“Damn it! The soldiers are flanking us from behind!”
The pirates, though a beat slow, quickly noticed the Zhejiang Army circling around from the rear. Panic set in.
These soldiers were too cunning! Hundreds of them against just thirty-some of us, and they still used a pincer tactic? Shameless!
The next second, they learned who was truly shameless.
*Bang, bang, bang…*
The Zhejiang Army from the rear, like those in front, charged into firing range and unleashed a point-blank volley.
After the smoke cleared, the remaining twenty-some pirates were almost all turned into bloody sieves.
Only five survived, including the pirate leader, who reacted swiftly, dodging the moment he saw the flanking troops and narrowly escaping the volley.
Kuroda Kamezo was among them too, unbelievably lucky to survive yet another musket barrage unscathed.
“They’ve fired their muskets and can’t reload in time! Charge! Only by killing them and stealing their horses can we carve a path out. Otherwise, two legs will never outrun four—we’ll just be live targets!” Kuroda Kamezo shouted, pointing out the muskets’ reloading drawback and rallying the others to fight for the horses.
Steal the cavalry’s horses?!
Easier said than done. Infantry were naturally disadvantaged against cavalry. Even if garrison soldiers were weak, mounted troops were a different story. And these soldiers were clearly unlike any garrison they’d faced before.
Previous garrisons were feeble, chased and hacked down by the pirates. But now, in two exchanges, their thirty-man elite pirate squad was reduced to five.
Stealing their horses? That was suicide.
The other pirates hesitated.
“This is our last chance! There’s not even a forest to hide from cavalry. If we don’t fight, we die. Fight, and we have a slim chance! Follow me!” The pirate leader, eyes bloodshot like a cornered beast, roared.
He was right.
Without horses, they were doomed. With horses, they had a sliver of hope.
Fight!
The surviving pirates gritted their teeth, glaring ahead.
“Now! Charge!”
The pirate leader and Kuroda Kamezo shouted in unison, lunging forward like twin blades.
“Charge!”
The others yelled, gnashing their teeth as they rushed toward the enemy.
They targeted the flanking Zhejiang Army, which appeared smaller in number.
“Die!”
The pirate leader and Kuroda Kamezo raised their katanas, charging with confidence—confidence in their ability to cut down a cavalryman and seize a horse. Their confidence stemmed from their proven strength.
The pirate leader had once single-handedly slaughtered an entire squad of five garrison soldiers.
Kuroda Kamezo was a killing star, having stormed a hundred-man garrison formation, beheading a Hundred-Commander with one stroke and escaping unscathed.
They’d fought cavalry on foot before. The Hundred-Commander Kuroda killed had ridden a fine steed, but Kuroda’s strike was so fierce it took not only the man’s head but half the horse’s as well.
The flanking Ming troops were now just ten meters away, their hoofbeats thundering, shaking the ground.
Not one of the five surviving pirates backed down.
“Kill!”
They roared, charging forward.
At that moment, they saw the Ming troops stow their fired muskets in their saddles and draw another musket from their backs.
What the—?!
They have another musket?! That’s cheating! What unit are you from, so filthy rich?!
The pirate leader and the others froze, their hearts nearly stopping as they saw the Ming troops produce new muskets.
In their despairing gazes, the Ming troops raised their muskets, leveled them, aimed, and pulled the triggers, sparks flashing.
*Bang, bang, bang…*
Another cloud of smoke.
Another round of screams.
This time, no pirates remained standing. Even Kuroda Kamezo, twice blessed by fortune, wasn’t spared. Riddled with musket shots, he became a sieve, dead beyond dead.
The pirate leader and the other three were also shredded by the volley, each a sieve, utterly lifeless.
It was only natural. Over two hundred muskets against five standing pirates meant each faced forty to fifty shots at near point-blank range. If any had survived, Zhu Ping’an would’ve unleashed a storm of reprimands.
Fortunately, the pirate band was annihilated.
Zhu Ping’an, with the courier and the main Zhejiang Army, arrived from the front. Seeing the remaining pirates wiped out, he nodded in satisfaction.
“Impressive! Not a single loss on our side, and we annihilated the pirates. Lord Zhu, the Zhejiang Army—brilliant! Congratulations on another great victory. This trip was truly eye-opening!”
The courier, witnessing the pirates’ effortless destruction, gaped in awe, exclaiming repeatedly.
“They had only thirty-some pirates, and we had over five hundred men. Annihilating them is only natural,” Zhu Ping’an said with a slight shrug, his tone calm.
The courier didn’t know the term “Versailles,” but he felt its essence keenly. Zhu Ping’an’s words amplified that sensation.
The pirate crisis was rampant across the Jiangnan region, especially in South Zhili and Zhejiang, where the pirates ran amok.
Local authorities were almost universally battered by the pirates, suffering heavy losses with rare victories. A battle like Zhu Ping’an’s, annihilating over thirty pirates, was a unicorn—exceptionally rare.
Yet Zhu Ping’an called it “only natural” because they outnumbered the enemy, as if other regions’ soldiers were always outnumbered. If this wasn’t Versailles, what was?
“Sir, eight pirates hit by musket fire are still alive. How should we handle them?” A Zhejiang Army soldier, after inspecting the battlefield, reported to Zhu Ping’an.
These pirates were heinous, deserving death. With the urgency of their journey, Zhu Ping’an didn’t hesitate. He waved his hand and ordered, “No prisoners. Treating and transporting them would take too long. The Governor-General summons us urgently—we can’t waste time on them. Let’s do these eight pirates a favor and end them with a single stroke. Behead them, along with the already dead, and take their heads. We came in a rush without gifts, so these heads will serve as our offering to the Governor-General.”
