our family is gone

Chapter 819 Vulnerable

"Damn it! I knew nothing good would happen, and even if there was any good thing, it wouldn't be our turn."

"This must be a conspiracy of those guys. Fortunately, I am smart."

"..."

Many pirate ships on the dock ran out as fast as they could, leaving the chaos behind. They only breathed a sigh of relief and cursed when they rushed out of the island.

Obviously, most people still believe that a certain big pirate wants to take this opportunity to attract clues to the other two relics and capture other people at the same time in order to become the next pirate king.

"Captain, what should we do now?"

The crew member next to him asked anxiously, and it was obvious that he had not yet calmed down from the danger just now.

Fortunately, they arrived slowly, and the dock was jammed with no place to park, so people were still looking for opportunities to get to the island from the outskirts when they saw them fighting.

But it was this situation that allowed them to run away before the soldiers caught up with them. As for what the captain said, they just listened to it. They saw the captain running back like crazy after hearing the news.

"What else can we do? Of course we have to run. We can't stay in this place anymore. Let's go to another sea area." The captain was also a veteran. He was an old man who had experienced the Black Jack era. He gave his younger brother some scientific knowledge.

"You don't know what consequences the emergence of a pirate king will cause. They completely occupy the Shipwreck Bay. We have to hand over a portion of our loot every time we plunder. All pirates have to listen to them..."

The rule of pirates is more cruel than that of nobles, because the serfs under the nobles can escape into the mountains and cultivate the land on their own or become bandits when they can't survive, but they are pirates themselves and have no choice. Other forces will not accept them either. All pirates must either join them or choose to surrender.

The pirates at the lower level will only have a harder time, because with the rise of Hamlet, the navy has begun to make moves, and when they go to plunder again, they will no longer run into merchant ships, but will be chased and beaten by the navy again.

That is why these big pirates were willing to accept the mediation of Totnes and prepare to target Hamlet in order to delay his recovery as much as possible, which in some way also extended the lifeline of the pirates.

But why were the pirates here suddenly excited and gathered because of the news of Black Jack?
Because he was the one who once led the pirates to defeat Hamlet's navy and ushered in the era of great plunder. The captain enjoyed the dividends of the times and only then did he have the ship he has today.

Rather than being Totnes's thugs, they would rather become the new Pirate King and fight against Hamlet when he rises, otherwise they will have no chance.

"But if that's the case, wouldn't it be better to have a pirate king? I heard that pirates have even established their own country." The crew members didn't understand. According to the captain, there should be such a big figure in this sea area who could gather the pirates' strength to fight against it.

"Idiot! The real reason why Black Jack is so powerful is not because of himself, but because he got a supernatural warship from somewhere, and if he wants to fight against the imperial fleet, only this kind of thing can do it.

Without that extraordinary battleship, no matter how many pirate ships we have, they will just be rubbish. If we fight, we will be pushed out by the pirate king to consume the enemy first. Are you going out to sea to seek death?"

The captain started yelling impatiently. No matter if a pirate king was born successfully or not, and no matter if they joined or not, the pirates at the lower level would ultimately be cannon fodder for those guys above. He might have had some fantasies when he was young, but at his age now he already understood these things.

"Ship...captain..."

"Why are you shouting? Just fart!" The captain subconsciously looked back, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't see any ship chasing after them. He looked up and started cursing.

But at this glance, he discovered that the whistle was not looking at the island behind, but at the front. What was there?
The captain's heart instantly rose and he turned to look at the skyline ahead. They were pirates. If they wanted to take action, how could they not make arrangements...

But he didn't need to think too much, his heart died immediately, because a huge fleet consisting of twenty or thirty large ships appeared on the periphery.

"How is this possible!" the captain shouted, his face full of horror and disbelief.

It's no wonder he reacted like this, because ever since Black Jack disappeared, the pirates split up after the war to divide the inheritance. For example, Red Beard's seven ships can be called big pirates and occupy a place.

The situations of the others are similar. Basically, there are rarely more than ten large ships. If they are recruited, of course a lot of rotten fish and shrimp will gather together, but the core and the periphery are two different concepts.

