CHAPTER 1368: CHAPTER 1320: ONE DAY, MY FLEET WILL REACH THEIR HARBOR

"First capture them all, then we can talk about interrogating them. Prepare the bed crossbows and heavy crossbows, let’s pick off those leaders first; we’ll deal with the others afterwards," Taishi Ci suggested helplessly.

In Gan Ning’s silence, whatever Taishi Ci said, the fleet would follow. Naturally, hundreds of single-shot strong crossbows were raised, and at this distance, even an Inner Qi Manifestation in the central position would be riddled with arrows, not to mention the backup bed crossbows had been rolled out.

Just as Taishi Ci was about to order the arrows to be released to eliminate the opponents, a leader in blue robes stepped forward, raising the long blade horizontally. Although there was no communication between the sides, the gesture seemed to indicate an intention to surrender.

This left Taishi Ci and Gan Ning somewhat perplexed; they were completely bewildered by what these people were saying, finding the situation frustrating.

"Should we allow them to surrender or eliminate them?" Gan Ning turned to Taishi Ci and asked.

"Let them put down their weapons," Taishi Ci responded after contemplating the enemy still clutching their long blades.

"The problem is that neither they nor we understand each other’s language," Gan Ning said, feeling somewhat vexed.

"Boss, maybe I should try," at this moment, a marine of Nanyue origin hesitated and suggested to Gan Ning.

"Call me leader; do you understand what they’re saying?" Gan Ning looked at the Nanyue man whom he named Gan Bao and asked.

Speaking of this guy, he was a subordinate Gan Ning recruited from the indigenous people in the Nanyue region. The locals couldn’t help but cling to Gan Ning’s strong group, and Gan Ning took him under his wing, seeing his resilience.

"Alright, boss, I don’t understand it all, but I can catch some words from their pronunciation. Let me try, and we can use body language to communicate when encountering unknown tribes; I think we can communicate with them," Gan Bao said contemplating this as an opportunity.

"Okay, you can give it a try," Gan Ning patted his back and said.

Gan Bao stepped forward five or six steps and greeted them in an odd accent, but there was no understanding from the other side. Then he switched to another language, still no response, and then switched awkwardly to a third language, which finally got a reaction.

"Who are you, and why are you attacking our forces!" Gan Bao said struggling to speak a dialect from some remote corner of Nanyue, while using gestures to communicate.

"We are the fleet of the Kushan Empire, searching for thieves," the other side seemed not quite familiar with this unintelligible dialect, but with body language and guesswork, managed to convey some meaning.

"Boss, they said they’re a fleet of the Kushan Empire, looking for thieves," Gan Bao thought for a moment, organizing his words to report.

"I knew it; in this era, in this area of the South Blue, besides our Great Han Dynasty, who else would stir up trouble? It’s these bastards," Gan Ning didn’t catch much else, but the repeated mention of "Kushan" was audible.

Chen Xi had already informed them about the international environment around them, and they were well aware of the Kushan Empire. Who else would pose such a threat to the marines that could almost cripple them? It certainly wouldn’t be any neighboring trash.

Alright, in Gan Ning’s thinking, countries were divided into two types: negligible trash and empires. Naturally, someone who could fight them to this extent couldn’t be trash; they had to be an empire, and the international situation indicated it was likely Kushan.

Gan Ning even understood not long after the confrontation that the opponents were Kushan. But Gan Ning had little fear; whether they were Kushan or elsewhere, it didn’t matter.

If you dare attack me, I will destroy you, whether you’re trash or an empire; there will be no compromise.

"Boss, that guy said they are just one fleet searching for lost goods; more ships haven’t arrived yet," Gan Bao felt his mouth dry.

Although Gan Ning’s side won the naval battle, they suffered the loss of nearly a thousand marines, and three large ships were destroyed—a level of loss that, repeated ten times, would leave Gan Ning with nothing.

However, from the enemy’s mouth, Gan Bao learned that they had dispatched over ten search fleets of similar size, especially since Gan Ning initially had a superior force, yet suffered such significant losses.

"Hmph, no matter how many come, tell them this territory belongs to our Great Han Dynasty; they are all captured. If they don’t want to die, they should surrender quickly!" Gan Ning, naturally fearless, disregarded the enemies’ sentiments and spoke coldly.

"Cough, cough, Xingba, isn’t the distance from here to Yiizhou almost the same as from Ye City to Yiizhou?" Taishi Ci whispered.

"Hmm, isn’t every place my ships sail to the territory of our nation?" Gan Ning responded with an astonished face, "I stand on the ships belonging to our nation, and since I’m on them now, this place is naturally our country’s territory!"

Taishi Ci had nothing to say; he suddenly felt Gan Ning’s bandit logic was extremely reasonable.

"Boss, the other side refuses to surrender, saying they’re nobles and can only surrender to nobles of equal rank," Gan Bao wiped his sweat, unsure what to say. Were they courting death? Coming to such a state and still seeking trouble.

"Oh, kill them!" Gan Ning gave the final order with a smile. After a burst of rumbling, countless crossbow bolts pierced the adversaries, and the bed crossbows’ immense power even pierced several people and the enemy ship’s deck.

"I..." Taishi Ci opened his mouth, intending to tell them that they were nobles of the Han Empire, worthy of surrender, but Gan Ning had already obliterated most of the opposition.

"Don’t bother explaining to these people. Failure should embrace honor; death is their destiny," Gan Ning said with a cold smile, "Since they dared attack us, they must bear the consequences of their actions."

"But it’s the Kushan Empire, and they mentioned they have more fleets," Taishi Ci said, speechless, looking at Gan Ning.

"So what?" Gan Ning retorted coldly, "We’ve already wiped out one of their fleets; there’s no room for negotiation anymore. As for intelligence, if after listening to their words we treated them kindly for surrender, huh, better to kill a portion and discuss later!"

"I won’t care what empire they are; I only remember they attacked us. My marines under Gan Ning will not compromise but will shatter the enemy before us. As for Kushan, one day, my fleet will reach their harbors!" Gan Ning said coldly, smirking.