pdf-ebookys Chapter 187: The First Victory of the Neon Empire Army
Chapter 187: The First Victory of the Neon Empire Army
With the distress signals sent out by the Kingdom Restoration Army and the dwindling trade revenue, the Neon Empire Army was caught in a dilemma, as if it was placed on a fire rack and suffering.
At this moment, they were surprised to find that the Imperial Navy seemed to be gradually recovering and rising.
Faced with such a dilemma, the Neon Empire Army had to make a difficult choice: either regain control of Port Bolant and Port Imana, but this would be tantamount to publicly admitting that their plan to establish a puppet government had a fatal flaw;
Either adopt the suggestions of some Neon Empire merchants and concentrate forces to encircle and suppress Liu Rengui's fleet that was plundering Port Bolant.
Even if they only succeeded in expelling Liu Rengui's fleet, it would still be an unprecedented brilliant achievement compared to the Neon Empire Navy.
Obviously, the Neon Empire Army prefers the second option.
Thus, a privateering fleet consisting of thirty-six privateering warships and commanded by the Imperial Army set sail from Busa Port, an important port in the northwest of the empire, and headed straight south, aiming directly at Liu Rengui's fleet.
The Neon Empire Army did not have high expectations for this battle. They only hoped to force Liu Rengui's fleet away from the route from Port Bolant to the Neon Empire.
The reason why the combat target was set so low was not only because of their own lack of confidence, but more importantly, things like battle reports actually rely entirely on the writer's words, and they can fabricate the so-called "truth" with just a few pictures.
This time, Liu Rengui really gave the Neon Empire Army enough face - when the fleet he led noticed the Neon Empire fleet rushing towards them with great momentum, it abandoned the dozen or so merchant ships it had captured earlier without hesitation, and then turned around and fled south.
As a result, the Neon Empire Navy successfully took advantage of the opportunity and sailed away with these dozen merchant ships. As for where these merchant ships were originally going, they didn't care at all and just brought them all back to Busa Port.
This is a big deal!
The entire Neon Empire was shocked. Even the Prime Minister of the Empire showed up in person at the celebration banquet. The Emperor of the Empire also sent a special envoy to the scene to commend him.
For the Neon Empire Army, this move was tantamount to slapping the Imperial Navy, which had just shown signs of revival, in the face, and throwing it into the bottomless abyss again.
After Liu Rengui let the water go, he thought to himself: "This fire has not yet spread all over the prairie, and it is not enough to drive the Neon Empire into madness."
He then asked Zhang Wei for instructions and after obtaining his approval, he returned again with Yuan Shao's full support.
This time he returned, leading thirty-six fully armed privateer warships, loaded with mercenaries sponsored by various forces such as the Duke of White Tiger, the Duke of Dragon Wing and the Blood Moon Cult, and headed straight towards the Port of Bolant, launching a thrilling battle of revenge.
Liu Rengui deployed mercenaries on the vast land between Port Bolante and the city of Chad, and then personally led the fleet to the busy sea trade routes of Port Bolante, plundering passing ships.
They were particularly ruthless in attacking the merchant ships of the Neon Empire.
Due to Liu Rengui's large-scale looting, many caravans were trapped in the port of Bolant, unable to move forward or backward.
Within a few days, the port was crowded with people.
Just when the situation was tense, the mercenaries who were ready for action suddenly attacked like a tiger descending from a mountain, and joined forces with the mercenaries who had been lurking in the city to launch a surprise attack on Port Bolant.
The Kingdom Restoration Army was caught off guard and had no power to fight back. They didn't even have time to close the city gates before the mercenaries broke through their defenses and marched straight in.
After careful consideration, Liu Rengui chose to allow the mercenaries to launch a three-day crazy looting campaign against Port Bolant.
After completing the looting mission, the mercenaries boarded the ships with satisfaction and headed south with Liu Rengui and nearly a hundred merchant ships he captured.
In contrast, the Kingdom Restoration Army Navy located in the port of Imana seemed very cowardly. They did not dare to sail out of the port at all. They could only curl up in the port like turtles, silently praying that Liu Rengui's army would not turn around and attack them.
The looting of Port Bolant was undoubtedly a great humiliation for the Neon Empire, as if someone had slapped it hard in the face and spat at it.
After hearing the news, the Neon Emperor was said to be furious and smashed many precious antiques.
The Imperial Cabinet also issued an urgent order requiring the military to properly resolve the matter.
Under this circumstance, the army and navy, which were originally hostile to each other, had to work together to deal with the crisis.
The navy quickly assembled four large fleets, totaling 48 warships, and showed a desperate attitude. After all, they had to maintain a constant deterrent to the coastline of the Northern Empire, and the army had taken away their shipbuilding quota to supplement the navy, so they had now reduced the number of ships on daily duty to the minimum.
These forty-eight ships are the maximum number they can currently mobilize.
On the other hand, the army sent a fleet of thirty-six privateering ships, loaded with imperial soldiers, to garrison at Port Bolant.
Simply put, the navy was responsible for encircling and suppressing Liu Rengui, while the army took on the task of repairing and rebuilding Port Bolant.
What happened next once again overturned Liu Rengui's view of the Neon Empire Army.
In order to suppress the power of the navy, these army soldiers even colluded with Duke Longyi and handed over a large amount of confidential information about the navy, including key intelligence such as the number of ships, sailing routes, personnel deployment, and the strengths and weaknesses of commanders.
Faced with such a generous gift, Liu Rengui naturally had to express his gratitude.
He promised that if he encountered a fleet controlled by the Neon Empire Army, he would choose to avoid it and would never start a war.
However, as cautious as Liu Rengui was, he did not fully trust this sudden "good intention".
So he secretly sent the Helots who had been lurking inside the Neon Empire to verify the authenticity of the information.
The result was astonishing - after a careful comparison, Liu Rengui was surprised to find that the intelligence provided by the Neon Empire Army was not false at all!
Faced with such an outrageous internal struggle, even he, who was well-informed, could not help but shake his head and sigh: "With the internal struggle of the country reaching this level, the Neon Empire has not yet perished. It's really lucky!"
After this, Liu Rengui led a powerful fleet consisting of thirty-six privateer warships and the same number of warships built by the Neon Empire, and quietly ambushed in the sea southeast of Imana Port.
A thrilling naval battle broke out. The fighting was extremely fierce and cruel, and both sides paid a heavy price.