Autumn was the best season for sailing on the Black Sea.
On the boundless blue sea, there were snow-white waves.
A massive fleet of thirty-one ships with a flaming flag fluttering on the main mast used the Canary cold current and the Benin warm current to head south along the western coast of the Southern Continent.
Whoosh —
The snow-white sails were filled with majestic white clouds, and the mighty aura seemed to be able to crush everything in front of it!
In the massive fleet, the lowest grade was at least a fifth-grade cruiser. Even the third-grade battleships that were rarely seen elsewhere weren't rare.
And the most eye-catching thing was the flagship that led the entire fleet forward with flags of generals, nobles, fleets, and commanders hanging on the bowsprit.
The gorgeous red sails on the battleship were like burning maple leaves. It was Shilius's quasi-legendary battleship, the Red Maple.
The shrewd and capable adjutant pushed open the door and entered the captain's cabin.
"Reporting to Lord Commander! The navigator just reported that the fleet is about to leave the Benin warm current region and enter the Benguela cold current. It is estimated that it will take another three days to reach our destination. "
Lieutenant General Doyle Griffith, a peak Great Knight, was using sword oil and fine velvet cloth to maintain his beloved longsword. He stared at the gleaming longsword without looking up and replied, "Understood."
"Got it."
Seeing his superior's indifferent expression, the loyal adjutant wanted to say something but hesitated.
"Your Excellency, we …"
The worry in his heart was a little sensitive, and it was difficult for him to voice it out.
This military operation in the Southern Continent didn't use the original colonial garrisons at all. Instead, it was all reinforced by the kingdom. The goal was to catch the enemy by surprise and expel their forces from the Southern Continent in one fell swoop while there was a weak link within the enemy.
While diverting the focus of the internal conflict, obtaining huge economic benefits to replenish the kingdom's increasingly depleted body would allow Shilius to take a breather.
And Lieutenant General Griffith, who was directly responsible for the loss of the entire treasure fleet not long ago, was the commander-in-chief of this fleet. This was an opportunity given to him by the kingdom to redeem himself.
Even with the irresistible factor of encountering the wild Child of the Sea God, Great Vortex Charybdis, Lieutenant General Griffith, who had caused heavy losses to the kingdom, had already been court-martialed.
Even if he didn't receive any punishment, if he lost this war, it was easy to imagine what would happen to him when he returned home. Moreover, from the people who participated in this battle, it could be seen that there was another battle that no one knew about.
Seventy percent of the fleet belonged to the Church, and the vice-commander was another great Knight of the Royal Faction.
Of course, they were well aware of what the upper echelons of the kingdom were planning. It would be more appropriate to call them supervisors rather than support.
Seeing his adjutant's worry, the Grand Knight smiled.
"Don't worry. With the protection of the great Fire of Eternity, victory will be ours!
Furthermore, they enjoyed the light bestowed upon them by God, and the mundane kingdoms were supposed to serve God.
No matter what, I will not allow this fleet to suffer unnecessary losses, because they are God's most loyal warriors.
This is a promise made to His Holiness by a Knight of the Eternal Fire! "
Raising the longsword in his hand, Griffith stared at the straight spine of the sword. The quality of "rather break than bend" seemed to be on display in him. Nothing could shake his faith.
Even if the other side of the scale was the king's order, or … his own life!
.....
Across the treacherous Sea of Treasures, the Southern Continent and the Source Continent stood side by side, facing each other.
The overall shape was like an animal's tooth that was wide at the top and sharp at the bottom. To the east was Cape Hafon, to the south was Cape Eglars, to the west was Cape Verde, and to the north was Cape Jilan.
Before the first batch of adventurers crossed the Sea of Treasures two hundred years ago, the Southern Continent was the homeland of the Anumar.
However, with the arrival of the pioneers, the Kingdom of Shilius, the Desert Kingdom of Heimar, and the colonists from the northern shores of the Sea of Treasures. The Anumar natives gradually fell into the abyss of second-class citizens, or even slaves of blood and tears, slowly and uncontrollably sliding down.
The symbol of this was the destruction of the last Anumar empire near Cape Verde, the Mulberry Sea Empire!
However.
At that time, the main force that truly destroyed the Mulberry Sea Empire was not the pioneer Shilius, but the Desert Kingdom of Heimar.
Two hundred years ago, the Kingdom of Heimar controlled the only trade route with the Peacock Islands in the East. For the sake of tea, spices, and other necessities, many countries in the Western Continent had to look up to them.
They relied on this unique geographical advantage to accumulate a huge amount of wealth, and were one of the wealthiest and most prosperous countries in the continent at that time.
As for Shilius, who had just started to explore the ocean, he was just a younger brother back then, and a younger brother who had not even unified the Afonso Peninsula.
