Iron Powder and Spellcasters Chapter 27

   Chapter 27 Hand-to-hand combat

   Jumping from the well-lit open deck to the barely lit cabin, Winters saw nothing for a moment. Fortunately, no one seized the opportunity to attack him.

  It wasn't until his eyes got used to the darkness that he realized that the Luck seemed to divide the lower deck into several areas.

   Winters prefers two-handed swords, sailor knives can only be held with one hand, and the other hand is empty, which makes him a little insecure. He pulled out the dagger again, and followed the appearance of a major general to explore the darkness with two sharp blades.

   There was another heavy landing sound behind him. Winters turned around and wanted to slash down, but the man who jumped down said, "Wait, it's me."

   Only a little light leaked from the hatch to make it clear who it was, but the voice Winters was all too familiar with, it was Bud.

   "Come on, let's go together." Bud followed and said in a deep voice.

   Winters nodded and continued to explore forward, it was always a reassuring thing to be covered behind.

   After entering the cabin from the stern entrance, several cabins were separated on the left and right, which seemed to be used by people of higher status on the ship. There is a narrow road in the middle, only one person can pass through.

   Winters smelled the fishy smell and found a body in a cabin, apparently the Major General and Andre had broken through here.

   went further, kicked open a hatch, and suddenly became enlightened.

   There is no wooden partition in front, the whole cabin is one big room, and there are big holes in the bulkhead. The ground was full of people in ragged clothes like beggars, and the disgusting smell of sour and rotten smell wafted through the nostrils.

   Major General and Andrei were in the middle of the cabin. The major general's moves are not gorgeous, even a little simple: the left arm is picked and the right arm is stabbed.

   But with the major general's extraordinary physical strength, this simple move is the most efficient killing technique. I saw that the major general used his left-handed saber to pick up the machete that was slashing head-on, and with a stab and twist with his right hand, a pirate screamed and was overturned.

   No one on this ship was the enemy of the Major General. The pirates did not have spears, nor did they know how to strike together, so the Major General forced them to retreat.

  Andre couldn't get a chance to take a shot at the side of the major general. He tried his best to keep up with the pace of the major general and protect the major general from being attacked by multiple pirates at the same time.

   But there are still several pirates who are using the width of the hull to try to get behind Major General and Andrei to outflank them.

   Winters and Budd came just in time. If they were really attacked by the enemy, no matter how good the swordsmanship of Major General and Andrea was. The two were able to rush here. On the one hand, the pirates were shocked by the fierce momentum of the Major General, and on the other hand, the two drove the pirates all the way, so they didn't have to worry about what was behind them.

   Winters roared, attracting the attention of the pirates, and at the same time informed the front two that reinforcements were coming. A few pirates who were still walking behind Major General and Andre heard the sound, abandoned them and rushed towards Winters.

  One-handed swords often have to be equipped with a small shield or a blocking dagger, but this dagger of Winters has no handguards, so it does not have any blocking effect, and it has only a little psychological comfort in his hand.

   However, the pirates who rushed towards Winters saw that he was holding a machete and dagger in full posture, and felt a little uneasy in their hearts, but they still met Winters bravely.

  The origin of the pirate's knife is very simple, that is, the slashing from the upper left to the lower right.

   For Winters, the sailor knife is both his weapon and his shield. The deck was full of scrawny paddlers with no room to dodge, so Winters also hit the opponent with a single-handed shot.

   Only then did he understand the teachings of Instructor Gnar: On the battlefield, infinite strength is more useful than anything else.

  The two machetes collided, how could the pirate be the opponent of a quasi-officer who ate well, drank well, and had been trained for many years, and was directly hit by the blade of Winters.

   Winters instinctively used the skill of the long sword to cut into the center line of the pirates. The cabin was full of paddlers and there was no room for Winters to step forward, so Winters slashed the pirate's right arm with the knife.

  The weapons on the Skua are not well maintained, and the sailor's machete in Winters' hand is not sharp, but that's why it has a stronger bite. After slashing the pirate, Winters ruthlessly dragged the pirate, leaving a bone-deep wound on the pirate's arm.

  The pirate let out a scream, and let go of the knife in his hand, clutching the wound and scrambling back. If it was a sword fight, Winters had a nice two points this round. But this cabin is a battlefield, and a pirate's hand cannot be lost without a pirate's life.

   "Catch them! Let you be the crew!" a voice with a thick Tanirian accent shouted: "Or I'll kill you all!"

   Winters didn't understand who he was talking to, and then he realized that the pirates were coercing the paddlers. He glanced at the poor oarsmen, some of whom dared not meet his gaze and bowed their heads, others with desire and greed in their eyes.

   There were at least thirty rowers in the cabin, and even if only a third were agitated, the four officers in the cabin were in danger.

