I will be crowned king

Under the lead-gray dome, the damp and icy cold wind roared wantonly on the surface of the turbulent sea, rolling up waves of black waves; accompanied by loud noises like thunder and cannons, the foam of the crashing waves floated up. The ice floes that have not yet melted are drifting freely on the sea.

Crossing the rough sea is never a comfortable voyage at any time; there are ice floes, reefs, currents, storms... There are also long voyages, and various threats that have not yet been completely unveiled.

Even the most experienced captains and elderly sailors cannot guarantee that they will be safe every time they go to sea.

It's just the huge profits that are so huge that it can't be ignored, urging countless people to build ships and take risks to set sail on stormy days one after another.

And in late April, when the ice and snow were melting, a large fleet, flying both the King of Clovis's flag and the flag of the Church, had crossed the most dangerous waters of the entire sea and entered the second half of the journey. , began to move closer to the new world covered by ice and snow.

More than thirty battleships, including even two of the main battleships, were all damaged to varying degrees. The hulls on both sides were in tatters. In some cases, even the mainmast was already crumbling and had to be forcibly fixed with cables to prevent it from being broken through. The deck has long been pitted.

As for the internal affairs of the fleet, there are endless problems and conflicts - the Royal Army and the Navy naturally dislike each other. The former is extremely jealous of the latter's extremely high treatment, while the latter occupies a high position with the former, resulting in the political marginalization of the naval generals all the year round. And extremely dissatisfied.

In addition, the entire Clovis Jihad Army is not an excellent team that has been tested for a long time, but a piece of rotten fish and shrimps cobbled together from hundreds of thousands of troops from all over the country. It is difficult for all parties to reconcile. Unifying opinions and uniting is even more difficult.

As the vanguard, the mission of this legion is to rush to the battlefield as quickly as possible and open up the situation. Since speed must be ensured, of course some discounts must be made on supplies, but they are only of a sufficient level.

But for the Wang family navy, which has long-term ocean voyage missions, they know how much material reserves are needed for such missions, and all kinds of necessities are prepared in advance. There is no need to improvise, and they will not share it with the Wang family army. supplies.

So when a certain army company commander was chewing wormy biscuits and drinking beer mixed with water, but saw that the boatswain, who was lower than himself, had rum and canned meat, the conflict completely broke out.

And when the issue of unfair treatment subsided, it was revealed that logistics personnel were embezzling supplies and even using precious warehouse space to secretly smuggle them...

Discontent burned like a raging fire on the decks and cabins of every ship.

Just when the morale of the army was in turmoil, the lookouts went on strike one after another and completely failed to notice the weather changes. As a result, they encountered a storm at sea. When they realized that the situation was not good, it was too late, and the huge and bloated fleet crashed into the storm. Right in the center.

On the dark sea, the pitch-black water rolled up into huge waves, turning into white foam amidst the thunderous sound of cannon fire. The unmelted ice floes mixed in were like shells fired by siege guns, sweeping away like crazy. Deck and hull sides.

Cold rain poured into the cabin along the pitted decks and the hull that was pierced by ice; diseases such as malnutrition and cold also spread rapidly.

Origin, class, region, interests, plague, environment...all the factors that could lead to low morale and collapse of an army, the entire fleet broke out one after another.

When they were at their most desperate, the soldiers and sailors of the army and the sea who were originally opposed to each other also put aside their prejudices and made a handicap around "how many cabins will be smashed through today" and "which ship will sink into the sea first?" Gambling games, big and small, were held in full swing.

This kind of "desperate entertainment" with quite a bit of black humor quickly resolved the internal gaps; under the threat of death, carpe diem and survival became the most important thing for everyone - of course, this was not necessary for resolving the crisis. There is no promotion effect.

The ones who finally stood up were the naval officers under William Cecil who united around the Cecil family. With their rich experience and bold enough actions, these people successfully led the fleet out of the storm area and finally avoided the danger. The ship sank and people died, and twenty to thirty thousand people were sacrificed directly to the Lord of the Abyss, a tragic end.

