Chapter 239: Fire Burning the Encampment

With a single order from Wang Bo, the stern of the Hot Wave, now running parallel to the enemy ships, instantly sprayed out a column of gasoline as thick as a water pipe.

Like the fire hoses commonly seen on later generations' television, the gasoline column initially held a cylindrical shape, but once the spray distance exceeded seventy meters, the column transformed into a forceful mist in the sea wind, scattering across the pirate ships.

The next moment, the oil mist, ignited simultaneously by countless oil lamps, set every ship at the rear of the formation ablaze within a single second. Vast sheets of flame boiled upward; the figures caught within had no time even to scream before they were swallowed by the leaping blaze.

The arsonist ship fleeing for its life at that moment naturally dared not delay for an instant. As the Hot Wave surged forward at high speed, the oncoming sea wind grew intensely stiff, slanting the oil column spraying from its stern diagonally behind it. Thus, a fire dragon spewing explosive flames appeared upon the ocean's surface.

In less than a minute, the high-pressure sprayer had unleashed over a ton of Type 60 gasoline (crude refining process) across a mere few hundred meters, and then the battle was over.

Behind the high-speed escape of the fleeing arsonist, a dragon of ships was left skewered and burning together.

At this moment, not one of the two hundred sailing ships anchored in Pirate Bay escaped the net; all blazed with raging fire. Simultaneously, the flowing gasoline had also ignited the sea's surface... the spectacle of half seawater, half flame finally manifested in Pirate Bay. The surging firelight illuminated the horizon, a scene of grand scale with towering infernos.

Less than one in twenty people escaped with their lives. Only those who had been cooling off on the bows had any chance to jump into the water. The sudden flames spread with terrifying speed, measured in seconds, so anyone inside the cabins had no possibility of survival.

In the end, only those with the fastest reactions could plunge into the water at the first moment, swimming toward the shore beneath the floating flames overhead, reenacting Arnold Schwarzenegger's classic scene in the 17th century.

At the same moment the pirate ships were ignited, on the warships two kilometers away, the Transmigrators watching the great show through binoculars let out a collective gasp. The effect was exactly like later generations' bombers dropping napalm bombs — utterly shocking.

"Ah, what a shame. A one-time ultimate move, just used up like that." Wang Xiaohui, leaning on the bridge railing, gazed at the distant fiery scene while licking his lips, looking thoroughly unsatisfied.

"Give it a rest, that's already a crime against humanity, and you still think it's not enough?" After glancing at the Hot Wave returning to formation, Sha Zhengming patted Wang Xiaohui on the shoulder. "Let's move out. We'll swing by Zhongzuosuo."

At half past eleven at night, the arsonists began to turn their heading, sailing toward Zhongzuosuo to the west, leaving a sky full of red clouds behind them.

Now that the hidden ultimate move of spraying oil and burning ships had entered its cooldown period, it was time for the cannons to show their might.

This cooldown period did not refer to a shortage of gasoline reserves, but rather that once the enemy was on guard, this routine of charging in close could no longer be used.

The simplest countermeasure: if the defenders merely set up a warning net of derelict ships outside their anchorage, the Hot Wave would be unable to accelerate its charge while weaving through the obstacles. And without its speed, the raider would be plunging itself into danger.

Therefore, this ultimate move was just like the Saint Seiya — it would not work a second time against the same enemy.

And just as the raiders, transformed into hungry wolves, sailed toward Zhongzuosuo brimming with killing intent, their target had already been alerted and dispatched scouts toward Jinmen.

The straight-line distance from the burning Pirate Bay to Zhongzuosuo was less than twenty kilometers. So, as the sky-filling flames erupted, the large numbers of sea bandits at Zhongzuosuo had already noticed the strange phenomenon in the eastern night sky. Li Kuiqi himself, upon receiving the alarm and emerging from his cabin to see the fiery clouds, immediately sent ships groping through the darkness eastward to investigate.

"Big Brother, I still can't set my mind at ease. Let me go see for myself!" Seeing the fiery red sky in the distance, Zhong Bin, who had just thrown on a robe and rushed over from the central command tent, was so anxious he was practically hopping.

"Brother, you're losing your head! The enemy's situation is unclear, and it's nighttime — do you want to go out and feed the fish? Calmly wait for the scouting report!" Li Kuiqi glared at the flustered Zhong Bin, then ignored him.

Zhong Bin's agitation was understandable: ninety percent of his strength was at Jinmen. If something went wrong, he would instantly tumble from his position as the Company's second-largest Shareholder. Who could tolerate that?

However, the major Shareholder Li Kuiqi had no time to comfort his ally at this moment. In his analysis, the fiery glow saturating the distant horizon certainly could not be a natural phenomenon. Furthermore, since this glow could be seen by him all the way at Zhongzuosuo, it could not be a case of someone accidentally knocking over a healing oil lamp — even ten ships burning couldn't produce such a massive fire.

Therefore, an enemy raid had to be the cause.

As for who was coming? Li Kuiqi's first instinct was still that the Zheng family to the north of Jinmen were the prime suspects. The Jinmen troops, stationed only twenty kilometers by sea from Weitou Bay, posed a massive threat to the Zhengs. Moreover, the Zheng family had lived in these waters for generations and were familiar with the sea conditions and terrain, making a risky night voyage possible for them.

