In a world where cannons were still rather unreliable, naval warfare remained brutal and primitive. After several rounds of arrows and bolts, battles devolved into massive ships ramming into one another, trying to overpower the other through sheer force. Before long, the waters were filled with the wreckage of sunken vessels—a scene at once grand and brutal.0

If ramming did not succeed in sinking a ship, the combatants resorted to boarding it, leading to vicious hand-to-hand combat. People like Hai Qianfan and Hua Zhenming leaped aboard enemy ships, slaughtering their way through opponents like tigers in flocks of sheep.0

When the Penglai fleet joined forces with the pirates to assault the other nations, it was no battle but a massacre. Two giant powers pummeling a group of smaller, far weaker fleets was akin to two grown men beating up a group of five-year-olds.0

From the perspective of achieving the total annihilation of the coalition fleet, this strategy was far more effective than having them act as cannon fodder. After all, if they were used as pawns, none of these forces would go all out. Even if they were sent to scout ahead, they...0