Of course, similar situations like loss of supplies, unlucky guys who fell into the water, froze to death, drowned, died of illness... there are basically countless similar situations, so many that the entire fleet does not even intend to make statistics; besides the size of the Jihadi Legion that finally escaped, Already no different from some of the more miserable pirates.

After a thorough internal discussion, the naval officer corps put forward their suggestions. The fleet changed its course and headed to Naxir Port first. After a short rest and replenishment, it set off again and returned to its original route.

The reason they said this was also very simple: given the current situation of the fleet, if they did not find a nearby port to rest as soon as possible, it was unclear whether they could capture Sailing City, and more than half of the sailors and soldiers might not break out in rebellion immediately.

Sailor rebellions actually occur from time to time in the navy, but considering that the ships in the entire fleet are seriously damaged, even if the rebellion can be successfully suppressed, two-thirds of the ships may have to sink into the sea to feed the fish.

There was finally no objection or dissatisfaction to this proposal, and everyone in the fleet from officers to soldiers and sailors approved it - or in other words, those "opinion leaders" who like to stir up trouble have basically gone to see the Lord of the Abyss.

As it turns out, they were right.

Although the Naqsir royal family declined the invitation to participate in the war on the pretext that "the civil war is not over yet" and hoped to remain neutral, they were still willing to open the port to the Jihadi Legion and provide the necessary supplies at market prices - the church would bear the logistics. Guaranteed, of course, you don’t have to worry about the risk of defaulting on your account.

The fleet that had just suffered a disaster took a week's rest, not only replenishing a large amount of lost supplies, but also purchasing raw materials such as cheap wood, asphalt and iron products from the Naqsir royal family to use them to repair the damaged ships. Simple fix.

Regarding this unexpected surprise, some people in the fleet expressed doubts, but more people believed that this was the Kingdom of Naxir deliberately trying to please the Holy See and the jihadist army to avoid being involved in the civil war.

The Naxir royal family is also very happy. The various materials purchased at low prices from the Free Confederation have finally found reliable and stable sales.

Seven days later, the restored fleet set sail again, successfully entered the waters nominally controlled by the Free Confederacy, and began to move towards its final destination.

At the forefront of the entire fleet, on the deck of the Crown, which was used as the flagship, Rear Admiral Ludwig Franz, standing on the edge of the ship's side, held up a monocular and looked at the coastline that was already visible to the naked eye.

Although the restless sponges were rising and falling one after another, the well-proportioned figure remained stable, as if it had become one with the battleship.

Behind him, countless figures were running back and forth; although there were still a few days before arriving at the destination, the entire fleet was already preparing to land in advance.

This was Ludwig's long-standing habit and the way he led the army; using mandatory orders to make his subordinates perform "reluctant" tasks, and then through constant training to make them obey him and not easily raise objections Opinion conditioning.

If he were in the Southern Army, Ludwig would not do such "superfluous things", but on the one hand, the jihadist army under his command this time was pieced together from hundreds of thousands of the royal army. It's a waste of time; on the other hand, the opponent this time is none other than...

"Anson...Bach."

Whispering, Ludwig put down his telescope and took a deep breath; the cold and moist sea breeze flowed into his limbs from his nose, and his whole body suddenly became more awake.

"In three more days, we will arrive at Sailing City."

William Cecil walked behind him silently, pretending not to hear anything and handed Ludwig a bottle of rum: "That is a very good deep-water port, but as a battlefield, it is not big enough to accommodate thirty battleships. siege."

"I suggest dividing the legion into two. The main force is responsible for besieging Sailing City, and the remaining force, together with other light cruisers, will harass other ports in the colony. It can also block the entire coastal waters to prevent the enemy from using ships to quickly transport supplies and troops. ."

"That's not necessary."

Ludwig took the bottle and said without looking back: "Just keep the status quo and march to Sailing City, and then conduct a siege on both land and water battlefields at the same time. There is no need to change the plan."

