Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 373 Construction Begins on the Two Ships of Flesh and Blood, Cardinal Red Descends
Bang!
Manila Governor Miguel was still in a daze when he saw Jiang Jichun's mangled and riddled corpse collapse to the ground.

Just moments before, the two were plotting how to use the improved construction method of the legendary warship to lure Wang Fugui ashore, and then surround and kill him.

Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, this collaborator was killed beyond any doubt by the "Judge" of his own Holy Cross Church, the traitor of the Heavenly Punishment Cult.

From beginning to end, even he, the highest-ranking official of the colony, never suspected that there was any conspiracy involved.

They assumed that some fanatical judge passing by couldn't tolerate this Nestorian Christian, who looked like a high-ranking official, violating religious law, and that's why he took action in anger.

He unwittingly became the scapegoat, and now he has a bellyful of bitterness he can't express:

"Where did this greenhorn come from? You've really gotten me into trouble!"

Little did they know that the envoys from the other country were already known for their elaborate ways of seeking death during the Han Dynasty: plotting coups, assassinating the king, killing the crown prince of Wusun, and openly sleeping with the empress dowager.
He also failed to learn the essential survival skill of the barbarians—"begging the Han envoy not to die!"
But it's too late to say anything now.

As Miguel stopped the soldiers who had fired along with him and participated in the execution of Jiang Jichun, the deputy envoy of the Great Zhao Dynasty, and looked up at the sea, he happened to hear Wang Cheng's furious roar, "Raise the blood flag, kill without mercy!"

Everyone in the city felt their scalp tingle and their legs go weak.

Especially since Miguel was a renowned adventurer and pirate before becoming governor, how could he not know what raising the blood flag meant?
This was originally a common rule among Western pirates at sea: if pirates encountered fierce resistance from merchant ships during a robbery, they would raise a blood flag, meaning: "Leave no one alive!"

As the highest-ranking official on the front lines of contact with the Great Zhao, Miguel had some knowledge of Mandarin and couldn't help but shout in a flustered, semi-classical Mandarin:

"Isn't your Great Zhao supposed to be the army of kings? How can you act like pirates?"
"We truly did not intend to kill this envoy! Why did it come to this? Why did it come to this?!"

On the ferry that had already returned to the main naval force, the expatriates, upon hearing his shout, all instinctively looked up at the incredibly young Xuanwei envoy on the flagship.

At the same time, Ye Zhao, the Yin lawyer who possessed the [Yin Si Chao Tian Bi] and caused the Qian Yan anomaly, and who had been placed on the Danyang ship by Wang Cheng ahead of time, also looked in this direction.

Everyone's heart was like a rollercoaster, rising and falling violently with this sudden and astonishing change.

Seeing that the historian on the ship had "truthfully" recorded everything that had just happened and had given an account to the emperor, Wang Cheng became too lazy to continue the act.

In stark contrast to Jiang Jichun's appeasement policy, without the slightest hesitation, he issued an order:
"What a load of rubbish! All I know is that blood debts must be repaid with blood! Load your cannons and fire!"

As early as when Jiang Jichun landed, all two hundred ships, including both government troops and company private forces, had already lined up in a row, posing a threat of force.

There was no need to adjust the firing line at this moment; it happened the instant Wang Cheng gave the order.

The gunners, who had been holding back their anger for a long time, pulled the fuse in unison.

boom! boom! boom! boom! boom!
At the same time, thousands of cannons roared together, their flames reaching the sky and smoke billowing everywhere. The sound seemed to shatter the sea, creating ripples in circles.

Even though the Great Zhao Dynasty is already in decline, in the East China Sea, the South China Sea, and even the entire Far East, apart from the East China Sea Kingdom and them, no other power can muster such a large fleet.

The entire fleet was full of officials of the Shinto rank, all of whom were elites drawn from the Twenty-Four Guards. Even the temple army ghost soldiers were composed of soldiers from the Tower Ships, Brocade Sail Bandits, Long Water Battalion, Giant Whale Battalion, and Flying Dragon Battalion, making them of higher quality than the rank-and-file soldiers of the East Sea Kingdom.

