mtl008 Chapter 427 Pick Up All the Weapons
Chapter 427 Pick Up All the Weapons
Then, with a tremendous roar, a ship anchored in the morning mist was engulfed in flames almost instantly.
Thick smoke billowed up, and everyone on the dock was instantly thrown into a panic.
Lu Yangyang instinctively grabbed Wen Qingqing and turned to look for Lu Zhan and Luo Jing, but they were already gone. There was a crowd of people, and everyone was running around in all directions.
The pirates who jumped off the ship were all armed with weapons, including arrows and long knives. They slashed at anyone they saw, and in an instant, they were bloodthirsty.
The officers and soldiers patrolling the dock tried to resist, but their meager strength was completely ineffective in the chaotic crowd.
At this time, besides the merchants and crew members on the merchant ships, most of the people on the dock were ordinary people who came to the dock to do hard labor or make a living by doing small business. They had no power to fight back against these vicious pirates, which only made the pirates more excited and they waved their butcher knives even more.
Since arriving in the capital, Lu Yangyang had witnessed many horrific cases, but this was the first time she had ever seen a massacre that was almost indiscriminate.
She had no time to think more, or even to do anything; all she could do was try her best to protect those around her and temporarily shield them from the falling blades.
But there were just too many pirates. Lu Yangyang couldn't count whether there were dozens or hundreds of them who had come down from the ship. All she could see were their bloodthirsty, demonic faces.
The air was filled with screams of agony; some people didn't even have time to scream before being pierced through the body by a single blade.
A quarter of an hour ago, this place was a bustling and prosperous scene; a quarter of an hour later, it turned into a hellish place where evil spirits devour people.
Wen Qingqing, shielded behind Lu Yangyang, watched the civilians fall one after another. For the first time, she was terrified and cried, grabbing Lu Yangyang's arm and sobbing, "Yangyang, what do we do? What do we do? They're so injured, what do we do..."
Lu Yangyang didn't know what to do either. Logically speaking, there should be soldiers stationed near the port to prevent pirate attacks.
The number of guards on the shore should also be increased, not only to maintain order but also to ensure the safety of the port.
But in reality, there were fewer than a hundred officers and soldiers patrolling such a large dock. Half of them fled without a trace as soon as they saw the pirates. The rest ran up to resist, but were scattered before they could even get close. Of those dozens of men, less than half are probably left now.
It can't resist anything.
If this continues, more and more people will die, and we don't know when we'll receive rescue. Maybe we'll wait until everyone on the dock is dead before we finally get it.
Lu Yangyang seized the opportunity, wrapped her long whip around a pirate's neck, dragged him onto a cargo platform, and lifted him up with one hand gripping the whip. She shouted loudly to the fleeing crowd nearby: "Everyone, if you don't want to die, pick up any weapons you can use to fight back! Several people together, use ropes, use sticks, scatter them, knock down one, and your chances of survival will increase! Try to stick together as much as possible, use everything you can to fight them, hold them off, every one who survives is a lifesaver! Did you all hear that? If you did, tell the others, gather together!"
After Lu Yangyang finished shouting, she twisted her hand forcefully and snapped the pirate's neck: "Don't be afraid of them, pick up your weapons!"
She drew her long whip, which His Highness had given her for self-defense. It was over ten feet long and made of top-quality black iron, making it incredibly tough. She had originally planned to use it to forge a more suitable weapon when she had the chance, but at this moment, she couldn't care less about that.
She quickly gathered the long whip together, breaking it into several pieces. With a mighty pull, she snapped the original whip into several pieces and threw the broken pieces to the group of people who heard her voice. "Hold on tight, pick up anything you can use, and fight them!"
Among the civilians were many young and strong men doing hard labor, and women tending their families. They were clearly terrified by the scene, only thinking of fleeing for their lives in the chaos of war. But hearing Lu Yangyang's voice and seeing the weapons thrown in front of them, a glimmer of hope rekindled in their despair. Perhaps it was this hope for survival that spurred them on; almost instinctively, they picked up everything they could use: the broken whip Lu Yangyang had thrown, the firewood sticks they used to start their stalls, the ropes for binding their bundles, even the wooden chairs they had brought, and the pebbles they picked up at their feet—
As the pirate's long sword thrust at them again, they remained fearful. But when the pirate killed one man and was about to pull out his sword, the first man mustered his courage and lunged forward. Then came the second, the third, and countless others who rushed at the pirate. They dared not kill, even though the pirate was the one who had ended their lives—a vicious and ruthless pirate. But in order to survive, they smashed down whatever they could find, even if it only knocked the pirate unconscious. This gave them a brief glimmer of hope for survival.
After the first attempt, more and more people saw and followed suit. Although they still could not stop the completely one-sided war, the people spontaneously gathered together and finally had a little bit of resistance.
But this wasn't a solution. The pirates weren't stupid. After they saw the crowd slowly gathering, they lit rockets with kerosene and launched them at the crowd. The crowd was so frightened by the falling rockets that they scattered in the blink of an eye.
Luo Jing went to great lengths to bring Lu Zhan and Elder Meng to Lu Yangyang's side. Although Lu Zhan was young, he had already tried to pick up a weapon and firmly protected Elder Meng.
Wen Qingqing held a small gourd that could spray water whenever she saw a pirate. This was her secret weapon. She had never been forced to this point before.
All of them were in varying degrees of disarray, but compared to the common people who had almost no ability to protect themselves, they at least had the strength to protect themselves.
Luo Jing, holding his knife, moved behind Lu Yangyang. "I've observed them. Those pirates must have hijacked the merchant ship last night or even earlier. After docking, they set the ship on fire. I roughly estimate there are at least five hundred of them. That's quite a force. If reinforcements don't arrive in time, the thousands of people in the port will likely suffer."
More than 45 minutes have passed since the incident, and these people cannot withstand the attack for even an hour.
The garrison from Yingzhou Prefecture has not yet arrived.
Even with the thugs brought by the merchants who knew a little martial arts, these people were like a mantis trying to stop a chariot when facing these pirates.
Suddenly, a whistle rang out.