North Sea Fleet, Gold Hidden Bay, Armada, Morente City...
Everyone present was taken aback by Malek's proposal, the meeting room was silent, everyone was frowning and thinking, or you looked at me, I looked at you, no one made a sound. And Lorist also frowned, and began to think carefully.
Malek's proposal was really unexpected. Even Lorist never thought of using the North Sea Fleet to destroy the Armada in Gold Bay before landing in Morente City. It's not that Lorist's vision and thinking are faulty, it's mainly because the Armada of the Commercial Alliance has a great reputation and has never been defeated since its establishment a hundred years ago.
Originally, the business alliance established this fleet and named it the Alliance Fleet, mainly to prevent pirates from attacking Morente City and protect the safety of the Golden Bay. Then it gradually evolved into protecting the safety of the maritime trade routes along the golden coastline of the sunny sea area in the southern part of the Galintia continent, eliminating pirates along the way, and cracking down on and suppressing the development of maritime fleets by coastal countries to snatch trade routes. Thirty years later, this fleet was hailed as the Armada because it had never lost a single battle at sea.
After the civil war in the Krissen Empire, the merchants of the Chamber of Commerce believed that there were no enemies and asked to reduce the armed forces of the Commercial Alliance. They reduced the city defense force and the cost of armaments, but when they wanted to reduce the size of the Armada , but was suppressed by the seven giants in charge of the business alliance. Because the Seven Giants understand very well that it is enough to temporarily recruit when there is no city defense army, but reducing the size of the Armada means that the business alliance will lose a lot of influence on the coastal countries along the golden coastline of the Sunshine Sea of the mainland. .
Is it possible for the North Sea Fleet to destroy the Armada? A question mark appeared in Lorist's heart. Sambawood declared that the North Sea Fleet was invincible, and Lorist also thought so, but the main purpose of saying this was to enhance the honor and self-confidence of the fleet personnel. The premise of the so-called invincibility is that the size of the enemy fleet facing the North Sea Fleet should not exceed two or three times, so that the power of the bronze artillery equipped by the North Sea Fleet can be maximized.
However, the Invincible Fleet of the Commercial Alliance is different. After more than a hundred years of development, this fleet has a large enough scale, rich maritime combat experience, and countless elite soldiers. When Lorist was studying in Morente City for ten years, he heard many stories about the Armada defeating the enemy and destroying the pirates. In his heart, he never thought of taking the initiative to attack the Armada.
how to say? The purpose of Lorist's establishment of the North Sea Fleet is to ensure the safety of the shipping routes along the cursed coastline in the northern seas, to become the overlord of the northern seas, to protect the safety of Hilovas Island, Hanea Bada Islands, and the surrounding seas of the Shayslan Kingdom. The family's commercial interests in these islands. He never thought of competing with the Business Alliance for the golden coastline in the southern Sunshine Sea, and being an enemy of the Armada.
This is not because Lorist is unambitious or short-sighted, but because Galintia is a huge continent, and what can be reached by sea can also be reached on land, it is nothing more than a matter of time spent. Even if Lorist is really invincible by investing heavily in the sea fleet and monopolizing the entire sea area around the continent, the business alliance can still use its huge commercial influence to make coastal countries prohibit trading with the Norton family's sea caravan.
This is not the Earth in Lorist's previous life, there are countless islands in the Seven Continents. The continent of Galintia is a large piece, surrounded by a few islands. It is impossible to deal with a coastal country with sea power, because you cannot block the country's external traffic. When the coastal country cuts off the supply of the fleet, unless the pirates go to plunder, you can only switch to the coastal country for supplies. And after being a pirate once, all coastal countries will treat you as a pirate. The fleet will no longer be able to find a supply point, but will attract attacks wherever it appears.
Developing the family's sea power without sufficient income is equivalent to throwing golden coins into the water. At that time, Lorist was soberly aware of this and decided to reorganize the huge maritime army, reorganize the North Sea Fleet, and only protect the family's maritime interests. There was a tacit understanding with the Chicod Chamber of Commerce in the business alliance to divide the sea into two. The ones go to the Chickard Chamber of Commerce, and the ones in the north go to the Nortons.
