Chapter 384: Disguise

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The artillery continuously poured cannonballs onto the sea pirates' artillery positions.

The sea pirates in the positions were terrified and could only lie on the ground, completely unable to return fire.

Just then, another sea pirate shouted, "Lord Yamada, soldiers have come out of the city."

Yamada looked over and saw numerous Yanzhou soldiers wearing Scale Armor and holding firearms emerging from Nanmen and the North Gate.

Immediately, these soldiers formed tight horizontal lines and closed in on them, with a clear intention to surround them.

This scene made Yamada suddenly overjoyed.

These Yan Wang soldiers had stayed behind their walls and refused to come out, leaving them with no options.

But if they came out of the city to fight them head-on, they were not afraid.

The Great Song army had been crushed by them time and again in hand-to-hand combat.

"Seeking death!"

He immediately ordered the soldiers in the ranks holding Matchlocks to form up.

Under his command, more than two thousand Matchlock gunners formed five Hollow Square Formations.

However, the soldiers stood loosely between one another.

This was from their experience; when Matchlocks fired, the Flame and smoke were significant, easily igniting the match cords of the soldiers next to them.

Meanwhile, the sea pirates holding swords and blades stood in the middle of the squares.

They would wait for an opportunity to charge at the enemy for hand-to-hand combat.

"Kill them!"

"Come on!"

"..."

The sea pirates brandished the swords and blades in their hands and clamored again.

On the city wall, Bai Shang watched everything, and the smile at the corners of his mouth grew deeper.

He admired Yan Wang even more; he had clearly explained the characteristics of the Matchlock formations.

Such a loose formation was no match for the tight ranks of the Prince's Personal Army.

Moreover, these sea pirates had no protection on their bodies,

just a layer of thin clothing.

Glancing at the sea pirate artillerymen who were suppressed by the artillery on the city wall and completely unable to fire at the Prince's Personal Army, he smiled again.

Fanyang, Guan County.

A fleet was moving slowly along the Fan River at this moment.

The commoners on the riverbank saw it, but only glanced once before returning to their own business.

To them, these fleets were already a common sight.

After all, merchants from all over the world were flocking to the Prince's commercial goods.

There were many Merchant Ships coming from the sea, and fleets of forty such connected Merchant Ships were not uncommon.

At this moment, Hei Shan stood at the bow of the ship.

The flag of Wufeng Island on the Mast had been taken down and replaced with an ordinary merchant flag.

Looking at a crew member beside him, he asked, "How much longer until we reach Fanyang?"

This sea pirate was from Yanzhou and was very familiar with Yanzhou, so he had become the fleet's guide.

"Reporting to the Vice Island Master, this is the territory of Guan County; we will arrive in one more day's journey." The crew member looked at the shore, searching for familiar geographical landmarks.

Hei Shan nodded solemnly, lowered his head to watch the oars sliding continuously at the bottom of the ship, and prayed silently in his heart that this sneak attack on the Fanyang Shipyard would succeed.

Although the Liang Family had given them a handsome amount of Silver for this matter.

But even without this Silver, Island Master Wang Zhi had the intention to destroy these Warships that Yan Wang was building.

To them, this ocean could belong to Dongying, could belong to Stedan, and could also belong to the Ang-Sa, but it absolutely could not be allowed for Great Song to get its hands on it, especially when it was an Imperial Prince of Great Song.

If it were not for the need for a window like the Liang Family to trade Great Song goods.

They would not even allow the Liang Family's ships to set sail.

Besides this, this sneak attack was also mixed with resentment.

Resentment that Yan Wang had sold a large number of Artillery to the Liang Family.

Allowing the Liang Family, these dogs, to dare to bare their fangs at them, demanding a reduction in passage fees and raising the prices of goods.

But it would not be long before the Liang Family paid a heavy price.

They would make the Liang Family recognize their status on the ocean.

Looking around and enjoying the scenery for a while, he went down to the cabin, where the crew members were gambling.

He played two rounds, then urged the crew to go back to sleep and conserve their energy for tomorrow's sneak attack.

Outside Jinghai City.

The Prince's Personal Army continuously squeezed the space of the sea pirates.

The generals marching with the troops faced the sea pirates' Hollow Square Formations.

This surprised them slightly; they had not expected the sea pirates to understand this kind of tactic.

However, even so, they remained full of confidence in victory.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

When they were one hundred meters apart, the sea pirates fired at the Prince's Personal Army.

Soldiers in the front row were hit and fell to the ground.

The soldiers behind him immediately took a quick step forward to fill the positions of the wounded soldiers.

The speed of the troop's march forward did not diminish in the slightest.

"Fire at the fifty-meter mark!" a Colonel in the ranks shouted to his soldiers.

Even though they could have fired at the enemy at the one-hundred-meter mark.

Yan Wang told them that at a distance of fifty meters, the Flintlock could better guarantee accuracy and cause greater casualties to the enemy.

A huge casualty rate could even rout the enemy in one wave.

