"Brace and take cover!" Sun Ce shouted loudly as the Mengchong he was on crashed in to the enemies ship, arrows flying overhead as the Archers in both Navies shot across to each other. The ships around him also clashed, as they went full out in the assault. The ferocity of the Sun Navy's attack surprising the defending forces, as some smaller ships were rolled over or sank from the brunt force.
"Board!" The voice of Ling Tong echoed as he jumped from his nearby ship that was nearby to one of the enemies ships. As he jumped, he swung his sword widely with a youthful grin as he disappeared in to the mass of enemies beyond him, his crew following him in similar style.
"Don't let them take the lead!" Sun Ce laughed loudly as he also boarded an enemy ship, his sword taking a life with a deadly swing as they made their way through the Mengchong they had boarded.
The battle was similar across the River, as the sounds of swords clashing and people shouting could be heard. The second line of the Sun Navy Vanguard now also hit, finding it's way through the gaps in the first line and hitting the enemies that were approaching. More chaos ensued as ships sank and more ships joined what was supposed to be a small clash between vanguards.
"Get ready to follow the Enyo." Tomyris ordered the captain of the Calypso as the two towering Trireme were covered slightly by the sails of the Mengchong before them, whilst smaller Doujian flanked them, ready to pull back and follow the trajectories that the Trireme's created. Tomyris grabbed the rail in front of her nervously, the earlier excitement vanishing slightly as she realised how little control she had fighting on the water.
The Vanguard had been pushing forwards and the Calypso was now pushing through wreckage of the first batch of sunken ships. Bodies littered the water, or their cooling arrow ridden bodies clung on to the debris that floated around. Arrows continued to be fired from both sides, however those onboard the Calypso stayed protected by shields as they prepared for their moment in the battle.
Fierce roars could be heard ahead of them, as the Vanguard under Sun Ce and Ling Tong continued the violent assault, giving Huang Zu's forces little chance to fight back. Tomyris was sure that more enemy ships would be joining the fray soon and the second assault from the Sun Navy would begin under Dong Xi. Tomyris held on tightly as the Captain began to direct the ship to turn slightly to the left, following the powerful Enyo that had already began making the manoeuvre.
The two Trireme and their small escort pulled themselves free from the main assault force in to a slight opening of space that appeared beside them, Gan Ning at the front directing the ships with precision as he found them the best location to strike from. Tomyris could imagine the enemies faces as they saw the two towering Trireme appear, deadly and sleek with their powerful oars gaining momentum.
"Ramming speed!" Tomyris ordered as the Calypso came alongside the Enyo, the enemy ships in front of them and ready to be crushed, as the Vanguard continued to battle and push forwards in to the trap the enemy had attempted to lay.
...
"What are those?" Cai Mao asked in shock as two large long ships appeared, towering over the Mengchong and Doujian ships, whilst the Louchuan capital ships weren't yet involved in the battle.
"They are mine." Dom replied tensely as he saw the recognisable shapes of the Enyo and Calypso appearing. Huang Zu's forces had slowly allowed themselves to create a retreating semi circle, luring the Sun Navy Vanguard in, however the two Trireme's and their flanking force would easily disrupt that plan. Dom turned to the young commander beside him who was overseeing the Sun Archers that had been left behind. "Cheng Zi once my ships hit, I want our arrows launched."
"Fire Arrows Lord Lazarus?" Cheng Zi asked, the fire smoking behind him as they prepared to send a signal to the Sun Navy.
"Aim for the centre with the Fire Arrows." Dom agreed, most of the fire arrows wouldn't cause much damage to the hide covered ships, but any chaos they could cause would be a distraction to the main battle.
"Archers prepare arrows." Cheng Zi ordered as Dom watched intently. Cai Mao and Zhao Yun now having finished their conversation with Zhao Yun seemingly having an internal battle with himself.
"What will you do if anyone surrenders?" Cai Mao asked, his question for the sake of other conversations and having little interest himself. He didn't want those loyal to Huang Zu to survive.
"We have agreed to accept them and pull them in to our forces." Dom replied honestly, understanding what Cai Mao was doing, "It is our same intention with the City. For the Sun Family, they are here for Huang Zu and to avenge their fallen father. The people and the Warriors between them aren't their enemy."
"So who are the real enemy?" Cai Mao asked again, watching as the Trireme seemed to get themselves in a flanking position, with some of Huang Zu's navy noticing and moving to intercept.
"The enemy outside is Cao Cao to the north, gathering his power and destroying the Warlords around him." Dom replied, seeing that both Cai Mao and Zhao Yun nodded in agreement, "However for you, Liu Bei is a hidden danger within. Lord Liu Biao is old and if you don't act soon, then it will be Lord Liu Bei that takes over this province."
Cai Mao nodded in agreement, where as Zhao Yun bit his lip, his thoughts still whirling from what ever Cai Mao had explained to him earlier. The two Trireme suddenly lurched forwards, their oars pushing through the water as their momentum increased, a flood of smaller ships following behind them in the river that now rocked. Huang Zu's approaching ships seemed to understand the danger and attempted to manoeuvre out of the way, whilst others began to shoot arrows towards them.
The three of them watched as the Enyo in the lead hit an enemy Mengchong, tearing it apart instantly with the hull rotating so that the keel could be seen bobbing in the water, before powering through to the next ship beyond. Some Mengchong's had successfully moved out of the Calypso's way, only for the wake from the Caplypso to rock them vigorously and the follow up Sun Family ships to take them down.
Beside the two Trireme, four large waves seemed to be approaching, with any ship caught in the way seemingly beginning to take on water. After a few more seconds and the Trireme both sinking another ship each just from their speed and strength alone, the waves parted and the four Titanaconda's were revealed to Huang Zu's Navy as both the Snakes and Riders took a breath of air. Two dived straight on to enemy ships, with the riders stabbing at the crews below, whilst the powerful Titanaconda wrapped it's body and began to crush the ship underneath.
