“Brother Ma, they’re already cornered beasts. Why bother fighting them hand-to-hand? Tear down the surrounding houses, build high platforms, take the high ground, and use longbows, crossbows, and muskets to pick off anyone who dares resist, one by one!”
“Once they’re dead, how can the county office not fall?!”
Seeing Ma Ye struggle, Xu Hai gave a slight smile, patted Ma Ye’s shoulder, and spoke slowly.
“Exactly! Brother Xu’s words have opened my eyes. I was so enraged by that damned magistrate I lost my head. Why fight these dying men up close when I can strike from a position of strength?”
Ma Ye’s eyes lit up, and he immediately grinned.
“Go! Tear down the houses and quickly build some siege platforms. Gather all the longbowmen and musketeers. Once the platforms are ready, take the high ground and shoot down those stubborn fools in the county office!”
Ma Ye wasted no time directing his pirates to carry out the orders.
Soon, his pirates swarmed like a demolition crew, smashing nearby homes and dragging out door panels, beams, and other materials. They forced captured carpenters at knifepoint to build high platforms, killing any who dared refuse.
After one carpenter was cut down, the rest, terrified, stopped resisting and began constructing platforms with the materials the pirates provided.
“No need for perfection—just make it usable! Hurry, hurry! If it’s not done in the time it takes an incense stick to burn, I’ll chop you all down!”
Ma Ye shook the blood off his pirate blade and threatened the carpenters with death to speed up their work.
At first, Magistrate Jiang and his men in the county office breathed a sigh of relief when the pirates stopped their direct assault. But when they saw the pirates demolishing homes, hauling door panels and beams, and starting to build siege platforms, their faces paled.
Once the pirates built these platforms, they’d have the high ground. Their archers and musketeers could stand atop them, shooting down at the defenders with ease.
When the platforms were complete, it would be their death knell.
Their best option was to charge out and destroy the platforms under construction.
But in open combat, they were no match for the pirates!
Defending behind the walls, they could at least fight desperately with the advantage of the barriers. In open battle, they’d be sending themselves to their deaths.
Yet, sitting and waiting for the pirates to finish the platforms was a slow death sentence. Once the platforms were up, the pirates would pick them off one by one with longbows, crossbows, and muskets from above. Retreating into the buildings to avoid the arrows and musket fire would mean abandoning the walls, letting the pirates into the office.
And once the pirates were inside, it’d be no different from open combat—they’d stand no chance, and death would follow.
The pirates’ platforms were their Achilles’ heel. Once built, their fate was sealed—death either way.
“Damn it, so slow! Kill them! Drag out the slowest one and execute him!”
Though the carpenters were already working at breakneck speed, Ma Ye deliberately cursed their pace, ordering his pirates to pull out the relatively slowest carpenter and behead him.
The remaining carpenters, terrified, worked even harder to avoid Ma Ye’s murderous wrath, pushing themselves to the limit, each outpacing the other in a desperate bid to survive.
“What do we do? What do we do?”
The constables and defeated soldiers in the county office watched the platforms rising higher outside the walls, gripped by panic.
“Shields! Everyone, grab a shield!” Magistrate Jiang ordered urgently, his lips dry and voice hoarse.
“You three with shields, get over here and protect me tightly! Those damned pirates’ arrows and muskets will target me first!”
He then commanded three shield-bearing constables to cover him, fearing the pirates would focus their fire on him.
“Sir, we don’t have enough shields. The armory only had fifty, not enough for everyone!” the head constable said helplessly.
“Tear down the door panels! Use them as shields! If the pirates can use door panels, so can we!” Jiang pointed to the courtyard’s doors.
The constables and soldiers without shields rushed to dismantle the doors, using them as makeshift shields.
Just as they finished, the pirates outside completed one siege platform. Pirate longbowmen and musketeers eagerly climbed up, drawing bows to full and lighting musket fuses.
“Fire!”
At the pirate leader’s command, over a dozen longbowmen loosed their arrows, which shot like lightning into the county office courtyard.
Thanks to Jiang’s order to use door panels as shields, everyone in the courtyard had either a shield or a panel.
Most of the dozen arrows thudded into shields and panels, blocked with a series of thunks.
But three unlucky souls were hit due to tricky arrow angles and poorly positioned shields. One was struck in the neck from the side, dying instantly, while two were hit in the thighs, screaming in pain.
After the arrows, the dozen musketeers fired, smoke rising with a series of “bang, bang, bang…”
Shields and panels blocked longbows and crossbows but couldn’t stop muskets, especially at such close range! A single musket volley’s power far surpassed cold weapons.
After the musket fire, screams erupted in the courtyard. Far more fell to muskets than to the earlier arrows.
A shield hit by a musket bullet was pierced with a “bang,” leaving a gaping hole, and the constable behind it fell dead, eyes wide in shock.
Some constables and soldiers held up thick door panels, thinking they were safe, but a musket shot blasted a hole through, killing those behind.
Beyond those killed outright, several others were wounded by musket fire, collapsing with agonized cries.
“Shields can stop arrows, but not muskets. What do we do, sir? What do we do?”
The constables, seeing muskets pierce even shields, were terrified, their courage crumbling.
Before Jiang could respond, a wave of despairing cries swept the courtyard, as if they stood at the gates of hell: “Damn it, the pirates have finished all four platforms! What do we do, sir?!”
Jiang looked out and saw four more platforms rising beyond the walls, with pirate longbowmen and musketeers scrambling up eagerly.
Despair!
The defenders in the county office stared at the five platforms outside, utterly hopeless.
