Chapter 1 The Tactical Trap

When originally entangled with Qi Zhentao's escort fleet, the Bossa Kingdom's fleet hadn't been at any tactical disadvantage. Although the old man occasionally played tricks like fleet salvos, most of the time it was ship-to-ship combat. It was just that the Tigerfang ships had formidable single-ship combat power, rarely allowing the enemy to get close. However, when these fleets suddenly faced such an orderly fleet firing broadsides in a line, when the overwhelming starmist bombs, oil bombs, and long flames spewed out at close range instantly cut off one side of the fleet, they were momentarily stunned.

"Ye Tao, look over there, the enemy's flagship!" Min Yue keenly identified the ship from the enemy fleet that had a long, strip-shaped banner with the Bossa Kingdom navy's insignia hanging from the top of its mast. It was a three-masted sail-and-oar hybrid warship, still the old model with a forward-protruding, powerful ram and an inward-sloping bow. Both sides were painted with exquisite patterns in blue and green pigments.

"Preparing to charge?" Ye Tao looked at Min Yue, not knowing what he meant. They had already formed three fleets taking turns charging, continuously firing broadsides at the enemy fleet from an oblique angle. The enemy either risked losses, relying on luck to charge into range and initiate boarding actions, or they were determined to abandon some ships and escape this sea area, otherwise they would definitely not get away with it. To sink the enemy flagship, they would have to break through the layers of encirclement around it, and they would have to charge close enough to be within range of the crossbow cannons or flamethrowers. That would inevitably require some warships to break away from their fleet formation to do this kind of charging. In Ye Tao's view, it seemed unnecessary. He had absolutely no interest in capturing enemy commanders, whether at sea or on land. Whether it was the Blood Kirin Army or the Yun Province armies, generals were strictly forbidden from engaging in one-on-one duels with enemy generals before a battle. In Ye Tao's view, ensuring a solid victory was the most important thing. There was no need to add various variables to the battle in pursuit of anything.

"Watch my methods. I can win you an opportunity to get that fellow within our range. Whether you can kill that guy or not depends on you," Min Yue said, wearing an expression of deliberation.

Ye Tao wasn't very familiar with this kind of scene, and he also knew that the accuracy of mobile shooting at sea was unreliable. With the precision instruments in the hands of the firing instruction officers on their warships, combined with the various types of crossbow cannons that had been constantly maintained, whether it was the Dongping navy or the Seven Seas Trading Company's fleet, their shooting accuracy was already the best in the world. But even so, achieving a 20% hit rate in naval warfare required the blessings of the heavens.

But Ye Tao accepted the challenge generously. He chuckled and said, "Alright." In fact, in Ye Tao's view, since this combat situation had already formed, it wasn't even a challenge, just a fun game. He was only a quasi-amateur at naval warfare, but he was an expert among experts at operating instruments and understanding the effects of weapon firing. In the Ye family workshops in Yun Province, there was a whole department dedicated to constantly playing with fire and researching the firing effects of various large-scale devices. "However, it also depends on your ability. If it's just at the maximum range, who knows if you can hit accurately. It's not like you don't know this kind of thing; there's not much certainty to begin with."

"Oh?" Min Yue asked with interest, "Shall we bet on something?"

Ye Tao raised his eyebrows and asked nonchalantly, "Go ahead and say it. I really can't think of anything I wouldn't be willing to part with. Of course, there are some things that you have to dare to ask for."

Min Yue laughed loudly and said, "Airships! I want airships. ... With your current production, it's barely enough for one airship squadron in Nanyang, one airship squadron in Danyang, and the Yicheng navy only got six ships."

"Alright," Ye Tao said without hesitation, "But you don't know? Yicheng is preparing to equip the third generation of airships. The research institute hasn't finalized the design yet, where am I going to get them for you? How about this, if you can get close to crossbow cannon direct-fire range, I'll equip you with four extra high-speed scout boats. If you can get close to flamethrower range, I'll personally give you a private airship for sightseeing trips. How's that?"

Min Yue was stirred up, his eyes full of expectant light. In fact, if these old friends really wanted to ask Ye Tao for some private airships to play with, Ye Tao wouldn't refuse. Originally, airships were only meaningful if they dared to play with them. But now, the Tan family had already established a private air route from Danyang to Jiangshan Fort with a few private airships, coming and going with great ease. According to Tan Weixin and Tan Weishi, Tan Xiaopei was now less like a full-time king and more like a chief executive officer who was appointed to manage the country and had days off.

Being able to win an airship from Ye Tao was much more meaningful than simply asking for one, and it was also more impressive. Min Yue had also taken airships out for sightseeing several times. In fact, throughout Dongping, except for a few generals who had acrophobia and usually avoided mountain climbing, almost all the generals had flown in the sky. But being able to own a private airship was a very high privilege. Everyone hadn't figured out how to bring it up to Ye Tao yet.

