On October 18, 836 in the Julian calendar, with the sound of roaring steam whistles, a huge fleet composed of 6,000 ships crossed the middle line of the ocean and officially entered the sea area close to the Semitic continent.
After crossing the center line, the Combined Fleet Command immediately issued an order for all ships to be on heightened alert, with half of the artillery being loaded and ready to fire, and to maintain 24-hour vigilance.
After all, this place already belongs to the enemy's territory. Although the Semitic expeditionary navy was completely wiped out off the coast of Vantino, some warships still remained.
And these warships are likely to carry dark mages.
At the end of the war, when all was lost, the High Priest of the Undead also ordered the remaining nearly a hundred war fortresses to withdraw to the Semitic people.
They may also suddenly appear over the human expedition fleet, so they must be guarded against.
Moreover, since the failed expedition launched by Urban I, the tenth pope of the Holy See of Light, humans have not set foot in this unpredictable sea for five hundred years.
I don’t know anything about the sea conditions in this area, so I have to be very careful.
On human nautical charts, this sea area is completely blank. Artistically, a sea monster or whirlpool will be drawn to remind navigators that it is extremely dangerous and not to enter.
Although in the past thousand years, there have been many daring smugglers who put their heads in their belts to make a living, risking their lives and passing through the obstacles of the human navy, storms, diseases or plagues, and the Semitic navy,
Traveling across the ocean. But maybe it was because they wanted to monopolize the route. Maybe it was something that really happened. There are all kinds of terrible and horrifying legends that have been circulating on this sea to deter people who want to enter this sea area.
What nine snake heads, a giant sea monster as big as a mountain, a ghost ship traveling in darkness and thick fog, a mermaid that leads people to death with her beautiful singing, and an extremely huge devil's vortex with no way in or out...
Every story is shocking and shocking. It makes people have nightmares in the middle of the night, and they have to be accompanied by three people to pee.
In fact, many adventurers who set foot in this sea area never came back. It is not known whether they died in the ocean, at the hands of pirates, or by those legendary monsters.
When the human joint fleet first sailed into this sea area, the sailors and sailors on board were all extremely vigilant and cautious all the way.
There are often people who spontaneously stand on the bow of the ship or on the mast and look around. If they find any abnormality, they sound the alarm, although most of them turn out to be just schools of fish jumping out of the sea.
But maybe the human fleet is too large and scares away the legendary sea monsters, maybe they are hiding in the dark, or maybe those legendary sea monsters do not exist...
In any case, after three consecutive days of no incident, although the headquarters still ordered a warning, the vast majority of the sailors had become a little lazy, and everyone began to think that those legends were scaremongering.
The sailors returned to a state of idleness and laziness all day long.
This is a normal thing. Since most ships are made of wooden structures and are extremely easy to catch fire, every ship has extremely strict management of sailors. It is prohibited to drink, fight, smoke, gamble...anything that can be given to the sailors is prohibited.
Anything that causes any harm from ships is prohibited.
Anyone who violates this will be severely punished and may even be hanged from the mast.
But sailing is extremely boring and tiring. Under such circumstances, as long as the crew does not cause trouble, the captains will turn a blind eye.
No matter how lazy they are, it is better than them fighting and making trouble all day long and then setting the boat on fire.
Since entering the Semitic waters, Lorraine has been on heightened alert and spread all the light war fortresses on the Enterprise far away to serve as reconnaissance aircraft.
The medium-sized war fortresses are all on standby and can be launched into the air at any time to prevent a sudden attack from the undead war fortresses.
However, those war fortresses report every day that they are all safe and sound. There are no unidentified ships or undead war fortresses in the surrounding sea area of thousands of miles.
Despite this, for the sake of safety, Lorraine decided to personally lead the Naian fleet to explore the way forward.
Because the three Victory-class battleships are very familiar with this sea area, they took turns escorting the Flying Eagle Group's smuggling transport ship pairs before the war. They have traveled this route countless times, and the nearby sea conditions and weather have already informed them.
I'm familiar with it, but this is a secret of the Flying Eagle Group.
It's just that the war has stopped. Now that the war is over, Lorraine's four girlfriends from the Semitic tribe are planning to restart this profitable golden route.
Lord Lorraine would naturally not be so kind as to hand over the nautical chart, thereby cutting off his own financial path and allowing others to benefit in vain.
Even if Lord Lorraine gets his brain kicked and contributes the nautical chart to all mankind, others will definitely ask, where did you get the nautical chart of Naian? Why do you have it?
Could Lord Lorraine tell them again that I have been smuggling this to the Semites?
Then Lord Lorraine can't run away with the hat of a traitor.
Ordinary people don't understand what economic plunder is. They only see that Lord Lorraine has been making deals with the Semitic people. Therefore, naturally the fewer people know about this matter, the better.
With the Naian people leading the way, the entire fleet went smoothly. Although there were a few doubts, the journey was smooth and smooth.
