Our family is in decline

"What a fool! I knew nothing good would happen, and if something good happens, it won't be our turn."

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

"..."

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

Obviously most people still think that a certain big pirate wants to take this opportunity to attract clues to the other two tokens and capture other people at the same time, so as to become the next pirate king.

"Captain, what should we do now?"

The crew member next to him asked anxiously, looking like he had obviously not calmed down from the thrill just now.

Fortunately, they arrived slowly. The pier was blocked and there was no place to park. As a result, people were still looking for opportunities to get to the island when they happened to catch them.

But this situation made them run away before the soldiers caught up with them. As for what the captain said, just listen. They watched the captain run back like crazy after hearing the news.

"What else can I do? Run away, of course. I can't stay in this place anymore. Change to another sea area." The captain is also an experienced man. He has experienced the Black Jack era and is an old man who can educate his younger brother on science.

"You don't know the consequences of the emergence of a pirate king. They completely occupy the Shipwreck Bay. We have to turn in part of it 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 nobles can still escape into the mountains and forests to cultivate their own land, or become bandits, and they themselves have no choice as pirates, and other forces cannot accept them. Pirates must either join in or surrender.

The pirates at the bottom will only have a more difficult time, because with the rise of Hamlet, the navy has begun to make moves. What they will plunder and bump into will not be merchant ships, but will return to the stage of being chased and beaten by the navy.

That's why these big pirates are willing to accept Totnes' mediation and are preparing to target Hamlet and delay his recovery as much as possible, which to some extent also extends the pirates' lifeline.

But why are the pirates here suddenly excited and gathering because of the news about this black jack?

Because he is the man who once led the pirates to defeat Hamlet's navy and led everyone to start the era of great plunder. The captain has enjoyed the dividends of the times and has the current ship.

Rather than being thugs for Totnes, they want to become the new pirate king when Hamlet rises, otherwise they will have no chance.

"But wouldn't it be better to have a pirate king? I heard that pirates have founded a country." The crew did not understand. According to the captain, there should be such a big man in this sea area to gather the strength of pirates to fight.

"Idiot! The real reason why Black Jack is powerful is not him personally, but that he doesn't know where to get an extraordinary battleship. If he wants to fight against the imperial fleet, this is the only way to do it.

Without that extraordinary battleship, no matter how many pirate ships there are, they are just junk. If we fight like that, we will be pushed out by the Pirate King and consume the other side. Are you going to sea to seek death? "

The captain started to yell a little impatiently. No matter whether the Pirate King was successfully born or not, and whether they joined or not, the pirates at the bottom were ultimately just cannon fodder for the guys above. He might have had some illusions when he was young, but now this Age has long understood these things.

"Ship...captain..."

"What are you shouting for? Fart if you can!" The captain looked back subconsciously, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no ship chasing him. He looked up and cursed.

But at this glance, he noticed that the direction the whistle was looking at was not the island behind, but in front. What was there?

The captain's heart suddenly rose and he turned to look at the skyline ahead. They were pirates. If they wanted to take action, how could they not arrange it...

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

"How is that possible!" the captain shouted, with a horrified look on his face full of disbelief.

I really don't blame him for this reaction, because since Black Jack disappeared, the pirates have split after the original battle to divide the inheritance. For example, Red Beard's seven ships can be called big pirates and occupy a place.

Others are in a similar situation. Basically, there are rarely more than ten large ships. Of course, if you recruit, there will be a lot of rotten fish and shrimps gathered together, but the core and the periphery are two different concepts.

The main reason is that they can't support so many pirates, and they restrict each other. If one is too strong, several others will target them.

The current situation is either that a big pirate has been secretly developing, or these people are not pirates at all.

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

The captain stood on the bow of the ship, playing with the telescope, trying to get more information, but the crew members asked eagerly.

"Captain what should we do?"

"They may not be coming for us. Let's escape from this place first!"

The ships that escaped from the island basically made the same choice as them, wanting to avoid those fleets, but it was obvious that some things did not change according to their will.

"Report! A large number of pirates found."

Wilson, now wearing a formal military uniform, stood on the bow of the ship, pointed his knife 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 from its peak to its decline, mainly due to the huge harm they suffered after the decline. These troops, who are collectivist and have the highest sense of identity, feel even more humiliated.

In addition, the ideological education within the navy has always regarded these pirates as targets, so everyone has a anger in their hearts that needs to be vented.

The fleet began to accelerate closer to the past...

"Captain and the others are coming!"

"Whose fucking ship is this?"

The Hamlet Navy did not continue to use the crow pattern as a symbol of the family in the Hamlet Army flag, but used a red pennant symbolizing blood, so these pirates active in the surrounding area did not know them.

Because in the past, the navy did not wear red scarves at all when traveling. It was more likely to disguise itself as a merchant ship escort and take the opportunity to ambush pirates. It was only worn in such serious battles to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy.

"Captain, they avoided it?"

"It's not for us."

The crew members shouted excitedly as if they had escaped disaster, thinking that these ships were not targeting them, but were going to the island, but the captain here came to his senses, and the next second he shouted in fear.

"Run away!"

