The Northern Sea Fleet. Hidden Gold Bay. The Invincible Fleet.
Everyone present was stunned by Malek's proposal. The meeting room fell silent. Everyone either furrowed their brows in thought or exchanged glances with one another, but no one spoke. Even
Malek's proposal was thoroughly unexpected—even Lorist had never contemplated using the Northern Sea Fleet to destroy the Invincible Fleet at Hidden Gold Bay and then landing at Morant City. This wasn't because Lorist's vision or thinking was flawed. It was primarily because the Commercial Alliance's Invincible Fleet had enjoyed a sterling reputation for over a century since its founding, having never tasted defeat.
Originally, the Commercial Alliance had established this fleet under the name Alliance Fleet, mainly to guard against pirate raids on Morant City and protect Hidden Gold Bay. Over time, it evolved into safeguarding the maritime trade routes along the Golden Coastline of the Sunlit Sea on the southern side of the Galentea Continent—sweeping away pirates en route and suppressing coastal nations from developing their own naval fleets to seize those trade routes. Thirty years later, the fleet had earned the title "Invincible Fleet" thanks to its unbroken record of naval victories.
Back when the Krisen Empire descended into civil war, the merchants in the Commercial Alliance's parliament believed they had no enemies left and demanded reductions to the Alliance's armed forces. They cut the city garrison, slashed military spending, and when they tried to trim the Invincible Fleet's size, the Seven Giants who controlled the Commercial Alliance shut them down. The Seven Giants understood perfectly: without a city garrison, they could raise temporary forces when war broke out—but reducing the Invincible Fleet's scale would mean the Commercial Alliance losing significant influence over the coastal nations along the Golden Coastline.
Send the Northern Sea Fleet to destroy the Invincible Fleet—was that even possible? A question mark arose in Lorist's mind. Sembawood had proclaimed the Northern Sea Fleet to be invincible, and Lorist agreed, but the main purpose of saying so was to bolster the fleet's sense of honor and self-confidence. The premise of "invincibility" was that the enemy fleet facing the Northern Sea Fleet would not exceed two to three times its size, allowing the bronze cannons the Northern Sea Fleet was equipped with to unleash their full power.
But the Commercial Alliance's Invincible Fleet was different. Over a hundred years of development had given this fleet an enormous scale, rich combat experience, and countless elite soldiers and seasoned commanders. Back when Lorist had studied in Morant City for ten years, he had heard plenty of stories about the Invincible Fleet defeating enemies and obliterating pirates. In his mind, he had never once contemplated proactively attacking the Invincible Fleet.
How should he put it? Lorist had built the Northern Sea Fleet for the sole purpose of ensuring safe passage along the Cursed Coastline of the Northern Seas, becoming the dominant power in those waters, protecting Shilowas Island, the Haniabada Archipelago, and the surrounding seas of the Shaizlan Kingdom, and safeguarding the family's commercial interests on those islands. He had never intended to compete with the Commercial Alliance for the Golden Coastline in the southern Sunlit Sea or to make an enemy of the Invincible Fleet.
This wasn't because Lorist lacked ambition or was shortsighted. It was because Galentea was a massive continent. Any place reachable by sea was also reachable by land—it was merely a matter of how long it took. Even if Lorist invested heavily in his naval fleet and truly became invincible, monopolizing all the waters around the continent, the Commercial Alliance could still wield its enormous commercial influence to have coastal nations forbid trade with the
This wasn't the Earth of Lorist's previous life, with seven continents and countless archipelagos. The Galentea Continent was one large landmass with only a handful of surrounding islands. Naval power alone could not deal with a coastal nation—you couldn't cut off that country's external communications. When a coastal nation stopped provisioning your fleet, unless you turned to piracy and plunder, you could only seek supplies from another coastal nation. And once you'd acted as pirates even once, every coastal nation would brand you as such. Your fleet would never find another supply point again—instead, appearing anywhere would only invite attacks.
Developing the family's naval power without sufficient returns was tantamount to throwing golden coins into the water. It was precisely because Lorist had recognized this clearly that he decided to reorganize the massive naval legion, restructuring it into the Northern Sea Fleet that would only protect the family's maritime interests, and reaching a tacit understanding with the Commercial Alliance's Chicked Trading Company to divide the sea in two—the south belonging to Chicked, the north to the Norton Family.