The southern waters are calm and sunny. The northern sea area is full of dark winds and rough waves. From a military point of view, the North Sea Fleet of the Norton family and the Armada of the Merchant Alliance represent the two extremes of the development of the maritime fleet. The North Sea Fleet focuses on mobility and strong long-range attack power. The Armada, on the other hand, used its numbers and superior forces to conduct close combat on board to achieve victory in sea combat.
The Armada will not enter the northern seas, because the warships they have are not suitable for sailing in rough sea conditions. And the North Sea Fleet will not easily enter the southern waters. First, the sea conditions are unclear, and second, it has no intention of offending the Chicod Chamber of Commerce, which dominates the southern seas. The only meeting point between the two parties is that the Chicod Chamber of Commerce and the Peterson Chamber of Commerce of the Business Alliance send fleets to Hilovas Island every year to purchase a large amount of spices and daily necessities.
In a sense, these two chambers of commerce just regard the Norton family as a procurement channel for purchases. But since the Kingdom of Antinak began to attack and recover several provinces occupied by the business alliance three years ago, the two chambers of commerce have never sent fleets to trade. After all, the Norton family is still the main force of the attack this time, and the Vicia Chamber of Commerce, one of the seven giants of the business alliance, has perished, and the business alliance has officially become an enemy without declaring war.
The North Sea Fleet has sixteen main lightning strike warships, which are warships equipped with bronze artillery, then twenty-eight large armed warships, fifty-six medium-sized armed fast schooners, and twenty-six small armed patrol boats, divided into Two squadrons and an archipelago patrol fleet. The two squadrons also each have a merchant fleet consisting of more than 20 ocean-going merchant ships. This is because the North Sea Fleet is also responsible for the task of transporting living materials, trading commodities and spices to the Haneyabad Islands and the Shayslan Kingdom. Every year, the two squadrons escort merchant ships to the two archipelagos.
After a serious calculation, the Beihai Fleet only has 16 lightning strike warships that truly have combat capabilities, and the rest of the large and medium-sized armed warships are just transport ships. Just like this time, Lorist brought the Rock Legion back to the north from Hilovas Island by sea. In the event of a naval battle, the missions of these warships would only be to transport supplies, rescue the wounded and take care of prisoners, etc., instead of rushing to the forefront like the sixteen lightning strike warships.
However, compared with the Armada of the Commercial Alliance, the number of warships in the North Sea Fleet is too thin. If the Armada does not enter the northern waters, the North Sea Fleet can still show off its might. But now the North Sea Fleet is going to the Golden Bay to take the initiative to attack the Armada, and cooperate with the family armed forces to attack Morente City, which is their home field. Thinking about the huge scale and overwhelming number of warships owned by the Armada, Loris The more I thought about it, the more I felt unsure.
"Tager, please introduce the situation of the Armada of the Commercial Alliance to everyone first. Genorio, go to the archives to check the records of Xinying's summons. When will your father arrive in Bear City to participate in the New Year's celebration?" Lorist opened his mouth.
"Yes, Your Highness." Genorio opened the door and left.
Tager found the information about the Armada from the business alliance from a large stack of files, and began to read to everyone: "The Armada has been established for 136 years. More than 20 merchant ships have developed into the current four squadrons, with more than 1,000 armed warships and large and small merchant ships. The sphere of influence extends from the Tibetan Gold Bay to the southernmost tip of the mainland. It is the most important transportation and armed force of the commercial alliance. .
The full strength of the Armada is 43,000, the rest are hired sailors and crew. The Business Alliance allocates two million Goldfords each year to maintain the operation of the Armada Fleet. At the same time, the Armada Fleet undertakes the transportation of materials from the Business Alliance to the coastal countries on the golden coastline of the Sunshine Sea. In this process, the Armada Fleet will get another one-fifth of the profit. It is used by the fleet. In addition, the Armada is also responsible for combating pirates in the southern seas and suppressing the sea fleets formed by coastal countries along the golden coastline of the sunny seas. Once, merchant fleets formed by nobles from two coastal countries encountered pirates at sea, and none of the men and ships were suspected to be the work of the Armada, but no evidence could be found.
