Chapter 220: Attacking the Stronghold
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
The rain and wind started to recede along with the raging tides. The pirate boats were extremely familiar with the surrounding seas, and arrived at their destination before long since the rain had subsided. The minute their boats met, the second leader jumped off his boat and onto the adjacent boat without hesitation. "Third Leader, how are you?"
"Second Brother, you’ve finally arrived. You couldn’t have known, but I almost died." The third leader’s expression was gloomy and pale.
Hearing this, the second leader turned towards the man beside him, "Where’s the doctor? Get him to treat my Third Brother’s injuries now."
"Coming!" Yet another doctor stepped forward to inspect his wounds.
"Third Brother, what’s the current situation? Where are the officials and their soldiers?" The second leader asked impatiently.
"Second Brother, I only have eight boats left. All the others have perished." The third leader sighed. "As for the officials and their soldiers, they engaged in a fierce battle with us. I’m sure they suffered heavy casualties as well. They did the same thing in the first battle, they fled right after suffering losses."
The second leader felt like something wasn’t quite right. His name was Wan Ji and he was slightly younger than thirty years of age. He had a tall and slender frame, with thin eyebrows and a sharp gaze. Between the three brothers, he was the smartest. He then spoke, "Third Brother, do not lie to your own brother. Quick tell me everything in detail."
"It doesn’t matter if we were to lose some men. What’s more important is that we mustn’t ruin the grand plan."
The third leader patted his thigh in embarrassment, as a signal for everyone else to leave the room. He then proceeded to tell the second leader everything in detail. The more Wan Ji heard, the more he felt something wasn’t quite right. He stood up, his face turned ashen as he spoke, "Quick, men, contact our island for me."
Discussion Room
Fang Zhi walked in as he received the news. The first thing he said was, "How’s Third Brother?"
Fang Ji’s expression was one of anxiety as he replied, "Big Brother, I’ve already retrieved Third Brother."
"Big Brother, let’s talk about this matter a bit later. There aren’t many people left on Golden Island and I suspect the officials and their soldiers are headed there now!"
"What?" Fang Zhi was clearly alarmed and was about to speak.
"Leader, this is bad. We realized that the soldiers are about 1.5km away from us." Someone came in and shouted.
"What? Set up the defensive perimeter, quick set it up now. Second Brother, come back as soon as possible." Fang Zhi shouted out his orders and told the Daoist, "Are your protective spells from the last time still effective?
"The last protective spell will only be effective with everyone around. Now we don’t even have two Daoists. Even if we were to activate the spell once again, it wouldn’t be as strong as the last time." The Daoist’s face turned pale as well. Apart from the normal civilian population on the island, there were less than three hundred fighting men. This was a critical juncture.
"Not good, we don’t have much time. The enemy has already begun mounting their attack." Another person ran into the hall and fell on his knees as he reported this news.
"Group up atop the stronghold. We shall use the height advantage to defend this place." Fang Zhi ordered through gritted teeth. The most important thing at this point would be to gather everyone together. If they were to remain divided, all of them would be slaughtered in a short span of time.
He then turned to the Daoist and spoke, "There’s no time to activate the spells anymore. From what I remember, we still have the traps and the explosive powders. Let’s blow them up once we see the enemy."
The Daoist seemed somewhat dissatisfied. All these should be used against Pei Zi Yun, for it would be a waste to use these on mere foot soldiers. However, he realized that they didn’t have much firepower at this point as well. He then sighed, "Fine."
The rain gradually receded as Pei Zi Yun sat on the boat and glanced at the island. He then laughed and spoke to the people on his left and right, "What a beautiful island."
He was clearly moved by the sight he saw. This island was huge, way bigger than the sentry island. Living on the sentry island would mean its inhabitants were always in need of more space. It was different on Golden Island, however.
Seeing that the soldiers had finished their meals which comprised of rice, dry grains, and salted meat.
Dried grains were grains which were cooked in water before leaving them out to dry in the sun. After multiple hours being sunned, it would be hardened and was consumed by submerging it in water. Salted meats were rations that had long shelf lives and were thus not the most appetizing, but were nourishing all the same. At this point an order was shouted out, "Captain Cai, kill them all!"
"Yes!" Cai Yuan Zhen acknowledged.
