Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 73 Gaming Table

   What is the most important quality for a gambler?

   Some would say "luck", others would say "win and go" wisdom.

   But a real gambler will only lose because of bad luck, not because of good luck. If they win, they'll just think they're strong.

   As for "win and go"? This kind of person is not even a qualified gambler. A real gambler will re-invest his winnings as his capital until he loses everything.

Gamblers think that the most important ability at the gambling table is to grasp the opportunity. A smart gambler can seize the fleeting opportunity, and at the same time have the courage to press all the gambling capital in one go, in order to become a winner and take all the pot. .

   As one of the rigging masters of the Taniria Federation, Frank Drake may be a hopeless gambler, but even his enemies will applaud his ability to take advantage of the opportunity.

   And tonight's fighter plane is even more rare.

   The galley warships, which accounted for half of the main warships of the Veneta fleet, were resting in the harbor. The anchorage outside the harbor was only eleven galleons and a few small frigates, as well as twenty-one merchant ships carrying officers and soldiers.

   To the east of the anchorage of the lighthouse port are reefs and sandbars that stretch for more than ten nautical miles. Unless the navigator knows this dangerous water well, the entire fleet will be in danger of being wiped out once it enters.

   At this moment, a strong northwesterly wind is blowing from the sea. The tide turns, the evening tide rushes to the coast, and it gets dark again. Drake's fleet came with the northwest wind and firmly occupied the upper wind. It was the right time and place.

   And the Vengeance Fleet will be blown by the wind and waves to the east sea area if it is not careful. Once it is driven there, without Drake's fleet, the sea will let the Veneta people learn her danger.

   Army officers like Winters knew nothing about it, they heard the drums of war on the ships, and all the sailors were preparing for battle in an orderly manner, only to feel their blood boiled and wanted to make a big fight.

   But naval officers—especially senior officers in the class of captains—know the sea and the power of nature.

   The survival of the entire fleet is now tied to Vice Admiral Nareshaw. All the captains are sweating coldly in the palms of their hands. I hope Vice Admiral is not rhetoric but is really confident.

   On the deck of the flagship of the Vengeance Fleet, the Glory, everyone gradually quieted down and turned their attention to the forecastle, where the highest commander of the fleet is located.

   Lieutenant Admiral Nareshaw on the bow floor could not see any expression on his face. He just held the side of the ship with both hands and ordered without looking back: "Mr. Karaman?"

   "Yes, sir." The first officer stood at attention in a reflexive manner.

   "Send my orders to each ship, with the Glory as the leader. Set the course to the north, pull the anchor and set off!"

"Yes, sir!"

   "I heard the Lieutenant General's order!" Chief Officer Karaman yelled at the deck: "Put the boat down! Set the course to the north! Raise the jib! Move fast!"

  The originally silent deck became lively again because of Nareshaw's orders.

   The bosun blew his whistle, and the sharp whistle was short and long. This time, even the sailors who didn't hear the chief mate's order understood the meaning of the whistle.

  The signal lights at the stern were lit, and orders were sent to the entire fleet through the regularity of on and off.

   Twenty or so sailors nimbly climbed along the sail rope to a high place and hooked up the pulley block. The sailors on deck worked together, and several jibs were hoisted between the masts.

   Winters knew this kind of sail, and the first mate on the Skua taught him that with this jib, the boat could sail against the wind.

   But he couldn't understand the next actions of the sailors. Two more boats were put on the sea from the side of the ship, and the deck crew was busy tying ropes between the bowsprit and the boats.

   "What's this doing?" Winters asked Cage, puzzled.

   "The tonnage of the warship is large, and it must be anchored against the wind to be safe." Cage explained: "But when lifting the anchor, you must first adjust the direction of the hull with a small boat, otherwise it will be carried by the wind."

   "Row! Boys! Row hard!" the boatswain shouted loudly.

  The sailors on the boat vigorously waved the oars, and the hull of the Glory was towed toward the north side, roughly half a right angle to the wind.

   Twelve sailors pushed the winch hard, their faces were hideous, their muscles were tense, and their bodies were almost leaning on the deck. With the sound of sour teeth, the anchor that was sunk on the seabed was slowly lifted up.

