CHAPTER 311: CHAPTER 222: TOO LATE TO DODGE_2

"Lord, let’s retreat! Let’s retreat now!" He had just climbed up from the stern of the customs ship when a petty leader among the Hundred Heads water thieves called out to him anxiously. Judging by the sound of his voice, it seemed like he was about to burst into tears at any moment.

Mizuno Shichiro felt the same way for a moment. This guy wasn’t particularly high-ranking, but he was an old pirate—he liked randomly killing people to instill fear when raiding merchant ships, frequently raped the female passengers, and was known as a tough guy among the Hundred Heads thieves. But now, even his lips were trembling. If not shocked senseless, he’d at least lost any will to fight.

If this had been the past, Mizuno Shichiro would probably have cut him down on the spot to set an example, just in case he shook the morale of the men. But now he could fully understand the feeling, so he comforted him out of instinct: "Don’t panic. The enemy’s ’Golden Ship’ is very clumsy—if we break contact, they won’t catch us. Go send the signal now, tell everyone to stop attacking the enemy’s..."

He felt that, though they couldn’t win, getting away in an orderly retreat shouldn’t be a problem. The Chita was incredibly heavy and couldn’t possibly outrun them. The other Wanjin Navy ships were few, so blocking them all was impossible.

"No, Lord, look over there!" The old pirate had lost his cool, too, no longer caring about the difference in rank. He directly interrupted and grabbed him, turning him to face the direction of Shimoda Port. Over there, countless sails dotted the horizon—a fleet of merchant ships had already seized the moment, charging straight at them while they and the Chita were entangled, everyone’s speed slowed. You could even see the merchant ships’ decks packed with armed sailors, shouting feverishly and ready for boarding combat.

Mizuno Shichiro’s eyes nearly popped out with rage.

Normally, he wouldn’t have given a damn about these merchant ships. He had dozens of ways to deal with them—with pirates versus regular sailors, even one-on-one, the sailors had no chance. But now, there’s a "sea fortress" among them, Wanjin Navy on both flanks—in a way, they were surrounded. If this fleet of merchant ships launched a charge with the wind behind them, everything would descend into a chaotic melee...

The merchant ships wouldn’t escape unscathed—a few hundred people would surely be lost—but the Satomi Navy would be finished. More than half would be left behind.

But it was too late to run. In order to attack the Chita from the rear, Mizuno Shichiro and the Hundred Heads gang had positioned themselves downwind. They successfully blocked the Chita and began fighting. All the tall sails—which are easily damaged—had been taken down. Now, these merchant ships were coming with sails unfurled, rowing for their lives, charging like mad dogs. There was no way to escape, nowhere to hide, just wait for the crash.

In a way, it was like they’d dug a pit and buried themselves in it.

Or rather, now the Chita and the Wanjin Navy were the "anvil," the merchant convoy was the iron hammer, and they were the chunk of pig iron about to get hammered again and again.

A veteran pirate like Mizuno Shichiro only needed a glance to know that the Satomi Navy was doomed. The light in his eyes went out; now even his lips started to tremble. "Pass the order! Retreat! Full retreat! Whoever can run—run for your life!"

......

The Battle of Izu lasted less than two hours before it was over. Most of the time, both sides just maneuvered in circles, testing their seamanship, but the pursuit lasted for a whole day and night. In the end the battle turned into a chaotic free-for-all—Wanjin merchant ships, shouting "Rescue Lord Yehua," slammed right into the Satomi Navy. Dozens of ships erupted in brutal boarding brawls. Luckily, the Satomi Navy had already been stunned by the Wanjin Navy; their will to fight was shattered—far more trying to escape than actually fighting—so the Wanjin merchant ships won almost across the board.

That said, it was impossible in this era to completely blockade the sea. Even after suffering heavy losses, over sixty Satomi ships managed to escape through desperate flight.

The Wanjin Navy, naturally, didn’t waste a chance to beat the enemy while they were down, and the Wanjin merchants went on a rampage, dumping another round of heavy cargo, using both sail and oars to give chase. They pursued the enemy from the Izu Sea Area all the way into Edo Bay, nearly wiping out all the enemy’s Anzai Ships and Customs Ships—big ships simply couldn’t outrun the Wanjin’s small kobaya vessels. If a kobaya caught up and damaged the oars and sails, the big ships were doomed to be surrounded and finished off by the Wanjin people.

The kobaya vessels did just that: chase down the big enemy ships, use an iron cannon volley to wreck the oars and sails, then move on to the next target, repeating this over and over. That’s why the only Satomi ships to escape into Edo Bay were almost all kobaya. The Anzai Ships and Customs Ships were coastal vessels—with nowhere to run on the open sea, all they could do was flee to their home base, but most of them never made it back.

In a way, the Satomi Navy was done for—at least until they could build a new batch of Anzai Ships and Customs Ships, they no longer had the ability to fight head-on.

Even worse, their manpower loss was massive. The pirates serving on the Anzai and Customs Ships were the ones who couldn’t escape—about half were killed, the rest captured. Their future was to be sent back to Wanjin for hard labor. If their crimes allowed for "reform," they’d get it; if not, they’d do the most dangerous jobs until they died.

Yeah, during the pursuit, the Chita was basically useless, just trailing behind the main fleet with other damaged vessels, acting as a giant weight, constantly picking up prisoners, and running interrogations on the side.

And as soon as they started questioning, they uncovered a mountain of crimes: looting merchant ships, indiscriminate killing, robbery, extortion, and rape—too many to count. Pirates are just pirates—maybe comics and movies like to romanticize them, making piracy look cool, but in reality, real pirates are no better than animals wearing human skin.

Some of their crimes were stomach-churning, even for Harano, an experienced modern man. So naturally, he stripped these pirates of any prisoner-of-war status and treated them as murderers, robbers, and rapists.

According to Wanjin law, committing any of those three crimes meant a lifetime of hard labor—a kind of garbage recycling, making use of trash.

That pirate boss Mizuno Shichiro got no special treatment either. Even with samurai status and as the Family Head of the Mizuno Family, it didn’t earn him a single favor.

After all, even ignoring his responsibility for the Satomi pirates, he was a piece of shit himself. The things he’d done to female travelers who couldn’t pay—especially to some mothers and daughters—were so disgusting, Harano couldn’t even put them into words. You couldn’t get away with writing stuff like that in a novel.

So, when Ah Man, acting as part-time military judge, had him strung up on the bow of the ship for public shaming, Harano just pretended not to see it.

You talk about human rights with people; you ensure basic rights for humans. But with animals like this, applying those standards just means you’ve lost your mind.

And so, after sailing for a day and a night, the Chita came into Edo Bay with the infamous Mizuno Shichiro strung up on its bow, heading straight for the Satomi Navy’s main base at Hundred Heads City.