The pirates of Seagull Island had no other place to stay. After robbing the merchant ship of their original master, the Zhou Family, the only place they could go was Seagull Island.
Because the journey was not smooth sailing, the pirates had a hard time navigating the merchant ship. Their speed was relatively slow, and there were more than 20 fishing boats chasing after them. In the distance, there were still small fishing boats weighing anchor from the port. The number of people chasing them would only increase, which made the pirates nervous. Fortunately, there were various weapons stored by the Zhou Family on the ship. Among them, the most useful weapons for naval battles were the 30 powerful Tang dynasty crossbows and tens of thousands of crossbow bolts. With these weapons in their hands, the pirates felt relieved. They gathered eight pirates and prepared to shoot the Zhou Family's thugs and servants who were chasing after them with the Tang dynasty crossbows.
"Quick, chase after them. Don't let them escape."
"The merchant ship is too slow. We'll catch up soon. Everyone, work harder."
"By the order of the family head, leave no one alive on the ship."
Not far behind the merchant ship, more than a dozen Zhou Family's thugs on a fishing boat shouted loudly.
There were also Zhou Family's thugs and Zhou Family's male servants on the neighboring fishing boats. Under the forced order of the Zhou Family's housekeeper, they put down their fire fighting work and drove the fishing boats to chase after the merchant ship.
The merchant ship contained the Zhou Family's three years of accumulation. They absolutely could not afford to lose it. Once they lost this accumulation, it would be a heavy blow to the Zhou Family, and it would also seriously interfere with the Zhou Family's future operations. Therefore, the fire could be ignored, but the merchant ship must be chased back. This was the most important benefit.
The Zhou Family only had 300 elite thugs on this island. More than 200 of them were sent to chase after the merchant ship, and 300 male servants also participated in the chase. There were 500 people participating in the chase. The bigger fishing boats only had 20 people, and the smaller fishing boats could only accommodate 5 or 6 people. Fortunately, the smaller the fishing boat, the faster it was, and the easier it was to catch up. Almost any fishing boat was faster than the merchant ship, and because the merchant ship was the first to set off, there was still a certain distance between them and the pursuers.
Among the dozens of fishing boats chasing after the merchant ship, there were two pirate ships, a medium-sized fishing boat and a small fishing boat. Of the two pirate ships, one had more than a dozen pirates, while the other only had two pirates. The small fishing boat only had two pirates, so their identities were not discovered for the time being. However, the medium-sized fishing boat's situation was not so good. When they fled in panic, they were discovered by the Zhou Family's thugs and were chased by many small fishing boats.
"Move closer. There's something wrong with the fishing boat in front. Is it an accomplice of the thieves?"
One of the Zhou Family's thugs shouted loudly.
The dozen or so pirates on the fishing boat had a feeling that they could not escape. They had too few people, and most of them had to use the oars. Only four or five people could hold weapons to fight against the enemy. Facing the Zhou Family's thugs chasing after them, they felt that they were no match for them. The situation seemed to be very bad.
"Quick, change direction. Don't follow the merchant ship. These guys are targeting the merchant ship. As long as we change direction, there's a high chance that they won't follow us."
A pirate was quick-witted and immediately realized something.
"The sea is vast. Where can we go? It'll be bad if we get lost."
"What's there to be afraid of if we get lost? It's good enough that we can keep our lives."
"If we escape, the boss and the others will be under a lot of pressure."
"There's no time to think so much now. Let's think about how to save our lives first!"
Soon, the pirates, who had discussed the matter, changed direction and fled to the side. Then, they simply fled in the direction away from the merchant ship.
"These guys are running. Should we chase them?"
"Chasing after the merchant ship is more important. Don't worry about them. Chasing after the merchant ship is the most important thing. Don't forget what's on it."
"Quick, chase after them. We must catch up to the merchant ship. Don't leave a single one of the thieves on the ship."
All the fishing boats were chasing after the merchant ship. They were disdainful of the pirate fishing boat that was escaping. Their mission was to catch up to the merchant ship. Everything else was not that important.
"Boss, they've already caught up and entered the crossbow's range."
"Boss, Old Six and the others have escaped in another direction."
"Boss, it's too dark. I can't see clearly. I'm afraid that they won't be very accurate."
