North Sea Fleet, Hidden Gold Bay, Invincible Fleet, Morent City …
Everyone present was shocked by Malek's suggestion. The conference room was dead silent. Everyone was either frowning in thought or looking at each other. No one made a sound. Laurist's brows twitched, and he began to think carefully.
Malek's suggestion was truly unexpected. Even Laurist had not thought of using the North Sea Fleet to destroy the Invincible Fleet in the Hidden Gold Bay before landing in Morent City. This was not a problem with Laurist's vision or thinking. It was mainly because the Trade Alliance's Invincible Fleet had been too famous since its establishment a hundred years ago, and it had never suffered a defeat.
Originally, the Commerce Alliance named this fleet as the Alliance Fleet. Its main purpose was to prevent pirates from attacking Morent City and to protect the safety of Cangjin Gulf. Then it gradually evolved into protecting the safety of the maritime trade routes along the Sunshine Sea's Golden Coastline in the southern part of the Galinthea Continent, eliminating the pirates along the way, and cracking down on and suppressing the coastal countries' development of maritime fleets to seize the trade routes. Thirty years later, this fleet was hailed as the Invincible Fleet due to its undefeated record on the sea.
After the civil war broke out in the Christen Empire, the merchants of the Commerce Union thought that they had no more enemies, so they requested to reduce the armed forces of the Commerce Union. They reduced the city defense force and the cost of armaments. However, when they wanted to reduce the size of the invincible fleet, they were stopped by the seven magnates who controlled the Commerce Union. This was because the Seven Magnates knew very well that without the City Defense Army, they could just summon them in the event of a war. However, if they reduced the size of the Invincible Fleet, it meant that the Commerce Alliance would lose a lot of influence on the coastal countries along the Sunshine Sea's Golden Coastline.
Was it possible for the North Sea Fleet to destroy the Invincible Fleet? A question mark appeared in Lollister's mind. Sunbarwood had declared that the North Sea Fleet was invincible, and Laurist thought so as well. However, the main purpose of this statement was to increase the pride and confidence of the fleet's personnel. The prerequisite for invincibility was that the size of the enemy fleet that the Northsea Fleet was facing was no more than two or three times its size, thereby maximizing the power of the bronze cannons that the Northsea Fleet was equipped with.
However, the Commerce Alliance's Invincible Fleet was different. After more than a hundred years of development, this fleet possessed a large enough scale and rich experience in naval combat, as well as countless elite soldiers. Back when Laurist had been studying in Morant City for ten years, he had heard many stories about the invincible fleet defeating their enemies and eliminating pirates. He had never thought of taking the initiative to attack the Unrivalled Fleet.
How should I put it? Laurist's goal in establishing the Northsea Fleet was to ensure the safety of the Northern Sea's Cursed Coastline, to become the overlord of the Northern Sea, to protect the safety of Syrovas Island, the Haneabada Archipelago, and the surrounding seas of the Shais Kingdom, as well as to protect the family's business interests in these islands. He had never thought of competing with the Commerce Alliance for the golden coastline of the Southern Sunshine Sea and becoming enemies with the Invincible Fleet.
This was not because Loriste was unambitious or short-sighted, but because Galinthea was a huge continent. What could be reached by sea could also be reached by land. It was just a matter of time. Even if the Laurist Family's naval fleet was truly invincible and dominated the seas around the continent, the Trade Alliance could still use its immense commercial influence to stop the coastal countries from doing business with the Norton Family's merchant fleet.
This wasn't the Earth from Laurist's previous life, where there were seven continents and countless islands. The Galinthia continent was a large piece of land, and there were a few islands around it. It was impossible to use naval power to deal with a coastal country, because there was no way to seal off the country's external communications. When a coastal country cut off the supply of a fleet, unless one became a pirate, they could only switch to another coastal country for supplies. After becoming a pirate once, all the coastal countries would treat you as a pirate. The fleet would no longer be able to find a supply point, and instead, they would be attacked wherever they appeared.
Without sufficient income, vigorously developing the family's naval forces was equivalent to throwing shiny gold coins into the water. Back then, Laurist had clearly realized this, which was why he had decided to reorganize the massive naval army and reorganize the Northsea Fleet, only protecting the family's maritime interests. He had a tacit understanding with the Chikede Merchant Group of the Trade Alliance to split the sea in two, with the southern part belonging to the Chikede Merchant Group, and the northern part belonging to the Norton Family.
