Chapter 1359: The Battle of the Sea (Part 1, ask for a monthly ticket)
"It's snowing~" Bob Glendine, the captain of the Victory, took off the gold-rimmed Havana cigar from his lips and blew out a puff of smoke.
First Mate Jack next to him couldn't help but was stunned for a moment, then raised his head and glanced at the gloomy sky above his head. There was a cold feeling on the tip of his nose, and tiny white snowflakes fell from the clouds.
The cold winter wind swept across the sea, blowing up the huge sails on the mast, driving the warship forward quickly.
"North wind." Captain Glendine looked at the flag fluttering in the wind above his head, frowned slightly and said, "This is not a good weather for fighting."
First Mate Jack also nodded and sighed worriedly, feeling uneasy about the war he was about to face next.
According to the intelligence obtained, it is speculated that what will appear opposite them is a huge fleet with a total of thousands of ships. Just imagining it is enough to know that the scale is extremely huge.
Even based on the most conservative estimate, there will be more than 300 warships.
"Maybe five hundred ships, who knows..." the first mate thought as he glanced back and saw that the fleet following the Victory was also mighty and huge.
But he knew clearly that this was just the outside of a donkey dung egg.
The fleet led by the Victory had less than a hundred battleships, and the remaining four hundred ships were all transport ships carrying supplies and soldiers.
Most of these dozens of warships are fast gunboats with sharp shapes and small sizes.
Their only advantage is that they are fast enough. They can reach a speed of more than ten knots with the wind at the fastest. All ships in this era can only follow them and eat the wind.
However, the displacement of the gunboat is only over 200 tons, and it only carries a few fast guns of small caliber.
The first officer doubted how effective these small boats would be when facing the demonic double-decker or three-decker warships.
In this era, the difference between the so-called transport ships and warships is not very big. The traditional naval warfare tactics are nothing more than angular collision and side-to-side close combat.
As long as the transport ship comes close enough, it can also be used as a battleship - as long as the distance is close enough, the soldiers on it can engage in jumping battles. They can even take advantage of their numerical advantage to easily capture the enemy's ship.
Even though the firepower of the three Victory-class battleships is very powerful, it is still unknown whether they can stop the enemy in the face of the Semitic navy's ship-sea tactics.
Moreover, so far, the Victory has not fought in such a large-scale naval battle, and the wind direction is not good today. The battleship's speed advantage may not be able to be used...
The more the first mate thinks about it, the more worried he becomes, and the prospect becomes less optimistic. If there is anything that can comfort him, it is that this naval battle must be the largest naval battle in the past thousand years, and it will be recorded in the annals of history. And he did
As the first mate of the Victory, I had the honor to personally participate in this great naval battle.
Captain Glendine noticed the first mate's worry, and a smile appeared on the captain's weather-covered bronze face.
He patted the first mate on the shoulder and said relaxedly in a hoarse voice: "My dear Jack, don't worry, I'm sure the enemy is not our opponent.
No matter how many there are, we will send them all to the bottom of the sea."
The first mate forced a smile and said loudly: "Yes, Captain."
Captain Glendine shook his head and thought to himself: Although these guys came from academic backgrounds and have good basic skills, they are all very stubborn, especially this guy.
To be able to serve as first mate on the Victory as soon as you leave school is not just a matter of having a good father, you also need to have outstanding... to be precise, extremely outstanding personal abilities.
Fortunately, First Mate Jack has both.
Not only does he have a good father, but he is also the first in class 83 and 4 of the Rumain-Saint-Anna Naval Academy. He has been personally commended by Emperor Rudelun and has a very bright future.
"Ever since the Victory was built, naval warfare has never been what it was before." Glendin patted the first mate on the shoulder vigorously. He spoke with a heroic demeanor, proud of his battleship.
The first mate shrugged slightly and said: "But... Captain, according to intelligence, there are too many enemies. From a tactical perspective, it is very disadvantageous for us."
Glendine laughed loudly and said: "Jack, my dear Jack. A shark can chase tens of thousands of fish. Throw away your rigid tactics.
We are the glorious Royal Navy, not the army's idiots. When fighting at sea, numbers are never an advantage.