  When the anchor left the seabed, the whole ship slammed forward. Originally, the anchor and the sail were tug-of-war, but the anchor suddenly let go, and the sailboat began to accelerate slowly with the entire hull.

   "Lieutenant General will take us to the north and avoid the reef to the east." Cage swallowed nervously: "This is too dangerous...it is too dangerous..."

   "Where is the danger?"

Pointing to the wind-bulged sail, Cage said: "The wind and the waves were taking us east, and at night we couldn't figure out where we were going. It's possible we thought we were heading north, but we were getting closer and closer to the east. The Glory is the lead ship, and if the Glory goes the wrong way, it will take the entire fleet to a dead end."

What   Nareshaw's plan was, Winters didn't know. But he has carefully studied the raid on Haidong Port. Taniria's commander attacked the east and west twice in a row, concentrating superior forces in part to defeat the defenders of the port one by one. And he didn't want to fight, he tore off a piece of meat and left, leaving the Veneta Army who came to support it.

   Such wonderful battles are rare even in military school textbooks. And the man who commanded this battle is now leading his fleet to attack the Glory, will he give the Veneta fleet a chance?

   When the Vengeance Fleet was anxiously pulling anchor and set sail, the Taniria Fleet on the northwest sea had already entered within one kilometer of the Veneta Fleet, and at this time the Glory's anchor had not been pulled out of the water.

The figures of   Tanilla's ships gradually became clear, five mighty ships were in the center, and other lesser ships were on both sides. Unlike the brightly lit Veneta fleet, the ships under Drake's command did not even have star lights, and more than twenty Hessen's warships were roughly crescent-shaped and approached the Veneta revenge fleet.

  Cage counted the warships of the Tanirians: "I counted twenty-one. The five large ships should be the warships we stole from Haidong Port. The other ships seem to be armed merchant ships."

   "We have more than 40 ships, and they only have more than 20 ships. If we can't win, your navy will be disbanded as soon as possible." Andre said carelessly.

"It's not like that." Cage shook his head: "The galleys are now docked to rest, and those troop transports are useless. Not forty to twenty, but ten to twenty-one. Our warships are of better quality. High, but the wind direction and environment are not favorable for us, if we can catch up, we may have a chance of winning..."

   Winters interrupted Cage, pointing to the other party's boat and asking, "Why don't they light the lights?"

   "To stay hidden," Cage replied.

   "But apparently we've found them!"

   "This..." Cage was also a little puzzled. He looked at the approaching enemy fleet, and his expression suddenly changed: "No... No! Is there something in front of the big ship?"

The roar of Lieutenant General Nareshaw also came from the bow of the ship: "There is no time to pull out the anchor, just cut the anchor cable! Order all ships to cut the anchor cable! The long sailor takes your people to the mast! Put all the sails down!"

   Winters also saw what the dark shadow in front of the Tanirian warship was:

   is dinghy and sampan, lots of dinghies and sampans.

When    is far away, the projections of these small boats overlap with those of the big boats, and they cannot be seen clearly until they are close.

   The large ships in the middle of the Tanirian fleet suddenly put up their sails, but there were still six ships on each flank, speeding unabated.

   "Blow the horn to inform the port! Let the Caravel sailboat pass by..." Lieutenant General Nareshaw's tone was hurried, losing his original calmness.

   On the sea in the northwest direction, first a little spark lit up, and then the whole sea surface was full of fire. These boats and sampans, which were filled with asphalt, firewood, wheat straw, and temporarily installed masts and sails, were all set ablaze, and the originally dark sea was illuminated red by the fire, like hell.

  The flanks of the Taniria fleet, and the six large ships that came out of the fleet also burst into flames one after another. The six flaming ships were full of flames, and the small arson ships formed a wall of fire at sea. Driven by strong winds and waves, it drifted resolutely and relentlessly towards the Veneta fleet.

  Taneria's warship lowered half-sail and followed behind this sea wall of fire.

   "The Tanirians are really [sailor's swear words] crazy! [Swear words] use big ships as arson boats!" Cage looked ferocious and scolded: "The most precious thing in the sea is the boat! It's a boat..."

  The Glory fired three shots in a row, and the ships could no longer pay attention to the order and direction of their actions.

   There was no time to lift the anchor, and the anchor cable was directly cut off. The sailors climbed up the mast and let down all the sails, eager to tie their handkerchiefs to the masts.

