Chapter 606 Going to Sea to Find Treasure

Gaia three years, February 25th, North Seaport.

After ten days of preparation, the fleet set off to search for the treasure in the North Bay is finally ready to set sail. For this expedition, with Zheng He, the commander of the navy, as the commander, each of the three major fleets dispatched a formation to participate in the battle to form a joint fleet.

The combined fleet included more than 300 warships, of which 20 were large-scale warships, equipped with 150 artillery pieces. The total number of naval officers and soldiers participating in the battle was 36,000, and sailors and other auxiliary personnel were more than 38,000.

Cai Mao, the commander of the Yashan Fleet, Pei Donglai, the commander of the Beihai Gulf Fleet, and Yan Huo, the commander of the Jiaozhou Fleet, all three heavyweight navy generals set off for the expedition.

The three generals set off, I have to say, I have to thank Zheng He.

Zheng He's recruitment operation to Quanzhou was unusually smooth, even far exceeding expectations. In just three days, Zheng He brought more than 200 senior navigators and more than 2,000 senior sailors from Quanzhou.

In addition, Zheng He also recruited a group of naval generals, including five senior generals, eighteen mid-level generals, and forty-five junior generals.

All of a sudden, the quality of the generals of the Nanyang Navy has been improved by two big chunks.

This is not over yet. After bringing the people back and settling them down, Zheng He set out again and went to Jianye to carry out similar recruitment operations. Although the harvest was not as lucrative as in Quanzhou, it was also fruitful.

Zheng He's two actions undoubtedly laid a solid foundation for the expansion of the Nanyang Navy. Next, as long as all ordinary sailors and sailors are recruited and trained, the three major fleets can reach full strength.

On a conservative estimate, it will take half a year.

The name of Zheng He spread like wildfire, and established the authority of the governor in the Nanyang Navy.

...

At Beihai Bay Wharf, Longshou is like a king, standing out from the crowd of warships.

Considering the actual needs, Ouyang Shuo has handed over the flagship Longshou to Zheng He as the flagship of the Nanyang Navy. As for Ouyang Shuo, he no longer has a dedicated flagship.

The Longshou after the artillery transformation can be regarded as one of the most powerful warships in ancient China. The entire ship was equipped with twenty artillery pieces, plus various types of firearms such as blunderbusses and rockets, all of which were equipped in place one by one.

It can be said that apart from future ironclad ships, Longshou is the strongest warship at sea. The renovation cost alone reached more than 50,000 gold coins. If the Dragon Head is put up for auction, it might fetch a sky-high price.

This time, because it may involve disputes between countries, Ouyang Shuo will go out with the fleet so that he can make decisions at any time.

Of course, Ouyang Shuo would not interfere with the specific battle command, and it was entirely up to Zheng He to decide.

At 9 a.m., after worshiping Mazu, the fleet left the port immediately.

Borrowed by the winter monsoon, the fleet braved the wind and waves all the way to the unnamed island marked by the treasure map. The entire North Gulf sea area has long been cleaned up by the North Gulf Fleet. Not a single pirate organization dares to enter the North Gulf, otherwise, it will be mercilessly attacked by the fleet.

Affected by this, Annan's northern coast has also been calm recently, and there is no more threat of pirate infestation.

The location marked on the treasure map of Pirate Blood Slaughter is located in the sea area between Annan Haiphong County and Rongping County, less than a hundred nautical miles from the coastline of Annan.

To the north of the two counties is Hanoi, the only royal city in Annan District.

When the fleet approached the coast of Annan, the first thing they encountered were Annan's fishing boats. For these fishermen, they have not seen pirates for several months, so they are naturally defenseless.

Seeing such a huge fleet, they couldn't help being horrified, and they all evaded to one side.

The fleet ignored the fishing boats and continued to approach.

Finally, at a distance of about 150 nautical miles from the coastline, we encountered the enemy's naval fleet.

Nearly half of the Annan District's borders are coastlines. Therefore, there are unusually many player lords building cities near the sea, dotted all over the long coastline.

For these lords, the coastal waters are also part of their territory. Therefore, more or less, a navy will be formed to patrol the surrounding waters and protect the safety of fishermen.

Previously, these sailors had also met the Beihai Gulf Fleet face to face. It's just that Pei Donglai strictly followed Ouyang Shuo's instructions and didn't take the initiative to provoke trouble.

Both are fine.

This time, the situation is obviously very different.

In order to find the treasure, the Combined Fleet must approach the waters of these domains.

For the lord, this is undoubtedly a provocation.

The lord flag of Shanhai City—the Golden Dragon Banner, and the Sea Dragon Banner of the Shanhai City navy are no strangers to the navy along the coast of Annan.

As soon as the United Fleet approached, the navy on the opposite side began to wave flags non-stop. The general idea is that further ahead is their sea area, and they are not allowed to enter without permission.

"Your Majesty?"

On the Dragon Head, Zheng He asked Ouyang Shuo for instructions.

"Tell them, we don't mean to offend, but we just use this as an excuse to do a mission. The mission is completed, leave immediately." Ouyang Shuo's original intention was to find the treasure smoothly.

