Xu Hai’s orders couldn’t be called incorrect, nor his response untimely, but they were useless, utterly impossible to carry out.
Due to the river’s bend and the lead ship stopping to salvage the sunken log, the pirate fleet was jammed at the turn.
With so many ships packed together, forget rushing forward, even escaping the clog was no easy feat in such a short time.
They didn’t have much time left.
Not far behind them, dozens of rafts loaded with straw and firewood sliced through the water, racing toward the pirate fleet like the wind.
Closer and closer they came.
“Shoot arrows!”
“Shoot arrows!”
Watching the rafts draw near, the pirates screamed in terror, frantically firing arrows in a desperate bid to stop them.
Just as the rafts entered the pirates’ arrow range, the Zhejiang soldiers on the flammable rafts laughed heartily, “Turtle bastards, receive your gift!” They lit the straw and firewood with flint.
The straw and wood, drenched in oil, erupted into roaring flames the moment the flint touched it, instantly becoming a blazing inferno with thick smoke billowing.
After igniting the load, the Zhejiang soldiers leapt onto the support rafts behind them, then gave the burning rafts a final hard push with their poles, speeding them toward the pirates.
One by one, the flaming rafts charged at the pirate fleet like fiery dragons.
As the fire dragons closed in, the pirates onboard were scared out of their wits, wailing and shrieking, some even wetting themselves in panic.
Shoot, shoot, the pirates fired arrows like mad at the rapidly approaching rafts, but it was pointless, the Zhejiang soldiers had already retreated upstream on the support rafts, far beyond the reach of their arrows.
As for the burning rafts, they were unmanned, shooting more arrows only added fuel to the fire.
Bathed in a rain of arrows, the flaming rafts, driven by the current, roared toward the pirate fleet.
“Hei Niu, damn your mother, you’re screwing us! Stop blocking the front and row, row!”
“The front, row faster! The fire ships are coming, if we don’t get out, we’ll all burn to death!”
“Get out of the way! You bastards up front, move, or don’t blame me for getting rough!”
As the rafts closed in, the pirates on the ships grew frantic, like ants on a hot pan, shouting and cursing at the ships ahead.
“No time, screw it, ram them! Ram them! If you don’t want to burn, crash through!”
“Get lost!”
Faced with death, the rear ships lost control, recklessly rowing and ramming into the ships ahead, hoping brute force would carve a path, “Bang!” A loud crash as they slammed into the ship in front.
“What the hell!”
“Matsui, you trying to die?!”
The front ship tilted from the impact, its pirates tumbling over each other, cursing loudly.
The rammed ship swung sideways, not only failing to clear a path but clogging the river even worse.
The rear ships tried to push again, but before they could muster another charge, “Bang!” another crash, their own ship was struck from behind, tasting the same fate, tilting and sending them sprawling as their hull twisted off course.
“Bang, bang, bang…”
The sound of collisions echoed as the pirates tried to smash their way out, only making the chaos worse, clogging the river tighter.
Cries and curses filled the air.
“Damn it! What bullshit ebony log, it’s all a trap! All a filthy scheme by that Zhu brat!”
“That bastard Zhu Ping’an! He lured us with the ebony log, used the river bend to trap us here!”
Xu Hai quickly pieced it together, realizing the two sunken logs were traps set by Zhu Ping’an.
“Take my sword, go to the lead ship now, if they can’t move forward in five breaths, behead the captain and vice-captain!”
“Once the lead ship moves, take the sword to the next ships, same rule, any ship that doesn’t advance in five breaths, behead its captain and vice-captain!”
“If you spot a problem, act as you see fit, you have my permission to execute first and report later!”
Seeing the fleet descend into chaos, Xu Hai made a snap decision, unstrapped his sword, handed it to a trusted pirate, and ordered him to clear the way.
“You too!”
Chen Dong and Ma Ye also handed their swords to their trusted men, sending them along.
The trusted pirates, swords in hand, leapt forward, vaulting over railings and bows, swinging grappling hooks, moving like acrobats across the tangled mess of ships toward the lead vessel.
Hei Niu and the others on the lead ship knew they were in deep trouble, they’d been frantically rowing even before the trusted pirates arrived, but the heavy log they’d hauled up was dragging them down, slowing their speed.
They couldn’t just toss it overboard either, it’d block the river and hinder the fleet even more.
“Damn it, throw the log overboard, jump in the water, drag it to shore, don’t let it clog the river!” the trusted pirates arrived, spotted the issue, and ordered Hei Niu and a few others to dump the log and pull it aside.
“What?! It’s the dead of winter, you want us to jump in and drag it to shore?! We’ll freeze to death!” Hei Niu’s eyes bulged in disbelief, protesting.
Before he finished, a flash of white light streaked past, and he felt his head lighten, as if it were floating.
When his head hit the deck and his vision turned red, he realized, I’ve been freaking beheaded…
“Any more questions?!”
The lead trusted pirate flicked the blood off his blade, sheathed it, and squinted at the other pirates he’d singled out.
“No, no…”
The others didn’t dare object, jumping one by one into the icy river with resigned splashes.
One stood frozen on deck, trembling as he stammered, “B-but I can’t swim!”
“Hm?”
The lead trusted pirate narrowed his eyes again.
The pirate didn’t dare say more, plunging into the water with a splash, sinking straight down, flailing desperately to surface and call for help, but the moment he opened his mouth, freezing water rushed in, his limbs seized from the cold, and after a few struggles, he sank forever into the depths.
“Uh, guess he really couldn’t swim,” the lead trusted pirate shrugged nonchalantly.
