After passing through the strait, the ocean swells were massive. The warship rose and fell unsteadily, which affected the shooting of crossbow bolts. Only when firing in volleys could the bolts be nailed into enemy ships. Although quite a few enemy ships were destroyed, even more enemy vessels swarmed forward like a tidal wave. Hooks as dense as a spider’s web were hurled toward the Princess.

Heavily armored soldiers tied with safety ropes rushed out with axes to chop these ropes one by one. Fire arrows shot at them with clanging sounds. Four burly men desperately cranked the water pumps, continuously drawing seawater up onto the deck. Before long, a layer of seawater covered the deck. Under the action of the giant ship swaying up and down, small waves extinguished those fire arrows one by one.

Lai Chuanfeng, wielding a giant axe, patrolled back and forth on the deck. Once pirates jumped over, he would laugh wildly and pounce, the giant axe spinning like wind, cutting down pirates beneath his blade. He’d experienced this type of offensive-defensive battle countless times. The boots with iron plates on his feet were firmly nailed to the deck coated with whale wax. Facing pirates barefoot who couldn’t stand steady on the deck, he only needed to swing his axe and kill.

The enormous stone hammers hanging from cranes were like two giant fists under the control of five strongmen. Just one punch could smash an enemy ship to pieces. The thick iron chains were wound with countless cables. As the stone balls swung back and forth, three enemy ships were also dragged along swaying east and west.

Takayama Yoko’s face was ashen as she watched the three warships at the strait entrance rotating like enormous millstones. With each rotation, her pirate forces would be weakened by one measure. She also wore armor, only revealing that beautiful face. Beside her, Cheng Jiu continuously transmitted orders to surrounding pirates.

“Tell Mai Tiechui that if he still maintains an observing stance, after we’re annihilated, Yun Ye will extract his tendons to bind armor. Only by working together do we have a thread of survival.”

Cheng Jiu threw down the flag in his hands, jumped onto a small boat, and went to Mai Tiechui’s location. Sitting on a mountain watching tigers fight was a kind of wisdom, but if the two tigers’ strengths were uneven, the victorious tiger would also devour the person watching.

Fujiwara stripped off his clothes, leaving only a white hemp cloth tied around his waist. Grabbing a long sword in his hand and biting a short sword in his mouth, he was about to jump onto a small boat, preparing to go to where the battle was most intense. As an alternate daimyo, Fujiwara doing this was actually preparing to die. Ever since Takayama Yoko married Yuan Gaesu Mun, he’d planned to die.

“Fujiwara, don’t go! This isn’t your war—it’s my war. This battle’s outcome is uncertain. The warfare is deadlocked and needs fierce warriors to break open the situation, but that person shouldn’t be you.” Takayama Yoko called out to stop Fujiwara.

Fujiwara suddenly rushed over, threw away the swords on his body, grabbed Takayama Yoko, and kissed her fiercely. His hands reached through the gaps under Takayama Yoko’s ribs, seizing those breasts he’d long coveted and kneading them wantonly. Takayama Yoko smiled lightly, allowing Fujiwara to take liberties. When Fujiwara, eyes red, prepared to go further, only then did she push away the beast-like Fujiwara and return to the arrow tower to continue watching the battle situation.

Fujiwara closed his eyes, bit his teeth, rearmed himself, jumped onto a warship about to enter battle, and charged toward the Princess in the midst of the chaotic fighting. Only when he was about to die would Yoko allow him to be wanton. A woman’s words couldn’t be counted on.

Boats that were too tall would be smashed to pieces by stone balls. Many pirates rode low, flat boats to approach the Princess, desperately nailing fire arrows onto the Princess’s hull. But seawater descending from heaven never let them succeed.

When enough pirates had gathered on both sides of the giant ship, several tubes emerged from above the warship’s waterline. Wildfire oil sprayed like rain onto those small boats. After the tubes withdrew into the cabin, several fire arrows shot over from the deck. The low boats immediately became fireballs one after another.

Pirates ablaze all over screamed in terror and jumped into the ocean. Seawater cut off most of the flames, but some blue flames still burned on their bodies. This was the most vicious green phosphorus fire—it would never stop until completely burned out.

The Princess was a nearly perfect war machine. When building this ship, Yun Ye required that its defensive and offensive capabilities must be comprehensive. The fierce generals of the Lingnan fleet had already conducted countless offensive-defensive tests on the Princess in water tanks. For this low-intensity warfare, it could completely adapt.

On the ocean, only natural disasters could destroy it. This was the unanimous view of the naval commanders.

There were too many pirates. The armored soldiers on the ship couldn’t kill them in time. Some skilled pirates were already fighting armored soldiers on the deck. Takayama Yoko finally felt relieved. As long as her people could board the large ship, no matter how many casualties, sooner or later they would occupy this invincible warship. She didn’t mind how many people died.

Countless caltrops were suddenly thrown onto the deck by someone. This device was generally used in land warfare, a weapon specifically for dealing with cavalry. Suddenly appearing on the deck made those barefoot pirates cry out in misery. The armored soldiers wearing iron boots naturally paid no attention, easily cutting down pirates with bleeding feet and finally throwing them into the ocean.

