If you traveled back to ancient times, while others ate Guanyin clay, you would actually have giant

The expedition still involved twenty warships, but compared to the Fourth Prince Li Zheng, this fleet was armed to the teeth. Each warship was equipped with eight heavy crossbows, each capable of piercing through existing sea vessels.

The crew members were also legitimate naval personnel, most of whom were originally pirates, while the remaining small number were members of the Zhouwu Trade Escort Team.

According to the plan, the team will be divided into two teams, each with ten Bull Demon King-class ships. One team will be led by Li Junren with Zhou Wu as his assistant, and the other team will be led by Lin Niangzi alone.

On the surface, Li Junren was in charge of this bandit suppression operation, but in reality, Li Junren had instructed Zhou Wu before boarding the ship that Zhou Wu would be the leader of the entire operation, and he was only nominally in charge.

Li Junren has enough self-awareness. He can handle land battles, but not naval battles. So far, he's already doing well enough to avoid seasickness.

As for Lin Niangzi leading a separate squadron, that was a decision Zhou Wu made after careful consideration. To be honest, Lin Niangzi's naval combat skills were even stronger than Zhou Wu's, so letting her lead a fleet alone might have a surprising effect at a crucial moment.

. . . . . .

Twenty warships headed directly towards White Skull's lair. According to Lin Niangzi's intelligence, White Skull had two hiding places. One was White Skull's original lair, located in the same sea area as Niujia Town. The other was near the East China Sea, where White Skull reportedly annexed the fourth-ranked Red Hair Pirates and took over their lair. It was said that Black Dragon was currently staying there.

The plan is to first take down the local stronghold in the local waters, and then head straight for the East China Sea.

Guided by Madam Lin, the fleet arrived quickly.

"It seems that Heilong really has moved all his belongings to the East China Sea."

The island was now visible to the naked eye, but there were no large ships on the surrounding sea or at the island's dock, only some small boats.

The fleet sailed unimpeded and landed without encountering any resistance.

Once ashore, the group realized why they hadn't encountered any resistance: there were only the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled left; they hadn't seen a single able-bodied person or woman.

"Search carefully."

"promise."

After reading it, Li Junren immediately arranged for a search, thinking it best to be cautious.

Soon, his subordinates reported that there were no suspicious people, so it could be basically concluded that this base had been abandoned by Black Dragon.

However, although the base was abandoned by the Black Dragon, Zhou Wu became interested.

How big is this island exactly?

From the moment they landed on the island, they couldn't see the other side of it at all.

"Someone, immediately send someone to check how big this island really is."

Zhou Wu sent out a small team of two people each, who went in different directions. He told them to turn back when they reached the end of the island.

Zhou Wu's sudden impulse led him to discover a huge treasure.

He thought these people would return soon, but Zhou Wu didn't expect to wait for several days.

. . . . . .

a few days later.

"Zhou Wu, could something have happened to those people?"

"These people were all in pairs, and heading in different directions. It's impossible for them all to have an accident at the same time, right?"

Faced with Li Junren's question, Zhou Wu felt that the possibility was not high.

"Wait a minute."

Although Zhou Wu said this, he was also a little unsure. If nothing unexpected happened, the fact that these people had left these past few days could only mean that the size of the island had far exceeded his expectations.

After another day, the people who had been sent out began to return one after another.

"Reporting to you, sir, we set off along the eastern route, not daring to stop during the day, and it took us three days of fast horse riding to reach the end."

"Sir, we set off southwards and it took us three days to travel there."

Of the people sent out, a group heading north has not yet returned. Even Zhou Wu wondered if those who went north had perished.

"Should we wait?"

"Let's wait a little longer, it won't make a difference if we wait a day or two."

"Row."

Li Junren took the opportunity to rest and recuperate these few days. Although he was no longer seasick, as someone who was used to living on land, he still felt a little uncomfortable after being at sea for so long.

Two days later, the people who had been searching for the north finally returned.

"Your Excellency, we traveled north for five days before reaching our destination."

Zhou Wu had a general idea of ​​what was going on. The island was almost the size of Hainan Island, which was a pleasant surprise. Such a large island was located so close to Da Long.

Are there any other people on the island?

"Reporting to you, sir, we have not found any signs of human activity along the way."

Finally, all those who went out to scout the way returned, and Zhou Wu ordered the fleet to continue its journey. This time, their destination was the East China Sea. As for this island, they would deal with it when they returned.

While Zhou Wu was investigating Heilong, Heilong also received information about Zhou Wu, learning that Zhou Wu had visited his hometown. Heilong wasn't particularly upset, as it was a place he had abandoned in the first place.

Their original stronghold, an island, was too large. For pirates, this was not a good thing at all. They never even considered building anything on it. Instead, they complained that its large size would make it difficult to defend.

After Black Dragon annexed Red Hair, he arrived at Red Hair's lair and found that it was much better than his own hometown. The island was not large, but it was more strategically important and easier to defend than to attack.

Black Dragon decisively chose to settle all the able-bodied men and women here. As for the old, weak, and women, pirates are a dog-eat-dog world, so they were left in the lair to fend for themselves.

"Chief, the Great Dragon Navy is heading this way. Judging from their speed, they are expected to find us tomorrow."

The spies sent out were constantly reporting on the navy's progress.

"Strategist, what should we do?"

"Chief, I have two plans."

"Please enlighten me, strategist."

"We'll send a fleet to intercept the navy. If we can destroy them, that would be best. Even if we can't, we can still probe their strengths and weaknesses."

"Hmm~"

"Secondly, I think we can send a fleet to hide first, and when the navy confronts us, this fleet can attack from behind the navy to form a pincer movement."

"Good, good, good."

To Zhou Wu, this plan was full of flaws and utter nonsense, but to the uneducated Hei Long, the strategist's plan was a brilliant strategy.

A major battle between the two sides was imminent. Black Dragon knew Zhou Wu's methods, so the same tactics as last time would definitely not work. This time, they could only fight openly and directly. However, the recent smooth sailing had greatly boosted Black Dragon's confidence. It was no wonder, as Black Dragon now had thousands of men under his command and hundreds of ships of various sizes.

Among them, the Bull Demon King-class alone has surpassed Zhou Wu's navy, no wonder he is now confident enough to go head-to-head with Zhou Wu.