Bathed in the bright sunlight, Zhang Lisheng turned around and stepped on the fine sand on the beach to walk up to Tukansa. He picked up the bark paper roll that Tukansa offered with both hands and slowly opened it.
On the vast and endless ocean, a shining sun quietly bloomed behind the Wizard Li Conqueror, rendering his figure to look like a god who had descended to the mortal world.
Looking at the few maps of the islands that were neither round nor square, the young man, who already knew the bird 's-eye view of the islands from the satellite map, could not help but chuckle and shake his head. Casually, he crumpled the bark paper into a ball and threw it behind him.
When the Moon Island's headman, who was crawling on the ground, saw Zhang Lisheng's action, his heart jolted. He seemed to want to explain something, but in the end, he did not make any sound. Instead, he buried his head in the sand with all his might, allowing the sharp sand on the Hellfire Archipelago's beach to rub against his tough and rough face.
"Tukansa, my believer, take good care of my island when I go on an expedition …" Looking at the middle-aged aborigine whose hair had already turned gray at his feet, Zhang Lisheng did not get angry. Instead, he whispered, "Also, even though these island maps are useless, remember to reward those converts who draw the maps, do you understand?"
"Y-Yes, Great Conqueror!" Tukansa was stunned for a moment before replying loudly in panic. Upon seeing his puzzled look, the young man shook his head and smiled. "Tukansa, looks like you're still far from Tugra.
Even though the maps drawn by those foreign tribesmen who have just converted to Wizard Li are useless, as long as they do their best to obey the orders and make contributions to the tribe, they should be rewarded by the tribe no matter what the result is. Do you understand now? "
"Y-Understood, Great Conqueror …" A look of realization dawned on Tukansa's face that was buried in the sand.
"Managing a city and an island may sound complicated, but actually, there are only a few principles. 'Smart' reward and punishment is one of the most important. You can slowly understand it in the future," Zhang Lisheng pretended to be profound. Using the wyrmdragon's transformation power, he suddenly grew taller and transformed into a giant with a wide mouth and bulging eyes. Dense fog gathered around him as he flew towards the Wizard Li's flagship not far away.
After the Conqueror landed on the steel deck of the giant steamship, Bansaru, the captain of the flagship that was already fully loaded with warriors, ran up to him and knelt down, asking, "Great Conqueror, the warriors have boarded the iron ship. Shall we set sail?"
"Let's set sail, Bansaru. Let's go to the island that looks like a leaf at the southeast corner of Moon Island."
"Yes, Conqueror." The young captain, who had seen the nautical chart of this outer island nearest to the Wizard Li Island thousands of times and was so familiar with it that it was like his own palm print, replied and climbed up from the deck. Turning around, he shouted, "Pass the order to set sail! Our target is the Leaf Island in the southeast. Blacktail Fish, Big Round Stone … Explore the way …"
As Bansaru roared, the Super Hellfireman in charge of the fleet communication cast a spell to capture the waves and spread the flagship captain's order to the entire fleet.
Not long after, the Wizard Li warships that gathered at the harbor like a giant coiling snake began to move slowly one by one and rushed towards the vast sea.
Sailing from Moon Island to the outer island was several times shorter than sailing from Wizard Li Island. However, the straight-line distance of less than 200 kilometers at sea seemed to be unusually long due to the lack of navigation chart guidance.
Even though several iron steamships were vacated to explore the way in front of the fleet due to the casualties of the Wizard Li expeditionary army's conquest of Moon Island, it still took them two days and one night to finally reach the destination on the next night.
Through the observation window, Bansaru could clearly see an island appearing in the dim night with his naked eye. He clenched his fists in excitement and breathed a long sigh of relief. Then, he said to the deputy beside him, "You take the helm, I'll go see the Conqueror."
"Yes, Sir!" Even though the first mate of the steamship looked much older than the captain, when he heard Bansaru's order, he still answered respectfully and took over the helm.
The young captain walked out of the steering room and suddenly stopped when he was about to step out of the door. He turned around and reminded, "Tantuza, don't be careless just because we're already offshore. Be careful of the reefs."
"Yes, Sir! I'll always be cautious!" The old first mate stared at the iron ship leading the way in front and replied without turning his head.
"Very good …" When Bansaru saw the deputy's attention, he nodded in satisfaction and pushed open the heavy iron door of the steering room to walk up to the deck.
The howling wind blew on the sea, and large dark clouds gathered in the sky. The weather that was clearly sunny in the evening had turned into a scene of an approaching storm in the blink of an eye.
The ever-changing and strange bad weather was one of the scariest things about sailing in the Hellfire sea region. No matter how large the fleet floating alone in the deep sea was, it could still be destroyed by a terrifying hurricane.
Feeling the chilly air pressing down on him, Bansaru tightened his clothes in the strong wind and carefully looked at the weather. Then, he quickly walked to the largest cabin on the deck and knocked on the wooden door.
"Great Conqueror, your devout believer, Bansaru, requests to see you!" He shouted respectfully in the hurricane.