Under the unified command of Wang Cheng's secret military manual, "General's Order," the yang energy furnace above his head manifested directly before him, transforming into a floating scarlet battle flag that instantly consecrated each cannonball, causing runes and characters to automatically appear.

Even without the triple boost from activating the "Milky Way is also a river" in the Heavenly Official's Dharma Realm, thousands of crimson rainbows still traversed the sea and sky, crashing down on Manila like a meteor shower.

A cursed stone crafted by a stonemason exploded the moment it touched the ground, sweeping away everything in all directions and turning the crowd gathered on the dock into a bloody mess.

"Ah ah ah ah ah"

The screams had barely begun when more shells came hurtling in like raindrops.

On the dock, a 24-pound solid cast iron bullet, enveloped in wind and thunder, spun and bounced at high speed, carving a gruesome furrow of flesh and blood through the governor's guards who had already begun to turn and flee.

Some of the shells were blessed with the [Altar Child]'s Soul-Shocking Talisman. Their own destructive power was secondary; instead, they could instantly awaken all the dead souls around them, causing them to attack all living things in the vicinity indiscriminately.

Some of the shells were blessed with the corpse-burning talisman of the "corpse-driving Taoist priest." The corpses killed by these shells would suddenly expand and explode the moment they fell to the ground, releasing the energy contained within the corpses in an instant.

The chain reaction of explosions—shattered bones, flesh, and internal organs—created a wide-ranging kill.
The most destructive of them all was the Mirage Cloud Dragon ship, which impersonated the Five Peaks.

Its body swelled to three times its original size, and each cannonball was transformed into an iron lion's head, swallowing red gunpowder and turning into a blooming shell.

Those giant shells all crashed into the walls of Manila and important buildings in the city, such as the government building, churches, barracks, and hospitals.

The towering flames, like karmic lotuses burning away all sins, bloomed one by one in the city, and the pungent smell of burning instantly filled the entire bay.

And in a place where no one had discovered it.

The Lucky Boy had already taken a [White Bone Buddha Shrine] and a [Blood Pagoda] temporarily taken from the Thunderfire Cardinal and lurked underground in Manila.

Just as Jiang Jichun breathed his last, before his still-unconscious ghostly form could return to the pre-built mausoleum, the boy pulled him into the shadowy royal ship.

After my father was besieged and killed, the ghost and spirit were also imprisoned and sent to the royal ship. Now, it can be considered that they are giving me a taste of my own medicine.

Once the body hit the ground, no one paid any more attention to him.

The red and white light enveloped it, and the bones of the corpse were absorbed by the [White Bone Shrine], while the flesh and blood flowed into the [Blood Pagoda] along with the light.

The corpses and remains scattered all followed the same fate, their bones, flesh, and souls separated into three parts.

The Mirage Cloud Dragon Ship, representing the "soul," is growing stronger, and the key cores for the two Heavenly Crafted Treasure Ships, the White Bone Tower Ship and the Blood River Floating Pagoda Ship, are also beginning to accumulate shipbuilding materials and initiate the first step of framework construction. But the simultaneous commencement of construction on these two ships is not what excites Wang Cheng the most.

"The bookworm spirit, who can freely roam the sea of ​​books, has become stronger and stronger after becoming Lao Wu's apprentice. It shouldn't be long before he can decipher all of Zheng He's treasure maps in his possession."

By further integrating information and adjusting algorithms through the "harmonizing yin and yang" method, it will be just around the corner to design different celestial treasure ships for different "national treasures"!

This is more than ten times simpler than gathering materials according to the blueprints for the Thirty-Six Heavenly Treasure Ships; this is the inevitable path to becoming a violent monopolist within the Confucian cultural sphere.

Governor Miguel, however, had clearly not yet noticed the changes in the corpses around him.

His face was filled with shock and anger as he looked at Manila, which was about to be destroyed by a volley of fire, and his heart was bleeding.

The robber's logic has always been that only he can hit you, not you can hit him; if you retaliate, you are breaking the law.

After escaping back into the city, he instructed the priests accompanying the army to seek help from Goa, while simultaneously issuing the following orders:
"Counterattack! Coastal artillery, counterattack immediately!"

