Martial Arts Across the Heavens: Becoming a Martial God Starting from the Big Boss in Tangshan

The sea breeze carries a salty, damp scent.

The Blood Flag was quietly hidden in the shadow of several huge black reefs.

Chen Wen stood in the wheelhouse, his gaze calm.

Yan Zhendong stood to the side, his face pale.

They've been at sea for a while now, but this guy still hasn't adapted to life at sea and is still seasick.

Fortunately, being a martial artist, his physical condition was good enough that he didn't collapse.

Toothpick Sue stood by, quite at ease, and placed a black square box in front of Chen Wen.

Strange hissing sounds were coming from inside, along with bursts of shouting.

"Captain, your binoculars are amazing!"

A crackling sound of electricity emanated from the box, followed by Lin Shirong's low voice, tinged with obvious excitement:

"Captain, your binoculars are so clear! You can even see the scars on the faces of those people on the other ship!"

Liang Kuan's voice also squeezed in:

"Yes! We've seen the foreigners' telescopes before, but they're nothing compared to this! Before, if we were far away, we could only wave flags and guess! Now, with this black box, we can hear everything clearly!"

Lin Shirong added:

"This thing is amazing. It makes naval warfare so much easier."

Yan Zhendong frowned and said to the black box:

"Don't just be happy, be careful not to reveal your whereabouts."

Chen Wen picked up the walkie-talkie and smiled:

"Don't worry, Master Yan. In this day and age, no one has been born yet who can eavesdrop on our conversations."

As he said this, his smile faded and his tone turned serious.

"All ships, take cover and await my orders. Do not fire without my command."

Their current ambush location is in the waterway outside Black Sand Island, commonly known as the Gate of Hell.

The underwater area is riddled with reefs, and the currents are turbulent and chaotic.

It was the usual route for pirates to return to their lair after looting.

The Blood Flag, as the main ship, was positioned at the front, while Lin Shirong and Liang Kuan commanded another large ship to hide behind the reefs on the flank.

Xie Si led the people in sampans and small boats, scattering and hiding among the scattered reefs and crevices.

Yan Zhendong suffers from severe seasickness, and Yacha Su is not good at fighting, so they both stayed with Chen Wen.

The Blood Flag Army's core fighting force consisted of only a little over a hundred people; the civilians who followed them were not yet able to fight and were all placed in the rear.

The scout reports back.

A pirate fleet, having successfully plundered the area, is heading this way.

It won't be long.

The brother who was looking out made a hand gesture.

Chen Wen raised his binoculars.

In the telescope, three or four pirate ships with tattered black sails appeared on the distant horizon, heading this way.

At the bow of the lead ship stood a lean man.

He was one of the leaders under Cheung Po Tsai, nicknamed Flying Ape.

The pirates clearly considered this dangerous waterway their territory and were completely unprepared. The fleet slowly sailed into the narrowest part of the waterway.

"That's about it."

Chen Wen put down his binoculars and picked up the walkie-talkie.

"Attention all ships, proceed as planned!"

The Blood Flag's sails rose, and it burst forth from behind the reef, blocking the waterway head-on.

A commotion immediately broke out on the pirate ship.

Someone exclaimed:

"Is it a foreign ship? No, I don't recognize the flag!"

The Flying Ape was startled at first, but quickly regained its composure and shouted sharply:

"What's the panic! Even if it really is a foreign ship, there's only one! Grab your weapons and prepare for battle!"

Before he finished speaking, Lin Shirong and Liang Kuan's large ship suddenly appeared among the rocks to his side and behind.

Almost simultaneously, in the surrounding reefs, which were like the gates of hell.

More than a dozen sampans and small boats of various sizes emerged at the same time. Although these boats were simple, they were densely packed together, vaguely forming an encirclement.

"Oh no! There really is an ambush!"

"What should we do, boss?"

The pirates were now truly panicked and all looked at the flying ape.

The Flying Ape was also taken aback, but he managed to maintain his composure and roared:

"Shut up, all of you! We're the pirates everyone fears!"

