I will be crowned king

But even if a natural ally is at hand, there is still an insurmountable obstacle standing between the Free Confederacy and the rebel nobles of Naxir - control of the coastline.

The Free Confederacy needs the rebel fleet to break the maritime blockade of the Jihadi Army, but as long as the Jihadi Army still has control over the coastline of the New World, it will be difficult for the rebel fleet to make up its mind and join the battlefield in a direct confrontation with the Jihadi Army.

After all, robbery is one thing, war is another; the rebellious nobles and pirates who have just been released from prison and gained freedom, you expect this group of people to shine, but because they have nothing to do with them, they even robbed their property—— Colonies - people fighting side by side, or even taking the initiative to sacrifice, it is better to place hope on the Jihadi Army to collapse without a fight.

Winning allies is to break the blockade, but only by breaking the blockade can we have the chance to win allies to our side. It sounds like an unsolvable problem, but in fact the key to solving the problem lies in the contradiction: the Jihadi Army that has blocked the coastline of the New World. The fleet is huge, but if you want to maintain such a huge fleet, you need to pay a price.

Sufficient supplies, a large number of logistics and ship maintenance personnel, daily expenses to maintain the operation of the ship, and the most important thing: the port.

If you want to maintain a huge fleet, you must have a suitable and large-scale port, otherwise no matter how much money you spend, it will not work. And in the entire New World, there are only a handful of excellent ports that can berth merchant ships and even large warships.

If it cannot seize a port of sufficient size, the Jihadi Army will not be able to maintain such a large-scale maritime power forever.

Sailing City, Black Reef Port, White Whale Port, Slave Port and Red Hand Bay... The Crusaders want to keep the empire's grand fleet, Clovis's royal fleet and a large number of hired naval ships in the new world. To exist, all five ports are indispensable.

Even this is already the minimum standard. You must know that even Clovis, which has only one military port, does not jam all its warships in one port all the time. The empire's large fleet is dispersed and parked in many ports. Fewer joint operations - each at a level far better than the best the colony can offer.

Therefore, as long as the Confederacy can occupy one or two key ports in the short term and not be controlled by the Jihadi Army, there is hope of breaking the blockade!

"...At present, the Truth Society has made contact with these Naxir rebels, and has given a promise that as long as they do not return to their homeland, the Helvig royal family will no longer pursue their rebellion...If they join the war, they will fight for them Colonial interests." The trainee priest said solemnly:

"September... The most important thing is that you must ensure that Beluga Port cannot fall at least before September, otherwise these stinking fish and rotten shrimps will never dare to take even one step closer to the coastline of the New World!"

Anson's expression was gloomy and uncertain. It was not that he had no confidence in whether he could hold Beluga Harbor, but that the truth would be so active in finding allies for himself, which seemed a bit overly enthusiastic.

"If you are worried about us, or that a certain novelist has ulterior motives, please don't worry." Karin Jacques smiled meaningfully. He had dealt with Anson since Clovis City, and he knew this man very well. Just how cautious:

"The core goal of the Truth Society is one and only - to prevent or break the Holy See's restrictions and control of the world. The rest are just incidental; I don't want to say good things about someone, but... at least he is definitely worthy now. You trust.”

"The premise is that Beluga Port will not fall before September." Anson smiled coldly: "Right?"

Karin Jacques nodded seriously, and then sighed heavily:

"I haven't been a member of the Truth Society for a particularly long time, but based on my experience, this organization will only be their most steadfast and trustworthy ally when a person or force still has hope."

"Otherwise...the Thirteen Elf Council of Yser and your respected mentor, Mace Honnard, are the best candidates; if you don't want to feel the same as them, please keep your last hope alive. .”

"Otherwise... betrayal and separation may really just happen in the blink of an eye."

…………………………………………………………………………

The roaring sounds of naval guns came one after another, blasting water columns into the sky on the surface of the Ice Dragon Fjord. Mixed with thick smoke, they swept through Beluga Port, which had been immersed in war for dozens of days.

With the cover of naval guns, thousands of Jihadi soldiers began to approach the port on small landing boats. The densely packed boats suddenly crowded the entire fjord, blocking out the sky and the sun, and the flags were fluttering. It was so majestic and unstoppable when it went up.

