Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 77 Closing

  The sea returned to calm again, the waves swept away the planks and stumps, and there was almost no trace of the fierce battle last night outside the lighthouse port.

   Only on the sandy beach along the harbour, the charred keels of the two fire ships were still smoking.

   "...In the name of God, Son of God, and Holy Spirit, we hand over their remains to the sea, and wait for the sea to bring them back to life, in eternal peace and tranquility in heaven."

On the deck of the    Glory, Lieutenant General Nareshaw was giving his final speech.

   After a brief mourning ceremony, the bodies of the sailors were carried out to sea from a springboard covered with military flags.

   This is life on board, everything is frugal and rudimentary, and the manners and morals of land do not apply here.

   There were no coffins or cemeteries, and the fallen sailors were sealed in sacks filled with stones and "sent" into the sea. The living are busy living, continuing to struggle on the hard and dangerous seas.

   At this moment, Winters is leading the remaining soldiers of the 100th to dig graves outside Lighthouse Harbor.

  Antonio, who has always been patient, refused to give in at the funeral. In any case, he refused to accept the more time-saving and labor-saving sea burial, and insisted on burying the remains of the fallen soldiers of the Third Legion on land.

   Army soldiers are not sailors. Sailors are used to all this and can calmly accept the sea as their destination. But Antonio could not and would not tolerate someone throwing his soldiers into the sea to feed the fish.

After the death of Captain Wilson, Winters temporarily served as the centurion of the 100th.

   Centurion is a post that can only be held by a full-time officer, so Winters is only temporary until a new full-time officer is dispatched from the Army Headquarters to replace him.

  Although it is difficult for Winters to criticize as a vested interest, he still found a serious flaw in the Army's current officer system - insufficient redundancy.

There is only one officer in a centurion. Once the officer is killed, the entire centurion will be disorganized. At the same time, the person to replace the officer will have to wait to be dispatched from the army headquarters, which makes the entire command system into a delicate and fragile egg sculpture. .

   But since he is only a small warrant officer, Winters thinks it is better to let the people above worry about this, he just wants to dig these dirt holes as soon as possible.

   In the decisive battle at sea more than ten hours ago, the Veneta Navy had the last laugh.

  After the Glory and the Vengeance came into contact, the other naval ships behind the Glory did not come to support the flagship.

  The captains made a calm judgment, the battlefield needs them more, they can only believe that the Glory can win the duel with the Revenge.

When   Veneta's main fleet broke through the fire ships, the galleys were in a hard fight.

   Being outnumbered, when a Veneta galley put its boarding ramp on the Tanirian warship, another or even several Tanirian warships shot her with artillery.

   As a result, the galleys not only needed to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Taniglia warships in the front, but also suffered artillery fire from behind.

  The arrival of the main battleship of Veneta has completely changed this situation. The galley warships no longer have to fight against each other, and the warships of both sides began to fight against each other.

  When the naval battle turns into a tug-of-war on a crowded deck, the one with bigger nerves and more numbness to the pain can win.

   In the end, the Tanirians could no longer endure such **** battles, they were not a navy, they were just a fleet of pirates, adventurers and speculators.

  They went to sea with a greed for trophies and bounties, and when they realized that the battle was not going to be won, all the Tanirian ships scrambled to flee.

Before the    Vengeance gave up resistance, the Taniria fleet had completely collapsed.

  The pirates who were still able to escape lowered their full sails regardless, and took advantage of the strong winds and waves to push their speed to the limit, and fled to the dangerous seas in the east in a panic.

   But Speyer didn't get his wish because Drake escaped.

   Time goes back to ten hours ago.

   On the Vengeance, which was fighting fiercely, the first floor of the **** had been captured by the sailors of the Golden Lion, but there was only a narrow ladder on the way to the second floor. The sailors could not get up for a while and the momentum was frustrated.

At the entrance of the ladder on the second floor, Drake swung a machete on the neck of a Veneta sailor, and then kicked the limp body downstairs, laughing wildly: "Don't send your poor men. Come up and die, Speyer! If you have the guts, come up and fight me one-on-one!"

Of course, Speyer downstairs will not believe Drake's nonsense, because the advantage is increasing infinitely, so Speyer is even more impatient: "I'm not in a hurry, in fact, I hope to make time slower, let the time slow down. I'll enjoy your despair for a while! Hahahaha! Don't take the initiative to jump down, and I won't fight you one-on-one if you jump down!"

