I will be crowned king

"All gunners, get ready!"

"All artillery is undergoing the first round of calibration and marking the intended target! Ammo operators are ready, all artillery is loaded with explosive shells, and be ready for rapid fire!"

"All trailers are in place, and after the rapid fire is over, evacuate as quickly as possible!"

On an unknown coast somewhere in Reef Town, Anson stood beside a twelve-pound cannon, holding a telescope and frowning at the prey anchored on the sponge.

Behind him, hundreds of artillerymen were surrounding thirty cannons and mortars of different calibers, making final adjustments in a temporary artillery position; amidst the noisy orders and shouts, everyone's expression was extremely nervous. , the atmosphere was also extremely depressing.

After all... their opponent this time was not another army. Even though Anson had emptied the coalition's inventory of fifty pieces of artillery, and was extravagant to an unprecedented level, he was still completely crushed by the firepower from the opposite side.

After all, even a three-masted cruiser has at least thirty to fifty naval guns; and the opposite side is not just a battleship, but a fleet of more than a dozen sailing ships!

Once exposed, the opponent only needs a salvo of naval guns to blast the entire artillery position into the sky.

Therefore, when Anson ordered the construction of two artillery positions on both sides of the coast of Reef Town, the entire artillery company - or in other words, everyone in the Storm Division headquarters except Anson and Lisa, including Fabian and Carl Bain ——They all feel that the deputy commander is either crazy or has gone crazy long ago.

To be honest, although Anson appeared confident in front of everyone, Anson was actually a little nervous.

In a sense, this should be his first real attempt to take the lead, rather than just follow someone else's orders to fight a war.

Before this, whether it was Thunder Castle or Eagle Point City, the consequences of losing were serious, but no one expected him to win; even if he had to pass the buck in the end, he would not be the one to bear all the responsibility.

But this time... he was disobeying Ludwig's orders, hiding it from the army and the Privy Council, and taking advantage of the situation to mobilize the entire Hantu and the empire for a head-on confrontation.

If you win, everything will be easy.

If he loses... Anson will consider selling himself.

With Sophia as a major shareholder, it is impossible for the Franz family to just watch themselves become a junk stock; and Miss Talia should also be happy to see that they can keep their promise and "voluntarily" go to the colonies in the New World. , paving the way for the Luen family.

But the current situation was better than he imagined.

The Imperial garrison in Reef Town was completely distracted by the Storm Division's "sneak attack" and did not send enough scouts. They had no idea that the 20,000 coalition troops were marching towards them in a hurry to build a plan for themselves in Reef Town right under their noses. The forts were completely unaware that eyes, an important human organ, seemed to be just decorations on their bodies.

This is true even for fleets anchored at sea. In order to pursue fire coverage, the distance between ships is very tight, as if they have not considered the possibility of encountering ground threats.

This kind of "arrangement" that looks down on people no matter how you look at it, made Anson wonder if it was a trap on the opposite side, tricking him into exposing his firepower and annihilating them all in one fell swoop.

But exchanging a fleet of more than a dozen ships for fifty cannons—even though most of them are just commercial cargo ships—is a huge loss for the empire. How many prodigal idiots would it take to come up with such a tactic?

"Ammunition loaded, first round of calibration—!"

Two powerful ammunition handlers walked from the twelve-pound cannon to Anson's side, skillfully sending explosive shells into the smooth and new barrel. The gunner standing behind also grabbed the breech block.

The logo of the August Arms Factory was engraved on the dark cannonball.

Slowly putting down the telescope in his hand, Anson turned his gaze to the Reef Town not far away from him; the deafening shouts and gunshots kept coming from there, and even the sand and gravel under his feet were shaking slightly. Just looking at the movement They knew that the Storm Division had already pressed forward across the board and was fighting the Imperial defenders.

Although he disapproved of Anson's plan, especially the part where Anson planned to personally command the artillery, Carl Bain still carried out the order unswervingly, and in his own way, tried his best to reduce the meaningless casualties.

His calm eyes swept over the extremely nervous faces behind him. Anson raised the saber at his waist, followed Ludwig's example, and waved it forward gently.

The next second, the silent sea surface was illuminated by dazzling gunfire.