The main reason is that they cannot afford to support so many pirates, and also they restrain each other. If one of them is too strong, it will attract targeting from others.

In this situation, either there is a big pirate group that has been developing secretly, or these people are not pirates at all.

"It doesn't look like a Totnes warship. What's that flag? It's too far away to see clearly."

The captain stood at the bow fiddling with a monocular telescope, trying to get more information, but the crew members asked eagerly.

"Captain, what should we do?"

"It may not be coming for us, let's escape from this place first!"

Those ships that escaped from the island basically made the same choice as them, wanting to avoid the fleet, but it was obvious that some things were not going according to their will.

"Report! A large number of pirates."

Wilson, now dressed in a formal military uniform, stood at the bow, pointed his sword at the pirates and shouted, "Speed ​​up, we will use the blood of these pirates to wash away Hamlet's shame."

"For Hamlet!"

Hamlet's soldiers, or most of them, have studied the history of prosperity and decline, mainly the huge damage suffered after the decline. These armies with the highest collectivism and sense of identity feel even more humiliated.

In addition, the ideological education within the navy has always targeted these pirates, so everyone has a sense of anger that needs to be vented.

The fleet began to speed up and approach...

"Captain, they're coming!"

"Whose fucking boat is this?"

Hamlet's navy did not continue the family symbol of the raven pattern on the flag of Hamlet's army, but instead used a red pennant that symbolized blood, so the pirates active in the surrounding areas did not recognize it.

Because before, the navy would never hang red scarves when traveling. They would mostly disguise themselves as merchant ships for escort and take the opportunity to ambush pirates. Only in serious battles would they hang red scarves to distinguish between friend and foe.

"Captain, they got away?"

"It's not for us."

The crew shouted excitedly as if they had escaped a disaster. They thought that the ships were not targeting them but were heading to the island. However, the captain came to his senses and shouted in fear the next second. "Run!"

There were still hundreds of yards between the ships, but the captain could already see the huge gun muzzle pointed at them.

The pursuing navy on the opposite side was approaching, and several large-caliber cannons modified on the deck had been loaded. They took advantage of the opportunity of passing by each other and finally took action.

"Fire! Sink them!"

As the order was given, the fuse was ignited. The next second, there was a deafening roar accompanied by a burst of smoke. The huge projectile whistled through the cold wind and crashed into the ship before the pirates could react.

On land, for field combat needs, lightweight small-caliber artillery such as six-pound and eight-pound are used, but on ships, there is no need to worry about transportation issues, and heavy artillery such as twelve-pound cannon can be directly cast by Hamlet.

Even with the base unloading, the ship still shook noticeably when several guns were fired at the same time.

The pirate ship had been sailing on the sea for who knows how many years and had experienced countless storms, but today it was instantly shattered by the cannonball, with several large holes appearing on its side. The cannonball that had run into it must have caused great damage.

However, the effect was not so exaggerated, because it was difficult for a simple shell to hit the key parts below the waterline. As for the effect of the shells entering the water, some of them missed and fell directly into the water, causing a splash, but no damage.

Therefore, in order to cause sufficient damage, most naval battles prefer to use red-hot iron bullets to ignite the enemy's ammunition depot to cause a chain explosion, or use chain bullets to smash the mast to stop the ship, and then jump on board.

If you are lucky, you can deal with ships without bottom compartments by firing shells into them, causing secondary damage and penetrating them from the inside, which will pose a risk of sinking the ship.

This way of fighting will continue for a long time until more powerful cannons appear. Now pirates don’t even have cannons.

However, even the current artillery could cause great damage to the people on the ship. The shells tore the wood apart and flew everywhere, hitting countless people and causing them to scream in pain.

"Load, free fire!"

The commander shouted, and the sailors' long and arduous training enabled them to master enough skills to respond quickly, maneuvering the passing ships into arcs and keeping their guns aimed at the target at all times.

The gunners on the ship were busy loading. Most of them were from the navy, but there were also people drawn from the artillery unit.