The southern sea was calm, and the sun shone brightly. The northern sea was filled with chilly winds and turbulent waves. From a military perspective, the Norton Family's Northsea Fleet and the Trade Alliance's Invincible Fleet represented two extremes in the development of naval fleets. The Northsea Fleet focused on mobility and powerful long-range attacks. On the other hand, the Invincible Fleet relied on numbers and superior military strength to obtain victory at sea through close combat.
The Invincible Fleet would not enter the northern sea, because their warships were not suitable for sailing in the stormy seas. On the other hand, the Northsea Fleet would not enter the southern sea easily. Firstly, the situation of the sea was unclear, and secondly, they had no intention of offending the Chikede Merchant Group that dominated the southern sea. The only point of contact between the two sides was that every year, the Chikede Merchant Group and the Peterson Merchant Group would send fleets to Sirovas Island to purchase large amounts of spices and daily necessities.
In a sense, these two merchant groups only treated the Norton Family as a purchasing channel. However, ever since the Andinac Kingdom began to attack and reclaim the provinces occupied by the Trade Alliance three years ago, these two merchant groups no longer sent fleets to trade with the Norton Merchant Group. After all, the Norton Family was the main force of the attack this time, and they had also destroyed one of the seven giants of the Trade Alliance, the Visia Merchant Group. They had officially become enemies with the Trade Alliance without declaring war.
The Northsea Fleet had 16 main warships equipped with bronze cannons, 28 large armed warships, 56 medium armed fast schooners, and 26 small armed patrol ships. They were divided into two sub-fleets and one archipelago patrol fleet. The two sub-fleets also had a merchant fleet made up of more than 20 ocean-going merchant ships. This was because the Northsea Fleet was also responsible for transporting daily necessities, trading goods, and spices to the Haneabada Archipelago and the Shaislan Kingdom. Every year, the two sub-fleets would escort merchant ships to the two archipelago.
If one were to take a serious look, the Northsea Fleet only had 16 warships that could truly fight. The rest of the large and medium armed warships were just transport ships. It was just like how Laurist had led the Monolith Army back to the north from Sirovas Island. If a naval battle broke out, these warships would only be responsible for transporting supplies, healing the wounded, and guarding prisoners. They would not be at the forefront like the 16 warships.
However, compared to the Trade Alliance's Invincible Fleet, the number of warships in the Northsea Fleet was too small. If the Invincible Fleet did not enter the northern seas, the Northsea Fleet could still strut around. However, the Northsea Fleet was going to Hidden Gold Bay to attack the Invincible Fleet and cooperate with the family's armed forces to attack Morent City. That was their home ground. Thinking about the Invincible Fleet's enormous size and overwhelming number of warships, the more Laurist thought about it, the less confident he felt.
"Tagger, introduce the Trade Alliance's Invincible Fleet to everyone. Genolio, go to the archives and check the records of the messenger eagles. When will your father arrive at Raging Bear City for the new year celebration? "Laurist said.
"Yes, Your Highness." Genolio pushed open the door and left.
Tagger found information on the Trade Alliance's Invincible Fleet from a large pile of files and began to read it to everyone. "The Invincible Fleet has been established for 136 years. At the beginning, there were 20 merchant ships, and now there are four sub-fleets. It has more than 1,000 armed warships and merchant ships of various sizes. Its sphere of influence stretches from Hidden Gold Bay to the southernmost tip of the continent. It is the Trade Alliance's main transport and armed force on the sea.
The Invincible Fleet has a full complement of 43,000 people, and the rest are hired sailors and crew members. The Trade Alliance allocates two million gold fords every year to maintain the Invincible Fleet's operations. At the same time, the Invincible Fleet is responsible for the Trade Alliance's transportation of goods to the countries along the Sunshine Sea's golden coastline. During this process, the Invincible Fleet receives a fifth of the fleet's profits. In addition, the Invincible Fleet is also responsible for attacking the pirates in the southern sea and suppressing the fleets of the countries along the Sunshine Sea's golden coastline. There was once a merchant fleet formed by the nobles of two coastal countries that encountered pirates at sea. The Invincible Fleet was not suspected to be the culprit, but no evidence could be found.
