The Zhejiang army marched to the rhythm of the drums, muskets shouldered, advancing rank upon rank in perfect unison, like an unstoppable tidal wave. Apart from the drumbeats, the only sound was the synchronized tread of their footsteps. The Zhejiang soldiers were eerily silent.
Across the field, the pirates roared and shouted, brandishing their Japanese swords, charging like tigers down a mountain. Their formation was a chaotic mess—a rabble crazed with bloodlust after a shot of adrenaline.
In terms of momentum, the pirates were dominant, overwhelmingly so. The Zhejiang army advanced to the drumbeat, marching in step without slogans or war cries. The pirates, on the other hand, bellowed with bloodthirsty fervor, their ferocious roars echoing as they charged, their momentum far surpassing the Zhejiang army’s.
The two armies were initially just five or six hundred meters apart. Now, with both sides rushing toward each other, the distance closed rapidly.
Four hundred meters.
Three hundred meters.
Two hundred meters.
One hundred meters…
When the armies were just over a hundred meters apart, the Zhejiang drums abruptly stopped. Officers throughout the Zhejiang ranks shouted in unison, “Halt!”
Almost simultaneously, the tidal wave of advancing Zhejiang soldiers stopped. Rank after rank halted as one.
“What the—?! The Zhejiang army stopped?!”
“Why’d they stop all of a sudden?!”
“Hahaha, they’re scared! They must be terrified by our ferocious charge—frozen, too scared to move!”
“As expected of government troops—same old weak, pathetic trash.”
Seeing the Zhejiang army halt, the pirates were overjoyed, confidently assuming their fierce assault had petrified the enemy, leaving them too terrified to advance.
It was normal!
Completely normal!
They’d fought the Ming dynasty’s government troops countless times. Most collapsed after a single clash, and many fled in terror before the fighting even began. The Zhejiang army was just another in a long line.
Ming troops—weren’t they all just useless, spineless garbage? They could bully civilians, but against the fierce, battle-hardened pirates, they were hitting a steel wall!
“Why’d the Zhejiang army stop?! Scared now? Isn’t it a bit late for that?!” Mao Haifeng exclaimed, surprised by their sudden halt. His first thought was that the pirates’ tiger-like charge had intimidated them.
“It shouldn’t be…” Otomo Sadakawa frowned, sensing something off but unable to pinpoint what.
At this point, with the armies engaged, there was no time for adjustments—battle was inevitable.
Mao Haifeng and Otomo Sadakawa could only watch intently, waiting to see what trick the Zhejiang army was pulling.
“Brothers, the Ming dogs are scared! Strike while they’re weak—charge and cut them down while they’re stunned!”
“Kill, kill! Die, die!”
“Brothers, the government troops are terrified—it’s harvest time! Charge and slaughter them!”
Seeing the Zhejiang army halt, the pirates assumed they were paralyzed with fear. Their morale soared, and they dismissed the Zhejiang army entirely, shouting arrogantly and charging even faster, claws bared.
Meanwhile, the Zhejiang army stood still, as if truly stunned by the pirates’ ferocious assault. Facing the oncoming horde, they didn’t budge, their feet rooted to the ground.
One hundred meters.
Ninety meters.
Eighty meters…
The pirates charged closer and closer, their faces now visible to the Zhejiang soldiers.
“Courage Array, Three-Stage Volley—raise muskets!” a shout rang out from the Zhejiang ranks.
Instantly, the first unit’s three rows raised their muskets as drilled: the front row crouched, the second row bent forward, the third row stood upright, aiming at the charging pirates.
“They’re kneeling already?!”
“Hahaha, brothers, look! The Zhejiang front row’s so scared they’re crouching!”
“They’re scared to their knees! Hahaha, kneeling won’t save them—kill! Brothers, they can’t even stand—kill!”
Seeing the Zhejiang front row crouch, the pirates grew smug, believing the soldiers were so terrified by their charge that their legs had given out, forcing them to kneel.
They were certain that once they reached the trembling Zhejiang army, it would be a massacre!
“They’re crouching, sure, but it’s too neat! And there’s no panic on their faces?!”
“There’s something weird about these dogs—what’s that look on their faces?!”
As the pirates closed to a hundred meters, they noticed the Zhejiang soldiers showed no panic. The front row had crouched in perfect unison, the second row bent forward, the third row standing—all too orderly. Could the front row just happen to be the most cowardly, too scared to stand?
Something was off.
Very off.
The vanguard pirates sensed the Zhejiang army wasn’t crouching out of fear.
“Who cares what’s off?! Archers, shoot! Kill them!” the pirate sub-leaders shouted.
Instantly, the pirate archers, still charging, loosed a chaotic volley of arrows and crossbow bolts toward the Zhejiang lines.
“Raise shields!” the Zhejiang officers shouted as the arrows flew.
The rear soldiers in each Zhejiang unit raised shields, covering the heads of their three-man teams, protecting vital areas.
*Clang, clang, clang!*
A chorus of metallic clinks mixed with a few muffled grunts. Most of the pirates’ arrows lodged in the shields, some struck the Zhejiang cotton armor and were largely deflected, and only a rare few—powerful, angled, and highly penetrating—pierced the armor, wounding soldiers.
Even those that penetrated lost most of their force, causing only light injuries, mostly to unshielded limbs, not fatal areas.
The pirate arrow volley resulted in just a dozen unlucky Zhejiang soldiers sustaining minor wounds.
After the volley, the pirates had closed to sixty meters from the Zhejiang lines.
“The arrows didn’t do much, but they covered our men’s charge to sixty meters. It’s about to be a slaughter,” Mao Haifeng and Otomo Sadakawa observed from their high platform, eyes fixed on the battlefield. Though the arrows had little effect, they remained confident.
