Pirate Kingship.

Chapter 525: Heavy-duty cruiser, challenging the impossible

Seeing the strange-looking soldiers on the opposite side, the other people on the boat also looked surprised.

They have been traveling overseas for many years and have seen many kinds of bear people, eagle people, shark people, and frog people, but this is the first time they have seen a group of people who seem to be pure humans but have skin as black as charcoal.

"Devil! This is indeed the devil's followers!"

"Luckily it's still daytime. If they launch a night attack, we will definitely suffer a great loss."

"That's right, this kind of clan has a 100% night combat bonus, they are born for night combat.

If you rob someone at night, no one will notice you.

Even a painter who can perform a psychic profile in one tenth of a second cannot capture their figures, let alone tell who is who. "

"We pirates have encountered our natural enemy."

Many pirates, whether officers or ordinary pirates, thought that this was the skin color of the devil's followers.

Of course, the moment Byron was successfully crowned king, they had completely taken off their pirate hats and became the legitimate navy of the Kingdom of Hastings, but they just couldn't adapt to it for a while.

It was their cousin, the Sea Mage, Salant, who also came from the East Continent, who answered their questions.

He habitually confirmed in his mind that this piece of information did not violate any taboos, nor did it involve the existence of a higher status, and then he coughed lightly and explained:

“Among the three continents surrounding the Sea of ​​Monsters, the Old Continent [Dragon King’s Court] has the highest terrain, while the Eastern Continent [Corridor of Truth] has the lowest terrain.

When blue holes are randomly generated around the world, they will send "immigrants" and unique species from all over the world to the East Continent.

Therefore, the [Corridor of Truth] can be called a human museum of the material world.

White skin, red skin, yellow skin, black skin, all kinds of non-humans, and the old gods' followers... Almost anything you can imagine can be found there.

I have also heard that the last exiled princess of the ancient Silver Empire took root in a country in the Corridor of Truth and married the king of that country. It is not an exaggeration to say that the orthodoxy of the empire is in the East Continent. "

"As for these black-skinned soldiers, they are a group living in the tropical southern part of the continent. They call themselves: Black Iron People, and are considered one of the original indigenous peoples of the Eastern Continent.

But hundreds of years ago, they were conquered, ruled, and enslaved by more and more outsiders. Most of them were stuffed into plantations as slaves, and a small number were trained as soldiers.

Oh, by the way, they also have a nickname that seems to be: "Biological Fully Automatic Cotton Harvester", which I accidentally heard some cotton farmers in the southern coastal areas talking about in casual conversation.

However, after so many years, it is normal that a considerable number of people have escaped from slavery and climbed to the top, accounting for about 15% of the total population.

After all, in the eyes of many living "knowledge", they don't care about the race of the ruled, they are all just their "reserve food".

We in the Mermaid Kingdom live in the water, although we have also heard that in addition to the Black Iron Clan, there seems to be a Black Mermaid Kingdom in the southern waters.

It was probably because when slaves were transported by sea, Black Iron slaves were dropped into the water every day, which caused the underwater kingdom to be transformed into black mermaids.

The ancestors were worried that the children would have nightmares, so they never contacted each other. "

Violet was a little surprised when she heard this.
"Hasn't the Eastern Continent already had whale oil technology? Why has it continued to use inefficient slaves for hundreds of years?"

Salant shook his head:

“Whale oil technology is a rare item that can only be used by dark wizards and is inaccessible to ordinary people.

Many ordinary people at the bottom of society don’t even know that the extraordinary world exists.

Even though whale oil technology was a widely used standard, it was still too expensive for agricultural production and was far less expensive than using slaves.

Besides, since there are countless cheap laborers available, the "knowledge" who rule the Corridor of Truth have little interest in expanding the people's livelihood field and developing agricultural machinery.

Instead, the entire technology tree was devoted to the military field, which resulted in the birth of many weapons and equipment such as whale oil-powered sentinels, whale oil saw swords, siege engines, bombs, chariots, and electric towers. "

Byron, who was standing next to him, looked at the "Black Iron" soldiers opposite and felt a strong sense of déjà vu and the absurdity of time and space dislocation.

