Mythical Three Kingdoms

"Go, inform General Lochte, the opposing commander is likely someone with similar background in the Imperial Navy, adept in command, and employs naval strategies akin to ours. I hope he takes command himself; I’ll try to hold off the opposition first," Vakas commanded, directing the warship away from the danger zone while using guard ships to obstruct the pirate vessels, as he dispatched his trusted aide to notify Lochte.

With Vakas’ command, five immense legion attacks were launched at the five pirate warships charging forward aggressively.

The imposing attack had already forced the seawater downward even before it landed on the warships, yet the five pirate assault ships continued to rush forward, undeterred.

"Hey, the wave siege defense failed, and next it’s the legion attack—truly a rigid, doctrinal combat mode. Here’s a big gift for you!" Gan Ning sneered; those five fourth-generation ships were the ones he intended to abandon, and he had long prepared for their use.

Long before the ships sped away, the pirates aboard those five ships had already activated all their Cloud Qi. After withstanding the wave siege, the pirates on the five ships had already abandoned ship, and prior to doing so they had activated the Cloud Qi absorption defense formation on the vessels as Gan Ning had instructed.

Having been maximally stimulated, the vessels erupted with all the Cloud Qi nurtured up to that point, weakening the structure and strength of the ships, while the fully active Cloud Qi absorption defense formation frantically drew on the stored Cloud Qi.

As the Kushan Legion’s attack arrived, the formidable assault directly shattered the five warships Gan Ning intended to discard, and with the foundation lost, the massive accumulated Cloud Qi in the defense formation exploded—some initiated by the legion’s attack, others blasted apart and covered the Kushan Navy in normal Cloud Qi.

"Tch, I thought all would explode, but only one did!" Gan Ning said dismissively; this concept was something he had recently conceived.

Based on Gan Ning’s experience during his year in Kushan, they surely possessed relevant techniques, because Kushan ships inherently stored vast amounts of Cloud Qi, and upon crisis activation, an internal explosion was indeed plausible.

Though an internal explosion couldn’t reach its full potential, considering the attributes of Kushan ships, the quantity of stored Cloud Qi was tremendously daunting; even if merely one-twentieth of it were activated, its power would rival a legion attack.

Given its uses for both defense and attack, and capability to weaken opponents, theoretically, it could serve as a self-destruct mechanism. Understanding the effects of a legion attack, Gan Ning knew intuitively there must be a way to trigger a Cloud Qi self-detonation.

Indeed, Gan Ning wasn’t mistaken; methods for Cloud Qi self-detonation existed, but its inert nature meant all utilization methods fundamentally required external life force, with spontaneous explosions being extremely rare.

Kushan had researched this aspect, ultimately forced to abandon it, but as Gan Ning suspected, they developed new naval battle techniques akin to what he was currently executing.

Fundamentally different than Gan Ning’s focal goal of internal Cloud Qi detonation, the Kushan’s product involved extensive Cloud Qi dispersal to draw opponents into a zone of Cloud Suppression and then crush them with absolute superiority.

Incidentally, differing greatly from Gan Ning’s current thoughts, Gan Ning initially noted the advantages of Kushan ships, primarily their substantial Cloud Qi reserves, then contemplated internal explosions, and after those failed and led to Cloud Suppression, Gan Ning was inspired to delve deeper.

After all, during Gan Ning’s year of studying Kushan naval battle techniques, he discovered their major advantages and drawbacks in warships and tactics.

Essentially, Kushan strategies and ships were Cloud Qi-based, with attack, defense, and other maneuvers reliant on reserved Cloud Qi, even determining the combat effectiveness of warships, as Kushan tactics heavily depended on Cloud Qi usage.

This is both an advantage and a drawback; if Han ships lose their Cloud Qi, half their combat power is forfeited, yet they retain a fortress-like defense. However, should Kushan ships be deprived of Cloud Qi, nine-tenths of their total strength is lost, rendering them nearly useless.

Hence, Gan Ning’s research into Cloud Qi internal explosion and suppression was pivotal, for dismantling Cloud Qi would heavily favor Han Army over Kushan. Even without high tactical proficiency, Gan Ning was confident the Han wouldn’t lose to Kushan.

Similarly, Kushan’s initial exploration wasn’t self-defeating; it aimed at countering the Han Dynasty’s Land Forces. After two defeats against Han Land Forces, Vasu Deva I issued stringent orders to resolve this issue.

The Kushan people, stretching their creativity in research, grew increasingly aware of the Han Army’s core strengths, namely the military formation, an extremely challenging element, yet Kushan’s wise individuals suggested solving not the formation, but the Cloud Qi.

Shortly afterwards, someone proposed the Cloud Suppression Technique in a very short time, which meant allowing one of our land forces to possess Cloud Qi far beyond its numbers. Then, we would pair this Cloud Qi against the Han Army, forcing it into a cloud suppression state, allowing our main forces, unhindered by Cloud Qi suppression, to annihilate the Han Army from afar.

