The fleet's inexperienced sailors struggled badly once they entered open sea.
Mistakes piled on top of mistakes. Orders were misheard. Timing was off. More than once, entire teams moved half a beat too late or too early, causing minor chaos across the decks.
Yet after traveling more than twenty kilometers, the worst of the panic slowly began to settle.
The endless water no longer felt quite as terrifying. Sailors started to grow accustomed to steering without the comfort of shorelines or visible landmarks. The sea remained vast and unsettling, but it no longer felt like it was about to swallow them whole.
Some soldiers began gathering around the reformed pirates aboard their ships, listening carefully as they explained how to navigate using the sun, how monsoon winds shifted with the seasons, and how ocean currents could either guide or doom a vessel.
The sailors of Gao Family Village possessed one major advantage that pirates of this era could only envy.
Their ships ran on electric propulsion.
A single helmsman could manage steering. That was all. They did not need to master the complicated coordination required for sail handling, which was an art that often took years to learn and still ruined countless crews.
Time passed in uneasy steadiness.
Then suddenly, the lookout cried out from the mast.
"Island! I see an island! Hahaha! Finally, a landmark! Mother of Heaven, finally a landmark!"
The man sounded so relieved that he nearly sobbed with laughter. For sailors who had spent hours staring at featureless water, that sliver of land might as well have been paradise itself.
Cheers erupted across the fleet. Men slapped each other's backs. Some nearly collapsed from relief.
The guiding pirate, however, remained calm.
"That is Shengsi Island," he said quietly. "Once we see them, they will see us soon after. Prepare for battle."
Jiang Cheng raised his voice.
"Prepare for combat!"
The transformation was immediate.
Moments earlier, the sailors had looked like frightened recruits barely holding themselves together. Now their movements sharpened. Fear retreated behind discipline. Faces hardened. Men moved to their assigned positions with practiced efficiency.
Watching them, the reformed pirate realized his earlier judgment had been shallow.
They were inexperienced sailors, yes. That did not make them inexperienced fighters.
He cleared his throat and began explaining the situation.
"The pirates stationed on Shengsi Island, including my former associates, are nominally under Liu Xiang's command. In reality, they operate independently. Their strength is not impressive. Most of the time they simply prey on merchant ships near Nanhui Mouth."
He paused, then added with a knowing tone.
"They are clever. If they detect a strong opponent, they flee immediately. They never fight to the death."
Jiang Cheng nodded thoughtfully.
"So capturing them will be difficult."
"Exactly," the pirate replied. "The authorities have failed to eliminate them for that very reason. The waters around Shengsi Island are dangerous, full of hidden reefs. If they scatter and flee, pursuing them recklessly will only run our ships aground."
He hesitated before continuing.
"However, there is one method to prevent their escape."
Jiang Cheng raised an eyebrow.
"Let's hear it."
"Most pirate families live on the island. If we send troops ashore and capture their families, hold blades to their wives and children, they will have no choice but to surrender or fight. Unless they are willing to abandon their own blood."
Jiang Cheng spread his hands slowly and gave a faint, helpless smile.
"So today, we are the villains."
The pirate shrugged.
"Out here, there is no villain or hero. The sea has no laws. Strength decides everything. Justice only exists within the range of a cannon."
As they spoke, Shengsi Island grew closer.
The pirates stationed there had already noticed the approaching fleet. Several pirate ships hurriedly launched from shore, but none attempted to engage. They scattered in multiple directions, retreating quickly into distant waters.
Jiang Cheng knew pursuit would be reckless. In a maze of reefs and currents, unfamiliarity meant disaster.
It seemed there was no avoiding the pirate's strategy.
Very well.
Today, they would play the role of villains.
The fleet advanced to the waters just offshore.
Massive ships such as the Wanli Sunshine could not risk approaching too close to the beach, but the smaller vessels encountered no such problem. Boats lowered swiftly, slicing through the water toward shore.
Sailors leapt into the surf and rushed onto the sand.
Within a short time, two hundred armed men had landed.
Five reformed pirates led them forward, guiding them through hidden paths as they moved deeper into the pirate settlement with practiced stealth.
Far out at sea, the fleeing pirate ships watched the landing unfold.
Panic spread across their decks.
"They landed on the island!"
"Where did these ships even come from?"
"We thought they were passing through! We could have waited them out, but they actually landed. What do we do now?"
Another pirate shouted back.
"Calm down! Our families are hidden inside the caves. The forest outside hides the entrances. Outsiders will never find them."
"That's right. The women know how to hide."
The pirate families had long learned survival through hardship. They had fled government crackdowns before. The moment they saw their men retreating and unknown forces landing, the women gathered the elderly and children and retreated into hidden cave systems.
Stones were stacked across entrances. Branches and leaves covered every sign of passage.
Inside the caves, mothers pressed hands over their children's mouths, forcing them into silence as they waited in suffocating darkness.
Time dragged endlessly.
Then, at last, sounds echoed from outside. Stones shifted. Branches scraped aside.
A voice called out from the cave entrance.
"You can hide, but you cannot hide from me. I am one of your own kind. Come out and surrender. Resist, and you know what will follow."
The women refused to respond. They clutched crude weapons, bodies trembling.
Moments later, thick smoke began pouring into the cave.
The attackers had piled burning pine branches outside, forcing heavy smoke inward like hunters smoking animals from their dens.
There was no resisting it.
Coughing and choking, the women abandoned their weapons, gathered their children, and slowly stepped into the open.
The pirate world had never been kind. Many of them had already accepted their fate before emerging. Survival, no matter the cost, was their only thought.
Yet what they saw outside surprised them completely.
The soldiers waiting were not savage raiders or drunken brigands. Their clothing was orderly and uniform. Their formation was neat. Their discipline radiated quiet authority. Flintlock rifles rested in their hands, but their expressions showed restraint rather than cruelty.
One captain stepped forward and spoke clearly.
"As long as you cooperate, everyone here will remain safe. We are not bandits. Let me repeat, we are not bandits, and we do not kill civilians without cause. However, understand this. We are soldiers. If any of you resist or attempt to harm us, then you will see the military side of us without mercy."
The women exchanged uncertain glances. The words did not erase their fear, but they loosened it enough to allow movement.
They gathered the elderly and children and followed the soldiers toward the shoreline.
At the beach, they were arranged into a large square formation. Flintlock riflemen surrounded them from a distance, maintaining tight formation and strict vigilance.
Then, from the anchored fleet offshore, dozens of warships extended their cannon barrels outward.
Countless black muzzles slowly rotated until they pointed directly toward the gathered families.
The effect was immediate.
Cries erupted across the beach.
"No! Please don't!"
Children screamed. Mothers collapsed to their knees. Even hardened survivors trembled at the sight of that silent ring of cannons.
Among the militia soldiers standing guard, several quietly turned their faces aside, unable to watch without discomfort.
Aboard the Wanli Sunshine, Jiang Cheng lifted a massive loudspeaker and faced the distant pirate ships hiding on the horizon.
His voice thundered across the sea.
"Come forward and surrender. Every one of you. If you refuse, your wives and children will be obliterated by cannon fire!"