The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 215

When the target fleet was all within firing range, Yun Jin did not immediately order to fire. Instead, she ordered her ship to move closer to the dozens of pirate ships.

When they were very close, close enough that the enemy could see the muzzle of their cannons, Yun Jin decisively ordered them to open fire at maximum power.

In the past two months, another sixty or seventy mother-and-child cannons have been transported from Suzhou Prefecture. Including the previous ones, the Xuanwu Army now has more than one hundred mother-and-child cannons. Under Yun Jin's special adjustment, Wang Xiong and his men are now facing at least sixty cannons.

When Wang Xiong saw shells whistling towards him, he realized something was terribly wrong, but it was too late.

Wang Xiong and his pirate crew were completely unaware that the Xuanwu Army was not pirates at all, so they never imagined that the Xuanwu Army's ships would have cannons. In addition, Yun Jin's deliberate concealment meant that by the time Wang Xiong and his men saw the cannon muzzles, the distance between the two sides was already extremely close, less than a hundred meters.

The effective range of the mother-daughter cannon can even reach about 800 meters.

At such close range, coupled with the extremely close proximity and density of the enemy's dozens of ships, the gunners in the Xuanwu Army could hit them even with their eyes closed.

The reason it's called a mother-and-child cannon is because it consists of a child cannon and a mother cannon. After firing one shot, the child cannon can be directly replaced to achieve continuous firing.

Although its single-shot power may not be as great as the Red Cannon, its ability to sustain combat is unmatched by the Red Cannon.

More than sixty cannons fired directly at the pirate ships, and the first salvo alone sank several pirate ships, while the others were also severely damaged.

Although Wang Xiong's ship was not sunk immediately, it was teetering on the brink of collapse. Looking at the enemy ship so close at hand, he realized that he had been careless. It was too late to retreat now, as turning around would take time, and the effective range of the cannons was very long.

Trying to get out of artillery range before the ship is sunk is simply wishful thinking.

"Full speed ahead, board the enemy ship, and engage in hand-to-hand combat."

Wang Xiong roared.

However, his voice could not be heard amidst the cannon fire. He hurriedly snatched the flag from the flag bearer and began to direct the warships to advance at full speed toward the Xuanwu Army.

The remaining dozens of warships also realized that fleeing was not a wise move. They thought that if they charged together, they might still have a chance to survive, so they charged forward despite the fierce cannon fire.

Even with the mother-and-child cannons, it takes time to replace the child cannons, and they cannot fire indefinitely. The Xuanwu Army only managed to fire four salvos, which destroyed nearly half of the pirate ships. The remaining half of the pirate ships, although badly damaged, still managed to wobble and make their way to the front.

The pirates on the ship began to climb aboard.

The Xuanwu soldiers, who had been idle on the ship, suddenly became alert and began firing indiscriminately with their flintlock muskets.

In an instant, the screams of the pirates filled the air as those who tried to climb aboard the treasure ship were shot dead.

The seawater near the treasure ship quickly turned blood red.

The treasure ship was much taller than ordinary ships, and the pirates were shot dead before they could even climb aboard.

However, the other looted merchant ships were not as large as the treasure ship, and the pirates quickly boarded them amidst the chaos.

The pirates finally managed to climb onto the ship, only to be dumbfounded when they saw the heavily armed Xuanwu Army soldiers on board.

The Xuanwu Army, however, showed no mercy to them and began to slaughter them with their swords drawn.

They preferred to kill with knives rather than flintlock muskets.

The Xuanwu Army members each performed their duties: some were in charge of cannons, specifically targeting and bombarding ships that tried to escape; others were responsible for shooting pirates trying to board the ships with flintlock muskets; and the Xuanwu Army members on the smaller boats engaged in close combat.