Looking at the three merchant ships in front of them fleeing in different directions, Black Panther and the pirates under his command were furious. If the fat meat in their mouths fell off, where would they put their face? If word got out, wouldn't they be ridiculed? The consequence of the pirates' anger was to kill. They had to kill the disobedient merchant crew to appease the anger in their hearts.
At this time, they were only 300 meters away from the nearest merchant ship. For sailing at sea, 300 meters was a very close distance. The giant crossbows equipped on the pirate's armed fast ships could completely hit a target 300 meters away, causing a certain amount of damage to the target.
Under the joint attack of the pirates' two armed fast ships, the last merchant ship was already full of scars. Whether it was the hull or the sails, they were shot in many places. Several crew members were even killed by the crossbow bolts. The ship also suffered a certain degree of damage.
In order to get rid of the pirates' pursuit as soon as possible, the three merchant ships tried to sail with the wind as much as possible. At least they could use the power of the sails to increase the speed of the ship. The merchant ship was larger and carried more goods, but the sails of the merchant ship were also very large. When the wind was with them, they could still move at a good speed with the help of the huge sails. But if they were going against the wind, the speed of the ship would be greatly limited. Tailwind mainly relied on the power of the sails, while tailwind relied on the sailors' oars. The merchant ship was so big that even if there were twice as many oarsmen, it would still not be able to outrun the pirates' armed fast ships.
It was only a matter of time before they were caught. At this time, in order to avoid the pursuit of the pirates, although the three merchant ships fled in different directions, they were all slightly tailwind. The purpose was to use the power of the sails to allow the merchant ships to escape faster and avoid the pursuit of the pirates. For the use of the sails, as long as there was an angle, it was enough. Almost half of the sails could be tailwind and the other half could be headwind. Therefore, although the three merchant ships fled in different directions, they were all tailwind. It was just that the angle of their sails was not the same, in order to maximize the power of the sails and allow the ship to run faster.
The crew members who were shot dead were shot by the pirates' giant crossbows when they were adjusting the sails on the deck. At the same time, part of the sails were also shot by the giant crossbows, causing some damage. The more damage the sails were, the less they could use the wind, and the more the speed of the ship would be affected. Therefore, the focus of the pirates' attack was always the sails. As long as the sails of the merchant ships were damaged to the point where they could not be used, they could catch up with the merchant ships in front faster.
"Quick, gather all the giant crossbows and destroy the sails of the merchant ships. We have to be quick. We have to take down one of the merchant ships as soon as possible. Only then can we split up and chase the remaining two merchant ships. We can't let any of them escape."
The confidant next to the Black Panther shouted loudly.
Every time the pirates went out, they would carry a large number of giant crossbows, so there was no need to worry about the number of crossbows. They would not run out quickly. They even carried some special crossbows that could quickly destroy the sails of the merchant ships.
"Your Majesty, it seems that these people have eaten bear's heart and leopard's guts. They still don't want to stop. We can only use the fire crossbows."
A confidant next to the Black Panther said.
At this time, the Black Panther was also very angry. He nodded and said: "Good, immediately use the fire crossbows and completely burn the sails of the merchant ships to ashes. Let's see if they can still run away."
Soon, the pirates took out the giant crossbow bolts that were tied to the front. They first ignited the bolts and then quickly fired the bolts.
The two pirate ships immediately began to prepare and fired dozens of fire crossbow bolts. Many of the bolts hit the target and caused the sails of the merchant ships to burn fiercely.
The crew who were operating the merchant ships were suddenly frightened. They still had a chance to escape with the huge sails, but now the sails were burned. The speed of the ship would soon be greatly reduced, and this would inevitably cause very serious consequences. That is, the pirates would soon catch up.
"The sails are burned, the speed of the ship is decreasing, we can't escape."
"What should we do? The pirates will catch up soon."
The crew on the merchant ships were very nervous and very scared.