Haven't your teachers taught you that sea combat, speed, tactics, equipment, technology...etc. are the key.
That's why the army's idiots are called cannon fodder, but for our navy, people always come first. Soldiers are never encouraged to sacrifice.
Do you think so, Mr. Pook?"
That last sentence was said to a middle-aged man who was passing by in a hurry.
The middle-aged man stopped, nodded with a smile, and said, "You are absolutely right, Captain."
Unlike the navy officers and soldiers around him who were all dressed in white, Mr. Pook wore a set of blue overalls on the mountain. He had a pen in the breast pocket of his coat. He had a gentle face, fair skin, and a beautiful and expensive painting on his nose.
He wears glasses, and you can tell he is a cultured person at a glance.
Captain Glendine smiled and said: "Mr. Pook, are your men ready?"
Pook showed a confident smile and said loudly: "Yes, Captain, my boys are very motivated."
"Very good," Captain Glendine nodded heavily and said, "This battle is all up to you."
"Don't worry." Mr. Pook raised his hand and put it on his forehead, saluted an awkward military salute, and then ran away quickly.
The first mate glanced at Mr. Pook's back, flattened his lips and said, "Captain, I think you also said not to place your hopes on them.
These guys never came through when we needed them, their stuff..."
The first mate seemed to have thought of something, smiled bitterly, and said: "It's too unsafe."
Captain Glendine picked up his cigar and said vaguely: "Don't worry, Mr. Pook assured me that they have improved the entire system."
The first mate opened his mouth to say something more, but at this moment, a figure falling from the sky interrupted his thoughts.
The man fell from the sky as lightly as a feather and landed on the bow of the ship.
He has a pair of black eyes, which are always shining with a compelling and bright light. He has a hook-like nose and thin lips.
He is tall and tall, with explosive muscles all over his body.
Her long golden hair was spread behind her back, fluttering in the sea breeze together with her bright red cloak. She looked extremely wild and unruly.
The man slowly stepped on the ground with his feet. He first straightened his slightly messy long hair, then swung his cloak coolly and strode towards the captain.
The first mate looked at his handsome face, strong figure, and sunny temperament, and secretly muttered in his heart: How could a man be so handsome? It’s simply unreasonable~!
Captain Glendine was very happy to see him, and took the initiative to greet him, saying: "Your Excellency, Mr. Anderson, you are finally back. Have you discovered anything new?"
The Master Anderson nodded casually to the captain and first mate, his attitude was rather cold and arrogant.
However, the two of them didn't take it seriously. They were used to it. This guy behaved like this to everyone.
Moreover, he was directly arranged by the senior management of the group, and I heard that he is related to Miss Vera.
Although the people on the Victory are all the elites of the empire, they all have their eyes set high above their heads.
When you meet people with deep backgrounds but not much ability, or people with great abilities but not much background, you naturally have to think of ways to let them know that Lord Ma has three eyes.
But when they encounter someone with such high skills and deep background, they lose their temper and can only provide them with good food and drink.
Captain Glendine gritted his teeth and reluctantly vacated his room for others.
Under this situation, as the first mate, Jack had no choice but to grit his teeth and reluctantly vacate his room to the captain.
As a distinguished guest on the ship, Master Anderson's job is extremely easy. His only job on the fleet is reconnaissance and contact with the land.
Although Captain Glendine and First Mate Jack didn't know much about mages, they had never heard of a mage who could survey the entire sea area or contact land thousands of miles away by relying solely on flying skills.
But this handsome and irrational man undoubtedly did it.
The Naian Combat Command Center even ordered the fleet to adopt the investigation results of Master Anderson without question.
This especially made the first mate dissatisfied. He had already cursed countless times in his heart, "Why?" How could such a big thing as a war be such a trivial matter? If this guy deliberately reported false news, wouldn't he lead everyone into a trap?
In the end, the first mate could only be quite angry and attributed this to the privilege of his brother-in-law.
No matter what, Master Anderson diligently goes out once or twice a day to bring back news about the surrounding sea areas and orders from the headquarters.
