Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 71 Good Luck

   "You know this person?" Cage softened his attitude, but still held the naval machete tightly.

   "It doesn't count as acquaintance... This man was originally a pirate captain who wanted to rob our ship, and was finally caught by us. As for how he got on your navy's ship, I don't know."

"In order to attack as soon as possible, the consul allowed us to requisition all the felons." Cage put the naval machete back into the scabbard: "This man is lucky, being a pirate is a capital crime, it's better to row on a boat than on the gallows. ?"

  Good Luck Gold is no longer the high-spirited look he used to traverse the Inland Sea. Half of his teeth were knocked off by Leighton, the flesh on his cheeks were dented, and his lips were cracked with blood grooves. Only bones were left in the shoulders and arms, and the whole person looked dry.

   Winters took pity on him and said to Cage, "Get him some water to drink."

  Cage glanced at Gold, and whistled at the sailors watching the excitement on the high platform, a water bladder was thrown from above.

   The latter, who was crying bitterly, saw the water bag, and couldn't care less to feel sad for himself. He swooped out and grabbed the water bladder to protect it on his chest, then wiped a handful of tears, and couldn't wait to pull out the plug and raise his head to pour in.

   Winters didn't say anything more, and turned to leave with Cage.

   What else is there to say? In Winters' view, Gold's fall into this fate was self-inflicted, and he should have had the consciousness of being hanged when he became a pirate. He did the same to himself. When he put on the black coat and put the reed gun in the holster, he had already thought about it: if he was hanged because of this, he would never cry out.

   He wouldn't sympathize with Gold, but he also didn't have the hobby of beating up dwarf dogs, and he wouldn't feel like a saint just because he gave Gold a bag of water.

   Originally, Winters thought that this was the end of the matter, but unexpectedly, someone in the stern had noticed the sudden situation here.

   On the high platform in the middle of the deck, several people in uniforms of naval officers came from the poop, and the sailors made way for these people.

The man led by    wears a loosely tailored navy uniform, dark blue jacket, white shirt and breeches. The collar, cuffs and placket are trimmed with gold lace. On a dirty ship, the officer was unforgettable.

   Even the most clumsy person can see now that the captain is here.

   Unlike army officers, naval officers don't wear military boots, but Captain Speyer still makes a "dong dong" sound when he walks.

   Several officers with no fringe on their cocked hats followed him, and Winters speculated that these were adjutants aboard the Golden Lion, since Naval Officer Cage had never worn a cocked hat.

   Seeing Captain Speyer approaching, Cage immediately stood up and gave a military salute, while Winters just nodded.

   "Mr. Bastille, please tell me what happened here?" Speyer's voice was slightly hoarse, but when he spoke, the entire Golden Lion was instantly silent.

   "Yes, sir. A rower stopped the Army gentleman."

  Captain Speyer looked away from the water bladder in Gold's hand, and he already knew what was going on here.

The captain of the   Golden Lion pointed to Gold and instructed: "Give him ten lashes when the thirteenth bell rings. Mr. Derain, please execute it."

"Yes, sir."

  Cage shook his head slightly, and used his eyes to signal Winters not to ask for mercy.

   After dealing with this episode, Speyer turned and left. The adjutant jumped down with some sailors, opened the locks, and took Gold away.

   After Captain Speyer was far away, Cage opened his mouth and said to Winters: "Just giving him ten whips has taken care of your face. If it is another oarsman, cutting off an arm is a light punishment."

"This... I didn't want to intercede for him." Winters found himself misunderstood and said with tears in his eyes: "How could a little warrant officer of mine be so arrogant to take care of the ship's affairs. Besides, I have no friendship with that person. , but there is hatred."

  Cage chuckled: "That's lucky for him to pick up an arm."

   After delivering the chart to Captain Speyer, Cage and Winters left the Golden Lion.

   Before leaving, Winters carefully observed the **** of the Golden Lion. The Golden Lion did not dedicate a separate cabin for officers in the ship's building. Speyer's "single room" was just a small space temporarily separated by thin boards at the stern.

   Several iron hooks are screwed to the post, which looks like a place to hang a hammock. A few wooden sticks hold up a board, on which a slide rule and an ink bottle are pressed against the map, this is the captain's desk. There were no chairs, just a small wooden barrel turned upside down.

