CHAPTER 1369: CHAPTER 1321: A BLOODY TRAGEDY TRIGGERED BY A STONE

Gan Ning’s words stunned Taishi Ci for a moment. He suddenly realized the difference between himself and Gan Ning. While he considered the whole picture, Gan Ning always relied on a beast-like intuition to discern exactly what he needed!

"You’re right. If we acknowledged their surrender request after knowing they are from Kushan, they might think we are afraid of them," Taishi Ci nodded in agreement and said.

"Therefore, I plan to return to Yiizhou, bring the remaining fleets, and also bring the Navy. Since Kushan dared to attack us, then if I don’t wipe out their entire fleet, I wouldn’t be Gan Ning!" Gan Ning said with a cold smile.

"Xingba, don’t go crazy," Taishi Ci was shocked upon hearing this.

"Crazy, humph, haven’t you noticed their ships aren’t as fast as ours? Even if their navy soldiers are quite strong, so what? Without speed, aren’t their battle ships just targets for us?" Gan Ning tilted his head and said with a hint of arrogance.

"But we don’t need to offend Kushan," Taishi Ci said with a headache, "And besides, we don’t have a good ambush point. Just because they threw a stone at us, which didn’t even hit, we are going to annihilate their entire fleet?"

"Exactly," Gan Ning looked at Taishi Ci with extreme arrogance and then his eyes glimmered with fierceness, "Ziyi, remember this: the world is vast, but there can only be one ruler. Our Great Han Dynasty doesn’t strive to be one of the strongest; it must be the one and only!"

Taishi Ci opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say; the overpowering aura from Gan Ning at that moment was shocking.

"Do we have to be the one and only?" Taishi Ci murmured to himself, "But that’s not a reason for us to start a war with another empire!"

"That’s only if they can come over. From Kushan to the South Blue, there’s only one path. I will make sure they come but never return." Sometimes Gan Ning seemed like a sane lunatic; he clearly understood what it meant to start a conflict with an empire.

Just from this single Kushan fleet, Gan Ning could clearly feel the gap between both sides. If it weren’t for the speed advantage of the steamships, the enclosed advantage of the ships, the advantage of superior weapons, and their absolute strength advantage, this battle might not have been won.

To put it bluntly, Gan Ning’s surprise attack this time wasn’t particularly successful, and even resulted in nearly a thousand casualties due to the opponent’s leader’s counterattack.

If it weren’t for the first charge unexpectedly half-sinking the opponent’s flagship and then rushing up to kill the opponent’s ship captain, the subsequent assault wouldn’t have been so smooth. Despite this, the quality of Kushan’s navy left Gan Ning conflicted.

However, it was precisely this conflict that made Gan Ning resolute.

[A thing like a ship, if an empire puts its strength into it, as long as there’s technology, it’s like making dumplings. I don’t believe it—if I wipe out ten to twenty thousand of your navy, you can still produce such elite navy.] Gan Ning thought with extreme ruthlessness.

Unlike the land forces, where a soldier is handed a sword and fights three to five battles on the battlefield— surviving means being an excellent soldier—Gan Ning realized that the navy seemed to require a level of technical skill not anyone could achieve; training was even more troublesome than cavalry.

According to Gan Ning’s estimate, the training cycle for high-quality navy personnel takes three to five years. Therefore, when Gan Bao mentioned that Kushan’s navy was divided into large groups to find thieves, Gan Ning decided to kill all the enemy sailors. Even if he couldn’t kill them all, he would capture them.

As for the location, when Gan Ning planned to play big with Kushan, he recalled a place Chen Xi mentioned. It was likely the only hub Kushan could use to reach the South Blue.

Although he didn’t know why Chen Xi called it the Strait of Malacca, that wasn’t important. What was important was that Kushan’s navy had to pass through there, and the previous information indicated they were searching in numerous batches for something.

Gan Ning immediately had an idea. He didn’t want strange bugs in his backyard, even if those bugs were clearly from some empire—they needed to be squashed. As for the consequences, Gan Ning wouldn’t care.

Gan Ning was very confident about this. Although this batch of Kushan navy showed exceptional quality, Gan Ning still believed that by concentrating all forces in one place and ambushing in that strait, he could easily take down a fleet of the same size.

Taishi Ci looked at Gan Ning, hesitated for a moment, and then chose not to advise Gan Ning further. Gan Ning’s argument made sense; the place was indeed a very good ambush point, especially since the enemy had no idea about the opponent’s existence—it could absolutely be an easy victory.

"The only concern now is whether the enemy has left a fleet there to guard it," Taishi Ci sighed, adopting a mindset of planning a trap for the Kushan navy. There was no choice, as it wasn’t just Gan Ning who had an imperial mindset, Taishi Ci had one too.

"Even if there is, so what? We’ll lead our forces and devour them directly, bringing all the navy with us. I don’t believe they can leave an intact fleet there," Gan Ning sneered. When he was calmily mad, his thoughts were remarkably clear.

"That’s true, though we might need to stay there for several months," Taishi Ci said with a headache.

"Don’t worry, believe that Lord Xuande and Marquis Chen will understand what we are doing. Besides, if we miss this opportunity and face the Kushan navy head-on, do you think we can win?" Gan Ning sneered, "Opportunities missed won’t come again!"

Gan Ning’s mind was always incredibly sharp when he was in a fit of mania, leaving others speechless. Taishi Ci, hearing these words, pondered slightly and realized it was indeed so. Helplessly, he nodded; after all, it was just one vice army that fought like this with one-third of the Great Han Navy personally led by Gan Ning and Taishi Ci.

Bear in mind, the enemy mentioned they had dispatched more than ten such fleets in total. If they truly gathered in one place, even if led by Gan Ning and Taishi Ci with the entire navy, they might have to avoid it from afar—it wasn’t something the current Great Han Navy could handle.

"Should such a navy appear before us, we currently don’t have the capability to resist it. I, Gan Ning, will never allow such a thing to happen, so regardless if they are backed by Kushan or not, this navy must be destroyed!" Gan Ning said coldly.

"Indeed, missed opportunities won’t return," Taishi Ci said with a bitter smile. Since they are already enemies, now is truly the best time; otherwise, if they get together, it will really be a big problem.