But most people regard it as good luck.
On the morning of October 24th, the advance fleet finally arrived at the Island of Sorrow, the first island within the Semitic sphere of influence.
Of course this is what humans call it.
It is called the Island of Sorrow because it was the last island abandoned by the human Holy Cross Expedition five hundred years ago.
When the human expeditionary force on the island, which persisted for their faith until the last moment, evacuated by ship, it meant the failure of this holy expedition that lasted for three hundred years.
It is said that Cardinal Huma, the last commander of the Holy Cross Expeditionary Force, sat at the stern of the ship and watched the island getting further and further away, and couldn't help but shed tears of sadness.
Of course, if that's all it is, then this is just a story. This island will not be named after it.
It was the smugglers who really named this island.
Those brave smugglers, or pirates, had to fight the waves and risk their lives to cross the ocean in order to obtain meager profits.
But whether they cross the ocean and arrive here, or start from here and plan to cross the ocean, the defenders on the island will give them a severe blackmail.
This island is the best resting point in the middle of the ocean. The smugglers lack the continuous navigation capabilities of large ships. If they don't stop at this island for supplies, they will not be able to reach the Semitic sea anyway.
The Semitic troops guarding the island occupied this golden treasure and sat on the ground to divide the spoils. They were so ferocious that even the Buddha who cut off the flesh to feed the eagles would shed tears of pain.
Therefore, this island is called the Island of Sorrow.
Because grief means two things, first, only living people can grieve, and second, only enough pain can grieve.
xxxxxx
On the Isle of Mourn, Corporal Dirk sat listlessly among the sentries. A long gun was thrown beside him.
The iron gun tip had been corroded to a pulp in the salty air.
Its owner didn't bother to repair it and just threw it aside.
He touched the wine bottle from time to time. He grunted dissatisfiedly and took a few more sips. Several identical bottles were thrown away not far away.
If any aristocrat from the Semitic continent looked at the golden Flying Eagle trademark and Seppon origin mark on the wine bottle, they would not be able to help but scream in surprise.
In the Semitic continent, a bottle of such wine would cost at least ten gold coins.
And this poor soldier actually drank so much that he was wasting the fine wine.
If you didn't know better, you would have thought that this soldier was a certain prince or nobleman.
But in fact, he is just an ordinary soldier on the island.
This is actually very easy to understand. All ships passing through here have to pay huge tolls and supply fees, which usually account for more than half of the smugglers' profits.
It's just that all the money went into the pockets of the officials.
The soldiers and ruffians like them couldn't get a single copper coin, but they were not idiots. They all knew the principle of "do it yourself and have enough food and clothing".
Therefore, they also reached out and wiped some more oil from the boat.
I grabbed three or five boxes of good wine, carried half a fan of pork, caught a few old hens... and so on. The smugglers who provoked me dared to be angry and dared not say hell.
These little soldiers are still looking for trouble.
Dirk burped, then patted his bulging belly, and drunkenly said to his companions: "Fela, how long has it been since we had a ship here?
Two months? Or three months? I'm almost out of wine. If the ship doesn't come, we won't have any wine."
Fela said impatiently next to him: "What are you afraid of? The boats coming here are just like the fish coming. They come in waves, or they are just small fish. Don't look too many, but you won't be able to catch a few.
Either way, it’s a big fish, just one or two, but it contains a lot of goods, so we guys can catch some good stuff.”
Dirk couldn't help but glance at him in surprise and murmured: "No wonder people say that scholars are cruel. You have only read a few days, and you are so cruel. How can people who read a lot still be so cruel?
?”
Feier didn't say anything, just sneered, obviously disdainful of the bumpkin next to him.
Dirk hesitated for a moment and said, "Guess how big the fish will be this time? It's been two months since the boat came.
Those stupid officials can't sit still. Didn't you see that Battalion Commander Wei Li behaves like a donkey all the time, just like his dead father, and curses people at every turn?"
Feier smiled and said contemptuously: "I heard that he borrowed tens of thousands of gold coins at high interest rates to buy the official job here.
He has no income these days, and when loan sharks come to collect debts, they will chop off his hands and feet if he can't, so of course he is anxious."
Dirk couldn't help but cursed in a low voice and said: "A bunch of loan sharks dare to kill an officer? Is there any law in this society?"
Feier glanced at him with disdain and said: "Wang's law? If there is a king's law, people will not spend money to buy officials. When I save three to five thousand, I will also buy a company commander. Hum.
snort……"
Dirk was speechless for a moment. Then he picked up the bottle and took another sip. He said, "We were still talking about fish. We were also talking about fish. How big do you think the fish must be?"
As soon as he said this, he heard Feier say "Huh" in surprise. He couldn't help but raise his head and glance at Feier.
At this time, I heard Fair say: "Dirk, you are really a crow's mouth. Look, isn't this fish coming?"
