A Ship Broke Through Graystone Port's Blockade

Seven ships sealed off the channel, their cannons trained on the grain ship.

Grayfin's first mate stood at the front, with two fishing boats tied beneath his feet. More than a dozen fishermen aboard them had been forced to raise white cloths.

"Hand over Su Hang!"

Lorne lowered his spyglass, his voice heavy.

"If this drags on for half a day, grain prices in Graystone Port will rise."

"Those ships won't dare follow us, and the nearby trade routes will be cut off too."

Su Hang swept his gaze over the channel.

"Since they claim I fled with sixty million, let everyone watch me leave."

"How?"

"Copy out the inventory results of the private treasury and hang them all along both sides of the ship."

"Write down the seals of all three parties, the keeper of the lighthouse key, and where the funds are stored."

Lorne immediately summoned the sailors.

Half a quarter-hour later, notices stamped with the seals of the merchant association and patrol unit hung down from the ship's sides.

The most conspicuous one contained only a single sentence—The private treasury's assets remain at the western lighthouse. Su Hang did not take a single Beli.

Grayfin's first mate raised an amplified Den Den Mushi.

"You think a few scraps of paper can fool anyone?"

"By the time you leave port, the money in that lighthouse will already be gone!"

Su Hang took another Den Den Mushi.

"Thorne, can you hear me?"

Aboard the patrol warship, Thorne stood at the bow.

"Speak."

"Send two Marines aboard."

"Inspect the cargo hold, lower deck, and personnel however you like."

"Supervise us all the way to Greenleaf Island. If you find even one crate of private treasury assets, seize the ship immediately."

Thorne did not agree at once.

"You're asking the Navy to prove your innocence?"

"Or you can keep watching defeated soldiers block the channel with Navy cannons."

Standard light cannons were plainly visible aboard those four ships whose identification numbers had been removed.

Thorne stared for several breaths, then raised his hand and selected two men.

"Board the ship and supervise."

"You are only responsible for inspections. You will not escort them."

"That is enough."

The two Marines boarded with seals and publicly opened the lower hold.

Grain, medicine, and ship repair materials were inspected one by one. Even the waterproof bag containing the sea chart was only checked through its outer layer.

Grayfin's first mate's face darkened, and he immediately ordered the fishing boats moved.

The two small boats were dragged into the center of the channel, more than a dozen fishermen crammed together on their decks.

Armed ships hid behind them, cannon muzzles extending through the gaps between the fishing boats.

"Come ram us if you've got the nerve!"

He seized an old fisherman's hair and shoved him toward the bow.

"If you dare fire, they'll die first."

"If you dare ram us, these fishing boats will all be smashed to pieces!"

Qi Hai examined the buoys on the water.

"There are reefs on the left. The water is deep enough on the right, but they've blocked it with those two fishing boats."

"If we force the turn, the stern will hit the dock."

Lorne spoke quietly.

"Stopping won't work either."

"The merchant ships following us have already begun lowering their sails."

Su Hang looked at the half-filled side sail.

"When will the next gust come?"

Qi Hai grabbed a wet strip of cloth and observed it in the wind.

"About fifteen breaths."

"The wind will cut into the harbor from the southwest. No telling how long it will last."

"Long enough for one impact."

Lorne planted a hand against the railing.

"This grain ship's bow has been repaired three times!"

"If we really ram an armed ship, the keel will crack first."

"Even if we survive, the grain won't reach Greenleaf Island."

"Then the keel can't take the full impact."

Su Hang untied the bandage around his right arm. Bloody fluid still seeped from the burn.

"Qi Hai, take the helm."

"Raise the side sail fully. When the wind comes, turn half-right."

"Don't hit the fishing boats. Hit the port side of the armed ship behind them."

"The angle is too narrow."

"I'll make room for you."

Su Hang climbed into the bow cable locker.

Inside were heaps of thick rope, spare anchor chains, and two crossbeams.

Qi Hai followed two steps in, then immediately understood.

"You want to use your body in place of the shock-absorbing cables?"

"Tie one to each bow crossbeam."

"Then secure my waist to the main beam."

"Your injuries haven't healed."

"If the impact goes beyond the limit and the crossbeams don't break, you'll be torn apart first."

Su Hang grabbed two cables. His arms stretched out to either side, winding around the crossbeams layer by layer.

"Then don't miss."

Qi Hai did not try to dissuade him again. He turned and rushed onto the deck.

"Everyone, listen up!"

"All nonessential personnel below deck! Reinforce the grain sacks!"

"Reef the left sail halfway! Raise the right sail fully!"

"Bow sailors, fall back behind the mainmast!"

Seeing the grain ship raise its sails, Grayfin's first mate's laughter rang across the harbor.

"They really dare ram us!"

"Drag the fishing boats farther forward!"

The winch turned, pulling the two fishing boats sideways several feet.