  The wall of fire approached aggressively, and the three light sailboats arranged in the outer circle of the fleet not only did not avoid them, but raised red flags and took the initiative to stick them on them.

  They sailed to the right flank of the wall of fire, and the sailors endured the scorching heat and threw the hook lines originally used for boarding battles towards the three fire ships on the right flank.

After the    iron hooks bit the fireboat's side, the three Caravel sailboats immediately adjusted their jibs, trying to take the fireboat to the north sea, delaying the fleet. The hook was scalding hot by the flames, and the rope first smoked and burned. The sailors wet the line with sea water and threw more hooks.

   Of course, the Tanirians would not watch these small boats sabotage their plans. The bow guns of the Tanirian warships immediately fired at several small boats.

  Sawdust flew across the Caravel's sailboat, and artillery shells plowed blood ditches on the boat. However, the brave Veneta sailors gritted their teeth and desperately dragged the three fire ships away from their original course.

   Lieutenant General Nareshaw held onto the side of the boat and looked at the sea, with blue veins in his hands.

   The three fireboats on the right flank had been towed away, but the other three fireboats on the left flank and the small boat in the middle still rammed straight into the Veneta fleet. The **** ships have done their best, but the huge and slow fleet is still within the fire ship's route, and the distance is getting shorter and shorter, only less than 100 meters.

   Judgment Day for Veneta's Vengeance Fleet has come and is inevitable.

  Upstairs on the bow of the warship in the center of the Taniria fleet, Captain Frank Drake looked at the huge and majestic Glory in the distance.

   He looked at the Glory's forecastle, and he knew Nareshaw must be there.

   "Mr. Nareshaw, I've shown my cards, now it's up to you." Drake muttered to himself.

On the deck of    Glory, First Officer Karaman anxiously asked Lieutenant General Nareshaw: "General, please go to the Siren for a while, leave it to me here."

  Nareshaw's facial muscles twitched slightly and shook his head.

   "You are the commander of the fleet, and your duty is to command the entire fleet, not to live and die with the flagship."

Nareshaw said through gritted teeth: "I didn't expect Mr. Drake to come up with such a large-scale arson ship. It was my mistake. Such a large number of ships cannot be a temporary collection. He must have been preparing for it a long time ago. …But since I dare to play this gambling table, I have my own capital.”

   First Officer Karaman sweated profusely: "It's already this time, don't worry about the gaming table..."

   Suddenly, the rumbling sound of war drums came from the sea.

Nareshaw laughed wildly, like a gambler who had only the last silver coin left but bet thirty-six times the roulette wheel, he pointed to the southwest side of the sea and frantically said: "My bet is originally Come on! Hahaha, Lao Tzu's gamble is up! Order the fleet, lower the sails, sail to the west, break through the fire ship, and take the enemy straight!"

   On the southwest side of the sea, along with the sound of war drums, twelve galley warships rushed out of the lighthouse port.

"Knock hard! Knock hard! Row hard! Let everyone know that Speyer is here!" Captain Speyer stood on the bow of the Golden Lion and roared with his sword drawn: "Everyone has it! Listen to my password! Three Long live!"

   "Huzzah!"

   "Huzzah!"

   "Huzzah!"

   The sailors on deck followed the captain roaring in unison, each roaring louder than the other.

   The captains of the other galleys heard the battle cry of the Golden Lion and gave the same order.

   The shouts on the sea broke through the sky for a while, and the twelve galley warships rushed towards the flanks of the Taniria fleet with astonishing momentum.

  The wind was against them, but it didn't matter, the galley had no sails now.

  The waves are not good for them either, but that doesn't matter, because galleys have oars.

  The oars on the two wings of the galley are like the two wings of a bird, constantly flapping on the water, beating the water one by one.

  The first mate of the Golden Lion took the drumstick in person, and used all his strength to beat the drum, which was as big as a round table, and controlled the rhythm of the paddlers' paddling back and forth. Second mates and officers with whips patrolled the lower decks, severely punishing any rower who dared to be lazy at this time.

  The three galley warships were separated from the charging queue and sailed to the three large fire ships on the left flank.

As    approached the fireboat, the galley's drumbeat changed into a series of fast drums.

