Iron Powder and Spellcaster

Captain Gold was holding the scimitar on his waist and looking at the three-masted clipper in the distance from the bow.

The fat captain of the Skua said that on the inland sea, "a merchant ship with evil thoughts is a pirate, and a pirate who runs the ship honestly is a merchant ship." But this time he was wrong. Because robbery is not Captain Gold's hobby, "Good Luck" Gold is a full-time pirate on the inland sea, specializing in the promising industry of maritime robbery.

"Good Luck" Gold got this nickname because Lady Luck always smiled at him.

Many pirate ships would always fail and be captured by the Alliance Navy, but he could escape every time. Encountering hard-bodied prey, all the pirates who survived a bloody battle were injured, but he was the only one who remained unscathed every time.

Sailors say: bullets go around good luck gold. Rumors also spread quietly in the cabin: Good Luck Gold made a deal with the devil, and evil black magic protected him.

But no matter what, Gold's luck has always been excellent. He even named his ship "Good Luck".

Just like this time, if the wind hadn't stopped, it would have been impossible for a galley like the Good Luck to catch up with the three-masted clipper in front. But the wind just stopped, so no matter how many sails the ship had, it would only allow the Good Luck to fish.

Gold saw that after he raised the black and red flag, the small boat in front had lowered the navy ensign and raised the white flag.

Being able to frighten the opponent into surrendering so easily was largely due to the cannon placed on the bow of the Good Luck. This large-caliber stone cannon was Captain Gold's treasure. It was only by chance and at a huge cost that he got this cannon.

No one on the Good Luck knows how to use this cannon, but fortunately, there is no need for this cannon in actual combat. As long as you load it with gunpowder and stone bullets and fire it, when you hear the sound of the cannon, even the toughest prey will surrender obediently.

A large-caliber stone cannon can dispel any merchant ship's fantasy of boarding battle.

The merchant ship on the opposite side hoisted the Veneta naval flag, but how about being frightened by the artillery and making your knees weak? As for the naval flag, Gold didn't care.

He knows the details of the navies of the alliance countries, and there are many merchant ships listed in the navy. The weaker the merchant ships are and the less capable they are of protecting themselves, the more they like to register with the navies of various countries, pay some protection fees, and change to another naval flag.

A naval flag might scare off an armed merchant ship with nefarious intentions, but not Good Luck Gold.

On the inland sea, there are ships coming and going. How can it be that if you hang a Veneta naval flag, I won't dare to snatch it? Besides, in this vast sea, if I rob you, will the Veneta Navy know? Even if the Veneta Navy knew, what could they do to me?

Besides, this time, Good Luck Gold came for the naval flag. Three masts, light ships, under the name of Veneta Navy, appeared here at this time, and all kinds of intelligence were confirmed. Yes, it’s this ship!

Seeing that the other party had raised the white flag and lowered the sails to surrender, Captain Gold's mouth was almost cracked to his ears, and his heart was surging: "I've done it! I've done it this time!"

Gold couldn't wait to board the ship in front. The speed of the Good Luck seemed to him like a turtle crawling. The wealth so close at hand made him scratch his head. He called to his first mate: "Do the paddlers want to die? No effort? Rowing so slowly? Let them row harder!"

The first mate heard what Gold said, picked up the whip and walked down to the open deck, and began to whip the poor oarsmen on the lower deck.

Like the Skua, the Good Fortune had two decks, but both of the Good Fortune's decks were above the waterline.

In fact, instead of saying that a flat-bottomed bathhouse like the Good Luck had two decks, it would be better to say that the Good Luck was based on a single-deck flat-bottomed boat with an illegally built building that ran through the front and rear to serve as an open-air deck.

The oarsmen of the Good Luck were arranged on the second deck. One of their feet was fixed to the edge of the oar by an iron chain. They didn't even have room to turn, so they had to paddle.

Oarsmen are not pirates on the Good Luck, and no free man would want to be an oarsman. The oarsmen were sailors from the merchant ships that were robbed by Good Luck Gold.

The cargo was robbed, the ship sold, and the sailors sold part of it, keeping part to row on the Good Luck.

The oarsman was fixed with iron tools, and he ate, drank, and slept next to the oar. Even if the pirates go ashore to rest, the rowers will not be let go.

I can't eat well, sleep well, and have a lot of work pressure. A strong man would not be able to survive such an environment for long.

Fortunately, there are always new victims coming in. The rowers are replaceable parts on the Good Luck, and they need to be replaced every once in a while.

For oarsmen, there are only two options: die beside the oars, or find a way to become a pirate.

There are ten rows of oars on the Good Luck, each with two oarsmen, for a total of forty oarsmen. Forty oarsmen, plus more than fifty pirates, are the entire crew of the Good Luck.

The crew of the Little Hundred was obviously too bloated for a small ship like the Good Luck. Therefore, the self-sustainability of the Good Luck is very poor. Every time it goes to sea for a day or two, it has to dock again for supplies and rest.