Dominating the Armada is the Chicod Chamber of Commerce, one of the seven giants of the business alliance. They account for 40% of the revenue of the Armada, and the remaining six giants each account for 10%. The Chicod Chamber of Commerce claims to be the overlord of the southern waters. In addition to its dominant position in the Armada, this Chamber of Commerce also owns the Chamber of Commerce's armed fleet and several merchant fleets. It is said that one of the four ships sailing in the southern seas belonged to the Chicod Chamber of Commerce. It can be said that they almost ruled the shipping and trade routes in the entire southern seas.
The Armada is divided into four squadrons, and each fleet has two castle-shaped giant ships. This giant ship is named Seppnim, which means the castle of the sea god. In fact, a Seppnium is indeed a mobile castle at sea, because it can carry up to 3,000 sea stormtroopers. Once entangled by a Seppnium, it means the end of the battle and the occupation of the battleship. However, although the Sepnim battleship is huge, it does not move fast. This is also the main reason why opponents turned around and ran away as soon as they saw the shadow of Sepnim in countless naval battles.
In addition to the two Seppnim, each squadron also has more than 50 large ocean-going armed warships and medium-sized armed fast warships, as well as nearly a hundred small fast ramming warships. This kind of small fast ramming warship is the executor of the main tactics of the Armada. Their bows have sharp spear-like metal rams. In naval battles, the flexibility and speed of these small warships are used to ram into the enemy ship and slow down. The speed of the enemy ship, when Sepnim approaches, the enemy ship can only surrender or resist in the end or be occupied.
Sometimes these small ramming warships will also become fireships, using sails and water flow to launch fire attacks on enemy ships, as long as they are hit by these small ramming warships, the enemy ships will not be able to escape. The warships surrounded and attacked all enemies. This is also the bait tactic that Armada is good at using. Those small collision warships are the bait they use.
Each squadron of the Armada has 10,000 regular fleet armed personnel, which is included in the establishment. If the hired sailors and crew members of the merchant fleet are added, the number of each squadron can reach 20,000 to 20,000. More than 30,000 people. Every three months, a squadron of the Armada will sail to the southern waters, and at the same time, a squadron will return. But there will always be a garrison squadron left in the Golden Bay, and this squadron will send more than ten large, medium and small armed warships to patrol the surrounding sea area... "
kindness? Lorist was stunned: "Tager, what do you mean to say that not all of the Armada Fleet stays in the Golden Bay, but at most two squadrons, and the other two squadrons will be in the southern waters?"
Tager shook his head: "Your Highness, what I just said is just the normal situation of the Armada in peacetime. Now the Commercial Alliance and our Antinak Kingdom are at war, and the Commercial Alliance is continuously mobilizing reinforcements from the southern provinces. The reinforcements were quickly transported to Morente City by sea, and now the audio communication between Morante City and our side is cut off, and we are currently unable to obtain detailed information about the Armada from Morente City. However, it is speculated that transporting so many If the reinforcements from the south are sent to the city of Morente, the Armada will definitely participate in it.”
Lorist nodded and was about to speak when Genorio pushed the door open and came in to report: "Your Highness, I have checked the records of Xinying's summons, and Lord Sambawood, the admiral of the North Sea Fleet, sailed from Hilovas Island five days ago. You will be able to reach Beihai City the day after tomorrow, and you will be able to reach Bear City in three days."
Lorist smiled and stroked Genorio's hair: "Silly boy, that's your father, why did you say it so formally."
Genorio said unconvinced: "Your Highness, we are now discussing official business. What you said cannot be dismissed for personal reasons."
"Hehe..." Lorist laughed, scratched his hair again, and said to the people in the meeting room: "Come here first today, keep your mouth tight, the decision on whether to send troops to reinforce His Majesty Think about it for a few more days. There is also the strategy proposed by Malek to attack Morente City by sea. I will discuss it after Sambawood arrives and see if the North Sea Fleet has the ability to make a decision. That's it."
Three days later, Semba Wood, who had rushed to Raging Bear City in a heavy snowstorm, had no time to clean up the snow marks under his outer cloak and winter hat, and appeared in Lorist's study for the first time. After listening to what Lorist had said, After Malek's proposal, Sambawood shouted excitedly: "Your Highness, I promise to destroy the entire Armada!"
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