Liu Bei POV

In the next instant, a thunderous roar came from the right, followed by the sound of bowstrings pulled taut, as hundreds of giant rocks soared through the skies and headed for the incoming boats.

“Alright! Let’s fire from our side as well!” Liu Qi yelled out a moment after this while I waved to Chen Dao as well.

Along with another thunderous roar came yet another volley of dozens of giant rocks.

*Pupupupupu*–

The sound of rocks splas.h.i.+ng into the water continued incessantly as close to half missed their mark and landed on empty waters.

Accompanying those splas.h.i.+ng sounds were those of boats being smashed in. Most of the leading boats were hit, and some began to swap while others sank to the bottom of the river with gaping holes.

“Good.” Liu Qi said as she nodded. She didn’t have an excited expression on at all but I could tell that she was rather stirred up by this.

Now that the leading boats were damaged, the wreckage would also stymie the boats behind them. And so, all we need to do is maintain our rate of fire and we can prevail.

As I looked at the sight before me, that ever-familiar bitterness began to sprout forth in my heart once more. Even though I couldn’t hear the cries of the soldiers in the capsized boats, I couldn’t help but to think about what they must be like now, how they must be drowning and flailing about on the surface of the river now.

Isn’t it a little too easy, just to die to a few rocks just like that?

“My lord…”

Chen Dao softly called out to me as she came up to my side. I regained my senses and found that tears had began to fill my eyes. They hadn’t begun to flow but it was obvious and I hurriedly turned away so no one would see this.

“Ah, sorry about this.” I said as I hurriedly rubbed them away. I knew this was a show of weakness but I really can’t help it at times like this. Being in the thick of battle and bearing witness to things as an outsider is very different after all.

“Chen Gong, if you have anything you wish to say to me, you can just do so. I can take it.”

Un? Chen Gong?

I turned back to look at her and saw that she was looking ahead fixedly with a troubled expression.

“Chen Gong? What’s the matter?”

Fire–

Just as I opened my mouth to ask her, a 2nd roar came from Huang Zu’s side and several hundred rocks flew out as our side followed suit.

“Good, the 2nd volley got quite a number of boats as well.”

“The sinking boats have blocked off the path quite a bit so continuing the attack will be difficult.”

Everyone was discussing how the battle was going but my attention at this time was not what was happening up ahead but with Chen Gong.

“Chen Gong?” I called out once more and s.h.i.+fted my gaze to Huang Zu to the right some distance away. I can’t see it too clearly, but it doesn’t seem like Huang Zu is happy in the least.

What’s going on?

“It’s very strange.”

Un? Just then, Chen Gong finally spoke up.

“What’s strange?” I hurriedly asked.

“… Even though the boats at the front rows are obstructing the way, the boats at the back rows are still advancing. Why? Shouldn’t it be more prudent to pull back?” Chen Gong asked.

“Could it be that they have too many troops so they aren’t afraid of such meager losses?”

“No, if the commanding officer on the other side is Zhou Yu or Lu Meng, they would definitely not do this. And besides–” Chen Gong squinted as she said so, “The troops who have fallen into the water have sunk too quickly.”

Eh? I looked over and squinted as well and found that she was right.

The troops who fell into the water didn’t flail about and disappeared beneath the surface shortly after falling in. This is–

“Ah! No!” Chen Gong suddenly yelled out, and grabbed my arm, “Imperial Uncle, get everyone on deck to put down their bows and wield their weapons.”

“Eh?”

“My lord, more flag signals are here.” At the same time, something seems to have happened at Huang Zu’s side as a flurry of instructions came our way.

“… Defend… With haste…”

“Defend?” Liu Qi was puzzled but I drew in a deep breath. Has Huang Zu detected whatever Chen Gong detected?

“Chen Gong! What is it?” I hurriedly asked her to get an answer but Chen Gong didn’t seem to have too much capacity to reply me.

“Imperial Uncle! The enemy troops who capsized are already–”

Die!!

All of a sudden, a wave of roars came from the s.h.i.+p to the right. I looked over and saw several dozen– And several nundred people following immediately after– Leap out from the water and clamber onto the s.h.i.+p several dozen meters tall.

“What’s going on?!” Liu Qi panicked when she saw this and nearly slipped off her horse, requiring Wen Ping’s help to keep her on the horse.

“Chen Gong, could it be that–” I could guess what the answer was by now. I looked at her, and she nodded with a stony expression.

“Yes! Most of the troops in the front rows didn’t die, and swam here after capsizing.”