Only then did the limited coastal defense artillery positions begin to fire sporadically.

With the image of Lady Luck on its bow, the Danyang is no longer a jinx that randomly brings misfortune to its teammates, but rather a protector of the entire fleet.

Under Uncle Zhang's control, the luck of each ship was coordinated, causing the shells that were about to hit the front-line warships to miss their targets.

At this moment, Wang Cheng once again engaged in theoretical discussions, taking in the entire battlefield within a forty-mile radius, displaying all the forces of both sides.

It's like playing a real-time strategy game.

One command after another was issued rapidly:
"【Zhenhai】 Gun groups No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3, turn the elevation bolt of the Iron Rod Flying Thunder Gun half a turn clockwise, target the shore defense gun at one o'clock."

"【Dinghai】Cannons No. 8, No. 9, and No. 10, double shell firing, consecrated talisman, target the refuge gate directly in front, three rounds of rapid fire."

"【Pinghai】."

Wang Fugui was originally just the commander of Zhenhai Guard, with a total of only five thousand men under his command. He had never had any experience commanding so many people.

However, the size of the East Sea Kingdom's navy was far greater than that; Wang Cheng had commanded a fleet even larger than the treasure ship fleet.

On land, the Great Zhao Kingdom had the strongest military, but at sea, the Eastern Sea Kingdom was ultimately superior.

Now, under the effects of "General's Order" and "Paper Tactics," Wang Cheng's orders can reach the front-line artillery groups directly, eliminating all coastal defense artillery and personnel capable of counterattacking in the shortest possible time.

Moreover, the Yin spirit of a fourth-rank divine official can fully support multi-threaded operations in a short period of time. At this time, Wang Zhengshi is a true master of micro-operation!
Even absurd orders like moving the machine gun position five meters to the left would be strictly and unconditionally carried out by frontline soldiers.

"We can't hold out any longer! Run! Retreat back to the city!"

"Lord, the yellow demon has come! Please send down your divine power to save us!"

When a large fleet is united by a single will, its fighting power is far superior to that of scattered soldiers, and the Frankish defensive lines are swiftly dismantled one by one.

The combat troops began a massive rout.

These colonists might be able to recruit thousands of auxiliary troops locally, but their weapons always had to be supplied from their homeland.

At most, there were one or two ship repair yards serving shipping and military needs, as well as small weapons repair shops supporting military operations.

There were no fully-equipped official shipyards and arsenals, and the royal family could not allow them to form independent kingdoms overseas and establish a complete military industry.

Once these military facilities are destroyed, there is no way to replenish them in a short period of time, and their war potential lags far behind that of the East Sea Nation, which is operating right on its doorstep.

After several rounds of concentrated fire, the city gate was quickly breached and the bunker collapsed.

But the fleet's artillery fire never stopped from beginning to end, continuing to raise the muzzle elevation and bombard the city relentlessly.

Whether they were rescued overseas Chinese or officials and private soldiers from the Great Zhao Dynasty who had come from afar, everyone had a burning passion in their hearts and were determined to carry out Wang Cheng's will.

Tooth for tooth, blood for blood!

The Lucky Boy, hiding underground, also looted all the shipbuilding materials, and the material reserves for the ship's hull are now at least half complete.

The colonial capital, shrouded in smoke, was on the verge of falling.

The clergy in the city had long gathered together to hold a mass ceremony to pray for divine salvation, and finally, at this moment, they received reinforcements.

clang!clang!clang!
The thunderous tolling of bells echoed through the sky, and suddenly pure white holy light burst forth overhead, transforming into a circular doorway carved with various sermon legends.

tread!
A tall, heroic spirit with four wings and a golden bird-beak mask descended through the door, stepping into the void.

Holding a long spear, his golden armor, covering his entire body, shone as brightly as the sun, but when he looked down at the large fleet below, his gaze was as cold and ruthless as winter.

Wang Cheng only saw one name in his "Rare Goods for Sale" section:
[Rare Item: St. Francis Xavier, the highest-ranking Cardinal Archbishop of Goa, a high-ranking Radiant Priest]

(End of this chapter)