Realm of Power

The heavy bow separated the seawater to both sides, blocking the waves one after another, and crashed into the wreckage of the nearby southern warship, forming a piece of white foam and black smoke on the sea. The Battle of Highlander was coming to an end, and the fire was shining. In the light, the wreckage of the southern warships was burning, and densely packed broken boards and sailor corpses were floating. On the sea, Imperial Navy warships with black, gold and blue Falcon flags flying on the top of their masts, like well-fed wolves, sailed into this hellish sea, thick with black smoke. So much so that even the sun in the sky was blocked, leaving only a misty, frizzy ball shining on the sea area with cold light.

Standing on the bow of the Imperial Dragon-class battleship, he didn't know whether it was windy or a bit cold. Imperial Navy Minister Dustrun Kai tightened his collar with intention. This battle was finally completed. With a mental calculation Unintentionally, and relying on the heavy fog in the Heidland area, two hundred Imperial Navy ships took the initiative to launch an ambush against more than three hundred ships. In the end, they were sunk and wounded. There are more than two hundred ships in the Southern Navy's combined fleet. The area in front of you is just the wreckage of seventy or eighty warships. As the fog disperses, the area where the fleet was first bombarded is also revealed. The hulls of the warships are scattered horizontally and vertically. A spectacular and tragic scene was intertwined on the sea. This was the largest maritime confrontation since the establishment of the Imperial Navy.

"Report to His Majesty, everything goes well!" Dostronkai took a deep breath, turned around, and glanced at the sailors on the deck who were cheering for victory with a smile. For seventeen days, the Empire Mobilizing three-quarters of the navy's combat power, the emperor used hundreds of thousands of land troops as bait. What he wanted was the victory in front of him. For the imperial navy, this battle truly established the number one position in the inland sea. From now on In the next twenty or even thirty years, there will be no force in the inner sea that can challenge the Imperial Navy.

"Yes, Commander-in-Chief!" the naval staff officer left with excitement.

The Hyland victory report arrived in the afternoon, and Fatty was reviewing a report sent from the Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding the promotion of water-powered textile machines.

Since the trade routes between the Empire and Central and South-Bia were stabilized, the textile technology from Central and South-Bia has improved the already prototyped hydraulic looms. On this basis, the craftsmen of the Empire have improved the looms again. Now the empire's cotton fields in the northwest are somewhat stretched, so the Ministry of the Interior specifically proposed to expand the planting of cotton fields in northern Gaul, which has a geography and climate similar to the northwest of the empire. Along with the problems in the cotton fields, the stock of refined iron in the empire has also appeared. Problem, Iron Mining in the Empire It has always been the pillar that maintains the entire empire's industry. With the rapid expansion of the empire's trade industry, the low collection of minerals and the large-scale export and use of minerals, the empire's refined iron stock continues to decrease. Originally, this problem still took two to three years. will be revealed, but the Lisbonto incident. The major chambers of commerce’s crazy purchases of fine iron immediately amplified this problem. According to the statement made by the Empire’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, if the Imperial Industry continues to maintain its current scale, in five years, there will be a gap in fine iron in the empire’s weapons forging industry. , the Ministry of Internal Affairs also sent many reports similar to this, and each one made the fat man dumbfounded.

"The vast territory and vast resources are all lies. When you really look at it, your eyes are filled with tears!"

The fat man murmured softly. I was speechless and put down my report. The territory the empire had conquered was huge and the resources were abundant. However, just after a slight improvement in productivity, red lights started to appear everywhere. Why? It’s not that productivity has improved, but resource collection technology has not. The empire has fought in the north and south, and has made every effort to develop industry and commerce, opening up grand trade routes across the east and west. However, there has been very little improvement in resource collection technology. Collection Technological improvements are something that can only appear after years of experience. The empire has only been established for five or six years, so what improvements can be made? It is said that imperialism has been full of filth since it came to this world. In the early days, it brutally plundered the resources of backward areas to support itself. Now it seems that this is a helpless move. As productivity increases, domestic resource production will become If the problem is solved, the original fragile balance will be difficult to maintain. Self-production cannot solve the problem. What else can we do besides robbing? It’s no wonder that the so-called business empires’ last resort is to establish colonies everywhere to plunder resources.

