During the night, Yue Fei managed to get the map that he had found within Wu San Gui’s ship and sailed back to Baron as fast as the small boat could take him. Along the way, their ship nearly capsized due to the sheer firepower that was being exerted onto Baron’s now half gone fleet. This was not a completely irreversible situation, but the planning that required some strategy like that would take a couple of hours at least.

Time that they most certainly did not have given that they were surrounded by enemy ships, and was near the brink of collapse. Baron and Yue Fei could only do the best that they could do given what little time they had to work with. It was certainly a good thing that Yue Fei was quick to realize the best course of action and had immediately began analyzing the map before even leaving Wu San Gui’s ship and formulating a plan based on it.

Since Baron did not have enough time to look over the map in detail, he quickly let Yue Fei take over command and lead the remaining ships to safety. It was now or never, even some ships that were on the shore of the island that they were protecting were now coming out in droves to rescue their commanding generals.

This new force just added into the already hectic battlefield and increased Baron and Yue Fei’s chances of escape. Once Yue Fei took control of their fleet, they were able to make some masterfully executed maneuvers that would not have been possible had they not known where all of their enemies lay in wait for their arrival.

The first thing that Yue Fei did was to rally every remaining sloop of war that was under their control and head to their east. This was the path where the least of Wu San Gui’s ships were waiting to ambush them. With all of their remaining firepower, they were able to make a little headway into their escape, and although their enemies were gaining on them given that they had to stop their advance everytime a new fleet appeared to block their way, they slowly managed to see a clear path to escape. This did not mean that they were out of the woods yet.

The ironclads that were under Wu San Gui saw that their target might actually have a chance at getting free. So, they stepped up their game and started to speed up their boats to the maximum. Whereas before, they were under the orders of Wu San Gui to keep them occupied until they were desperate enough to charge in blindly to any enemy and start biting back like rabid animals.

The very fact that they were able to get this far meant that they were not as desperate as Wu San Gui had predicted. This endeavor had ultimately proved to be useless as the sloop of wars were about 10 knots faster on average and the enemies that were standing in their way to stop them were getting fewer and fewer in number.

Slowly but surely, Yue Fei was leading their men and ships, what’s left of them, to freedom in such a short time period that it beggared belief. It took the ironclads less than an hour to fully entrap them in an encirclement in the dead of night and had been attacking them non stop for at least a few hours after that event. However, Yue Fei along with the intelligence that he had recovered from Wu San Gui’s ship was able to steer their fleet into safety in just under 2 hours. Their men were bloody and beaten, their ships now only a fraction of what they had been when they first set out in what seemed to the men like several years ago. Finally, Yue Fei had led the fleet that was in terrible condition back to the port and island that they had been protecting by sunrise while also recalling all the ships that were giving chase to the ironclads that knew that they had lost and were trying to regroup with all their other allies. The men cheered once they landed onto the island and were ordered to get some rest until their next assignment.

(YF) “That was a pretty close situation we were in. I don’t think we would have made it out if the ship we snuck into wasn’t one of Wu San Gui’s inner circle’s personal ship.” Yue Fei said as he sighed with relief.

(BM) “Yes, it was much closer than I would like to admit. Now that we have time, why don’t you tell me about what happened to Guan Yu?” Baron asked.

(YF) “I only know that he went to the main control room and tried to seize control of the ship that we were on. I did look back when we were escaping and for a brief moment, I saw the ship was engulfed in flames and a few other ships that surrounded it. My guess is that Guan Yu was not able to gain control and opted to set off the explosives that we had set earlier. The other ships must have been there to rescue survivors and assess the situation.”

(BM) “That would make the most sense. It is unfortunate that we don’t even know if Guan Yu is alive or not.”

(YF) “Aye, defending this point will be a lot more difficult without him here, even if there weren’t new enemies to deal with as well. We should send a request for help to Madam Zheng and see if she is willing to send anyone over.”

(BM) “Oh, I don’t think that’s necessary.”

(YF) “Uh, why not?” He asked confused.

(BM) “If there is one thing that she is known for other than being the most legendary pirate ever, it was that she had a vast network of spies that was very extensive. I imagine she already has the news by now, and if she chooses not to send us any reinforcements, we can only rely on ourselves to figure it out.”