Especially behind these small ships, huge battleships stretched out their proud bodies, and stretched out the black muzzles sprayed with hellfire from under the gun doors, pouring unbridled towards the land and docks, symbolizing death. The light of the fire looked so devastating. No matter how impregnable the position was in front of them, it should be defeated in an instant.

But at this time, under the cover of these warships, the soldiers of the Jihadi Army following the majestic army knew very well that this was just an illusion on the surface, and even the opposite: the entire Jihadi Army had already run out of fuel, and the so-called attack was really just Just pretending to not make the army look too embarrassed.

The real siege of Beluga Port had ended a week ago.

As the only outlet to the sea in the entire Ice Dragon Fjord area, Beluga Harbor is surrounded by steep cliffs extending from both sides and is surrounded by water that is almost an inner lake; this means that any fleet that wants to attack her or surround it from the outside Road, attack the town via land; or risk being covered by firepower from the defenders ambushed on the cliffs on both sides, rush into the fjord head-on, there is no third way to choose from.

It seems that the terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but in fact, if the Beluga Port as the fulcrum is breached by the enemy, it means that the offensive and defensive situation will change instantly; the entire fjord will immediately be under the absolute control of the enemy, and the defenders must use all their strength to Only by retaking Beluga Harbor can we ensure that reinforcements from the sea can arrive safely.

So from the very beginning of the siege, Fernando's Jihadi Army launched a two-line offensive on land and sea. The sea attack was only a cover and a feint, and the real main force was the landing ground troops.

It may sound unbelievable to give up the ship's advantage over the harbor and instead use the main attack direction on land where the enemy is likely to be prepared, but it is a matter of course for the Fernando Legion.

First of all, due to Ludwig's operations, the entire legion never received sufficient logistical supplies. The only remaining artillery shells were only enough for the fleet to squander three or four days of ordinary harassment; secondly, Fabian's madness in the previous rounds of testing The show of weakness has convinced the commander of the Army, Fernando, that the White Whale Port is empty of troops and is simply not enough to maintain the defense of such a large port town. The large army can easily tear through the enemy's defense line when it comes to the border.

Fernando, who was angered by Ludwig's personal letter, still maintained his last sanity and sent about 10,000 people to the east under the cover of a small number of ships to find a beach and forcibly landed on it and established a camp; then used it as a base. Assault on the Storm Legion headquarters.

If you can capture this place, you will have a highland where artillery fire can directly radiate most of Beluga Harbor; if the enemy's defense is strong, then you only need to encircle it without attacking, you can divide the defenders of Beluga Harbor and speed up the destruction of the city. speed.

This idea is not bad, but the actual situation is not as simple as Fernando imagined.

Although the hastily landed troops can establish a forward base, the beach is not suitable for anchoring, causing the fleet and the army to be completely cut off, making it difficult to provide immediate support and retreat guarantees; if the defenders of Beluga Port surprise attack the base, they will only head towards the beach indiscriminately. After firing a few shots, they had no way of covering or assisting.

In addition, the Storm Legion headquarters and the town of Beluga Harbor are not at all like pure wasteland as they imagined, independent of each other; the Storm Legion, which has been operating here for nearly two years, has developed dozens of large and small developments around it. Several military garrison farms. Each of these manors can be turned into a small fortress through simple weaponization...not to mention the shooting army camp and the Supreme Council which are already fortresses!

If the Jihadi Army adopts a more pragmatic strategic deployment and gradually pulls out these small peripheral fortresses like hammering nails, it will be difficult for Fabian, who is short of troops, to come up with very effective countermeasures and can only watch the Jihadi Army destroy itself. The outer defense line gradually surrounded the headquarters and Beluga Port.

The problem is that the Jihadi Army does not know the true situation of Beluga Port. Fernando, who is angered and lacks logistics, is even less likely to patiently besiege this colonial town that he sees as "empty defense". Tens of thousands of Jihadi Army are driven to the battlefield. The soldiers, like blind men, crashed into the walls of Beluga Port and the various fortifications outside the headquarters... The results can be imagined.

Facing the group of fortresses surrounding Beluga Port, the Jihadist Army organized a strong attack without any prior preparation, and it was not surprising that they suffered a bloody blow.