As for the national war, it is better not to provoke it lightly.

"promise!"

Zheng He received the answer, and immediately ordered the flag bearer to wave the flag.

Unfortunately, Ouyang Shuo's kindness is obviously not worthy of trust in the other party's eyes. Even Ouyang Shuo, who doesn't understand the semaphore, can feel the determination in the semaphore.

"What did they say?" Ouyang Shuo's tone was a little low.

"Reporting to the Lord, the other party still insisted that you should not enter, and their attitude was extremely tough." Zheng He replied.

Ouyang Shuo shook his head and smiled slightly, "You don't eat the toast, you have to drink as a punishment. If that's the case, let's make a forcible assault. Any ships that stand in front of the fleet will be sunk as punishment."

"Your Majesty, this..." Zheng He hesitated.

In history, the main purpose of Zheng He's seven voyages to the West was neither the so-called ocean trade, nor the colonization that the West was good at, but to let small countries rush to Kyoto to pay homage to His Majesty the Ming Emperor in the name of the Celestial Kingdom.

What they do is to create a prosperous scene of all nations coming to court.

Every voyage to the West is a heavy burden on the treasury. A large amount of gold, silver, jewelry, silk and satin were sent out, and what was exchanged was only courtesy worship from some small countries.

His behavior can be described as losing money and making money.

After Ming Chengzu passed away, Ming Renzong immediately stopped his voyages to the West.

Just like this, in Zheng He's philosophy, harmony is the most important thing in everything. He made seven voyages to the West, and the recorded wars, except for fighting pirates, are estimated to be no more than five.

Therefore, Zheng He seemed a little uncomfortable with Ouyang Shuo's straightforwardness.

Ming Chengzu was rich in the world and had such ambitions, Ouyang Shuo couldn't comment. Only he is different, he is a pragmatist through and through.

In order to achieve the goal, he did not hesitate to wash the world with blood.

What's more, this is a game, a wilderness destined to be full of war, which is very different from history.

War is the theme of the wilderness.

The national war in the game is just a war setting of Gaia, just to improve the playability of the game. In reality, the federation and the global regime have long been integrated into one, and there is no such thing as a regional country.

"General!" Ouyang Shuo looked straight at Zheng He and said solemnly, "General, please remember that this is a wilderness, and there is no difference between justice and injustice in wars; there is only the law of law of the jungle and the survival of the fittest."

Zheng He's face froze, and he reluctantly replied: "I would like to follow the instructions of the emperor!"

Seeing this, Ouyang Shuo didn't say anything.

It is a gradual process to change a person's worldview and values. The search for treasure this time was Ouyang Shuo's trial for Zheng He.

The great voyages of the future will probably be more bloody and cruel than today's wars.

Zheng He, a change must be made.

Otherwise, how can a good old man and an envoy of peace command the strongest navy in the territory and realize Ouyang Shuo's ambition of dominating the sea? !

"Fire!" Zheng He turned around and ordered.

"promise!"

As the military order was issued, all of a sudden, the artillery fired.

"boom!"

...

"boom!"

...

The first round of shelling made Ouyang Shuo frown.

This is the first time that the Nanyang Navy has used artillery in actual combat, but the effect is ashamed.

First, command confusion. There were hundreds of artillery pieces, but the firepower was not arranged reasonably at all, and they fired indiscriminately. In some places, it is densely packed with shelling; in some places, it is calm.

Second, the artillery hit rate is frighteningly low. The gunner obviously didn't fully understand the parameters of the artillery. Some of them fired rumblingly before they reached the range, and the result was naturally that they hit the sea.

Some artillery pieces were not aimed properly, and the shells exploded on both sides of the enemy ship.

Therefore, this first round of shelling looked so imposing that the navy on the opposite side turned pale. The actual damage was only less than a dozen enemy ships hit by bullets.

Seeing this, Zheng He was also full of shame.

"General, it's not your fault." Ouyang Shuo comforted him.

Indeed, Zheng He joined Shanhai City and has been running around all the time, and he is still in the stage of understanding the navy. There is no time to really train sailors. The current fleet is only trained by three commanders.

"Please don't worry, your lord. Within half a month, this situation will definitely change." Even so, Zheng He still issued a military order in front of the lord.

As the commander of the Nanyang Navy, the poor performance of the fleet also made Zheng He feel ashamed.

"Then we'll have to wait and see!" Ouyang Shuo smiled slightly.

While the two were talking and laughing, the second round of shelling began again. With the lessons learned from the past, the effect of this round is somewhat unsatisfactory. Twenty enemy ships were shot.

After two rounds of shelling, the enemy navy was almost paralyzed.

Faced with the sudden artillery, the enemy army obviously had no defenses, and was directly stunned, forgetting even the basic counterattack.

At this moment, a system notification sound came from Ouyang Shuo's ear.

"System prompt: The player Qiyue Wuyi led his troops to annihilate a naval fleet in Annan District, triggering a national war. Annan District has officially entered the national war mode, players please prepare!"