically and lacked careful arrangement. Some fired before they even got into range, so they naturally just shot into the sea.
Some cannons were not well-aimed, so the projectiles fell into the waters beside the warships.
The first round of cannons seemed menacing and scared the enemy navy soulless. However, in truth, they only struck less than ten of the enemies.
When Zheng He saw this scene, shame and embarrassment filled his face.
"General, it's not your fault. You do not have to be react that."
Zheng He had just joined them. Moreover, he had run here and there to understand the navy. He did not have any time to truly train them. In truth, the three chief generals were the ones that trained the current alliance squadron.
"Lord, do not worry. Within half a month, all of this will change." Although he did not personally train them, Zheng He still made a promise to Ouyang Shuo.
As the admiral of the Nanyang Navy, the shoddy performance of the squadron had made him lose face.
"Then I'll look forward to it!" Ouyang Shuo smiled.
Amidst their conversation, the second round of cannon fire began. With the calibration after the first round, the effects of this round were far better, and they struck a total of twenty warships.
After two rounds, the enemy navy was basically paralyzed.
Facing such sudden cannon fire, the enemy was not prepared; they were simply blinded. They had even forgotten how to retaliate.
At this very moment, a system notification sounded out in Ouyang Shuo's ear.
"System Notification: Player Qiyue Wuyi has led troops to destroy a navy squadron of Annan Region, activating Country War. Annan Region has entered Country War mode. Players, please prepare!"