Chapter 382: The Memories of the Sea Pirates

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Twelve pieces of Artillery spat out tongues of fire and thick white smoke from three hundred meters away.

The Cannonballs traced streaks of afterimages as they slammed into the city walls of Jinghai County, kicking up a cloud of dust.

However, in the first round of firing, the Cannonballs all landed around the city gate and did not strike the gate itself.

The moment the Artillery sounded, the Wangfu Army soldiers on the city walls immediately crouched down to take cover.

This scene was seen by the Five Peaks Island Pirates outside the city, and they pointed at the city walls and laughed wantonly.

They seemed proud of the intimidation their Artillery had on the enemy.

Yamada Ichino gripped the hilt of his Long Blade.

He was an Eastern Japanese ronin; his father was one, and his grandfather was one too.

This blade had been passed down to him through the generations just like this.

Once, his grandfather had sold his life for an Eastern Japanese feudal lord.

But ever since the Eastern Japanese feudal lord Watanabe An defeated the other feudal lords in the national war thirty years ago and established the Shogunate's rule.

Ronin like them, who specialized in selling their lives for feudal lords, were no longer needed and lost their source of livelihood.

From then on, ronin began to seek a way out.

Some acted as guards for maritime merchants, and some entered the mountains and forests to become mountain bandits.

But more people chose to become Five Peaks Island Pirates.

Ten years ago, when he was drinking at the Yokosuka seaport in Eastern Dongying, he met Heishan.

At that time, Heishan and the Island Master Wang Zhi were appreciated by the Shogun Songpu Xin and were invited to settle in Eastern Dongying.

He even granted them Wufeng Island, not far from the southwest coast of Eastern Dongying, as a base for maritime trade.

Learning that while Wang Zhi was engaged in maritime trade, he was also a giant pirate on the sea.

And that he had been recruiting desperate men from Gaoli, Eastern Dongying, and the Song People to join his fleet.

With no prospects for his life, he chose to join his ranks and become Heishan's deputy.

After all, for an Eastern Japanese ronin, their life was killing.

Before it was for a feudal lord, now it was for the Five Peaks Island Master; there was no difference.

Moreover, deep down, what he yearned for was this unconstrained, plundering, and murderous savage life.

To honestly go home and farm—that was more painful than killing him.

"Brothers, draw your blades, and go kill to your heart's content later!" Yamada Ichino drew his Long Blade and brandished it, his face twisted.

When plundering the southeast coast of the Song People, they didn't even bother to use Matchlocks and Artillery.

Among the Five Peaks Island Pirates, the Song People and Eastern Japanese each accounted for forty percent, and another twenty percent were Gaoli people.

Infected by the habits of Eastern Japanese ronin, the Five Peaks Island Pirates were fearless of death and extremely vicious.

When dealing with the armies sent by the Song People to suppress them, they would dare to charge over and fight even while naked.

Every time, they beat the Song People's armies into fleeing in panic.

The southeast coast thus became their paradise, and no one dared to provoke them.

Otherwise, they would face an even more vicious plunder next time.

It was just unexpected that their Wufeng Island would suffer such humiliation in a barren place like Yanzhou, where they had no interest in plundering.

Yan Wang not only killed their men but also hung their corpses on the coast to humiliate them.

How could they endure this? They could only return it with crazy retaliation.

"Aim the artillery better, you bunch of trash." Yamada Ichino looked back angrily again.

As long as the city gate was blasted open, he would lead men in to slaughter.

This was the time to display the glory of Wufeng Island.

On the city wall.

Bai Shang watched every move of the pirates, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

After fighting a battle with the pirates last time, he discovered that these pirates were indeed a bit tough.

However, what he liked most was fighting tough battles.

"Looks like they want to defeat us with just blades and swords; what a bunch of arrogant fools. Do they think we are the Imperial Guards of the Song People or the Shizu Army?" Bai Shang sneered.

As his voice fell, another burst of artillery fire rang out.

