Chapter 232 - Follow My Order (1/2)

“Stay calm! Hold your ground! Where’s the ammunition? When is the next batch going to be here?” shouted Billy as he shuffled around the deck.

“It’s on the way. It will be here soon, Mr. Billy.”

A short-looking sailor dragged two crates of ammunition while trying his fastest to get to Billy.

“Mr. Billy. Two of our cannons were destroyed, and three of our cannoneers are wounded.”

“Quickly! Get someone to replace them.”

Just as Billy turned around, a cannonball suddenly landed half a meter away from him, penetrating the ship’s hull! The short sailor had taken most of the brunt of the attack. His arm was completely shattered, crushed beyond redemption. The pain he was in caused him to fall to the ground, screaming hysterically for help.

“Quickly send him to Vincent. The rest of us continue with the attack!”

Instantly, two men came over and carried the injured pirate to the doctor. The crew had seen an incident like this far too many times, and thus, none were distracted by it. After all, most of Jackdaw’s recruits were experienced pirates. All that was in addition to the recent violent skirmishes they went through. Even if there was someone new onboard, they should be all grown up by now.

“Damn it! These guys outgun us by a large margin. It would be nice if we had our twenty-four-pound cannons here,” gasped one of the cannoneers while wiping the blood off his face.

“Everyone! Hang in there! We will defeat them and take back our gold!”

The busiest person on Jackdaw right now had to be Vincent. He had once dreamt of becoming a botanist. Right now, he played an essential role on the ship. There were injured lying everywhere in the sickbay. Due to the lack of beds, some had to make do with the tables and the floor. Blood could be seen on every surface of the infirmary, only to be made worse by the screams and howls of decapitated men.

Luckily, Vincent was well-prepared for such a situation. Before they departed to Parrot Island, he had collected some fine sand from the beach and scattered them all over the floor. By doing that, he solved the problem of the bloody, slippery floor. Right after he was done extracting a bullet from a pirate’s arm, the short pirate was carried into the infirmary. Vincent quickly examined his wounds and discovered that the bones in his arm had been completely shattered. Not to mention the flesh hanging off it, the mangled mess was a lost cause. It would have to be amputated right away.

He took out a wooden stick and asked the short pirate to bite on it. Then, he instructed his assistants to hold the man’s limbs down. Vincent then brought out a hacksaw and prepared himself to sever the poor pirate’s arm. Suddenly, he remembered what Zhang Heng told him earlier. It was crucial for him to apply heat to the tools that he used on his patients. Before he carried on, he retrieved the stick from the man’s mouth and fed him some rum.

“Are you ready? I will begin if you are ready.”

On another note, the plan that Zhang Heng, Billy, and the senior officers coined was finally working. The strategy Worden was so proud of was ineffective against Jackdaw. Instead, Jackdaw was the one constantly putting them under the limelight. Until now, Worden still didn’t dare show his face. However, despite the chaos, he remained very calm. Though half of his men were either injured or had died in battle, he had no intention to retreat. That was because Kent’s cannons still had the upper hand in this battle.

This had nothing to do with the courage and skill of his cannoneers. It was simply because Kent had greater firepower than Jackdaw. Jackdaw and Kent were battleships of the same type. Technically, they should be equal in firepower as well. However, Jackdaw now sorely lacked ammunition. Left with no other options, Zhang Heng had to replace all the twenty-four-pound cannons with the twelve-pounders. Thanks to that, they were now significantly weaker than Kent.

In reality, Jackdaw’s cannoneers actually exceeded Worden’s expectations. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that they were equally as potent as the formally-trained Royal Navy.

“If this goes on, we won’t be able to hold up for much longer,” said Billy who sounded very worried.