"Screw it! Hold on! Wait until they get closer, into our firing range, then give them a good thrashing..."

boom!

Before he could finish speaking, he was suddenly interrupted by a deafening cannon blast.

The Blood Flag ship shuddered violently, and thick smoke billowed from the gun barrels on its sides.

Almost simultaneously, the large ship on the flank also roared.

The shells, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, traced a low, flat trajectory and struck the base of the Flying Ape flagship's thick mainmast with perfect accuracy.

The sawdust mixed with sparks suddenly exploded.

Click!

The massive mast suddenly swayed and then collapsed with a crash!

The sails and ropes swept across the deck like giant whips, and immediately a chorus of screams and wails erupted.

Several pirates were smashed into mincemeat on the spot, and others were swept into the sea.

Chaos erupted instantly on the pirate ship, with cries of agony filling the air.

"What's going on?!"

"How come their cannons... can they be so far away?! And so accurate?!"

"This is outrageous!"

They weren't ordinary pirates; they were Zhang Baozai's men!

One of the eight major leaders, an elite force personally led by Flying Ape!

Pirates, who had long dealt with foreign merchant ships and navies, were very familiar with the range of cannons.

At this distance, even the longest-range cannon on their ship couldn't reach the enemy.

But the enemy's artillery fire had already hit them squarely on the head!

That's not right at all!

the other side.

On the side of the auxiliary ship, Liang Kuan was half-crouched behind a cannon, squinting one eye, his cheek pressed against the cannon barrel.

Above the cannon barrel, a newly installed simple iron sight gleamed coldly in the sunlight.

He had a thin booklet spread out beside him, containing diagrams and simple annotations drawn by Chen Wen himself.

Lin Shirong squatted down beside him, grinning, his heart itching with envy.

"Hey! The captain's method is amazing!"

"Liang Kuan, step aside, let me have a go!"

Liang Kuan didn't even turn his head, his attention was entirely on the crosshair and the target, and he joked:

"You? Forget it, Rong-ge. You can't even read. You'll just waste ammunition if you aim wrong."

"The captain said that this trick of 'three points in a line' is so precise that even a slight error can lead to a huge mistake."

"I learned it! I learned it seriously!" Lin Shirong said defiantly, pointing to the front sight and the rear sight at the front of the gun.

"Isn't it just using this little iron point, aiming at this iron ring in front, and then looping it over the crooked mast of the pirate ship? Let me try it, just one shot!"

These cannons were hastily modified by Chen Wen in the limited time he had after occupying the small town.

Limited by the blacksmith's shop, he could not significantly improve the cannon itself, but only added the simplest aiming device to the barrel.

And all gunners were forced to learn the most basic three-point aiming method.

It's just this seemingly insignificant change.

However, it made the bombardment, which originally had a very low hit rate and relied almost entirely on luck and experience, more accurate.

The previous situation where it was difficult to hit the target even once out of ten shots has been changed to one hit out of every three shots.

At this time.

Amidst extreme panic, the remaining pirate ships on the opposite side managed to fire a few old, makeshift cannons.

Thud! Thud!

Several muffled thuds were heard, and dark iron balls or stone projectiles were launched, but they were far from reaching the Blood Flag.

It sank helplessly into the sea halfway there, splashing up a few small sprays of water.

The pirates were completely devastated.

One ship was sinking rapidly, and the remaining two were also badly damaged, with the decks littered with the dead and wounded, and cries of agony filling the air.

A pirate lay paralyzed in a pool of blood, staring blankly at the two ships firing their cannons with pinpoint accuracy, muttering in a daze:

"It's the invincible fleet... Legend has it that the Westerners' invincible fleet is attacking..."

The flying ape clung to the broken ship's side, its face deathly pale, its mind a complete mess.

He had certainly heard the legend of the invincible fleet of foreigners, but it wasn't like he had never seen a foreign ship before.

Even the United States, which claims to be the first empire, doesn't have cannons that accurate!

Who exactly is on the other side?!