Chapter 1741: Chapter 56: Crushing the Fleet

“When something’s unusual, it must be tricky!” Li Yuan observed the opposing fleet through a telescope. Clad in a white pirate outfit, he swayed with the sea breeze, quite pretentious, “But it’s fine. We have twelve of the most powerful Spanish warships. Whatever it is, blow it all to bits.”

“Brilliant, Captain.” The first mate immediately flattered him. Over the past few days, he had figured out the captain’s character. This guy was vain, cared about his image, and it was by flattering him that the first mate had climbed from a lowly sailor to his current position.

“Men, form the battle formation.” Li Yuan displayed a calm general’s demeanor, face full of disdain, “Signal them to surrender. Otherwise, after I take them down, I’ll kill them all.”

“Li Yuan’s bad habit is acting up again. Leader, what should we do?” Xiang Ning stood beside Li Kelun, uneasily watching the incoming ghost ship, feeling something was amiss.

“He’s a member of the Low-head Dragon King’s team, and his strength isn’t bad. What can I do?” Li Kelun’s face was dark. If it weren’t for the lack of sea ships on their side, there wouldn’t be a need to team up with Li Yuan and endure this kind of anger.

“You’re overthinking it. That’s just an ordinary ship. Seeing it can’t escape, it’s playing deceit tactics.” Pan Hui comforted, unaware that just from appearance, the ghost ship looked like a Spanish galleon; only once the real battle started would it reveal its fangs.

“Hopefully.” Xiang Ning knew their side had no choice. Even if there was a problem, they’d have to fight first and consider later. Otherwise, being scared off by a single ship would be too embarrassing.

“Inform Song Xiaotang’s ship to retreat with the tide, hang at the end of the line, and act accordingly.” Chen Xiong contemplated the situation, his eyebrows deeply furrowed.

If Tang Zheng were here, he would surely recognize them. This pair of men and women belonged to the same district as him, the fearless ones, who had invited him to join the Conquerors Alliance and discussed the secrets of the Hero Level.

“Captain, we’ve entered firing range. Shall we open fire?” the artillery chief asked.

“No, keep advancing. If we scare them off directly, wouldn’t it be a hassle to catch up?” Tang Zheng shook his head.

“Haha, their cannons aren’t as good as ours. What are you waiting for? Fire! Let’s have a round of volleys and sink them first.” Li Yuan had spent a fortune on buying ten magic cannons, the range twice that of a regular 60-pound cannon and the power increased fivefold. He was confident in turning the enemy ship into splinters before it got close.

Bang, bang!

The thunderous roar of cannons announced the start of the sea battle!

The merchant ships, seeing the massive solid cannonballs splashing into the seawater, were terrified, running chaotically in panic.

The signaler kept urging the flagship to flee, but Tang Zheng ignored it.

“So, they have some trump cards too!” Jiang Xiuming laughed, “Don’t sink them all. Leave me a few, just as well to save the trip to the harbor to buy ships.”

“I want that flagship; its firepower is fierce.” Dong Zixuan licked the corner of her lips. She liked being a captain.

“Sorry, pick another one. The flagship needs to be sunk first.” Tang Zheng let go of the ship’s wheel, allowing Tao Ran to take control.

“Haha, did you see how flustered those guys are? Are they really thinking of relying on merchant ships to fight me?” Li Yuan was gleeful and ordered the sailors, “Go, paint ten small boats on the deck.”

These patterns represented Li Yuan’s count of sunken ships. Over twenty had already been painted, a decent record indeed, no wonder he was so arrogant.

After the second volley, the ghost ship still hadn’t been hit, but one merchant ship was unlucky, taking a hit on the deck, killing several sailors.

“If they won’t test fire, that’s fine, but the hit rate of the second volley is way off. With this kind of combat power, how can they cooperate with us in combat?” Yin Shangwu shook his head, completely losing interest.

“Captain, two merchant ships ran away,” the sailor reported.

Tang Zheng turned to see the two merchant ships at the end of the line, unable to withstand the fear of bombardment, were turning around, trying to escape.

“Sink them.” Tang Zheng waved his hand.

The skeleton sailors shouted chants, immediately loading, and adjusting aim. Twenty seconds later, five cannons fired.

Without suspense, all five chain shots hit, two of which snapped the masts, bringing it crashing down on many people.

Witnessing this, Li Kelun and the others were shocked; the opponent’s accuracy in bombardment was impressive.

“Power is average.” Li Yuan smacked his lips, roaring, “What are you waiting for? Charge at them, capture them alive, they’re all gold coins.”

The sailors shouted with high morale, but the next second, the deafening cannon fire drowned them out.

The ghost ship’s broadside faced the pirate fleet, twelve cannons in total, forming three rows of thirty-six cannons firing their first volley.

In an instant, the pirates saw the ghost ship’s side as if it were a monster’s lair, spitting flames and white smoke. Then they were submerged in a bullet rain.

The foremost pirate ship was struck by a hail of steel, turned into a hornet’s nest. The fragile wooden structure couldn’t withstand such powerful strikes, leaving over thirty holes.

In ten seconds, the exquisite skeleton cannoniers fired the second round.

The pirate ship, already heavily damaged, was now completely baptized. There wasn’t a living person on the entire deck, only blood, severed limbs, and shattered wood debris everywhere.