As we all know, the Echidna triangle circulation rotates counterclockwise.

As the source tide rose and the route was opened, these dark-skinned colonists rode the ocean currents from the "Third Gyre" downstream to the Dragon King's Court.

The white slaves were captured and sent along the "First Circumference Belt" to the Beast Paradise colony, which had large tracts of fertile land, and then sold to the major Old God churches and clan forces on the east coast.

Then, they would return to the East Continent along the "Second Circulation Belt", loaded with all kinds of gold, silver, spices and herbs that are special products of the South Continent.

To supply the upper echelons among them for enjoyment, or to develop their own extraordinary versions of whale oil technology and various military technologies.

"Isn't this the legendary triangular trade?
But in this world, the colonists arrived at "White Europe" instead of "Black Africa" ​​following the ocean currents.

A part of the Black Iron Tribe that developed first served as the main force of the colonists, hunting what they saw as white-skinned slaves in the Dragon King's court of the New World.

The non-Africans are not non-Africans, and the European emperors are not European emperors. It’s simply the opposite. "

Byron suddenly seemed to have seen the black tide surging in from the other side of the sea, breaking through all order, and he felt a subtle feeling of being hit by a boomerang in his heart.

“If Hastings and I, who are at the front line, can’t stop it, this situation will most likely become a reality.

However, slavery

He couldn't help but think of the series of social changes surrounding slavery in his previous life.

Normal people actually have a misunderstanding in their minds, thinking that since slaves are slaves, their lives must be extremely miserable.

However, they did not realize that since slaves, who were sold for about the same amount as an ordinary person's annual salary and much more expensive than an animal, were the private property of slave owners just like cattle and horses, they were unlikely to be over-exploited beyond the limit.

Apart from public donkeys, has anyone ever seen anyone deliberately abusing their own cattle and horses?

Slave owners need to solve the problems of their survival, health, medical care, and even marriage and giving birth to the next generation of slaves in order to ensure their own best interests.

It's a bit absurd.

Only when the wage labor system is implemented and the personal ownership of workers does not belong to the owners of the means of production, can the latter exploit their labor without limit and without any psychological burden.

Recruiting underage child laborers, continuously increasing working hours, assigning them high-load and high-intensity work, telling them to work if they want to or leave if they don’t, etc. Even if they don’t have time to date, get married, and have children, what does it have to do with me?
After gaining their freedom, wage laborers in the civilized world are in some ways treated worse than slaves. For a moment, it is hard to tell who are the beasts of burden.

This emotion in Byron's heart was only a flash, and he put it behind him in the blink of an eye.

As long as we win the war of founding the country, we can prevent this situation from happening and replan the country's future according to our own will.

[Blue Dragon King] and its own ghost ship reunited and took charge of holding the line.

The [Golden Deer] moved forward alone and headed straight into the face of the Devil's Fleet, causing the surrounding observers and intelligence officers from various countries who had just recovered from the powerful change of the throne of Hastings to sweat heavily.

In particular, the admiral from Iris next door reacted the strongest.

"Just now, His Majesty Saint Byron, the King of the Wild Hunt, said that these dark-skinned weirdos were actually colonists who came from the East Continent?
If the Kingdom of Hattings can't stop them, won't we, the Iris, be the next to suffer?
No, I will report it to His Majesty immediately!"

All intelligence personnel from various countries spontaneously sent back to their countries the information about the change of ownership of the Kingdom of Hastings and the White Rose colluding with foreign forces to attract powerful foreign enemies.

You know, even if it is just a simple battleship fleet, a total of more than seventy ships is enough to crush most maritime powers.

Not to mention that this is a ghost fleet with ship spirits, and its combat effectiveness is far beyond that of ordinary battleships!
The captured sailors under the Royalists and Earls were closest to the ghost ships and had the most direct experience.

With the chill of the wind blowing through their bones, their teeth were chattering:
"It's over, it's over, we're all finished."

