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In the dense fog, a third-rate sailing warship belonging to the Great Yu Empire Navy was patrolling the sea.
Ever since the agreement with the Dutch was reached and the Great Yu Empire’s coastal shipping lanes were reclaimed, the navy’s warships had been responsible for ensuring the safety of maritime routes and combating pirate plunder of merchant ships.
However, the ocean was vast and boundless. Even so, it was sometimes unavoidable for merchant ships to be plundered, but for merchants, this was already a rare occurrence.
“This sudden dense fog is truly rare.”
The third-rate warship named “Dreadnought” was commanded by Captain Xie Yuan. Two days ago, after resupplying in Zeelandia, he commanded the warship to head towards the Sanmyo Kingdom, which was their patrol route.
First Mate Ding Chang said, “Indeed, it’s basically impossible to see anything beyond fifty meters.”
Xie Yuan frowned and said, “Tell the soldiers to stay alert and vigilant. If we are attacked by pirates at this time, it will be very unfavorable for us.”
“Yes, Captain,” Ding Chang said, then shouted to the soldiers on board, “Stay alert! Gunners, all to your positions in the gun deck, ready for battle at any time!”
Upon receiving the order, the soldiers orderly moved to their respective positions.
Having patrolled the sea for a year, they deeply understood that the ocean was like a child whose mood could change instantly. One moment it could be a clear sky, and the next, a storm could arrive.
This dense fog was the same. The sea was originally calm, but then the dense fog suddenly covered the warship like a wall of clouds.
After arranging their defenses, Xie Yuan looked at the nautical chart on the ship. They were still a hundred li from the Sanmyo Kingdom’s pier.
After confirming their position, Xie Yuan inverted the hourglass. At sea, they used this to keep track of time.
As he was performing his routine duties according to regulations, a sudden ringing of a bell, like music, came from the sea.
Upon hearing this sound, Xie Yuan immediately went from the gun deck to the main deck. He asked Ding Chang, “Did you hear that?”
“I heard it. It’s a rapid ringing of a bell.” Ding Chang’s face was solemn, and various terrifying legends immediately flooded his mind, making him uneasy.
In his year of patrolling the sea, he had never encountered such a strange situation. Who would be ringing a bell in the vast ocean?
Like Ding Chang, the soldiers on the ship were also uneasy. The theories of ghosts and gods were not so easily eradicated, and in this eerie dense fog, the more they thought about it, the more afraid they became.
Just as everyone was concentrating, a soldier on the mast’s lookout suddenly shouted, “Something unusual ahead!”
Upon hearing this, Xie Yuan immediately picked up his telescope and looked into the dense fog ahead.
At this moment, the seawater was no longer blue; under the dense fog, it appeared murky and dark. Just as Xie Yuan looked into the dense fog, a huge dark shadow suddenly appeared in the thick fog.
Before Xie Yuan could react, a yellow flash of light suddenly erupted from this dark shadow. Xie Yuan was greatly alarmed and shouted, “Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”
As his voice fell, the roar of cannons came from the dark shadow, and black cannonballs flew towards the Dreadnought like lightning.
“Thump, thump…” The sound of cannonballs piercing the hull rang out, and the warship instantly became a mess.
Xie Yuan was somewhat indecisive at this moment. In this sea area, only their navy was equipped with cannons. From the dark shadow, the enemy warship’s appearance was very similar to theirs.
He strongly suspected that another naval warship had mistakenly identified them as enemies, but he couldn’t confirm it since he couldn’t see the other side clearly.
“Captain, what should we do?” Ding Chang asked. This round of firing had left the warship in a very sorry state, with sawdust flying everywhere. He shouted, “Fire a warning shot first.”
Ding Chang responded and immediately relayed the order to fire.
At this moment, a round of cannon fire rang out from the bottom of the gun deck.
After the cannon fire, the increasingly close dark shadow seemed to fall silent. A glimmer of hope rose in Xie Yuan’s heart. Just as he was about to furiously scold whichever short-sighted captain had mistakenly attacked them, a flash of fire suddenly lit up from the dark shadow again.
“Get down!” Xie Yuan directly pushed Ding Chang onto the deck. At this moment, his face was grim. This time, no matter who it was, he would fight back.
“Thump, thump…” Cannonballs slammed into the warship again. Xie Yuan endured the pain of sawdust hitting him and said, “Counterattack immediately!”
“Counterattack! Counterattack!”
After this volley, he was also somewhat infuriated. If they didn’t counterattack, the Dreadnought would be sunk.
Water began to seep into the areas of the gun deck hit by cannonballs. Carpenters immediately took planks and nails to repair the hull pierced by the cannonballs.
And the artillerymen, having received the order, reloaded and began to return fire at the dark shadow in the sea.
“Boom, boom, boom…” The cannons roared, and cannonballs flew towards the dark shadow.
On the deck, Xie Yuan watched nervously. As both sides got closer, when they were fifty meters apart, he finally saw the enemy warship clearly.
It was a warship somewhat similar to the Dreadnought, but the flag hanging on the warship had a Union Jack pattern.
On the warship, there was also a group of soldiers wearing red swallow-tailed coats, black leather shoes, white gaiters wrapped around their calves, and black hats.
This scene somewhat stunned Xie Yuan. He had seen some information introducing various countries in the world at Bowen Academy. If the information was correct, they were now encountering a British warship.
Xie Yuan’s heart sank. He knew very well how powerful the navy of that country was, and Yue Yun would sometimes talk about his experience during his southern expedition when he drank.
Although he spoke with laughter, they could sense the seriousness in his words.
Just as he was momentarily dazed, the red-coated soldiers on the opposite side suddenly raised their flintlock guns and aimed them at their side.
Having confirmed that the other party came with hostility, Xie Yuan immediately calmed down. He once again ordered the soldiers to lie down and take cover.
After they lay down, a flash of fire erupted from the opposite warship, and flintlock bullets struck the warship, making crackling sounds.
“Damn it, they’re bullying your father!” Xie Yuan’s anger surged. He said to Ding Chang, “Hit them hard!”
Ding Chang was almost hit by a bullet and was also enraged. He cursed, “Why are you still standing there? Don’t you counterattack? These are not Japanese pirates, they are westerners!”
The soldiers lying on the deck immediately got up. They picked up their flintlock guns and fired at the other side.
Just then, the other side fired another volley of cannonballs, and the Dreadnought returned fire in kind.
As the two warships exchanged fire, they passed each other. At this point, the British warship once again entered the dense fog and disappeared.
Xie Yuan intently stared at the surrounding sea, but after waiting for a while, the British warship was still nowhere to be seen.
“Captain, what should we do now?” Ding Chang asked.
Xie Yuan’s brows furrowed deeply. The presence of the British in this sea area was very strange. After a moment of hesitation, he said, “Immediately return to Dengzhou. We need to report this situation to General Yue Yun.”
Ding Chang nodded upon hearing this and immediately ordered to return to port.
Meanwhile, at this time, the British third-rate warship, the Duke, was sailing towards Japan. On the deck, Captain Wilson was deep in thought as he looked at the dense fog behind him…