Not only was the fleet commander Li Yuan, but the other Conquerors were also dumbfounded, utterly stunned by the ghost ship’s overwhelming firepower, destroying a ship in a single encounter. No wonder they had the guts to charge forward.

“What are you standing there for? Volley fire, give me a volley!” Li Yuan transitioned from shock to rage, his loud voice echoing across the sea as he roared at the coalition.

“Captain, they’re not human.” The first mate’s telescope fell to the ground with a clatter, his mouth agape like a hippo.

“Bah, you’re not human either!” Li Yuan slapped him hard, sending the first mate’s teeth flying.

“No, the sailors on the opposite deck aren’t human.” The first mate didn’t have time to worry about being hit, pointing fearfully at the ghost ship across, “They’re skeletons, it’s the legendary ghost ship.”

The other sailors also began to whisper. The Conquerors were used to seeing various monsters and weren’t afraid, but the native sailors weren’t the same; their morale plummeted.

The usual volley firepower went silent, only a dozen shots fired off, missing widely.

Tang Zheng was not polite and unleashed two more rounds of critical hits, the explosive shells striking accurately, thoroughly wrecking the side of a pirate ship, causing it to start sinking.

“Open fire, what’s there to fear? It’s just one ship.” Li Yuan angrily encouraged the morale, “Ten to one, he’s doomed.”

After all, the pirates had more ships, so more cannons. In a volley, they could still hit the ghost ship a dozen times, but could do no harm to the sturdy ship, only crushing a group of skeleton sailors.

“Aim at the deck, kill all his sailors, see who will sail for him.” Li Yuan’s tactic was sound, but the Warhammer team’s trump cards were more than just that.

Tang Zheng didn’t activate the defense, worried it would scare off the enemy.

In a crossfire exchange, almost every minute, a pirate ship was sunk. If it weren’t for Li Yuan shouting about killing and seizing the ship, they’d have collapsed by now.

“It’s Tang Zheng, who would have thought that this little fish from back then would grow to such a degree.” Chen Xiong saw Tang Zheng standing on the deck, sighed, envy and jealousy flashing in his eyes, then commanded his fleet to leave the battle circle.

“Captain, the Chen Xiong and Song Xiaotang ships have fled.” The first mate reported, he actually wanted to escape too.

“Sink them for me.” Li Yuan raged, losing all his flair, tearing open his collar, gasping roughly.

“We can’t disperse firepower now.” The first mate was anxious, firepower was already insufficient, if they killed their own side, annoyed the enemy to retaliate, it’d be really miserable.

“Damn it, where’d this guy get a demon ship?” Li Yuan was about to explode in anger, how come he didn’t have such luck.

Chen Xiong’s departure triggered a chain reaction; besides Li Yuan’s three ships, other allies began turning around to retreat.

“Think you can run? Not that easy!” Tang Zheng sneered, “Skeleton cannoniers, prepare magic bullets.”

A flash of white light, sixty female musketeers appeared on the deck, in groups of three, operating twenty cannons, bombarding the enemy.

The magic bullets had enormous power; a volley struck a pirate ship, directly exploding it into a burning fireball, the nearby sea surface dyed red, as ignited sailors wailed jumping into the seawater.

“Run, run!” The captains urged the boatswains, regretting deeply at that moment, they shouldn’t have listened to Li Yuan’s orders earlier.

The merchants were dumbfounded, originally expecting a certain death struggle, but a sudden turn like this, they looked at the ghost ship, chills running through their spines.

The ghost ship with full firepower displayed powerful offensive capability, practically landing every shot without miss, every round of volley surely destroying a ship.

Li Yuan lost his composure, seeing the situation lost, he shouted for the sailors to flee quickly.

“Alright, out of range now.” Chen Xiong just breathed a sigh of relief when a swarm of cannon shells, like bumblebees, flew past the pirate ship in the middle, directly bombarding him.

No suspense, Chen Xiong’s vehicle was riddled right away, making the Conquerors realize they’d been played.

“Tang Zheng, I’m Pan Hui!” Pan Hui shouted, hoping Tang Zheng would spare her considering their past collaboration.

“Leave her for now, focus on attacking the flagship.” Tang Zheng remembered the woman he’d encountered back in Golden City.

Xiu released an ability, a giant hand formed of aura resembling a shield, blocking in front of the flagship, the magic bullets striking it, sparks flying.

“Tang Zheng, do you think having a ghost ship guarantees you’ll beat me? Dream on.” Li Yuan laughed proudly.

“Sophie, serve the heavy cannon.”

Sophie summoned a 120mm caliber cannon, pulling the fuse. The shell arrowed out, tearing through the air, even slicing open the sea surface.

Li Yuan’s laughter abruptly ceased, spending considerable life energy to block that cannon shell, just about to talk tough when he saw ten more huge cannons appear on the opposing deck.

Boom, Li Yuan’s spirit hand was pierced, his vehicle suffered heavy damage.

“Tang Zheng, got the guts to duel with me, don’t be a cowardly turtle.” Seeing the sinking pirate ship, Li Yuan knew he couldn’t escape, wanted a direct fight.

“Do you take me for a fool?” Tang Zheng showed a middle finger, “What are you waiting for, blow him up.”

Li Yuan was wrapped in regenerated spirit hand, trying to dive away, but with Jiang Xiuming searching, even if he turned into a crab diving into the sand, he’d be dug out. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for it, give it a monthly ticket. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)