The pirates were sent into chaos by the Zhejiang army’s three volleys of musket fire, crying out in panic. Many, fearing death and valuing their lives, turned and fled.
*Damn it!*
*I became a pirate to rob silver and women, to live like a king—not to die! The best of the thirty-six strategies is to run. I’m out!*
In an instant, a swarm of pirates scattered in disarray, fleeing backward.
“By the leader’s command, those who retreat without fighting will be killed without mercy!”
At that moment, a group of pirates with blood-red armbands tied to their sleeves brandished their Japanese swords, blocking the fleeing pirates and cutting them down without hesitation.
In the blink of an eye, over a dozen deserters were slaughtered, instantly cowing the rest.
No pirate dared to flee anymore.
“The enemy’s firearms take time to reload! We have firearms too—you’ve seen them! Charge forward, and once we close the gap, it’ll be time for our massacre!”
“Kill! Kill! If you don’t kill, you’re all dead!”
The pirate enforcers waved their swords, shouting threats, spurring the pirates to charge forward with fervor.
To establish their authority, the enforcer leader swung his sword, beheading a pirate who stood frozen. Shaking the blood off his blade, he pointed it at the Zhejiang army’s formation and roared menacingly, “See that? Hesitate again, and this is your example!”
Under the threat of the enforcers’ bloodied blades, even the retreating pirates mustered their courage, joining the bolder ones in charging the Zhejiang army once more. They had no choice—charge, and they might die as martyrs or become heroes; hesitate, and the enforcers would cut them down like dogs!
“Brothers, fight! The Zhejiang army only has two ranks left—two more volleys at most, and then it’s our turn to shine!”
“Charge! Kill! We’re only twenty meters away now! Close the distance, and it’s time for our blades to dominate!”
“They’re just farmers who’ve barely put down their hoes! I’ve killed plenty of farmers and bedded their wives! Get close, and they’re nothing! I’ll slaughter them!”
Bolstered by the enforcers’ threats, the pirates rallied their courage and charged the Zhejiang army, waving their swords.
“A reputation well-earned—Zhu Ping’an’s fame is no fluke. He’s got some skill. The Zhejiang army’s performance today is surprising. I didn’t expect their firearms to be so formidable. But firearms have a weakness: slow reloading. The Zhejiang army is like Cheng Yaojin with his three axe swings. Survive those, charge in, and we’ll dominate the battlefield,” Mao Haifeng said through gritted teeth, watching the pirates charge under the enforcers’ pressure.
“Yoshi! I’m an expert in firearms. Cannons are powerful but tedious to reload—great for defending or sieging cities, but weak in open battle. Don’t give them time to reload, rush them, and they’re done for!” Otomo Sadakawa nodded vigorously, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at the front lines. His men had suffered heavy losses, and he burned with a desire to tear Zhu Ping’an apart.
“With the enforcers in place, our men won’t dare hold back!” Mao Haifeng said, narrowing his eyes.
Otomo Sadakawa nodded in approval. “Brilliant move, Brother Haifeng, setting up the enforcers in advance. It’s forced our men to fight with zeal! The Zhejiang army is finished!”
“Let’s watch our men crush them!” Mao Haifeng turned his gaze to the battlefield.
“Let’s see our men unleash their might!” Otomo Sadakawa stared intently at the front.
Under the enforcers’ threats, the pirates surged toward the Zhejiang army, now just ten meters away.
At that moment, a loud shout came from the Zhejiang camp: “Tiger Crouching Cannons, fire!”
A deafening roar, louder than the muskets, shook the earth, and smoke billowed into the sky.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
The hundred-plus Tiger Crouching Cannons didn’t fire as neatly as the muskets, but they roared almost simultaneously.
Loaded with grapeshot, each of the hundred cannons unleashed hundreds of iron pellets, crafted by the camp’s artisans. Over a hundred cannons firing together meant tens of thousands of pellets.
It was like a storm of iron rain, dense and relentless, screaming toward the pirates.
The frontmost pirates felt the sky darken! The overwhelming barrage of pellets came like the end of the world.
Despite the sun shining above, their vision dimmed as if night had fallen.
*Crack! Crack! Crack!*
The iron pellets rained down on the pirate vanguard like a storm, their piercing force and devastating power far surpassing the muskets—ten, no, a hundred times more lethal.
If armor was like paper before muskets, it was like charred ash before the Tiger Crouching Cannons.
In an instant, the pirates charging the Zhejiang army screamed and fell.
If musket volleys cut them down like wheat, the cannon barrage cleared the field entirely. The pirate front was decimated, vast swathes falling in heaps. The ground was littered with corpses, and nearly every survivor was wounded—arms, legs, bodies riddled with holes.
“Damn it!”
“Mother, save me!”
The pirates’ screams and cries for help filled the air, the scene resembling a slaughterhouse.
Bodies lay scattered across the battlefield, limbs and fragments strewn about. Some unlucky pirates were turned into sieves, blood pooling beneath them. Others had their heads smashed by egg-sized iron balls, brains and blood splattering like a crushed watermelon, unrecognizable even to their own mothers.
Death might have been a mercy. The cannon volley’s tens of thousands of pellets left no one unscathed—either dead or wounded. The injured pirates wailed in agony, their cries chilling enough to silence a child’s night terrors.
Wounds from cold weapons paled in comparison to those from firearms.
“Where’s my leg? Who’s seen my leg?”
“I’m in pain—my stomach’s got a hole, save me…”
“Father, Mother, save me!”
“My face—half my face is gone…”
The pirates’ cries and wails pierced the sky, haunting and terrifying.