The one leading the Invincible Fleet was one of the seven magnates of the Trade Alliance, the Chikede Merchant Association. They took 40% of the Invincible Fleet's profits, while the other six magnates each took 10%. The Chikede Merchant Association was known as the overlord of the southern sea. Other than being the dominant force in the Invincible Fleet, it also had its own armed fleet and several merchant fleets. It was said that one of the four ships sailing in the southern sea belonged to the Chikede Merchant Association. It could be said that they almost dominated the entire southern sea's shipping and trade routes.
The Invincible Fleet is divided into four sub-fleets, and each sub-fleet has two castle-shaped warships. These warships are named Septorium, which means the Sea God's castle. In fact, a Septorium is indeed a moving castle on the sea, because it can accommodate up to three thousand people on the sea. Once a Septorium is entangled, it means the end of the battle and the warship will be occupied. However, although the Septorium warship is huge, its speed is not fast. This is the main reason why in countless naval battles, the enemy turns around and runs away as soon as they see the Septorium.
In addition to the two Septorium warships, each sub-fleet also has more than 50 large ocean-going armed warships and medium-sized armed fast warships. At the same time, they also have nearly 100 small rapid-impact warships. These small rapid-impact warships are the main executor of the Invincible Fleet's tactics. Their bow has a sharp spear-like metal ram. In naval battles, they use the agility and speed of these small warships to ram into enemy ships and slow them down. When the Septorium gets close, the enemy ship can only surrender or resist to the end. In the end, they will be occupied.
Sometimes, these small rapid-impact warships will also become fire ships, using sails and water to launch fire attacks on the enemy ships. As long as the small rapid-impact warships hit the enemy ships, they will not be able to escape. The Invincible Fleet can then use the large and medium-sized armed warships to surround and attack the enemy. This is also the bait tactic that the Invincible Fleet is good at. The small rapid-impact warships are the bait they use.
Each sub-fleet of the Invincible Fleet has ten thousand regular armed fleet personnel. This is the authorized number. If the hired sailors and the transport crew are included, the number of people in each sub-fleet can reach twenty to thirty thousand. Every three months, a sub-fleet of the Invincible Fleet will set sail to the southern sea. At the same time, a sub-fleet will return. However, there will always be a sub-fleet left in the Hidden Gold Bay. This sub-fleet will send more than ten large, medium and small armed warships to patrol the surrounding waters … "
Hmm? Laurist was stunned. "Tagger, you mean to say that not all of Invincible Fleet's B Squadrons will be left at Hidden Gold Bay, but only two B Squadrons at most. The other two B Squadrons will be in the southern seas?"
Tagger shook his head. "Your Highness, what I just said is the normal situation of the Invincible Fleet in peacetime. Now that the Commerce Alliance is at war with the Andinac Kingdom, the Commerce Alliance is continuously mobilizing reinforcements from the southern provinces and quickly transporting those reinforcements by sea to Morent City. Now that Morent City and our communications have been cut off, we are currently unable to get detailed information about the Invincible Fleet from Morent City. However, it is speculated that the Invincible Fleet will definitely be involved in transporting so many southern reinforcements to Morent City. "
Laurist nodded. Just as he was about to speak, Genolio pushed open the door and came in to report, "Your Highness, I have checked the records of the messenger eagle. The commander of the North Sea Fleet, Lord Sunbarwood, set sail from Cilowas Island five days ago. He will probably reach North Sea City tomorrow or the day after. He will only reach Raging Bear City three days later."
Laurist smiled and stroked Genolio's hair. "Silly boy, that's your father. Why do you have to be so formal?"
Genolio was unconvinced. "Your Highness, we are discussing official matters right now. You said that we can't ignore official matters for personal reasons."
"Haha …" Laurist laughed and grabbed his hair again. Then he said to the people in the meeting room, "Let's call it a day. Everyone, keep your mouths shut. As for whether to send reinforcements to His Majesty, let's think about it for a few days. Also, I will wait for Sunbarwood to arrive and discuss the strategy of attacking Morent City through the sea route that Malek proposed. We will see if the North Sea Fleet has the ability to do so before making a decision. That will be all. "
Three days later, Sunbarwood, who had braved the blizzard to rush to Raging Bear City, did not even have time to clean the snow stains under his cloak and winter hat before he appeared in Laurist's study. After listening to Laurist talk about Malek's proposal, Sunbarwood shouted excitedly, "Your Highness, I promise to destroy the entire Invincible Fleet!"
… …
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