Laplaisir turned toward the bell tower and roared, "You coward! They'll burn down the town, and our children will starve to death in Lisbon!" Apinto glanced at him, continued waving the white flag, and switched to English. "Surrender, we surrender..."
The militia, already in utter disarray, saw that even the esteemed councilman had surrendered, and their last shred of will to resist instantly crumbled. One after another, they threw down their weapons and fell to their knees. "Damn it, we can't admit defeat!" Laplaisir cried anxiously. "Think of those refugee farmers!"
Only the refugee hunters and a handful of townspeople remained gathered around him, at most a hundred or so. They continued loading and firing. Just then, a child barely in his teens came running over, panting as he shouted at Laplaisir, "Bat-Battalion Commander, there are lots of Englishmen over on Red Bamboo Stone Street!"
Laplaisir's head immediately buzzed.
Red Bamboo Stone Street lay south of the church. That meant the Englishmen had formed a pincer around them.
The sword he had been holding slowly drooped.
There was no point anymore.
Even if they all died here, they still could not save the town.
If they kept a breath in their bodies, they could still protect their families on the road to Lisbon. Though they would most likely starve to death in the end...
"Listen, everyone." He raised a hand to signal the militia. "Put down your—"
Before he could finish, a neat volley of gunfire suddenly rang out from the north side.
At once, the Englishmen began to panic. They left only thirty or forty men to continue confronting Laplaisir's group while all the other soldiers turned and formed ranks. "Could people from Rue Town have arrived?"
Laplaisir immediately shook his head. That kind of volley just now was