Chapter 224
Chapter 224
Just then, the pirates' warships drew closer and closer from the sea. The sight of their overwhelming presence made the new recruits so tense they could barely breathe. An old soldier beside them spoke dismissively, scooping up a handful of snow and popping it into his mouth.
“What’s there to be so tense about? This batch of recruits has no guts. You’re all tall as can be, but your courage is smaller than an egg.”
The old soldier mumbled as he chewed the snow, mocking the new recruits. As he chewed, he thought something was strange. The snow tasted salty.
“Damn it, did some bastard piss in this? Ptooey! No wonder the snow had a yellowish tint.”
The old soldier hastily spat out the snow he was eating.
“Hahahaha.”
Hearing the old soldier's words, everyone burst out laughing, and the tense atmosphere eased slightly. Even Jin Zhuo, the Count of Xuanwu, cracked a faint smile at the sight.
“Do not be afraid, do not panic, and listen to my commands! Do you all remember what you were taught?”
The Count of Xuanwu's voice wasn't loud, but everyone could hear him clearly.
“We remember!”
They answered in unison, like a chorus. The Count of Xuanwu said to them,
“We have already rehearsed this many times over the past few days. Just follow your training as you always have.”
His calm tone, devoid of any boasting, actually put the soldiers' minds at ease. That was right. They had practiced for today's battle nearly a hundred times. Every new recruit, miner, and militiaman knew their roles by heart. Among them, a standard-bearer who had climbed to a high vantage point to watch the sea shouted loudly.
“The enemy is five *li* away!”
“Three *li*!”
“Two *li*!”
“One *li*!”
* * *
“The main force will land on Anguish Isle! Kill, burn, and pillage everything!”
At Qiu Tianwei's command, countless pirates let out a great roar and began their landing. It was impossible to dock all one hundred pirate warships at the pier, so once they were a few hundred meters from the shore, the pirates transferred to small boats and rowed relentlessly toward the beach.
The fiercer pirates didn't even bother with small boats and jumped straight into the sea. Clenching a large saber in their teeth, they swam directly for the shore. It was truly remarkable. On such a cold winter day, with heavy snow falling from the sky, the seawater must have been at most three to five degrees Celsius. But the pirates felt no cold; instead, their blood seemed to boil with anticipation.
‘Gold. There are one hundred thousand catties of gold on this island. First come, first served. Whatever you seize is yours.’
“Kill, kill, kill.”
In an instant, the entire sea seemed to seethe as countless pirates made landfall. The scene resembled crabs emerging on a mudflat during low tide. They were a dense, dark, innumerable mass. Unlike the swiftly running pirates, the Tang Clan's private soldiers were all clad in armor and had no choice but to row ashore in small boats.
“Idiots!”
“Weaklings!”
The Tang Clan's forces and the pirates looked down on each other as they continued to charge toward the enemy lines. In a short time, most of the pirate coalition's army had reached the beach. Facing the Count of Xuanwu's defensive line, the pirates showed no fear and charged like madmen. Five hundred meters, three hundred meters, two hundred meters.
Behind the defensive line, the Jin Clan's new recruits trembled, their legs shaking uncontrollably. Though they had practiced many times, the sight of the vicious-looking pirates charging at them was terrifying. Thirty thousand men—so many. The enemy was a boundless tide, nearly covering the entire beach.
“Fire the arrows! Fire!”
At the Count of Xuanwu's command,
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
two thousand private soldiers and two thousand miners and militiamen nocked their arrows and let them fly. A rain of arrows poured down. It looked like a swarm of locusts leaping into the air before falling with force.
Thud, thud, thud.
Countless arrows rained down on the beach, but their accuracy was terrible. This was because the distance was two hundred meters. Archers who could hit a target from such a distance were extremely rare. Thus, this volley of arrows caused only single-digit casualties among the pirates.
“Hahahaha! They're all weaklings. They can't even shoot farther than I can piss.”
Countless pirates jeered. The Count of Xuanwu's new recruits and militiamen were certainly not skilled archers. The arrows fired by the militiamen only traveled a few dozen meters.
“Charge! Let’s kill every last one of them!”
“Don’t kill them all. Leave the pretty ones for me. I’ll have my fun!”
“Me too, me too!”
The pirates charged forward, exchanging vulgar jokes. It seemed less like a war and more like a raid.
“Fire the arrows! Fire...!”
At the Count of Xuanwu's command, the four thousand men behind him fired another volley. This time, the distance to the pirates was only about one hundred meters, and the four thousand arrows resulted in double-digit casualties. But the pirates had also drawn much closer. The Count of Xuanwu's forces could now see their vicious faces and yellowed teeth.
“Run! Run...!”
It was unclear who shouted it first, but after the cry rang out, the Count of Xuanwu's defenders turned and began to flee as one. First the miners and militiamen fled, followed by the new recruits, and finally, even the veteran soldiers were swept up in the rout. The Count of Xuanwu roared in fury.