The southern seas were calm and sunlit. The northern seas howled with dark winds and churned with raging waves. From a military perspective, the Norton Family's Northern Sea Fleet and the Commercial Alliance's Invincible Fleet represented two opposite extremes of naval fleet development. The Northern Sea Fleet prioritized mobility and powerful long-range striking capability. The Invincible Fleet, on the other hand, relied on numerical superiority and overwhelming force to engage in close-quarters broadside combat and achieve naval victory.
The Invincible Fleet would not enter the northern seas—the warships they possessed were unsuitable for navigating the rough, stormy conditions of those waters. Nor would the Northern Sea Fleet casually venture into the southern seas—for one, the sea conditions were unknown, and for another, they had no desire to offend the Chicked Trading Company, which dominated those waters. The only point of intersection was the annual expeditions in which the Commercial Alliance's Chicked Trading Company and Peterson Trading Company dispatched fleets to Shilowas Island to purchase large quantities of spices and daily necessities.
In a sense, these two trading companies merely treated the Norton Family as a procurement channel. But ever since the Andinak Kingdom had begun attacking and reclaiming several provinces occupied by the Commercial Alliance three years ago, neither company had sent any trading fleets. After all, the Norton Family had been the main attacking force this time, and they had destroyed the Vesia Trading Company—one of the Seven Giants of the Commercial Alliance—making them open enemies of the Alliance.
The Northern Sea Fleet's warships included ships equipped with bronze cannons, then twenty-eight large armed warships and fifty-six medium armed fast sloops, and twenty-six small armed patrol vessels, divided into two sub-fleets and one archipelago patrol fleet. Each sub-fleet also had its own convoy of over twenty ocean-going merchant ships. This was because the Northern Sea Fleet also bore the responsibility of transporting daily necessities, trading goods, and spices to the Haniabada Archipelago and the Shaizlan Kingdom. Every year, both sub-fleets had to escort merchant convoys to the two archipelagos.
When you counted carefully, the Northern Sea Fleet truly possessed combat capability in only its sixteen thunderstrike warships. The rest of the large and medium armed vessels were essentially transports. Just like when Lorist had brought the Bedrock Corps back to the Northland from Shilowas Island by sea this time—in the event of a naval engagement, those ships would only be tasked with hauling supplies, treating the wounded, and guarding prisoners, rather than charging to the front lines like the sixteen thunderstrike warships.
But compared to the Commercial Alliance's Invincible Fleet, the Northern Sea Fleet's ship count was pitifully thin. The Invincible Fleet didn't enter northern waters, so the Northern Sea Fleet could still strut around with impunity. But now that the Northern Sea Fleet had to sail to Hidden Gold Bay and proactively attack the Invincible Fleet to support the family's assault on Morant City—that was the enemy's home turf. And when you considered the Invincible Fleet's enormous scale and its overwhelming advantage in ship numbers, Lorist grew less and less confident the more he thought about it.
"Tager, give everyone a rundown of the Commercial Alliance's Invincible Fleet first. Genoleo, go check the messenger hawk records in the archives—when did your father arrive at Wrathbear City for the New Year celebrations?" Lorist spoke up.
"Yes, Your Highness." Genoleo pushed open the door and left.
Tager sifted through a thick stack of documents, found the intelligence on the Commercial Alliance's Invincible Fleet, and began reading aloud: "The Invincible Fleet has been established for one hundred and thirty-six years. From its original twenty-odd merchant ships, it has grown into four sub-fleets commanding over a thousand warships and merchant vessels of various sizes, with a sphere of influence extending from Hidden Gold Bay all the way to the southernmost tip of the continent. It is the Commercial Alliance's primary maritime transport and military force.
The Invincible Fleet's full complement of permanent personnel is forty-three thousand, with the remainder being hired sailors and crew. The Commercial Alliance allocates two million gold Forde annually to maintain the Invincible Fleet's operations. In addition, the fleet handles the Commercial Alliance's cargo transport to the coastal nations along the Golden Coastline of the Sunlit Sea, receiving one-fifth of the profits from these operations for its own use. The fleet is also responsible for combating pirates in the southern seas and suppressing the coastal nations along the Golden Coastline from independently assembling their own naval fleets. There was an incident where merchant convoys organized by nobles from two coastal nations vanished at sea along with all hands, and suspicion fell on the Invincible Fleet—though no evidence could be found.