The pirate leader looked at the fishing boat chasing behind them and said, "What's there to be afraid of? We have tens of thousands of crossbows. It's enough. Don't be polite. Just attack. Kill as many as you can. If they're not afraid of death, let them catch up."
The eight pirates, including the leader, took a rough aim. Then, they fired the crossbows at the fishing boat behind them. Although they were not very accurate and only managed to injure one of the Zhou Family's male servants in one round of shooting, it still gave the people chasing after them a fright.
Because there were enough crossbows, the pirates kept firing. After more than ten rounds of shooting, two of the Zhou Family's hired thugs and six of the Zhou Family's male servants were seriously injured. Two of them were already dead, and seven or eight of them were slightly injured. This caused the people chasing after them to pause. After all, no one was willing to rush to their deaths. Everyone wanted to live.
In particular, the fishing boat that the male servants were in charge of chasing slowed down significantly. Moreover, they were all lying prone on the boat. They wished that they could hide at the bottom of the boat.
At this moment, the fishing boat chasing after them was still some distance away from the fishing boat in front of them. There were already so many casualties. If they continued to chase after them and got closer, the number of casualties would definitely increase significantly. This situation made the Zhou Family, who were in charge of chasing after them, feel very troubled.
"What should we do? They're attacking us with crossbows. We're too passive."
"Crossbows? This is bad. There are 30 crossbows on the boat and tens of thousands of crossbows. If we really rush forward, the casualties will be too great."
"Shields? Why didn't we bring shields?"
"Who would bring shields with them for no reason? We were too anxious when we set off and didn't think about this. How could we forget that there are crossbows on the boat?"
At this moment, the Zhou Family, who were in charge of chasing after them, were in a very passive position. The only weapons in their hands were knives, swords, and sticks. They didn't bring any other weapons, such as crossbows. They were really in a passive position. After all, they were too hasty in their preparations. The incident happened so suddenly that they didn't have time to prepare suitable weapons. Their only advantage was that they had more people. They could use the human wave tactic to rush forward like a swarm of bees. Perhaps this way, they could defeat the pirates and seize the merchant ship.
However, no one was willing to lose their lives. Even the thugs loyal to the Zhou Family didn't want to die. When they discovered that the pirates were shooting them with crossbows, they had already decided to retreat. However, they couldn't disobey the orders of the family head. Otherwise, they would definitely be punished when they returned, especially the dozen or so thugs who were originally responsible for guarding the merchant ship. They were under the greatest pressure. If they couldn't chase after the merchant ship, what awaited them might be the fate of being beheaded. They knew very well how ruthless the head of the Zhou Family was. They knew very well how important the treasures on the merchant ship were. Once these things were lost, someone had to take responsibility. Someone had to bear the responsibility, and they were in charge of guarding the merchant ship. Naturally, this responsibility fell on them. With such a huge amount of treasures, it was impossible to be responsible for it without at least a dozen or so lives. Therefore, as long as the merchant ship wasn't recovered, the fate of these dozen or so people was sealed. Therefore, they couldn't retreat passively. They had to either chase after the merchant ship or immediately leave the Zhou Family and find another way out. In any case, they couldn't go back empty-handed.
"Brothers, tear down the deck and use it as a shield. We have to rush up."
"How can a dozen or so of us be enough? Even if we rush up, we don't have much of a chance of winning. We have to let the others rush up as well. Only then will we have a chance of winning."
"We can't command the others. We can only command ourselves. Most of the pirates on the merchant ship are rowing. They can't spare a few people to deal with us. These few people have to deal with the other fishing boats. If we rush to the merchant ship one step ahead and board it suddenly, we can definitely give them a head-on blow."
"That's the only way. I hope they can copy us and use the deck as a shield. This way, we can minimize casualties to the greatest extent."
These dozen or so Zhou Family thugs used the knives in their hands to dismantle the deck at the stern of the ship. Then, they placed the deck at the bow of the ship to block the crossbow attacks. The thickness of the deck was enough to block the crossbow bolts. It could play a very good role in protecting them from being shot by the crossbow bolts.
With the protection of the deck, these dozen or so Zhou Family thugs became a lot bolder. They no longer had to worry about being shot by the crossbow bolts. They sped up and rushed up. Many crossbow bolts continuously hit the deck, but they couldn't be hurt at all.