   And next to the desk is a cannon, and Speyer lives next to the tail gun of the Golden Lion. It seems that this is the captain's room only when the enemy is not in contact, and once the enemy is encountered, it will become a gun emplacement.

   "Does Captain Tang live in such a shabby place? It doesn't look as good as ours." Winters couldn't help asking Cage when he got on the boat and returned to the Glory.

Cage sighed and said helplessly: "No way, the space for galleys is limited. This kind of ship was originally supposed to be on board during the day to fight and disembark at night to rest. It can't leave the port too far, let alone a long expedition. Alas, it really is There are no other ships, otherwise these offshore ships would not be dispatched."

   Everyone is saying that the shameful sneak attack of the Federation has hit the Veneta Navy badly, but most people don't understand how much the Veneta Navy has suffered. On the contrary, the Veneta Navy quickly formed such a large revenge fleet that many people, including Winters, felt that "the Navy does not seem to be hurting."

   It wasn't until this moment that Winters really realized how bad the Navy's losses were. The navy was just holding on, and they even incorporated offshore ships into the fleet for cross-sea expeditions. Sailors and officers on galleys had to endure harsh living conditions for this.

   "It seems that the Tanirians really hit the nail hard with this punch..."

  Cage was reluctant to show weakness in front of the army. He cheered up and said cheerfully: "It's okay, the people on the boat are still there. The boat is gone, so we can build it again. The old ones don't go, the new ones don't come, just build a new boat."

   Winters nodded, but this revenge crusade was even darker in his heart.

  —cut—

   Not only on the coast of the Sea of ​​Cenas, but even in the whole world, few ports can provide supplies for the huge fleet of Veneta's Revenge Fleet.

There are about 400 small towns in the Veneta Republic with about 1,000 people, and 58 medium-sized cities with about 5,000 people. However, there are only nine towns with more than 10,000 people, all of which are important towns and famous cities with a long history. Counting the residents on the outskirts of the city, Hailan City has about 70,000 people and is one of the most prosperous cities on this continent.

   And the forty-three large ships and more than twenty small ships in this fleet carried more than 20,000 sailors, soldiers and officers, which was equivalent to a whole city floating on the sea at the same time.

   Only a few big ports like Hailan Port and Golden Port can dock so many ships at the same time. Most of the port populations are not as numerous as fleets, and they can only provide limited fresh water and food.

   Lighthouse Harbor can't handle so many people at once, and its dock isn't big enough.

   It would take two days for everyone to disembark at Lighthouse Harbor, and the same amount of time to get back on board.

   In the original plan of the navy, only twelve galley warships with poor self-sustainability and difficult conditions could dock for a day.

  Because the materials carried by the galleon warships and the requisitioned merchant ships were originally enough to sail at sea for more than a month, these ships could not be berthed outside the port.

   But just as Winters and Cage returned to the Glory in a small boat, Vice Admiral Nareshaw, who was in charge of the entire fleet, suddenly discovered that no one at the Admiralty had consulted the Army when formulating this plan.

   Sailors could endure the cramped, harsh conditions on board for long periods of time, but not necessarily the more than 5,000 Army soldiers of the Third Regiment. What's more, many of them are suffering from seasickness. Seeing that people in the navy can go ashore but not themselves, it is inevitable that they will have complaints.

   "That's the way it is, Your Excellency Serbiati." Vice Admiral Nareshaw found the man with the highest rank in the Third Legion, and told him the actual situation of the fleet.

   "You can just call me by my name, Lord Nareshaw." Antonio smiled politely.

The vice-admiral, whose temples were already cold, leaned slightly and said anxiously to Antonio: "Please believe me, I will never treat you differently. As a last resort, there are a few old-fashioned galleys. The warships don't even have cargo space. The sailors only have food and drink they carry with them, and they have to go ashore to replenish them. If an army officer wants to go ashore to rest, I can send a small boat to take you there. I myself stay on board, as long as there is an army gentleman who does not I will not disembark when I get off the ship, and the navies on other warships will stay on the ship, is that ok?"

  Veneta’s navy and army have always been **** for tat, and the Vice Admiral was already mentally prepared to be sprayed with saliva. But he was surprised to find that the army major general on the opposite side actually abandoned the army's arrogant style and became reasonable.

