Chapter 79: Yin-yang Fish
Chen Jiao gave the order as instructed.
Santa Ana turned, brushing the edge of the coral atoll.
At this time, Li Kuiqi had already dashed within fifty paces of Santa Ana.
Lin Qian could see with the naked eye Li Kuiqi standing at the bow, holding the ogre-head saber in one hand and pointing at him, like a vengeful ghost demanding his life, with a terrifying aura.
Lin Qian calmly ordered: “Port side engage the enemy, slight port helm, maintain cannon firing arc.”
In Li Kuiqi’s eyes, he was at most twenty paces from Lin Qian, and could even see his cold expression high on the stern cabin.
Unfortunately, Lin Qian slipped away quickly, and he brushed past Santa Ana.
Li Kuiqi immediately ordered the fleet to turn and pursue closely.
He knew in his heart that this foreigners’ soft-sail sailboat had trouble changing sails, and frequent turns limited its speed, which was his best chance to catch up and board.
Santa Ana and the fleet sailed counterclockwise on the sea surface, constantly vying for the windward position, falling into a yin-yang fish entanglement.
Generally speaking, yin-yang fish entanglement indicates the two ships are evenly matched.
But that was under the premise that both ships had cannons.
And now Li Kuiqi’s fleet could only endure round after round of cannon fire assaults, like an old donkey pulling a millstone, circling around the mill, with that forever unreachable carrot always in sight.
Li Kuiqi’s blazing hot blood gradually cooled and extinguished with each circle of the turning millstone and each round of cannon fire, becoming colder than the rain falling on his body.
He stood tall at the bow, laboriously turning to look back, and behind him… the fleet was left with only half.
If they continued this entanglement, they would sooner or later be blasted into mincemeat by the cannons.
He understood that they could not win this battle.
He said with difficulty: “Pass the order, all ships disperse and seek their own paths to board!”
His subordinates obeyed and relayed it to the ships behind.
Before long, the fleet that had been gathered together gradually dispersed, like a large net enveloping Santa Ana.
Lin Qian saw this, put down the telescope, and ordered: “Head northeast, break through the fleet!”
Chen Jiao loudly relayed the order.
With that, the helmsman righted the helm wheel, and Santa Ana charged straight toward that large net.
Without Li Kuiqi’s flagship commanding, the fleet fell into chaos, and facing the oncoming Santa Ana, they all scattered to avoid it, allowing Santa Ana to plunge straight through.
On the cannon deck, Lei Sanxiang shouted hoarsely: “Both sides engage the enemy, no need for orders, fire the cannons as fast as you can!”
On both sides of Santa Ana’s ship’s rail, enemy ships were everywhere, almost no aiming needed, and the gunners mechanically loaded and fired, loaded and fired…
Santa Ana’s entire hull was shrouded in thick smoke from black powder explosions.
Pirate ships that luckily got close to Santa Ana threw grappling ropes, gripping them tightly with both hands, feet braced against the slippery ship’s rail, and climbed toward the deck.
Most hadn’t even reached the bow when their ropes were cut or they were stabbed by long spears and fell into the sea.
In the end, only five or six pirates luckily boarded, and as soon as they got on deck, before they could even see the layout, they were stabbed into sieves by spears and stilettos as dense as a forest.
After one round of passing with Santa Ana, the fleet had no more courage to close for boarding.
And Li Kuiqi’s flagship had also disappeared.
At this time, Li Kuiqi was ordering his subordinates to head toward the northwest channel of the lagoon.
He knew that once the fleet scattered into individual ships, boarding successfully was impossible; he issued this order only to exchange his brothers’ lives for his own.
While his brothers entangled with Lin Qian, he could pass through the lagoon channel and escape.
His flagship still held the thirty thousand taels of silver robbed from Lin Qian, more than ten muskets, and over twenty subordinates on board.
As long as he escaped, he could rise again with these!
As long as he, Li Kuiqi, was spared a path to live, he would avenge this in the future!
At this time, the wind and rain on the sea grew stronger, and the wind direction suddenly shifted from northwest to southeast.
From headwind to tailwind, the ship speed suddenly increased.
Li Kuiqi gazed at the heavens, letting rainwater drip into his eyes, mixing with tears and flowing down, thinking to himself: “Thieving heavens, you’ve finally treated me well!”
“Elder Brother…” A subordinate pirate’s voice trembled, “That gunboat is catching up…”
“What?” Li Kuiqi turned abruptly and saw Santa Ana’s bow breaking through the waves, heading straight for him.
Li Kuiqi felt his vision blur, unable to believe what he saw was real.
Lin Qian had not been held back at all, almost plunging straight through the ship net and heading directly for him.
Santa Ana was already fast, and now with the perfect tailwind for soft-sail sailing.
Catching up to Li Kuiqi’s flagship was only a matter of time.
Fine beads of sweat formed on Li Kuiqi’s forehead, washed down by the rain into his eyes, stinging painfully.
Ignoring the sweat, he looked toward the northwest again, and far off, indigo sea water was visible—the channel was near.
He reckoned he was extremely familiar with this channel and could pass through at full speed, while Lin Qian would absolutely have to reduce sail and proceed carefully.
In the difference of one fast and one slow, he was fully confident of shaking off the pursuit!
As long as he reached that channel, he could live!
But his flagship’s crew, watching the steadily approaching Santa Ana, felt fear in their hearts like a tsunami overflowing its banks.
