There was a rumble of thunder in the distance. It was said that it was the sound of the Norton family's North Sea Fleet firing artillery.
Captain Fredres pricked up his ears to listen to the yelling from the surrounding ships, and suppressed the panic and anxiety in his heart until he found that there was nothing unusual about the surrounding ships, and good order and queues were still maintained. As he sailed forward, he slowly relaxed his mind.
As the captain of a large armed merchant ship loaded with a load of 100,000 catties, Fredres' only pride is the merchant ship named Song of the Mermaid under his feet. From his grandfather to his father to himself, three generations of hard work and sacrifice at sea finally allowed his family to own a complete large armed merchant ship of their own. To Captain Fredreth he was the only king and lord of the sea, of the mermaid's song.
But as the owner of Song of the Mermaid, Captain Fredres did not dare to disobey and resist the orders of the Chickard Chamber of Commerce. When he received an order to join a large fleet formed by the Chickard Chamber of Commerce to deliver a batch of supplies for the Business Alliance to the Golden Bay, he did not dare to express any objection. You must know that the Chickard Chamber of Commerce is the leader in the southern sea area. Overlord, if you offend their mermaid song, you might be unable to move an inch in the sea.
As a navigator who has lived on the sea for three generations, Captain Fredres naturally has his contacts and sources of information. He soon learned in the tavern why the Chickard Chamber of Commerce organized such a large transport fleet. It is said that the Armada of the Business Alliance and the North Sea Fleet of the Norton Family of the North went to war. The Armada seemed to have suffered a big loss, and even the port of El Niba was burned to ashes by the North Sea Fleet.
It is said that most of the ships entrusted with transporting supplies to the Golden Bay in winter fell into the hands of the Norton family fleet, such as the Emma, the Dragonfly, and the Maureen Maud, which are the same large ships as the Song of the Flying Fish. Armed merchant ships were taken hostage. Moreover, the North Sea Fleet of the Norton family also has a bronze artillery that is more powerful than the legendary dwarf artillery.
The reason why the Chicod Chamber of Commerce organized such a large transport fleet is to avoid the loss of supplies. Everyone knows that the Merchant Alliance and the Andinak Kingdom are engaged in a brutal bloody battle on the Fali Hill Plain. These crew members and sailors watched with pity that the soldiers conscripted in the south were transported by sea to Zangjin Bay, and then they were filled into the bottomless pit of flesh and blood on the Mana Hill Plain.
For the Commercial Alliance, the sea route is the lifeline for it to maintain the frontline battle situation, so it is a matter of course to form a large-scale transport fleet and have two squadrons of the Armada to escort it. At the same time, it is also for those skeptical navigators to see that although the Armada Fleet suffered certain losses in the confrontation with the North Sea Fleet, the Armada Fleet is still the master of the southern seas.
Captain Fredres was such a doubter, and he always suspected that the voyage was not just a leisurely one, as the officers of the Armada declared, but fraught with danger. It's very simple. On the night before the fleet set off, the North Sea Fleet of the Norton family suddenly appeared outside the harbor and launched another night attack.
Captain Fredres was very grateful that his Song of the Mermaid, as a large ocean-going armed merchant ship, was placed at the innermost part of the harbor due to its large cargo capacity, instead of being placed at the outermost edge like those unlucky medium-sized cargo ships. That night the flames blazed and the cannons roared. If it weren't for the quick response of those small fast-impacting warships of the Armada Fleet, they rushed to the rescue as soon as possible, maybe the Armada Fleet would encounter a fire at El Niba Harbor that night.
Captain Fredres remembered that fiery and noisy night. The Armada had to delay its departure for seven days because of this night attack. Although the upper echelons of the fleet have issued a gag order that the crew and sailors of the fleet are not allowed to discuss the night attack, Captain Fredres, the veterans at sea, still learned from the drunken crew and sailors in the tavern that This night attack caused heavy losses to both the Merchant Alliance and the Armada. The Business Alliance lost more than 50 medium-sized transport ships full of supplies lined up on the periphery, and the Armada lost more than 20 large and medium-sized armed warships and more than 30 small fast-impact warships, while the enemy was unscathed. walk away.
Perhaps it was the unexpected night attack of the Norton family fleet that finally woke up the commanders of the invincible Armada. Captain Fredres got the formation arrangement and voyage plan before departure seven days later, and was surprised to find that the transportation The fleet is not sailing on the traditional sea route, but along the coastline to Zangjin Bay.