The door of the cabin slowly opened silently. A calm voice resonated in Bansaru's ears along with the warm firelight, "Come in, Bansaru. Have we arrived at Leaf Island?"
"Yes, Great Conqueror! The fleet has already sailed to the offshore of Leaf Island!" The young captain replied and respectfully lowered his head as he walked into the bright cabin.
The cabin was naturally made of black iron, but the ceiling and walls were tightly wrapped with a thick layer of bark peeled from lush trees, making it look like it was made of logs.
The floor was covered with black animal skin that was covered with long hair, but in the middle of the darkness, there was a round piece of pure white fur that looked like snowflakes.
On the only white carpet, there was a three-legged iron cauldron with a diameter of more than three meters with a raging fire burning inside. It served as a light source to illuminate the entire cabin, also casting Zhang Lisheng, who was sitting cross-legged on the huge wooden couch, into an unsteady shadow.
Looking at the floating figure of the tribal Conqueror, Bansaru came up to his feet in awe and knelt down. "Great Conqueror, the fleet will sail to the distance where we can dock at any time in another 15 minutes at most, but there are already signs of a storm in the sky. Perhaps we'll have to anchor in the shallow sea to avoid the storm before looking for a natural harbor to land."
"Storm?" Zhang Lisheng frowned and jumped down from the wooden couch covered with animal skin. "I've personally experienced the horror of the storm in the Hellfire sea region before. Can the fleet withstand it?"
"If it's in the deep sea where the undercurrent is surging, it'll indeed be very dangerous, and I'll try my best to avoid it. However, if it's in the offshore sea, the wind and waves will be dozens of times smaller, so there shouldn't be any danger," Bansaru lowered his head and explained.
"In that case, let the fleet's warships be separated by enough distance to prevent any real danger from happening and not cause too serious a disaster," Zhang Lisheng pondered for a while and ordered.
"Yes, Great Conqueror! I'll pass the order now!" The young captain replied and stood up to walk out of the cabin. Watching his back slowly disappearing, Zhang Lisheng paced back and forth on the soft animal skin for a few steps before walking out of the door as well.
The moment he walked out of the cabin, the young man was immediately wrapped tightly by a gust of cold wind.
The dark clouds in the sky were already densely packed. Even though the raindrops did not fall, the air on the sea that was already humid had become even more humid, making it difficult for people to breathe.
In the hurricane, Zhang Lisheng raised his head to look at the rain clouds that were almost hanging above his head. With his amazing eyesight, he noticed that there were faint electric lights flashing in the clouds. Zhang Lisheng, who originally just wanted to come out to take a look, recalled the violent storm that he had encountered when he was lost in the Hellfire sea region. At once, his expression turned solemn.
He strode to the side of the ship and looked down. He saw that there were already faint whirlpools appearing in the dark sea in front of him. At once, he could not help but feel even more uneasy. At this time, the flagship captain of the Wizard Li expeditionary army had already passed the Conqueror's order through the spellcaster. The entire fleet began to slowly change its formation and widen the distance.
Sensing that the speed of the iron ship under his feet began to accelerate, Zhang Lisheng raised his head to look at the island in the distance that seemed to be right in front of him. After pondering for a few seconds, Zhang Lisheng turned around and strode into the steering cabin of the warship.
Unlike the sailors who would frantically adjust the sails around the mast on the deck before the large sailing ships that sailed by wind encountered a storm, the crew members of the steamship who had some status were waiting for the captain's orders in the steering cabin with a solemn expression.
Upon hearing the sound of the iron door opening and the sudden appearance of the tribal Conqueror in front of them, everyone froze right away before hurriedly kneeling on the ground. However, before they could speak, Zhang Lisheng had already asked Bansaru, who had just returned to the helm, "Bansaru, I see that you've increased the speed. Do you think that we can still dock the fleet before the storm?"
When Bansaru, who was concentrating on steering the ship, suddenly heard the tribal Conqueror's voice, his body froze as well. He understood that Zhang Lisheng was more of a request than a question. After a moment of silence, he gritted his teeth and said, "Great Conqueror, according to the mainland navigators, the Hellfire Archipelago has a special topography. The island's continental shelf is deep and there are many large natural harbors in the coastal waters.
However, no matter how many natural harbors there are, it'll still take time to find them. I'm afraid it'll be even more dangerous if we want to dock before the storm arrives. "
"I understand." Zhang Lisheng nodded. "In that case, try to dock the fleet next to the coast with the topography that most resembles a good harbor if time permits."
"Yes, Great Conqueror!" Even though Bansaru did not understand Zhang Lisheng's intention, since it was something that he could do, he agreed to it without any hesitation.
When the Wizard Li overlord was talking to the young captain, the steamship had already sailed to the sea area less than 300 meters away from the island. Bansaru moved the rudder and decelerated to change the iron ship from straight to sideways.
The flagship sailed slowly along the coastline. While paying attention to the changes in the clouds in the sky, he tried his best to widen his eyes to look at the topography of the shore until the first drop of rain fell from the sky.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