This plan seemed extremely cunning, and if it could indeed be implemented, it would basically amount to a one-sided massacre. After all, one side was suppressed by Cloud Qi while the other side’s power was fully unleashed. However, unsurprisingly, the Kushan’s research failed.

Finally, the Kushan researchers, in order to deal with Vasu Deva I’s inquiries, quickly shifted the blame for this failed research to the Navy. After all, the Army couldn’t play like this, but the cloud storage function of naval vessels could well execute this plan.

After all, when the ships are fully activated, they crazily consume Cloud Qi in the defensive manner. Once the ship gets destroyed, the reserved large-scale Cloud Qi suddenly explodes, which would definitely drag the enemy into the restricted range of Cloud Qi first.

Of course, this strange situation can be achieved only in naval battles. Before ground battles, Cloud Qi already clashed with each other. But in naval battles, the essence of Cloud Qi is defined by the ships. Although having many ships could form a dense mass of Cloud Qi.

Naturally, the group of researchers from Kushan, regardless of the quality, at least delivered some results, and a very good one indeed. Although it somewhat differed from the army research Vasu Deva I desired, the hope was seen anyway, and thus Vasu Deva I didn’t hold them accountable but rather rewarded them.

This trick was only taught to various fleet commanders not long ago during Vasu Deva I’s recent naval reform. Naturally, none of the naval commanders in Malacca had ever come into contact with this thing, even though it was very simple.

When Vakas’s legion attack shattered the five pirate warships, and Cloud Qi suddenly exploded back upon them, he immediately realized they were outwitted. They even speculated about the principle behind such a trick upon seeing it!

After all, this move is extremely compatible with Kushan warships, and an experienced captain only needs to see it once to learn it. Previously, Cloud Qi was used for various chaotic purposes, and they had never thought of countering an enemy’s large army in this regard.

"Guard Ship, charge out of the Cloud Qi zone and block the attack!" Vakas almost shouted. However, the moment it was said, Gan Ning’s prepared legion attack had already slashed over, engulfing the ships in Kushan’s first defense line in Cloud Qi.

Although the Cloud Qi suppression significantly weakened the legion attack, it was still deadly for the front of the Kushan Navy, which was limited by Gan Ning’s Cloud Qi to the extent that their Group Defense Formation activation was problematic.

Gan Ning looked on coldly as the fragments of the Kushan warships were shattered by a single legion attack from their side. Indeed, while Kushan warships were useful, they were truly like a pitfall. To use a dumpling analogy, they are like thin-skinned with a large filling; without the Group Defense Formation, there’s no way out.

Amidst the thunderous noise of the legion attack, the Kushan vanguard trapped in the Cloud Qi nearly suffered a fatal blow. The piercing screams mixed with the cracking sound of ships breaking, and immense power discharging on the sea surface, causing a mist to cover that range of seawater.

Through the looming mist, witnessing the extensive legion attack directly shatter the Kushan warship trapped in the Cloud Qi suppression, the morale of Gan Ning’s pirates surged, and the previously advancing warships immediately rushed towards the broken defense line. Compared to distant attacks, close combat provided a greater advantage to the pirates.

"Is there really still a ship remaining? How did they manage that?" As the mist receded, many of Gan Ning’s pirate ships had already engaged in battle with the Kushan warships, even boarding attacks began on both sides. However, what surprised Gan Ning even more was that the command ship of the initial defense line had not been sunk.

With a grim face, Vakas looked at the rafts in the surrounding sea region. Just then, the first line’s seven warships directly sank, and this was even after he ordered a swift activation of their ship’s Cloud Qi, thickening their own Cloud Qi to suppress that which Gan Ning had established.

Even so, only the very center of all the ships, where he was, managed to escape. All other ships were either shattered by Gan Ning’s legion attack, severely damaged and about to sink, or even the right side of his command ship had a large hole punched in it, with seawater frantically flooding in. Fortunately, as long as it didn’t sink on the spot, he had the means to stabilize it.

"Notify Lochte and tell him the enemy has mastered new naval tactical skills and suspect the opponent was once a high-ranking navy officer or even a fleet commander, as their pirates’ combat methods are highly similar to our forces." Vakas ordered the Guard Officer beside him with a grim tone.

"Order the navy of the first line to converge towards the center for defense first, order Ma Xinde’s second line to attack outward, and send someone to notify Commander Qiu Lique, informing him of the current situation." Lochte instructed gravely, observing the situation where the pirate numbers, as estimated by the Lookout based on experience, were between seventy and one hundred and twenty thousand—an extremely frightening number.

From Lochte’s view on the situation, the quality of the pirates seemed to slightly exceed that of their ordinary navy. Coupled with Vakas’s speculation, one wrong move, and the Kushan Navy could potentially suffer significant losses.

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