The Chicked Trading Company, one of the Seven Giants of the Commercial Alliance, commands the Invincible Fleet, claiming forty percent of its revenue. The remaining six Giants each take ten percent. The Chicked Trading Company is known as the overlord of the southern seas. Beyond its dominant position within the Invincible Fleet, the company maintains its own armed fleet and multiple merchant convoys. It is said that one out of every four ships sailing the southern seas belongs to Chicked—they effectively rule the entire maritime transport and trade routes of the southern waters.
The Invincible Fleet is divided into four sub-fleets, each possessing two castle-type giant ships called Sepniums, meaning 'Castles of the Sea God.' In truth, a single Sepnium is a floating fortress at sea—it can carry up to three thousand naval assault troops. Being engaged by a Sepnium means the battle is over and your ship will be captured. However, despite their colossal size, Sepniums are not fast, which is the main reason opponents in countless naval battles have turned tail and fled at the mere sighting of one.
Beyond the two Sepniums, each sub-fleet also fields over fifty large ocean-going armed warships and medium armed fast warships, along with nearly a hundred small, fast ramming vessels. These small ramming vessels are the primary executors of the Invincible Fleet's tactics. Their prows are fitted with sharp, lance-like metal rams, and in battle they use their speed and agility to slam into enemy ships, slowing them down until a Sepnium draws close—at which point the enemy can only surrender or fight to the end and be captured regardless.
Sometimes these small ramming vessels are converted into fire ships, loaded with incendiaries and sent via wind and current to launch fire attacks on enemy vessels. Once struck by one of these, the target cannot escape, and the Invincible Fleet can then close in with its medium and large warships to surround and annihilate the enemy. This is the 'fish bait' tactic the Invincible Fleet excels at—those small ramming vessels serve as the bait.
Each sub-fleet of the Invincible Fleet maintains ten thousand regular armed naval personnel as part of its establishment. If you add the hired sailors and crew from the merchant convoys, each sub-fleet can field between twenty and thirty thousand men. Every three months, one sub-fleet sails for the southern seas while another returns. But Hidden Gold Bay always retains one garrison sub-fleet, which dispatches over a dozen warships of various sizes to patrol the surrounding waters..."
"Hmm?" Lorist started. "Tager, you're saying the Invincible Fleet doesn't keep its entire force at Hidden Gold Bay—at most, only two sub-fleets remain there, while the other two are stationed in the southern seas?"
Tager nodded. "Yes. It's entirely possible that the Invincible Fleet is currently transporting southern reinforcements, using sea routes to quickly move those troops to Morant City. Since communication between Morant City and us has been cut off, we can't currently obtain detailed intelligence on the Invincible Fleet's disposition from there. However, to transport that many southern reinforcements to Morant City, the Invincible Fleet would almost certainly be involved."
Lorist nodded and was about to speak when Genoleo pushed the door open to report: "Your Highness, I've checked the messenger hawk records. Northern Sea Fleet Admiral Sembawood departed Shilowas Island five days ago. He should arrive at North Sea City in a day or two, and reach Wrathbear City three days after that."
Lorist laughed and ruffled Genoleo's hair. "You silly boy, that's your father—why so formal?"
Genoleo protested: "Your Highness, we're discussing official business. You said yourself that personal matters must not interfere with public duty."
"Heh heh..." Lorist chuckled, ruffling his hair once more before addressing the people in the meeting room. "Let's leave it here for today. Everyone keep your lips sealed. As for whether to deploy troops in support of His Majesty the King, we'll reconsider for a few more days. And as for Malek's proposal to attack Morant City by sea, I want to discuss it with Sembawood when he arrives and assess whether the Northern Sea Fleet has the capability before making a decision. That's all for now."
Three days later, Sembawood arrived at Wrathbear City through the howling blizzard. Without even brushing the snow from his cloak and the fur-lined hood of his winter hat, he appeared immediately in Lorist's study. After hearing Lorist describe Malek's proposal, Sembawood cried out excitedly: "Your Highness, I guarantee we can destroy the entire Invincible Fleet!"
...