This is Cape Romani, also the terminus of the Tidanini Mountains. Our transport fleet can no longer sail along the coastline, because ahead lies the only reef zone on the Golden Coastline of the Sunlight Sea. So our transport fleet must return to the sea route. Once we pass Cape Romani, we'll reach the edge of the Christo Hills. Three more days' sailing will bring us to Port Erniwa, while returning to Hidden Gold Bay is but a two- or three-day voyage.
But the problem now is that the
According to his reconnaissance, the Norton Family has deployed sixteen massive warships on the sea route, each twice the size of a large ocean-going armed merchantman, though still not as large as our Sepnip warships. Besides those, there are nearly a hundred large armed warships. Near the reef zone off Cape Romani, over forty medium armed warships are patrolling. As for the dozen-odd cannon warships that withdrew, they are cruising on the outer flank of the sea route.
Viscount Penelope tapped a thin wooden stick against the nautical chart on the wall, pointing here and there. He was the commander-in-chief of the Merchant Alliance's Invincible Fleet, concurrently the commander of the First Sub-fleet, and also a Rank 2 Sword Saint. Seated in the conference room were all the Invincible Fleet's senior commanders, the captains of the large armed warships, and the leaders of the various organized squadrons.
The atmosphere in the conference room was oppressive. Viscount Penelope sighed inwardly. When had the Invincible Fleet's commanders ever been so cowed by a mere dozen-odd enemy warships—heads hung low, spirits broken, not a shred of fight left in them? In years past, the moment word came of an enemy fleet's movements, which of those present wouldn't have clamored to volunteer for battle, terrified of missing their chance to take the field...
Still, it was little wonder things had come to this. After four enemy attacks, the Invincible Fleet had suffered heavy casualties; two sub-fleets plus the Chikde Chamber of Commerce's armed fleet had lost over two hundred warships between them. True, most were small fast ramming ships and medium armed warships, but the enemy had only a dozen-odd cannon warships, and all four raids had left them unscathed. Each time they would appear on the periphery, unleash a barrage, then sail away once their ammunition was spent. The Invincible Fleet had been stuck in a purely passive position—unable to strike back, unable to catch them even if they gave chase. One could hardly blame the senior fleet commanders present for being at their wits' end, sighing and groaning.
Recalling when the two sub-fleets had just joined forces—who hadn't been talking big, freely mocking the Third Sub-fleet's misfortune and the Fourth Sub-fleet's incompetence? The Third Sub-fleet had been lax in its defenses and suffered a night raid at Port Erniwa; a single fire had turned the fleet's personnel into infantry. The Fourth Sub-fleet claimed victory, yet a loss ratio of seventy or eighty to six was utterly disgraceful—when had the Invincible Fleet ever won such a "victory"? And after that victory, the surviving warships could only huddle in Hidden Gold Bay, afraid to show their faces...
Though all belonged to the Invincible Fleet, contradictions and rivalries still existed among the four sub-fleets. The First Sub-fleet was backed by the Twin-Headed Dragon Chamber of Commerce, while the Second and Third Sub-fleets belonged to the Chikde Chamber of Commerce. As for the Fourth Sub-fleet, it was a mixed bag—anyone could throw their lot in.
Basically, the first three sub-fleets all looked down on the Fourth Sub-fleet's combat strength, considering it the Invincible Fleet's greatest weak point. But now that the Third Sub-fleet had met with disaster and couldn't be mocked, everyone could only ridicule the Fourth Sub-fleet's record. Since even the Fourth Sub-fleet had managed to sink six of the Norton Family fleet's warships, surely the First and Second Sub-fleets taking the field against a Norton Family fleet of only a dozen-odd warships would be a piece of cake?
Although the senior commanders of the First and Second Sub-fleets had taken note of the Fourth Sub-fleet's battle report describing the Norton Family fleet's formidable long-range attack power and excellent warship performance, they still didn't take it too seriously. No matter how formidable the long-range attacks or how excellent the warship performance, there were only a dozen-odd warships after all—they could simply drown the Norton Family fleet with numerical superiority alone...
So when they gathered, they weren't discussing how to eliminate the Norton Family fleet, but rather how to capture Silowas Island. The fleet's senior commanders, accustomed to basking in the warm, bright sunshine of the southern seas, were unwilling to go to the northern seas with their high winds and rough waves. Everyone was speculating about which poor bastard would be appointed as the garrison fleet commander after Silowas Island was captured.