Using the deck as a shield was a very good idea. The upright deck was very conspicuous. The fishing boats chasing behind also learned this method. They dismantled the deck at the stern and placed it at the bow of the ship to form a large shield.
Very quickly, all the fishing boats adopted this method. As a result, the effect of the pirates shooting at random with their crossbows was greatly reduced. Originally, shooting a few hundred crossbow bolts could still cause some casualties, but after the deck was erected, it was almost impossible to cause any damage to the Zhou family's hired thugs who were chasing after them.
The threat of the crossbow was greatly reduced. The fishing boats chasing behind naturally became bolder and their speed increased again.
"Boss, they are using the deck as a shield. Our crossbow bolts can't stop them. They are about to catch up. What should we do?"
"Boss, our ship is too slow. If I had known, I wouldn't have been so greedy. It would have been enough to just steal a few boxes of treasure. Now, we are going to die here."
"Bullsh * t. What were you doing earlier? Now you want to die? Why didn't you say so earlier?"
"Who knew that this merchant ship would be so difficult to sail? It's too slow. The merchant ships we usually see aren't this slow!"
"Isn't it simple? We don't have enough manpower. Look at the oarsmen below. We can only provide half of them. The merchant ship lacks half of the power. It would be strange if it could move fast."
"Boss, we can't just sit here and wait for death! We can't die here! "
"Boss, what do you say? We will do it."
The pirate leader frowned and thought for a moment. He said, "Stop talking. You guys go to the cabin and take out those empty wooden boxes. Also, take out a dozen boxes of treasure. Go quickly."
Although the pirates didn't know what the leader wanted to do, they still did as they were told. Soon, a large pile of empty wooden boxes and a dozen boxes of treasure were brought to the deck at the stern of the ship.
"Brothers, put a certain amount of treasure in each wooden box. Then, throw the wooden boxes into the sea together. I want to see if these guys are chasing after the treasure or chasing after us."
The pirate leader said.
Obviously, at this moment, the pirate leader was in a hurry. He came up with this idea. He wanted to throw the treasure on the ship into the sea and let it drift around. If the Zhou Family continued to force him, he didn't mind throwing all the treasure into the sea. In this way, even if the Zhou Family thugs could recapture the merchant ship, they wouldn't be able to get the original treasure on the ship. At that time, they would still be punished by the head of the Zhou Family. Now, these treasures were equivalent to hostages in the hands of the pirates. As long as the Zhou Family thugs behind them continued to force them, they would throw the treasure into the sea and let the Zhou Family's three years of accumulation go down the drain.
There were many treasures in these wooden boxes. The amount in each box was different, but the treasure in each box was enough for an ordinary person's lifetime income.
The pirates kept throwing boxes behind them. Some of these boxes drifted far away, some sank to the bottom of the sea, and some drifted to the side of the fishing boat that was chasing them. The Zhou Family thugs who were chasing them fished them up.
"There's only a small half of the box. It seems that more than half of it has sunk to the bottom of the sea. What are these damn people doing? Do they want to fight to the death with us?"
The Zhou Family thugs were furious when they saw the small half of the treasure in the wooden box.
Although there was only a small half of the treasure in this box, because the box was not locked and the pirates couldn't see clearly when they threw it, they naturally thought that this box was full of treasure. The reason there was still a small half of it left was because most of it had sunk to the bottom of the sea and only a small amount was left in the wooden box. How could they not be shocked?
Their mission was to take back the merchant ship, but if all the treasure on the merchant ship was thrown into the sea, then what was the point of taking back an empty shell?
Looking at the pirates in the distance constantly throwing boxes into the sea, the Zhou Family thugs were furious. These boxes would undoubtedly drift with the waves and even sink to the bottom of the sea. Each box contained a large amount of treasure. These losses were too great. They couldn't explain to the head of the Zhou Family.
"What should we do? If we don't collect these floating boxes as soon as possible, they will completely float away."
Why don't we split up? One group will continue to chase the merchant ship, and the other group will collect these thrown boxes.
"Okay, let's split into five ships and continue to chase the merchant ship. The rest will collect the wooden boxes on the sea. We must collect all the wooden boxes. Not a single one can be left behind."
"Don't worry, leave it to us to collect the boxes. Be careful."
The group of Zhou Family thugs discussed. Some of the thugs continued to chase the merchant ship, while the timid Zhou Family servants were responsible for chasing the wooden boxes that fell into the sea.
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