“What!?” Liu Qi was very shocked while Yi Ji at the side also uncharacteristically frowned slightly. Seems like none of them expected this.

“Jiangdong’s troops are well-adapted to the water and are good at naval warfare. Looks like we’ve been tricked by the front rows of boats.” Yi Ji said, albeit a little too late.

If the river were like how it usually was, then they would have been swept away by the currents. But it just so happens that the currents are relatively calm today and are perfect for swimming… Alright, now’s not the time for this.

*Dang* *Dang* *Dang*!

Several dull clunks rang out as hooks flew up from below and lodged themselves onto the sides of the s.h.i.+p.

“They’re here!” Chen Dao put up her guard and rode over to me as she drew her spear.

“Be careful, my lord.” Zhou Cang called me her lord again as she came up with her machete drawn and got into a stance.

I wasn’t satisfied with just being protected either and drew my twin swords as I made sure to keep control of my horse.

— Die!!

In the next instant, just as expected, several dozen bare-bodied burly men leapt into the s.h.i.+p after they crawled up the ropes and came for us with their swords drawn.

“Yaa!” Chen Dao hurriedly got ready and swept out with her spear, knocking off several enemy troops off the deck before they could get a good foothold.

Die!!!!

But wave after wave of troops clambered up onto the s.h.i.+p, with each wave seeming even larger than the one before.

In an instant, chaos descended upon the s.h.i.+p as the Jiangdong naval troops engaged the Xiangyang elites in battle. It was clear that the Jiangdong naval troops were very top notch. Even on the shaky deck, they were steady on their feet as though they were standing on the ground. All of them were also big, burly men and they were overpowering our side which was roughly equally mixed.

As for the Nanman troops we brought along, it seems like most of them can’t handle the sea at all, and a lot of them were seasick just like I was with some showing even worse symptoms than I was.

Looks like the troops we have aren’t adept for a naval battle at all.

“My lord, the s.h.i.+p isn’t steady! Please dismount now!” Chen Dao called out frantically when she realised this.

I knew that things were dire and didn’t reply as I dismounted while fending off attacks from incoming enemies. Looks like I don’t have my dismounting skills down yet and I find myself getting attacked every time I try to dismount, making it difficult to do so.

“Ha!” Yet another sailor slashed down at me just when I dismounted. I instinctively dodged and raised my sword to counterattack. But because the number of people on the s.h.i.+p was increasing, I couldn’t get my balance and the enemy easily dodged my attack.

And immediately following that, the s.h.i.+p trembled violently.

Wu… Here it comes again.

This sudden violent tremble triggered my seasickness and I stood rooted to the spot as I struggled to keep standing.

“Haa!” The sailor in fron of me seemed fine, and naturally neither waited nor showed pity when he saw how I was and only slashed down at me once more.

I need to defend myself.

I thought, but my body was too slow, thought I’d begun defensive maneuvers, the sword was already approaching my chest–

*Ding*! *Ding* *Ding* *Ding*!

Just then, Zhou Cang’s machete entered my field of vision and spun about, flicking the sailor’s weapon away.

“Zhou Cang! Thanks!”

“No need for thanks,my lord.”

I thanked Zhou Cang, who didn’t look over as she concentrated on swiftly dispatching the oncoming enemies.

At the back of her head, her ponytail held together by the head band I gave her flew about in tandem with her movements on the battlefield.

Un, looks like my gift really does have utility after all.

“Umm, my lord. How is it?”

“Eh?”

Zhou Cang suddenly asked me a question without any foreshadowing at all.

“I meant my hair band… How is it?” She continued without turning back.

Her words were a little hesitant, unlike her movements which were very swift and smooth as she continued fighting with the surrounding enemies. From what I saw, it seems like she’s constantly fighting 3-4 people at any one time.

But all this wasn’t important now. What was importsnt was that she actually asked me that at this time. This made me very surprised on various levels.

Of course, I didn’t forget to reply immediately.

“Good! Very good!” I yelled back, not forgetting to flash her a thumbs up.

“… Un, th, thanks.”

Though I don’t know what’s going on, it feels like Zhou Cang is a lot shyer than what I initially expected her to be, as her face actually reddened slightly, which was something I’d never seen on her before. To think I actually saw a girly side of Zhou Cang at such a dangerous time.

Seeing a girly Zhou Cang fight off enemies valiantly and bravely is a rather interesting experience.

Yaaa!!!!

And just then, a thunderous roar came from the other side of the s.h.i.+p.