World Conquest Online

"Get after that Louchuan!" Gan Ning yelled from the front of the Enyo, the Calypso keeping pace beside them. The Rowers were tired, exhaustion from the journey followed by multiple manoeuvres. The battle was taking a long time, whilst the Sun Navy now had the enemy on the retreat, still had to be cautious. The Louchuan in front of them was much slower than the other ships around it, it’s large weight and lack of breeze slowing it significantly. A rear guard defended it and Gan Ning could see Sun Ce and Ling Tong directing ships to block them so the two Trireme’s could push through for a final attack. Once this Louchuan and it’s General onboard were captured, the main part of the Naval battle should be over.

Gan Ning looked behind him, a large portion of the enemy ships were still engaged and fighting behind as the young Gan Ning and Dong Xi led the majority of the ships to battle it out in the wide River there. The loss of valuable Naval ships and crews was large and Gan Ning hoped that more would surrender once Su Fei’s Louchuan was captured. If they could preserve more of Huang Zu’s navy, then the future battles that the Sun Family would be involved in would be much easier, with less reliance on tricky alliances.

"It looks like around half of the enemy have surrendered so far." One of the Hoplite Marines said to Gan Ning as they looked around the battle, the number much higher than Gan Ning expected, but his focus was more on the chase than anything else. He owed Su Feu in front of him a lot, and wanted to catch him before he was caught or killed by someone else. Su Fei was stubborn and he knew that if he didn’t catch him that it wouldn’t end well for his friend. For Gan Ning, capturing Su Fei was the most important part of the battle.

The Enyo soon pushed through the remaining enemy rear guard, that were avoiding the Trireme’s and being taken care off by Sun Ce and Ling Tong, as well as Lu Meng who had also flanked round on the other side to support. Behind him, the two Titanaconda’s that had come with his ship were resting onboard, one had several wounds that were being cared for, whilst the other was resting to be ready to fight again. The Titanaconda’s had been a worthwhile investment and he was proud at how they had proven themselves so far. Gan Ning aimed to have them based all over the Calm River and Tongpai Lake when he returned, a deadly defence net. He also now had a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses and hoped he could incorporate that in to their armour.

"Brace yourselves!" The Captain shouted to those on the top of the Enyo as the rowers increased their pace to ramming speed for hopefully the last time in the battle. The Louchuan in front of them fired it’s crossbows towards them, one arrow catching a hoplite in the chest and flinging him back, whilst others covered the front of the ship. Gan Ning heard a loud grunt from below as one of the arrows punched through near the oar slit and caught a rower in the leg.

The Enyo rammed in to the back of the fleeing Louchuan, whilst the Calpyso beside them did the same thing. The Louchuan in front of them jerked heavily in the water, pushing forwards and lifting slightly, whilst both Trireme shook at the impact, with splinters running down the sides of the ships.

"Pull back!" The Captain yelled, as the Rowers tirelessly began to dislodge the Trireme, allowing water to flood in to the Louchuan in front of them and causing it to list dangerously in the water. The Calypso did the same thing as the Louchuan began to take on a large amount of water. The deadly capital ship not being given the same grace as those from earlier, it’s escape inevitable otherwise.

"Prepare to board!" Gan Ning yelled, the Captain beside him shaking his head as the three healthy Titanaconda’s disembarked the two ships, allowing the Marine Hoplites to use them as bridges to board the slowly sinking Louchuan in front of them. He then turned and shouted across the water to the nearby Mengchong’s. "Sun Ce, get ready to collect us, I don’t want to get pulled under with it!"

"I’m coming with you!" Sun Ce shouted from nearby as Gan Ning saw Tomyris run across a Titanaconda with her Marines.

"Wait here, we won’t be long!" Gan Ning shouted back, his voice slightly put on to sound different from his normal tone. Gan Ning ran across his own Titanaconda, his Marines following him as he joined up with Tomyris who was trying to keep her balance on the ship as it took on more water. "You didn’t need to come as well."

"I did, otherwise you would end up sacrificing yourself for your friend!" She countered, "Let’s hurry up and capture him so we can go, I am staying on the land next time!"

"I do not blame you!" Gan Ning laughed, looking at her pale face as she grasped her deadly sword in her hand.

The two of them followed the same route they had earlier when they captured their other Louchuan. The Second one had been taken by Sun Ce whilst they had pushed on and another had been taken by Dong Xi behind them. They headed directly upstairs, the crew onboard partially ignoring them as they attempted to jump in the water and escape. Gan Ning knew it was a lost cause for a lot of them, those in armour destined to sink if they didn’t remove it first. Part of him hoped that the smaller ships that were now swarming would collect them before they drowned.

"Remove your armour and weapons, surrender and board our ships below!" Tomyris yelled at them, some listening to her instructions whilst others tried to escape in panic as the ship took on more water.

"Su Fei, where are you!" Gan Ning shouted as they reached the top deck. Noticing a man in his late thirties stood at the front of the ship as everyone ran away.

"Don’t come any closer, I am enjoying the view." Su Fei replied from the front, his back to them as he watched the Navies clash around him.

"Stop being an idiot, the battle is lost!" Gan Ning shouted at him, "I have come a long way to get you my old friend."

