Munitions Empire

"I think so too..." Hearing this, the officer who came over nodded in agreement.

"Boom!" Just as he nodded, that Elf navy ship suddenly let out a blaze of fire.

"Damn!" Since they were already quite close, the sudden sound of the cannon startled everyone.

The cannon fire was so abrupt that all the sailors who heard it instinctively shrank their necks.

Some even fell onto the deck, awkwardly complaining loudly, "Fuck! They're firing! They're really firing!"

With both hands on the wheel, the captain's eyes widened as he watched the smoke gradually clear from the side of the warship and muttered to himself, "What the hell are they doing?"

"Boom!" Just as he was muttering, another cannon fired, sending out a flash of fire, and thick smoke rolled over the waves.

This was no joke; they were really firing. Not a warning, not an intimidation, but direct combat!

They didn't even bother to confirm identities before opening fire! At this moment, the merchant ship's captain felt the other party must be a bunch of lunatics.

On deck, upon seeing the water column rise near the pirate ship, a sailor shouted excitedly, "They're firing at the pirates!"

His shouts drew the attention of a few others, and then they witnessed the second cannonball fly past and land near the pirate ship.

Another water column was smashed into the sky by the cannonball, and it seemed even closer to the pirate ship this time.

Seeing this scene, the sailors immediately started exclaiming, "My God! They are really firing at the pirate ship!"

"And their aim is not bad..." The old sailor had seen such naval battles before; he knew that to have such accuracy, the navy gunners must be very elite.

What he didn't know was that on that Great Tang Group warship, they had actually installed experimental targeting equipment. Although it was crude, compared to symbolically aiming with the cannon, the accuracy had improved several times.

Even though these cannons couldn't adjust their barrels and were still muzzle-loading guns, with the aid of targeting equipment to adjust the ship's angle for simple aiming, the accuracy of the cannon fire could still be improved.

Moreover, the distance between the warship and the pirate ship wasn't actually that far; it seemed a good distance away, but in reality, it was only about 500 meters or so.

If one relied solely on sight to aim, that indeed was the extreme range for firing, but if they used equipment to aim, then it would be... a bit too close.

The sailor crew of the merchant ship, oblivious to all this, had also started to pay attention to the pirate ship in the distance.

"The water columns are all near the pirate ship; well done!" exclaimed a sailor excitedly upon seeing the rising water columns.

"Boom!" Another cannon spat out a tongue of flame, and soon afterwards a water column suddenly sprang up close to the pirate ship.

The water column was only a few meters away from the pirate ship, and the splashing water even hit the side of the pirate ship.

Witnessing this, a sailor aboard the merchant ship shouted in astonishment, "Fuck! That was almost a hit!"

Right after this near-miss by the cannonball, it seemed the pirate ship started to panic; it immediately began turning as if trying to flee.

This turn signified that it had abandoned any attempt to attack the merchant ship and was showing respect to the warship — in the open sea, generally after such a display of weakness, a warship wouldn't pursue too aggressively.

Seeing the pirates begin to turn, a wave of enthusiastic cheers broke out among the sailors on the merchant ship, "The pirate ship is turning!"

"They're running! Hahaha! They're running!" Some sailors waved their hats, laughing and shouting excitedly, celebrating.

Even some sailors fell to their knees on the deck, covering their faces and crying with joy, "Hurray! The pirates are running away!"

"Hahaha! Captain! That's great! We've been saved!" The officer also ran to the captain's side, his eyes brimming with tears of excitement.

"Long live the Elves!" The captain also became excited at this moment; of course, he had no idea that the other ship was a human warship, so he shouted the wrong slogan loudly.

Hearing the captain shout, the other crew members joined in, "Hahaha! Well done, Elves!"

"Boom!" "Boom!" Amidst their excited shouting, two more cannonballs were fired by the navy warship, heading towards the distant pirate ship.

This time, one of the cannonballs landed not far from the pirate ship, while the other, incredibly fortunate, was indeed hit by the navy gunners from Tang Group's security forces who had blindly guessed right!

With the sound of the cannon, a brief silence followed, then shockingly, the side of the pirate ship burst out in flying wood splinters as a whole section of the side was shattered, along with part of the railing which flew into the sea.

