Chapter 302: Sweet Port Turbulence — Battle of Chrysanthemum Islets (Part 2)

Xi Yazhou checked his watch. Exactly twenty minutes had elapsed since he sent the second telegram.

"You're damn punctual!" Xi Yazhou muttered, relief washing over him. Only then did he realize he was drenched in cold sweat.

"First Mate Le, dispatch marines to prepare to board the derelicts. Safety first!" He removed his steel helmet. It bore several dents from hard impacts; the thing had proved its worth—otherwise his skull might have been caved in long ago.

As his mind and body relaxed, he suddenly became aware of a sharp pain in his leg. Looking down, he discovered a large bloodstain spreading across his trousers. The slightest movement brought searing agony.

"I'm actually wounded..."

Hearing Xi Yazhou was injured, Le Lin hurried over with a medic. Although Xi Yazhou harbored deep reservations about the native medics, he couldn't afford to be selective now. The medic cut open his trouser leg. There was a bloody gouge on his calf, flesh torn open, bleeding considerably—likely caused by shrapnel. Watching the medic skillfully use chopsticks to hold an alcohol-soaked cotton ball for disinfection, Xi Yazhou couldn't help but think of scenes from movies about Norman Bethune.

The medic examined the wound and concluded no foreign object was embedded; applying medicine and bandaging would suffice—no stitching required. Xi Yazhou sensed his leg wasn't seriously impaired. But he worried about tetanus from the shrapnel. Though the medic applied some ointment, who knew what it actually contained? Xi Yazhou was aware that the Health Department and the Agricultural Commission's biological laboratory had established a pharmaceutical factory, producing both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicines. He remained highly skeptical of the concoctions emerging from Shi Niaoren's workshop. He resolved that upon returning to Lingao, he would visit the hospital for a proper examination, or at least obtain a tetanus injection...

Despite these concerns, his face maintained a resolute expression, though he grimaced slightly at the sting of alcohol during the cleansing.

The operation to drive the enemy into the Chrysanthemum Islets proceeded smoothly. The trawlers didn't employ full power, merely trailing the fleet at a measured pace. The six pirate ships, terrified, fled desperately under this "pursuit."

The two trawlers followed at a leisurely distance. The commander, adhering to the plan to shepherd the fleet into the islets without permitting them to scatter, maintained moderate pressure.

"Boss, those two 'demon ships' are still behind us—" a subordinate reported in panic.

"Lingering ghosts!" Gu Dachun spat. He had already fled; why were these Australians pursuing so relentlessly? Even if they were government troops, the ships and men abandoned earlier should have sufficed for them to claim credit.

"It's fine! We'll reach the Chrysanthemum Islets soon. No one can navigate that maze of bays and shoals but us." Gu Dachun felt slightly relieved seeing the enemy wasn't gaining, though they followed persistently.

Gu Dachun seized the helm himself and was the first to plunge into the Chrysanthemum Islets. This was familiar territory; he knew precisely where every reef and sandbar lay.

At the artillery position at Cat's Leap Pass, Ying Yu raised his telescope. He observed the fleet reported by telegram minutes earlier: six single- or twin-masted sailing ships speeding among the reefs, bays, and channels. Their skill in navigating such hazards amazed him. Had it not been for Wu De's ambush plan, the Navy might never have dared pursue them into this labyrinth.

Now, on the islets and reefs near Cat's Leap Pass, artillerymen had deployed four batteries totaling ten cannons. The position Ying Yu commanded had been surveyed by Wu De personally—conditions were excellent: large area, flat terrain. Thus it hosted the heaviest twelve-pounder cannons, under Ying Yu's direct command. The command post was also situated here.

Three days prior, guided by Wang the Bearded, the Navy had transported the disassembled cannons here using light boats. Then, according to the survey, they had hauled the guns onto the islets one by one. Using makeshift derricks and pulleys, the sailors and artillerymen had overcome immense difficulties to move tons of cannon parts and ammunition onto four rocky islets. They constructed emplacements and camouflage, then commenced the long vigil.

"All gun crews, attention!" Seeing the enemy ships approaching, Ying Yu raised the walkie-talkie. "Prepare for combat!"

Ying Yu monitored the ships closely. They were sailing directly into the trap. The four artillery positions wove a web of death over Cat's Leap Pass. Every topographical reference in this zone had been meticulously measured and marked.

Gu Dachun glanced backward. The two iron fast ships hadn't followed them into the islets. He exhaled a tremendous sigh of relief.

"Hmph, wise of them! Had they dared pursue, they'd have struck a reef by now." Gu Dachun no longer worried about his safety. The only trouble remaining was how to answer to Master Zhu—this expedition had been a catastrophic loss.