"What are they!" Zhao Yun asked in shock, both his and Cai Mao's mouths agape. "Are they River Gods?"
"Titanaconda's." Dom replied in a serious tone as he watched them debut on a battlefield, worry in his mind that it may have been too early to test them in such a large battle.
"What is a Titanaconda?" Cai Mao asked, similarly in shock, his face paling slightly at the sight of these beasts that seemed to come from legend.
"A giant water Snake that we train and ride." Dom replied, "We have many, but only brought a handful here to support."
Ships began to attempt to turn and run from the approaching monsters and deadly Trireme, whilst Cheng Zi finally ordered the Archers to shoot their arrows, with them hitting the ships that the retreating ships were attempting to move towards. The ships seemed unprepared for the Arrows hitting them from the cliff above, with plenty of lives being taken in the first barrage, which was soon followed by another as Cheng Zi timed them for maximum damage.
Dom watched as the ripple of fear travelled across the forward lines of Huang Zu's forces, allowing Sun Ce and Ling Tong's attack to continue as the flanking manoeuvre from the Trireme's caused chaos as they continued to plough through.
"Deadly." Cai Mao commented seriously, a combination of shock and being impressed passing over him, "That was a deadly attack."
"It's because your Navy isn't used to fighting against them." Dom replied honestly, "The Battle is still far from over."
Cai Mao agreed as the Louchuan capital ships began to move forwards through Huang Zu's lines towards the front where the Trireme and Titanaconda's were causing chaos. As they began to move, Cheng Zu quickly changed the colour of the fire behind him, signalling that Huang Zu was attacking, allowing the Sun Navy to know that the battle was about to go in to the main stage.
In response, drums could be heard beating as the full Naval force of the Sun Navy began pushing forwards. A mighty clash between two of the largest Naval forces of the era about to begin. There was little Dom could do but watch on in anticipation and pride as the Enyo and Calypso continued to cause damage down the flank they were on. The Forbidden Guard Archers onboard deadly with their shots, whilst Hoplite's onboard continued to defend from oncoming arrows.
"Lord Lazarus, they have come!" A Sun Clan Swordsmen quickly exclaimed as he got on his knees, a message sent from Cheng Pu. Dom nodded in response, turning to Cheng Zi who grimaced slightly and had his archers increase their pace, unsure on how long they could hold.
"How many have come?" Dom asked the Swordsmen who remained bowed.
"Seven Thousand, we believe the lead General is General Huang Zhong as expected." He replied, "Most of the force are Swordsmen and Spearmen, with a small group of Cavalry. General Cheng Pu also asked me to tell you that the enemy Cavalry has some foreign units."
"How long until they are at the walls." Dom asked, as both Cai Mao and Zhao Yun listened on, both unsure on how they felt about this update.
"Ten Minutes." He explained, waiting on an order.
"Then General Subutai will begin his fun soon." Dom laughed, "Thank you, please return to General Cheng Pu and get me an update when they finally hit the wall."
"If they hit the wall." Cai Mao added with a laugh, "The chances are slim of them all arriving in one piece, your Cavalry is deadly and I do not know what other surprises you have hidden."
"They are deadly, but I am more interested in these foreign units." Dom asked, not totally disagreeing and wanting to force the enemy to retreat rather than engage in a full battle.
"They came with General Li Shang, small fast horses with slim dark skinned warriors wielding spears." Cai Mao explained, "He was very proud of them, I haven't seen them fight, but I doubt they will cause your Cavalry any issues."
"I hope not, it's a shame that I don't have a specialist General for my Lancers." Dom replied seriously, "Then I would have no worries. Subutai is a genius both as an Archer and a Leader, whilst Tomoe is fierce and deadly, but they are both experts at their own thing and that isn't leading a specialist Lancer Unit."
"It's a shame you don't have someone like General Zhao Yun here, his Cavalry are from the north, remnants of Gongsun Zan's White Horse Cavalry." Cai Mao laughed, as Zhao Yun seemed to make a decision in his mind. "They may have lost to you today, but you would be impressed if you saw them fight for real, I have heard many tales about how Lord Gongsun Zan dominated the north with them fighting against the barbarians to the north."
"I would pay a high price for such talent." Dom agreed as he watched the battle below continue, the field of battle stretching as ship against ship combat was replaced by melee's as crews boarded each other. "If we don't want lives wasted, we need to capture the enemy Louchuan and their commanders."
"It looks like the north of the battle where your ships are is already collapsing under the power of your ships." Cai Mao stated, as Ships began to throw oars and weapons in to the water as the Trireme, Titanaconda's and Mengchongs began to pass. With some of the smaller Sun Family Doujian ships coming alongside and capturing the surrendered ships. "They are making directly for Chen Jiu's Louchuan!"
Dom watched as both the Enyo and Calypso rammed in to a large Louchuan that was a few times longer and slightly higher. Whilst the Louchuan was lower in the water, the longer rams of the Riverside ships easily tore in to the Louchuan, causing cracks to appear throughout. However, the Louchuan wasn't defenceless and the ships crew began to jump on to the Riverside ships from the higher decks, whilst Archers exchanged fire with the Riverside Warriors onboard. The Louchuan also had mounted Crossbows that fired towards some of the oncoming Mengchongs. Some Mengchong's quickly joined in, their crews boarding the Louchuan which now tilted as the Calypso began to pull back and allow water to flow in to the bowels of the enemy ship. Dom watched as some of the Vanguard also clashed in to the Louchuan, with the same goal of removing the enemy officers and ending the battle quickly.