At this moment, the distance between the two sides was only about 400 meters, and it took only a few cannon shots to hit the enemy vessel. From any angle, the soldiers on this Navy warship could be considered among the strongest in the world.

Therefore, a sailor widened his eyes in shock, "Hey! They actually hit!"

Aboard the Great Tang Group's warship, the lookout on the mast put down his telescope and shouted down to the people below, "A cannonball hit! Damage to the enemy's side, level three damage!"

The executive officer also lowered his telescope and reported to Bernard, "The enemy ship is turning!"

"Speed up! Close the distance! Hard to starboard!" Bernard didn't have the habit of letting pirates escape, after all, his warship's sailing speed was almost unmatched by any vessel.

After all, it was a warship that greatly emphasized speed, and furthermore, after Tang Mo acquired this warship, he had removed a third of the cannons from it!

Now, it was essentially sailing in a light condition, which naturally made it very fast. Moreover, because it was close to the port of Brunas, it hadn't even loaded up on freshwater and food, so naturally, its sailing speed was astonishingly fast.

The helmsman repeated Bernard's commands loudly, turning the wheel at a rapid pace, "Hard to starboard!"

"Adjust the sails!" the executive officer reminded loudly after him.

"Adjust the sails!" another officer on the forward deck immediately repeated the command loudly, and the sailors quickly busied themselves.

The officer beside the observation equipment straightened up and shouted excitedly, "The remaining cannons, fire all at once!"

"Fire all at once!" practically all the gun captains at the various gun stations commanded loudly and excitedly.

"Boom!" This time, almost simultaneously, the remaining four cannons on the warship's side belched out blinding flashes and white smoke.

Beside the distant pirate ship, three water columns erupted, and almost at the same time, another hole caused by a cannonball appeared next to the damaged planks of the hull.

Wood splinters flew everywhere, and it was even possible to see pirates being blown apart by the cannon fire, their bodies mangled and falling inside the ruptured hull.

The lookout in the mast immediately began shouting excitedly, "Three shots missed! One shot on target! Enemy ship damaged! Continuing to turn!"

"Close in on the target!" Bernard licked his lips and continued to command.

"Close in on the target!" The executive officer's voice echoed among the sailors, busy loading the cannons.

"Boom!" A cannon fire also resounded from the pirate ship. It seemed that they too knew that if they didn't fight back and only focused on fleeing, they might really meet their end here. Thus, they began to return fire with the ferocity of a cornered beast.

However, this shot was simply too ridiculous, for the pirate ship was in the midst of a sharp turn, so the shot didn't aim well at all, with the cannonball falling 100 meters away from the Great Tang warship's side.

In comparison with the precision marksmanship of the Great Tang's security forces, the pirates' shot was practically a joke.

Bernard shifted his gaze from the splash and, suppressing a smile, continued to command, "Close the distance! Prepare to fire all at once!"

"Cannon number 3 loaded! Cannon number 9 loaded!" On the deck, one gun captain after another stood at attention and reported loudly that their gun stations were ready to fire again.

"Cannon number 1 loaded!" With the last gun station reporting in, the deck became much quieter.

"Aim!" Bernard gave the command.

"Hard to port!" The officer responsible for aiming shouted loudly, his eyes pressed to the sighting equipment. Unable to adjust the cannon's aim, he impromptu overstepped his authority and commanded a change in course.

"Adjust hard to port!" Bernard immediately ordered loudly.

Following his command, the warship began to adjust its course.

"Three, two, one, fire!" Soon enough, the angle was found, and the officer responsible for targeting yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Boom!" A line of eight cannons almost simultaneously spewed flames, and a billowing cloud of thick smoke obscured much of the warship's side.

And with that volley, the sailors on the nearby merchant ship's deck gawked as the pirate ship, which was turning, was hit by at least three cannonballs at the same time!

It was as if an unseen giant hand had gripped the pirate ship, its hull splintering apart in an instant, wood splinters flying everywhere.

The cannon fire had shattered some of the ship's structural supports. It was visibly apparent that one of the masts on the pirate ship was beginning to lean forward as the force of the sails pulled on it. It hadn't fallen over, but it was tilted, looking rather pathetic.

Without high-explosive shells, even with sustained fire and hits, it was not possible to immediately sink a sailing warship.

Yet, judging by the damage, it was clear that the pirates aboard had definitely not had an easy time…