Sailing along the coastline is not impossible, but it prolongs the entire voyage. If sailing by sea, then it will take 21 days to reach Zangjin Bay. If you can sail along the coastline, it will take at least one month or more than forty days to arrive. After all, there is a large section of the coastline in the middle of the Titanini Mountains, and there are no ports along the coast, only a few temporary landing points for getting water.
The large fleet composed of more than a thousand large, medium and small merchant ships and warships is unprecedented in the history of the Galintia continent, and it is unknown whether there will be anyone behind. Almost everyone thought that the fleet would sail mightily along the sea route, with white sails covering the sky and great momentum. This was a parade to promote the majesty of the Armada. Unexpectedly, the Armada actually adopted the plan of sailing along the coastline, which is really shocking.
On the contrary, Captain Fredres and the veterans at sea think that the commanders of the Armada are very wise. The biggest advantage of sailing along the coastline is to avoid being attacked on both sides. The Armada only needs to protect the periphery. It is impossible for the enemy to insert an attack between the coastline and the transport fleet. In that case, there is no need for the battleships of the Armada. Just a few merchant ships and the enemy's warships are either stranded or trapped, because there is no room for them to turn around.
The traditional sea route can indeed speed up the voyage and save time, but it also faces attacks from attackers from all directions. For the defensive Armada, the transport fleet stretches for more than ten nautical miles, and it is indeed very difficult to protect it comprehensively. A night attack made the commanders of the Armada Fleet finally understand the strength of the enemy's North Sea Fleet. Although there are only a dozen warships, the threat to the transport fleet is no less than that of a squadron...
Now the two squadrons of the Armada are not thinking about how to defeat the North Sea Fleet of the Norton family, but how to fully escort the transport fleet to Tibetan Gold Bay. Because the more than 800 transport ships were basically loaded with all the military supplies and food looted in the seven southern provinces, as well as 100,000 forced recruits. For the commercial alliance, these supplies, food and recruits are the key to ensuring that the commercial alliance can defeat the Antinak Kingdom, and it is the most important guarantee for the victory of this bloody battle.
Sailing along the coastline, the two squadrons of the Armada and the armed fleet of the Chickard Chamber of Commerce do not need to be organized together with the transport fleet. The transport fleet is inside and the escort fleet is on the outside. If the North Sea Fleet of the Norton family launches another attack, it must first open a hole in the outer escort fleet's defensive circle before attacking the inside transport fleet. At the same time, the biggest advantage is that if the transport fleet is attacked and suffers losses, then the transport ships that cannot persist can rush to the beach to keep the supplies and reinforcements they transport, instead of just sitting there on the sea road. sink…
"This is the third attack..." Captain Fredres thought anxiously when he heard the rumbling gunfire in the distance.
Although it is safer to sail along the coastline, the speed is too slow. On the traditional sea route, there is an undercurrent under the water and a favorable wind on the sea surface, but it is difficult to have such convenient navigation conditions on the coast. The transport fleet as far as the eye can see is as slow as a snail. After sailing for 21 days, it didn't even pass half of the coastline of the Titanini Mountains. Instead, it ushered in the third attack by the North Sea Fleet of the Norton family.
On the fourteenth day of the voyage, the fleet was attacked by the enemy fleet again. There were still fourteen warships capable of firing artillery. They fought fiercely for two days and three nights with the escorting Armada and the armed fleet of the Chicod Chamber of Commerce. In the end, they should have run out of ammunition and left again, but the escorting Armada and the armed fleet of the Chicod Chamber of Commerce lost a total of nearly 70 small fast collision warships and medium-sized armed warships, and seven large armed warships...
More than a dozen crew members and sailors from the Armada were assigned to the Mermaid Song of Captain Fredres, nominally to strengthen the escort of the transport ships, but in fact these crew members and sailors were all those who were sunk and destroyed by the Norton family fleet. It was rescued from the battleship, and it was assigned to the transport ship because the battleship was gone.
It took only two days for Captain Fredres to get acquainted with the crew and sailors of the Armada. After the tasty treats, Captain Fredres quickly got detailed battlefield information from their mouths.
"The commander of the North Sea Fleet is very cunning. Although he has only a dozen warships under his command, he never engages in close combat with us. He always fires artillery at us from 300 meters away. When we approach, they sail away. Keep the distance. We can't chase too closely, because we can't break away from the team, otherwise we will be lured out by them and concentrate their shelling to sink our battleship.
