My Father in Law is Lu Bu

Chapter 738

A huge fleet at the ocean slowly approached Liaodong.

“General Gan Ning. Why do we only have three warships? Isn't that too few?” Yang Chen asked. They came as a huge fleet but most of them were transport ships to transport soldiers. Some ships were also empty aside from the helmsman and captain.

“Too few?” Gan Ning smiled back. “Lord Yang Chen. You probably have not seen the power of this Monarch-class warship.” Gan Ning said.

“Huh?” Yang Chen raised his eyebrows. He really have not seen the power of this warship. It only recently replaced the other battleships during the time he was busy at Liaodong.

These warships were two to three times larger than their previous warships. However, they do not carry Yangzhou's ballista. Instead, they carried lumps of iron that looked really ugly. Yang Chen did not understand what those were at all.

“Haha. Your Excellency. Do not underestimate these lumps of iron. They are much more powerful than the ballista!” Gan Ning laughed but not at Yang Chen. He was laughing because he had the same thoughts as Yang Chen in the past. In the end, he found himself completely shocked.

“General. Why don't you give His Excellency a demonstration?” Gan Ning's deputy general Liang Chen came over and shamelessly suggested.

“Err… who is this?” Yang Chen saw Liang Chen but Liang Chen looked neither like a civil official nor a military general. This is because Liang Chen was wearing both an official's hat and also armor.

“Take off your hat and brocade robes!” Gan Ning shouted feeling embarassed and then bowed to Yang Chen. “Lord Yang. This man is my deputy general and the captain of the Dahan. I'm sorry you had to see such a joke.” Gan Ning had a total of three Monarch-class warships. The Huaxia, the Dahan and the Yanhuang.

Liang Chen used to be a pirate. At that time, they wore fine brocade clothes because they were vain and did not want to show their inferiority. But now he was a government official of high rank. Even county magistrates had to show respect to Liang Chen when they saw him.

This made Liang Chen arrogant. The hat he wore was part of a general's formal clothing for events. He would swap it out for a proper general's helmet during battle.

“It doesn't matter.” Yang Chen did not care about this at all. He was used to seeing talented people having strange habits. What he really cared about at the time were the Monarch-class warships. “General Gan. What did that general say just now?”

Gan Ning could tell from Yang Chen's expression that he wanted a demonstration. He glared at Liang Chen in response. Using the cannon costs a lot of money. On top of that, it would mean they would have less ammunition to use on the enemies later.

However, Gan Ning still brought Yang Chen to an uninhabitated island to show to the might of the cannons. By the time the demonstration was over, Yang Chen was both afraid and excited. He was afraid because the cannon was too powerful. On the other hand, the fact that this power is going to be aimed at Liaodong made him excited.

“Let's go! We won't return until we obtain Gongsun Kang's head!” Yang Chen was full of ambition.

***

Liaodong's harbour was deserted. Even thought it was at the coast and a natural port, it had little activity. This is because it was not yet the era of maritime trade. This port was originally developed to trade horses with Sun Ce and later expanded to trade with Liu Mang. Yet, it was now practically abandoned. It was obvious that this would happen after having a fall out with Liu Mang.

Thanks to the falling out, the common people there also lost their jobs and many stores there were closed.

“Sigh. Gongsun Du must have gone crazy! He decide to side with Cao Cao and now we all have nothing to eat! What's wrong with siding with His Highness the King of Shu?” One labourer complained.

“Watch your words. Otherwise, you would be dragged away by Gongsun Du's men!”

“So what? I never stole or robbed anyone and yet I still have nothing to eat! Am I not even allowed to speak my mind anymore?” The man snapped back. Without any work, he barely had enough to have a proper meal. His outburst caught the attention of others.

“What are you all looking at? Have you never seen someone get angry before?” When one was angry, everyone was a target.

“What's the matter? Can't I look?” Another person shouted back.

“Oh. You want to fight?”

“Bring it on! Who is afraid of you?”

Such was the nature of the common people of Liaodong. They settled matters not with words but with their fists. Soon, an all out brawl began. This is because these people were not strangers and came form local villages. When one person is hit, the others would jump in and the scale of the fight would grow. ℞₳ΝȪᛒĚs

“What is going on here?” The fight drew the attention of the constables. The constables were all carrying clubs. These people knew that only brute force worked with the people. After their investigation, they found out that it was just a simple quarrel that escalated because of their pent up anger at being jobless.

The constables understood their plight for they too, did not like the current situation. They had profitted from business with Yangzhou thanks to the bribes and goodwill presents given by Yang Chen and now all of that is gone.

However, understanding their plight did not change the fact that the disturbance was there and that constables also had pent up anger. The captain of the constables decided to have them arrested to soothe his own anger.

Some surrendered quietly but some resisted and hit the constables. Naturally, the constables struck back. This led to another brawl. This time, the common people were united against the government officials. Just as things were getting out of control, someone shouted.

“Stop! Stop! Look over there! Yangzhou's ships are coming!”

“Yangzhou's ships?” Everyone stopped fighting and looked at the ocean. Sure enough, there was a fleet of ships approaching Liaodong.

There were only two people who could come in a large fleet. The first was Jiangdong's Sun Ce and the second was Yangzhou's Liu Mang. But since Sun Ce have already surrendered, there was only Yangzhou.

“It is Yangzhou's ships! That's good! We have business now! We can make a living!” The labourers and merchants were all shouting with excitement. The constables were all also cheering. They would all get bribes and some side benefits again.

However, the captain of the constables was not so happy. As a mid ranked official, he was privy to certain information his subordinates did not know. For instance, he knew that Gongsun Kang practically robbed Yang Chen at swordpoint. With diplomacy completely destroyed, would Yangzhou continue to do business here? Of course not.

Then why would Yangzhou send ships? There can only be one reason.

“It is an enemy attack!” The captain's eyes grew wide.

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