“Do not run! You must not run! Deserters will be beheaded!”
As he finished speaking, Count Jin Zhuo drew his battle sword and cut down two men beside him. In an instant, two heads rolled to the ground. Of course, these two were not real soldiers but condemned prisoners whose executions had already been determined. It was all an act, but it had to be realistic. Though the Count of Xuanwu beheaded two men, he could not stop the formation from breaking. In the end, all four thousand of the Count of Xuanwu's soldiers fled.
“To the mine!”
Someone shouted loudly. The Count of Xuanwu roared, his voice laced with rage and displeasure.
“Retreat and defend the mine! Protect the gold!”
To any observer, the tide of battle had clearly turned. The Count of Xuanwu's forces had collapsed without a fight. The thirty thousand pirates were ecstatic. They knew the Count of Xuanwu's army was weak, but they had never imagined it would be *this* weak.
* * *
The Pirate King, Qiu Tianwei, frowned and turned to Tang Zhong, who stood at his side.
“Are the Count of Xuanwu's soldiers truly this weak?”
Tang Zhong was the eldest son of Tang Lun, the Count of Jinhai. He replied,
“They are not this weak. In terms of pure combat strength, the Count of Xuanwu's soldiers are likely stronger than ours.”
“Then why did they collapse so easily? They crumbled at the first blow. Is this not some kind of trick?”
But Qiu Tianwei was about to experience the strength of the Count of Xuanwu's elite forces firsthand. The four thousand new recruits and militiamen fled toward the large mine. The Count of Xuanwu bellowed,
“Five hundred men will remain with me to cut off the enemy's pursuit and cover the main force's retreat!”
The five hundred elite warriors of the Jin Clan instantly formed up, establishing a defensive line as solid as steel. They used a hastily built stone wall for defense. These five hundred warriors were all clad in new steel armor, wielding new swords, and armed from head to toe, not even their teeth visible.
“Fire!”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
The five hundred elite warriors fired their bows, not arcing their shots into the sky but aiming directly at the enemy.
Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack.
In an instant, dozens of pirates fell. The volley from these five hundred was far more devastating than the previous one from four thousand.
“Fire!”
“Fire!”
Moreover, the five hundred elite warriors fired much faster than expected, loosing an arrow every three seconds. In thirty seconds, they had fired ten volleys. This resulted in massive casualties among the pirates, numbering in the hundreds. But it wasn't enough to halt their advance. Finally, the first thousand pirates charged up to the defensive line. Count Jin Zhuo shouted.
“Draw swords!”
The five hundred elite warriors drew their swords in unison, their movements so synchronized it was as if a single person had acted.
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
The thousand pirates at the forefront charged toward the five hundred warriors of the Jin Clan. A fierce melee erupted, and the two sides clashed in a wild, tangled battle. But a surprising result occurred. The pirate vanguard, which outnumbered the Jin Clan's warriors two to one, was crushed and defeated in the initial clash. This was because the pirates' attacks were ineffective against the Jin Clan's warriors; their swords merely left scratches on the warriors' armor.
In contrast, the swords wielded by the Jin Clan's warriors easily split the pirates' armor and cut into their flesh. Even when the pirates tried to block, their own swords would break. The armor and weapons worn by the Jin Clan's warriors were far superior to the equipment of the pirate army. Bright red blood sprayed, and severed limbs flew through the air. The battle instantly became gruesome and intense.
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
The pirate army charged relentlessly at the five hundred elite warriors defending the line. However, even as another thousand, then two thousand charged, the narrow defensive line prevented them from bringing their full numbers to bear. The Jin Clan's warriors and the pirates were locked in a prolonged confrontation, unable to break the deadlock.
Seeing this, the Count of Xuanwu breathed a sigh of relief. On the night they killed Qiu Xiao, the clan's private soldiers had failed to display their true strength. Even though three thousand of them held the high ground on the mountainside, they suffered numerous casualties when two thousand pirates charged. At that time, Count Jin Zhuo had begun to doubt the capabilities of his clan's warriors.
But seeing today's battle, he saw that his clan's warriors were exceptionally skilled. Of course, the Jin Clan's warriors had not suddenly grown stronger; they were the same men with the same skills as that day. His elite warriors had received the strictest formal combat training. When they coordinated with one another, they could unleash the full power of their military formations. But that night had been so dark they couldn't see their own hands and feet, let alone coordinate with each other.
In contrast, the pirates often raided at night and were more adept at individual combat, giving them a slight advantage in the darkness. Furthermore, that night, each veteran soldier had been leading four new recruits, making it even harder to fight effectively.
Now, it was broad daylight, and the power of their new armor and weapons was immense. Moreover, only the veteran elite soldiers were engaged in this battle, allowing them to achieve a brilliant combat record. Five hundred men were not only holding their own against two thousand but were, to some extent, overwhelming them.
‘It seems the elite soldier strategy was the right one after all. Sheer numbers are useless.’