They soon discovered that the situation at sea was different from that on land, and aiming would also be affected by the wind and waves, so they simply gave up those unrealistic methods and directly loaded grapeshot, or shotgun shells.

The pirate ship survived the first round and tried to escape, but the previous round of bombardment destroyed a lot of things and caused some casualties, causing the pirates on the ship to panic.

"No! I want to go home..."

"Help me...it hurts!"

"Damn it, everyone, get up here. If you can't run away, everyone will die."

The boat shook when it was hit just now, and the captain's hat flew away to who knows where. He didn't care about that. He got up and tried his best to set sail again, but unfortunately the distance was closer, and the out-of-control ship was like a target floating on the sea.

Shotgun bombardment!

Another round of artillery loading was completed. There was no longer the shock of a salvo, but the successive bursts of gunpowder made the feeling of oppression even greater.

The balled bullets scattered instantly after leaving the gun, turning into a barrage of bullets that showered the pirate ship. The crackling sound was not as exaggerated as the one that tore open large pieces of the ship's planks, but it dealt a direct blow to the pirates who were trying to struggle.

A bullet that came from nowhere tore off a piece of flesh from the captain's body, and the force with it knocked him down as well. He felt nothing at first, and fell to the ground for a few seconds before slowly coming to his senses. But this time, the severe pain made him wail unconsciously.

He tried to struggle with his tenacious vitality and will to survive, but he couldn't cover up what was flowing out of the wound. He couldn't tell whether it was intestines or something else. It was just a pool of warm blood flowing on the tattered deck, as if guiding him to look at the captain's hat thrown aside.

The captain died, like most pirates, at sea, ending his sinful life...

This phenomenon occurred in this sea area. The pirates who escaped were besieged by Hamlet's navy. After several rounds of bombardment, these wooden sailing ships could not withstand it and some were even sunk directly.

And those pirates couldn't even resist, their ships had no cannons, not even rifles. As for boarding, they would rather you come closer so that they can fire more accurately.

It was undoubtedly a massacre. The pirates who had just escaped from the dock thought they could get away from those things by leaving the island, but they were blocked and killed as soon as they came out.

Some pirates wanted to take advantage of the terrain, but the navy refused to approach them. They seemed to be very familiar with the surrounding hydrological environment and just swam around the island.

Because of the complicated situation inside, it was finally decided that one part would disguise as pirates and land, while the other part would directly blockade the ship from the outside. As long as they stayed away from the turbulent currents and reefs, the pirates would be trapped inside, and if they dared to come out, they would be sunk.

Now the pirates either had to break out and be hit by the shells or wait to die. Perhaps they hoped to hold out until dark to find a breakthrough.

While the hunt was going on outside, the battle inside was still going on.

Thousands of organized soldiers quickly took over the dock. No one cared how many pirates were killed. They were busy moving rifles, boxes of ammunition, and of course more equipment from the ship.

After a simple adjustment, they began to march towards the pirate town using the dock as their base. There was basically no resistance wherever they went because most of the pirates had gone there. Most of those who stayed here were ordinary people or pirates without any ambitions.

The speed of surrender here is even faster than the speed of accepting prisoners, so a hundred people have to be left behind to guard them.

But as the team advanced to the mountainside, they encountered pirates who were looting and fighting each other crazily.

"Put down your weapons and surrender!"

Those killing-crazy pirates didn't care about that. They picked up their weapons and rushed over, not just one, but a whole bunch of them.

"Ready—fire!"

The recruits had also seen blood, and they were strengthened after returning to the formation. Under the command of the commander, they raised their guns and fired. Hitting these densely packed unarmored targets was as easy as mowing the grass.

As the gunshots rang out, the pirates who were still crazy the previous second fell to the ground and wailed the next second. What was even more terrifying was the barrage of bullets brought by the alternating rows of arrays. Basically, as many as rushed up would die.

In an instant, the blood dyed the ground red, and flowed down the slope as if it was going to dye the entire battlefield red.

"What a pity..."