The fishermen slipped on the deck. Some fell beside the gunwales, and the old ropes binding the boats creaked under the strain.

Su Hang's right hand shot out from the cable locker, skimming over the water for more than ten meters.

His fingers clamped onto the mooring line of the fishing boat on the left.

"Hold the main beam!"

Inside the cable locker, two sailors clung desperately to the support post.

Su Hang violently drew back his arm. The fishing boat's bow was yanked aside, sliding with the current toward the outside of the grain ship.

Grayfin's first mate roared.

"Cut off his hand!"

A pirate's saber came slashing down.

Su Hang released his grip first. His rubber arm snapped back over the water, and the blade cut only their own towing rope.

Freed from the towline, the fishing boat was pushed aside by the harbor current, opening the first gap.

"The wind is here!"

Qi Hai bellowed.

"Raise the side sail fully! Half-right on the helm!"

The southwest wind surged into the harbor.

The sails boomed full, and the grain ship tilted right.

Its lowered bow split the waves, its speed suddenly surging as it charged straight for the armed ship's port side.

The smile vanished from Grayfin's first mate's face.

"Fire!"

"Sink it!"

Two light cannons were lit.

Qi Hai slammed the helm, and the grain ship veered again.

The first cannonball grazed the mainmast and punched through an empty sail.

The second struck the bow's outer planking, blasting wood chips into the cable locker.

The next instant, the two ships collided!

Boom!

The bow caved inward.

The crossbeams bent at the same time, and the rubber arms wrapped around them stretched several times their length.

The rope around Su Hang's waist bit deeply into his flesh. He slammed into the main beam, but his stretched body absorbed the impact layer by layer.

The grain ship's keel gave a deep groan, but it did not break.

A huge gap was torn open in the armed ship's port side instead.

The vessel slid sideways, its stern scraping past the outside of the second fishing boat and tearing apart every rope binding the ships together.

The two fishing boats drifted away with the current. Not one capsized.

Seizing the brief moment of parallel movement after the impact, Qi Hai gripped his blade and leaped over the broken rail.

"Naval-standard artillery has been illegally diverted! Everyone aboard, drop your weapons!"

Grayfin's first mate charged at him with his saber raised.

"You've already been expelled from the Navy, and you still dare meddle in my business?"

Qi Hai sidestepped the blade, pinned the man's wrist with his scabbard, and drove his knee brutally into his stomach.

As Grayfin's first mate doubled over, the back of his neck took another blow from the sword hilt, dropping him face-first into the pooled water.

"Even after being expelled, I still know how to disarm someone."

Three pirates tried to ignite a crate of gunpowder.

Qi Hai kicked up a broken rope and tangled it around one man's ankle. He snatched a blade with his backhand and chopped the torch into the sea.

The sailors aboard the grain ship threw grappling hooks as well, more than a dozen men hauling tight at once.

The damaged armed ship was firmly pinned to the grain ship's side and could no longer turn its cannons.

Thorne finally gave the order.

"Patrol warship, advance! Seal the outer harbor!"

The patrol warship cut across the channel.

Its cannons trained on Grayfin's three ships as Marines raised arrest warrants bearing the joint inspection seal.

"Grayfin's remnants colluded with deserters from a branch, hijacked fishing boats, and attacked a supervised merchant ship."

"Discard your weapons immediately! Those who resist will be treated as pirates under current regulations!"

The remaining two pirate ships tried to flee, but the five merchant ships behind them raised their sails at once, blocking the turning waters.

Grayfin's pirates threw down their weapons one after another.

Thorne boarded the damaged grain ship and first looked to the two supervising Marines.

"The inspection results?"

"No private treasury assets."

"All cargo aboard matches the merchant convoy's manifest."

Outside the ship, the notices hanging from the railings still flapped in the wind.

When the watching merchants looked again at the words "fled with the funds," no one spoke in agreement anymore.

Su Hang climbed out of the damaged cable locker, his arms covered in rope marks and the wound on his right shoulder split open again.

He lifted a foot and kicked the dented bow.

Lorne's eyelid twitched wildly.

"Bow repairs, replacing the side planks, reinforcing the mainmast—it'll cost at least a hundred thousand Beli."

"Other people pay when they ram ships."

Su Hang looked toward the opened channel.

"What I rammed open was a trade route."

The first merchant ship raised its escort signal flag.

Then the second and third ships followed in succession.

The five ships fell back into formation behind the grain ship, all their prows facing Greenleaf Island.

Lorne took out the long-term contract he had drafted long ago, signed his name before all the merchants in the port, then handed the pen to Su Hang.

"The Morning Bell Caravan will provide the ships, and repair costs will be deducted in installments."

"You will be responsible for route security. The fee rules will be public, and refugee ships will only be charged at cost."

Su Hang pressed down his fingerprint.

Lorne put away the contract and looked at the fresh ram marks on the bow.

"From today onward, this ship accepts your escort contract."