After hearing this, Dirk suddenly became energetic. He jumped up from the ground and looked towards the ocean in the distance.
Sure enough, in the distance between the sea and the sky, several black spots appeared above the horizon, slowly moving towards this side.
Dirk couldn't help laughing.
He turned around and ran towards the camp behind him. As he ran, he shouted excitedly: "Brothers, come on, brothers. The big fish is coming, the big fish is coming..."
A large group of soldiers suddenly poured out of the camp behind. They all ran to the beach and stared into the distance, as if they were celebrating a festival. Their excitement was palpable.
This is not surprising. When stationed on this island, there is nothing to see except sand, stones and seabirds all day long. I am happy that I can make a fortune when the ship docks.
Everyone looked at those black dots and shouted happily: "The big fish is coming, the big fish is coming."
Several officers with flowers on their shoulders also appeared behind the crowd, with greedy smiles on their faces.
At this time, I could only see the few black spots in the distance getting closer and closer.
From sesame seeds in the beginning, it turned into soybeans, and then from soybeans into the size of watermelon.
Seeing that the boat was getting bigger and bigger, Dirk couldn't help but cursed: "Grandma, that bitch Phil is really right. If the fish doesn't come, it will be your own. Once it comes, it will be such a big fish.
I have to kill him well today."
The people nearby looked at the big ship in the distance, and they all gritted their teeth and nodded.
But after a while, I saw that the ship was getting bigger and bigger, and finally became the size of a hill.
Looking at the tall and majestic ship, everyone vaguely realized that something seemed wrong, and they all closed their mouths. They had never seen such a big ship before.
This is not a boat, it is just a mountain~!
Next to him, Dirk was so happy that he almost fainted: Grandma, this is such a big boat, how many good things can I catch from it~!
I got rich, I really got rich this time~!
At this moment, an officer next to him slapped him and shouted angrily: "Your grandma, shut up!"
Dirk was stunned, pointed to the big ship not far away, and said puzzledly: "Sir, big fish, that is a big fish. We can kill him hard."
The officer immediately slapped her again and cursed: "Grandma, open your dog eyes and take a good look.
You still want to kill them? They are here to kill us~!"
Then he shouted sternly: "Alarm, everyone prepares for battle, hurry up, the enemy is coming~!
The fucking humans are here to kill~!
If you don’t want to die, hurry up.”
Following his shrill cry, the soldiers on the shore couldn't help but be confused for a while, but then they realized and couldn't help but tremble: The enemy? Human beings? Human beings are coming to kill them?
Humans actually came and killed them~!
They immediately became a mess.
xxxxxxx
Lorraine stood on the island of the Enterprise, raised a high-power observation telescope and looked into the distance.
I saw that the facilities on the island were extremely simple, with only two or three rows of wooden houses made of rough planks, and two crooked trestles stretching into the sea.
In the open space in front of the wooden house, two high platforms were set up, with several objects placed on them, which vaguely resembled ballistae.
When he saw them, the people on the shore obviously also saw what was happening here. Through the telescope, Lorraine could see the horrified expression on the face of one of the soldiers, with his mouth wide open.
Then they swarmed around like headless flies.
Following the order, ten medium-sized war fortresses quickly took off, hovering in the sky to provide cover. At the same time, the two battleships lowered their sails, lit their boilers in one go, and rushed straight to the port.
At a distance of one mile from the port, one of the battleships immediately turned around and opened its side guns.
Then bursts of white smoke were seen coming from the battleship, and after a few seconds, bursts of gunfire were heard on the Enterprise.
In the next second, orange-red fireworks began to shine in the open space of the port.
Black smoke billowed into the sky, straight into the sky.
At this time, the second battleship also began to fight horizontally, pouring artillery fire on the port unscrupulously. Although it turned a little late, it was just enough to seal the blind spot of the first battleship's artillery.
The two warships, one behind the other, opened fire once and for all, while slowly moving forward. They walked back and forth around the port three times. This also meant that they plowed the port three times with gunfire.
Not to be outdone, the Elf Kingdom's Ark Royal, as if showing off its firepower, thrust into the formation of the two battleships, pushed the Victory and Invincible aside, and bombarded the beach again with even more intense artillery fire.
Lord Lorraine, who was watching the battle from behind, secretly greeted the women from the elven admiral's family several times in his heart.
Subsequently, more than a dozen small boats were lowered from the battleship, and a group of Marines rowed the boats and rushed toward the port with rifles and shotguns in hand.
They rushed the boat directly to the shore, let it run aground in the shallow water, then turned over from the boat and jumped into the water, raised the guns above their heads with both hands, waded directly to the shore, and then began to gradually clean up the shore.
When Lorraine saw this, she couldn't help but sigh and put down the telescope in her hand.
He would rather have more enemy troops on the shore and stronger resistance, rather than collapse at the first touch like now. This situation, no matter how you look at it, feels like a trap. (To be continued...)