Chapter 228
Chapter 228
"I give the order. Do not go down. Do not go down."
Qiu Tianwei possessed a formidable reputation, so when he gave the command, the more than ten thousand warriors loyal to him dared not move, continuing to guard the barracks above the mine. A warrior from the Tang clan asked.
"General, should we go down as well?"
Tang Zong, the eldest son of the Count of Jinhai, answered.
"Let's wait a little longer."
Within a short time, several hundred pirates who had charged ahead reached the bottom of the mine, following the path. They took off their clothes and desperately filled them with ore. The ore was all golden, looking like gold dust at a glance. But in truth, it was merely a visual effect. While the gold content of the ore was astonishing, a hundred catties of ore contained only half a catty of gold. However, since it was all fine gold dust, the ore appeared to be entirely made of gold at first sight.
"Gold coins, gold coins..."
"Gold bars, gold bars..."
One pirate discovered an incredible miracle. A layer of the ground was entirely gold. That's right. Shen Lang had smelted gold, mixed it with brass, melted it into a liquid, and poured it onto the ground. In reality, there were only a few thousand catties of gold, while twenty thousand catties of brass had been used. It was a simple measure, but the visual effect was astounding. The entire floor looked like it was made of gold.
Numerous pirates uniformly drew their blades and began to cut away the gold. A few looked around with wary eyes, checking for enemy ambushes or attacks. But nothing happened. There were no enemies, no traps. More and more pirates rushed to the bottom of the mine, desperately trying to seize the gold.
Tang Zong could no longer hold back and shouted.
"Charge! Let's go get the gold!"
Soon, the three thousand private soldiers of the Tang clan began to run like madmen, seizing the gold. At that, even the loyal warriors of the Pirate King Qiu Tianwei could no longer endure it.
'The King is a coward. He's too cautious. There are no traps or ambushes at the bottom of this huge mine, just gold. It looks like not just ten thousand catties, but hundreds of thousands! But soon, all the gold will be taken by others. If we don't go, there won't even be scraps left.
My King, we are your loyal warriors. But now we have to just stand by and watch without getting any of the spoils? We may be your loyal warriors, but we are pirates too.'
"Your Majesty, please give the order quickly. They're going to take all the gold!"
"Where's the ambush? There's no ambush!"
Finally, Qiu Tianwei's loyal warriors began to break formation. As a few hundred broke ranks, thousands followed. Finally, all ten thousand of the loyal pirate warriors rushed in and began to seize the gold. The four thousand men of the Count of Xuanwu were nowhere to be seen. With that, former comrades-in-arms became enemies. If they took more, I would get less. If their numbers dwindled, I would get more.
More and more people reached the bottom of the mine, and in the end, the entire thirty-thousand-strong allied pirate army rushed down. The bottom of the mine was over one hundred thousand square meters, but at this moment, it was packed with pirates, swarming like insects in a small hole. Like a filthy tide surging in, countless people densely filled the bottom of the mine.
There were indeed no traps or ambushes. But the pirates began to kill each other. In the face of gold, brotherhood and loyalty were meaningless. The Pirate King Qiu Tianwei knew that if he didn't personally maintain order and suppress them, a major disaster would occur. When they returned, he would carry out a great slaughter. Enraged, Qiu Tianwei leaped down forcefully and roared.
"Guards of the City Lord's Estate, come forth and maintain order! Everyone will turn in the gold they have taken, and it will be distributed according to proportion. Anyone who fights for personal gain will be killed without question!"
As Qiu Tianwei once again led his elite guards to suppress them, the thirty thousand pirates finally restored order. Qiu Tianwei reached out and grabbed a handful of ore. Indeed, the ore was mixed with plenty of gold dust. He then examined the ground again and saw that a layer of gold had indeed been spread, though its color had a slightly reddish tint. But he didn't care. He was in a state of utter excitement.
'An ancient gold vein. A true ancient gold vein! My Qiu clan will rise! My grand ambition will be realized. Indeed, there are no traps or ambushes. Shen Lang! I must have overestimated you. So this is all you amount to. Count of Xuanwu, it seems you escaped through a secret passage, but you are still trapped on this island and cannot leave. You are still unable to escape. I can still kill every single member of your Jin clan. Shen Lang, since you dared to kill my son, I will cut you into eighteen pieces and execute you by a thousand cuts while you are still alive!'
But just then!
*Rumble...*
A furious explosion was heard. The winding paths leading down into the mine collapsed from the explosion. Four or five sections of the path were blown away, each creating a gap several dozen meters wide. The escape route was destroyed, and the mine became like a giant courtyard open to the sky. Moreover, it had turned into a sheer cliff, a pit fifty to sixty meters deep. With the path cut off, the pirates could not climb up and were completely trapped at the bottom of the mine. Qiu Tianwei trembled, unable to believe what was happening before his eyes.
'What kind of weapon is this? Its power is so astonishing. That was a road built of stacked stone. For something so solid to be shattered in an instant...'