They couldn’t fight it, couldn’t outrun it in chase, and couldn’t escape.
These ruthless pirates, for the first time in their lives, tasted the flavor of despair.
“Elder Brother, how about we… surrender…” Finally, someone couldn’t hold out, collapsing on the deck and saying bitterly.
All the pirates thought the same in their hearts, and since someone led, they all boldly spoke up.
“Surrender, I don’t want to die…”
“Elder Brother, we can’t escape, surrender…”
Li Kuiqi cursed angrily: “Bullshit! As long as we reach there, as long as we enter the channel, we can live!”
“Elder Brother, no chance…” A subordinate’s despairing voice came.
Li Kuiqi turned furiously, but before he could speak, he was stunned.
Santa Ana was now only a little over a hundred paces from him, its massive bow brutally parting the waves.
Li Kuiqi could already make out the densely packed crew members on its deck.
While that channel that could let him escape was still at the distant horizon.
Li Kuiqi’s heart sank heavily to the sea bottom.
“Elder Brother! Surrender!”
Li Kuiqi’s gaze slowly swept over the subordinates on the deck; everyone was looking at him with expectation in their eyes.
Li Kuiqi unwillingly raised the ogre-head saber, then hacked at the deck, splitting a large hole in it.
“I, Li Kuiqi, will never surrender!”
At this time, shouts came from Santa Ana: “Surrender and live! Surrender and live! Surrender…”
On the flagship, the pirates hearing this all changed color, everyone looking at Li Kuiqi, and for a moment no one spoke, the atmosphere extremely eerie.
“Surrender and live! Surrender and live! Surrender and live!”
As Santa Ana drew closer, the shouts from it became clearer.
Li Kuiqi’s subordinate pirates silently gripped their blades tightly.
Suddenly, one pirate charged forward with his blade, swinging mercilessly.
In the wind and rain, there was only a loud clang, the blade was knocked flying and fell into the sea.
That pirate was cleaved from chest to upper abdomen, blood surging from the wound, he collapsed on the deck, twitched a few times, and then moved no more.
Li Kuiqi was covered in blood, mixed with rainwater streaming down, like a ferocious asura.
But the other pirates were not only unafraid, they all raised their blades and surrounded him.
Someone shouted as he advanced, the pirates all yelled and followed, like ghostly wails and wolf howls.
In an instant, the bow deck was a whirlwind of blood and flesh, clashing weapons nonstop, roars and screams chilling to the bone.
In the time it takes to burn one stick of incense, Li Kuiqi was severely wounded, a bloody man, propping himself on his blade, half-kneeling softly at the bow, blood pouring endlessly from wounds all over his body.
And around him, there was not a single standing living person.
Thick blood was repeatedly washed by the heavy rain but couldn’t be fully rinsed away, flowing into the sea like streams along the deck seams.
A pirate left with only his upper body dragged his limbs across the deck, his abdominal cavity and intestines soaked in blood, and after a few breaths, he moved no more.
Chen Jiao murmured: “Is this still human?”
At this time, the galleon had sailed to one side of Li Kuiqi’s flagship, the two ships separated by only twenty paces.
On Santa Ana, all the crew members stood at the ship’s rail, quietly watching this scene.
Lin Qian had thought the pirates would swarm him and Li Kuiqi would surely die, but he hadn’t expected him to be so valiant; sensing trouble, he asked Chen Jiao in a low voice: “Are there any usable matchlock guns?”
Chen Jiao went to ask on the deck, and all the crew members shook their heads; this sudden downpour had made all the matchlock guns damp and flooded, unusable until the barrels and touch-holes were completely dried.
At this moment, Li Kuiqi slowly rose propping himself on his blade; as he exerted force, blood overflowed more from the wounds around him, but he was oblivious, staggering into the cabin.
Moments later, he staggered to the cabin door, holding a torch aloft.
In Li Kuiqi’s vision, heaven and earth had turned dark red; his eyes fixed deadly on the galleon, on Lin Qian.
A towering hatred surged in his heart.
He, Li Kuiqi, had made his name at thirteen, with unmatched brute strength, countless souls under his ogre-head blade, dominating the Min-Yue seas for over ten years, always smooth sailing without defeat.
With his talent, he considered himself a hero of his generation, destined for unparalleled achievements.
Lin Qian, in his eyes, was just an unknown nobody; why should he lose so pathetically?
Lin Qian, on what basis did he defeat him, Li Kuiqi?
To lose just like this, to float dead in the sea like a dead fish—he was unwilling!
Two streams of blood tears flowed from his eyes.
He had seen plenty of those leaders and ship masters acting pathetically before death.
With things at this point, he knew lamenting was useless and resolved to emulate the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, to die at least spectacularly!
“Lin Qian! Cough cough cough…” As soon as Li Kuiqi spoke, large amounts of bloody water surged from his mouth, making him cough repeatedly.
At this time Chen Jiao returned to Lin Qian’s side and said: “Helmsman, there are still a few dry matchlock guns in the gunpowder room; I’ve sent men to fetch them.”
Li Kuiqi continued to roar hoarsely: “Lin Qian, this old man refuses to accept it! Cough cough cough… This old man below…”
“Bang!”
A gunshot rang out from the cannon deck.
A burst of blood exploded from Li Kuiqi’s chest, his remaining words stuck in his throat, and his mountain-like body crashed backward.
Lei Sanxiang’s mocking voice came from the cannon deck: “You son of a bitch! What the hell are you croaking about!”
