Under General Wang’s furious shouting, the defending soldiers mustered their courage. Though trembling with fear, they began loosing arrows, hurling stones and logs, splashing boiling water down the walls, and firing the wall-mounted crossbows with a howling roar toward the enemy below.
However, these troops, long untested in battle and now gripped by terror, had shaky hands and feet. Their archery was akin to a blind man shooting arrows—wildly inaccurate.
The wall-mounted crossbows, though powerful and long-ranged, were especially prone to veering off course due to their strength. Shots flew high over the pirates’ heads, plunging uselessly into the moat.
Even so, in the initial clash, the defenders managed to claim some victories.
A single arrow might miss its mark due to its small size and large margin of error, but the stones and logs raining down were far bigger targets. Crashing to the ground with a thud, they rolled forward under inertia, crushing several unlucky pirates in their path.
Seeing the stones and logs take effect, the soldiers on the wall grew excited. The pirates didn’t seem so formidable after all—they were flesh and blood too, dying under the weight of stones and logs, screaming in pain when scalded by boiling water.
If their archery was off, they could rely on hurling stones and logs instead. With such large projectiles, even tossing them blindly down the wall could score hits.
Thus enlightened, the defenders played to their strengths, eagerly grabbing stones and logs to throw below.
For a moment, a rain of stones and logs poured down, striking numerous pirates.
“Hahaha, the pirates aren’t so tough after all…”
The soldiers on the wall grew exhilarated, their initial fear of the pirates slowly dissipating.
Just then, a series of loud *clang!* *clang!* noises rang out as the pirates, braving the barrage of stones and logs, managed to prop their scaling ladders against the wall.
Though these ladders were hastily crafted overnight, the pirates had clearly put thought into them, fitting the tops with iron claws and hooks.
Once the ladders were set against the wall, the pirates below pulled and tugged, anchoring the claws firmly into the battlements, thwarting any attempts by the defenders to topple them.
Then, like ants, the pirates began climbing up the ladders.
The defenders shifted their focus to the ladders, hurling stones and logs directly at them. Stones knocked pirates off, sending them crashing to their deaths, while logs rolled down the ladders, taking out whole strings of climbers.
One bold soldier even tried to push a ladder over, hoping to send it and its climbers tumbling down together. But the iron claws held fast to the wall, immovable. Frustrated, he drew his sword and hacked at the junction of the ladder and claws, aiming to break the hooks and then topple it.
But soon, the pirates’ arrows and arquebuses taught them a harsh lesson.
As the ladders reached the wall, the pirates mobilized their longbowmen and arquebusiers to protect them, targeting the defenders who leaned out to drop stones and logs.
While the defenders’ aim was poor, the pirates were skilled marksmen—not infallible, but hitting six or seven out of ten shots.
The soldiers eagerly tossing stones and logs became prime targets, struck down by arrows or blasted by arquebus fire, suffering heavy casualties.
The bold soldier chopping at the ladder’s claws fared the worst, singled out by the pirate archers and riddled with arrows.
He was nearly turned into a porcupine.
In an instant, the defenders were once again overwhelmed by fear of the pirates. No one dared lean out to throw stones or logs anymore.
“Useless bunch! We’ve got the high ground and the wall for protection, yet we’re being pinned down by their arrows? It’s infuriating! Archers and crossbowmen, listen up—focus your fire on their bowmen. There aren’t many of them. Kill them off, and we’re clear!”
General Wang, seeing his troops suppressed by a mere few hundred pirate archers, roared in frustration.
Under his furious orders, the archers on the wall, trembling with fear, peeked out to target the pirate bowmen below.
Though their accuracy was lacking, their elevated position and the wall’s cover allowed them to hold their own against the pirates’ archers.
The exchange between the wall’s archers and the pirates below resulted in mutual losses, roughly an even split.
In a short span, both sides lost dozens of men.
“Where are the wall crossbows? And the General Cannons? Aim them at their archers—take them out first!”
General Wang bellowed again, dissatisfied, ordering the wall crossbows and cannons to focus on the pirate archers.
The crossbows were hit-or-miss, landing maybe one in ten shots, but the General Cannons were not to be underestimated. Though equally inaccurate, their sheer power meant even a near miss could catch surrounding pirates in the blast.
With the crossbows and cannons joining the fray, the pirate archers soon buckled, scattering in retreat.
The pressure on the defenders eased significantly.
“Hahaha, take that! You’re still too green to challenge me! I come from five generations of military lineage!”
General Wang laughed heartily as the pirate archers fled, raising his arm triumphantly, “Their archers are crippled! Everyone, throw down stones and logs—smash these turtle bastards!”
Meanwhile, the pirates below seized the moment when the defenders focused on their archers, leaving a gap. They climbed the ladders and began appearing at the wall’s edge.
“Don’t let them up! Stab with spears, slash with swords, splash boiling water—keep them off!”
General Wang roared.
The defenders, hands shaking, clumsily thrust spears and swung swords at the emerging pirates. With their numbers and height advantage, and with the pirate archers dispersed, they regained control.
“Ah!”
Screams rang out as pirates at the top fell, their cries echoing as they crashed down, knocking others off the ladders in their descent.
For a moment, the defenders held the upper hand. Stones and logs rained down, eliciting wails from the pirates below. Whenever a pirate neared the top, the defenders swarmed, hacking and stabbing until he was sent plummeting.
“Haha, I’ve smashed a bunch of pirates! Let’s see who dares call me a coward now!”
“The pirates aren’t that tough! Did you see? One tried to trade blows with me—I slashed him right off the ladder. He hit the ground, all bloody and smashed, dead as can be!”
“No wonder the Zhejiang Army won big yesterday. These pirates are weak, scrawny little things—not impressive at all!”
“I saw a few trying to desert, scared out of their wits. Their own overseers chopped their heads off!”
The defenders grew more confident with each kill, having taken down at least a hundred pirates, their bravado swelling.
“They’re running! Look, the pirates below are retreating! Hahaha, we’ve won! We’ve driven them off!”
“Long live! Long live! The pirates are fleeing! Victory is ours!”
A wave of cheers erupted.
In an instant, the wall became a sea of jubilation, starkly contrasting with the pirates’ chaotic retreat below…