Thinking this, Li Kuiqi felt somewhat more grounded. No matter what scheme the Zheng family was up to tonight, at dawn he would raise his entire army and simply wipe out the Anping Zheng Family's old nest in one stroke.

Yet the world is unpredictable. Barely an hour later, he knew his earlier guess about the opponent was wrong, because the rumble of cannon fire came rolling across the sea's surface.

The approaching cannon fire, growing louder, clearly marked the enemy's direction of travel, blasting Li Kuiqi's earlier speculation about the Zheng family into oblivion. No Chinese-style pirates possessed the capability for a nighttime cannon battle — this point was beyond doubt.

However, Li Kuiqi now had no more time for guessing games. He had to send troops out to meet the attack. Even if his pirate underlings could not even discern directions at this moment, that was still better than cowering in the harbor waiting to die!

Thus, Li Kuiqi made a prompt decision and began issuing orders. Immediately, large numbers of pirates were kicked awake from their cabins, and the entire Zhongzuosuo harbor instantly descended into chaos and clamor. Crewmen began trying to use torches and oil lamps to illuminate the decks as they raised sails and weighed anchor.

However, sailing at night was no easy task. Half-asleep and disoriented, the Crewmen soon tumbled across the cluttered decks like rolling gourds. Some suffering from night blindness fell into the water one after another. Like headless flies, the fleet collided and scraped against each other in the darkness and confusion, the harbor filled with curses.

The next moment, the clamor abruptly paused for just an instant: a thick column of water slammed into the harbor's surface, sending up a huge splash.

As if a mere instant had passed, or as if a long time had gone by, with the subsequent rumble of cannon fire, everyone in the harbor not only fell completely silent but collectively turned to look eastward... one and a half kilometers away, the enemy had appeared, wreathed in sparks and lightning.

The Crossing Fleet had now abandoned its previous sneaky demeanor. All eight ships on the sea had their lights fully ablaze; the bulbs atop the forty-four gun positions illuminated the vessels brilliantly. Beams of searchlights sliced the night into fragmented curtains. With the shattered-mirror reflections on the water, they seemed like divine ships sailing down from the river of heaven.

Ignoring the distant clamor, the fleet was now leisurely approaching Zhongzuosuo at a steady speed of six knots. The small fry encountered along the way were all casually sent to the seabed.

Starting from the extreme range of one and a half kilometers, following the first ranging shot, the forty-four cannons commenced a sustained bombardment of ten full salvos.

Due to the extremely low visibility of night combat, the fleet's observation and ranging at this moment could only rely on the infrared rangefinder and low-light rangefinder installed on the flagship Youguang to jointly solve the problem.

Once all the parameters were collected, the Transmigrators could use a program on a laptop or iPad to calculate the firing solutions. The information was then relayed to each ship via Walkie-Talkie, and then broadcast to the gun positions using loudspeakers or the separate speakers installed at each position.

Upon hearing the firing solutions repeated from the speaker behind them, the gunners, bathed in bright, conical beams of light reminiscent of an opera stage, began rapidly adjusting the elevation and traverse mechanisms.

Meanwhile, based on the information from the speaker, the second loader had already selected the designated Gunpowder Pack and shell from the lift-up cabinet behind the gun position. By the time he returned to the muzzle, the third loader had finished swabbing the bore with a sponge. The two then cooperated to "ram" the Gunpowder Pack and shell into the breech in the correct sequence.

Next came the gunner's work. First, the gunner would use a specially made sharp awl, inserted through the vent, to pierce the Gunpowder Pack. Then he would insert a friction primer into the vent and attach the lanyard. The entire gun crew would then cover their ears and wait — the command for a fleet salvo would come through the speaker.

The entire loading and preparation process took no more than half a minute, and tonight's firing rate was one round per minute. So, the gun crew members were actually relatively leisurely and had time to admire the scenery outside the ship.

Of course, being under the spotlights, they could not actually see anything outside the ship. This situation persisted until the fleet arrived five hundred meters from the entrance of Zhongzuosuo harbor. The dense lights within the harbor and the occasional ship fires illuminated everything around, and the Soldiers could now clearly see the situation inside the port.

Having arrived at the doorstep of Zhongzuosuo from one and a half kilometers away, the Crossing Fleet had by now fired a full ten salvos, pouring a total of four hundred and forty Iron Balls into the mass of pirate ships clustered together.

Next came the second phase of the attack.

Under the command of the Transmigrators in the Youguang's bridge, the fleet began splitting into two groups to fire separately.

Relying on the convenience of their sighting Equipment and communication devices, the two Destroyers directed a total of twenty cannons, divided into four gun groups, to begin firing upon the ships that were struggling out of the harbor one after another.

The remaining six Escort Ships, their objective unchanged, commenced rapid fire on the enemy ship concentration zones now within visual range.

The moment to test the results of their peacetime training had arrived. After the loudspeakers on each warship issued the command for "independent rapid fire," the gun crews threw off their jackets and, roaring fiercely, began a gunnery competition.

These dark-skinned, brawny men, fed all kinds of protein by the Transmigrators, finally unleashed their full energy at this moment. During the ten-minute second phase of firing, the most efficient gun crew achieved a super rate of three rounds per minute on average, pouring the majority of their stockpiled shells onto the pirates' heads.