"Come here, bring the document sent by the Ero Empire!"

The fat man shouted to the door. The empire had established the first colonial-like port in the south, which was the Kailuo Port of the Eero Empire. The establishment of a colony was not something that was urgent in the eyes of the fat man. The emergence of the prototype of the colony , Fatty looks more like a bystander, But things are different now. In three to five years, if resources cannot keep up with the development of the empire, the empire's economy will suffer the most severe stagnation. The empire needs a large number of colonies and more resources, otherwise the economic system established by the empire will Cracks will appear until they break! The fat man placed the report in his hand heavily on the table and rubbed his swollen temples. Damn it, the resources in the northern part of Obaro were basically under the control of the empire. It was even more undemanding. He wanted to promote it. The process of empire has ignored the most basic law of balance.

Soon, the guard at the door came in with a document and placed it on the fat man's table. The fat man asked the guard to go down and open the file. He glanced at the file with a serious look. There was a map sandwiched in the file. It was a map. The handwritten version, with curved lines, outlines most of the complete coastline in the south. This is a gift from the Ero Empire to the Falcon Empire. With this coast map, although it is not detailed enough, it is of great significance to the empire's view of the south. The exploration of the sea still plays a vital role

The fat man knew that the Aero people might not have good intentions when they sent this coastline map. Although the Aero Empire was a big country in the south, it had only a handful of outlets in the inland sea area, and none of them were good locations. The outlet on the other side of the southern continent The mouth of Haikou is in the hands of the Kingdom of Aden and the Kingdom of Hawi. The people of Aero covet to go to the sea port on the other side of the south, and they are almost done with it. This map is overflowing. This map marks more detailed coast routes, ports, and even large and small islands near the coastline. This is not a task that can be completed in a short time. It can be seen that the Eero people The exploration of the southern coast did not happen overnight. Due to the lack of an outlet to the sea, the only choice was the inland sea. Now the outlet of the inland sea is controlled by the empire. The Eero people hope to divert trouble to the east and introduce the imperial naval power into the Southern Sea. Only by shaking the inherent pattern of the Southern Sea will the Eero Empire have another chance to fish in troubled waters. Create an outlet to the sea! , whether to join forces with the Ero people or to find other ways, this is a multiple-choice question before the empire.

Now, it’s just a matter of looking at the outcome of the Battle of Hyland! The fat man closed his hand heavily and reported. The plan was already prepared to stop at the inland sea. Due to the internal problems of the empire, Fatty had to consider the empire's new strategic adjustment. If the navies of the southern countries suffered heavy losses this time, then the imperial navy's southward march would also be a good choice.

In the southern part of the Istan Empire, the seawater crashed against the shore and made a gurgling sound, like a white line rising and falling on the embankment of Doria Port. Rows of sailors from the Southern Navy looked at a huge Southern Navy warship with sad expressions, slowly sinking into the sea in the distance. There were several obvious big holes in the side armor of the broken warship. Due to water intrusion, the warship The hull is already tilted, and being able to support it up to this point is already the limit of this battleship.

Robbenis stood under the golden attraction and watched as the flagship of the Fezer Navy finally disappeared on the sea level. His expression was extremely complicated, and the setting sun in the distance was like blood. Even now, he had no way of knowing. Why did the Imperial Navy accurately find the location of the fleet in the Sealand Sea? There was such a huge fog at that time. Not to mention hundreds of meters away, even fifty meters away, I thought I couldn't see clearly, but the emperor's salvo. It shows that the emperor could at least vaguely see the position of the fleet at that time, otherwise he would not have hit the side of the fleet at once, which directly caused the battle situation to move into the most out of control situation. Thinking of the scene of the battleships exploding in front and behind him at that time, this An old sailor who has been at sea for twenty years also shudders. The gap in combat power between the Southern Navy and the Imperial Navy is too big!

Three hundred and seventy Imperial Navy combined fleets set off from here three days ago. At that time, the majestic sight of warships gathering and sails covering the sky made all navy sailors believe that this battle would definitely be won. But now, everything has changed. It was destroyed. The battle with the largest concentration of the Southern Navy took place in the Hyland area known as the Sea of ​​Fog. Most of it was sunk for unknown reasons.

