Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 18: Big News

Claude slept very deep, and even the bell that the Temple of God was ringing at six o'clock in the morning did not make him wake up from his sleep until his mother found that the time was a little late and let Angelina go upstairs to wake him up. come.

He wiped his face indiscriminately, picked up two pieces of white bread with a bag and Claude rushed out of the house. The time for class is coming soon. If you are late in the morning, the strict Wickham teaching does not mind letting him stand in the classroom door for three classes.

Breathlessly rushed into the classroom, luck was good, the bells of the class just sounded, and the first class of mathematics, Mr. Vincent, had not yet entered the classroom. This situation is not late.

"Why are you coming so late?" Eriksson next to him asked: "The three of us waited for a long time at your door, thinking that you had already left. Who knows that you didn't come to school."

Claude replied while looking for a textbook from his bag: "Don't mention it, I overslept in the morning, just ran all the way."

"Your eyes are a little red, your eyes are black, your face is a little pale, and you slept very late last night?" Bocker said, looking at Claude's face.

“Is it?” Claude touched his face: “Isn’t the house a banquet last night? After the end, my father and the guests discussed something in the study room. It’s too late to go. When I want to sleep, I don’t know where the two wild cats came from the spring on the roof. You know that I live in the attic. This makes me sleep. I finally drove the two wild cats away. As a result, I couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t sleep. I can’t get up in the morning..."

"Oh, you are bad luck." Verricko smiled: "This is the season when the wild cats are springing. The voice is very troublesome. But there is a way, just on the roof of your house. Kill a wild cat on it, and no other wild cat will come to the roof of your house in the future. Would you like me to take the gun from home and lend it to you? In fact, the cat meat is also delicious, and it is tenderer than chicken. ......"

"Pull it down." Crowder despised him. "You think my father will agree that I will blast with a musket on the roof. When the wild cat is not hit, the roof will be repaired again. I want to eat wild cat meat. Go to yourself. Hunting in the wild."

"Vero, do you say that the cat meat is more tender than the chicken?" Eriksson was successfully biased by Verricko.

"Of course, I told you, that time..." The two men went into a discussion about the quality of the cat meat and cooking methods. If it wasn’t for class, Claude wondered if the two guys would go home immediately to get a musket and then go to the town to find a wild cat.

"Claude, I know what they are talking about..." Bokal whispered.

"They? Who....."

"Your father, they, my father was there last night. They discussed the opening of a route from White Deer Town to the Tilsim collar of the Nubiansia. If this route can be successful, then White Deer Town will It can be upgraded to a port city, no longer accepting the jurisdiction of Baromiese County, and can obtain independent budget and distribution power in administrative and financial aspects. It is directly under the jurisdiction of Wangcheng and has a status comparable to that of the port of Nehru..."

Bok Al-Ah said that the quieter his mouth, the faster his mouth touched Claude's ear.

"Oh, this is a big deal." Claude understands why Bocker is so careful. If the news is now passed out to ensure a sensation, the father planned this time for this big event.

The port of Neru is the only large seaport in the Kingdom of Ovilas, and it is also a military port. The only naval fleet in the kingdom is there. This navy, which is aliased to the Dreadnought Fleet, is the security of the coastal waters of the eastern part of the Kingdom. Its mission is to resist the invasion of the enemy's navy by the enemy's navy, to sweep the pirate gangs along the coast, to maintain the sea trade routes, and so on.

The Kingdom of Ovilas is located in the eastern part of the Faurea continent. Although there are nearly a thousand miles of coastline, there are no two places suitable for the harbour. In addition to the port of Neru is a deep-water port and there are several shallow-sea fishing ports, other places are not beaches or tidal flats, or cliffs, not suitable for the anchorage of ocean-going vessels.

After Sterling X ascended the throne, he changed the pre-emptive strategic oppression of the kings in the eastern part of the continent, eased relations with various countries, dredged trade routes, exchanged ideas, and vigorously developed trade with other countries.

In a way, Sterling X is actually a businessman with a crown. He loves money and pays attention to interests. However, this does not mean that Sterling X did not do the work of his king. He only turned his expansion to the mainland of Nubbia.

The continent of Nubbia is very large, at least twice as large as the area of ​​the Faurea continent. Half of the countries of the Faurea or the coastal countries have sent more or less troops, occupying the territory as an overseas colonial territory in the coastal areas of the mainland of Nubian, and waiting to expand into the interior.

Compared to the countries of the Faurea that are armed to the teeth, a battle of tens of thousands of casualties, even a small border conflict can cause nearly 1,000 casualties. The expansion of the kingdom of Ovilas in the mainland of Nubiansia was smooth sailing. It took only seven years to lay down an overseas territory that was twice the territory of the kingdom, and set up seven slaves for this purpose. Directly under the jurisdiction of the West Asian continent.

The most important thing is that the loss of casualties in such a large overseas territorial kingdom is not high. It is said that so far only three or four thousand people have been injured, and the army sent by the kingdom to the mainland of Nobsia is more than 100,000. .

The main reason is that the kingdom army has to deal with the indigenous tribes holding the bows and arrows and the javelin stone axe. This reminds Claude of the colonial era in the past Western times, the modern army armed with muskets to deal with the tribal armies of the primitive society, this is a kind of 辗The pressure of the war, the gap between the two eras allowed the kingdom army to win an effortless victory.

