Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

It wasn't just to intimidate the enemy, but also Captain Gold's cautious desire to take a closer look at this small boat:

The fattest one must be the captain; no sailor could have so much flesh, and his clothes were also the finest. This man was standing at the bow, looking absolutely flustered and wiping sweat from his brow without stopping.

Captain Gold laughed heartily, "We can't sell this fatso; he must stay and row on the Good Fortune until he drops dead."

There were seven or eight others left on deck, typical sailor-looking types, with worn clothes and skin darkened and cracked from the sun's rays. Two years ago, Good Fortune Gold had been such a wretched sailor, but now he was a Hunter.

There must be more sailors on this ship, definitely some hiding in the dark corners of the boat, praying to escape this ordeal. There was no hurry; they could be slowly sniffed out. No one could get away on the vast sea.

The Good Fortune retracted the oars on the side close to the Bandit Gull, while the pirates threw grappling hooks with ropes toward Bandit Gull, all the while making wild cries to scare the sailors on board.

The hooks bit into the Bandit Gull's side, pulling the gap between the two ships closer inch by inch. Four boarding planks with hooks stretched towards the Bandit Gull, hooking firmly onto the ship's hull.

Done! These boarding planks had hooks on both sides. Once hooked, they were extremely difficult to release. Now Bandit Gull was firmly connected to the Good Fortune, and now not even the fat captain could run away, even if he regretted it.

Over a dozen anxious pirates didn't wait for Gold's order and rushed onto the Bandit Gull's deck, which greatly irritated Good Fortune Gold.

Within the pirate democracy to some extent, the captain, aside from a small private room, didn't have much privilege, and could even be voted off the ship by the sailors if things went wrong.

The rule for robbery was that all spoils must be evenly distributed, but pirates who boarded the prey's ship first would definitely grab more scattered silver coins.

So, every time as soon as the boarding plank was in place, the pirates would rush on board in a frenzy, and Gold was unable to restrain them. If he used harsh measures, his throat could be cut by the pirates and "voted off the ship" that very night.

"The crew's hearts are too scattered, and the team is hard to lead," sighed Gold, shaking his head, as he also headed towards the Bandit Gull.

What Bandit Gull faced from Good Fortune Gold, however, was a piercing whistle. Bandit Gull tore off its sheep's clothing disguise, and what the pirates saw as a fattened lamb showed its fangs and claws, as a large group of young men in military uniforms and armed with weapons poured out from the prow castle, stern castle, and cabins of Bandit Gull.

—————— Line break ——————

Major Layton threw his whistle fiercely, making true on his promise to be "the first to jump in."

The major roared, "Follow me, you bastards!" and then leapt down from the stern castle, crashing onto the open deck of Good Fortune, making the entire ship tremble upon his landing.

Most of the warrant officers used single-handed weapons together with makeshift small shields from planks, but the major held his own sword in his left hand, and a sailor's cutlass in his right.

Upon landing, he delivered a vicious overhead chop to the neck of a pirate before him, the brutal strike slashing through the neck at an angle, cutting halfway through it, and the curved front end of the cutlass inflicting a second wound on the pullback.

The major, not paying further attention to the poor soul whose neck had been half-severed and now splattered with his blood, ferociously continued to slice through the remaining pirates who had yet to come to their senses.

Andre and a few warrant officers, infected by the major's fierce momentum, also roared as they followed the major onto the deck of Good Fortune.

Major Morris sighed helplessly and also, sword in hand, leapt from the prow castle.

The major's original plan was to ambush and deal with the pirates boarding the ship first, then use revolving guns and muskets to weaken the pirates remaining on the enemy ship, and finally board to exterminate the remaining enemies.

But with the top boss jumping in right away, he had no choice but to follow suit.

—————— Line break ——————

Meanwhile, at the top of the stern castle, Winters and two gunnery lieutenants together exerted their strength to mount the swivel gun on the ship's side. The three of them had been lying flat on the deckboards, concealed by barrels and sacks.

The swivel gun was so named because it was mounted on a stand, allowing it to swivel to aim at different angles.

Under the iron frame was an iron rod, and the ship's side had holes drilled during the construction, into which the iron rod could be inserted to mount the swivel gun on the ship's side.

Bandit Gull's side was lower than that of Good Fortune, which was a disadvantage. But don't forget, Bandit Gull still had the fighting tops.

In naval boarding actions, whoever had the higher fighting tops had the advantage. From the very top of Bandit Gull's stern castle, one could overlook the open deck of Good Fortune with an unobstructed view.

As they say, "From high to low, beat the dumbass," and with Bandit Gull's long-range firepower at a higher position, they could leisurely shoot at Good Fortune.

With the gun in place, one gunnery warrant officer grasped the gun's tail to aim at the enemy, while another quickly grabbed a chamber and stuffed it into the rear cabin of the swivel gun, followed by a wooden wedge to secure the chamber into place, then poured gunpowder into the priming hole.

While the two warrant officers were busy, Winters was tasked with only one thing: ensuring that the slow match didn't go out.

Without a real salt-soaked slow match on board, they had to unravel hemp rope to use instead. The problem was that with hemp rope, if you held it upside down, it would burn quickly, but if you held it upright, it would go out by itself.

Winters was now like Prometheus, the fire thief, both blowing on it and adjusting the angle, carefully tending to the small flame in his hand.

"Ready! Light it now!" urged the loader warrant officer.