"Why?!"

William Cecil was very puzzled: "According to the intelligence we have, the An... Free Confederacy only has a group of lightly armed or even unarmed three-masted sailing ships, and there are no coastal defense facilities such as forts in each port. There is no such thing as Possibly resist attacks from the sea.”

"As long as we block the coastal waters and then harass the port, we can block the reinforcements east of Pigeon Castle and force them to move only by land; I don't know if you know the road conditions in the colony because..."

"I really don't know this." Ludwig, who suddenly looked back, interrupted: "Colonel William Cecil, you are right, I do not know much about the Free Confederacy, and I know nothing about the Navy; but there is one thing I am very sure of things.”

"……What?"

"That's Anson Bach. He will definitely not be reinforced from the sea!"

Looking at the confused expression of the other party, Ludwig said solemnly: "Once we divide our troops, there is no point except slowing down the siege and allowing him to seize the opportunity for rescue."

"And the small forces we sent out to attack the port are likely to be ambushed by him, causing meaningless losses and casualties. They may even seize ships and attack us in turn."

William Cecil frowned, as if he couldn't believe it but couldn't find any reason to refute: "...Your Excellency, Army Commander, we are talking about the Free Confederacy, not Anson Bach...well, Anson Bach."

"Yes, you are right." Ludwig nodded imperceptibly:

"So we might as well make a bet and see if that's what happens."

After saying that, he bit down hard on the cork and took a big gulp of rum in the sea breeze.

……………………

At the same time, in the Supreme Council of Beluga Port, Anson, who had hastily ended the meeting, was talking to Louis about defense issues.

"The plan couldn't keep up with the changes. I originally planned to at least wait until the commander-in-chief of the Confederate Army was elected...forget it, that's it."

Shaking his head with regret, Anson looked at the young knight helplessly: "You should return to Sailing City immediately and start preparing for defense. The faster the better."

"But you must start by land. As long as it is not too late, try to avoid moving by sea - time is urgent, and I won't explain the reason to you."

Louis nodded slightly and looked at Anson with trusting eyes: "I will set off with Freya right away. If everything goes well... five days, we will be able to return to Sailing City within five days."

"Although I think Major General Ludwig is more likely to attack Beluga Port, I don't rule out the possibility that the Holy War Legion will regard Sailing City as their first stop." Anson breathed out softly:

"He is the kind of safe type who will not easily divide his troops unless necessary. There are many tidal flats around Yangfan City, so he will most likely besiege from both sea and land at the same time, control the surrounding traffic chokepoints, and crush the town bit by bit. The peripheral defense... Unless he is forced to a corner or finds some key flaw, there is no need to worry about him risking a surprise attack on the city."

"Like... Thunderclap?"

Louis gave him a meaningful look.

"Yes, just like Thunder Castle." Anson shrugged and admitted with a wry smile:

"Once it is confirmed that the Jihadi Army's attack target is really Sailing City, I will immediately send troops to support... But you'd better not go back alone. You should bring as many troops as you can; militia groups, mercenaries, adventurers from various colonies... Pull up everything you can."

"I don't expect them to really have any effect, but at least they can help share some of Yangfan City's attention and delay Ludwig's offensive efficiency - he won't dare to attack them all easily without clearing away the hidden dangers on the periphery. ."

"Of course, even if it is just a pretentious 'shelf army', it must at least have a core elite with acceptable combat effectiveness; I will send you an infantry regiment and a cavalry company from the Storm Legion; this way we can communicate and liaise. It saves a lot of obstacles.”

"Which infantry regiment?"

The young knight said without hesitation, not even considering whether this was Anson's deliberate move to monitor and control his shackles.

"The one I trust most."

Anson said softly with the corners of his mouth raised.

………………

"Ah sneeze——!"

In the headquarters barracks not far away, Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Dukasky, who was organizing training, suddenly shuddered, as if he was being targeted by something, and looked around in horror.