When an ocean-going sailing ship was loaded with gold and silver gems from the mainland of Nubbia, and various kinds of specialty raw materials entered the port of Neru, the whole kingdom was alarmed, no matter which class, almost all The people of the kingdom are praising the wise decision and extraordinary gaze of Sterling X. It is his insistence on spending huge sums of money to carry out a huge risk of sending more than 100,000 troops and countless manpower to exploit the overseas continent of Nubbia. The territory, it seems that this is really a profitable investment.

Indeed, Sterling X restored peace to the border between the kingdom and its neighbors and thrived in business. He also strongly advocated the expansion of the colonial territories of the mainland of Nubiansia, and then obtained the various raw materials and gold and silver wealth required by the kingdom from these overseas territories and enhanced national strength. This series of measures and policies have proved that he is a very good monarch.

At the same time, however, the expansion of the Kingdom of Ovilas in the mainland of Nubiansia also attracted the attention and vigilance of the rest of the Faurea continent.

In particular, the Nasri Kingdom in the eastern part of the Faurea continent has always been a deadly enemy of the Kingdom of Ovilas. Although Sterling X has finally reached a peace agreement with him after several twists and turns, it is actually several wars with the kingdom. They were all defeated and suffered from internal and external difficulties. They only continued to take the ladder that was handed over by Sterling X.

Unlike the power of the military power of the Kingdom of Ovilas in the mainland of Nubsia, the Nasri Kingdom has seized two sites in the continent of Nubsia, but the area is not large, because of the power struggle within the kingdom. The colony did not get any development.

Seeing that the Kingdom of Ovilas continues to expand overseas territories, and continuously transporting property and various raw materials to the homeland, the national strength is growing stronger, and the Nasri Kingdom is finally in a hurry. After more than ten years in this way, the development of the Kingdom of Ovilas is difficult, and the Nasri Kingdom’s end is a terrible one.

Even if Sterling X repeatedly advocated maintaining stability and peace in the eastern part of the continent, he signed a peace agreement. But the Nasri Kingdom, a deadly enemy, is extremely self-aware. Now, Sterling X said that he loves peace. When the development of Sterling XI came to power and said that he likes war, what should he do? Peace agreement? Isn't the agreement signed to tear it up? Just find a reason at the moment, anyway, the winner is not condemned.

Several wars on the land have failed in the Nasri kingdom, and now they dare not lightly start the war. Not to mention the overseas territories of the mainland of Nubbia, the thousands of troops deployed there and the more than 100,000 military forces in the Kingdom of Ovilas are a desperate gap, and it is good to be self-protected. .

However, the biggest weakness of the Ovilas Kingdom was seized by the Nasri Kingdom, which is the lack of armed forces at sea. From the port of Neru in the Kingdom of Ovilas to the mainland of Nubbia, a big bend is required. The ocean-going ship will follow the coastline of the eastern part of the Faurea continent, passing the Principality of the West, the Eskilin and the Rimo. The waters of the Principality of Dera reached the far-reaching Cape of the Eastern Continent, and then went straight north through the storm sea and the silent ocean, which reached the west coast of Nubiansia.

The route has a total length of more than 2,400 nautical miles and a voyage for more than a month. The route is full of risks. Especially when the investment of the Kingdom of Ovilas in the mainland of Nubiya finally came to fruition, the ocean-going sailboats that returned with wealth were the targets of countless pirates.

The Nasri Kingdom united the remaining four principalities in the eastern part of the continent to form a joint fleet. The name was to fight against pirates and maintain the route. In fact, it was placed at the seven-inch position of the Kingdom of Ovilas because he was always Both can cut off the sea connection between the two continents.

Moreover, the combined fleet in strength and scale has surpassed the fearless fleet of the kingdom. This also reminds the kingdom that once a war occurs, the joint fleet can block the port of Neru and lock the fearless fleet in the port, even the combined fleet can be fully loaded. The five-nation coalition forces arbitrarily landed from the coastal areas of the kingdom, just like a straight knife in the heart of the kingdom.

For the kingdom of Ovilas, this joint fleet has become the eye of the kingdom's high-level. Since the establishment of the united fleet, many ocean-going vessels between the overseas leaders of Nubiana and the port of Neru are lost at sea. The trace.

Some of the shipwrecks that were discovered occasionally can only be judged to be pirates, but the top leaders of the kingdom are well-informed, but they cannot find evidence. The vast sea is the best evidence of the disappearance of the crime, and any crimes committed in the sea can be perfectly destroyed.

The ocean-going sea vessels that the kingdom now returns from overseas territories can only be composed of large fleets, but also with the formation of escorts of ocean-going warships. This makes the only deep-water port of the Kingdom, Neru Port, overwhelmed. After all, Neru Port is not only the only military port of the kingdom, but also the only commercial port of the kingdom. It bears a heavy foreign commercial trade and transportation business.

Every time the ocean-going sea-going formation returns or is about to sail, the commercial transportation business of Neru Port will be forced to stop for a few days in order to coordinate the tasks of the ocean-going sea-going formation. Under such circumstances, even if the top leaders of the kingdom decided to invest heavily in strengthening the armed forces at sea in order to achieve the purpose of countering or eliminating the joint fleet, they had to stop because of the actual situation in the port of Neru.