In the distance, the merchants and crew on the other two merchant ships who had already escaped for some distance were also very scared. As long as one merchant ship was captured, the pirates would be able to free up and chase the remaining two. The sooner the first merchant ship was captured, the smaller their chances of escaping. They all hoped that the last merchant ship could hold on for a while and buy them some time to escape. But unexpectedly, the sails of the last merchant ship were destroyed so quickly. As a result, their chances of escaping were naturally very slim. This made them very discouraged and helpless.
Seeing that the sails of the merchant ships were burned, the Black Panther finally felt a lot better. However, this was not enough to calm his anger. The merchants and crew on the merchant ships made him spend so much energy. He was naturally very angry. If he didn't kill a few people to vent his anger, he would not be able to feel completely at ease.
Among all these pirates, the Black Panther had the worst temper. He also had the most lives on his shoulders. As long as he was unhappy, he would dare to kill.
"The merchant ships have greatly reduced their speed, catch up."
The Black Panther said excitedly.
The two pirate armed clippers immediately sped up and rushed to the last merchant ship. They quickly sandwiched the merchant ship on both sides. Then, the pirates on the two clippers climbed onto the merchant ship together and prepared to capture it.
The Black Panther also personally boarded the last merchant ship and ordered the pirates under his command to not show mercy and to drag all the living people on the ship over for punishment.
"I told you not to escape, didn't you hear me? How dare you! "
The Black Panther's confidant next to him clamored.
"Your Majesty, what should we do with them?"
The confidant asked.
The Black Panther looked at the dozens of captured crew members and several merchants who were escorting the ship and said, "Throw these people into the sea to feed the fish. The rest will be divided into two groups and be responsible for rowing our clippers. Continue to chase the remaining two merchant ships. If they refuse to help, throw them directly into the sea to feed the fish."
Obviously, the Black Panther was very shrewd. At this time, after capturing the last merchant ship, the pirates must leave some people to guard it. This will inevitably weaken the pirates' manpower and slow down their rowing speed. It will be more difficult to continue to chase the remaining two merchant ships. At this time, this problem can be solved by putting the captured crew members on the pirate ships to row. Moreover, there were 40 captured crew members, and the pirates only needed to leave 20 people on the captured merchant ships. In this way, the two pirate armed clippers will have more manpower and may be able to move faster.
"Your Majesty, we are rich, we are rich. This ship is full of good things. It's worth a lot."
A confidant said excitedly after checking the cargo in the cabin.
"What are these good things? You are so happy."
The Black Panther was also very happy when he heard this. He hurriedly went to the warehouse below to check. Although there were still two merchant ships that had not been captured, it did not matter in a short period of time.
"Your Majesty, this ship is full of silk goods. They are all high-end goods. There are a lot of them. They can be exchanged for a lot of money."
"Your Majesty, this is thin silk from Hangzhou. This is Sichuan brocade. This is Heavenly Silk. These are all valuable goods."
"Your Majesty, there is another floor below. It is full of well-made porcelain. They are all produced by the big official kilns. They look very beautiful."
"Your Majesty, we also found a lot of gold and copper coins. There are hundreds of gold and copper coins, thousands of kilograms. This ship alone is enough to make us rich. I'm afraid that the other two ships will also have the same amount of good stuff."
A group of pirates under his command said excitedly.
When the Black Panther heard this, his eyes were full of greed. He hurriedly said, "Hurry up and continue to chase the remaining two merchant ships. We must capture all three ships. Don't waste time. Hurry up and chase them."
After he finished speaking, he jumped onto his own armed clipper ship and began to chase after the remaining two merchant ships. The crew members arranged on the two armed clipper ships were forced to do their best to help the pirates. If they didn't do their best, the pirates would immediately whip them or even threaten to throw them into the sea to feed the fish. For this reason, the captive crew members had no choice but to work hard for the pirates. They had no other choice but to survive first.