However.
In that era two hundred years ago, the development of firearms was far from the current level. Although the original form of the matchlock musket had been invented, it was still used by a mix of muskets and pikemen. The reliability, range, and power of the muskets were all lackluster.
Therefore, in the battle against the natives, the so-called "civilized people" did not have an obvious advantage by relying on technology.
Even the younger brother of the younger brother could easily play tricks on others.
Shilius, who had arrived at the Southern Continent ahead of everyone, saw that he did not have the ability to take down the powerful Mulberry Sea Empire, so he turned to do business with them, providing excellent swords, gunpowder, copper cannons, and other war resources, desperately dragging Heimar down.
In exchange for countless gold, diamonds, and ivory … He deeply tasted the sweetness of it.
In the end, he even sent out military advisors to teach these natives who were backward in the art of war how to fight, causing even the powerful Heimar to suffer a few losses.
However, it was also at the end of this rather long war that the war had ended.
In view of the overly disharmonious situation, the popes of the Church of Eternal Fire and the Church of Bright Starry Night came forward together, and the various countries and several major churches who had interests related to the seven gods finally signed a peace treaty known as the "Pope's Contract."
In the face of the immeasurably vast overseas land, putting aside the conflicts between the civilized countries and reducing internal friction, the land of the heretical believers would all belong to the people of the seven gods.
It could be said that the colonists' invasion had set the necessary legal basis and rules of the game.
Thus, it ushered in the colonization craze of the civilized countries and the nightmare of the colonized areas!
Until now, two hundred years later.
The Southern Continent was already an important producer of tropical cash crops and one of the main export areas. There were cotton, sisal, peanuts, oil palms, cashews, coffee, cocoa, tea, sugar cane, and tobacco leaves, rubber (used in steam engines), pyrethrum, cloves, coconuts, bananas, and so on.
This was also the source of raw materials for the Tulip sailors' favorite rum.
Another thing that had to be mentioned was the current situation of the various colonies.
Because most of the Southern Continent was in the tropics, it was very unfriendly to the Nimansts from the Northern Source Continent. Unless there was a special medicine, the tropical diseases in these places were very fatal to the Nimansts who had lived in temperate areas for a long time.
To them, the environment was as bad as hell. Just surviving was difficult, let alone working and producing.
Even Transcendent explorers weren't willing to venture deep into this terrifying continent to search for unknown treasures.
There were even pioneers among the explorers who commented:
The Southern Continent was the main fortress of the real demon king — the reactionary force of nature that opposed human prosperity. Here, the Lord of Flies gathered worm-like and beast-like armies made up of insects, ticks, and nematodes. They transmitted diseases to the skin, blood vessels, intestines, and spinal cords of humans and other vertebrates.
In the few powerful countries.
The northern part of the Southern Continent was the largest desert in the world, occupying 30% of the continent's land. A small part of the habitable areas had completely become Heimar's territory. Even the faith was firmly controlled by the Starry Night Order.
The true god, Bright Starry Night, was the only god here.
Further south was the largest area of the continent. The climate of the tropical grassland was unsuitable for farming. The extreme division of the rainy and dry seasons was enough to drive people crazy.
After repeatedly weighing the pros and cons, the other countries gathered together and divided the most suitable cash crops for farming, the Zaire Basin, which was known as the largest basin in the world.
The other colonies were scattered and scattered.
To them, only land that had proven its economic value was meaningful to them.
After discovering the New Continent, they all turned their spearheads to the rich land on the other side of the Black Sea.
The climate, which was far inferior to the New Continent's, became a natural barrier for the Anuma natives. Even now, there were still a large number of powerful natives living in the vast inland areas.
Even in the coastal area on the west side of the Zaire Basin, there were many native countries, mainly the Kingdom of Dahomey in Benin.
The Kingdom of Dahomey had also benefited from the development of the New Continent and was now the largest slave supplier in the Slave Bay. It was also a rich country.
Therefore, although Shilius had the advantage in the Southern Continent, he didn't have many stable territories. Most of them existed in the form of independent mines and cash crops. The other vast wastelands were of no value to him at all.
In other words, in this era, a large area of the Southern Continent was still shrouded in the fog of war.
After occupying some agricultural areas that could produce cash crops and mines that were easy to mine, Shilius had turned east and crossed the Eritrean Sea again, heading for the Peacock Islands, which were even more prosperous in this era.
That was the opportunity for Shilius to rise to become the overlord of the sea.
As for Elvin's classes in the Naval Academy, the professor believed that after two hundred years of continuous development, the Southern Continent had been completely developed.
It had indeed been developed, but it was based on the current scientific and medical standards.
When Elvin's drugs hit the market, perhaps this situation would be completely overturned.
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