ATPnovel Chapter 80 Burn the Old Ship, Find a New Path
Chapter 80 Burn the Old Ship, Find a New Path
"What?" Matteo thought he had misheard.
"I said, aim at that British ship!" Isabella's voice suddenly rose, carrying a hint of desperate resolve. "Shoot its mast! Use your best aim to break it!"
Matteo was stunned, but seeing Isabella's determined look, he no longer hesitated.
He and several other crew members rushed to the stern cannon and, under the astonished gazes of the rebels, quickly adjusted the angle of the cannon muzzle.
"boom!"
A deafening bang, more muffled than any of the previous shots.
A six-pound iron ball, trailing an arc, struck precisely the foremast of the "Vigilant".
With a piercing snapping sound, the secondary mast with the triangular sail broke in the middle, and together with the sail ropes and canvas, it crashed down heavily onto the deck.
All the British soldiers on HMS Vigilant were stunned.
Captain Davis's cigar fell onto the deck.
He couldn't believe his eyes.
That pirate ship, which was currently embroiled in internal strife and was considered its prey, actually dared to open fire on a Royal Navy warship flying the Union Jack!
This is a blatant disregard for the British Empire's maritime hegemony!
"Fire!!!" Davis's face was contorted with rage as he drew his command sword and pointed it at the "Viper," which was now in complete chaos.
"Smash it to pieces! Everyone! Open fire! I'm going to feed every single piece of trash on this ship to the sharks!"
Upon receiving the order, the port side of the "Vigilant" instantly spewed forth angry tongues of fire.
A death storm of more than a dozen shells poured down on the "Viper".
Juan and his rebel army were completely stunned.
Before they could even recover from Isabella's shocking cannon shot, they found themselves the sole recipient of the British wrath.
Wood chips flew everywhere, and screams of agony rose and fell.
The first salvo cleared a large area of the Viper's deck.
The rebels cried out, some trying to jump into the sea to escape, others trying to hide in the cabin, but more shells followed.
They became Isabella's best shield, drawing fire from her.
Taking advantage of the brief moment, Isabella made a gesture to her confidants.
A rope, which had been prepared beforehand, was quietly lowered from the stern of the boat.
The "Sea Dragon," disguised as a merchant ship, had somehow gotten close to the rear of the "Viper" and entered the "Vigilant's" blind spot.
Isabella, with her last ten loyal crew members, slid silently, one by one, down the ropes onto the deck of the Sea Dragon.
The whole process was clean and efficient, without making a single unnecessary sound.
Captain Davis of the "Vigilance" was focused on how to send that audacious "Mad Dog" to the bottom of the sea in the most efficient way.
He didn't even notice that in this one-sided massacre, a few small fish had quietly slipped away.
The first thing Isabella did upon stepping onto the deck of the Sea Dragon was to walk straight up to Seamus.
She didn't say anything, she just extended her hand.
Seamus glanced at her and handed her a Charville rifle from his back.
Isabella took the rifle, inspected it skillfully, and then walked to the bow of the ship.
She stood there, silently gazing into the distance.
Amidst the fierce gunfire of the British Navy, HMS Viper, her former pride, was slowly disintegrating.
The mainmast was snapped in half, and the ship burst into flames, billowing black smoke.
She could even see Juan and his traitorous men running desperately on the deck, only to be torn to shreds by the whistling shells.
The sea breeze ruffled her long hair, and her face remained expressionless.
Seamus walked up to her and, in his usual emotionless tone, relayed a sentence.
"Mr. Li told me to tell you: Let the king's soldiers do the dirty work of cleaning house. Clean ships and clean profits await you in Boston."
Isabella listened and remained silent for a moment.
She handed the rifle back to Seamus.
"Thanks."
She only said that one word.
An hour later, the Viper, laden with weapons, the corpses of traitors, and what the British considered the "glory" of pirates, slowly sank into the deep blue sea.
The "Vigilant" launched several small boats and pulled several barely alive prisoners from the sea, including "Bloody Hand" Juan, whose legs had been broken by a section of a broken mast.
They won a great victory.
Captain Davis had already figured out how to write this report for his superiors once he returned to Boston.
He will describe how he bravely encountered two groups of vicious pirates and, after a fierce battle, successfully prevented them from joining forces and sank one of their ships, thus clearing a major threat to His Majesty's North American shipping routes.
As for the merchant ship that was "passing by," it had already disappeared above the horizon while they were cleaning up the battlefield.
No one would pay attention to an inconspicuous cargo ship.
……
Inside the cabin of the "Sea Dragon," Isabella was carefully wiping her blood-stained dagger with a clean cloth.
Her ten men were wolfing down hot soup and bread.
Seamus came in and placed a wooden box in front of her.
Mr. Li said this is a prepayment for the first shipping fee.
Isabella opened the box.
It doesn't contain gold coins or silver pounds.
Instead, it was a box of well-maintained, gleaming French-made Chalville rifles.
Twenty in total.
The sea breeze carried the last charred plank that had surfaced when the Viper sank into the distance.
Isabella stood at the bow of the "Sea Dragon," the waves crashing against the hull, the cold spray hitting her face.
Her flagship, the pride she won from the old captain, the ship that carried her from an unknown nobody to the Queen of the Caribbean, vanished into the unfathomable depths of the ocean.
Her heroic spirit should have sunk with that ship, but at this moment there was no ripple, instead there was a sense of relief that the plan had come to fruition.
Three days ago, in that damp hotel in Fort-de-France, a dead carrier pigeon landed by sheer coincidence on her windowsill.
The letter was delivered by someone sent by Fiona, but its contents came from the Easterner who was far away in Boston.
The letter contained only a few words, yet it accurately pointed out the rebellion Juan was about to launch, even specifying the exact location and time of his meeting with "Broken Bones" Barlow.
At the end of the letter was an unbelievable plan, using an Eastern idiom called "the cicada shedding its shell."