"The three York brothers of White Rose are all trouble. They really make us suffer!"

“If we are defeated by these outsiders, I’m afraid the first step will be to demilitarize the Kingdom of Hastings.

Sooner or later, we, the soldiers of the First to Seventh Fleets, will be sacrificed by Duke George, who has the last laugh."

"I don't want to die, Creator, please protect me. Your Majesty, the King of the Wild Hunt, must win!"

"Nonsense, His Majesty Saint Byron is the 'Holy Spirit', the 'Creator', he must be invincible!"

In the face of life and death crisis, chains of faith were quietly formed in Byron's spiritual world.

The fervent prayers of the soldiers in the Strait of Dover echoed in his ears along the anchor chain of faith.

"Win! Win!"

This time, Byron is no longer the mortal who could only hear prayers but could not respond, but a true god!
He slowly raised the two swords in his hands and said in a deep voice:
"Since you have prayed to me sincerely, I will grant your wish!"

Sa! Sa! Sa!
As soon as he finished speaking, afterimages flashed behind the Golden Deer, and a series of heavy-duty cruisers with strange shapes and some that were too low in the eyes of the onlookers emerged one after another.

They did not hide in the "Border Maze" like the pirate fleet, but jumped directly here from the assembly point outside the Strait of Dover.

In fact, this "commerce-breaking fleet" composed entirely of heavy cruisers had already obtained the special effect of the legion title: [Unrestricted Wolf Pack] on the day when the first batch of five heavy cruisers were launched.

Also called: [A heavy cruiser with less than 100 ships is invincible if it has more than 100 ships].

"The basic attribute of a heavy cruiser is: invincible in single combat.

Those who can beat it cannot outrun it, those who can outrun it cannot beat it, and more often than not, they can neither beat it nor outrun it.

It can cooperate with the "ship maneuver tactics" to break the enemy into small pieces and pull them to the battlefield where they are best.

It can also rely on its full heavy artillery configuration to act as a battleship and go head-on with any country's fleet.

The special effect [Unlimited Wolf Pack] can build an exclusive wolf pack network in the entire commerce-breaking fleet. In addition to communication, it can also summon companions to provide fire support from a distance within a certain range.

Using itself as a positioning device, it can teleport other friendly ships to its side, forming a tightly organized bloodthirsty wolf pack.

This is called stirring up a wolf's den. Beat one and two came. Beat two and four came.
If a country discovers a heavy cruiser on its sea routes, it means that countless heavy cruisers may appear at any time to fill its home!"

In the future, "inter-ship warfare" may become one of the main forms of naval warfare. Its main purpose is to cut off or obstruct the transportation of enemy combat materials and the replenishment of troops, restrict the mobility of its maritime forces, and weaken a country's combat capability.

Strategic goals can be achieved by attacking enemy transport ships and escort convoys, destroying enemy loading and unloading ports, and blocking enemy ship passages.

During World War I, the Hans Cat implemented unrestricted submarine warfare, adopted single-boat attack tactics, destroyed the Allied sea transportation lines, and sank approximately 1100 million tons of ships.

During World War II, the scale of naval warfare expanded, and Hans Cat once again implemented unrestricted submarine warfare, which developed into the clustered use of submarines, surface ships and air forces, sinking about 2100 million tons of Allied shipping.

With this example in mind, today's heavy-duty cruisers are similar to them.

Even if Hastings and the Gulf nations around the North Sea fell one after another and Byron lost his territory, the triangular trade in the Echidna delta circulation would eventually emerge, which was not completely unsolvable.

As long as he controls the Great Wall on the seas on the main shipping routes, he can manipulate the international market and even influence the political tendencies of various factions and interest groups in various countries, thereby dominating the rise and fall of one or more countries in a "non-violent" way.

Control the sea routes!

Take control of world trade!

Gain world domination!

Crowned as the master of sea power!

At that time, Byron was the uncrowned king of the entire [Echidna Triangle]. He was not a pirate emperor, but the king of the seven seas, or even the sea king!

