The World Online

Suddenly, all the Annan region players received a notification.

”System Notification: China region Lord Qiyue Wuyi has initiated a Country War, Annan region has entered the Country War mode. Imperial City Henei has ended level 2 state of alert. As for the specific situation, players, please take a look!”

The moment the notification sounded out, the country was thrown into a state of uproar.

To the players of Annan region, this Country War had happened too suddenly.

Based on the news that Gaia had revealed on the website, the Country War had two main points.

Firstly, merit points setting.

The two countries would fight one another just like the battle map, and player could earn merit points. In contrast to the battle map, you could not earn battle contribution points from the wilderness war.

Killing one normal soldier would give a person one merit point. These generous merit points were one of the motivations behind starting a country war.

Secondly, the rules for determining the victor.

Country Wars were split into all out wars and partial wars. The difference laid in whether or not an imperial city was attacked. Simply put, when two countries fought, even if a partial war was triggered, the moment the flames of war spread to the imperial city, or if the imperial city automatically participated, it would turn into an all out war.

The victor of the two types of wars were determined through different manners.

For partial wars, the overall victory or loss did not matter; the situation of the actual battle acted as the deciding factor. As for an all out war, victory was determined when one side completely destroyed the other.

Hence, an all out war was basically a battle to exterminate the other country.

The Annan region system notification mentioned that the Imperial City Henei had entered a level 2 state of alert. As such, this country war was just a partial war.

If it was an all out war, the imperial city would be at the highest level 1 state of alert.

Apart from that, during a partial war, players could chose if they wanted to participate.

If it was an all out war, both the Lords and the adventure gamemode players of the country under attack would be forced to fight.

Hence, destroying a country was an extremely difficult matter. The worst part was that all the players in the country must die at least once before the battle could end.

On this point, the China region possessed an absolute advantage.

Thanks to their number of players, the chance of a complete wipe out was rather low.

……

When Gaia announced the Country War news, it caused an explosion in Annan region.

On the forums, there were a large number of people raring to fight. To them, the enemy was already at their door. No matter what, they could not allow it.

Furthermore, the one who started this country war was actually just a single Lord. Even though Qiyue Wuyi was the best Lord in the world, his prestige alone could not stop the passion of the Annan region players.

Although the region was not big, its population density was terrifying, close to twice of China. The entire Annan region had more than five million players.

Even excluding the old, the young, and the weak, they possessed a hugely terrifying number. Just the mature adventure gamemode players exceeded two million; it was a country that could not be underestimated.

Excluding the work occupation players, they still had close to a million combat occupation players.

Hence, how would they allow Shanhai City to provoke them?

Quickly, the intel from the front lines spread.

From the seas, Shanhai City had sent a massive squadron over; they appeared exceedingly dominating.

Suddenly, all of the Lords near the sea announced level 1 states of alert in their cities, and they activated a large number of warships to head out to battle.

The hot-blooded adventure gamemode players proactively asked to board the Lord warships. They wanted to fight a decisive battle against the Shanhai City Army.

Some rash ones even rented merchant ships and hurriedly set out to sea.

All of a sudden, thousands of ships appeared along the sea region of Annan.

However, their technology tree lacked both the modern technology of the west and the shipbuilding foundation of the Chinese. Their strongest ship could only compare to the weaker Meng Chong warship.

Hence, their only way of winning would be to rely on sheer numbers. If the players of Annan region were just a clump of scattered sand, they definitely would not pose a threat.

Luckily, at the crucial moment, someone stepped up.

He was the Lord of Haiphong City, Ruan Tianque. He gathered all the players, uniting them and placing them under the commanded of one person. They would destroy the enemy and gain honor for their country.

As the top Lord in Annan region, Ruan Tianque was undoubtedly a truly successful person. His influence amongst the players also could not be overlooked.

Quickly, hundreds of Lords united under Ruan Tianque’s banner.

After some debate, a massive alliance squadron quickly formed up. However, because the north of Annan was extremely long, gathering the entire squadron in one place was going to take some time.

Helplessly, to placate the strong pleas for battle from the adventure gamemode players, Ruan Tianque could only instruct the twenty odd Lords in Haiphong and Rongping prefectures to act as the vanguard and lead the expedition.

As for those players who could not wait, they were already out at sea.

Beihai Bay, on board the Dragon Head.

The moment he received the notification, Ouyang Shuo was ready to fight a tough battle.