"It's settled, that's the deal. If I get that close, I'm definitely taking the airship. ... If you hit it, hehe, I have good things for you too," Min Yue said heroically, waving his fist. He turned around to communicate the battle plan with his deputy and signalmen. Min Yue used charcoal to draw dots and lines on the paper, clearly coming up with an extremely complex battle plan. It took the signalmen two rounds of attacks to send the general idea to the second and third teams. Everyone rolled their eyes a little. Was it really necessary to make the battle so complicated for this naval battle that was half encounter and half ambush? But since Min Yue had given the order, whether it was the Yazhou First Fleet, which was still directly under Min Yue's command, or the Seven Seas Trading Company's fleet, which was temporarily subordinate to Min Yue because of Ye Tao's relationship but was already extremely obedient to Min Yue's dispatch, they all moved according to the new plan. At this time, the old man, who had already completed the fleet's turn and was closely following the formation of the first team, saw something. Seeing that the fleet had clearly missed two rounds of attacks because of adjusting its movements, and had deliberately loosened the encirclement formation a little, giving the enemy room to turn around, the old man immediately understood that he must be up to something again.

Sure enough, the second and third teams coordinated, allowing the first team to go around and complete the turn, charging straight towards the side of the Bossa Kingdom's fleet at full speed. The old man was greatly moved. He didn't believe that Min Yue, that penny-pinching guy, would be willing to engage in boarding actions with the enemy, but the old man only glanced at the enemy's fleet formation and understood Min Yue's idea.

Faced with the Tigerfang ships, whose size and structural strength surpassed those of the Bossa fleet's warships, although they were ship types suitable for boarding actions, the enemy did not dare to use their sides to meet the impact of the Dongping fleet. They turned in various directions. For a time, the sea was filled with loud shouts and chaotic waves.

Just at the last moment before they could barely turn their bows in time to avoid a collision, Min Yue shouted, "Hard to starboard, four points!" As the signalmen waved neatly and forcefully, all the helmsmen in the entire squadron, who had been waiting for the order, turned their rudders in unison. The violent turn caused all the ships in the squadron to lean noticeably to the right. At this time, Ye Tao calmly instructed the signalman standing beside him, "Follow the pre-arranged plan, fire!" The Ningxuan, which had already adjusted its firing data, unleashed a broadside on its port side. The thick flames shot out by the flamethrowers passed through the gap between two enemy ships that had almost brushed past them to avoid the collision, accurately licking the enemy's flagship. At the same time, starmist bombs and oil bombs were scattered all over the target area. Ye Tao hadn't originally expected to be able to accurately range and adjust in this kind of high-speed action, but instead adopted the most reliable method: the Greek fire of the flamethrowers combined with coverage of a small area. The crossbow cannons on the ship had been adjusted by him to a total of four distance settings, plus the dispersion of the design itself was enough to give the enemy a hard time. And not only that, the two warships following behind the Ningxuan imitated the same method and conducted two coverages on the enemy's period. Although the hit rate of mobile shooting in naval battles was very unreliable, the three warships still hit a total of six starmist bombs, plus about two hundred liters of Greek fire fuel. According to everyone's experience in general naval battles, these things were enough to kill the enemy twice over.

Ye Tao was still not satisfied. In his view, since they were going to fight, they might as well sink it quickly and be done with it. By the time the Ningxuan had completed its turn, he was already standing on the rear deck of the Ningxuan, next to the largest and longest-range crossbow cannon on the entire ship. He stood in the gunner's position, quickly checking the degrees with the aiming scope and rangefinder, adjusting the crossbow cannon, and then forcefully stepped on the firing trigger.

This crossbow cannon was loaded not with a starmist bomb, but with a cylindrical stone projectile. These stone projectiles were mainly for the gunners to practice with during long voyages, so as to avoid being unskilled in the event of war. Usually, they were thrown into the bottom of the hold as ballast. Under normal circumstances, stone projectiles hitting the enemy's tough warship planks would at most create a dent and break a few planks. But now, it had been doused with a large amount of Greek fire, and hit with many starmist bombs and oil bombs. Those violently burning things had at least carbonized a part of the ship's planks, especially the side of the enemy flagship, which was very difficult to extinguish. It would have to keep burning until there was nothing left to burn. And at this time, Ye Tao's inspired stone projectile happened to hit a little above the waterline, instantly opening a big hole in the local flagship. This completely sentenced the other party's flagship to death. In the telescope, the crew members only symbolically put out the fire a few times, piled up a few planks to block the water, resisted slightly, and then abandoned ship.

Ye Tao secretly called himself lucky. He hadn't even thought he could hit it. But luck was luck. Looking at Min Yue's gaping mouth and incredulous expression, Ye Tao was also quite pleased. "Old Min, this battle can be considered over."

The support fleet, which completely dominated the combat power, defeated the Bossa Kingdom's fleet that was pursuing Qi Zhentao in an hour and a half. After throwing more than twenty ignited floating objects on the sea, the remnants of the Bossa Kingdom's fleet could only watch as Qi Zhentao's escort fleet merged with the reinforcing fleet and turned to the northwest. They would be busy rescuing sailors who had fallen into the water and repairing the ships, most of which were damaged, and would probably have to stay on Golden Leaf Island for a while. And Ye Tao, Qi Zhentao, and Min Yue could discuss the next course of action and implement it without any obstacles.