"Old friend? I’m only four years older!" Su Fei argued back as he turned and saw Gan Ning, his mask removed and in his hand. "Wow, you have aged a lot in a few weeks, I definitely don’t want to join the Sun Clan if that is what it does to you."

"I have a lot to tell you, but we need to go now." Gan Ning explained, as Tomyris stood beside him with her sword still drawn.

"I don’t fancy surrendering to Sun Quan, just to have my head removed and paraded." Su Fei disagreed as he stood his ground. "I know his hatred for Huang Zu, as do you."

"Then surrender to me, surrender to my new Lord, Lord Lazarus. We will keep you safe and you can join us." Gan Ning countered quickly, his words fast as he felt the ship tilt more in the water and Su Fei had the clear stance that he didn’t want to surrender to Sun Quan.

"Lord Lazarus?" Su Fei asked with a raised eyebrow, "You have only just joined the Sun Family and you have changed already? I expected more from you!" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"It’s complicated but trust me, like I have always trusted you!" Gan Ning stated, as the ship rocked and Tomyris stumbled slightly beside him.

"Xingba, if you don’t leave soon I am dragging you with me!" Tomyris said, using his courtesy name which she rarely did. Her face flushed at being on the sinking ship.

"I won’t leave until he does." Gan Ning replied seriously, to the anger of Tomyris who almost hit him herself.

"Why are you doing this?" Su Fei replied, "You have your life now, go and live it."

"Either come with me, or I’m going to knock you unconscious and drag you with me." Gan Ning replied, his tone turning angry at his friends stubbornness. "I can not guarantee that your face will not hit a few stairs on the way down."

"Fine, but I’m only surrendering to the terrifying woman next to you! It would be embarrassing otherwise." Su Fei grumbled as he walked towards them, his hands in the air to show he wasn’t armed. Tomyris grabbed him and pushed him down the stairs to the waiting Marine Hoplite who dragged him to the bottom where two small Doujian ships were waiting to take them back to the Enyo and Calypso that were waiting nearby. They quickly got on the ships and moved away from the sinking Louchuan. Su Fei watched with a depressed look in his eyes, "I finally get the chance to command the Navy and we lose!"

"Trust me when I say, this was the best result possible." Gan Ning replied honestly as he put his mask back on.

At the sight of the sinking Louchuan, most of the remaining Navy now surrendered as Dong Xi, Lu Meng and the young Gan Ning charged through the flanks on either side of Sun Ce, Ling Tong and the Trireme’s. Jiangxia was in front of them and they could soon assault the city itself.

The city had a large port, with a high wall that surrounded both the city and the port. On the walls facing the River were more crossbows that had sank multiple ships so far in the battle. Gan Ning decided he would steal a few of these and put them on the Enyo and Calypso so that Ou Yezi could copy the design and equip them on the Trireme’s. The crossbows could be helpful with their upcoming mission if they chose the naval option of Mycale.

"I think we should let the others take over for now." Tomyris said from beside him, having boarded the Enyo with him and Su Fei. The Calypso and the Titanaconda’s all waited patiently as the Sun Family sped past them towards Jiangxia. "Let Lord Lazarus and Subutai claim the rest of the wins. There is no point risking our tired men any further."

"I agree, come Su Fei and have a seat, I’ll tell you all about the Kingdom we are building and why we need you." Gan Ning smiled, as he took a seat with Tomyris and Su Fei in the centre of the Enyo.

Xun You soon passed them himself, waving to the three of them as they drank whilst he headed towards Jiangxia on Zhou Yu’s Louchuan. They waved back and Xun You was pleased to see that they had excelled in their tasks. He just hoped that the others were doing just as well. He looked up back towards the hill they had passed earlier, knowing that when the Arrows had stopped it was either that they were marching on Jiangxia or were in a battle of their own.

....

Eight thousand Warriors marched towards the walls of Jiangxia, the mixed units preparing to take the city before the navy did. Tomoe and Zhao Yun stood at the front, both with different tasks depending on how the next stage of the battle commenced. Zhao Yun’s task was to persuade Guan Yu to let them in, whilst Tomoe’s task was to defeat Guan Yu if he decided not to.

The Infantry followed the thousand Cavalry, the new soldiers in the front rows with senior members of Cheng Pu’s original forces to support them and bring cohesion. Cheng Pu bravely marched at the front of them with Liao Hua leading the main part of Cheng Pu’s forces and Cheng Zi bringing up the rear of the Infantry.

"Thank you for dealing with Liu Pan." Cai Mao said as they came to the walls, two Batavi Guards at each of his shoulders so that the enemy could see that he was a prisoner. "That is one thorn less in my families side. It’s a shame that Liu Qi isn’t here as well."

"Tomoe returned the favour for everything you have provided us with so far." Dom replied seriously but in a pleasant tone, having had no intention of recruiting Liu Pan and knowing that a member of the Liu family wouldn’t have joined Sun Quan. "However, we can’t act as mercenaries to clear up all of your competition."

"I understand that." Cai Mao replied in a saddened tone, "However, I wish that wasn’t the case!"

"You never know what the future holds." Subutai replied in a teasing tone, which made Dom smile as well. Cai Mai seemingly didn’t understand their joke, but already had some thoughts about the strange allies of Sun Quan and how he could work with them even further to push his own plans.