The pirates burst into loud, unrestrained laughter when they saw the so-called "weapon" splash uselessly into the river.
"They're throwing rocks at us!"
"Hahahahaha!"
"Can't hit us with their flintlock rifles, so now they're tossing stones?"
"And they didn't even bother picking a bigger one!"
Mockery rolled across the river like waves.
The pirates laughed so hard they nearly forgot to paddle.
But at that very moment, another militia soldier stepped forward and calmly produced a hand grenade.
This man was different.
He was the Gao Family Village First Militia Games – Bronze Medalist in Throwing Events.
Gold had gone to Gao Chuwu.
Silver to Zheng Daniu.
Anyone who managed bronze behind those two monsters was already terrifying by ordinary standards.
The bronze medalist lit the fuse, weighed the grenade lightly in his palm, then laughed loudly at the comrade who had missed earlier.
"Watch carefully," he shouted.
"I'll teach you how to throw a hand grenade!"
His right arm swung forward.
The grenade—fuse hissing, sparks flying—cut through the air.
A perfect arc.
It even accounted for the forward momentum of the pirate boat.
Impeccable.
Flawless.
It landed squarely inside the lead pirate vessel.
The five pirates aboard were still laughing.
"Hahaha, look! Another little rock—"
"Wait… why is this rock on fire?"
"Is that a fuse?"
"Boom!"
The hand grenade answered all their foolish yet oddly innocent questions with a deafening explosion.
All five pirates were launched simultaneously into the air, bodies tumbling before splashing into the muddy Yellow River.
For a split second, the river fell eerily silent.
Then—
"The rocks explode!"
"What the hell is that?!"
"Gunpowder! That's gunpowder!"
"Damn it—how can something like that even exist?!"
"Another one! Another one's coming!"
Another militia soldier hurled a grenade.
Splash.
It landed cleanly on another pirate boat.
The six pirates aboard screamed in terror.
One man lunged forward, grabbing the grenade, desperate to throw it into the river.
But the fuse burned down faster than his courage.
"Boom!"
His palm was blown apart instantly. Shrapnel tore through his chest and ripped into the men beside him. In the blink of an eye, the entire boat went silent—every last man dead.
"Waaaaaah!"
The pirates screamed in utter chaos.
"What kind of demonic weapons are these?!"
Even Boat-Flipper Dragon, their leader, was stunned.
Facing weapons that shattered all common sense, his mind froze for several dozen heartbeats.
Finally, he roared, veins bulging:
"Get closer! Board them!"
"Right up against their ships!"
"They won't dare blow up their own boats!"
At this point, it was their only option.
The pirates paddled like madmen, desperate to close the distance.
But then they realized something horrifying.
The massive flat-bottomed cargo ships were charging straight at them—at full speed.
"A head-on collision?"
"What's there to be afraid of?!"
Normally, small boats avoided ramming larger ships. They relied on agility—slipping sideways, circling, attacking from the flanks.
The pirates immediately tried to pull away laterally.
Too late.
The flat-bottomed ship was absurdly fast.
Faster than their sampans at full paddle.
So fast that the small boats didn't even have time to turn.
"It's going to hit us!"
"Look out!"
CRUNCH!
The collision echoed across the river.
The small boat shattered and flipped.
Five of the six pirates were hurled straight into the water.
Only one—standing at the bow—leapt forward with desperate strength and actually landed on the flat-bottomed ship.
A heroic leap.
A meaningless one.
Before his feet could touch the deck—
Five bayonets stabbed forward in perfect unison.
The militia soldiers withdrew their blades together and kicked the corpse back into the river.
This wasn't an isolated case.
Several pirate boats suffered the same fate—rammed, overturned, spun helplessly. The militia seized every opening, slaughtering the pirates in moments.
"From the sides!"
"Flank them!"
"Throw grappling hooks!"
The pirates tried boarding from the flanks.
But the sides of the flat-bottomed ships were death zones.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Flintlock rifles roared.
Pirates fell in droves.
Those throwing grappling hooks exposed half their bodies and were immediately riddled with lead, collapsing like sacks of meat.
A militia soldier swung his saber cleanly, severing a grappling rope before the pirate boat could draw near.
"Fire arrows! Torches!" Boat-Flipper Dragon roared.
"Burn those strange boats!"
The pirates had prepared well—fire arrows wrapped in oil-soaked cloth, torches ready to ignite hulls.
They unleashed everything.
But something felt… wrong.
On every flat-bottomed ship, a dedicated firefighting team sprang into action. Wherever a flame appeared, they rushed in, smothering it within seconds.
Extinguish.
Withdraw.
Stand by.
They didn't even join the fight.
Such discipline was unheard of.
The pirates sucked in sharp breaths.
"Who in the heavens are these people?"
They had fought merchant fleets.
They had fought government troops.
They had never fought anyone like this.
The flat-bottomed ships moved freely among hundreds of pirate boats—charging, breaking through, turning back again—
Like Zhao Zilong at Changban, seven entries, seven exits.
The pirates wailed for their mothers and fathers.
Bai Yuan stood on the bank of Hengshui Town, watching the river battle unfold, wearing a rather strange expression.
"Oh dear," he muttered.
"I haven't even issued a single order, and they're already fighting like this."
"Do we even need a naval commander anymore?"
From the golden image pressed against his chest, a chuckling voice emerged.
"The better the training in peacetime," Dao Xuan Tianzun said calmly,
"the clearer soldiers are in battle."
"The less they rely on commanders."
"In time, captains and admirals become little more than mascots."
Bai Yuan blinked.
"Huh?"
Dao Xuan Tianzun continued serenely,
"In that case, future admirals should simply be chosen from the prettiest men and women."
Bai Yuan's eyes lit up.
"Then there's no problem at all!" he declared happily.
"I qualify perfectly!"
Dao Xuan Tianzun fell silent.
Beside them, Jiang Cheng wiped cold sweat from his forehead.
"Mister Bai…" he muttered,
"…actually managed to make Dao Xuan Tianzun speechless."