Chapter 5 Chapter 2 Light Cruiser Giant Sword ①-2

In the artillery group, a 24-pound cannon broke away. It was probably the most horrific accident at sea.This is what warships sailing on the sea are most afraid of. A cannon, breaking its cable, suddenly becomes a strange, supernatural beast.The machine becomes a monster.Running on its wheels, the gigantic creature dashed back and forth like a billiard ball, heaving and swaying with the pitching and rolling of the ship, coming and going, stopping, as if meditating, and then running again, swaying from side to side like a sharp sword. The boat rushes from one end to the other, spins, dodges, flees, uprights, collides, burrows, strangles, annihilates.It is like a ram hitting a wall, and the ram is iron and the wall is wood.Matter is completely free, and the eternal slave seems to be taking revenge.What we call an inanimate object seems suddenly to have vented all its evil within, and it loses patience and takes a grotesque vengeance.The wrath of the inanimate is the most merciless.Leaping like a leopard, heavy as an elephant, nimble as a mouse, determined as an axe, unexpected as a swell, sudden as lightning, deaf as a grave, this furious colossus leaped like a panther.It's heavy, but it bounces around like a toy ball.It suddenly made a ninety-degree turn.what to do?How to control it?The storm will stop, the hurricane will pass, the sea breeze will die down, the broken mast can be replaced, the intake hole can be plugged, the fire can be put out, but what to do with this big and fierce copper thing?What to do with it?You can make a dog obedient, a cow terrified, a boa constrictor bewildered, a tiger frightened, a lion soft-hearted, but you have no way to deal with this demon, this cannon that breaks free from its chains.You can't kill it because it's dead, but it's alive and its sinister life is infinite.There is a floor under it, and the ship pitches the floor, the sea pitches the ship, and the wind pitches the sea.This Exterminator is again a toy, manipulated by boats, waves, and wind, so that its life is horrific.What do you do with this machine?How can it be prevented from coming and going, circling, stopping and bumping?Every blow to the shell plating may

①Latin, meaning war machine. --The original editor's note broke it.How can one judge its frightful weaving?It looks like a cannonball that is very assertive, but changes its mind and changes direction from time to time.How can one avoid what must be avoided?The frightful cannon runs, forwards, backwards, slams to the right, slams to the left, flees quickly, and catches one off guard; it smashes obstacles and crushes men like flies.The wobble of the floor made the situation very critical.How to subdue a wayward, sloping floor?There seemed to be a thunderbolt shutting in the belly of the ship, and it tried to escape every now and then, as if thunder were rolling over an earthquake.

In an instant, the entire crew stood up.The responsibility for the accident lies with the gunner of the gun. He did not tighten the nuts that fixed the iron chain, nor did he fasten the four wheels of the cannon. Therefore, there was a gap between the base plate and the smoke rack, and the two bases were inconsistent with each other. Finally, The sling came loose, the wire snapped, and the cannon lost its balance on the carriage.There was no fixed gun cable to prevent the gun barrel from retreating at the time.A wave hit the port, and the loose cannon receded, broke its chains, and began to wander terribly in the middle compartment.

To get an idea of ​​what this weird sliding looks like, imagine a drop of water rolling across glass. When the chain broke, the gunners were all in his team, some gathered together, some in twos and threes, all busy building fortifications and preparing for battle.The earth slid back and forth, punching a hole in the group, crushing four of them at once, and then slid side to side, splitting the fifth wretch in half, and hitting the port string, throwing the other A cannon crashed.It was at this time that the cry for help was heard.People flocked to the stairs, and for a moment the smoke room was empty.

