Emperor of Steel

Balhae was the sea between Yemaek and Song Empire.

About 100 ships carrying the Song Empire’s flag were crossing the misty sea.

A boy with his one eye covered was smiling while leading the flagship.

“Kukkk. Stupid Yemaek men. It is a huge misconception to think we would keep making the same mistake over and over again.”

He was the son of Hwang Bo-kwang, Hwang Bo-jangcheon, the one in charge of the Song Empire’s unit.

The fleet he led consisted of about 30,000 strong warriors and 500 zen skill users.

And the core power of them were the warriors from the Hwang Bo clan, and the men who had reached the peak of their skills.

In addition to that, under the deck were a number of Kangshi, created by Hwang Bo-kwang and Earner.

As all of the power is placed on the front, they were planning on landing to the rear of Yemaek and take control.

They were in a fight which they wouldn’t lose at all.

“Look here, General Mak. How long till we reach Yemaek’s port?”

Hwang Bo-jangcheon, who was looking at the east of Yemaek, asked with a triumphant expression.

There stood the one-eyed old general.

General Mak Dong-chung, with a natural bronze-colored face of a sailor, was the military leader of the Song Empire.

He was famous for being a well-established figure for starting as a junior soldier and rising to the rank of general.

If there was Lee Yong-mu, the Red Dragon King on the land, then the position of Mak in the navy was considered to be great.

Although Hwang Bo-jangcheon didn’t have any status, Mak Dong-chung didn’t seem to care about his words.

Unlike Lee Yong-mu, his family wasn’t outstanding in arts, however, he had a strong desire to succeed.

He was struggling to solidify his connection with the Hwang Bo clan, the real leader of the Song Empire, which was why he didn’t seem to mind the rudeness of the child, Hwang Bo-jangcheon.

“Lord, Yemaek’s troops aren’t that weak. However…”

“However, what?”

Mak Dong-chung hesitated for a moment seeing Hwang Bo-jangcheon’s annoyed gaze on him.

“It isn’t too late, why don’t we turn back the ship?”

Honestly, Mak Dong-chung didn’t have hopes for the success of the expedition.

Yemaek’s navy was known to be very strong even with the small numbers.

They were known to have armed ships with large artillery on them, which was why even the Yamatai pirates were known to have lost against Yemaek’s navy troops.

In particular, the ironclad ship called the Turtle Ship which resembled its structure to the said animal was known to cause great damage to the enemy fleet before they could even reach the port.

From all that information, Mak Dong-chung opposed the landing of the troops through the sea route.

However, he couldn’t oppose the order issued in the name of the emperor.

“Eh, that again. I have another idea.”

At the repeated concerns of Mak Dong-chung, Hwang Bo-jangcheon spoke in a bad mood.

Prior to the expedition, he already planned a trick to divert the attention of the Yemaek troops.

He had asked the heads of the Yamatai pirates to lure the navy of Yemaek in exchange for enormous wealth.

By now, the Yemaek troops would be busy chasing after the pirates and wouldn’t be able to stop the Song Empire’s fleet.

“General just needs to pay attention to landing our troops safely after crossing the sea.”

‘Ha ah, what kind of thoughts does the kid have? He is too naïve to think that those sneaky pirates would follow our plan just because we gave them some money!’

Mak Dong-chung couldn’t understand that they were joining hands with the pirates and believed that the pirates would follow them without planning their own secret mission.

And even though he was the son of the royal family, the idea of the 16-year-old kid, who was placed as the lead for the troops, sounded too unconvincing.

‘Does he think that the war is a joke? Or is he so confident in his abilities that he thinks of everything as a joke?’

All he could do was sigh.

Still, he had no choice but to go ahead with the orders given, and he gave Hwang Bo-jangcheon the answer he wanted to hear.

“If the voyage goes well, we will arrive at the Phoenix castle in Yemaek in three days.”

The Phoenix castle was a port city, located a little further from the royal palace, and could reach Asadal, the capital of Yemaek in two days from there.

The reason why it took three days by sea when it could reach in a day on land was because they had to take a roundabout.

“Three days? Can’t we go any faster? No shortcuts?”

“We can, but it won’t be possible because of the reefs. Balhae was a foggy sea, and it would be difficult to avoid the reefs under such conditions.”

“Tch! Then just speed up!”

“We are already on the fastest. As you can see, the transport is slow because of the full cargo…”

As Mak Dong-chung continued to explain to the child, Hwang Bo-jangcheon stopped him by shaking his hands.

“Enough, I am going to my cabin, so order the girls to dress up and send them to me.”

“Hahaha, understood.”

Hwang Bo-jangcheon was excellent in martial arts, but the kid was extremely stimulated.

Which was why, on the current expedition, he brought a number of prostitutes with excellent bodies.

Originally, it was illegal to carry women while on the battlefield.

However, it wasn’t the case with Hwang Bo-jangcheon.

High ranking officials would always do it in the dark, and Mak Dong-chung was no exception to it.

It was when Hwang Bo-jangcheon, who ordered, was ready to go below deck.

On the mast, the bell sounded and shouts came.

Dang! Dang! Dang!

“Ships! Ships are coming in from the north!”

“What?!”

Shocked, Mak Dong-chung opened the new telescope and jumped onto the side of the mast to see.

And looked at the direction where the sailor was pointing to.

“Kuek, where is the fleet?”

At first glance, it was no trading ship.

It was because the appearance of the ship was more suitable for combat than the transport of goods.

‘What is that in the center? I don’t see any sails?’

He heard that the northern ships were run with magic or some other things, however, he never heard of a ship with no sail, let alone see it.

“General Mak, the Yemaek fleet?”

Hwang Bo-jangcheon came onto the deck and asked.

He didn’t think it was possible, however, their opponent was the Yemaek troops, which meant anything could happen.

The main troops of the ship were all warriors.

They weren’t that skilled in navy battles, and the current Song fleet was a transport ship carrying the troops.

“I think we will know by taking a close look at it. However, as the ship has come from the north, maybe…”

“Maybe what?”

“A battleship from the northern continent.”

“What? The Northern Continent?”

Hwang Bo-jangcheon couldn’t understand it.

It was because there was no reason for the battleships from the Northern Continent to even appear there, that too when they weren’t trading ships.

In the entire history, it was only once that the battleship from the Northern continent had appeared on the Southern Continent.

Around 100 years back, when a ship from the Grenada Kingdom got wrecked in the distant sea, lost the course and stopped on the continent for a while.

After that, no battleship from the north had ever appeared.

However, suddenly it appeared during the time when they were in war!

That too in the middle of their task.

At the sight of the unknown fleet, the Song Empire’s Navy fell into deep confusion.