Thinking of this, Jack sighed secretly, then picked up the folder and pen in his hand, waiting to record Anderson's information.
Master Anderson raised his arm and pointed to the west, as if trying to penetrate the heavy mist, and said coldly: "The demon fleet has arrived."
Captain Glendine was suddenly shaken, and immediately asked a series of questions, loudly asking: "Their position, speed, and scale?"
Anderson thought for a while and said: "It's about six hundred miles away from us, heading due east, and the speed is about the same as us. Is it scale..."
He shook his head and said: "There are too many to count. There are ships for dozens of miles in length and breadth. The leading warships alone are no less than 300."
First Mate Jack's hand that was recording couldn't help but pause for a moment, and then he sighed secretly again, thinking to himself: This is also called professionalism, and nothing is made clear except distance.
However, he also knew that it was quite good for Andreson to be able to do this. There must be people with high magical powers such as lichs in the enemy's fleet. Andreson did not dare and could not get too close to conduct reconnaissance.
Captain Glendine frowned, took a few puffs of his cigar, pondered for a moment, and murmured: "Based on this, if the enemy doesn't play any tricks, we will be able to reach Fantino in time."
Anderson said: "My people have been watching them. If they make any changes, we will know immediately."
Captain Glendine and the first mate couldn't help but look at each other.
This was the first time they heard that Master Anderson was not the same person. The two of them had the same feeling. The water here was very deep, so it was wiser not to say anything.
"Okay, the explanation is over," Anderson waved his hand and said, "I'm going to rest."
After that, he walked away.
But the first mate knew that this guy was hanging out with Pook's engineers again.
Captain Glendine thought for a moment with a straight face, then waved his hand vigorously and said in a sonorous voice: "We are about to enter the combat zone. Order the fleet to enter a state of combat readiness. Always be careful of the enemy's war fortress."
The flashing light signal was immediately sent out from the flagship. As it spread throughout the fleet, the battleship protected the transport ship in the middle and watched the sky vigilantly.
The dark clouds are getting lower and lower, and the western horizon has been dyed black. The snowflakes are gradually becoming denser.
This is good news for the fleet - with the cover of clouds and fog, the fleet is not easily discovered by the enemy's war fortress.
The sky was gradually getting dark, but the entire fleet was still sailing westward under the cover of night.
As soon as daylight dawned the next day, Glendine appeared on the deck, fully dressed.
The snow has not stopped all night and is still falling in heavy torrents at this moment.
A thin layer of snow had accumulated on the Victory, and the sailors were cleaning the decks.
The first mate blew out a puff of mist. His eyes were red, obviously he had not rested well.
"Where are we?" Captain Glendine asked without looking back.
First Mate Jack pointed to a shadow on the northern sea level and said: "Thirty miles away is Fantino.
Captain Glendin nodded solemnly and said: "The main force is covering the transport ships approaching the landing point, and the gunboats are going out for reconnaissance. The demons should also arrive today."
The fleet slowly turned, drew a huge arc on the sea, and headed towards Fantino.
At the same time, several high-speed gunboats passed the fleet and sped toward the west.
After a while, they disappeared, leaving only a few white waves on the sea.
Although with Anderson's reconnaissance, it seems a bit redundant to send the gunboat there, but this is also Lorraine's order. After all, for Lorraine, Anderson and others are secret weapons and cannot be exposed easily.
In this way, only if the reconnaissance gunship appears in the enemy's sight, they will think that they were discovered by the human ship during the voyage, and they will not suspect others.
It was precisely because of this that Glendin admired Lord Luo. He was indeed the Eagle God of War, the greatest military strategist, strategist, and genius commander of this era.
When other commanders' minds were still focused on fighting each other in phalanxes and relying on brutal collisions of cold weapons to win, he had turned war into a gorgeous art. Not only did he have strong strength, but also superb military command.
Skills, ruthless methods, and countless despicable tricks and shameless deceptions...
At this time, Anderson also yawned and walked out of the cabin, raised his hand to the captain and said, "Good morning. A new day has begun again."
Then he shrugged his shoulders gracefully, jumped into the air, and immediately disappeared into a black dot, disappearing into the clouds.