The sea breeze freshened, and the waves grew turbulent.

"Lower sails!" he ordered. Using sails here made speed difficult to control and increased the risk of striking rocks. Fortunately, Cat's Leap Pass lay just ahead; the towering, rugged rocks were already visible. Shifting sandbars lurked here, so Gu Dachun focused all his attention, gripping the tiller firmly.

Just then, he glimpsed a flash of fire from a nearby rocky islet, followed by the thunderous report of a cannon.

Following the first shot—aimed and fired by Ying Yu personally—the other batteries discharged in sequence at intervals of seconds, allowing observers to accurately judge the points of impact. Gu Dachun's flagship, leading the way, absorbed concentrated fire. A twelve-pound shell struck the deck directly, sending wood splinters flying and eliciting wails of agony. Gu Dachun perished in this bombardment, struck by a piece of searing iron.

"Correction!" Ying Yu observed the fall of shot through his telescope. This was a perfect killing ground: the maximum distance between the islets serving as batteries was less than 500 meters, the minimum barely 100. The channel was narrow with almost no room to maneuver. The maze pirates used for escape had become their dead end. After a few initial misses, the gunners rapidly corrected based on splash patterns and surrounding landmarks. Their fire grew increasingly accurate. Although white smoke obscured the view from the batteries, Ying Yu had positioned hidden spotters on adjacent rocks to relay impact data via walkie-talkie.

When the smoke cleared, the waters of Cat's Leap Pass presented a dismal scene. All six ships had been struck and caught fire. Out of control, they drifted together, some already aground. Masts and sterncastles on many vessels had been demolished by cannonballs; others burned fiercely. Corpses and debris floated on the surface. A broken mast bobbed in the water, its sail still aflame. The scene was at once terrifying and spectacular. Ying Yu cared little about the battle's outcome—that had been foreordained. He was more interested in determining which type of shell damaged enemy ships most effectively.

The result matched his estimate. For common vessels in Chinese waters, explosive shells proved far more effective than solid shot. Since these ships rarely employed hardwood—and even when they did, the hulls were thin—black powder shells could easily blast open the hull planks, far superior to solid round shot that merely punched holes, and more devastating in anti-personnel effects as well.

The bombardment lasted a full twenty minutes. Ying Yu ordered a ceasefire. The six ships that had rushed into the ambush were paralyzed upon the sea. From start to finish, not a single vessel had managed to return fire. The rain of shells had annihilated all resistance almost instantaneously.

"Shall we send marines to search?" someone suggested.

"Too dangerous." Ying Yu surveyed the burning wrecks. "According to the Great Whale's telegram, three ships carried cannons. Who knows how much gunpowder remains aboard? If it detonates, the consequences would be severe. We wait." He issued another order: "Have sampans rescue drowning pirates from a safe distance. Pick up anyone capable of swimming to the boats."

When marines finally boarded the wrecks run aground, they had fished approximately forty survivors from the water. There was no loot worth mentioning, so the Navy stripped all iron from the vessels.

Following Xi Yazhou's request, Ying Yu had all corpses on deck and floating in the sea retrieved. He instructed the prisoners to identify the leaders, then ordered their heads severed and packed in boxes filled with lime. This "medieval" practice made Ying Yu distinctly uncomfortable.

Tranquility returned to the sea. The Great Whale lay at anchor, repairing masts and rigging damaged in battle. Sailors washed the deck. To lighten the load, some sandbags had been discarded, making the deck appear considerably more spacious.

In this engagement, the Great Whale had suffered eight dead and twenty wounded. The bodies of the fallen were wrapped in white cloth and arranged along the gunwale, a cannonball tied to each man's feet.

"Pity we don't yet have a national flag; otherwise, we should drape one over each of them," Xi Yazhou said with emotion. Although casualties were inevitable in war, seeing soldiers trained by the transmigrators themselves perish was genuinely sorrowful.

"Sound the bugle!" As the mournful bugle call rang out, the bodies were slid one by one into the sea. All sailors and gunners saluted.

The two trawlers returned from the Chrysanthemum Islets. Observing the sea burial underway on the Great Whale, they sounded their sirens in sequence.

"Report!" A signalman approached and saluted. "Trawler No. 1 signals: 'Salute to all officers and men of the Great Whale!'"

"Reply: 'Salute to all officers and men of the Glorious Navy!'" Xi Yazhou responded.

The two trawlers, one ahead and one astern, escorted the Great Whale as it sailed toward Lingao. Behind them, black smoke still rose from the burning pirate fleet in the Chrysanthemum Islets.

(End of Chapter)