Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

At this moment, the signal soldiers on the main warship of the Tenglong Navy, the Da Fu Ship, ceaselessly waved red and blue flags, while the sounds of drums and horns rose and fell in succession.

"Signal the order: the vanguard must engage and cling to the opponent!" Yu Tonghai gave his command.

The Navy's organizational structure differed from that of the garrison, with the Tenglong Navy divided into five camps: front, rear, left, right, and middle. The main warship, the Da Fu Ship, belonged to the Middle Camp, while the rear vessels, the Da Fu Ships, belonged to the Rear Camp. The Vanguard had seven scout ships and over twenty Eagle Ships, characterized by their speed and close-combat soldiers.

In battle, the vanguard generally took charge of the charge, swiftly threading through the enemy's fleet with extreme speed, while the left and right camps worked on flanking. The Middle and Rear Camps provided ranged support with Crossbow Arrows.

Under Yu Tonghai's command, the thirty warships of the vanguard launched a full-speed assault.

The wooden sails were all set, attacking the enemy formation with the vigor of tigers among sheep.

The warships from both sides drew nearer, and in a brief moment, the distance between them had closed to within a hundred yards.

"Release arrows!"

A hoarse roar erupted, followed by the whistling sound of arrows cutting through the air.

Nearly a hundred Crossbow Arrows, as thick as a baby's arm, pierced the sky before plummeting down.

Before the first volley of Crossbow Arrows even hit, the second volley was already on its way.

Most of the Crossbow Arrows fell into the sea, with only a few striking the enemy ships.

In truth, the lethality of the Crossbow Arrows wasn't too great; even if they hit the ships, they were unlikely to harm the enemies aboard. After two volleys of Crossbow Arrows, only two unlucky souls were pierced through.

However, the objective of the naval Crossbow Arrow attack was not to kill the enemies' soldiers, but to destroy the enemy ships.

Iron arrowheads hitting the ships could penetrate two to three decks; if it was a small ship, they could entirely pierce through it and create a hole in the hull. If it was a large ship, the goal of the Crossbow Arrows was no longer to damage the deck and hull, but to destroy the sails.

A single Crossbow Arrow could shatter a wooden sail. If many sails were destroyed, the navigation of the ship would be affected, which included not just speed, but also directional control and more.

Furthermore, a barrage of Crossbow Arrows could also impact morale.

At this point, the Star Moon Sect's vanguard was greatly alarmed by the incoming arrows.

The two banner armies of the Star Moon Sect had only a little over three hundred mounted crossbows, and most of these were equipped on the large Da Fu Ships in the rear. There were many ships in the vanguard, but they lacked mounted crossbows.

By contrast, each of the Tenglong Navy's Hai Cang Ships was equipped with twelve mounted crossbows; the Vanguard, with its seven Hai Cang Ships, had a total of eighty-four mounted crossbows.

The two sides had yet to engage, but the Tenglong Navy's Vanguard had already released four volleys of Crossbow Arrows.

As the distance between them closed to just over ten yards, the mounted crossbows were no longer usable, but now bows and arrows came into play.

A deluge of arrows rained down, forcing the sailors on the enemy's ships to scatter for cover.

The Star Moon Sect's sailors also had archers, but the problem was their vanguard consisted mainly of smaller vessels. Tenglong Navy's soldiers, standing atop the Hai Cang Ships, loomed over their foes and naturally held the upper hand.

"Ram them! Don't stop."

The Vanguard's commander let out a cold laugh, shouting without hesitation.

Their target was not these small ships, but the two large Da Fu Ships opposite them.

The collision of the vanguards revealed the outcome almost instantly; the Tenglong Navy's Vanguard used their ship's size and sturdiness to ram directly through, while many of the Star Moon Sect's smaller ships were smashed to pieces.

Seeing this, Li Chengzhang's face turned exceedingly grim.

The disparity was too clear!

Their ships were inferior, their Crossbow Arrows were inferior, it seemed even their soldiers were far from matching the opponent.

Without engaging in board-to-board combat, their vanguard had already lost nearly half its forces.

"Retreat!"

Without any hesitation, Li Chengzhang ordered a retreat.

Although a concerted effort might not necessarily lead to defeat, at best it would be a pyrrhic victory.

A pyrrhic victory was an intolerable outcome for them.

Faced with the current state of the battle, Li Chengzhang and Wang Mingjian's immediate thought was to preserve their strength.

Indeed, this line of thought was not incorrect, for if they had committed to a full-on battle, the outcome wouldn't be a pyrrhic victory, but certain defeat.

They simply did not understand the combat power of the Tenglong Navy.

How strong was the Tenglong Navy?

In truth, no one could provide an accurate answer to this question.

Even Yu Tonghai didn't have a concrete idea since the Tenglong Navy had never participated in a large-scale battle.

Warships and mounted crossbows were not the fundamental strength of the Tenglong Navy; it was the soldiers that formed the backbone of its power.

Yang Zhenshan had spent five years at the Tenglong Guard, allowing the soldiers of the Tenglong Navy to drink Spiritual Spring Water for five years. Even after Yang Zhenshan's departure from the Tenglong Guard six or seven years ago, the soldiers of the Tenglong Navy could still consume the Spiritual Spring Water he had left behind.

Although the total amount of Spiritual Spring Water each soldier consumed wasn't much, perhaps even less than what Yang Zhenshan drank in three to five months, it accumulated over twelve years.

In twelve years, even those with the poorest aptitude should have become Martial Artists, and those with decent aptitude, at the very least, would be Postnatal Martial Artists.

Therefore, what Li Chengzhang and Wang Mingjian were facing was not an ordinary Navy, but a Navy comprising five thousand six hundred Martial Artists, with nearly a thousand of them being Postnatal Martial Artists. Even an ensign picked at random would be a Postnatal Martial Artist.

This was the true strength of the Tenglong Navy.

Li Chengzhang and Wang Mingjian had a good strategy; they chose to retreat immediately. However, their retreat didn't mean turning back, but instead sailing southward with the wind.

Watching the enemy shift course, Yu Tonghai stroked his inch-long beard, revealing a faint smile.