Gan Ren's face was bright red, and it was from anger. He made muffled sounds—if his mouth weren't stuffed, he would have been shouting.
Xie Nanxiao thought for a moment, then picked up the hilt of his blade and struck Gan Ren on the head.
Opportunities to earn military merit were rare. Though the man was tied up, knocking him out for safety was the smarter move.
Bang.
Gan Ren's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed onto the deck.
His two deputies were horrified. When they looked up, they saw Xie Nanxiao staring at them with gleaming eyes.
They shrank back, frantically shaking their heads to signal they wouldn't dare cause trouble.
Seeing Xie Nanxiao's unmoved expression, they nearly dropped to their knees. Tears of grief and terror streamed down their faces.
Who had they offended? They were just making an ordinary sea voyage—how had things spiraled into this?
Xie Nanxiao didn't know what to say. These people were far too timid. Before he'd even done anything serious, they were already crying, making it look like he was bullying them.
Meanwhile, on the military vessel, the vice-general frowned. As the distance between them shrank, he noticed the cargo ship's deck was completely empty. "What's going on? Why is no one on board?"
The soldiers were equally puzzled. The cargo ship racing toward them indeed showed no signs of life. It was too strange.
Just as he was thinking this, he heard the sound of retching.
Turning around, he saw the general clutching a wooden bucket, vomiting as he crawled toward the steering cabin. He had nothing left to heave but bile.
Damn it all. He swore he'd never serve as a fleet escort general again—this was pure suffering.
"General, are you alright? Feeling better?" The vice-general stepped forward to help steady him.
"Ugh... I'm fine... ugh... What's the situation... ugh..." The general spoke weakly.
The vice-general reported honestly: "It's a ship from Ze'a Prefecture. But strangely, it looks empty."
The general looked up. The ships were now less than three li apart. He, too, saw no one on deck, yet the vessel powered forward at full speed.
A thought struck him, and his heart pounded. "Ugh... Were they heading straight for us?"
The vice-general scoffed. "Yes. Those fools from Ze'a Prefecture must think that just because we're carrying grain, we have no fighting strength. Ha!"
The general's temples throbbed with pain. "Quick! Change course!"
The vice-general froze. "General, what's wrong?"
Urgency seemed to ease the general's seasickness a little. "Hurry, turn around first."
A soldier immediately went below to relay the order.
But turning a fast-moving ship at sea wasn't easy—especially not a massive, fully loaded vessel.
By now, the distance between them was less than two li.
The vice-general was still confused. "General, do you suspect there's something wrong with Ze'a's ship?"
Frustrated by his slowness, the general shot him a look. "They know we're their own fleet, yet they're charging straight at us. Don't you find that suspicious?"
"Humph. With the cowardice of those noble families in Ze'a, they'd have fled the moment they spotted our warships."
The vice-general broke into a cold sweat, realization dawning like a slap of clarity. "You... you mean this ship might belong to the Jinyang Army?"
It wasn't an unreasonable guess. In Fengzhou territory, only three factions were at play.
The general shook his head. "I'm not sure, but this ship is definitely trouble."
Wang Liang watched the general command the vessel's turn, lips pressed tight. He chose not to offer advice.
Turning at a moment like this would not only slow them down drastically but also expose their weakest side to the enemy.
Still, what did it matter to him? He was just a prisoner. His job was to act like one.
Jiang Jin watched as the Quzhao fleet began to slow and slowly shift direction. A smile crept onto her lips.
So they'd figured it out.
Too late.
She raised her Dragon-Feather Crossbow and aimed at the retching Quzhao general. Then she fired.
Beside her, Yun Chengxuan also raised his crossbow…
At the same moment, Xie Nanxiao led the Jinyang soldiers onto the deck and opened fire on the three warships.
Wang Liang was stunned. He lay flat on the deck, staring at the Quzhao general before him—eyes wide, dead, staring into nothing.
A high-ranking general of the Quzhao army had just fallen right in front of him.
The ships were still nearly a li apart when the enemy's bolts had already struck.
He never knew such a devastating crossbow existed in the world.
Wang Liang wiped the blood from his face. The vice-general's cries rang in his ears: "It's the Jinyang Army! It's their repeating crossbows! Take cover! Get into the cabin!"
This wasn't the first time Wang Liang had heard of the Jinyang Army. Rumors claimed they had a long-range, powerful repeating crossbow. Was this it?
For some reason, at that moment, he desperately wanted to see them—to see what the Han Chinese Jinyang soldiers looked like.
Bracing his hands on the blood-slick deck, he began to lift his head. Then came a thud, and more blood splattered across his face.
A soldier's corpse slammed onto him.
The vice-general's eyes bulged with rage. Still pressed flat on the deck, terrified to raise his head, he crawled toward the lower deck…
On the three Quzhao warships, those who hadn't been shot had fled back into the cabins.
Jiang Jin pointed at the nearest warship and ordered: "Move in!"
Because the Quzhao vessels were still turning, they'd slowed down and exposed their weaker flanks to the Freedom Number One's bow.
The Quzhao fleet was truly incompetent at naval combat. In a fight between equals, a direct ramming strike would have been devastating.
After all, a ship's bow was its hardest, sharpest part. Against a vulnerable flank, the enemy vessel might snap in half or at least sustain heavy damage.
But a cargo ship against a huge military warship—Jiang Jin wasn't sure how effective that would be. In any case, she had no intention of ramming. Soon, those warships would be hers.
She'd hate to damage them, and her own ship's bow would also suffer. She couldn't bear that.
Besides, she didn't need to resort to such a self-destructive tactic.
Thinking about it, she couldn't help but sigh bitterly. Her father was an emperor and her mother an empress, yet they'd left her nothing—not even scrap metal.
She was worse off than a poor family's child, having to build everything from scratch on her own.
Chen Mi understood her intentions the moment he received her order. He wasn't a sailor, but he'd spent his life on the sea. He had the knowledge.
It was also fortunate that Jiang Jin had a telescope. Spotting the enemy early had given him, a man with no naval combat experience, enough time to steel himself mentally.
Watching the Quzhao soldiers fall one after another, helpless against the Jinyang Army, he realized for the first time that the barbarians weren't so fearsome after all.
At his age, he'd learned a thing or two. His gaze turned steady. Calmly, he adjusted the ship's direction and issued orders.
As the two ships drew closer, the cargo ship's side edged up to the warship, allowing the Jinyang soldiers to board.
On the Quzhao side, soldiers began shooting arrows through the windows built for shooting.
The Jinyang shield-bearers swiftly moved to block. Xie Nanxiao and the crossbowmen used the shields for cover, taking precise shots at the shooting windows.
One after another, Quzhao archers were killed. Their cries were swallowed by the roaring sea.
Jiang Jin and Yun Chengxuan hit their marks every time, forcing the Quzhao soldiers—whether with handheld bows or ship-mounted ones—to abandon their attempts.
As the vessels drew even closer, Jiang Jin shouted: "Prepare the grappling hooks!"