………………

"Conceal, conceal! Enemy fire is coming, enemy fire is coming—!!!!!"

Almost as soon as the orange-red flames illuminated the earth, the lookout hands of the Imperial Hantu Fleet immediately sent signals to each ship. The rapid alarm bells echoed on every chaotic deck. The boatswain holding a kerosene lamp The , second mate, and third mate roughly kicked every fool awake who was still sleeping soundly.

Then, then it was gone.

Everyone was panicking, everyone was screaming, everyone was trembling, not knowing what to do.

Under normal circumstances, faced with the deterrence of coastal forts, a fleet anchored at sea should quickly anchor and distance itself from the land, and then use its advantages of maneuverability and range to focus fire to knock out the opposing firepower points.

Because compared with artillery positions on land, naval guns tend to have larger calibers and more numbers; generally, as long as they are not deliberately stupid or the enemy also has a fleet, the coastal defense batteries and temporarily built artillery positions in the port can only be passive. Get beaten.

Even an "armed merchant fleet" like the Hantu Fleet, which is mainly composed of cargo ships, must have hundreds of artillery pieces when gathered together, which is comparable to legion-level firepower; if placed on land, it will be invincible to the entire Hantu fleet. .

Taking a step back, even if you really dare not approach because of the land firepower, the ship is not a fixed fort. It is always possible to raise anchor and sail to turn in; if a moving ship is hit by a land fort at night, the probability is the same as It's almost as good as being struck to death by lightning.

But the thing is, this all happens under "normal" circumstances.

And everything that happened tonight had nothing to do with "normal"!

On the one hand, fleet commander Tahien issued a death order. The fleet was not allowed to fire at will without his instructions, let alone lift anchor. On the other hand, although it was called "Empire", it was still Carindia's ocean-going fleet. .

Tasien wanted to use these Carinthians to move the fleet, but he also had no trust in these gangs of thieves who repeatedly jumped around. Therefore, he sent companies responsible for surveillance and supervising operations on each ship to ensure that his orders could be carried out. It will be implemented 100%, and at the critical moment, some people who want to "sway" will be suppressed.

The direct consequence was that in the face of enemy fire, the sailors on the ship could do nothing but issue warnings and panic.

"Boom!!!! Boom!!!! Boom!!!!"

Accompanied by a deafening loud noise, the artillery on the shore position roared neatly into the dark sea, and two golden-red flame pillars extended towards the sea - except for Anson's position, Lisa, who was temporarily "entrusted with an important task" Another artillery position was also built in the opposite direction to form a crossfire on the fleet and the reef town.

The only fifty artillery pieces in the two artillery positions were all put into battle; in order to completely cut off the tentacles of the empire that could reach behind him at any time, Anson gambled all his capital, and for the first time he became as rich as a certain The biological son of the Archbishop.

As the frightened and panicked fleet sailors watched, the rain of bullets in the sky and the gunfire from the shore lit up the dark night. The orange-red symbolizing death fell from the sky in a scream that tore everything apart.

Pieces of flames began to explode on the sea, and the hot air waves rolled up the sea water, sweeping across the sides of the ship and the deck; the fire waves danced wildly in the boiling sea water, and the thick smoke billowed on the burning mast. Soaring straight into the sky!

Facing the sudden fire coverage, the Hantu Fleet, which had razed the Reef Town to the ground in the same way just one day ago, was now wailing and screaming in a helpless predicament... Even the most determined soldiers could not Be indifferent to this explosion.

In fact, despite the pre-marked firing range, it is impossible to achieve 100% accuracy in night bombardment, not to mention the errors that are bound to occur due to the pursuit of rapid fire. If two-thirds of the shells fall on the ship, then it must be It is the ring of order that protects his devout disciple Anson Bach.

However, Tasien's pursuit of the density of naval gunfire coverage resulted in a very tight spacing between the entire fleet; as long as one ship was set alight, it was only a matter of time before the rest "burned".

Explosive bombs representing the highest technical level of August Military Factory fell apart the moment they touched the hull and deck; the expanding fireball was mixed with hundreds of fragments and exploded instantly; accompanied by bursts of roar, the bombs were blown to pieces. The hull of the hit ship was torn apart, and the wailing humanoid "charcoal" was swept up into the sky by the air waves. It fell into pieces and fell into the sea of ​​fire...