Cannon was alone now and had nothing to worry about.It is its own master and the master of this boat, and can do whatever it wants.The crew, who talked and laughed even in the midst of battle, were shaking.The atmosphere of terror is indescribable. The Minister Boisbertlot and the first mate Lavieuxville, two brave men, also stopped at the landing, looking pale, silent, and hesitantly toward the middle cabin.Then a man elbowed them away and went down the stairs. This was their passenger, the farmer, whom they had just been talking about. He came down the stairs and stopped. Cannons roamed back and forth in the mid-deck, like living chariots in the apocalypse.lantern

① Latin, can be translated as: violence and people. --Editor's note Shaking under the bow of the gun room, making the scene even more bizarre and dizzying.During the violent running, the shape of the cannon faded, sometimes it appeared dark in the light, and sometimes it reflected hazy white in the darkness. It continues to execute the ship.It had already shattered the other four doors, and knocked two large gaps in the hull plating. Fortunately, they were above the waterline, but if there was a strong wind, sea water would pour in.The cannon rammed wildly against the ship's ribs, which were strong enough to bear it because of the special solidity of bent wood.Yet it ripped under the hammer of the club.The big stick seems to have a surprising avatar technique, hitting in all directions at the same time.Shake a buckshot in a bottle, and the impact would not be so wild and so swift.The four wheels rolled over the crushed man, crushing the corpse, crushing it to pieces, crushing it to pieces, five corpses turned into twenty amputated limbs, rolling in the battery.The dead man's head seemed to be crying, and the blood flowed on the ground in a zigzag as the boat swung from side to side.The pole was damaged in many places and began to crack.The whole ship was filled with this terrible noise.

The captain quickly calmed down and ordered everyone to drop everything that could mitigate and stop the violent impact from the square hatch to the middle cabin: mattresses, hammocks, spare sails, coiled cables, seaman's duffel bags, and False refers to the package of coupon ①.There are many such packages on board, because the British regard this shameless business as a decent thing. But what can these crap do?No one dared to go down and put them where they should be.After a few minutes, they were crushed to pieces. The waves were not too big or too small, just to make the accident cause the greatest harm.If only there had been a storm, it might have overturned the cannon, and when it was on all fours it could have been subdued.However, by now the damage was getting worse.Embedded in the keel frame, the mast from the bottom to the deck looks like a thick round pillar, but it is scratched and even cracked.Under the convulsive impact of the smoke, the foremast was cracked and the mainmast was damaged.The artillery group fell apart, and out of the thirty cannons, ten were rendered useless.There were more and more cracks in the hull plating, and the boat began to take in water.

After getting down to the middle cabin, the old man stood at the bottom of the stairs like a stone man, looking at the ruins with stern eyes.He was motionless and seemed unable to take a step in the battery. Every movement of the unleashed cannon wrecked the ship.Shipwreck was imminent. This catastrophe must be stopped immediately, or perish.Must act decisively, but easier said than done? ①Securities popular in France from 1789 to 1797, later used as currency. This land is a veritable warrior! This dreadful madman must be stopped. This lightning must be caught. This thunderbolt must be struck down.

Bois Berthelot said to La Vieuxville: "Do you believe in God, knight?" La Vieuxville replied: "Believe it. Don't believe it. Sometimes." "During the storm?" "Yes, there are moments like this." "Indeed, only God can save us." The people were silent, letting the big hugs rush forward. The turbulent waves beating the hull and the impact of the cannon should be combined internally and externally, like two sledgehammers beating in turn. Suddenly, on this inaccessible field, haphazardly rammed by cannons, a man appeared with an iron rod in his hand.He is the perpetrator of this catastrophe, the gunner and master of the cannon.His negligence caused the accident.He wanted to make amends for what had happened, and with the crowbar in one hand and the slipknot in the other, he jumped through the square hatch.

Then a cruel thing happened, an unusual scene.A cannon strikes its gunner with physical and intellectual combat, a duel of things and men. The man was standing in the corner holding the iron rod and the rope, with his back leaning against the rib of the boat, and his legs were as steady as two steel pillars.His face was pale, calm and tragic, and he stood motionless, waiting for his moment. He waited for the cannon to roll past him. The gunner was familiar with his cannon, and it seemed it should be familiar with him.They have lived together for a long time.He has put his hand into its mouth countless times.This is the monster he is familiar with.He talks to it like he talks to his own dog.

