"Never mind, charge!" Jiang Fangzhou said, throwing caution to the wind. Their Hei Ying Bang (Black Eagle Gang) was notorious for plundering Persian merchants' ships, including those of the Samir family. If those Persian sea merchants were with Chun Nan's merchant fleets, given the relatively good relationship between Hei Ying Bang and Chun Nan merchants, Hei Ying Bang would let them go. But if any ships were isolated, they would find ways to attack. After all, goods transported from the Western Regions could fetch the best prices. However, through constant plundering and fighting, Hei Ying Bang had become mortal enemies with merchants from the Western Regions.

Ou Zhen was somewhat frustrated, watching the Hei Ying Bang's fleet slow down as if to negotiate, only to see them suddenly raise their sails again. But he wasn't too surprised. He ordered the sails to be raised and the rudder turned, retreating towards Bing Sha Dao (Ice Shark Island). In the battlefield near Bing Sha Dao, a Cang Shui (Azure Water) warship and two Lan Shui (Blue Water) warships were engaged in a fierce battle with two Persian armed merchant ships, intensifying their efforts to sink the last few small warships on Bing Sha Dao as quickly as possible. Two Lan Shui warships, which had been flanking the battle, immediately moved closer, circling around the Cang Shui warship to take the lead in the fighting so that the Cang Shui warship, carrying important figures, could disengage from the battle.

But Ou Zhen had no intention of withdrawing from the battle. He directed his warship to approach the battlefield near Bing Sha Dao, then suddenly cut out an arc in the opposite direction. At the instant of the turn, the ballistae and trebuchets on the ship fired simultaneously...

At least in one aspect, fire oil bombs were better than fire star bombs: the light, oily fire oil bombs, when used at sea, would spread a sheet of flame on the surface of the water even if they missed, effectively hindering the enemy.

Ye Tao, having hastily donned his armor, reboarded the ship with his sword on his back. He rushed to Ou Zhen's side and requested, "Duwei Ou, please allow me to direct the ballistae fire."

Given Ye Tao's position, he could issue orders directly. Naturally, Ou Zhen wouldn't argue with Ye Tao at this time and immediately nodded in agreement.

The ballistae on the ship had been made by artisans on the island and then calibrated by Ye Tao. The officers and soldiers on the ship weren't yet familiar with the ballistae, but Ye Tao could certainly unleash their full power.

Sure enough, the first two Fei Yu (Flying Fish) warships that charged over, originally intending to ram the Cang Shui warship with their bows, were each struck by a fire oil bomb. The fire oil bombs landed in the midst of the sailors on the deck who were preparing for boarding action, immediately causing a chorus of screams. The accuracy of the ballistae fire was vividly demonstrated in this round of shooting.

When firing ballistae at sea, Ye Tao couldn't target specific officers under the city walls as he often did in Bai Shi Cheng (White Stone City); he could only aim at the central part of the enemy ships. The target was moving, and he was moving, too. Although the waves were gentle, they still had an impact. Ye Tao painstakingly relied on his extensive experience with ballistae firing to judge the lead, and he managed to hit nine shots out of six rounds. In naval warfare, this was a terrifyingly high hit rate.

Although they had what could be considered quite good warships, the Hei Ying Bang still habitually fought sloppily, swarming forward, trying to increase their speed and use ramming and boarding tactics to negate the advantages of the warships' performance.

Just as three Lian Yu (Carp) warships were about to ram the Cang Shui warship from one side, a Lan Shui warship rushed over, crashing into the bow of one of the Lian Yu warships with a loud bang, pushing it away. Taking advantage of this moment, Ou Zhen also changed course, preventing the dense steel spikes on the bow of the Lian Yu warship from piercing the side of his ship, only scratching the paint. The Cang Shui warship swayed its large hull, pushing the Lian Yu warship away a bit. The Hei Ying Bang members on the Lian Yu warship didn't even have time to throw their rope ladders and grappling hooks onto the high sides of the Cang Shui warship before they were thrown into a panic by the flying knives and iron caltrops thrown down by the soldiers and the guards protecting the princess, as well as the boiling oil that was poured on them. Some soldiers even grabbed fire oil bombs placed on the deck and threw them onto the Lian Yu warship...

"Ye Tao, watch out behind you!" Suddenly, Tan Wei Shi's shout came from the bridge. Ye Tao, who was reloading the ballista to fire, hadn't noticed that on the opposite side of the Lian Yu warship where it was connected to their Cang Shui warship, two Shui Gui (Water Ghosts) wearing pitch-black fish-skin water jackets had climbed up. The claw-shaped snares in their hands were excellent climbing tools and dangerous weapons.

Ye Tao fell to the ground in a sorry state. Two soldiers with short knives rushed forward, trying to block Ye Tao, but Ye Tao moved faster than them. Although his posture was unsightly, he still drew his sword and stood up somewhat flusteredly, charging towards the Shui Gui. But someone moved even faster. Ou Zhen, who was directing the battle in the middle of the deck, saw the Shui Gui and almost instinctively drew his saber, throwing it out with a whoosh, piercing one of the Shui Gui and knocking him into the sea. Clearly, only someone who had suffered from the Hei Ying Bang's Shui Gui would have honed this move to perfection.

Ou Zhen's attack shocked the other Shui Gui. As he turned to jump back into the sea, another ray of light shot over. A hidden guard next to Tan Wei Shi combined his sword and body in a single strike, slashing the Shui Gui into the sea.