   Every rower in this cabin is now a potential enemy. Winters also roared back: "The pirates are over! It's not a pirate sit-in! Whoever dares to move and kill!" He and Bud strode over the paddlers sitting on the ground, leaning towards Major General and Andre, trying to get away this area.

   "Don't do it yet! You bastards? Do you want to die?" the Tanirian-accented voice shouted again.

As soon as the    voice fell, Winters felt that someone was dragging his left leg, and Bud was also thrown down by the three paddlers. At this time, another pirate came forward.

   Winters's little pity for the rowers was crushed by anger. He was also fierce, his left forehand turned into a backhand, and stabbed the oarsman who was holding his left leg with a dagger on the neck.

   He reminded himself that this is the battlefield. This time, instead of simply stabbing, he followed the movements of Major General Layton, stabbed and twisted again.

   There was a destructive wound on the neck of the rower that could not be sutured, and the arteries and ligaments were directly pierced and twisted. The oarsman covered his wound in pain and released Winters' left leg.

   Winters regained his freedom, gave half of his body a little, and dodged the straight stab from the pirates. The next action is done by the instinct of swordsmanship, first block with the blade, and deflect the opponent's machete.

   But this time, instead of slashing the opponent's arm, he stabbed into the opponent's soft abdomen. Still a poke, a twist. When the machete was pulled out, the curved edge of the machete opened a larger wound. This knife made the attacking pirates lose their mobility.

   He ignored the pirate whose belly was "broken" and turned to help Bud. By this time Bud had been thrown to the ground by the three paddlers. One of the paddlers tried desperately to break Bud's fingers and take his knife, but Bud held it tight. The oarsman who took the knife couldn't break Bud's fingers, so he had to bite.

   Winters two strode to Bud's side, and stabbed the oarsman's neck hard, killing the oarsman on the spot.

The other two oarsmen and Bud scuffled together. Winters was afraid that he would accidentally injure Bud with the long knife, so he inserted the dagger into the back of the oarsman's neck, smashed his fist, and the dagger fell through the bamboo, which was a clean solution. paddlers.

   He pulled Bud from the ground, and none of the paddlers dared to look at the officer who had killed three people in a row, and all lowered their heads. And no rower was encouraged by the pirates to attack the two.

   Seeing that reinforcements were coming, the major general did not lead Andre to continue to charge forward. The two of them already had several wounds on their bodies, and they were able to rush to this place with momentum. Since there are reinforcements, there is no need to use offense instead of defense, so the major general took Andre to fight and retreat.

   Winters and Bud moved forward, Major General and Andre leaned back, and the four finally merged together and confronted the pirates.

At this time, there was also the sound of swords colliding from behind the pirates. Obviously, the pirates on the deck had also been defeated. The four major generals rushed into the cabin from the stern entrance, and the warrant officers on the deck were from the bow entrance. Breaking into the cabin, now it's the pirates' turn to be caught on both sides.

"Surrender! Otherwise, I will kill you all!" Major General Layton, who seemed possessed by death and could not see the slightest pity and compassion, suddenly opened his mouth to play a propaganda war, but he was ticking his two sharp blades and stained red. The military uniform seems very unconvincing.

"Send an [organ]! Can you live if you drop it?" the pirate like the leader who had just agitated the oarsman shouted in despair: "Surrendering this butcher will kill us all! This butcher is a leader, he will kill us all! Catch him, hold him hostage, and we can live!"

   When the leader said that, he was already crying, kicking the other pirates like a shrew: "Go on! Go! We can live only if we catch him! We can live..."

"Waste! Disgusting!" The major general looked at the pirate leader who was spewing with disgust, and pointed at the man with the tip of his knife: "If you surrender, I will also kill you! Listen to me, I will only kill him. I don't want to die. , then give up the knife and surrender!"

On the    side, Winters, Bud and Andre silently confronted the pirates. On the other side, more and more Warrant Officers jumped out of the ship's hatch. This group of pirates were stuck in the cabin with no way out, and they were already in a desperate situation.

   Winters watched as the pirates looked at me and I looked at you in a daze, as if they wanted to surrender, but no one dared to drop their weapons first.

   "Put down your weapons!" The major general shouted again.

  One, two, three, the pirates dropped their weapons one after another, heralding the end of this short and **** hand-to-hand battle.

On the deck of the    Good Luck, the pirates who had surrendered had their hands tied tightly and knelt down neatly in a row.

  The pirates were surrounded by a group of young warrant officers who had just seen blood for the first time and were eyeing them with swords.

   One after another, the corpses of pirates and dying pirates were dragged out from the deck and the cabin, and they were neatly placed in front of the surrendering pirates.

   Major General Layton sat down on a wooden barrel that was dragged over, and Major Moritz was stitching up his wound with the strength of the wine.

  No one on the boat was so nervous that he dared to sew up the human body with a fish hook, so this person who didn't recognize his six relatives after drinking alcohol could do it for him.

