Chapter 118: A Duel to the Death 1

Chapter 118 – Duel to the Death 1
Thanks to the presence of binoculars, the navy’s patrol ships discovered each other’s presence earlier than the pirates.

The sailors immediately rowed the ship towards the base with all their strength, and informed the officers and men on duty of the enemy’s situation through the newly rehearsed semaphore before they even entered the harbor.

“This is not a drill!” “This is not a drill!” “This is not a drill!” , the communications officer typed the phrase three times in succession at the end.

The alarm bells in the base rang once more, and all the officers and soldiers assembled once more.

“The pirates are really playing the sound and fury trick, it looks like the 3rd Infantry Battalion will have to make a trip for nothing.”

After learning that the pirates were approaching Fu Lan Harbor, all the officers were very glad that Commander Austin had made the decision before, and that the big credit for wiping out the Mud Loach Pirate Corps was finally going to fall into the Navy’s own hands.

Austin ordered all the officers to board the ship to fight the pirates, at the same time he didn’t forget to send someone to inform the city hall to gather the militia to defend the coast, to prevent any pirate’s leakage from sneaking onto the shore.

He chose the Hope as his flagship and led the other six paddleboats towards the pirates.

This is the first actual battle of the sail warship, the whole ship officers and men on the top and bottom are very nervous, the captain of the ship Quik walks back and forth on the deck, constantly motivating his men: “Our ship is the most powerful warship in the Northwest Bay, take out 10% of the performance of your weekday training, and you will be able to send that bunch of fools across the street to feed the fish.”

Finally able to catch the loach, Quake was very excited, now the Northwest Bay can gather up so many ships of the pirate power is only one.

“Oh, Gaden ah Gaden, don’t you ever run away again, just take your blood to baptize my newborn.”

When he was still a pirate, he was very tired of seeing this cowering villain, not to mention the fact that this guy even set himself up when the two of them agreed to attack Lake Town together.

The sailors equipped with swords watched the direction of the pirate ship, preparing for a possible gang jumping battle. The sailors equipped with muskets scrutinized their weapons, they lit the fire rope and kept blowing air on it to make sure it was in a burning state.

The gun crews in particular were about to have their first real gun battle at sea. The hard training they had done during the day came into play, and under the orders of their respective gun captains, the gunners methodically prepared to fire.

“Loosen the guns!”

The gunners untied the pulley chains binding the guns to their hulls and cut the ropes that had been tied up in knots specifically to hold the breech in place. A creak of the gunwheel indicated that the gun had been loosened, and one of the gunners was responsible for grasping the pulleys on either side of the hull, otherwise the gun would have moved toward the center of the ship as it tilted before a new order could be given.

“Level the gun!”

The aimer made to rotate the screw lever on the underside of the tail of the bit gun, and adjusted the gun to a horizontal, straight shot.

“Pull out the gun plug!”

Quickly they brought the gun into position, and when the muzzle had moved a foot toward the center of the ship, they stopped the slide of the gun toward the center of the ship with a standing retractor cable, and then one of the gunners yanked out the gun plug that had been stuffed in the muzzle.

“Load ammunition!”

The loader shoved the flannel-wrapped firing charge and a six-pound shell into the gun’s chamber one after the other, and another gunner held the loading lever deep into the gun’s chamber and pounded it hard to compact the ammunition.

“Extend the muzzle!”

Immediately they took hold of the pulley chain, and pulling it by the hand backwards, they pressed the gun mount just against the side of the porthole, and after the barrel had been extended out of the porthole, the pulley chain fell from their hands and was neatly coiled up.

The gunmaster began to load the priming powder by taking the fire-gate pin, inserting it through the fire-gate above the tail into the barrel, puncturing the flannel that encased the powder in the barrel, and then pouring finely polished powdered powder into the powder-pool and the fire-gate through a conical pail, which he compacted cautiously and carefully with a curved awl.

Meanwhile, a gunner guarded the side with the palm of his hand so that the sea breeze would not blow the powder away. After loading the gunpowder, the gunner hangs the conical barrel on his back.

The gunner in charge of the ignition lit the slow-burning cord on the ignition rod, blowing carefully every now and then to prevent it from going out, and the loader, holding the powder packet for the next shot, stood beside the gun at all times waiting. Closer and closer to the pirate ship, the seven ships led by the Hope seemed to be wound up tightly, waiting for the moment to meet the enemy.

……

In the navy officers and men nervous preparation for war, their opponent pirate fleet state is not too good, thought the navy’s main force has been out of the harbor, did not expect their own intelligence error, head-on to the tip of the knife.

Gaden grabbed the collar of the deputy chief who was responsible for contacting the informant and yelled at him with red eyes, “What the fuck is going on here? You tell me what’s going on here?”

“I …… I …… don’t know! Boss, the news brought in by the Fish Falcon says unequivocally that the Navy has left Fullan Harbor.”

The deputy chief cried out a face in defense of himself.

“Pah!” Gaden slapped him hard, knocking the deputy chief dizzy and collapsing on the deck with a constant groan.

One of his men asked, “Chief, is it still the same as before? Feed the slaves some drugs and turn around faster to get out of here?”

Several times in the past, when they were almost caught by the Arda Navy, the Mud Loach Pirate Group relied on this mysterious drug to make the slaves suddenly burst with great endurance and strength, and rowed desperately to escape.

After many trials, they could control the dosage very precisely, making the slaves grow in strength but not enough to break free from the shackles on their bodies.

The young leader’s words sobered Gaden, should he fight or flee now?
He frowned and pondered for a few seconds before making a decision and ordered loudly:

“All of us take the secret medicine, let’s fight the Blue Streak Dogs to the death!”

Yes, he was going to stay and fight with the Arda Navy, the current Mud Loach Pirate Corps was no longer the previous small gang of just a hundred people out there that was whisked around the world by the Navy.

To truly unify the Northwest Gulf, he must establish his own prestige, to become the second Edward, Alda Navy when he must step over a hurdle.

And then so always avoid the Navy, but will become a joke in the mouth of others, will also weaken their own authority in the hearts of his men.

The young leader vigorously swung his fist into the air and shouted, “Boss is happy! We’ll follow you!”

The pirate group was full of brave and ruthless goods, and after consecutively annexing several sets of peers with the mysterious drug the chief had gotten his hands on, they all had a surge of honeyed confidence in their own abilities, and had long had a problem with the chief always adopting avoidance tactics towards the Blue Streak Dogs.

“Kill all the Blue Striped Dogs and ransack Fu Lan Harbor!”

“I’ll tear them alive!”

Through the pirates’ own messaging methods, Gaden’s orders were quickly passed on to the other ships, and the decks of the ships constantly resounded with the pirates’ frantic clamor.

The crowd of pirates took out the pills that had been distributed to them beforehand and swallowed them in one gulp.

Soon, the shouting on the deck became more and more frantic and louder, and the pirate in charge of supervising the oar slaves walked back and forth in the cabin while vigorously pumping the oarsmen who did not put forth any effort in his opinion.

The fleets of both sides were rapidly approaching ……

(End of chapter)