While the crowd of Japanese pirates was stunned by the Zhejiang army’s ferocious firearms, a sudden burst of laughter rang out.
“Hahahaha… is this little spectacle enough to scare you all?!” Xu Hai laughed heartily.
Ma Ye looked apprehensively at the Zhejiang army’s Fengqiao encampment, shaking his head slowly, he said, “Brother Xu, the Zhejiang army’s firearms are truly fierce, our vanguard didn’t even reach their lines and was nearly wiped out.”
“The Zhejiang army’s firearms are powerful, our scouts confirmed this long ago, there’s nothing surprising about it, nor is it a big deal, listen to me, everyone, we have three advantages over the Zhejiang army, they have three weaknesses, as long as we counter them properly, the Zhejiang army is nothing but bones in a tomb, fish on a chopping block, easily crushed in one blow!”
Xu Hai smiled, scanning the crowd of Japanese pirates, he raised his right hand high, swung it forcefully, and spoke with full confidence.
“Leader Xu, Leader Xu, tell us quickly, what are our three advantages, what are the Zhejiang army’s three weaknesses?”
The Japanese pirates eagerly asked, including leaders like Chen Dong, Ma Ye, and Beitiao Dao San, all brimming with curiosity.
“The Zhejiang army has just two thousand troops, while we are strong and numerous, with over thirty thousand men, in terms of numbers, we hold an absolute advantage, the Zhejiang army is at an absolute disadvantage, this is their first weakness, our first advantage.”
Xu Hai extended a pinky finger, pointed toward the Zhejiang army’s direction, then disdainfully flicked it downward.
“Right, right, we’ve got over thirty thousand men, the Zhejiang army only has two thousand, they’re doomed!”
Hearing Xu Hai’s words, the Japanese pirates suddenly saw the light, indeed, we have over thirty thousand, the Zhejiang army’s just two thousand, ten against one with five left to cheer us on, their confidence surged back instantly.
Still, some Japanese pirates remained wary of the Zhejiang army’s firearms, murmuring, “The Zhejiang army’s firearms are fierce, our elite vanguard didn’t even touch their position and was nearly annihilated…”
Hearing mention of the Zhejiang army’s firearms again, the confidence the Japanese pirates had just regained wavered once more.
Yeah, what’s the use of our numbers, the Zhejiang army’s firearms are fierce, we’re dying before we even get close…
Xu Hai swept his gaze over the Japanese pirates, a scornful smirk tugging at his lips, he flashed a contemptuous smile, saying slowly, “I just heard someone mention the Zhejiang army’s firearms being fierce, heh, so what if they are, they’ve only got two thousand men, besides, are their firearms really that powerful?!”
“Next, I’ll tell you about our second advantage and the Zhejiang army’s second weakness! Their defeat lies in their firearms, our victory lies in our blades! I know you’re probably sceptical! But again, are the Zhejiang army’s firearms really that great?! Don’t forget, we have firearms too, don’t you know their weaknesses?!”
“First, muskets have a short range, no matter how fierce, they’re only effective within a hundred paces, beyond that, a musket’s just an iron fire poker, too pitiful to discard, useless to keep, good only for smacking someone and leaving a bump, second, muskets reload slowly, after firing, it takes ages to load again, you have to carefully measure the right amount of gunpowder, too much and it explodes, too little and it’s powerless, then you load the shot, ram it down with a rod… even our most skilled musket hands, oh, what Beitiao calls ‘cannon hands,’ the best of them need ten breaths to reload a musket, ten breaths is enough time for us to charge their lines and chop their heads off to kick around, earlier, the Zhejiang army’s firearms were so fierce because they’d pre-loaded their powder and fired in turns, once they’ve shot their load, reloading takes time and effort.”
“With the Zhejiang army’s numbers and the usual Ming army firearm allocation, at that intensity, they can sustain at most four volleys, after four rounds, they’ll need to reload, will we give them time to do that?! Of course not, we’ll charge in and cut their throats!”
“Third, muskets can’t fire repeatedly, after a few shots, the barrel overheats, it needs to cool down before firing again, otherwise it’ll explode! A musket explosion isn’t a joke, not only does it doom the shooter, those nearby get hit too, light injuries at best, death at worst.”
“Fourth, in rain or damp weather, muskets are useless, it’s not raining today, but the sky’s overcast, the air’s humid, the powder will get damp, the Zhejiang army can’t keep this up for long!”
“Finally, musket fire creates thick smoke, especially with the Zhejiang army’s many muskets, a few shots and their position will be shrouded in fog, they won’t see a thing, blind with their eyes open, ripe for us to slaughter!”
“We’re different, our Japanese blades and longswords are forged from refined steel, they cut through iron like mud, you could chop a hundred heads and the edge wouldn’t dull, use them however you like, in any weather.”
“This is the Zhejiang army’s second weakness, our second advantage!”
Xu Hai spoke eloquently, listing the flaws of firearms and the strengths of cold weapons to the Japanese pirates in detail.
“Yeah, right, muskets reload too slowly, after firing, there’s no chance to load a second shot.”
“True, Leader Beitiao’s cannon team can only fire once per battle.”
The Japanese pirates nodded along to Xu Hai’s explanation of musket flaws, deeply agreeing.
The Zhejiang army’s firearms just have more of them, it doesn’t seem like much, once they’ve fired once, the battlefield’s ours to command.
“Leader Xu, what about the Zhejiang army’s third weakness, our third advantage?” the Japanese pirates pressed.
“Alright, now I’ll tell you the Zhejiang army’s third weakness, our third advantage, we’ve got the full scoop on the Zhejiang army, they’ve only been formed for four months, their original core was a band of near-starving mountain bandits, about eight hundred of them, so useless they couldn’t even rob properly, reduced to near starvation, they joined Zhu Ping’an for a bite to eat, the other twelve hundred were common folk Zhu Ping’an recruited from the south just over a month ago, trained for only a month, in short, the Zhejiang army is inherently weak, poorly trained rabble!”
“And us? We’re all battle-hardened veterans, whose hands aren’t stained with blood, who hasn’t lived by the edge of a blade?! Beitiao and his crew are elite samurai who crossed the sea from Japan! I’m not exaggerating, any one of us could take on two of them with ease!”
“This is the Zhejiang army’s third weakness, our third advantage!”
Xu Hai shouted encouragement.
“Hahahaha, they’re such a joke, bandits who managed to starve as thieves, I’m dying of laughter, that kind of bandit is just a tame kitten in front of us.”
“So the Zhejiang army’s just peasants who dropped their hoes and picked up weapons for a month, nothing special.”
The Japanese pirates’ confidence surged back, they grew cocksure once more.
“With these three advantages and three weaknesses, as long as we don’t give the Zhejiang army a chance to reload a second time, boldly charge in, they’re finished!”
Xu Hai swung his arm high.
“Our army will triumph, the Zhejiang army will fall!”
The Japanese pirates roared in unison, their morale soaring once again.
