Beginning with the Ubume Bird

Chapter 195: Chapter 32 Ambush the Enemy!

The crowd roared in assent, their voices so loud that their necks seemed to thicken, and the shouts could disperse the clouds in the sky.

Among the Five Flags, the Red Flag Gang and the Black Flag Gang had the largest forces.

Initially, because Madam Shi, the woman who controlled half of the Gaoli ghosts in the Five Flags, married into the Red Flag, Madam Guo of the Black Flag Gang lost a notch in the struggle for alliance leader. When Zheng Yiguai had just died, Madam Guo had even brought gifts to Lantau Island to seek marriage. Tianbao had held a knife to her neck and forced her out, so the relationship between the two gangs was extremely tense.

The ones who shouted just now were also from the Black Flag Gang; one could guess that it was likely Madam Guo’s doing that caused the Four Flags to suddenly visit this time.

Therefore, Li Yan pointed with a finger, aimed directly at Madam Guo’s Black Flag Gang.

The members of the Four Flags Gang didn’t wait for a response, only to hear the fleet of the Red Flag Gang at the opposite side turn their bow, drawing a small semicircular arc, and stirring up layer upon layer of ripples.

“What’s this? Are they leaving?”

“This is their territory, have you lost your mind?”

The crowd discussed in a cacophony.

At the bow of the Black Flag Gang’s ship sat a man with twisted braids wrapped around his neck, wearing a blue buttoned coat, his eyebrows and temples sharp as a knife, juggling a banana with a look reminiscent of a slumbering tiger.

Whiz~~~

The whistle aboard the Spirit of the Duck was sharp, and upon hearing it, the helmsmen of the remaining five ships shouted loudly.

“Tianbao said to target the lead ship of the Black Flag!”

The helmsmen exerted themselves to turn the rudder, and the two large and four small ships crossed their hulls. In a flash, a forest of cannon muzzles appeared, leaving the Four Flags members breathless.

“Wait!”

“Tianbao, you dare!”

“Smack~”

The man grabbed the banana, inadvertently applied some force, and squashed it to mush. He sat up straight, faced the sun, and plunged into the sea, while at the same time nearly a hundred golden-red fireballs crowded together, avalanche-like, surged towards them.

Some pirates had never seen such beautiful cannon fire, and stared at it for a while.

The fiery waves surged!

Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom~

“Reload!”

The pirates, with sweat on the tips of their noses, moved their feet to pull away the scalding-hot cannon carriages, as others behind them tightly pushed up new ones, and the fuses were lit once again.

“Swab the barrel!”

Someone passed over buckets of water. The pirates dunked their wool swabbers into the buckets, then took them out to scrub the cannon barrels, the sound of water vapors hissing arose, and white steam billowed.

The new cannon in front was adjusted for angle; around one large cannon, three pirates worked in concert, loading powder bags, iron shots, and wadding, with the one at the back tightening the ramrod, piercing the powder bag, priming with fine-grain powder, and lighting the fuse!

Fiery waves, fierce and intense, tore through the hull, shrouding the sea in black smoke.

Two volleys of cannon fire instantly turned the twenty-some ships ahead into a sea of flames. The ropes, burned by the flames, snapped, and the burning sails drooped powerlessly, “Puffing” softly as they fell.

These were not simply the small fishing boats of the government but large and medium-sized sailboats displacing over two hundred tons. Yet even so, they could not withstand such fierce firepower.

The ships on the sea, like sharks smelling blood, scattered thunderously. Some cried out to return fire, but not a single one actually took action. Instead, they just fled in disarray.

A few observant onlookers realized that Tianbao’s ships were not firing wildly nor pretending to have the capability to blow up ships from the Four Flags by chance. Instead, they deliberately targeted Madam Guo’s Black Flag Gang fleet, with firepower as fierce as a regular army of the Red Haired Devils.

With that, members of the other three flags couldn’t get away from Madam Guo’s Black Flag ships fast enough, losing all desire to retaliate.

“Switch to square sails, charge through!”

Led by the Spirit of the Duck, the fleet shot forward straight as arrows.

Atop the Yellow Flag Gang’s armed gunboat, plundered from Portuguese merchants, several leaders whispered among themselves.

“Leader Xu has gone up to the mountain for the funeral; it’s up to us to decide what to do. Should we help them or not? They only have six ships.”