It was, of course, gunpowder. Shen Lang hadn't found a saltpeter mine, so he couldn't produce gunpowder on a large scale. Therefore, he couldn't make enough for formal warfare, but he had secured a sufficient amount to blow up paths and pits.
"Prepare for battle!"
Qiu Tianwei drew his sword. Tens of thousands of pirates, startled, drew their swords and prepared for battle. Qiu Tianwei was inwardly puzzled.
'So what if you've cut off the path? So what if you've trapped us at the bottom of this mine? How can a mere four thousand men deal with an army of over thirty thousand?'
Just then, Qiu Tianwei's hair suddenly stood on end as he instinctively sensed mortal danger.
*RUMBLE...*
An earth-shattering explosion erupted. It was several times more powerful than the previous one. About twenty meters above the bottom of the mine, on the sheer cliff face, a sudden explosion created a massive hole. It was a huge hole, over ten meters wide. The entire ground shook, and countless rocks shattered, flying in all directions. But so what? Despite its impressive display, it still hadn't killed anyone.
*Gush...*
But immediately after, seawater gushed out from the huge hole, pouring into the mine. The great mine was dozens of meters deep, and the distance to the sea was over three hundred meters. Shen Lang had used all his remaining gunpowder to blast through the rock wall, creating a large tunnel connecting the mine to the sea. However, he had left the final layer of the rock wall intact.
Only after all of Qiu Tianwei's pirates had reached the bottom of the mine did he detonate the last rock wall. At that moment, a towering torrent of seawater burst from the rock wall. For pirates to die in seawater—what a cruel fate.
At the same time, the sound of earth-shaking war drums echoed. The four thousand private soldiers of the Count of Xuanwu appeared above the great mine. The astonishingly high torrent of seawater poured into the mine, flooding it with mad intensity. Numerous pirates desperately fled in all directions, trying to climb the sheer cliffs.
Just then, the Count of Xuanwu shouted loudly.
"Qiu Tianwei, you are finished! Today is your last day!"
The power of black powder was too ordinary. To cut off the path, and especially to blast open that three-hundred-meter tunnel, Shen Lang had used over ten thousand catties of gunpowder. In addition, thousands of people were mobilized to dig the tunnel for several months. The geology of the great mine was extremely hard. If Shen Lang hadn't started this plan more than half a year ago, it would never have succeeded.
Over ten thousand catties of gunpowder were almost entirely used up within a few months. It couldn't be helped. Without a saltpeter mine, he had to use saltpeter scraped from latrines. It's unknown how much feces and urine were collected to make the saltpeter. Thanks to the effort and endless preparation at the time, the plan finally achieved great success.
The four thousand men led by the Count of Xuanwu had disappeared in the middle of the night yesterday. They had slipped away through a secret tunnel built at the bottom of the mine. After climbing to the surface through the hidden passage, the Count of Xuanwu immediately blocked both ends of the tunnel with huge boulders. Then, once all of Qiu Tianwei's pirate warriors had descended to the bottom of the mine, he detonated the prepared tunnel.
As the explosion tore a hole, seawater began to pour into the mine. With seawater being forced through a large hole several meters in diameter under immense pressure, the volume of water pouring in every second was at least tens of thousands of catties. In an instant, the bottom of the great mine turned into a vast sea. Qiu Tianwei's eyes felt like they would tear apart.
'Shen Lang, you vicious bastard! There was a plot after all. But how on earth did you manage to do this? This place is a full *li* from the sea, a mine made of solid rock. How did you dig a tunnel to bring in the seawater? And what kind of weapon made that huge rumble and furious explosion just now?'
He wasn't alone in his ignorance. Not only did Qiu Tianwei not know what the weapon was, but even the private soldiers of the Count of Xuanwu's estate didn't know what Shen Lang had used. Fewer than a hundred people had participated in the manufacturing and detonation of the gunpowder. But right now, the most important thing was not to identify the weapon, but to get out of there. Qiu Tianwei roared.
"Climb! Climb...!"
At that moment, numerous pirates began to scramble up the cliff. None of them cared about the seawater.
'Shen Lang? Is this the extent of your tricks? We are pirates. Is there anyone in the world more familiar with water than us? Trying to drown us with seawater? Don't you think that's laughable?'
"Climb, climb, climb!"
The pirates began to scale the mine walls as if they could climb even a sheer cliff, but after ascending a short way, they couldn't go any further and cursed. This was because most of the cliff had turned into a wall of ice from the fallen snow and melted water, making the entire cliff face too slippery to grip and climb.
Soon, the pirates started climbing up, breaking the ice as they went. Some of them climbed halfway before falling back down. Amazingly, some pirates actually managed to scale the cliff. But... that was even more tragic. Just as they struggled to reach the top, they looked up to see the smiling face of a warrior from the Count of Xuanwu's estate.
"Hey, impressive of you to make it all this way!"
And then, rocks or arrows rained down from above.