Beginning with the Ubume Bird

Chapter 246: Chapter 83 The Great Thief’s Fame (Part 5)

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Abandon the port?

Li Yan and Cai Qian exclaimed in unison, both surprised and doubtful.

“Hey! Mr. Cai, they’re not taking us seriously at all.”

Li Yan let out a strange laugh.

Emerging in full force and fighting after abandoning their port, the biggest advantage over fortifying their positions was that it could quickly bring an end to the battle.

Cai Qian didn’t respond; instead, he casually twirled the ring on his finger, while the red-crowned parrot that had been clutching the rope with its claws flapped its wings, flying above the sea. Its hoarse birdcalls spread throughout Cai’s fleet.

“The Red Hairs are here! Show your moves!”

“The Red Hairs are here! Show your moves!”

On Cai’s ships, with their colorful painted faces with green fangs and tusks, the servants and sailors all wore green rattan armor and carried collision-style flintlock muskets, which were a rarity in Europa at the time. The resounding shouts shook the heavens.

Nearly a thousand warships of various styles met on the sea. Against the backdrop of dark greenish-blue waters, the bobbing ships with their viscerally thick wooden planks and rows of cannons made a synchronized turn. Like two entangling fleets forming a tai chi-like pattern, they bit at each other, akin to two groups of agile fish darting back and forth. The line of battle stretched for more than forty miles, an extraordinary sight.

The sea breeze caused Li Yan’s trousers to flap back and forth. He stood tall among the fleet, with sails that resembled towering fangs upon his back and a forest of cannon muzzles beneath his feet.

In the middle of the sea, two streams of white foam clashed!

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Li Yan bit on his pinky finger, letting out a long whistle.

On the grand ocean surface, hundreds of sparks exploded; the Red Flag Blood Sail Sluice Ships and the silver Vasco Warships fired almost simultaneously!

Black smoke billowed and waves surged. Red Flag sailors wiped their blades and spears, and Li Yan gazed at the spreading red and black blaze, glancing down at the Ring Dragon Han Sword he held level in his hand.

It had a chip the size of a fingernail and spreading cracks; if touched, more fragments might fall off.

He sighed, stowing the Ring Dragon Han Sword into his personal seal, and with the back of his hand, he drew out the Gold-engraved Tiger Head Spear. The Devouring Blade vibrated like a wild python, its sixty-centimeter-long platinum spearhead pointed straight at the enemy’s line.

The battle cries were deafening.

Under the golden-red artillery fire, the Anglo-Portuguese allied forces’ slight exclamation of shock at the Red Cai Pirates’ cannons’ terrifying power and range was brutally suppressed! Large swaths of reddish-brown smoke and wood chips spewed out in all directions. The attempt to eradicate the backward savages of the Far East pirates turned in the blink of an eye into a bloodbath resembling a meat grinder, with each powerful explosive round licking at the lives of every British sailor. The rotating rudders were blown to bits, plunging the entire front end of the Anglo-Portuguese fleet into a fiery hell.

The Red Flag Gang and Tianbo Division were also having a tough time. A Red Flag sailor who was loading a cannonball was struck head-on by a cannonball, and the ten-ton heavy gun was lifted completely off the ground, along with scattered limbs and remains…

The fire raged on, and a pair of severed legs were left standing in place.

Many of Cai’s ships hadn’t even had the chance to engage when they got caught up in a fierce cannonade as the two fleets intertwined, suffering countless casualties.

Suddenly, an ordinary-looking explosive shell from the Red Flag landed on the deck of a fiercest Vasco Warship. Following closely, four or five British ships in the vicinity were engulfed in a black fog. The accuracy of their artillery suffered greatly, and during the close and constantly changing engagement of the two fleets, there were even incidents of friendly fire!

The managers of the East India Company were all too familiar with such an offensive.

It was one of Wrath’s unique black smoke bombs!

“Helun technology has indeed fallen into the hands of the Far Eastern pirates!”

Onboard the British flagship, a group of people watched as Albert hammered the table like a madman.

“No wonder… no wonder the pirates possess artillery that is no less inferior to ours.”

“It’s impossible for a pirate to operate that machine, there must be a traitor among us!”

“Now is not the time to argue about this.”

Sir Alex interrupted the babbling crowd.

“Helun technology…”

He pondered for a moment: “I heard it from that self-proclaimed genius shipwright, that only the Seven Great Ships can contend with the Seven Great Ships…”

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The Black Mist Cannonballs of the Red Flag had temporarily reversed the dire tide of the exchange of attacks. Despite the considerable power of the cannons, in a direct exchange of fire, the ships of the Red Cai Allied Forces were still being hit at a disheartening ratio of three to one.

