“Damn your eighteen generations of ancestors, chains across the river, that’s too insidious! They’re out to wipe us out, leaving us no way to live!”
“Zhejiang brothers, leave us a lifeline, we’ll meet again someday! Think about it, what if you can’t make it in the imperial court and need to join us? Quick, undo the chains, and if that day comes, we’ll treat you well!”
Seeing the Zhejiang troops raise chains across the river, the pirates on the ships turned pale, some cursing furiously, others trying threats or bribes.
But whether it was threats or bribes, the Zhejiang soldiers’ movements didn’t falter one bit.
“Turtle grandsons, what are you yapping about? Don’t rush, your grandpas still have more gifts for you!”
After securing the chains, the Zhejiang soldiers laughed and cursed, dragging logs into the river and pushing them in with long poles. Soon, dozens of logs cluttered the waterway, caught by the chains, further clogging the river.
That wasn’t all, they also tossed in bundles of straw, soaked in kerosene.
As the soldiers on the bank threw torches into the river, the entire waterway erupted in flames instantly.
The river transformed into a fire dragon, writhing in a sea of flames, jaws open wide, waiting to swallow the pirate fleet.
“The front’s on fire too, what do we do?! What do we do?!” The pirates on the ships spun in despair at the sight.
Ahead lay chains across the river and a blazing waterway, behind were burning rafts and three equally fiery pirate ships.
Forward meant a fiery grave, backward meant the same, no difference.
The looming death drove the pirates to the brink, crying, shouting, cursing, hopping around in hopeless panic.
“That damned Zhu Ping’an, pushing us too far!”
Moments ago, Xu Hai had been calm and smug, boasting he wasn’t Cao Cao and Zhu Ping’an wasn’t Zhuge Liang. Now, he lost it, staring at the flames closing in from both sides, his expression unraveling into a snarling grimace, roaring at the shore, “You little thief Zhu Ping’an! I know you’re nearby, listen up, one day I’ll make you beg for life and death alike!”
The pirate fleet had only moved a few dozen meters after sacrificing its tail. If they could’ve kept going, they might’ve outrun the burning rafts behind, but the chains and flaming river ahead blocked their path, leaving them stuck in place.
Driven by the current, the rafts and the three abandoned, burning ships were now charging forward, flames roaring.
They were just over ten meters from the fleet’s rear, and at this current’s speed, they’d collide soon.
“Brother Xu, Brother Xu, it’s too late, stop cursing him, save your breath and figure out what we do!”
“Brother Xu, Brother Xu, chains and fire ahead, rafts and fire ships behind, what do we do, what do we do?!”
Chen Dong and Ma Ye lost their composure too, buzzing around Xu Hai like headless flies, no different from the common pirates.
And who could blame them for panicking? At life-or-death moments, who could stay calm?
Even a hero like Cao Cao broke down at Tong Pass and Red Cliff, and not just once.
“Quick, quick! Send hundreds of men in small boats to shore, drive off the Ming troops, break the river chains, clear a path for the fleet!”
“And abandon three more ships atyourselves, drop anchors in the river to slow the fire ships, buy us time!”
In the clutch, Xu Hai hadn’t lost his wits entirely. After three frantic spins, he devised a plan.
“Right, right, makes sense.”
Chen Dong and Ma Ye nodded eagerly, joining Xu Hai to relay the orders to their men.
“Damn it, just transferred ships and now abandoning again! We won’t have to do it a third time, will we?!”
“Shut your jinx mouth!”
The rear three ships of the pirate fleet were abandoned once more, the pirates grumbling and scrambling to transfer again.
To buy time, they followed Xu Hai’s command and dropped anchors in the river’s center.
The front ships released over a dozen small boats they carried, and hundreds of elite pirates geared up, ready to board them, when mocking laughter rang from the shore.
“Turtle grandsons, don’t rush off, your grandpas have more gifts for you!”
On the high slope of the inner riverbank, a swarm of Zhejiang soldiers appeared, taunting the pirates.
Gifts?!
Hearing the Zhejiang troops were sending more “gifts,” the pirates paled, trembling in terror.
The first “gift” had been dozens of flaming rafts.
The second had been chains across the river, followed by logs and more flames clogging the waterway.
That wasn’t gifting, that was murder!
Now another “gift”?!
Are you ever done?! The pirates despaired, staring fearfully at the shore, dreading what deadly trick the Zhejiang troops had next.
Sure enough.
The next second, a sky full of flaming arrows rained down on the fleet, whooshing through the air, a relentless barrage shrieking as it bombarded them.
The pirates couldn’t dodge, their ships couldn’t move forward or back, stuck as sitting ducks, massive targets impossible to miss.
Ding, ding, ding…
The sound of arrows striking the ships was constant, punctuated by pirates’ screams.
The arrows, wrapped in oil-soaked cotton, burst into flames on impact, especially the sails, which ignited instantly when hit.
But it wasn’t just arrows, cannonballs flew too, the Zhejiang troops had brought Tiger Crouching Cannons.
“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” One shell after another slammed into the ships.
The first wave was devastating, heavy shells smashing through decks, punching holes in the ships.
River water gushed through the breaches, forcing pirates to patch them under a hail of arrows.
Many were shot down in an instant.
The second wave of shells was weaker, many failing to pierce the decks.
“Huh, their cannonballs are losing power?!” The pirates quickly noticed.
“Wait, what’s leaking out of them?”
Though the shells didn’t break through, they rolled across the decks, spilling liquid as they went.
“Damn it! Kerosene!”
A pirate dipped his fingers in the liquid, sniffed it, and went pale, collapsing in panic as he cursed.
Soon, an arrow struck a puddle of the spilled liquid, igniting it with a whoosh, engulfing a wide area.
The scene confirmed his words, the cannonballs were leaking kerosene.