The bombardment only lasted for less than a few minutes before a rebellion broke out on the flagship of the Hantu Fleet; the sailors on the ship tried to weigh anchor to avoid the bombardment, but were brutally suppressed by imperial soldiers.

This is not because the imperial soldiers are really stubborn to the extreme and would rather be killed than to carry out the order - but Tasheen is still on the shore. They can't abandon the fleet commander and escape, right? !

The most fundamental conflict of interest between the two sides led to rapid division and hostility among the Imperial soldiers and sailors on the flagship; the soldiers ordered to fire back immediately, while the Carinthian sailors just wanted to escape for their lives.

And this situation seems to have the ability to "contagion"... Soon, rebellions broke out one after another on the ships, and the more ships were hit by artillery fire, the faster the outbreak broke out for ships with more tragic casualties; those who suffered losses Merchant ships that are not serious yet can still "coexist in peace".

After the "normal persuasion" failed, the imperial soldiers immediately took up arms and performed the more efficient "weapon persuasion"; and the Carindia sailors who wanted to survive were not to be outdone, and picked up sailors' scimitars, pistols and Shotgun joins this heated “debate”.

So a "ridiculous" scene appeared... Faced with the crazy bombardment from the Clovis artillery position, the Hantu fleet neither surrendered nor retreated nor fought back, but instead killed each other.

Accompanied by gunfire all over the sky, the two sides launched a deadly fight that could only be described as "crazy" on the burning ship; a handful of calm sailors and imperial soldiers were already trying to escape, abandoning the ship and jumping into the sea.

But more of them began to take revenge crazily for their daily grudges, countless cynicisms, and the natural contempt between the Han natives and the Imperial people, just like the last carnival at the end of the world.

The only difference is that the tools they celebrate with are not wine and food, but sailors' scimitars, rifles, bayonets, grenades and naval guns.

As for the coalition artillerymen who had no idea what the opposing fleet was doing, they could only rejoice in the blessing of the Ring of Order while stuffing the remaining blasts into the already hot barrels at a faster speed and continue pouring them into the already ignited sea. gunfire.

After all, once the shelling stops and the other side starts to fight back, they will be the ones finished!

"This is too luxurious...although it looks really impressive."

On the Storm Division position, Carl Bain, who was looking at the sea level with a telescope, stared dumbly at the ignited sea level, and couldn't help but said to himself: "How many explosive bombs did our deputy commander get? Can you withstand such a beating from him?!"

"A total of one thousand, which is the entire inventory of August Military Factory."

The expressionless Fabian appeared quietly behind him and handed the cigarette case to the chief of staff: "If nothing else, they are all here."

"A thousand?!" Karl's eyes widened and he took a cigarette and bit it in his mouth.

"The little secretary told me." Fabian nodded, took out the matches and lit them for himself and the chief of staff as if nothing had happened:

"In order to maintain confidentiality, this batch of artillery shells was not recorded in Hantu's accounts. The deputy commander directly requested it in the name of the Southern Army Corps."

"...How much did he spend?"

Karl frowned. Due to the complicated craftsmanship, the price of explosive bombs was several times that of ordinary solid bullets - even if Anson could rely on his status as "fiancé" to get the goods at cost price, a thousand bombs would definitely not be a small number.

"It doesn't matter." Fabian shook his head and blew smoke into the sky:

"The little secretary said that the deputy commander was asked for in the name of 'supporting the main force of the Southern Army', so all the white slips were in the name of Major General Ludwig - oh, and the two we just got Ten thousand guns are also hung under this white note, so I only paid a down payment."

As he said that, he turned to look at Karl: "Why, are you surprised?"

"No, I'm not surprised when you say that." Carl Bain waved his hand and let out a long sigh:

"How are the preparations by the coalition forces?"

"Thun's five thousand men have just entered the position, and it will take half an hour before they can all join the battle; Ayden's army is still marching towards this side, but three infantry regiments are already ready...if we use their standards. "

"Then how about setting the time for the general attack in half an hour?"

"no problem."