There was no helping it, because the Vasco Warships of Britain had far surpassed the Red Cai Allied Forces in agility, a gap that even the most proficient sailors could not bridge. At this moment in the South Seas, and indeed the entire world, facing the powerful explosive shells, there was still no significant resistance. If they couldn’t be hit, all efforts were in vain.

Li Yan wanted to engage in boarding combat. With the wealthy Mr. Cai’s assistance, the firearms of the Red Flag Gang, the Bird Guns, had all been upgraded to Britain’s latest caplock muskets, more advanced than the mercury fulminate muskets used by the East India Company. Coupled with the numerical advantage, it was possible to make up for the battle damage.

Suddenly, a medium-sized three-masted black ship broke through the Anglo-Portuguese battle line, and what was absolutely jaw-dropping was that the whole black sail ship was coated with a layer of dazzling giant soap bubbles! The flames could not damage it in the slightest.

[Jealousy]

One of the Helun Company’s seven great ships

The last glory of the Portuguese royal family, eighty-five meters in length, displacing eight hundred and twenty tons

Magic Motion Technology (Legend) (Unique): Air Film Making Machine

After [Jealousy] dashed out of the fiery sea unimpeded, a sluice ship from the Red Flag vanguard surged forward, slammed fiercely into the hull of Jealousy—on its bow sat Xue Ba!

However, as the sluice ship touched the bubble film on [Jealousy]’s hull, the shining air film rapidly spread, coating the entire sluice ship with a similar layer of film.

Xue Ba, reckless of danger, swung on a sail rope in the air, actually planning to jump onto the enemy’s ship!

Unfortunately, before he could leap, a layer of bubbles had already spread from his straw sandals upward, enveloping his lower body.

As Xue Ba soared in the air, he felt a heaviness in his body. Completely out of control, he plummeted into the sea, causing a large splash.

That wasn’t the end of it. The sea water boiled like it was bubbling, and the very Red Flag sluice ship that had made contact with [Jealousy] also began to sink, eventually submerged in the dark blue seawater!

During this process, at least three or four ships, just like that first sluice ship upon making contact with [Jealousy], were coated with the air film and then sank entirely. What was even more chilling was that other ships attempting to rescue them with ropes were equally invaded by the omnipresent air film, and in the end, the rescuing ships too met with the same sunken fate!

However, once on a person, the film could be ripped off easily, so many sailors jumped from the ship to escape. But under such chaotic circumstances, even the best swimmers couldn’t avoid being crushed or caught in the indiscriminate firing. At least a third of the men died in the process.

The cannons couldn’t touch it, and boarding combat was even more out of the question. [Jealousy] had become like a plague on the sea.

“To take down this ship, we must send elite divers from beneath the sea, either to board or to bore through the ship. It’s a pity Lin Ajin isn’t here; this would have been the specialty of his Quanlang Type subordinates,”

The Gaoli ghosts by Li Yan’s side showed a look of disdain, but the Tianbao Dragon Head kept silent, suppressing his words.

“Why, the Fiery Cauldron Species are naturally adept at moving on the sea, and a few of Mr. Cai’s men had already made a splash at the Tianbo Division conference, capturing a Red Hair’s warship with ease, didn’t they?” Li Yan responded with a chuckle.

Cai Qian pondered for a moment and then nodded. “Alright, I’ll send a team of house servants who are skilled in swimming over. Let Laoda lead the team. Lao Si, Lao Wu, Lao Liu, Ajiu can follow too.”

Yan Laoda heeded the call.

Cai Qian asked, “What about you, Tianbao Dragon Head?”

Li Yan did not hesitate, “Gu, order your men to organize a team, take to the sea and seize the ship.”

The elite were ready. The Gaoli ghosts of the Red Flag need not to be mentioned, and Cai Qian also prepared a formidable team of sailors in trunks, totaling about two hundred men.

Cai Qian surveyed his men, made a bow, and said, “Gentlemen, whether in life or death, your families up to the third generation will be cared for by the Cai clan. If you return alive, my Tianbo Division will ensure you’re rich for life. If we can’t capture the ship, we have to sink this Helun Great Ship. The fate of Guangzhou Bay and even our nation’s situation rest with you.”

All members of the Cai clan took on a solemn expression.

After Cai Qian finished speaking, he patted Elder Yan’s shoulder and whispered, “Be careful on the way. In a critical moment, preserving your life is what matters most. Here, take this—it might save your and your siblings’ lives at a key moment.

Elder Yan glanced at the small object Cai Qian handed over and hurriedly refused, “Boss, this is…”

Cai Qian frowned with displeasure, clearly not disposed to talk further.

Seeing this, Elder Yan pursed his lips and said, “Boss, I’ll handle it. You can count on me.”

Li Yan also looked over his men, took two steps to the side of the ship, and crisply declared, “Follow me into the sea.”