While exchanging fire at the one-hundred-meter mark would only consume each other, and their own side's losses would be greater.

But firing at fifty meters required enduring casualties beforehand, which required the soldiers and commanders to remain calm in the face of battle.

"God bless," a soldier in the ranks stared fixedly at the sea bandits, muttering to himself.

He was afraid, but still summoned his courage to move steadily forward.

Now they were facing the bullets of the sea bandits.

In the future, they would still have to face the bows and arrows of the Northern Di and Western Liang.

He was prepared to be wounded or die.

He could not retreat in war, otherwise, it would be his parents and siblings who suffered.

The commanders in the army often spoke to them about the current urgent situation.

Western Liang and the Northern Di had formed an alliance, and the beacon smoke of Yanshan had risen once again.

The alien tribes were eyeing Yanzhou covetously, leaving no room for them to slack off.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

At intervals of several dozen breaths, the sea bandits' muskets continued to emit huge flashes of fire and thick smoke.

The gunpowder smoke drifted with the wind, the battlefield was like it was covered in a thin mist, and the smell of Gunpowder permeated the air.

Another hundred or so soldiers fell, and they walked another seven or eight meters before stopping.

At this moment, they saw the sea bandits were reloading their ammunition.

"Raise guns!" the commander in the ranks issued the order.

The soldiers immediately raised their Flintlocks and aimed at the sea bandits.

The smile on Yamada Ichino's face disappeared at this moment.

Just now they had caused casualties to the Yanzhou soldiers.

Now it was their turn to suffer casualties.

However, he clearly did not want to just be a target for the Yanzhou soldiers like this.

In his view, these Yanzhou soldiers were quite stupid.

Not firing at the distance of over a hundred paces, but coming to such a close place.

Now they did not need to exchange fire; a charge for hand-to-hand combat would be enough.

"Kill!"

Raising his Long Blade, he shouted loudly.

The sea bandits within the square formation immediately charged out.

"Fire!" Just at this moment, the Prince's Mansion commanders gave the order.

"Bang, bang, bang..." The Flintlocks spat out tongues of fire.

In an instant, the sea bandits fell like wheat being harvested.

Under the pincer attack from north and south, nearly six hundred people fell to the ground.

"Second row, fire!"

"Bang, bang, bang..." The sound of gunfire rose again.

Another five or six hundred sea bandits fell, followed by the third row firing.

And while they were firing, there were still a hundred or so sea bandits who rushed to the front of the Horizontal Formation.

But at this time, the soldiers of the frontmost Horizontal Formation suddenly scattered and ran backward.

Seeing that they could immediately rush into the soldiers, the sea bandits yelled, emboldening themselves.

Suddenly seeing this change, they thought the Yanzhou soldiers had routed, and continued to move forward to pursue.

But when the soldiers of the first rank disappeared through the gaps in the formation, they fell into despair.

Behind the first rank, there was still a second rank.

At this moment, the soldiers of the formation all aimed their muskets at them.

"Bang, bang, bang..." Three more rounds of continuous fire, and the sea bandits all fell into a pool of blood.

After killing the sea bandits who rushed over, the ranks continued to move forward.

And the original first-rank soldiers had already finished regrouping behind the second rank, following along as they walked forward.

The huge casualties left Yamada Ichino and the sea bandits stunned.

At this moment, a feeling they had rarely experienced spread in their hearts; this was fear.

"Bang, bang, bang..." The Yanzhou soldiers' attacks continued.

The sea bandits were completely in chaos; they no longer listened to commands, just blindly charging left and right, and most of the remaining sea bandits fled directly toward the coast.

But the Yanzhou soldiers had formed a faint encirclement while marching, and at this moment, they immediately tightened the pocket, trapping the sea bandits.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

Surrounded by the Yanzhou soldiers, Yamada Ichino held his Long Blade and frantically hacked at the soldiers' Flintlocks, his appearance crazed.

A Colonel noticed that this person seemed to be the leader of the sea bandits, so he did not let the soldiers fire their guns.

Seeing Yamada Ichino waving his sword incessantly, attempting to kill the soldiers.

He drew the sword at his waist with a 'clang' and used an upward strike to knock away Yamada Ichino's sword.

Then, he slashed at his lower leg.

"Take him down!" the Colonel shouted.

The soldiers immediately pinned Yamada Ichino to the ground and gave him a sound beating.

On the city wall, Bai Shang witnessed the entire battle process through a Telescope.

This time, the three thousand soldiers were divided into two formations.

Each formation had three rows of soldiers; this kind of formation is actually a tactic.

When the soldiers of the first formation faced a moment of melee combat, they immediately became the second formation, letting the original second formation continue to fire.

If there were more troops, there could even be a third formation, a fourth formation, and so on, fighting while retreating to avoid melee combat with the enemy and to leverage the advantages of the Flintlock.

Gently shaking his head, he showed a look of contempt toward the sea bandits.

"I told you that you provoked the wrong person." Bai Shang descended the city wall and walked toward the outside of the city.