Except for the commander of the rear fleet, Robbenis, who decisively ordered the fleet to evacuate, part of which was still preserved. None of the one hundred and one battleships in the front fleet escaped back. One hundred and forty-seven ships of the squadron were damaged in the battle, and only a few were left. Only eleven remnant ships returned, and two of them were already dead before they could reach the port. Just like the New York Wooden which was sinking into the sea in front of them, it was the three largest tonnage ships in the Southern Navy. One of the most important heavy battleships, it has always been regarded as the Fezer Sea The pride of the army was King Fezer's ship. This time he marched north. Due to physical reasons, King Fezer did not go north with the fleet, but he ordered people to plant the royal flag of the Fezer royal family on the bow of the New York Wood and fight fiercely. , this heavy ship is responsible for breaking Only then could the battleships of the same team be saved, but now, the flag of King Fezer, which represented glory, had long been lost in the explosion. Only half of the blackened flagpole was left, which was tilting with the hull of the battleship. and was quickly submerged in the sea

"Your Excellency Robbenis, this is an order from the base camp. Please come with us!" Several officers wearing Feize Army uniforms appeared behind Robenes with serious expressions. One of them took out the order book from the base camp and said, Several other people formed a fan, blocking all directions of Robenes.

"Please lead the way." Robbenis took one last look at the sea dyed red by the sunset, and turned around calmly. He didn't ask where he was being taken, because Robbenis already knew his fate. The navy was defeated, and the Three Kingdoms were defeated. Among all the naval generals, he was the only one who survived. So many people died. Death, loss of battleships, how could he convince the sailors if he did not die? Moreover, the commander who immediately ordered the fleet to leave before a full-scale war started, no one would come out to intercede. Since the person it seemed was Officer Fezer, he I know that in this matter, His Majesty the King has already acquiesced to the outcome.

After this trip, he would not come out alive. I don’t know why, but Robenes felt unusually calm. There was no smoke here, but the scene of the naval fleet being smashed into pieces by the stormy thunder bombs has been deeply imprinted on his memory. In his mind, as a navy man, he was lucky to be able to see this in the last stage of his life.

At the southern army base camp, King Harvey, who came from the south, was angrily asking the king of Ikar, "Is it possible that just because of fear, he ignored the life and death of 200,000 southern soldiers and ordered the army to be deprived of food?"

King Harvey was so angry that the roof of the tent was almost blown off. The navy's sneak attack failed, which was quite bad news for the coalition army. This showed that except for road rescue, there would be no second option. Road, in the southern coalition base camp, there has been a debate about whether to continue to move closer to Istanbul. Although the 200,000 emperors showed the momentum of being caught in the middle, the main force of the 400,000 coalition forces in front of them suffered a disastrous defeat. Jian, no one would think that it is a good idea to attack an Imperial heavy army group with Thor and Imperial heavy ballistae head-on. Even if they can finally get through, the price paid will be extremely heavy. Who among the six-nation coalition is willing to suffer this loss? , especially the new weapon just demonstrated by the imperial infantry, the kind of explosive bomb that can be thrown like a ball, has been widely circulated among the coalition forces. Facing such an imperial force armed to the teeth, who dares to take the lead?

"This is not fear, but prudence. You will suffer losses if you advance too easily. The example of the navy has been put there...!" The king of Ikar pointed at the map without showing any weakness and said loudly, "This is already Iraq. On the edge of the Great Plains of Kyoto, beyond, there is a flat terrain. Once we encounter a group of imperial cavalry, you and I will be the victims of the horse's hooves!"

"Cavalry!" King Harvey's expression changed. He really didn't think about it. When he was reminded, beads of sweat suddenly fell from his forehead. The coalition's frontline combat force suffered heavy losses in the Lulan area. Now follow The people in the base camp were all infantry, and the emperor was stuck in the middle. King Harvey thought that the emperor was too big and allowed him to attack from above and below. However, after hearing King Ikar's words, King Harvey also felt it from here. A hint of danger emerges, (To be continued.)

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