Antonio reached out to hold Lieutenant General Nareshaw's arm and said sincerely: "Lord Nareshaw, you don't need to worry too much. In the face of the war, we should unite and endure. Since the actual needs are like this, you don't have to think about what the army will do. Think. My opinion is the opinion of the Third Legion, and I have no problem with it, nor will the Third Legion."

Admiral    Nareshaw held Antonio's hand in surprise and nodded repeatedly.

   However, Antonio suddenly changed the subject and said, "I have a small proposal."

   Vice Admiral's originally smiling mouth drooped down, and he thought to himself: I was waiting for me here, and it was a mistake to expect the Army to understand others.

As if unaware of Nareshaw's emotional change, Antonio made his proposal seriously: "Vinetta's army and navy are dualized, your Excellency must know this best. The army has a chain of command, and the navy has one chain of command. The chain of command. The result is now, the Navy sees the Army as the cargo on the ship, and the Army sees the Navy as the transport ship.”

   "Then what?" Nareshaw said flatly.

"But my soldiers can jump on board, and your sailors can go ashore. We should set up a joint wartime command, combining the two chains of command into one, so that we can maximize our combat power. The military does not There should be political differences, and we must do our best to win the victory for Veneta. Taniria has hundreds of islands, large and small, with a combined population of hundreds of thousands. We do our own thing, and that will give the federation an opportunity.”

"Then what?" Nareshaw asked indifferently, unmoved: "The establishment of a joint command can command both my ships and your legion. Is this joint command your army has the final say, or What does our navy have the final say?"

"The purpose of establishing a joint command is to resolve the differences between the army and the navy. If you continue to be fussy about it, it will be meaningless." Antonio paused and said sincerely, "As long as your Excellency agrees, I can follow your orders, and it is up to you. Be the commander-in-chief of the Coalition Command!"

  …

  Nareshaw's adjutant had been waiting outside Antonio's cabin. Seeing the Vice Admiral walking out, he quickly asked, "Are the people in the Army not rude to you?

  Nareshaw walked back to his cabin without saying a word.

The adjutant who had followed Nareshaw for many years followed, the more he thought about it, the more angry he became, and whispered: "You shouldn't be so polite, what if the barbarians of the army are not allowed to disembark if they eat hard or not? I will come later... "

  Nareshaw waved his hand, motioning for the other party to stop, and his adjutant shut his mouth wisely.

   The Vice Admiral leaned on his knees and slowly sat on the chair, took off his hat, and said with some emotion: "You are wrong, and I am wrong... There are still gentlemen in the army."

  —cut—

   After the Vengeance Fleet arrived at Lighthouse Harbor, the herald from the Glory read a joint letter drafted by the two generals to all the fleet, regardless of the army and navy.

  The letter mainly said three things:

   First of all, he explained to all the sailors the current status of the fleet and the lack of berths in the lighthouse port, announcing that only twelve galleys were docked for supplies, and all other ships were anchored outside the port. At the same time, it was announced that when it arrived at any port that was not enough to carry the fleet, the galley warship would still be given priority to supply, without further notice.

   This is the original plan of the Navy.

   Secondly, the two generals thanked all the soldiers of the Army and Navy for their tenacity and tenacity, many of whom endured poor living conditions and still performed their duties. Although large ships cannot dock, small boats can be used to transport supplies and personnel in small quantities. The two generals decided to draw lots from each ship to choose twelve men to go ashore for a day as a reward. A lottery ceremony will also be held for future arrivals at other ports without further notice.

   This is the method provided by Antonio. The Army Major General said: "Hope, you must give people hope. With hope, people can persevere."

   Yet neither of these two events had as much shock to the officer class as the third.

   Vice Admiral Nareshaw and Rear Admiral Serbia Ti announced the establishment of the Joint Commander's Council. Command of both the fleet and the III Corps has been transferred to the Joint Command Council. All military operations against the Taniria Federation will now be under the responsibility of the Joint Commander's Committee.

The    committee has a total of three members with voting rights. Narexio and Antonio each serve as one. The two generals have sent messengers back to the Veneta Military Committee. The third member will be appointed by the thirteen-member regiment.

   Army officers and naval officers were a little stunned by the news: What, just became a family?

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   (end of this chapter)