The fleet left the Shengsi Archipelago and angled southwest across the sea.
This time, far more local pilots sailed with them compared to when they first arrived. With experienced hands guiding the route, the journey became noticeably smoother.
Jiang Cheng, Shi Lang, and the sailors from Gao Family Village treated this trip like a moving classroom. Nobody wasted the chance. They crowded around the pilots, asking questions non stop, memorizing every trick they could.
How to judge direction by the sun.
How to read ocean currents from the color and movement of water.
How to anticipate monsoon winds.
A trip of only a few dozen kilometers somehow turned into the most valuable lesson they had ever received.
Before long, an island appeared ahead of them.
A tall mountain rose sharply from its center, standing like a stone guardian watching the sea.
One of the former pirates, now serving as a guide, pointed toward it.
"That is Guanyin Mountain. One of the more famous spots in the Zhoushan Archipelago. Once we pass around that mountain, we reach Daishan Island. After that, Zhoushan Island is right ahead."
The sailors instantly perked up.
If Zhoushan was close, then battle was probably close too. Everyone subconsciously tightened their grips on weapons and adjusted their armor straps.
Then suddenly, a lookout sailor screamed from above.
"Battle ahead! Ships fighting ahead!"
The entire fleet stirred like someone had kicked a hornet's nest.
Officers rushed to the rails. Telescopes snapped open. Dozens of eyes locked onto the distant waves.
It did not take long before the scene became clear.
Two fleets were tearing into each other on the restless sea.
One side only had three or four ships.
The other had roughly ten.
Even without explanation, the difference in pressure was obvious.
The smaller fleet used the typical junk design common among Ming coastal pirates. The opposing ships looked slightly different. Their hulls were leaner, their sails carried a foreign style, and their formation showed unusually tight coordination.
One of the surrendered pirates suddenly shouted.
"Those are Japanese Red Seal ships!"
The deck erupted in murmurs.
"Japanese ships?"
"Then the ones fighting them…"
"That is Liu Xiang's fleet!"
"Those four are Liu Xiang's junks!"
Cannons thundered across the sea. Smoke rolled between waves. The sound crashed over the water like continuous thunderclaps.
Anyone with basic combat experience could see the situation immediately.
Liu Xiang's ships were losing.
Four junks were being surrounded and battered from all sides by ten Red Seal ships. The imbalance was brutal. Ten against four rarely ended with miracles.
The four junks were already retreating southward while firing desperately.
The Japanese ships clung to them like wolves chasing wounded prey. They refused to loosen their grip even slightly.
Both sides had raised every sail possible. The vessels cut across the waves at their limits, masts groaning under pressure.
One of the reformed pirates clenched his fists. He used to serve under Meiying Bianfu, one of Liu Xiang's minor commanders. Seeing Liu Xiang's fleet getting bullied stirred complicated emotions inside him.
The guides captured on Shengsi Island also technically belonged under Liu Xiang's banner, at least on paper. The relationship was similar to how Zhang Xianzhong once nominally served under Gao Yingxiang.
Watching the scene lit a fire in their chests.
"Those damned Japanese pirates!" one of them roared. "They bully our ships every time!"
The reformed pirate turned nervously toward Jiang Cheng, clearly hoping for orders.
Jiang Cheng froze.
He blinked. His mouth opened slightly.
"What... what should we do now?"
He looked exactly like a student suddenly dragged onto a battlefield exam.
Before the awkward silence stretched further, Li Daoxuan spoke calmly.
"Aid the junks. Attack the Red Seal ships."
The reformed pirate's eyes instantly lit up with relief.
Jiang Cheng snapped back to his senses and shouted loudly.
"Signal the fleet! Prepare for battle! Assist our domestic junks! Target Japanese Red Seal ships!"
The signal officer on the flagship climbed onto the highest platform and began waving signal flags with sharp, practiced movements.
Their earlier encounters with pirates had already exposed how disastrous unclear battlefield communication could be. Because of that, Gao Family Village had spent considerable effort developing their own naval signal system.
Explaining the entire system would require several thick manuals. Fortunately, the fleet did not need explanations. They only needed results.
Flag after flag unfolded.
Within moments, the message spread across all forty warships.
"Prepare for battle!"
"Assist our domestic junks!"
"Attack the Japanese fleet!"
"Switch to combat speed!"
The forty one electric warships that had been quietly following the wooden guide boats suddenly awakened like beasts released from chains.
Engines roared to life.
Their speed surged to twenty knots almost instantly.
Huge hulls sliced through waves, spraying seawater in shining arcs. One after another, they shot forward and overtook the guide boats like steel dragons rushing across the ocean.
The surrendered pirates aboard the guide boats stared in disbelief.
They had only submitted to Gao Family Village because cannons were pointed at their families back home. Deep down, they still carried lingering resentment and doubt.
That doubt shattered right now.
They watched enormous ships surge past them without sails. Without oars. Yet moving faster than any vessel they had ever seen.
Each passing warship created violent wakes that tossed their tiny wooden boats like leaves in a storm. Several pirates turned pale as paper while gripping the railings tightly.
"Terrifying…" one whispered.
"No sails… no rowing… yet this speed… What kind of ghost ships are these?"
Another swallowed hard.
"Thank the heavens we surrendered. Fighting these monsters would have been suicide."
Soon, the guide boats were left far behind, shrinking into distant specks swallowed by the horizon.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield ahead, the commander of the four retreating junks was Bai Yang, a minor chieftain serving under Liu Xiang.
He had originally set out to patrol near Zhoushan Island and look for merchant vessels traveling toward Hangzhou. Instead, he stumbled straight into Japanese pirates.
The sea followed its own brutal rules. Pirates robbed merchants, strong pirates robbed weaker pirates, and sometimes everyone robbed each other.
This fight had no grand cause. It simply erupted because two predators crossed paths.
Their opponents were known as the Yokuhisa Pirates.
The name came from "Murakami," the legendary Murakami Suigun of Japan's Warring States period. That once powerful naval force was divided into three main branches: Nojima, Kushima, and Innoshima.
One of the Kushima branch leaders had been Kushima Michifusa, a daimyo controlling fourteen thousand koku of land in Iyo Province.
During the Imjin War, he was defeated by Joseon's legendary admiral Yi Sun-sin and died in battle. After that disaster, the Kushima family's influence collapsed. Some of their surviving descendants drifted into piracy. They gathered disgraced samurai, wandering ronin, and various sea outlaws. Over time, they reorganized themselves into the feared Laidao Pirates.
For decades, possibly over a century, they roamed the East China Sea and built a terrifying reputation.
Their notoriety even inspired the character Lai Dao Suo Jing in the game "Uncharted Waters IV."
Right now, they held absolute advantage over Bai Yang.
The four junks were barely holding formation while retreating in chaos. Yet the Laidao Pirates showed no intention of easing off.
They saw this as a chance to crush Liu Xiang's influence near Zhoushan Island completely. If they eliminated him, they could seize the deep water port there and transform it into their own permanent stronghold.
The pirate commander leading the assault was Kurushima Yokuhisa, a relatively minor noble from the Kushima lineage.
He stood at the bow of his ship, katana raised high, his face flushed with excitement.
"Chase them!" he shouted. "Do not let them escape! Break the Great Ming pirates! Make them fear us! Once they fall, this entire sea will belong to us!"
His crew howled in agreement, intoxicated by their overwhelming advantage.
Kurushima Yokuhisa was still laughing triumphantly when a terrified scream erupted behind him.
"Behind us! Look behind us!"
He spun around instinctively.
Then he froze.