"Come on," he said, and maybe he really loved it. He seemed to want it to roll over. However, to roll over is to pounce.Then he is finished.How to avoid being crushed to death is a difficult problem.Everyone watched in horror. Everyone held their breath, except maybe the old man, who stood in the middle cabin with the two fighters and was a witness to the fight. He himself may have been crushed by the cannon.He didn't move. Below them, blind waves command the battle. The gunner accepted this terrible hand-to-hand combat and challenged the cannon, but at this very moment the erratic fluctuations of the sea held the cannon at rest, as if frightened. "Come on!" said the gunner.The cannon seemed to hear it. It rushed at him suddenly.He out of the way. The battle begins.Bizarre battle.The vulnerable man competes with the invincible cannon.Flesh and steel duel.One side is strength, the other side is soul. All this was going on in the gloom, like a vague miracle. soul.Oddly enough, the cannon seemed to have a mind too, a mind full of hatred and anger.The eye monster has eyes too, and it's spying, and it's scheming, or so it seems.It's spying on opportunities.This is a giant iron bird, but it has ulterior motives, or seems to have ulterior motives.Sometimes the gigantic locust bumped against the low ceiling of the battery cell, then fell down again, on all fours, like a tiger on all fours, and continued the pursuit.And he, nimble and agile as a snake, wriggled deftly under the thunderbolt attack to avoid blows.He avoided the blow, but the hull continued to take damage under impact. A small piece of chain remained on the cannon.It somehow got tangled up on the screw of the breech-bolt button.One end of the chain was fixed to the gun carriage, the other was suspended in the air, and it whirled wildly around the cannon, making it jump even more violently.The screw is like a hand, tightly attached to the iron chain, so hitting and whipping, iron fist and iron whip.Around the cannon was a frightening whirlwind.This chain complicates the battle. However, the man was still fighting.Sometimes it's even him who is attacking.He crawled along the hull plating with a crowbar and rope.Cannon seemed to understand, saw through the trick, and ran away.The man bravely chased after him. Can't go on any longer.Cannon seemed to think, "Okay! It's time to end!" and stopped.The end is near.The cannon was suspended, and seemed to be brewing - for it was alive in all eyes - a murderous thought.Suddenly it sprang at his hand, and the gunner dodged aside to let it pass, and shouted, laughing, "Again!" The stone balls fired from the slingshot rushed to the right, and his hands were out of the way, but three cannons fell down.Now, as if blind, the cannon, not knowing what it was doing, with its back to the gunner, dashed from behind to forward, smashing the stile and driving a crack in the bow wall.The gunner hid under the stairs, only a few steps away from the old man who had witnessed all this.He held a crowbar.The cannon seemed to see him, backed away without turning, and fell straight at him, as swift as an axe.The gunner was forced to the plank, and there was no doubt that he would die.Everyone on the boat exclaimed. The old man who had been standing still rushed over at this moment, faster than the brutal impact.He seized a packet of forged coupons, and at the risk of being crushed to death, threw the packet between the wheels of the cannon.This is a critical and dangerous action, but he did it neatly and precisely, even for those who are familiar with all the contents of Roser's "Sea Cannon Operating Instructions", it is difficult to do it. That little bag acts as a cushion.A pebble can stop a big thing, a branch can stop an avalanche.The cannon staggered.The gunner grabbed the ghastly thing and thrust the lawn between the spokes of the rear wheel.The cannon stopped. The cannon tilted.He pried it over with an iron rod.The heavy cannon was on all fours, tinkling like a bell toppled, and the sweaty gunner rushed forward desperately, and slipped the noose of the rudder rope to the bronze neck of the overturned monster. it's over.Man wins.Ants triumph over behemoths.Paulo captures Thunder. Soldiers and sailors applauded. The whole crew rushed up with cables and chains, and in a short while the cannon was fastened firmly. The gunner thanked the passenger. "Sir, you saved my life," he said. The old man recovered his indifferent expression and did not answer.