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

The pursuing navy on the opposite side had already approached, and several large-caliber artillery pieces modified on the deck had also been loaded. They took advantage of the chance of passing by and finally took action.

"Fire! Sink them!"

As the order was given, the fuse was lit, and the next second a deafening roar was accompanied by smoke bursting out. The huge projectiles roared through the cold wind and crashed into the ship before the pirates could react.

On land, lightweight small-caliber artillery such as six-pound and eight-pounders are used for field needs, but on ships, there is no need to worry about transportation issues, and heavy cannons such as 12-pounders can be cast directly on Hamlet.

Even with the unloading force of the base, the ship still shook significantly when several cannons were fired at the same time.

The pirate ship, which had been sailing at sea for who knows how many years, had experienced countless winds and waves, but today it shattered instantly when faced with the cannonballs, and several large broken holes appeared on the side. The damage caused by the cannonballs running inside was probably also huge. .

But the effect is not so exaggerated, because it is difficult for a simple shell to hit key parts below the water line. As for the effect of the shell entering the water? You can see some missed the target and fell directly into the water, causing a splash of water, but there was no harm.

Therefore, in order to cause enough damage, in naval battles, most people like to use red-hot iron bullets to ignite the opponent's ammunition depot to explode, or use chain bombs to smash the mast and force the ship to stop, and then join the gang.

If you are lucky, ships without bottom compartments can be penetrated from the inside by incoming cannonballs causing secondary damage, and there is a risk of sinking the ship.

This method of fighting had to continue for a long time until more powerful artillery appeared. Now the pirates don't even have artillery.

It's just that even the current artillery can cause great damage to the people on the ship. The shells tore up the wood and flew out, and countless people were hit, screaming in pain.

"Load, free fire!"

The commander shouted, and the long and arduous training of the sailors allowed them to master sufficient skills and respond quickly. They controlled the passing ship to draw an arc and aimed the muzzle at the target at all times.

The gunners on the ship were busy loading. These were mainly from the navy, but there were also manpower transferred from the artillery unit.

They soon discovered that the conditions at sea were different from those on land, and aiming would cause problems with wind and waves, so they simply gave up on those unrealistic goals and directly loaded grapeshot, that is, shotgun shells.

The pirate ship survived the first round and tried to escape, but the shelling just now destroyed a lot of things and even killed and injured some people, causing the pirates on the ship to panic.

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

"Help me...it hurts!"

"Damn it, stand up for me. If you can't run away, everyone will die."

When it was hit just now, the ship shook. The captain's hat flew away. He didn't care about it. He got up and tried to set sail again, but unfortunately the distance was closer, and the ship lost control. Like a target floating in the sea.

Shotgun blast!

Another round of artillery loading was completed, and there was no longer the shock of the salvo, but the successive bursts of gunpowder smoke made it even more oppressive.

The balled-up projectiles spread instantly after being released from the barrel, turning into a barrage and baptizing the pirate ship. The crackling sound was not as exaggerated as tearing apart a large piece of ship board just now, but it caused direct damage to the pirates who were trying to struggle. .

A bullet from an unknown source tore off a piece of flesh and blood from the captain's body and the force brought him down. At first, he didn't feel anything. After falling to the ground for a few seconds, he slowly came back to his senses, but this time it was violent. The pain made him moan unconsciously.

With the tenacious vitality and will to survive, I wanted to struggle, but I couldn't cover up what was flowing out of the wound. I couldn't tell whether it was intestines or something else. It was just a ball of warmth and blood flowing on the broken deck, as if it was a guide. He looked at the captain's hat that was thrown aside.

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

This phenomenon occurred in this sea area. The pirates who escaped were surrounded and suppressed 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 could not even resist. Their ships had no cannons, not even rifles. As for boarding, they just wanted you to come closer so that my cannons could shoot more accurately.

It was an undoubted massacre. The pirates who had just escaped from the dock thought that they could stay away from those things by leaving the island, but they were blocked and killed when they came out.

Some pirates wanted to take advantage of the terrain, but the navy just didn't approach them. They seemed to be very familiar with the surrounding hydrological environment and just swam around the island.

Because of the complicated internal situation, it was finally decided that some of them would disguise as pirates landing, while the other part would be directly blocked from the outside. As long as they stayed away from the turbulent currents and reefs, the pirates would be trapped in it and sunk if they dared to come out.

Now the pirates either break through and take the shells, or wait to die. Perhaps they hope to hold on until dark to seek a breakthrough.

While hunting outside, the internal battle is still continuing.

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

After a simple adjustment, they began to march towards the pirate town with the dock as their base. There was basically no resistance wherever they went, because most of the pirates ran up there, and most of those who stayed here were ordinary people, or pirates with no ambitions.

The speed of surrender here was even faster than the speed of receiving prisoners, and a hundred people had to be left to guard them.

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

"Put down your weapons and surrender!"

Those crazy pirates didn't care about that. The ferocious faces picked up their weapons and rushed over, not one, but a bunch.

"Ready - shoot!"

The recruits had also seen blood, and they were strengthened when they returned to the array. They raised their guns and shot at these dense targets without armor under the command of the commander. It was like mowing the grass.

As the gunshots rang out, the pirates who were 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, they died.

Instantly, 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..."