Ye Tao pursed his lips and breathed a sigh of relief. As someone who wasn't a war fanatic, he didn't want to have a chance to draw his sword if he could avoid it.

The two sides finally engaged in boarding action. When numerous Hei Ying Bang members climbed onto the ship using rope ladders and grappling hooks, they suddenly discovered that today was very different. Not only were those fire oil bombs surprisingly accurate, but the Hei Ying Bang members, who had always been able to gain the upper hand in boarding battles due to their generally trained martial arts skills, were at a disadvantage from the start.

The regular Dong Ping navy soldiers weren't afraid of battle, and they were even angrier in today's battle, acting as if they didn't care about their lives. Just a moment ago, Tan Wei Shi's head guard had tentatively asked the navy soldiers to retreat to the lower deck, as the inner court guards wanted to take over the close-quarters combat completely. They were rebuffed by a blunt "You landlubbers, don't come here showing off!" However, except for the few who stayed close to protect Tan Wei Shi and Ye Tao, all the inner court guards joined the battle. The navy soldiers were holding back a surge of anger, wanting to prove that they were not inferior to these extraordinary newcomers from afar. The inner court guards usually trained extremely hard, practicing their skills and the exercises of their respective sects, and competing with each other all the time, but they didn't have a chance to fight for years. The inner court guards were extremely excited to have the opportunity to fight. Although they were fewer in number than the pirates constantly jumping onto the Cang Shui warship, the navy soldiers and the inner court guards firmly maintained their advantage in close combat.

The two Lan Shui warships didn't rush into the melee where a pile of warships were crowded together. Instead, they disrupted the Hei Ying Bang fleet's formation and circled around. One Lan Shui warship stared intently at the Hei Ying Bang's flagship, posing in a relentless manner, ready to find an opportunity to ram it. The other Lan Shui warship guarded the flank, keeping its distance and constantly using fire star bombs to strike the Hei Ying Bang's warships that were preparing to rescue the flagship. The Lan Shui warships were manned by veteran sailors whom Qi Zhen Tao had trained on Yue Ya Dao (Crescent Moon Island) for a long time. Those who operated the ballistae were far more skilled at playing with them than those Dong Ping navy guys. Before Ye Tao calibrated the ballistae, they could hit close to the mark even with slightly inaccurate ballistae. After the calibration, almost every volley of three ballistae from the ship could hit at least one shot. Although fire star bombs didn't have the ability to spread a sheet of flame on the sea like fire oil bombs, once they hit their target, fire star bombs were more effective than fire oil bombs. The semi-solid fire star bombs couldn't be diluted by seawater to the point of being unable to burn, unlike fire oil bombs. Clusters of grease would adhere to the target and burn to the end... and for these retired warships manufactured by Chun Nan, whose materials and manufacturing processes couldn't compare with Dong Ping's Cang Shui and Lan Shui warships, this often meant burning through at least one layer of the deck.

First to withdraw from the battlefield near Bing Sha Dao and join this side were the two armed merchant ships of the Samir family. When the Persian ships engaged in ramming and boarding actions, they were more ferocious than the Dong Ping navy and Qi Hai Shang She (Seven Seas Trading Company) fleets, which were equipped with long-range weapons and always somewhat hesitant. The Persian armed merchant ships' sinister underwater rams allowed them to avoid entanglement in boarding actions. As long as they could hit the right position and then pull away, the large hole created by the underwater ram would quickly cause the ship to sink. In this era, damage control hadn't yet formed a fixed concept, and for ships with such small tonnage, such a large hole would render damage control useless.

The battle and chase on the sea lasted for more than three hours before it came to an end. Except for one Fei Yu warship of the Hei Ying Bang that escaped under the desperate cover of other warships, all the warships of Bing Sha Dao and the Hei Ying Bang were gradually sunk or captured... The so-called capture usually meant killing all the enemies on board and towing the ship aside.

The treasure reserves of the pirates on Bing Sha Dao weren't abundant, amounting to about four to five hundred thousand taels of silver. To commemorate the first expedition of the Qi Hai Shang She's escort fleet and to thank the Dong Ping navy and the Samir family for their strong support, Qi Zhen Tao immediately ordered that everyone get a share, dividing all the money. According to each person's status, Ou Zhen received nearly twenty thousand taels of silver. Even Tan Wei Shi and Tan Wei Ran each accepted goods worth eight thousand taels of silver at a discounted price after repeated refusals. This discounted price was calculated according to the prices of pirate fencing channels. In fact, taking these things back and selling them would easily fetch more than fifteen thousand taels. However, naturally, no one would be jealous of the princess and prince.

But the most valuable harvest wasn't these things, but a letter from a Chun Nan sea merchant to Jiang Fangzhou, found in the cabin of a Jing Yu (Whale) warship that had initially served as the flagship, during the search of the Hei Ying Bang's warships. In the letter, the sea merchant vaguely promised that as long as the Hei Ying Bang assisted in suppressing the Qi Hai Shang She, they would receive extremely generous rewards. These rewards included real gold and silver, preferential treatment in the division of profits from their fencing and other businesses, and an almost irresistible temptation for many Hei Ying Bang managers and above: high-ranking officials in the Chun Nan court would find ways to arrange official positions of slightly high or low rank for the children of the Hei Ying Bang bosses... This was more than just whitewashing.

After obtaining this letter, Tan Wei Ran and Tan Wei Shi chuckled coldly. They naturally knew what effect this letter would have when it was thrown on the negotiating table.

Chapter 75 The Letter