CHAPTER 444: CHAPTER 441: FALLING INTO A TRAP

Pirates would buy firearms and place them on their ships. When they encountered merchant ships, they would first attack with firearms, and after causing significant loss of life on the merchant ship, they would then close in, board the ship, kill people, and loot goods.

Li Tao and the others had encountered pirates at sea before, and facing these two ships now felt just like dealing with pirates.

"Could they really be pirates?"

Pu Shou looked at Li Tao.

Although the matter of the goods couldn’t be explained, it’s unlikely pirates would deal with sea merchants so properly, but after the confrontation, that’s the feeling it gave him.

Li Tao looked at the sea with a cold expression.

Thick smoke billowed toward them in the wind, and the firearms they faced today were different from any they had seen before; the smoke was extraordinarily dense, gradually obscuring everyone’s vision.

Moreover, the smoke stung their eyes, causing non-stop coughing.

The ships that initially encircled were suddenly in disarray, and Li Tao’s side couldn’t see clearly what was happening, only glimpsing flickering flames within the thick smoke.

"Sir, what should we do?" Pu Shou asked Li Tao.

"Keep pursuing," Li Tao said, then choked on the smoke and turned to cough.

"Did you hear that," Pu Shou said, covering the smoke with his sleeve and shouting orders, "Follow the direction of those ships."

The people on the ship responded in unison, the ships advancing into the smoke.

The sound of firearms faded, and the wind dispersed much of the smoke, but since they couldn’t discern directions, the ships led by Li Tao slowed down.

Li Tao looked at Pu Shou, "What’s going on?"

Pu Shou replied, "We can’t see clearly and fear our ships might collide with each other."

Li Tao furrowed his brows, "Don’t we have a compass?"

Their compass wasn’t accurate, and the compass obtained from Liu Ji was still unusable; Li Tao had known this for a long time, and Pu Shou dared not argue.

Finally, the smoke cleared, allowing everyone to see the situation on the sea again, but they could only see two distant ship silhouettes, showing they were impossible to catch up with.

Li Tao’s face was ashen.

The people on the ships were dumbfounded, not knowing what to do.

After such effort, they failed to capture anyone, and to understand the whereabouts of these two ships, they even sent messages through vassal merchants.

If the vassal merchants learned that they hadn’t even seen a shadow, it would surely damage Li Tao’s reputation.

Stammering, Pu Shou said, "Those people... must have been prepared... their ships are good... they already had firearms on board, so..."

Not only were their ships good, but they also leveraged the wind direction; that smoke obscured their vision, but it wasn’t entirely useless to those two ships.

How did those two ships discern directions to escape? They must have something in their hands, like Liu Ji’s compass.

Thinking of this, Li Tao strode into the cabin and grabbed the ship’s compass, throwing it fiercely on the ground.

Li Tao said, "Just useless things."

He was scolding the compass, as well as the people on the ship.

Everyone dared not step forward; Pu Shou hesitated and walked over, "Sir, should we continue the chase?"

Although those two ships were already far away, without Li Tao’s command, they dared not slack off.

"Chase," Li Tao said, "let’s see where they’re heading."

Even if they couldn’t catch up, they needed to see where those people were setting sail to; they mustn’t return empty-handed.

It was still early; they had time.

Pu Shou responded.

Several ships continued forward; on the sea ahead, those two pursued ships were still moving rapidly, unable to shake off Li Tao’s ships.

Li Tao was already angry; no one dared slack off. This time, Li Tao personally directed the course.

After chasing for two hours, those two ships noticeably slowed down, obviously lacking reinforcement, while Li Tao’s ships, with plenty of crew, maintained their speed.

"Just hold on a bit longer," Pu Shou said, looking up at the sky; at this rate, they’d soon catch up with those two ships. However, the sky was gradually darkening, and if they couldn’t encircle those two ships before nightfall, it would all be for nothing.

Seeing the ships were about to catch up, Li Tao’s men were bolstered with strength, and everyone’s eyes were fixed on the two ships gradually closing in.

Those two ships wouldn’t be easily caught; after gaining a section, they immediately forced themselves again.

"Hurry," Pu Shou urged, and the steward on the ship began to speak, "When has our fleet ever been disgraced like this, compromised and let them escape."

"What face will we have when dealing with vassal merchants and pirates in the future?"

"Let’s show them our might now."

The people on the ship responded together.

Li Tao was also staring intently at the increasingly near ships as if fire would blaze from his eyes; he was determined to see who was on those ships.

Another hour of pursuit passed, and the sun set, dyeing the sea and sky with a layer of darkness, making visibility even worse.

"Sir," Pu Shou finally said, "It’s dark; we can’t chase too fast."

For fear of overlooking any situation on the sea.

"They also can’t," Li Tao said, "they dare not flee too quickly, and... they’re out of strength."

Those two ships were just within reach, almost within grasp.

Pu Shou understood Li Tao’s intention and could only have the ships continue forward, splitting left and right to encircle.

The stewards on the ship ordered the lights to be lit, trying to pass messages to the several ships.

The people on board had just lit the lamps and were about to check around when they looked up and saw a vague shadow approaching them.

Unknowingly, several ships had silently surrounded them.

The crew on the ship was startled, opening his mouth to shout, "Ships... there are ships coming, coming over."

The steward, still watching the two close ships anxiously, fearing they’d turn and escape under the dark skies, heard the crew and followed his gaze, stunned on the spot.

"It’s not good," the steward shouted, "There’s..."

Before the steward could finish, there was a sound of arrows whizzing through the air, followed by the sky being lit up not far away, countless arrows shooting towards the ship, their flaming tips like descending stars.

"It’s an ambush."

Li Tao stared blankly, the fire hitting the ship registered in his eyes.

Screams echoed.

Instantly, chaos erupted on the ship; some fell to the ground wailing, some grabbed bows to fight back, while others attempted to turn the ship to dodge.

The same scene played out on the other ships; one was already ablaze.

Li Tao emerged from the cabin, surveying the surrounding disorder, finally realizing this was a premeditated trap; those two ships were bait, meant to lead them here.

"Don’t panic," Li Tao said, "Everyone pick up your weapons, prepare for battle."

He couldn’t believe those people could truly defeat him.

"Sir," Pu Shou said, "It’s too dangerous here; you should return below, we’ll handle this..."

Li Tao wouldn’t leave; he ordered, "Turn the ships, head over."

As soon as he spoke, another wave of arrows flew in, Li Tao felt a pain in his arm, a piercing arrow struck, warm blood flowing down.