Through the news sent back by Andresen, Captain Glendine continued to mark the enemy's position on the chart, with the black mark representing the demons, and kept approaching the red mark representing the human fleet. In the end, the two sides encountered everything.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, the gunboat that went out for reconnaissance sailed back. The signal light on the mast flashed desperately. The rapid signal only meant one thing: the enemy was found~!
Captain Glendine has been standing on the bow of the ship against the snow. At the critical moment, the captain's tall posture and confident expression greatly inspired the morale of the sailors.
Although the snowfall affected his vision, Captain Glendine knew that his enemy was on the opposite horizon. This would be an unprecedented sea battle, and the captain was full of confidence in victory. He used the words of Lord Lorraine.
There is a saying in Victory: Our enemies are an era behind us.
Captain Glendine's sonorous voice rang out, and he shouted an order that could be heard throughout the ship: "The battleships are out of line and in battle formation~!"
"Yes~!" The first mate took a deep breath, suppressed the excitement in his heart, roared, and quickly conveyed the order.
The sailors immediately took action, hoisting the sails and turning the rudder, all in one go.
With three Victory-class battleships as the core, dozens of battleships turned away from the transport fleet, dragging long white water trails towards the west.
The closed gun windows on both sides of the battleship suddenly opened one after another, and the dark barrels of the guns slowly poked out of the windows.
"No. 1 is in position~!"
"Number 2 is in position~!"
"..."
The battleship bared his ferocious teeth.
At this time, a low thunder suddenly came from the north, and the thunder rumbled continuously.
The sailors looked in the direction of the thunder in surprise.
"Strange, can it thunder when it snows?" the first mate looked up at the gloomy sky in the north and said in confusion.
Captain Glendine gave his first mate a strange look and said coldly: "That's the sound of Fantino's cannon."
The first mate and the sailors on the ship were suddenly shocked. Only then did they remember that not far to the north and west of the fleet, their big boss Lord Lorraine was leading a garrison of less than 20,000 people and 100,000 Semitic people.
Fierce battle.
Hearing the sound of cannons means that the demons have begun to attack the city again.
And what they are going to block is the reinforcements from the demon clan to reinforce the siege troops.
The devout sailors stared at the shadows of the north, crossed themselves on their chests, and prayed silently.
"Gentlemen," Captain Glendine faced the sailors on the deck and raised his voice: "Our victory or defeat is related to Fantino's life and death. At this moment, the whole continent is watching us.
Don’t embarrass our Victory, for the sake of Ruman and the light, kill all the demons~!”
The sailors pulled out the swords from their waists, raised their weapons to the sky, and shouted in unison: "For Ruman~!"
"For the light~!"
"Fuck Shenya so hard~!"
"Kill them all, leaving nothing behind~!"
Glendin nodded solemnly, raised his head, saluted all the officers and soldiers, and roared: "Raise the battle flag~!"
A ferocious eagle flag with a lightning bolt in its talons was raised from the mast, indicating that the entire fleet was about to fight the enemy.
The Sovereign and the Invincible then hoisted their mighty battle flags, and the long sound of conch trumpets sounded on the sea.
Captain Glendine turned and walked into the command room, where the staff and officers were already in place.
"The captain is here, salute~!"
With a clear command, the officers in the command room dropped what they were doing, immediately stood up and faced the captain, straightened their backs, touched their heels hard, and raised their hands in salute.
Captain Glendine walked directly to Mr. Pook, stood opposite him, looked directly at him, and said with a serious expression: "Mr. Pook, you can start working."
Mr. Pook's face turned red with excitement. He raised his hand to his eyebrows, performed a military salute, and said excitedly: "Yes, your Excellency, Captain.
All members of our engineering team will wait for one day, please don't worry."
Then he turned around and strode down the cabin, shouting at the same time: "Boys, it's time to start work, start the fire and warm up~!"
At the back of the Victory, there is a strange iron barrel, which extends from the inside of the hull and faces the sky.
At this moment, this iron barrel, which usually seemed very redundant, suddenly emitted a thick black smoke and rolled back on the deck with the wind.