The commerce-breaking fleet has been reassembled.

Including the prototype of the holy relic ship [Golden Deer], the total number of this heavy cruiser fleet reached 52 ships, exceeding the total number of battleships in the seven fleets of Hastings.

In the past, due to the principle of "too advanced to be displayed", even when conducting actual combat training at sea, the enemy would be completely wiped out without leaving any witnesses.

This finale appearance was the first time he made a public appearance in front of the whole world.

The legal network from the [Iron Law of Kingship - Magna Carta] enveloped the entire fleet, building a branch command system with each warship as a unit, instantly integrating the fleet into a whole.

Byron gave the order:
"The commerce-breaking fleet, with the Golden Deer as the lead ship, will form a single column and deploy a battle line!"

call--!
Facing the northeast wind, more than 50 warships moved at the command without any delay, so accurately that it seemed as if they were using the same brain.

The sails were fully inflated and soon the speed soared to 13 knots.

The commerce-breaking fleet that had entered group battle mode was like a group of heavily armored knights galloping on horses, heading straight for the ghost fleet on the opposite side.

A blood-red tentacle shot out from the Ghost Fleet's flagship, the quasi-legendary battleship Mary Geoise Theater, and quickly grabbed the ecstatic George, Duke of Clarence, and pulled him onto his ship.

He fell onto the deck with a plop.

When I looked up, I saw the [Devil Lord] and [Death Pianist] Lorena sitting in front of a piano, surrounded by a group of demons, their followers, and undead sailors.

She wears a crown, has fiery red hair, white skin like snow, and a black evening gown. She is noble and beautiful, as dazzling as the sun.

It seems that she is not here to fight a colonial war to destroy a country, but to go out to attend a grand concert, which shows how arrogant she is.

Just as he never dared to rebel against his father-in-law, the Kingmaker Warwick, George did not dare to show any dissatisfaction with his new backer.

Regardless of his body becoming as weak as Edward IV, he immediately got up from the ground, with a flattering smile on his face, and bowed to the Devil Lord, saying:

“Your Majesty the Great Lorena.

Your will is the order of the Kingdom of Hastings from now on. I and the 700 million citizens will be your most loyal servants. "

But because the movement was too big, I couldn't help but hold my waist again:
"Ah, hiss, hiss, hiss"

Seeing his funny look, the Devil Lord, who had lived for who knows how many years, did not smile, but the devils and undead sailors around him burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, he looks like a dog."

George's face twitched, and he wanted to rebuke these damn barbarians, but when he saw the "noble" black skin on some of them, he lost all courage and continued to bow his head and smile:

"You laugh as much as you want, you laugh as much as you want, this laughter is really hearty, hahahaha."

I secretly swear in my heart:

"You have been a family member for only a few days longer than I have, yet you dare to look down on me? Sooner or later, I will find a way to please Her Majesty Lorena and ride on the heads of all of you!
At this time, no one knows better than me how to be a brother, son-in-law, grandson, or puppet to a strong man! "

[The Devil Lord] doesn't even bother to look at this kind of "opinion leader" who is used to undermine the regime from within the indigenous people.

She just stared at Byron, who had seized the throne at a speed beyond her expectation and successfully promoted to the fifth-level [Night Demon King], and her red lips curled up slightly:
"interesting."

He raised his hand and pressed a key on the piano beside him.

The entire fleet immediately formed a very strict battle line under the control of the musical note, and faced the oncoming commerce-breaking fleet head-on.

She had seen through the eyes of her lower-ranking followers the enemy's "ship maneuvering tactics" that dismembered the battle line, but she was not worried at all that she would be defeated by this move.

The ship spirits in the ghost fleet obey her command of the Death Music 100%. If they dare to play with ship maneuvers again, she will make sure they lose more than they gain.

Soon, the fleets of both battles danced the "Death Waltz" together, heading towards the wind and slowly approaching each other.

Although the onlookers watching the battle nearby instinctively hoped that Byron would win, they all felt a little pessimistic about the battle.