  Drake's voice became more and more exasperated: "Coward! Coward! [Incoherent vulgar language]!"

   The more dirty he scolded upstairs, the louder Speyer laughed, as if he was enjoying Drake's last madness.

   However, he silently urged his crew with gestures, and the two revolving guns on the side of the ship were dismantled by the sailors of the Golden Lion and carried into the cabin.

  While scolding Drake, Speyer did not stop at all, quickly reloading the two revolving cannons.

   "You wait, I'm going up!" Speyer shouted, pointing the revolving gun at the stairs.

"I'm waiting for you! [Vulgar language]!" Drake cursed while igniting the powder on the iron pot full of gunpowder in his hand. He dragged Speyer with his words to win Time to make this improvised bomb.

At the same time that the hissing and burning iron kettle was thrown down the stairs, the two revolving cannons filled with shotguns that Speyer had brought in also opened fire, and dozens of fruit-core-sized shotguns flew into the second-story ship building. Suddenly there was a scream.

The moment the revolving gun fired, Speyer also saw what was thrown upstairs, and he immediately ran towards the lower cabin. With Speyer's shout of "Run!", the iron kettle exploded, and the glorious next to him The power of the explosion could be clearly felt on board.

   "You...you are so despicable!" Smoke filled the poop, Speyer swearing swear words in this conversation for the first time.

   "Huh, aren't you the same?" Drake replied with a sneer.

   "It's a pity that your iron thunder exploded in two pieces. It has no power, just listen to it."

   "Your cannons also hit the wood and didn't hurt a few people."

   In the depths of their hearts, this pair of old enemies is actually very clear that the two of them are essentially one type of person, Drake is Taneria's Speyer, and Speyer is Veneta's Drake.

   Silence fell in the stern, only the sound of fighting could be heard from elsewhere on the ship.

   "Surrender, Drake. You've come to a dead end, and you're definitely not going to live, but I promise to give you a good time, so that you won't be caught and insulted." Speyer was completely sincere this time.

  Drake upstairs pressed the wound on his arm that was hit by the rotating cannon, subconsciously wanted to say a few harsh words to refute, but suddenly felt disheartened.

  Speyer was right, the Veneta on the Vengeance was in full swing, and the Tanirian fleet on the sea was collapsing.

  Drake held his machete again, gritted his teeth and said word by word, "You never want to catch me alive!"

The moment the    machete was on his neck, Drake heard his subordinates shout: "There is a boat! It's crashing!"

   In the deep night, a pitch-black galleon quietly entered the battlefield from the northwest. It did not participate in the melee, but went straight to the starboard side of the Vengeance and collided with the Golden Lion at full speed.

With the violent crash, the galleon slammed into the middle of the Golden Lion. The huge inertia made the big ship ride directly on the Golden Lion. Pass to the hull of the Golden Lion.

   In the painful groan of the hull, the Golden Lion was crushed by the waist and broke in two.

   A group of boarding fleet swayed ropes from the galleon and jumped to the deck of the Revenge. The man at the head carried four reed guns and wielded two machetes, sweeping away the Veneta people on the entire deck like a storm.

  Drake recognized this uniquely shaped galleon, and even recognized this berserker-like double-sword dancer. He laughed wildly and shouted: "It's the Firebird! It's Captain Kenway! Hahahaha! You all have to die!"

   The last subordinate beside Drake heard the name of the Firebird and rekindled his fighting spirit, and followed Drake downstairs.

   However, the crew of Speyer and the Golden Lion had been pushed back into the cabin by the Firebird's boarding fleet.

Drake grabbed the shoulder of the man headed by the boarding fleet, and said frantically: "You finally came to help me! Nareshaw is on the next boat, let's go and kill them all! In this battle, we will Didn't lose!"

It was Edward James Kenway, another legendary captain of the Federation who had tried to stop the war until the last moment, and the man who had taken off his hood.

   "I didn't come to raise you." Edward didn't say anything nonsense, and punched Drake hard.

   With Drake, the boarding fleet of the Firebird quickly returned to their ship, and then walked away.

   The entire raid was as fast as thunder. Before the officers on the Glory could react, the Firebird had already rescued Drake.

The warships chasing the fleeing enemy reported that they saw a large black ship sailing into the reef area. No ship dared to follow the Firebird into the reef area. In the eyes of the sailors of Veneta, the ships entering the reef area were already doomed. It sinks, there is no need to chase after it.

   The battle has been won, and no sailor is willing to take the risk at the last moment.

