If you traveled back to ancient times, while others ate Guanyin clay, you would actually have giant

Chapter 94 The White Skull Pirate Crew

"Old Jiang is right, but there's nothing we can do now. We can only send people out to buy all kinds of beef tendons, horse tendons, and the like. Although we don't have the bowstrings yet, we can't wait. Let's start working on it."

"Yes."

Despite some uncertainties, Zhou Wu decided to start production, as the string issue still needed to be resolved.

The heavy crossbow was decided with Zhou Wu's approval. Then Zhou Wu went to the shipyard to check on the progress of the new ship.

"Sir, you are here."

Gong Sheng's dark circles are getting worse. Zhou Wu has tried to persuade him several times, but the old man always agrees readily, but when Zhou Wu leaves, he continues to study the various details of his new ship's modifications all night long.

"How is the shipyard doing lately?"

"Reporting to the lord, since our Bull Demon King ship went on sale, orders have been pouring in like snowflakes, already booked until next year. Moreover, the price has been rising again and again, but it still can't stop the major chambers of commerce from purchasing it."

Clearly, ever since Zhou Wu led the Bull Demon King class to the capital, everyone has started to pay attention to Niujia Village in Qingyang County, a small place that no one had ever heard of before. Soon everyone discovered that Niujia Village's marine trade and marine fishing were both treasure troves.

"Let me show you something."

Zhou Wu handed the design drawings for the heavy crossbow to Gong Sheng.

"Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful."

After reading it, Gong Sheng repeatedly praised it as excellent. Of course he knew about the pirates, and besides Zhou Wu and Deng Yuanliang, he was the person who cared about this matter the most. After all, he was in charge of the shipyard. Seeing Zhou Wu's design drawings, he knew that this was a sure thing, and he had already begun to pray for the pirates in his heart.

"One crossbow at the bow and one at the stern of the Bull Demon King-class ships are sufficient. In addition to the bow and stern, new warships also need to have several heavy crossbows installed on both sides."

"promise."

Although it was just a minor modification, Gong Sheng still had to work overtime to make changes, especially for the new type of ship, because heavy crossbows needed to be installed on both sides, so he had to study it carefully.

Everything is ready now, all that's needed is the crossbow string to be released.

. . . . . .

In the South China Sea, a horrific event is unfolding. Several pirate ships are closely following a merchant convoy. The convoy's ships vary in size, including several large vessels, but faced with pirate ships much smaller than themselves, they have no choice but to flee.

"Full speed ahead."

The captain of the caravan was trying his best to direct his crew to move forward at full speed and escape the pirates' pursuit as soon as possible. Just now, he had witnessed a ship traveling with them being intercepted by pirates. The pirates jumped onto the ship and began to hack and slash, and even those who knelt down and begged for mercy were not spared. So at this moment, the survivors were terrified, and the only thing on their minds was to escape.

“Men, once we catch up, we’ll have plenty of money. With money, why worry about not having women?”

"Ho~~~"

For outlaws, money and women are the most motivating things. This group of pirates also had some background; they were the White Skull Pirates, who had been entrenched on an unclaimed island in the South China Sea for decades.

Because of the constant warfare in the interior and the fact that the pirate strongholds were far from the mainland, no matter which dynasty or emperor was in power, they did not take the pirates seriously. After all, the land was the main focus of the emperors' minds. This gave the White Skull Pirate Gang the opportunity to grow from a group of dozens of people to a terrifying force of tens of thousands who now monopolize an island.

Originally, this group of pirates mainly made a living by robbing coastal villages, but unexpectedly, in recent months, there have been more merchant fleets at sea. This is like wolves entering sheep for the pirate group. After eating vegetarian food for so many years, they have finally encountered meat. Therefore, pirate robberies have been occurring frequently during this period.

"On the grappling hook."

Compared to the hastily assembled trade fleets, pirates obviously had more methods. They would throw grappling hooks directly at merchant ships, and the faster the merchant ships ran, the more firmly the grappling hooks would grab them.

"Oh my god, the pirates are coming!"

A crew member exclaimed in alarm that the pirates had already started climbing towards the merchant ship using the grappling hook rope.

"Step aside."

Several guards on the merchant ship roared and pushed aside the terrified sailors. They raised their machetes and slashed fiercely at the rope. After several slashes, the rope finally broke, and the pirate hanging upside down on it screamed and fell into the deep sea. The morale of the caravan surged, but soon, more grappling hooks were thrown at them.

Pirates soon boarded the merchant ship and fought with the guards. However, because there were fewer pirates on board, they were quickly killed by the guards.

"Bow and arrow ready."

The pirate leader was furious when he saw that after all his efforts, he had not only failed to board the ship but had also lost several of his men. All the pirates drew their bows and arrows.

"shoot."

A dense barrage of arrows flew relentlessly toward the merchant ships, instantly causing numerous casualties; many merchant ships were even completely struck and brought to the ground.

"superior."

The pirates continued to use grappling hooks, offering no resistance whatsoever.

"Kill, leave no one behind."

Having just lost several brothers, the pirate leader issued a massacre order, and soon the entire sea was filled with corpses, turning the seawater red.

"Burn the small boat after you've unloaded everything, and sail the big ship back, leaving behind a white skull flag so that people won't not know that it's me, White Skull, haha."

"Hahaha"

“Ho ho ho~~~”

In this battle, not a single caravan survived. It wasn't until two hours later, when another caravan passed by, that they discovered this hellish scene and were so frightened that they sped back the way they came.

The White Skull's fame spread throughout the entire coastal region.

--------

"Your Majesty, there are rumors circulating among the people that a pirate force is causing trouble at sea in the South China Sea, robbing passing caravans with ruthless cruelty. I earnestly request Your Majesty to send troops to subdue them."

"Hmph, a mere pirate, nothing to worry about. Isn't this making a mountain out of a molehill? The Dazi Kingdom is the real focus."

After hearing about the pirate incident, an official brought it up in the morning court, but unexpectedly, he was attacked by many ministers. Li Tiancheng also felt that the pirates were nothing to worry about, so he suppressed the matter and talked about the Dazi Kingdom.

"Alright, let's put the pirate matter aside for now. How's the trade with the Dazi Kingdom that we talked about last time going?"

Li Tiancheng is now more concerned about the Dazi Kingdom, after all, it has hundreds of thousands of iron cavalry there, posing a more direct threat to the Great Dragon.

"Your Majesty, our Great Dragon delegation has held preliminary talks with the Dazi Kingdom. The Dazi Kingdom has expressed its willingness to accept the terms of trade, but stated that the military campaign has resulted in significant losses, and hopes that we can provide some compensation."

As the minister in charge of the negotiations spoke, his voice grew softer and softer, clearly indicating that the other party's conditions were somewhat harsh.

"Oh, how will you compensate me?"