“Help my foot; where do you think this is? Everyone behind the docks is from the Red Flag Gang. You think they’re just going to sit there and gawk? And what’s more, do you think they fired a couple of cannon rounds and rushed over just for kicks? They’re giving you face.”

After saying this, he looked out at sea with residual fear in his eyes, at the Black Flag Gang’s sailboats that had been battered by cannon fire.

“If a real fight breaks out, even if all of us join in, we may not necessarily win. Not to mention, the people from the White and Blue Flags are sneaky; they’ll probably not help…”

This sort of conversation was happening on the pirate ships of the three factions other than the Black Flag Gang.

In short, the people from all three sides turned coward at the same time, ready to watch the Black Flag Gang get beaten.

…

“Rest assured, gentlemen, our Black Flag ships are at the forefront. If that youngster Tianbao really loses his temper, it will be our Black Flag brothers who take the knife first,” he declared with conviction, beating his chest thunderously. Needless to say, this was Madam Guo.

“When Tianbao arrives, we’ll just pretend not to recognize him, steer the ships to block his retreat. Once the brothers behind us create a commotion, we won’t let the others from the Red Flag Gang get here in time; afterwards, just claim we didn’t recognize him, what can he do to us?”

This conversation took place in an annex, draped all around with white cloths, with none other than the Four Flags Bang leaders present.

Ba Hai and Shi Tianying exchanged dry glances; after briefly agreeing with Madam Guo, they turned their eyes to Xu Longsi.

As for Xu Longsi of the Yellow Flag Gang, his power ranked last among the Four Flags, yet it was due to him that the Four Flags could smoothly enter Lantau Island for the mourning and maneuver over a hundred ships into Lantau Island’s docks without facing Red Flag Gang’s reprisal.

Simply put, Xu Longsi and Madam Shi were cousins and had grown up together on the Yellow Flag Gang’s island. Today’s key figures of Chaoyi such as the Gaoli ghosts were all once Xu Longsi’s family retainers, the subordinates of the Xu clan.

Xu Longsi had been staring at the white cloth above him and finally spoke when he noticed the three looking at him, “I’m not concerned with other matters. This time my visit is to take Xiu’er back, to acknowledge her ancestry. We should not interfere with the internal affairs of the Red Flag Gang.”

“No, no one wants to interfere.”

Shi Tianying from the White Flag Gang replied dryly, “What we need to deal with are the matters of the Five Flags Alliance.”

At this juncture, a succession of footsteps approached, with the Gaoli ghost leader Chaoyi, his head wrapped in a white band, at the forefront, followed by Madam Shi’s key supporters.

Upon entering, Chaoyi pressed his lips together, scanning the room and giving Xu Longsi a nod of acknowledgment first.

“Patriarch. Three Allied Leaders.”

Xu Longsi nodded without speaking, but it was Madam Guo who laughed heartily, “Brother Chaoyi, it’s been a long time. You haven’t lost your spirit from back in the day.”

Chaoyi ignored her, simply looking down as he said, “Since the respected leaders have come to pay respects to my lady, please follow me to the hall of mourning.”

“Chaoyi, where is Xiu’er?” Xu Longsi asked.

“Reporting to the Patriarch, the young miss is also in the hall of mourning.”

Chaoyi’s voice did not waver.

“Then let’s make our way there, shall we?”

…

Bang~

The Spirit of the Duck rammed viciously into the lorcha which still held flickering flames, and the members of the Red Flag Gang, with their spirits high, wielding steel swords, spears with red tassels, and bird guns, boarded the Black Flag Gang’s deck which had been bombarded into chaos.

As soon as the fight began, the Black Flag Gang was overwhelmed, torn to shreds in the flesh-blender of combat.@@novelbin@@

Li Yan had no intention of sparing anyone; his first command was to fight openly and not to stop until they were too scared to retaliate.

Especially when Li Yan unleashed the Black Rider Ghost. Although there was not enough space on the ship for weapons like the Dodge Tomahawk, once the Black Rider Ghost broke into the ranks, he still had no match.

Some pirates had decent marksmanship and aimed for the gaps in the Black Rider Ghost’s armor. Still, their shots had no effect. Instead, they drew two ghastly red glows and a flying halberd coming straight at them.

Thud~