Until the night of May 9th, the evening before the fleet was scheduled to depart, the harbor where nearly a thousand merchant ships and warships had gathered was actually subjected to a night raid by the Norton Family fleet. Fortunately, the harbor in the Chikde Chamber of Commerce's territory was rather small, so most of the medium cargo ships laden with goods had been arranged outside the harbor, which blocked the Norton Family warships firing their cannons. Additionally, the patrol squadron of small fast ramming warships reacted promptly, counterattacking the attackers immediately and forcing the enemy fleet to leave the harbor, avoiding a repeat of the tragedy of the burning of Port Erniwa.
The next day, the fleet set sail as planned. Viscount Penelope ordered the warships to form a tight defensive formation around the transport fleet to prevent the transport fleet from suffering attacks and losses again during the voyage.
But the Norton Family fleet's next three attacks finally made the North Sea Fleet realize what a gap in warship performance meant. Whether it was maneuverability or the flexible, rapid-fire cannon fleet, the Invincible Fleet could find almost no countermeasure. All the traps they arranged were ignored by the attacking enemy. The opposing fleet commander was clearly a cunning and cautious fellow—he remained indifferent to the transport fleet, instead focusing entirely on relentlessly bombarding the armed warships on the outer defensive perimeter.
Originally, those small fast ramming warships still posed some threat to the enemy. One must know that those small fast ramming warships had a complement of twenty-four oarsmen with
But the Norton Family's cannon warships had already found the small fast ramming warships' weakness. Because these small fast ramming warships weren't equipped with any long-range fire weapons, their tactic was to use the sharp ram at the front of the warship to pierce the enemy's hull, slowing the enemy ship's speed while waiting for the main fleet's support. So the Norton Family's cannon warships allowed the Invincible Fleet's small fast ramming warships to approach within a hundred meters, then lowered their gun ports, loaded canister shot, and with a "boom"—it was basically one shot, one ship...
On the night of the harbor raid, the cannon warships still used solid iron shot against those small fast ramming warships—hitting three or four out of ten shots already counted as godly marksmanship. But from the second attack onward, they began using canister shot against those agile and fierce small fast ramming warships. The third attack was the same. By the time of the fourth attack, all of the Invincible Fleet's small fast ramming warships refused to engage. Because that wasn't combat—it was target practice. One shot down and the thirty-odd people on a ship almost had no chance of survival. There's no such way to send people to their deaths.
One must understand that all crew and sailors on the small fast ramming warships were the fleet's bravest sailors—only they could serve in those roles. Even they had lost the will to fight, so one can imagine how low the entire Invincible Fleet's morale had fallen. Warships assigned to the outermost defensive circle might as well have been waiting to be shelled. The crews weren't preparing for battle—they were first finding themselves life preservers, so they might escape with their lives after their warship was sunk...
Viscount Penelope waited for a long time without anyone standing up to offer their opinion. Looking at the fleet officials throughout the conference room with their heads bowed, he flew into a rage, slamming his palm hard onto the table before him and roaring furiously: "Are you all dead! Scared out of your wits by the enemy's cannon fire! Weren't you all so damn impressive normally? How come you're all mute now? The enemy has already arrayed their formation before us, ready to fight us to the death, yet you're all shrinking like quails! Should we just hoist the white flag and surrender to the enemy? After all, you don't look like warriors of the Invincible Fleet anyway!"
Viscount Penelope's fury finally stirred the fleet officials' pride and shame. One by one, the red-faced officials stood to declare their resolve: "My lord, since the Norton Family wants a decisive battle, we'll give them one. The Invincible Fleet will surely triumph!"
"My lord, allow me to serve as the vanguard warship. I'll charge at the very front..."
"My lord, even if I die in battle, I'll drag the enemy down with me..."
"My lord, please believe in us. We won't let the Invincible Fleet's century of reputation be stained with shame. We can defeat the enemy, and we will defeat them!"
"Clap, clap, clap." A crisp round of applause rang out: "I believe in your courage, and I believe the Invincible Fleet won't fail. In fact, I think the Norton Family's cannon warships aren't that terrifying. They're not invincible either."
The fleet commanders in the conference room all turned to see who was speaking so arrogantly. After all, no one currently had a way to deal with those slippery cannon warships.
A young man with elegant bearing, calm temperament, and a smile on his face walked up to Viscount Penelope. The fleet commanders all recognized this young man. He was the eldest young master of the Chikde Chamber of Commerce, Serihan, commander of the Chikde Chamber of Commerce's armed fleet.