After seeing the huge amount of wealth on the first merchant ship, these pirates seemed to have been injected with chicken blood. They desperately chased after the remaining two merchant ships, preparing to take down all three merchant ships. Only by taking down all three merchant ships would they be able to obtain all the benefits. With such a large amount of wealth, it would be enough for the pirates to eat and drink for many years. Even if they wanted to expand their strength, as long as they had money, nothing would be a problem.
The merchant ship was escaping at the fastest speed. The sails were adjusted to the best angle. All the crew members entered the room where the oars were being shaken. Even the merchants who were holding the ship began to work hard to increase the speed of the ship as much as possible.
However, their efforts were obviously in vain. The pirate armed clipper ship's speed was fully considered when it was designed. It could even be said that the pirate armed clipper ship's greatest advantage was its speed. In order to increase the ship's speed, not only were the sails designed to be larger, but the number of oars was also specially designed. There were two rows of oars designed. The weight of the ship was also strictly limited. When the pirates robbed, there weren't too many items on the ship. It was a light ship, so the ship's speed could be maximized to increase the success rate of the robbery.
The speed of the pirate ship was very fast. The merchants and crew members on the two merchant ships that had fled more than ten miles away looked at the pirate ship approaching step by step. Their hearts were filled with despair. They had tried their best to escape. If they still could not escape, then they really had no other way. Their weapons were very weak. If the pirates only had 30 or 50 people, they might be able to fight. But the number of pirates was obviously more than that number. As a result, they did not have the strength to fight back. Pirates had to be fierce. These merchants did not have much fighting power. The number of bodyguards they hired was too small. Even if they mobilized the crew temporarily, the power of a ship was very limited. The power of a ship was far from enough to fight against 30 pirates. Once the pirates caught up with them, what awaited them would be the fate of being killed. Even if they surrendered, they might not be allowed. After all, their previous behavior of escaping had angered the pirates. It was very reasonable for the pirates to kill them in a fit of anger. Pirates were a very cruel group of people. It was impossible to expect them to change their nature.
"How can these damn pirates be so fast? Can they still speed up?"
A merchant said impatiently.
"This is already the fastest speed. The pirate ship is light and there is no cargo on it. Our ship is filled with a lot of cargo. Naturally, it will be slower."
Another merchant said.
"Then can we throw away all the unimportant things to reduce the weight of the ship?"
The first merchant said.
The latter merchant sighed and said, "Most of our ship is cargo. If we throw away these cargo, we might be able to escape. But these are all our family assets. If we throw them all away, then why did we escape before? We can just surrender and give them to the pirates."
"Isn't there a lot of useless food and water on the ship? Throw them all away! If we escape, we will go to the port to resupply. We only need to leave two days' worth of water and two days' worth of food. The rest will be thrown away. "
"Someone needs to throw away these things. Now all of us are rowing. If we throw away the food, there will be fewer people rowing. The speed of the ship will still slow down. Let's pray! Pray that we can meet the soldiers or that the pirates' ship leaks and sinks. Only then can we really get out of this predicament. "
"Isn't this whimsical? It's not realistic at all. Forget it, don't think about it. If the heavens want our Wang family to die, we can only accept it."
The merchant ship tried its best to escape, and the pirate ship also tried its best to chase. They were both trying their best. However, the pirate ship was designed to pursue speed first, while the merchant ship was designed to be able to carry more cargo. This way, the transportation cost per unit of goods could be reduced. Because the pursuit was different, the performance of the products built would also be different. Even if the merchant ship tried its best and took all possible measures, it would not be able to outrun the pirates' armed fast ships. After all, when the pirates built the fast ships, they had fully considered the various escape methods of the merchant ship and made targeted preparations. Therefore, as long as the merchant ship was targeted by the pirates, it would not be able to escape.
"Your Majesty, it's less than a mile away. Our giant crossbows can barely reach the merchant ship in front. Should we use the fire crossbows to attack?"
A confidant looked at the Black Panther and asked.
The Black Panther shook his head and said, "It's still too far. We'll use the fire crossbows when we're 300 meters away. That way, we'll have a higher chance of success."
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