Horns were blared as warships started to dock on the shores. The sound of footsteps across the decks started increasing in intensity. Before long, there was a report, "There’s no resistance from the enemy. They’ve retreated to the top of their stronghold."
"Charge onwards!"
From a distance away, the random sounds of soldiers as they prepared for battle could be heard. Pei Zi Yun and Chen Pu took an elevated ground in order to see what was happening. They then saw a small group of pirates trying to take on the oncoming horde of soldiers. Pei Zi Yun then smiled, "Looks like the pirates still refuse to surrender."
Just as he smiled, there was a loud crash like the sound of thunder but there were consecutive booms all around. Soon after, bright rays of light flashed in the sky. When they looked across the battlefield, it seemed like someone’s house had caught fire. Chen Pu then asked, "What’s happening? What’s happening?"
Pei Zi Yun was extremely sensitive to such noises, and paused in shock as well, "Ask around and find out what’s happened."
Before long, a section leader returned, "Your Excellency Pei, these pirates are scattered across the roads leading up to the mountain. Some of them had planted explosives which had been detonated. Several men were wounded and some died."
These words didn’t mean anything to the section leader, for deaths were common occurrences in war. However, Pei Zi Yun seemed to be thrown into a state of shock. In the dark, it was hard to read his facial expressions. He mumbled to himself for some time before speaking. "Let’s take a look."
Since this island was much longer than it was broad, it didn’t take them much time to reach their destination. Pei Zi Yun had a dozen soldiers along with him. Each one of them had plate armor on, along with their helmets. Waves of killing intent emanated from the bunch of them.
When they walked up, Pei Zi Yun inhaled a breath of fresh air where he saw a large crater in the ground. There were mangled corpses scattered all around.
"How many explosives were buried here?" Chen Pu asked in surprise. It was quite common for explosives to do this type of damage.
Pei Zi Yun touched the ground and felt around, his face turned ashen. "There are traces of Dao arts in this area. These weren’t targeted at the foot soldiers. It was targeted at me."
"If I were to rush in first and not be careful, even if I was extremely powerful, I would’ve been blown to pieces."
"Although such explosives won’t do much to someone who’s a Yin Master at the third or fourth stage. The third and fourth stages allowed the Yin Master to view reality from a different plane. He would be able to see different types of auras emitted from everything, and would be able to see physically concealed explosives without an issue."
"Unless the explosives were concealed by Dao arts. If not, physically hidden explosives would emit a sort of killing aura, which would be visible to the Yin Masters of the third or fourth stage. Once they got near, they would be able to sense it and even see it."
"Even if that were the case, it was still scary. Thankfully he had soldiers to lead the way. Even if some were to perish that was fine. A single Daoist cannot be replaced by ten thousand soldiers."
If an extremely skilled fighter were to be alone, he wouldn’t stand a chance against a great number of soldiers. There no skilled fighters in the present dynasty. In the previous dynasty, however, there was an extremely proficient fighter who killed an official. Thus, the Imperial Court dispatched thousands of soldiers to pursue him. Since he was constantly on the run, he had to always be alert. Regardless of how skillful he was, he wouldn’t be able to take such torment. At last, he died at the hands of a county bailiff after being apprehended.
To add on, the Imperial Court is rich beyond measure and owns the entire world. They can mobilize ten thousand people with just a snap of their fingers. No matter how strong a fighter was, or how powerful a Daoist was, as long as they were in the crosshairs of the Imperial Court, they were doomed. Even if they were to escape once, or twice, or a thousand times, all it took was for one unsuccessful escape and they would be taken down.
Likewise, the Imperial Court could fail a thousand times. All they needed was a single victory, and they would win. That was the difference between the might of the Imperial Court against a Daoist or a fighter.
At this point, he glanced down at the crater caused by the explosion and was filled with fear. All it took was for one explosion to ruin him, but there were thousands of soldiers.
Feeling regretful and a tinge of self-preservation, he stepped forward and ordered, "Surround the enemy in the stronghold!"
Instantly, the soldiers obeyed his command.
Soldiers started to gather around the stronghold and remained still. A loud rumbling sound could be heard from beyond the walls. The pirates were jumping up and down the walls, trying to prepare themselves for the assault. Pei Zi Yun watched on coldly, trying to think of his next move.