In an ordinary galley, the sailor also serves as the oarsman. But on the Good Luck, there were free humanoid animals, so the pirates were naturally unwilling to serve as rowers anymore. They wanted to focus on possible hand-to-hand combat.

The Good Luck was only a few hulls away from the Skua, and Captain Gold commanded the Good Luck to circle around the Skua in a demonstrative manner.

Not only to deter the enemy, Captain Gold also cautiously wanted to take a closer look at the small ship:

The fattest guy must be the captain. There is no way a sailor has so much meat. He also wears the best clothes. This guy was standing at the bow of the boat helplessly, wiping his sweat away.

Captain Gold laughed loudly. The fat man could not be sold. He must stay on the Good Luck and paddle until he died.

The remaining seven or eight people on the deck had typical sailor looks, their clothes were shabby, and their exposed skin was darkened and chapped by the sun. Two years ago, Good Luck Gold was the same hard-luck sailor, but now he's a hunter.

There must be more than just these sailors on this ship. There must be some sailors hiding in dark corners of the ship praying that they can escape. Don't worry, you can find them all slowly. In the vast sea, no one can escape.

The Good Luck put away the oars on the side of the Skua, and the pirates threw the iron hooks with ropes towards the Skua, and screamed wantonly to intimidate the sailors on the Skua.

The iron hook bit the side of the Skua, and the distance between the two ships was gradually shortened. Four gangplanks with iron hooks stretched out to the Skua and hung firmly on the hull.

Done! This kind of springboard has iron hooks on both sides. Once hooked, it is extremely difficult to loosen. The Skua is now firmly connected to the Good Luck by this gangplank, and now even the fat captain regrets and cannot escape.

A dozen impatient pirates rushed onto the deck of the Skua without waiting for Gold's order, which greatly annoyed Good Luck Gold.

The system of pirates in the inland sea is very democratic to a certain extent. The captain has no privileges except a small private room. If not, he will be voted off the ship by the sailors.

The rule of robbery is that all seizures must be divided equally, but the pirate who storms the prey ship first will definitely get more scattered silver coins.

So every time the gangplank was set up, the pirates would swarm up in a hurry, and Gold couldn't restrain them. If he had used harsh methods, the pirates would have had his throat cut and "thrown off the ship" that night.

"The people's hearts are too scattered, and it's hard to lead the team." Gold shook his head and sighed, and also walked towards the Skua.

The Skua greeted Good Luck Gold with a shrill whistle. The Skua tore off its sheepskin disguise, and the fat sheep in the pirates' eyes revealed its fangs and claws. A large group of young people armed with sharp weapons and dressed in military uniforms rushed out from the forecastle, stern, and cabins of the Skua.

------Dividing line------

Major General Leighton slammed the whistle, fulfilling his promise of being "the first to jump into a gang".

The major general roared angrily: "Follow me!" Then he jumped directly from the stern of the ship and hit the open deck of the Good Luck. When this strong man landed, the whole ship of the Good Luck even shook.

Warrant officers mostly use one-handed weapons with improvised small shields made of wooden boards, but the major general has his own sword in his left hand and a sailor's scimitar in his right hand.

After landing, he struck the pirate in front of him with a heavy blow on the neck. This brutal strike cut off half of the neck diagonally, and the curved front end of the scimitar caused two more blows when it was withdrawn. times of damage.

The major general who withdrew his scimitar no longer cared about the poor man whose neck had been cut in half. With blood all over his body, he ferociously continued to kill the remaining pirates who had not yet recovered.

Andre and several warrant officers were infected by the Major General's ferocious aura, and they also followed the Major General and jumped onto the deck of the Good Luck with a roar.

Major Moritz sighed helplessly, and jumped off the forecastle with his sword in hand.

The major's original plan was to first ambush and eliminate the pirates who boarded the ship, then use rotary cannons and muskets to weaken the pirates remaining on the enemy ship, and finally join forces to eliminate the remaining enemies.

But the big leader jumped directly into the gang, and he had no choice but to follow suit.

------Dividing line------

On the top floor of the stern, Winters and two artillery lieutenants worked together to mount the rotary gun on the side of the ship. The three of them had been lying on the board of the boat, hiding their bodies with barrels and sacks.

The reason why the rotary gun is called a rotary gun is because it is mounted on a bracket and can rotate up, down, left, and right to shoot.

Under the iron frame is an iron rod. There are holes drilled on the side of the ship when the ship was built. By inserting the iron rod into the hole, the rotating cannon can be mounted on the side of the ship.

The Skua has lower freeboard than the Good Luck, which is a disadvantage. But don't forget, the Skua still has a ship building.

In a battle on the water, whoever has the taller ship has the advantage. For example, the top floor of the stern of the Skua overlooks the open deck of the Good Luck and has a panoramic view.