  Although Instructor Gnar said that long swordsmanship is a sport, the swordsmanship class is still somewhat useful from the results. At least the warrant officers know how to avoid being hit in the core area of ​​​​the chest and abdomen.

   The wounded warrant officers were mostly injured in the limbs. If they did not suffer from severe inflammation and fever in the next few days, they could survive. Otherwise, they will die. It all depends on injury, physique and luck.

   Major General Layton was obviously a little impatient waiting. Seeing that all the dead and dying pirates had been dragged out, he picked up his saber and walked to the captured pirates.

   "I'm not talking nonsense with you, you come first." The major general stopped in front of the pirate leader who he said would be killed no matter what when the confrontation in the cabin.

  The pirate who seemed to be the leader buried his head and did not dare to look at the Major General, who put his saber around his neck: "Say, which is the captain?"

   Hearing the Major General's question, the pirate felt that he had found a chance to survive, so he dared to ask: "I said, I said. I confessed to the captain, can Master General spare me not to die?"

   Before he finished speaking, his left rib was pierced by the Major General's sword. He looked at the major general and then at his chest in shock, and the sword cut his heart directly.

After the    sword was drawn, the pirate fell forward as if his soul had been drained. Blood gurgled from under him.

  Rao is that Winters has seen blood today, and he couldn't bear to see the pirate killed, and the ruthlessness of the major general shocked him even more. Fighting in battle is one thing, killing a bound prisoner is another.

   But he said nothing, neither did his classmates. Only the sound of the sea could be heard on the deck, and the young warrant officers were silently observing and learning the ways of the senior officer.

   "There's a lot of nonsense." The major general flicked the blood from his sword in disgust, and asked another pirate next to the pirate who had just died, "Say, which is the captain?"

   There was a bleeding corpse lying beside him. The second named pirate only felt that his crotch was cold, and he was already incontinent. He hurriedly agreed to help identify it and begged for mercy.

   Major General Layton was not in a hurry to let the pirate identify who he was. He grabbed the collar of his clothes with one hand and lifted the pirate up, like catching a chicken.

After letting the pirate see the faces of his accomplices alive, Major General Layton smiled and said to all the pirates: "I will turn you around, and let this waste in my hand point first among you and these corpses. Then I'll mention one more person, and if you're not referring to the same person, die together."

   Winters quickly figured out why the Major General used such a strange method, mostly to let the pirates betray each other and avoid casually referring to a corpse as the captain.

"If the general wants to kill, he will kill, so why make fun of us. My subordinates are not loyal enough to use this method." The voice of indignation came, and Gold couldn't help but stand up: "But you promised us , Surrender to avoid death!"

"Hahaha" Major General laughed even more happily, and looked extremely uncoordinated in this **** scene: "When did I promise you to surrender to avoid death? I just promised that I would not kill you, but my officers did it. I'm fine."

   There was a commotion from the pirates, and Gold stood up angrily, with all kinds of sailor swear words that Winters could not understand.

Major General    threw the pirate in his hand to the ground, strode over, grabbed Gold's hair with one hand, and smashed the hilt ball at Gold's mouth with the other hand.

   Once, twice, three times.

   Everyone on the deck could clearly hear the sound of iron **** hammering flesh and teeth breaking, and even Winters felt a little scared when he heard this sound.

   Winters and Bud looked at each other, Winters felt his stomach churning, and he also saw a trace of fear in Bud's eyes. No one is not afraid of such brutal characters, even if he is his own.

  The crew of the Skua had long since found a quiet place to hide, avoiding such a **** scene.

Major General    gritted his teeth and said, "What are you? Are you worthy of negotiating terms with me?"

The    three hammers were far from enough to relieve the major general, so he slammed the fourth time: "What do I ask, what do you answer!"

  Gold couldn't even speak right now, so he could only nod his head desperately.

   "Why didn't you retreat when you saw the naval flag?"

  Gold opened his mouth, and blood and saliva flowed out incessantly. After being severely beaten by Major General Layton, his teeth and tongue were broken, and he couldn't hear what he was saying at all.

   Major Moritz couldn't stand it any longer. He sighed and proposed a solution: "The general asks you a question, just nod your head and shake your head. Do you understand?"

  Gold nodded desperately again.

   "Listen carefully." Major General Layton paused and asked the question that was haunting everyone on the Skua: "Are you here on purpose for us?"

   Gold nodded heavily after hearing the question.

   I forgot which book I read it in, but I remember it was about the war between Britain and the Afghans in the 19th century. It described a skirmish in which a British officer had a strong sword and was unstoppable in hand-to-hand combat. He even formed a no man's land around him, because no enemy dared to approach him. However, the Afghans at that time were also very good at fighting. After noticing that the high-profile officer had a combined attack of four or five spearmen, the master died.

   Probably, after there is no armor, Zhang Zhi will be irrelevant on the battlefield.

   (end of this chapter)

Chapter end