In this battle, the Veneta fleet captured four warships and five armed merchant ships, including the flagship of the Taniria fleet, at the cost of the loss of seven galley warships and three galleon warships. A warship and three armed merchant ships were sunk and burned, and the rest of the Tanirian ships fled into the dead sea east of Lighthouse Harbor, where their whereabouts are unknown.

  The warships that the Tanirians snatched from Haidong Port have all been recaptured or sunk.

  The Tanirians were no longer able to assemble such a fleet that could go head-to-head with the Veneta navy.

   was a real big win.

   The three galleons lost were all ignited when they broke through the arson ship, and the fire was uncontrollable, and eventually all had to abandon the ship.

  Fortunately, the Glory was not burned. The gunners of the Revenge bombarded the waterline of the Glory with heavy artillery, causing the Glory's cabin to flood and the hull to sink.

   During the sinking of the hull, the sampans nailed to the bow also sank into the water, and the fire on the arsonist was extinguished. And the sailors of the Glory desperately blocked the hole under the waterline and rescued the flagship of the fleet from the edge of the sinking.

  In this way, the Glory was spared by accident, which makes people sigh.

   And the twenty-one troop transport ships were just like what Nareshaw said, watching the entire naval battle from a distance, and they were of no use.

  The next day after the Battle of Lighthouse Harbor.

"Actually there's no way." Cage lay down on the bed, and said nonchalantly, "I didn't expect them at first. When those troop transport ships were requisitioned, they were requisitioned together with the original captain and sailors. Of course they were more I want to save my boat."

  Cage's hair is now completely shaved, and there is a shocking wound on his scalp, with more than a dozen stitches on the wound.

   Not surprisingly, with his qualifications in this battle, he will be able to smoothly be promoted from midshipman to adjutant - the Navy has lost a large number of officers in battle, and it is also in need of people to fill the vacancies.

"I don't think that's the case," Bud mused. "I think for your navy, the captain's initiative is very important. Army officers are used to obeying orders, and Navy captains most of the time. It's my own decision. When the Glory was approaching the enemy last night, none of the warships came to the rescue, and they all went straight to the main battlefield. This shows that the captains of each ship have already made a judgment and believe that compared with the rescue flagship, the positive The battlefield is more important."

Cage grinned: "Your statement is new...but it's true if you think about it, that's it. A lonely ship is on the sea, surrounded by water, a ship is a kingdom, and the captain is the king. "

"I think it's still the reason why the orders are not unified. The captain of the merchant ship wants to participate in the war, but the army officer on the ship may be waiting for the order. The army officer may like to participate in the war, but the captain of the merchant ship may want to protect the ship. If each ship can be assigned a full authority Commander, we may have an easier fight this time."

  Andrei's upper bunk snored inappropriately, and he always felt sleepy listening to these military discussions on paper. He is practical and can only be understood through personal involvement.

   "How is that possible? How can the army listen to the words of the naval officer? The navy will not be willing to listen to the command of the army officer." Cage also yawned.

   "But aren't we under the command of the Joint Command now? The Joint Command should have the power to appoint officers who can command both the army and the navy." Winters thought while resting on his arm.

"Forget it, don't talk about that. If that's the case, you army officers shouldn't be here, but on the galleys. Replace the galley sailors on those requisitioned merchant ships. . This is the most reasonable arrangement, so that the entire fleet can exert its full combat power. But in the end, isn't it still to take care of your army's thoughts and put you on a big ship? "

  Cage's truth made Winters and Bud speechless.

"Don't talk about it, I just heard something." Cage also realized that the atmosphere had become a little embarrassing, and quickly changed the subject, sat up and patted Winters' bunk, and said with a smirk, "I just listened to it. Said you scared the sailors aboard the Golden Lion to **** their pants."

   "This is too exaggerated, how can it reach that level." Bud immediately defended his friend: "Who told you this?"

Cage slapped his thigh: "Do you still use someone else to tell me? The whole fleet has spread. I guess you will have a nickname soon. If you are afraid of being unpleasant, you can think of a nickname for me yourself. Spread the word for you. Alas, I've always wanted a nickname too..."

After   Cage was stabbed in the head, he seemed to have opened up his talkative personality.

   Winters sighed and curled up with his back to Cage's side, feeling only a stomach ache.

   Thanks to the book friends who have voted for me before, thanks to the book friends Yuan Hongjian, Ami, 161120205936216, writersblock, 20181013204343295 for their recommendation votes, thank you, thank you.

   (end of this chapter)