As the saying goes, "Hit the high and the low, the stupid X." The Skua's long-range firepower is in a high position, so it can shoot at the Good Luck calmly.

After setting up the cannon, an artillery warrant officer held the tail of the gun and controlled the cannon to aim at the enemy. The other artillery warrant officer quickly grabbed a blunderbuss and stuffed it into the tail compartment of the rotary cannon, and then drove in a piece of wood. The wedge is plugged tightly into the gun. Then gunpowder was poured into the ignition port.

While the two artillery warrant officers were busy, Winters was only responsible for one thing: ensuring that the match did not go out.

There was no real match rope soaked in salt on the ship, so the hemp rope could only be used as match rope by hammering it into pieces. The problem is that something like hemp rope burns very quickly when it is held upside down, but it burns out when it is upright.

Winters was now like Prometheus, the fire thief, blowing and adjusting the angle, carefully protecting the small flame in his hand.

"Okay! Light the fire quickly!" the loader warrant officer urged repeatedly.

There was no ignition rod, so Winters used his hand to light the gunpowder with a match rope. He didn't know when to withdraw his hand. When the gas pushed the lead, the gunpowder sprayed out from the ignition port. There were a few more burns on his hands, but Winters gritted his teeth and said nothing.

"Boom!" Accompanied by irritating smoke and a loud noise, six or seven lead bullets shot out from the rotating muzzle and hit the pirates on the Good Luck. The battle was so chaotic that it was difficult to see how many pirates had been shot. Anyway, some people were crying for their fathers and mothers.

The two artillery warrant officers seemed dissatisfied with the results of the bombardment.

The artillery of this era did not have such a thing as a depression angle, because the shell was smaller than the diameter of the barrel. As soon as the artillery lowered its head, the shell rolled directly out.

In a hurry, they couldn't find matching artillery shells, so the warrant officers used their guns as cannonballs. Wrap it in a sack to prevent the lead from falling out when the muzzle is pointed downward.

But the problem is that the lead is smaller than the cannonball after all, and has poor air-holding properties. The gunpowder gas will spray out from the gap between the lead. For this reason, artillerymen must add wooden supports when using shotgun shells.

But where to find a wooden pallet in a hurry? It was too late to cut wood on the spot, so I had to bite the bullet. The power of the rotating cannon was naturally greatly reduced, and it did not have the expected effect of sweeping away everything with one shot.

"Continue! Don't stop." The gunnery warrant officer stopped the damage assessment in progress. It's better than nothing. Even if you can only hear a sound, it will be a great deterrent to the enemy.

After cleaning the barrel, a new blunderbuss was replaced. Winters ignited it again. Sparks burned into the blunderbuss, but only a puff of smoke came out.

The rotary cannon didn't roar, and the sound was like a muffled fart.

Dumb?

The loader's warrant officer was unmoved and immediately knocked off the wooden wedge and replaced it with a new musket.

Re-ignited, still no response.

"(Expletive)! This old captain, the gunpowder must have been left out for too long and has delaminated!" The loader's warrant officer cordially greeted the fat captain's family, but he kept moving and replaced it with a gunpowder. .

I lit the ignition again and this time it rang.

The twelve muskets were quickly used up, only five were fired, and the remaining seven were all dumb guns.

The loader's warrant officer was so angry that he cursed at the alarming rate of dumb guns. The gunner's warrant officer didn't say anything. He picked up the matchlock gun placed aside and handed it to Winters and the loader's warrant officer.

Winters stood at a high position and had a clear view of the situation. The shouts of killing have stopped, and now there are only dull sounds of swords piercing flesh and screams. The pirates who jumped onto the deck of the Skua have all been dealt with. On the crowded deck of the Skua, the dirty hair of the pirates can no longer be seen, only the clean heads of the warrant officers can be seen.

The combined land and sea forces on the Skua are attacking the deck of the Good Luck. Even three of the four passengers who had a negative attitude beforehand are holding weapons and fighting the pirates on the front line. But the space was small. Only a few people in the front row of the two parties were fighting hard, and the rest could only push each other from behind.

Pirates were pouring out of the hatch on the bow of the Good Luck. The initial ambush on the deck turned into a bloody tug-of-war.

Winters watched Andre follow the ferocious Rear Admiral into the cabin through the hatch at the stern of the Good Luck.

His heart tightened. Based on this posture, there were obviously a large number of pirates in the cabin. The two major generals and Andre would definitely be in trouble if they entered.

Winters and Andre were originally just fellow villagers who were not very close to each other, but these days he was injured on the ship, and Andre took care of him. No matter what Andre thinks, at least Winters has considered this loud guy as a friend.

Seeing that Andre had entered a dangerous situation, Winters had no choice but to stay in a safe place and use his matchlock gun to support him.

He threw the gun away, and with the artillery warrant officer shouting "Huh? What are you doing?", he jumped down and hit the stern deck of the Good Luck. He gritted his teeth and followed Andre's route and rushed into the Good Luck. cabin.