Chapter 300: Sweet Port Turbulence — Encounter at Sea

To the east, roughly six nautical miles distant, a column of ten or so vessels of varying sizes materialized on the horizon.

Le Lin, first mate of the Great Whale, raised his telescope and studied the distant ships' course with intense concentration.

A light breeze filled the Great Whale's two stiff sails, pushing the ship along at a sluggish two knots. The first mate checked his watch. They had been underway for two hours since departing Hai'an harbor.

The Great Whale had entered Hai'an the previous night, offloaded two hundred shi of rice, and then taken on two hundred shi of sugar. Originally, the plan had excluded loading sugar—after all, the ship's mission was to serve as bait. In combat, preserving the cargo would be impossible. Whether soaked by seawater, consumed by fire, or stained with blood, the sugar would be rendered unsaleable. Moreover, sugar was an excellent accelerant; a blaze aboard during combat would be no laughing matter.

But loading no sugar at all would have made the bait unconvincing—the enemy certainly had spies on Hai'an Street monitoring their every move.

Xi Yazhou raised his telescope. He had recently deleted too many contentious posts from the Lingao BBS, causing his popularity to plummet. He was now eager for an opportunity to distinguish himself in the tangible world. This was a naval operation, but with so many key Navy personnel away on exploration missions and the Great Whale designated as bait—essentially a platform for artillery and close-quarters combat—an Army officer commanding the fighting force was deemed acceptable. Ship handling, of course, remained the Navy crew's responsibility.

"First mate," he said, turning to Le Lin. "Are those the pirates the Haiyi Guild hired?"

"Very likely," Le Lin replied. "We can't be certain yet—wait until they draw closer."

"Good. Order heightened alert. Everyone prepare."

The order was relayed immediately. Lookouts were increased to four.

"Send a message to Squadron A: suspicious vessels sighted approximately six nautical miles from our position." Xi Yazhou stood upon the sterncastle, feeling somewhat like a general in a movie—though the deck, heaped high with burlap sacks, rather detracted from the martial image.

Squadron A—consisting of two armed trawlers providing cover—held station ten nautical miles to the south. Their orders were to intervene once combat commenced to prevent the Great Whale from being overwhelmed. If the enemy numbered fewer than four ships, Squadron A would assist in destroying them on the spot; if there were more, they would employ their speed and firepower to defend the Great Whale while herding the pirates toward the Chrysanthemum Islets, where the trap awaited.

The enemy fleet closed rapidly. The breeze was light, yet they were approaching at an estimated four knots.

"They're using sculling oars," Le Lin observed. "They're rowing hard to overtake us."

He lowered his telescope. "Must be the pirates."

"Agreed. All hands, battle stations!"

The ship's bell clanged urgently. Sailors sprinted to their posts, joined by Army gunners in gray uniforms with red collar patches. The sugar sacks stacked on the outer layer were moved below deck, while the sand-filled sacks remained to form defensive breastworks. Four twelve-pounder cannons and their ammunition crates sat deeply ensconced within these fortifications, covered by straw mats. Pumps began cycling, dousing the sacks and deck with seawater to guard against incendiary attacks.

The approaching fleet belonged to Gu Dachun—ten vessels in all, including seven freelance boats he had recently recruited. The five thousand taels from Third Master Zhu, combined with proceeds from his previous raid, had emboldened him. This time, Third Master Zhu's instructions were explicit: seizing sugar was secondary; the primary objective was terror. He intended to ensure that no ship except those belonging to the Haiyi Guild would dare haul sugar from Leizhou ever again.

Gu Dachun meant to show no mercy. He had expanded his force by recruiting rough fishermen-turned-bandits from the lawless border region of Jiangping. He had also managed to procure over a dozen cannons from illicit workshops in Qinzhou, though good gunpowder remained harder to obtain. His own three ships were now armed, but his crews were unskilled gunners who feared their own cannons as much as the enemy's. His strategy, therefore, remained traditional: close in, board, and slaughter.

Of the ten enemy vessels, three were twin-masted large ships carrying three to five cannons each. The remaining seven were smaller, lacking artillery but packed with armed men. The enemy fielded eleven to fifteen cannons against the Great Whale's four. In manpower, over a hundred transmigrator-led marines faced seven or eight hundred desperate pirates.

The transmigrators had to avoid boarding combat at all costs. Numbers would tell in close quarters—there was nowhere to run on a ship.

By eight o'clock, the pirate fleet had maneuvered into position one nautical mile upwind. Though illiterate, these pirates understood the fundamentals of naval tactics: seize the weather gage. The three twin-masted vessels assumed the center, while the seven smaller boats fanned out to encircle the Great Whale—three to the right, four to the left—intending to swarm the target.

"We must not permit them to board," Xi Yazhou told Le Lin. "Concentrate all firepower on one flank. All guns—target the starboard side."

(End of Chapter)