"Move, move, move, let's go check the front."
Song Heping led Jiang Feng toward the bow of the ship.
They quickly arrived beside the sandbags piled up by the crew, crouching at the front left of the deck.
In the distance, the vast sea stretched out, with two small black dots bobbing up and down amidst the waves.
This was Song Heping's first encounter with pirates.
Raising his binoculars toward the black dots, he saw they were two small boats, about five or six meters in length.
The one in the lead was a fast boat with a blue and white hull that seemed to be made of fiberglass steel material, and the slightly slower one behind it was a wooden-hulled boat with a canopy on top, looking like a fishing vessel.
Cargo ships generally travel at speeds of around ten knots, and can reach up to about 20 knots at full throttle, but they are slow as snails in front of those high-powered motorboats.
So if you're targeted, you generally can't escape, unless there are armed security personnel on board; otherwise, the crew has to rely on makeshift methods like Molotov cocktails or firehoses to fend them off.
Big ships are high, speedboats are low, and to board and rob a ship, pirates need to climb up the gangway ladder.
Pirates are most vulnerable when climbing the gangway ladder, which is also the key to victory or defeat.
Thus, the crew usually takes this opportunity to attack the pirates, hoping to make them fall and give up boarding.
However, there are very few successful cases.
Because pirates have guns, and some even have RPG rocket launchers. Although they are mostly old AK series firearms that lack maintenance and often jam, a gun is still a gun. The crew might attack their boarding comrades, but then they'd just shoot up the ship.
Untrained in military tactics, the crew's psychological defenses usually collapse quickly under a hail of bullets, leading them to give up resistance.
Most of the time, the captain would organize the crew to hide in the ship's safe room, which is stocked with water and food to last several days. All they can do is pray that the pirates will choose to leave on their own after looting the ship's valuables.
"Around 600 meters away."
Song Heping quickly estimated the distance, then turned his head to Jiang Feng and asked, "You do it or me?"
Captain Edmund, who had come up to watch the excitement, said, "Shouldn't we wait for them to get closer before shooting?"
Jiang Feng ignored the captain's words and instead asked Song Heping with a smile, "Old squad leader, 600 meters, are you going to shoot them with an AKM?"
Song Heping replied, "It's not impossible. Haven't you tried it in the army?"
Jiang Feng's PKM machine gun had an effective range of 1000 meters, which was very suitable for attacking large targets and groups at around 600 meters.
But upon hearing Song Heping dare to claim he could hit targets around 600 meters with an AKM assault rifle, his curiosity was piqued.
Before joining the company, he had heard that the company was owned by a Chinese boss who had served in the military, was pretty badass, and quite legendary in the mercenary circles of Baghdad, turning a small team into a large Defense Company with several hundred employees in just one year.
After meeting Song Heping and due to various factors, he didn't inquire further, but now that the opportunity had arisen, Jiang Feng did not hold back and said, "Old squad leader, then you do it."
Of course, Song Heping saw through the small curiosity in Jiang Feng's mind. Wasn't it just to see his own strength? This was very common in the PLA. To be a leader in any unit, you had to be respected by your subordinates, all the more so in elite units.
To earn the respect of the soldiers, you had to have a particular skill set, solid military qualities, and be able to impress everyone with your actions, then everyone would give you a thumbs up and serve you willingly.
If you were a weakling, no one would respect you, no matter if you had a higher military rank; they would look down on you from the bottom of their hearts.
Song Heping pointed to the distant black dots and said, "It's less than 600 meters now, I have the advantage."
Jiang Feng eyeballed the distance.
Indeed, it was less than 600 meters now. During their conversation, the two fast boats had gotten considerably closer.
Now it was just over 500 meters.
But he still thought Song Heping was boasting.
Shooting 400 meters on land wasn't a problem, but on a ship, hitting a human target at 400 meters distance was already considered skillful, let alone 500 meters.
"No problem, I just want to see the old squad leader's skills," said Jiang Feng.
"Then watch closely, you greenhorn," said Song Heping as he knelt down with his AKM assault rifle resting on the sandbags, quickly switched off the safety, and chambered a round.
His AKM assault rifle was equipped with a scope, and although it was only 3x magnification, it had a very comfortable field of view.
Pop, pop, pop—
Song Heping let off a burst of fire.
After this burst, everyone stretched their necks to look toward the distant boats.
Edmund, who had binoculars at the ready, hurriedly took them up to enjoy the show.
The leading blue and white fiberglass speedboat was hit near the bow by the machine gun fire, causing small fragments to spray and scaring the pirates into lying flat.
Song Heping shook his head regretfully.
The cargo ship was frantically speeding along, creating a bit of instability, and his first burst had missed its mark.
He looked down at his rifle, feeling quite surprised.
Jiang Feng started to laugh, "Old squad leader, you're not up to it! Let me take over!"
Having said that, he was about to make a burst fire with his machine gun.
Song Heping stopped him with a hand, "Wait, I have a problem with my gun, the scope has shifted."
This AKM assault rifle was fitted with a modified dovetail slot scope mount, and one issue with this kind of mount is that it's easily displaced by bumps.
Song Heping felt that it must have been jolted out of alignment in the past few days, as the point of impact was low based on his last shots.