At this point, Cai Yuan Zhen stepped forward, his face revealed an expression of fierceness but was still somewhat relaxed. He then pointed and spoke, "It seems like the pirates didn’t expect us to attack. It’s not like their stronghold was a secret anyway."
"They’re not equipped with boulders or hot oil to pour down. They only have several bows and arrows to use against us."
Pei Zi Yun nodded his head. Bows were easily damaged when they came into contact with water. Apart from the soldiers who had to religiously clean and maintain their bows, these pirates would never be able to upkeep their bows over extended durations.
"It’s just that based on my observations, there are two groups of people which don't seem right." Cai Yuan Zhen looked up towards the eastern wall and spoke, "Take a look your Excellency, this group of people seem to be acting differently and aren’t like normal pirates."
"The people on the western end are clearly pirates. Just by looking at them, you can tell from the way they behaved."
"It could be Ji Bei Hou and the true Japanese pirates." Pei Zi Yun thought to himself before asking, "Can we attack them successfully?"
"There aren’t many people from both groups combined. They can’t have more than a hundred men. We can take them down by force." Cai Yuan Zhen replied.
"Let’s coax them into surrendering. If they refuse, we shall attack."
"Yes!"
Within a second, a burly soldier stepped forward before he sprinted towards the walls, and only stopped about a hundred steps away. He then shouted out, "Listen up. I represent the Imperial Court and I was sent by his Excellency Pei and Captain Cai. I am here to inform you, that you are to surrender immediately. Doing so will exempt you from death. If you dare to resist, none of you will be spared."
At this point, an arrow soared through the sky and fell. Although it didn’t hit the soldier, it showed their response. Pei Zi Yun laughed coldly, "Looks like they won’t shed tears until they’re next to the coffin. Kill your way in. Spare no lives."
"Yes!" Captain Cai acknowledged as he saluted.
Instantly, soldiers forming the frontline took up spears and lances in one hand. In the other, they held wooden shields and lifted them over their heads. The archers followed close behind. As they inched nearer, they could hear the sound of arrows being shot at them. However, these arrows proved to be useless as they landed on the wooden shields, failing to penetrate it. Soon after, the soldiers gave their own commands, "Fire!"
The enemy continued to fire arrows. For a second, the sound of bows tightening and loosening, along with the whooshing of arrows filled the air. Some of them aimed at the people atop the walls, while the others just shot high up into the sky.
In actual fact, the arrows which were shot high up into the sky were the deadliest. The arrows climbed with a high arc before falling onto the soldiers behind the wall, causing shrieks of pain to ring out.
There were several pirates who didn’t bother protecting themselves and were shot by these arrows. One of them fell to the ground and rolled around, while he screamed. Blood seeped out from the wound and stained the ground red.
"Everyone shoot lobbing arrow shots!" Seeing that they were already near the wall, Cai Yuan Zhen ordered. Shooting straight up would mean there was a chance of arrows killing their own soldiers. They thus had to angle their bows in order to lob arrows over the wall and kill their enemies.
For several moments the air was filled with arrows. Even Pei Zi Yun could hear the arrows as they whizzed through the air. There were continuous screams of pain. Before long, the soldiers tossed their bows aside as they started climbing up the wall.
Pei Zi Yun couldn’t help but ask, "Where did they get wooden shields and ladders from?"
"The wooden shields were planks removed from their warships. Each warship had a huge number of wooden planks in case a cavity had formed in the ship, so they would be able to patch it. The ladders were those used to cross from the deck of the ship onto other ships." Cai Yuan Zhen replied before shouting out, "Charge in! Charge in!"
A group of soldiers charged up the wall in their thick plates of armor. However, since their training in such heavy armor was limited, most of them couldn’t make it and fell all the way down.
From some distance away, Pei Zi Yun watched on as sixty to seventy soldiers started forming strategies. These were the more seasoned and experienced soldiers. They broke up into groups of fives and started covering each other while one person was trying to scale the wall. Before long, there were numerous of people climbing the wall. A loud boom rang out abruptly, as a skirmish broke out after several soldiers managed to climb over. Before long, an intense fight broke out at the top of the wall.
Having been taunted and agitated, the pirates shouted as they clashed head-on with the soldiers. The killing was intense and picked up over time. In the blink of an eye, it was an immense battle, with blood spilled everywhere.