This earth-shattering, ground-trembling explosion came so suddenly, so unexpectedly, without any warning, without any buildup, the entire world jolted violently.
It was far more than just shaking, this deafening blast unleashed a terrifying feast.
The fierce explosion shredded dozens of Japanese pirates at its epicentre into fragments, mangled limbs, scraps of flesh and bone, sticky tissue, and hot blood rained down in a gory torrent.
Along with the blast, hundreds of tiny lead and iron pellets burst forth, like a steel storm, pouring out in all directions without warning.
This metallic tempest, centred on the explosion point, blanketed a radius of nearly a hundred metres.
The surrounding Japanese pirates hadn’t even reacted when their bodies were pierced by the lead and iron pellets.
The dense barrage of pellets didn’t discriminate between thighs, arms, torsos, or heads, piercing whatever they hit, propelled by the violent explosion, these pellets carried immense force, the pirates’ armour was like paper, their flesh no different.
Japanese pirates within a twenty-metre radius of the blast centre were instantly turned into sieves, riddled with countless bloody holes, they didn’t even have time to scream before their sinful lives ended.
Those thirty to fifty metres out fared little better, each bearing at least four or five gaping wounds, arms, hands, torsos, heads hit at random, fatal strikes killed instantly, non-lethal ones drew shrill screams, they collapsed, writhing in agony, preferring death.
Beyond sixty or seventy metres, it was a lottery, some hit, some spared, injuries varying, a chorus of wails filled the air.
It all happened in an instant.
Before anyone could process this massive explosion, before terror could even register on their faces, another upheaval struck.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
“Boom, boom, boom, boom…”
One after another, earth-shaking explosions roared in succession, a relentless cacophony like the prelude to the apocalypse, massive black fiery pits erupted, terrifying mushroom clouds of earth, stone, and smoke billowed upward, dust and explosive fumes blotted out the sky.
Over twenty explosions detonated almost simultaneously, the devastation was ferocious, dozens of times more intense than the first, the ground quaked violently, splitting apart, the pirates’ boats in the canal collided like bumper cars, even Suzhou city trembled, homes near the southern walls shook as if struck by an earthquake.
Each thunderous blast unleashed a steel storm in all directions.
In moments, tens of thousands of lead and iron pellets engulfed a hundred-metre radius, overwhelming the charging pirates.
“Pfft, pfft, pfft…”
The sound of piercing armour and flesh rang out ceaselessly.
Mountains crumbled, smoke soared, seven or eight thousand charging pirates didn’t even have a chance to resist, they littered the ground, blood flowed in rivers, the dying and wounded were countless, fewer than one in ten still stood.
Silence fell!
The world went quiet!
Corpses sprawled everywhere, severed limbs scattered, blood pooled into streams, only the sky-piercing cries of anguish rose and fell.
The blood flowed so freely it reached the nearby canal, briefly staining the water red…
From the first explosion to the relentless barrage’s end, it took mere blinks.
But in those blinks, the world transformed!
Before the blinks.
Boundless Japanese pirates surged with unstoppable momentum, wave after wave, their vanguard reaching the Zhejiang low wall, weapons slashing at the soldiers behind, poised to raze the position in the next second.
After the blinks.
The boundless Japanese pirates were nearly wiped out, bodies strewn across the field, blood flowing in rivers, wails piercing the sky, only a few hundred stood like soulless husks, trembling like dazed quails.
“We’re dead, we’re dead! Mother, is this the King of Hell rising from the earth?!”
“Devils, devils, the Zhejiang army must be devils, this isn’t humanly possible!”
“The Zhejiang army knows sorcery!”
“Hell, I remember now, isn’t their commander a top scholar? Aren’t scholars the Star of Literature descended? Can he wield magic, summoning celestial thunder?!”
The rear pirate army was terrified out of their wits, faces pale, drenched in cold sweat, legs shaking, barely standing, countless fell from the blasts or fear, some even wet themselves.
The Zhejiang army’s musket volleys, reaping like wheat, had been shocking and terrifying.
But compared to this, it was child’s play.
This was a damn obliteration.
Six or seven thousand men, in a blink, nearly half dead, most of the rest wounded, almost entirely wiped out.
We’ve only got a few tens of thousands, how many times can they clear us like this?!
Xu Hai, Ma Ye, Chen Dong, and the other pirate leaders, who’d been laughing smugly, boasting of victory and planning breakfast, now had faces frozen in terror and disbelief, expressions unhinged, mouths askew.
“How, how… what is this?! So terrifying?!” Chen Dong’s face was ashen, sweat pouring.
“Our men?! How can gunpowder have such power? Impossible! Impossible! Utterly impossible!” Ma Ye panicked, staggering back several steps, dazed.
“Damn it! Cunning, treacherous, vile Zhejiang army! They feigned weakness, luring us to mass our forces, waiting until we concentrated to detonate buried gunpowder!”
“Zhu Ping’an! Fine! Very fine! Today’s blood feud, I, Xu Hai, will repay a hundredfold!”
Xu Hai’s lips bled from biting, his face twisted in fury, swearing word by word, each dripping with blood.
Far off, Suzhou city still quaked, officials and soldiers clung to the walls, gaping at the Fengqiao camp.
One second, they’d mourned the Zhejiang army, mocking Zhu Ping’an’s folly, his stubborn resolve to die with the position, the next, the world flipped, everything so sudden, earth-shaking, sky-rending, flames soaring, smoke billowing, like celestial thunder crashing down…
Even now, they hadn’t recovered from the relentless, earth-shattering blasts, massive smoke mushrooms rose in their view, pirate screams drifted on the wind, the endless ant-like swarm nearly vanished…
In a snap, seven or eight thousand pirates turned to ash, the world fell silent…
In the distance, the Zhejiang Fengqiao camp stood like an unshakable mountain!
The Zhejiang position, one man guarding the pass, ten thousand unable to breach! Not a single pirate crossed their line!