Our commander set up several traps, and even used the transport fleet to deliberately expose a flaw in the defense circle, hoping to lure the enemy fleet to attack those transport ships, and then surround and close the enemy for melee combat to destroy the enemy. But the enemy fleet commander was not fooled, he seemed to turn a blind eye to the transport fleet in front of him, and only cared about trouble for our escort fleet.
Moreover, the enemy's artillery fire is very powerful, and the range is extremely long. The iron projectiles fired more than 300 meters away are as big as the mouth of a bowl. I served on the large armed battleship Cuttlefish. At that time, our ship was not rushing fast, and there was still a distance between Three small fast ramming warships and one medium armed warship. The four enemy warships fired artillery at us together. At that time, a red-hot iron bullet penetrated the ship's wall more than ten centimeters thick and hit the cables coiled on the deck, and then burned. The ropes burned to the sails, and soon our battleship was burning like a torch, and we couldn't save it..."
The bosun named Sheila was a little drunk, and while telling what happened to his battleship, he preached the strength of the enemy. Fortunately, he is now on the merchant ship of Mermaid Song. If he was still on the side of the Armada, he would have been tied to the mast and whipped.
But Fredres knew he was telling the truth. The cables that raised and lowered the sails on the deck were greased with tallow for long-lasting lubrication and durability so that they would not be corroded by sea water. This thing is most afraid of fire. Generally, when a naval battle encounters a fire attack, someone will take special care of it, so as to extinguish the flames in the first place. The cuttlefish is so far away from the enemy, it is likely that it did not expect this at all, so it was a tragedy.
"Could it be that our Armada has so many warships and can't destroy these dozen Norton family warships? Even if they have ultra-long-range artillery, but we have so many warships, they can't beat them if they swarm up..." asked Captain Fredres.
Captain Sheila burped: "You, you don't know, the enemy's warships are really slippery. Their warships have many advantages over all our warships in terms of maneuverability and sail utilization, and even speed They are also faster than us. If we pursue them, they will lure us out of the sunny sea and enter the deep sea, and then destroy our warships there. The last time more than 20 warships chased us, only three came back.
Originally, our small fast ramming warships could pose a great threat to them. In the last night attack, it was also the small fast ramming warships that drove them away. But now their methods of dealing with small fast-ramping warships are too brutal. I told you that the iron projectiles fired by their artillery are as big as the mouth of a bowl, but they also have a smaller projectile consisting of many finger-sized iron beads. .
In the past, they used bowl-sized iron projectiles to hit small fast-impact warships, and they missed six or seven out of ten times. But now they have switched to that kind of iron beads, and let the small fast ramming warships approach them. When they reached a distance of 50 to 60 meters, they hit the small fast-ramping warship with a single shot, and there was almost a mass of flesh and blood flying all over it, and there were not many survivors at all. It was a nightmare scene. "
From that day on, Captain Fredres became worried about the outcome of the voyage. Regardless of the fact that the Armada and the armed fleet of the Chickard Chamber of Commerce still have four or five hundred warships, if the North Sea Fleet of the Norton family keeps harassing them It is known how many warships will eventually reach the Golden Bay. In case, in case the Armada is wiped out, what should I do with my merchant ships full of supplies? Keep going or run away
From the point of view of his heart, Captain Fredres still tends to turn around and flee back. The war between the Commercial Alliance and the Antinac Kingdom has nothing to do with him. The most important thing is to keep the only merchant ship of his family. However, the Commercial Alliance now occupies seven important ports on the Golden Coast, and even the Kingdom of Chigeda is its ally. If he flees back to the Commercial Alliance and blames him, he and the ship will still be unable to escape...
Twenty-one days elapsed between the first night raid and the second raid, but now the third raid and the second raid were only seven days apart. An old captain like Fredres who has rich experience in sailing at sea can easily It is estimated that the enemy must have a supply base in front or prepare a powerful fleet to intercept the transport fleet. Perhaps a large-scale decisive battle at sea is waiting for the Armada, and they will decide who is the real sea overlord with the Norton family fleet.
Captain Fredres doesn't care who is the overlord of the sea, anyway, he is just an independent merchant captain, as long as he pays the victor honestly and obtains the permission of the sailing merchant. Hearing the sound of rumbling shelling in the distance, Captain Fredres touched the white linen cloth in his arms sadly. If the Armada was defeated, he was going to hang the white cloth immediately. Going up the mast, he would rather surrender than let his merchant ship be sunk by artillery fire...
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