Li Tai kept jumping and wanted to rush down to the deck, but was held back tightly by his two guards. As long as Li family members saw combat, they had the desire to personally try it. This desire manifested most intensely in Li Tai.

The Qingque’s deck was almost submerged by pirates. The armored soldiers fought while retreating, already withdrawing to the cabin door area. Those pirates were frantically attacking the wooden houses storing the eight-ox crossbows.

“Release me! The pirates are about to rush up. Do you hope this prince will be captured alive? This solitary prince would rather die in battle than be captured and humiliated.” Li Tai desperately kicked his guard leader with his feet.

The guard captain said helplessly: “Your Highness, you won’t be captured alive, nor will you die in battle. Didn’t you see this is tactics? The cabin door areas have long been filled with powerful crossbows. Look, they’re firing now.”

Under Li Tai’s astonished gaze, crossbow bolts like a rainstorm shot continuously from the cabin side. Soon the deck was piled with corpses. Those armored soldiers who had retreated into the cabin door came out again, using short spears to stab each corpse at vital points, ensuring these pirates were thoroughly dead before throwing them into the ocean.

Li Tai embarrassedly touched his nose. He’d been somewhat out of control just now—his rookie battlefield face exposed completely. The guard leader quickly said: “Your Highness’s behavior is that of a true man. Only true men would think of going into battle to fight rather than hiding behind. However, these little bugs don’t require Your Highness to take action. We small ones can clean them up thoroughly.”

When the Qingque and the Chengqian crossed, Li Tai enviously watched Han Zhe freely crisscrossing on the deck. Under his hand, there was almost no opponent who could last one exchange. After beheading the last pirate, Han Zhe’s white clothes had almost become blood-stained. Watching him stand at the bow madly shouting in defiance at the pirates, Li Tai again began desperately kicking the guard leader. He also wanted to fight. He also wanted to stand at the bow shouting loudly. The guard leader was right—this was indeed very manly.

On the battlefield, what’s contested is actually a surge of blood courage. The role of fierce generals was very useful at this time. When subordinates saw their commander killing forgetfully in front, their hearts would involuntarily bring themselves into the commander’s valiant figure, believing they too could chop left and kill right. So they would also pick crowded places to kill toward. This was fatal to the enemy. Of course, these soldiers who crazily identified usually didn’t have good fates—the most among the war dead were them.

When Fujiwara jumped onto the Princess bare-bodied, many people who easily believed themselves invincible followed beside him. Especially when they saw Fujiwara chop off an armored soldier’s arm and kick another armored soldier into the ocean, they even more believed they could do it too. They picked the burliest armored soldier and charged over…

Xi Tong was very angry. Those small fries seemed to really like him, coming forward one after another to crowd beside him. He originally wanted to find that very formidable bare-bodied large man to fight but couldn’t find the opportunity.

Yun Ye insisted on putting armor on him, making him also look like a small fry. Roaring loudly, the wide mo-sword spun, and two pirates were immediately cut in half at the waist. Xi Tong spun and stepped on an intestine. That pirate cut in half at the waist shrieked and tried to move his foot to snatch back his own intestine…

The ocean seemed tired of this endless slaughter. A torrential downpour poured down. The shallow layer of seawater on the deck, already dyed red by fresh blood, gradually overflowed the low barriers, flowing with splashing sounds into the ocean.

If on an ordinary day, this would be a good day for bathing. But now, except for Fujiwara being stark naked, no one else had the mood to bathe. The white hemp cloth at Fujiwara’s waist had already gone who knows where. Still fighting intensely with his naked body, the long sword in his hand was very excellent, actually able to split open heavy armor. But after splitting too many times, it also became like a sawtooth. Kicking away an armored soldier he’d cut down, he used his saw-blade to pull off the head of an armored soldier beside him who’d just killed a pirate. Seeing Yun Ye standing in the arrow tower above his head coldly watching him, he shrieked and bounded up, about to step onto the arrow tower.

Xi Tong finally cleared the small fries around him. Discovering Fujiwara had actually set his sights on Yun Ye, he kicked a pirate’s headless corpse over. Fujiwara dodged the corpse. Hearing wind sounds from behind, he hurriedly swung his long sword backward to counter-strike. The terrifying force transmitted through the blade made his soul fly beyond the heavens. He hurriedly rolled on the ground. Despite his quick reaction, he still felt severe pain on his shoulder. A large piece of flesh fell before him.

This was his own flesh—Fujiwara knew. One of the requirements for daimyo was that the body must not be deficient. If he returned to the land of Wa, he would be the daimyo of the Fujiwara house. Now that his body had deficiency, what could be done?

Taking advantage of Xi Tong’s form being pulled to one side by the heavy mo-sword, he picked up his piece of flesh and stuffed it in his mouth, chewing hard. Taking a flail from a dead armored soldier’s hands, he viciously smashed it toward Xi Tong.