"Young Master Serihan, what basis do you have for saying this?" a fleet commander asked loudly.
Young Master Serihan smiled gently and nodded: "Of course I have a basis. Everyone will know soon enough. Not counting that night raid on the harbor, the Norton Family's cannon fleet has attacked us three times total. Our fleet has lost 243 warships in total, including 129 small fast ramming warships, 86 medium armed warships, 13 medium cargo ships, and 15 large armed warships.
There's a key point here—has everyone noticed? The losses of large armed warships are far fewer than those of small and medium warships. On one hand, this is because the fleet arranged for small and medium warships to drive off the enemy, resulting in heavy losses. On the other hand, it shows that large armed warships possess a significant advantage when resisting enemy cannon fire. I discovered that a large armed warship can continue sailing normally after taking several enemy cannon hits, while small and medium warships would be sunk or destroyed.
I wonder if everyone noticed: during the first attack, we lost seven large armed warships, but two of them were burned after catching fire—only five were actually sunk. During the second attack, we deployed even more large armed warships, yet only five were lost in battle, and they were basically sunk only after enduring several rounds of concentrated enemy fire. As for the third attack, we lost merely three large armed warships.
Take the Flying Wing of our fleet, for instance. During the third attack, it served as a large armed warship on the outermost defensive line, enduring over ten rounds of enemy cannon fire yet remaining afloat, with nearly one entire side of its hull smashed to pieces. After the battle, didn't you all call it the "unsinkable miracle"?
There's actually a secret to this. After the second attack, when we inspected the warships that had been shelled, we discovered something. Since our warships also bore the task of transporting grain and fodder, while repairing a hole made by a cannonball, we found that an iron ball fired from a cannon had, after piercing the hull, embedded itself in a pile of flour sacks. Aside from baking a ring of flour around it, that iron ball merely punched a hole in the hull and did nothing else.
So we conducted an experiment: we stacked walls of flour sacks along all the inner bulkheads and bottom plating of the Flying Wing, securing them in place, just to see if bag after bag of flour could cushion incoming iron cannonballs. The result was plain for all to see—the Flying Wing wasn't sunk, and after the battle we collected nearly forty iron balls from the holds...
The entire conference room erupted in cheers. If Young Master Serihan wasn't lying, then at the very least they no longer needed to panic when facing the Norton Family's cannon fleet. And if the Norton Family's cannon fleet wanted to sink their warships, they'd have to get closer—which would give the Invincible Fleet an opening, perhaps even allowing a counterattack with ballistae and trebuchets. Everyone had had enough of the days of only taking a beating, unable to strike back or even catch up.
Seeing the atmosphere in the conference room grow lively, Viscount Penelope smiled with relief. He first thanked Young Master Serihan a few words, then quieted everyone down.
"I'm sure the Norton Family never expected us to find a way to deal with their cannons—of course, we have Young Master Serihan to thank for that..." Viscount Penelope led the applause, and soon the clapping rose in a continuous wave.
Young Master Serihan bowed to everyone, saying he had merely fulfilled his duty and felt unworthy of their high regard.
"Now that the Norton Family has arrayed themselves for a decisive battle before us, what should we do?" Viscount Penelope asked loudly.
"Kill them! Invincible Fleet, eternal victory!" The conference room surged with soaring morale.
Viscount Penelope nodded in satisfaction, rapping the sea chart hanging on the bulkhead sharply with the thin wooden stick in his hand. "They've arrayed themselves for a decisive battle at Cape Romani. Perhaps they believe long-range cannon fire alone can intercept our transport convoy — even dreaming of destroying the Invincible Fleet. Nothing but a pipe dream!
We still have two sub-fleets and four Sepnim giant ships, over a hundred large armed warships, over a hundred small and medium warships — three hundred-plus warships in total. Add the Chikde Merchant Guild's hundred-odd armed vessels, and our ships and manpower outnumber the Norton Family fleet several times over. They think a single cannon can defeat us?
We'll show them what delusion means. We'll roll over them like wild grass beneath a roller wheel. Young Master Serihan has already given us the method to withstand cannon fire. We'll arrange our warships accordingly, then drive straight ahead under enemy bombardment, right into the heart of their fleet. Once our marine boarding parties storm their decks, victory will fall into our hands like ripe fruit — soon enough."
...