Chapter 237: Chapter 222: Nighttime Ship Guns Fireworks


    The pirates’ celebratory sounds drowned out the soldiers’ response, and all the pirates were still immersed in the joy of celebration.


    Bang!


    A sudden gunshot stopped all the natives in their tracks, as if time had stopped for a few seconds.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    The soldiers of the Guards were not going to give the pirates time to react. Seeing that some of them were in a state of shock, they immediately opened fire.


    Fortunately, the soldiers’ regr training was very effective, and with the pirates suddenly taken aback, they inadvertently became true stationary targets.


    “Protect all citizens!” The toon leadermanded, leading all the soldiers to gradually approach the bound Austrsians.


    “Is it our military? Thank God, thank His Majesty!” Hearing the familiar voice and seeing the familiar military, the captured Austrsians were overjoyed and began to fervently thank God and Arthur.


    On the other hand, the pirates were not doing so well.


    The training of the Guards’ soldiers wasn’t for nothing, as each of them had to fire dozens of bullets every day.


    While they couldn’t guarantee that each of them was a sharpshooter, at least most of them could hit their targets.


    Although there may be deviations, real firearms were not toys. Any hit could lead to severe injuries, let alone incapacitation; even their lives might not be safe.


    “We are the soldiers of the First Guards Infantry Division, ordered by His Majesty to rescue you. You are safe now!” The toon leader ordered the soldiers to untie the bound people while smiling and talking to them.


    “Thank His Majesty, long live His Majesty!”


    Every rescued Austrsian rejoiced.


    “Is everyone here? Any missing person?” The toon leader inquired.


    “We’re all here, sir. Those damn natives were nning to execute us after today’s celebration. You came just in time, or else we would have been meeting God soon,” said the leader among the hostages.


    “Rest assured, you are safe now. Outside the ind, our fleet and more troops are there. The government and His Majesty are deeply concerned about this matter, ordering the deployment of troops to eliminate all pirates,” the toon leaderforted.


    For those people who actually faced life and death, what they needed to do now was to try tofort them and help them out of the shadows as soon as possible.


    Since all the hostages were here, the toon leader was relieved andmanded the soldiers, “Everyone, lead them to the coastline and let them board the warships first.”


    These pirates couldn’t escape on the ind, and the most important task at present was to protect the lives of these people.


    Naturally, the safest ce was on the warships, where there were fleets and many troops to protect them, and the pirates could not pose any threat to the fleet.


    Off the ind, hearing the gunshots on the ind, Minister Kent immediately ordered all soldiers to take action.


    Though the pirates on the small inds hadn’t attacked Austrsia, could they guarantee that they posed no threat?


    The best way to protect citizens was to eliminate all people or forces that could potentially threaten them. Naturally, these pirates were one of the targets.


    Of course, Minister Kent would not go so far as to use soldiers to attack these inds forcefully. Who could guarantee that all these pirates were a mob?


    Any additional casualties among the soldiers were unnecessary in Minister Kent’s view.


    Although the warships of Austrsia were mostly small and medium-sized, their ship guns had a range of several kilometers, so it was enough to bombard the inds around them.


    Before this operation, Minister Kent had all the warships carry enough ammunition for the bombardment of the inds.


    Of course, thergest ind still required the dispatch of troops tond. After all, not only were there captured Austrsian citizens on the ind, but also Guards soldiers who had infiltrated the ind.


    Minister Kent’s expression became somewhat grave, as the gunfire on the indsted for a while before it mostly ceased.


    This meant there were two possibilities: either the Guards had sessfullypleted their mission, or for some reason, they were forced to stop firing.


    If it was thetter, it would be somewhat unfriendly for Minister Kent at this point.


    But Minister Kent was still willing to believe in the abilities of the Guards soldiers, who were the absolute elites of the British Empire Army. After arriving in Austrsia, they underwent long-term training, participated in arge number ofprehensive training with German experts and soldiers, and hadbat capabilities no worse than those of the German elites.


    Minister Kent also disembarked, following the soldiers tond on the ind.


    After more than ten minutes, the Guards soldiers met with Minister Kent, and the news they brought relieved him. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Since all the Austrsian citizens had been sessfully rescued, Minister Kent had no further concerns and ordered everyone to board the warships to use the ship guns to bomb all the inds indiscriminately until most of the shells were expended.


    The bombardmentsted half an hour, with each ind receiving at least forty shells from the Austrsian fleet.


    Thergest ind suffered the worst, bing the primary target of the fleet. After enduring over a hundred shells, the appearance of therge ind waspletely altered.


    Due to it being night, the actual situation on the ind could not be clearly seen. However, if it were daytime, Minister Kent would be able to see that the once lush ind had turned into a yellow-ck wastnd, with the ind shrouded in clouds of smoke from gunpowder.


    The soldiers were ordered to carry at least three hand grenades, a weapon for attacking fortified positions manufactured by the Austrsia Royal Military Factory. The grenades were filled with gunpowder, steel balls, and scrap iron, having a st range of only 1-2 meters but an injury range of more than ten meters.


    In fact, hand grenades had already been in existence for hundreds of years but became somewhat less useful due to the development of firearms.


    As the lethal range of firearms increased and the poprity of machine guns grew, this manually thrown weapon was not widely adopted by military forces around the world.


    It was during the two world wars that hand grenades reappeared in the equipment orders of various countries. To deal with therge number of enemy trenches and concentrated charges, the hand grenade, with its wide range of lethal effects, became highly valued by countries all over the world.


    Naturally, Arthur would not wait until hand grenades were widely regarded by the world to start manufacturing them.


    At present, the hand grenade production in Austrsia has initially taken shape, and the Royal Military Factory has two types of hand grenades: the stick grenade and the egg-shaped grenade.


    Due to the small poption of Austrsia, even each trained soldier was extremely precious.


    The soldiers were unfamiliar with the terrain and environment of the inds, which could potentially lead to ambushes by pirates.


    In this situation, hand grenades became an excellent weapon for siege, capable of causing significant damage to the enemy in areas whererge artillery could not cover.


    Although it might consume more military funding, it was better than causing unnecessary casualties.


    Under Minister Kent’s leadership, the soldiers re-armed themselves and set out tond on the ind once again.