A family of loyal martyrs, starting with nine wives to continue the family line.

As dawn broke, the fog on the sea had not yet dissipated, leaving it damp, cold, and sticky, like a layer of paste that could not be washed off.

Shang Wanqing was awakened by the slight rocking of the ship and the lookout's hushed shouts.

She barely slept all night, only managing a short nap leaning against the mast at the bow of the ship, covered with a coarse linen coat, her hair damp with dew.

She suddenly opened her eyes, grabbed the monocular telescope next to her, and stood up.

Through the telescope, the blurry silhouette of the ship in the distance became clear.

The darkness that had enveloped them all night was torn apart by the morning light, and Ke Zhenchuan's fleet revealed its true fangs.

The forty-odd ships were no longer huddled together in a defensive posture as they had the night before. Instead, they split into two wings, like a pair of giant iron pincers slowly opening, encircling the coastline.

Their movements were slow, but their formation was well maintained, clearly indicating that they were well-trained.

Do you want to use your numerical advantage to trap my fifteen ships in coastal waters?

Shang Wanqing sneered inwardly. That old fox, Ke Zhenchuan, really couldn't hold back anymore.

"Pass down the order!"

Her voice sounded exceptionally clear in the morning sea breeze, without a trace of drowsiness:

"Seven ships on the left flank, follow me and cut north! Eight ships on the right flank, circle south!"

She put down her binoculars and slammed her hand heavily on the gunwale.

"Remember that! Keep your distance, don't fight them with knives, just use crossbows to beat them up! Hit them and run, don't linger!"

The flagship's sails instantly filled with wind, and the bow turned like a black dagger, spearheading a diagonal thrust towards the enemy's northern flank.

The remaining fourteen fast ships dispersed nimbly like a school of fish in the morning mist, silently carrying out her orders.

The first contact occurred at Chen Shi (7-9 AM).

The sun peeked out from behind the thick clouds, its golden rays dispelling most of the sea fog.

Led by Shang Wanqing, the seven fast ships on the left wing took advantage of the wind and speed to cut into the northern flank of the pirate fleet from a tricky angle.

"put!"

At her command, the sharp crack of mechanisms tightening and then releasing simultaneously echoed across all seven ships.

Hundreds of specially made short arrows, like a swarm of wasps whose nest had been disturbed, whistled sharply as they rained down on the two pirate warships at the forefront.

The opposing side clearly did not expect that these unremarkable new ships would be equipped with such amazing weaponry in terms of range and power.

In an instant, screams and curses mingled together, echoing across the sea.

A pirate leader who was standing at the bow of the ship was pierced in the shoulder by three short arrows at the same time. He screamed and fell into the cold seawater, where he was instantly swallowed by the rolling waves.

"Turn! Turn around now!"

The pirate fleet was briefly thrown into disarray as they attempted to turn their ships around to use the thicker sides of their hulls to block crossbow bolts, while also trying to scramble a few ships to pursue the enemy.

But Shang Wanqing didn't give them that chance at all.

"withdraw!"

After a volley of fire, before the enemy could even react, she decisively gave the order.

The seven speedboats skimmed almost the surface of the sea, tracing a graceful arc as they quickly broke away from the contact and retreated in the direction they had come from.

"Chase them! Catch them up!" someone on the pirate ship roared angrily.

Three pirate warships immediately separated and sped up to catch up.

But they soon discovered, to their despair, that their old ships, which had been sailing the seas for years, were as clumsy and stupid as a beaten bull in front of their opponents.

Shang Wanqing's new boat was narrow and long, with a very shallow draft, making it as agile as a loach at the edge of the shallow waters near the shore.

The pirate ships chased for less than a mile before they were about to enter a shallow area full of reefs. They could only reluctantly slow down and watch helplessly as their adversaries sailed away.

The situation on the south wing was almost exactly the same.

The other eight fast ships used the same tactic, tearing a gap in the pirates' southern flank, firing several volleys of crossbow bolts to create a commotion, before immediately withdrawing and avoiding any protracted fighting.

All morning, the sea was filled with this hit-and-run drama.

Ke Zhenchuan's massive fleet was like a giant of immense strength, yet it was being harassed by a dozen annoying flies, leaving it in a dilemma.

They wanted to chase, but couldn't catch up; they wanted to rush to the shore, but were afraid of running aground, and even more afraid of being stabbed in the back by these elusive speedboats.

Meanwhile, on the coastline of Minnesota Harbor, another force, powerful enough to strike fear into the hearts of anyone, has quietly gathered.

Liu Jingshuang has arrived.

She led eight thousand cavalrymen on a forced march of four days and three nights, finally arriving at the defense line of Mingzhou Port before dawn.

There were no war drums, no bugles.

Eight thousand of the most elite cavalrymen of Xinwu slowly formed ranks on the wide flat land inside the coastline.

The black iron armor reflected a cold light in the morning sun. The knights sat silently on their horses, holding lances in their hands, their gazes calmly fixed on the sea.

They didn't go into the sea, they didn't charge, they didn't even make any unnecessary movements.

It just stood there quietly, like a black city wall rising from the horizon, silently declaring that this road was blocked.

Finally, someone in the pirate fleet noticed the unusual situation on the shore.

A pirate leader in charge of lookouts held up a captured telescope and carefully looked towards the shore.

He almost dropped the binoculars into the sea after just one glance.

Through the telescope, the dark mass of cavalry stood in formation, stretching as far as the eye could see. It wasn't a few hundred, nor a thousand or two.

It was an entire forest of steel and warhorses, silent, grim, and carrying an oppressive feeling that could crush everything.

"General... there are cavalry on the shore... there are so many! Countless!" His voice became shrill with fear, even cracking.

The news spread like wildfire throughout the pirate fleet.

Tens of thousands of cavalrymen are on the shore!

This thought sent a chill down the spines of all the pirates.

They are wolves at sea, but once they land, facing such well-organized heavy cavalry, they are nothing more than sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

After noon, the sun over the sea became scorching.

After being repeatedly harassed at sea by Shang Wanqing's fast boats and silently intimidated on land by Liu Jingshuang's cavalry formation, Ke Zhenchuan's fleet finally stopped its futile probing.

The ships that had been flanking the main fleet began to slowly regroup, retreating back into the main fleet. The forty-odd ships huddled together, anchored on the original sea surface, like a group of frightened hedgehogs.

Shang Wanqing stood at the bow of the boat, watching this scene, and finally a faint smile appeared on her face.

She said to the sailors beside her, "They hesitated."

She knew very well that Ke Zhenchuan must be on the largest flagship at that moment, staring intently at the cavalry on the shore and the fast ships at sea through his binoculars.

He was a seasoned gambler, but now he suddenly realized he couldn't see his opponent's cards anymore.

How many cavalrymen were on the shore?

Do those ships speeding across the sea have any backup?

Even if we manage to seize some loot in this battle, how many people will actually survive?

Ke Zhenchuan was thinking, calculating, and weighing whether this gamble was worth taking.

"Madam Shang, shall we take this opportunity to go for a ride?" a captain asked excitedly as he approached.

"Need not."

Shang Wanqing shook her head, her gaze calmly fixed on the dense array of ship shadows in the distance:

"If they don't move, we won't move either. We'll just stay here."

She did not order a pursuit, nor did she allow the fleet to approach even an inch further.

Fifteen black fast ships lined up again in a horizontal line on the sea, like an insurmountable fence, silently confronting the more than forty pirate warships.