  The oarsmen heard the drums and plunged the oars below the surface of the sea, holding them down firmly. The drag of the galley increased and it suddenly slowed down. When they got close enough to the fireboat, the sailors at the bow threw the hook with all their might.

   Then, the drum beat of the galley changed again, and turned into a half-beat slow drum.

   After hearing this drum beat, the paddlers began to paddle backwards. As the oars rolled over, the galley began to slowly back up, and the fireboat was dragged aside.

   The whole process was so smooth and quick that Winters on the Glory was stunned. He had never imagined that the cumbersome galley could make such agile and delicate movements as equestrian.

   Admiral Nareshaw also showed his cards.

   Galley warships are indeed not suitable for long-distance expeditions, let alone fighting in the open sea with high winds and waves. But this anchorage outside Lighthouse Harbor is a good place for them to show their talents.

The agents of the    Federation saw the galleys parked in the harbour, the oarsmen remained on board, and the sailors went ashore to rest. They thought that these warships could not fight in a hurry, and it would take at least a few hours to regroup.

   Little did they know that the sailors camped separately according to the ships they belonged to, and no movement of people was allowed. Once there is an emergency, you can quickly assemble and board the ship according to the ship.

   All of this is not only to allow the sailors to rest, but the more important purpose is to show the enemy how weak and unprepared, and to create a fighter plane for Drake.

   From Drake's point of view, Nareshaw had only ten warships available. If these ten ships can be defeated, the twelve galleys in the harbor will not be able to escape.

  The rest of the troop carrier is the meat on the chopping board, you can eat whatever you want.

   These twenty or so warships are Veneta's last home, and after eating this fleet, the inland sea is the world of the Tanirians. Without the ship, the Veneta people want to go on an expedition across the sea is just wishful thinking.

   And Lieutenant General Nareshaw never thought that as long as the army was sent to the archipelago, he never thought of himself as a transport team, and his core strategic thinking had never changed.

The existence of the    Taniria fleet alone is a threat to the Veneta people, and in Nareshaw's view, a fleet battle is necessary to solve the problem. Instead of chasing the shadows of Taniria's fleet at sea, find a way for them to come to you.

   Now the viper has crawled out of the lair and wrapped itself around its arm, but it has to be killed.

   "Captain, what to do?" Drake's first mate asked in a panic.

"What are you afraid of? Even if there are more galleys, our warships are no less than them." Drake kicked the chair: "Raise the flag! The main force of Veneta is now being towed by the arsonist, let's deal with these oars first. Sailboat, go back and deal with Nareshaw!"

Drake took out his machete, walked to the edge of the forecastle, and looked at the messy sailors on the deck and roared: "What are you afraid of? We still have more ships than them! Be afraid now, and your descendants will become Slaves of the Veneta! For freedom! For gold! Tonight I'll bring you more money than you will ever earn!"

  The sailors of the "Vengeance" were on the verge of collapse because of the appearance of the galley warship, but with the encouragement of Drake, they rekindled their fighting spirit and returned to their posts with red eyes and shouting.

  The sailboat cannot go head-on against the wind, but it can keep an acute angle with the wind.

  The direction of the wind was blowing from the northwest. The Glory originally drove a certain distance to the north. After receiving the order of Lieutenant General Nareshaw, the helmsman used his milk strength and pushed the rudder to the opposite direction.

  Relying on inertia, the Glory turned ninety degrees against the wind and sea, turning into a westward heading, with the bow pointing directly at Drake's flagship.

   It is difficult to pass orders to all ships in the chaos, but the actions of the Glory are the best orders, and this is the meaning of the flagship.

  The other warships also turned their bows when they saw the flagship turned and rushed towards the center of the enemy formation. Instead of avoiding the fire ships, they rushed towards the Taniria fleet against the sea of ​​fire.

   Yes, the galley can not only row backwards, but also turn around in place

Thanks to the book friends who have voted for the recommendation before, thanks to the book friend Yuan Hongjian for the recommendation vote, thanks to the book friend three provinces for the recommendation vote, thanks to the book friend's writersblock for the recommendation vote, thanks to the book friend 20181013204343295 for the recommendation vote, thanks to the book friend Ami Thank you for your recommendation ticket "on the charging time", thank you all.

   (end of this chapter)