Then he heard the sound of wood shattering in several places.

The east gate had been hit by the pirates.

"Do not return fire; wait for them to charge over." Bai Shang was calm and composed.

He had participated in the Autumn Hunt Battle and followed Yan Wang to defeat the Yuan Family troops.

He had also fought the Xiliang in Jinzhou; although he could not be called a veteran of a hundred battles.

But the current offensive of the pirates was nothing more than child's play to him.

He had heard of the pirates' notoriety and knew of their viciousness.

But these desperate men also had fatal flaws.

That was, while they were very capable fighters individually, their discipline was always lax due to their arrogant and combative personalities.

Continuing to observe the pirates quietly, besides Artillery, he also saw firearms on the pirates.

However, this type of firearm was somewhat different from their Flintlocks.

If he remembered correctly, the appearance was the same as the Matchlock that Yan Wang had talked about at the Military Academy.

"Artillery, firearms; it seems Yan Wang did not lie to us. The times have changed," Bai Shang muttered.

The times have changed—this was a sentence Yan Wang said when mocking Lv Chang at the Military Academy.

The implication is that one cannot remain stuck in the old habit of relying solely on Long Blades for combat; one must seriously study how to utilize firearms to kill the enemy.

"Boom, boom, boom..." The sea bandits' Artillery roared incessantly.

An hour later, the riddled East Gate finally could not withstand the bombardment and collapsed with a crash.

"Kill!"

The moment the gate fell, the sea bandits began to howl wildly.

Some sea bandits even tore off their shirts, baring their chests, and brandished their Long Blades as they charged toward the gate.

While the sea bandits were bombarding, Bai Shang had already led his soldiers to move the Artillery from other sections of the wall to the East Gate.

Because he had not taken the sea bandits very seriously, the Artillery Chang Wei had allocated to him were not heavy Siege Cannons, but Field Artillery firing twelve-pound Cannonballs.

These pieces of Artillery were easily moved across the spacious city wall.

"Grape Shot!" Bai Shang ordered at this moment.

The sea bandits were not charging in a single swarm.

Instead, the first rank of over three hundred men was spread out as they charged toward the gate.

At the same time, the sea bandits carrying Matchlocks were also advancing in dispersed formation, approaching the city wall with the intent of using their firearms to suppress the defenders on the ramparts.

"These sea bandits are somewhat interesting," Bai Shang muttered.

Clearly, they knew how to avoid suffering heavy losses under artillery fire.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The sound of cannons rang out; this time, it was the Prince's Personal Army's Artillery.

Thirty-six cannons loaded with Grape Shot spat out a rain of pellets at the sea bandits.

The sea bandits who were struck immediately let out waves of miserable screams.

However, due to the sea bandits' dispersed formation, only a few dozen were killed or wounded in the volley.

The remaining sea bandits continued their charge toward the city wall.

He immediately ordered the Colonel guarding the gate to be ready.

The soldiers holding Flintlocks there had finished forming their ranks.

The Heavy Infantry crouched in front of the Flintlock Infantry.

As soon as the sea bandits passed through the gate, they would pour firepower upon them.

"Hmph! Let this general see what skills you have." Bai Shang narrowed his eyes.

This was his first time encountering an army that also possessed Matchlocks and Artillery.

For him, this was an excellent opportunity to accumulate experience.

After all, the Great Song was currently popularizing firearms, and even the Northern Di were researching and building Artillery.

In the future, they would face more opponents like this.

The great battle had begun.

Meanwhile, the Cavalry dispatched by Bai Shang was galloping toward Yancheng.

Traveling through the starry night, he arrived at Yancheng the next day and delivered the news of the sea bandits' attack into the hands of Zhao Xu.

"Sea bandits!"

At the Artillery Drill Ground in northern Yancheng, Zhao Xu and Chang Wei were together, observing the effects of the post-machining Artillery.

Upon receiving this news, his brows knit together.