Although Fabian only has a grenadier regiment of 2,000 men, a cavalry battalion, a shooting corps of 5,000 people that have not yet been fully trained, and colonial militias that have been assembled from all sides and are still being reorganized, if they are just defending the city, they will be able to defend their own land. And with their high fighting spirit, they are not much inferior to the Jihadi soldiers.

While the enemy was held back by fortresses and fortifications, Fabian, who personally led the cavalry battalion and grenadier regiment, launched a surprise attack on the forward base of the Jihadi Army.

However, the response of the Jihadi Army was equally quick and cautious, and did not leave Fabian too many loopholes. Only part of the baggage was burned, and the auxiliary troops responsible for the logistics tasks suffered heavy casualties; if Jason, the commander of the hussar battalion, had not detected the enemy reinforcements in time, he would have thrown The grenade regiment is even at risk of being attacked and annihilated by the opponent in the field.

But Fabian's goal has been achieved... Realizing that they would be cut off at any time, and unable to break through the layers of defenses in a short period of time, the jihadi army who captured Beluga Port wanted to retreat, and they fought decisively for only three days. Withdraw troops; they even dare not stay on the beach for too long.

The land attack was unfavorable, and Fernando's offensive from the sea was also frustrated... Even if the ship's firepower was several times or dozens of times that of the defenders of Beluga Port, as long as it entered the fjord, it would encounter crossfire from the cliff fortresses on both sides; naval guns No matter how much, it is impossible to shoot at an angle, and it is difficult to accurately hit the target when shooting from a long distance, not to mention that they are not rich in artillery shells because Ludwig has deprived them of logistics...

Although it is basically impossible to destroy the fleet with the poor firepower of the Beluga Port defenders, they still have the ability to prevent the Jihadi army from attacking and landing; especially before the war started, Fabian had already received the weapons provided by Ludwig. The intelligence already knew in advance that Fernando was eager to attack. As long as they survived the initial offensive and entered a war of attrition, the lack of supplies had not yet fully recovered. The morale of the Jihadi Army, which had just arrived in the new world and immediately went into battle, would be visible to the naked eye.

After the first five days of fruitless attacks, the only person in the entire Fernando Crusade Legion who could remain calm was the legion commander himself - the legion commander who had received the emperor's death order. He desperately organized the already exhausted army to continue. Launched an attack, shot dozens of officers who disobeyed, made countless empty promises, and used both kindness and power to inspire the soldiers' fighting enthusiasm.

However, no matter how stubborn the perseverance is, it cannot change the reality, let alone make the soldiers who have exhausted their physical strength and low morale suddenly feel refreshed.

"It's over...it's all over."

A tired-looking Fernando stood on the deck of the flagship, sighing inconsolably; he originally thought he could open up a new world for His Majesty and save the dignity of the fall of Sail City, but in the end he made a wedding dress for someone else.

However, although defeat was already a doomed outcome, he was unwilling to give up easily and insisted on letting the legion launch attacks again and again, hoping that even once he could seize the loopholes in the opponent's defense and seize the town of Beluga Harbor, or Even if they drive all the enemies into the town and take control of the dock, it will be fine.

But in the face of the legion commander's stubborn mentality, the commanders and soldiers of the Holy War Army also silently chose to show off: Anyway, the adults never came up with any decent battle plan, they just urged the offensive, and everyone showed off. , just pretend to be really attacking.

Sure enough... Although the attack was massive, with continuous artillery fire and continuous volleys of gunfire, no one knew whether the cannons firing at the cliffs were preparing to smash through the mountains to destroy the enemy's forts, or even roar. Whether the cannons are loaded with shells is also very questionable.

The soldiers in the small boat eagerly pulled the trigger before they even got to the side. Even though they were hundreds of meters away, they didn't know exactly who they were targeting, or maybe their aiming level was extremely high. Everyone was a top marksman. He can also be killed with one shot from a hundred meters away.

Such a theatrical attack naturally won cheers from the White Whale Port defenders who were in the audience, and they used equally fierce volleys of guns to send off the Jihadi Legion who had been performing hard all day.

The desperate Captain Fernando could only place his hope on some people who had done him a lot of harm.

"I hope that our efforts here can gain some advantages for Borre Levent and Arthur Herred's army in the slave port, so that we can win more colonies as soon as possible!"