"Earlier, His Majesty the King of the Wild Hunt was able to use tactics to separate the second and third fleets of the two main fleets because the two battle lines had been bombarding each other for a long time, resulting in heavy casualties.

How could a group of low-rise cruisers break through the battleships that were waiting for battle? Even if they were faster, they couldn't hit them.

This is simply not possible.

If he could accomplish such a feat, the entire history of navigation and naval warfare in the Old World would be completely rewritten by him."

When the distance between the two sides was reduced to one kilometer, turbulent waves suddenly appeared on the sea.

George immediately became the chief military advisor to the Devil Lord:

“Your Majesty, the wind is picking up, which is not a normal natural phenomenon in the Straits of Dover.

It is the power of Lancaster!"

The ocean currents in the Strait of Dover generally flow from southwest to northeast along the strait, but persistent northeasterly winds may cause the ocean currents to reverse, so when conducting naval battles here, the sailing conditions may change rapidly.

But at least there is a pattern to follow. It is still somewhat unusual that the sea conditions suddenly changed from the original sailing conditions of about level 5 to high waves of more than two meters as they were today.

The next moment, the actions of the commerce-breaking fleet confirmed his guess.

The entire commerce-breaking fleet, which had been abiding by standard naval warfare rules and trying to gain the upper hand, suddenly went against the grain and gave up its upper wind position to the Ghost Fleet, while it itself came to the leeward position.

Then the two of them moved in the same direction, opening their gun ports as they rapidly approached the effective range of 100 meters.

"Each gun is equipped with ammunition!"

The heavy cruiser was equipped with a full heavy artillery configuration of 30 32-pound cannons on the lower deck and 26 42-pound carronades on the upper deck.

而主力三级舰则是下层28门32磅加农炮，上层30门24磅炮，露天甲板16门9磅炮，后者整体比前者差着9门32磅重炮的投射质量。

A scream suddenly threw the ghost fleet into chaos.

"Oh no! Captain, the main gun port cannot be opened!"

"So are we."

Except for a few level 4 ships, all level 3 ships and above reported bad news.

The reason is simple, because battleships above level three have too deep a draft and the main gun ports are too close to the water surface.

The lowest 32-pound heavy gun is located in the middle of the hull, and the lower frame of the gun port is only about meters away from the sea surface. If the sea conditions are slightly higher, waves will come up from the gun port.

Now the waves are over two meters high. In order to prevent the warship from taking in water on the leeward side that tilts into the water when the waves come up, the main gun ports must be closed, leaving only the 30 24-pound secondary guns and 16 9-pound guns on the upper deck.

Just because a ghost ship has its own spirit and is far stronger and more flexible than an ordinary warship, it does not mean that it will not sink again.

They were already inferior to heavy cruisers in terms of speed and firepower, and now their main guns could not be used, which was simply a disaster.

Byron's eyes were calm.

The last time he tricked the great pirate Edward Redbeard and the "Nemesis", he had to rely on the right timing.

But today, in this area of ​​water covered by his own power, his will is...the time!

A big wave:
"Send them back to the bottomless pit! Fire!"

boom! boom! boom! boom! boom! boom! boom!
Orange-red flames flashed, and thousands of blazing fire lines rushed directly towards the ghost fleet on the opposite side, whose surface was covered with barnacles.

The audience thought that this battle would turn into a battleship slaughtering a cruiser, but in fact it turned into a heavily armored cruiser killing the battleship head-on!
They all gasped.

However, at this time.

Dozens of white water lines suddenly emerged under the ships of the ghost fleet, with the blue light of whale oil faintly flashing on their heads, and they rushed straight towards the trafficking fleet at a speed of 15 knots.

The sharp-eyed lookout on the interceptor ship saw that there were dozens of strange oval metal spheres, and behind each metal sphere there was a very burly black-skinned undead soldier who was tirelessly treading water to adjust the course.

These turned out to be dozens of carbon-based guided whale oil torpedoes!

(End of this chapter)