Ji Wangfei gritted his teeth and swallowed his indignation. “We’re all Han Chinese. There’s no need to fight to the death. Even if you are pirates, I believe you were forced into it.”
What else could they do if they refused to negotiate? Their fleet already had sixty or seventy wounded men.
More importantly, the distance was too great. Their arrows could not reach the enemy, leaving them with nothing but death to await.
Their crossbows could reach the enemy, but they were pointed in the wrong direction. Their opponents had already locked onto them, and the moment they made a move, another volley would be fired.
Besides, even if they managed to turn the crossbows around, the bolts would not have enough power. Taking down the enemy would be extremely difficult.
Xie Nanxiao sneered. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but we have no sob story. We’re pirates simply because we like being pirates.”
Ji Wangfei: “…”
Xie Nanxiao continued, “You’re planning to pay to avoid disaster, right? Then follow my original demand: thirty ships, plus all your belongings. Hurry up.”
The muscles on Ji Wangfei’s face twitched. He forced out a stiff smile. “You’ve seen for yourself. We have only thirty-three ships. With so many people, the remaining three ships won’t be enough.”
“How about giving you ten ships for now, and we’ll settle the rest later? In any case, we operate in these waters often.”
That was obviously a lie. The Sizhou Navy had no reason to put out to sea unless something happened.
Xie Nanxiao was so angry that he laughed. “Ha! Do you take me for a fool? We’ll discuss it later? Who knows whether you’ll even have a ‘later.’”
“I’ll count to ten. If you still haven’t made up your minds, we’ll fire another volley and keep doing so until you agree to my terms.”
“One, three, seven…”
Ji Wangfei panicked. “Wait! Are you even capable of counting? You skipped numbers!”
Sun Zheng nearly went numb. You idiot! He’s obviously messing with you, and you’re complaining that he can’t count?
The corners of Xie Nanxiao’s mouth curled upward. “Ten. Time’s up!”
The Cangming Guards behind him raised their Longming crossbows in unison and aimed them at the Sizhou fleet.
Sun Zheng shouted, “Wait! You really intend to make an enemy of us? Aren’t you afraid that His Majesty will send people to wipe you out one day?”
Xie Nanxiao narrowed his eyes. “Now that you mention it, that does make sense.”
Sun Zheng’s face lit up with delight. But before the smile could spread, he heard that demonic voice again.
“In that case, we might as well kill everyone. Then no one will know that we, Salted Fish Rising, did it.”
As he spoke, he raised his hand and was about to give the order.
Ji Wangfei bellowed, “Wait!”
Xie Nanxiao: “...No, seriously. You’ve made me wait several times already. What exactly do you want?”
Ji Wangfei: “…”
He forced out another stiff smile. “Didn’t you say you’d give us a quarter of an hour to consider it? We’ll consider it now.”
Xie Nanxiao: “…”
He raised the Longming crossbow in his hand and fired.
The bolt grazed Ji Wangfei’s cheek before slamming into the pillar behind him.
His eyes were icy. “My patience is limited. I can’t guarantee anything else, but I can guarantee that every one of you standing in the command cabin will be wiped out.”
A chill rose from the soles of Ji Wangfei’s feet to the crown of his head. His heart seemed to skip a beat.
He reached up and touched his cheek. It burned painfully; the bolt had torn away a strip of flesh.
He knew this was a warning. Next time, the bolt would be aimed at his head.
At that moment, he no longer had any doubts that the other side possessed the strength to kill them all.
Half an hour later, Ji Wangfei watched as the fleet sailed away in grand style. Among the vessels were thirty of their own ships, along with all their belongings.
Everything. Even the crowns on their heads and the ornaments hanging from their waists had been stripped away.
All their weapons had been taken as well. Even the crossbows installed on their warships had been dismantled and carried off.
Fortunately, these pirates still had a shred of conscience. They had not stripped them of their clothes and had even left them some medicinal supplies.
Because his crown had been taken, Sun Zheng stood there with his hair loose and his face pale. In all his years, he had never suffered such humiliation—and yet there was nothing he could do about it.
“Despicable! Despicable! These people must be Princess Jinyang’s men, giving us a warning!” he raged, terrified and so furious that he felt he might vomit blood.
Ji Wangfei’s hair, however, remained neat. He wore only an ordinary woven headband, which was worthless and therefore had not been taken.
“Their methods don’t resemble those of a regular army. But they collected all the bolts and arrows, which does seem like the style of the Jinyang Army.”
Salted Fish Rising had not only taken all their weapons; they had even dug up and retrieved every bolt fired by their repeating crossbows.
Sun Zheng nodded. “Exactly! I told you they must be the Jinyang Army.”
He looked toward the three ships packed to the brim with people. “What are we going to do? The ships are going to sink!”
Although their valuables and provisions had all been taken, more than thirty ships’ worth of people had been crammed onto just a few vessels. It was easy to imagine how much weight those ships now had to bear.
Fortunately, most of their ships had been carrying supplies, so there had not been many oarsmen or sailors aboard.
Ji Wangfei looked at the helmsman. “How is it? Can the ship make it to Feng’an?”
They did not know where Jiang Jin was and assumed she was still in Gefeng.
At present, they were probably somewhere in the waters between Ying Commandery and Feng’an, with neither destination close enough to reach quickly.
“No. Leaving aside whether the ship will sink, even if it can keep moving with this many people aboard, it’ll be extremely slow. It’ll take at least several days to reach Feng’an.”
“Our provisions were all taken. We have nothing to eat. I’m afraid we won’t last until Feng’an…”
Fortunately, the pirates had shown some mercy and left them water. Otherwise, they would not last even two days, let alone several, especially with summer at its hottest.
Ji Wangfei gritted his teeth. “Then what do we do?”
The helmsman wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Perhaps we can wait and see whether a merchant ship passes by?”
Ji Wangfei: “…”
On the boundless sea, he did not need to think hard to know how slim the chances were of encountering another ship.
The helmsman knew that too, but what else could they do?
Sun Zheng said helplessly, “We can catch some fish for food.”
The helmsman gave him a strange look. “We didn’t bring any fishing nets.”
Sun Zheng: “…”
Xie Nanxiao gazed at the now-enlarged fleet and the several ships loaded with treasure, his mood excellent. “If the Sizhou Navy came by a few more times, we could cover our military expenses ourselves.”
Zhu Xiaoliu laughed. “Exactly! This money is far too easy to earn. Should we transport it all back to Xianglu County?”
Xie Nanxiao nodded. “Yes. You take it back.”
As they spoke, more than a dozen merchant ships appeared ahead. Qiu Wu stood on the deck, waving his arms at them.
Zhu Xiaoliu felt somewhat regretful. He had rather wanted to take part in the next operation too.
The several Sizhou ships were moving slowly under an overloaded burden.
Ji Wangfei stood in the command cabin, his face filled with worry. “How is Lord Li’s injury?”
The soldier hurriedly replied, “His life has been saved, but his hand is ruined.”
What he did not say was that, considering their current speed and lack of provisions, it was hard to say whether Li Chun could hold on until Fengzhou.
The other wounded were in much the same condition. Their situation was dire.
Sun Zheng frowned. “Isn’t Xianglu County closer?”
Ji Wangfei shook his head. “The harbor at Xianglu County is on the eastern side. If we go around that way, it’ll be about the same distance as Feng’an.”
“There are ships!”
Sun Zheng was about to speak when he heard a soldier’s excited cry.
He hurriedly looked over. Sure enough, he could see more than a dozen black specks in the distance.
He became excited. “Merchant ships or warships?”