”Quickly clean up the battlefield and move forward.” Ouyang Shuo ordered.

”Understood!”

Zheng He also noticed that a seemingly huge shift had occurred on the battlefield.

After hurriedly cleaning up the battlefield, Zheng He ordered the squadron to send out a large number of Sima Boats; they were like a net, and they would locate the enemy and gain intel.

Quickly, Zheng He’s intuition was proven correct.

Shortly after they moved, they met up with wave after wave of enemies. Weirdly, these enemies were extremely weak and scattered; they lacked organization and leadership.

Amongst which, there were even some merchant ships and fishing boats.

”This can also be called a navy?” Zheng He was speechless, ”Directly sink them!”

”Yes, admiral!”

Against these random fishes, Zheng He did not want to make use of their precious cannons. The modified turreted ships and the Meng Chong warships all had sharp rhinoceros like horns, and an even more terrifying iron battering head.

Normal, mid, to small-sized warships would immediately fall apart under their impact.

Do not look at Annan Region and their lousy boats, the players were actually extremely passionate and eager. Each warship was filled with adventure gamemode players, numbering from the hundreds to the thousands.

They wanted to fight a bloody battle with Shanhai City.

A close combat battle was the real way men should fight.

The sight of the numerous story high turreted ship, the Mengchong Warship, greeted them. It looked like a handsome steed, while the Sima Boats moved like ghosts. Finally, they realize that the world was a big place.

In front of the enemy, their warships were just babies.

They could already roughly feel the tragedy that was going to occur.

As expected, under the impact, numerous people fell into the sea like dumplings. Suddenly, many black heads appeared on the calm water surface; truly a sight to behold.

Zheng He was too lazy to waste arrows on these players. The moment a player fell, they would only have a very low chance of survival, so why would he want to waste precious arrows on these people?

One must know that due to the weight limit, a warship could only carry a limited number of arrows.

They only shot the people who tried to climb up the warships. After all, there were still some skilled individuals amongst the adventure gamemode players.

Martial arts were not unique to China.

Ouyang Shuo stood on the Dragon Head and did not speak. He simply allowed Zheng He to command the troops. Meanwhile, his merit points surged at a visible rate.

In just two small battles, he had obtained truly terrifying twenty thousand merit points.

Such rewards were partially due to the uniqueness of sea battle. After all, the moment a ship was sunk, the people on board would basically all die. The casualty rate was unusually high.

……

These two battles were just the curtain opener.

In Haiphong Harbor, a huge squadron had gathered up, and they were heading toward the Shanhai City Squadron. Moreover, on the shoreline further away, tens of thousands of warships were gathering toward the harbor.

The alliance command center was set in Haiphong City, the camp of Ruan Tianque.

After dealing with those two squadrons, the journey of the Shanhai Squadron grew tougher and tougher.

The further they traveled, the more enemies they would encounter.

The passion and blood thirstiness of the Annan region players made Ouyang Shuo feel a shiver run down his spine.

The adventure gamemode players were not fools. After the terrible first wave, they calmed down. They realized that if they just charged in rashly, they would only be feeding the enemy.

Hence, the remaining player squadrons split into two camps. A portion returned to the harbor to gather with the alliance squadron, while the other portion gathered together and proceeded forward.

When Shanhai City met the enemy squadron once again, the scene left Zheng He’s mouth agape.

On the boundless sea, thousands of warships had gathered. A variety of them covered the sea, and when one gazed across the horizon, various colors and types of warships would fill their eyes.

Zheng He was not crazy enough to charge at so many warships with just three hundred of their own.

As they say, many ants could bite an elephant to death.

If they used the same plan, the most likely scenario was not sinking the enemy ships. Rather, they would be drowned in the endless sea of warships.

”Send my order, fire all the cannons!” Zheng He ordered.

”Yes, admiral!”

The familiar Hong long long! noises exploded out once more.

Under the strikes of the cannons, the squadron was immediately thrown into chaos. The orderly battle formations instantly scattered and turned into a massive mess.

Just like when one dropped a stone onto the calm surface of a lake.

Even so, the squadron stood strong.

They braved the cannon fire and launched a fearless charge.

Along with the horn charging signal, arrows mercilessly rained forth onto the Shanhai City squadron. As there were too many of them, the arrows formed a black net.

The Shanhai City Squadron was going to face a life or death test.