Chapter 740 Rescue From Thousand Miles
For Siamore, the leader of the Yongye army is still very wary and has made many preparations.
Not only did the lord Xiao En go out in person to lobby him for the final time, but he also took the opportunity to let Stubin's emissary, Captain Gordon, flee back to Stubin with the news that Captain Siamore led the team to seek refuge with the leader of the Evernight Army. .
When releasing the landing personnel of the squadron, it is also selective.
Most of the ones who were released were relatively independent pirates who were not from the direct line of Stubbs. They had the lowest sense of belonging to the East China Sea, and the psychological burden of betrayal was relatively small.
There are also some pirate regiments that have been captured by the leader of the Eternal Night Army and have taken refuge in the first step. The composition of the pirate regiments that have returned to the squadron is no longer pure, and a large number of Eternal Night soldiers have been integrated into it.
Of course, this was done to supervise and guide Shiamore.
Siamore was well aware of this situation and took a default attitude.
If the leader of the Yongye army didn't do this, he would suspect ghosts among them and plan to use them as abandoned sons!
The two sides are now in the first stage of contact, and they are both cautious and looking for a way to coexist.
Captain Siamore is preparing intensively for a sneak attack on the ports of the East China Sea.
Prince Leighton, who stayed behind in the Great Bay Islands, has also received a letter of help from Stubbs.
"Father's handwritten letter, the two uncles have read it with their own eyes, I wonder how you decide?" Prince Leighton asked with an inquiring look.
The objects he questioned were Captain Bray and Chief Financial Officer Cairns.
Although Prince Leighton was only twenty-one years old, he showed extraordinary stability, and did not make a rash decision because of Stupin's letter of appeal for help.
"Have you identified the authenticity of this appeal letter?" Keynes's brows were already furrowed into a knot.
"I've already identified it. It was indeed written by my father. It contains the secret note agreed between us. It was Captain Cornell who sent the letter back." Prince Layton replied.
"The situation has really reversed to this state?" Keynes still had a strong doubt on his face, "It is obvious that our fleet has the absolute advantage, could it be a mistake?"
"Didn't Your Majesty make it very clear in the letter? We were still careless this time, and suffered the same loss as last time. The leader of the Eternal Night Army has a brand new naval warfare weapon in his hand. The range is as good as our ballista. More than twice as powerful, but even more powerful than the black powder barrel thrown by the ballista.
If there is such a weapon, the number of battleships does not have an advantage.
Before the war, I was worried about this aspect. After all, it was the leader of the Yongye Army who had developed black powder. Over the years, his development momentum has been rapid. He might be able to develop weapons that are more advanced than black powder. Without precautions, It's easy to lose out.
I have privately persuaded His Majesty to carefully consider the matter of dispatching troops to the Donau Plain.
Not only did His Majesty not listen to my advice, but on the contrary, he excluded me from the expedition, but he did not expect that my initial worries would come true. Captain Bray revealed this complex emotion in his words, because he is one of the very few people in the East China Sea who resolutely oppose the military action taken by the East China Sea against the leader of the Yongye Army.
Bree thinks that their understanding of the Yong Ye army leader is limited. There are many aspects of this emerging force that cannot be described with common sense. Who knows if there are any new weapons in these years, just waiting for them to hit the door.
There was no market for this argument before, and Stubin couldn't listen to it at all, thinking that when Bray was on the Donau River, he was frightened by the leader of the Yongye army and planted the root of the disease.
Unexpectedly, it was unfortunate that what he said was true, and the leader of the Yongye army did indeed come up with a new type of weapon to restrain them.
It's just that this matter is related to the safety of the East China Sea, so there is no way to gloat.
"We ignored uncle's foresight, and here I apologize to uncle on behalf of my father." Prince Layton bowed to Captain Bray sincerely.
"Your Highness doesn't need to be like this." Bray hurriedly dodged, "Your Highness, on the contrary, made me feel ashamed. Now I just understand it after the fact. Back then, I was only guessing without evidence. I didn't dare to guarantee how many The point is true, otherwise, I will stick to it to the end."
"Let us expose this matter. The most important thing now is, how do we face it? I have little experience, and I need to rely more on the advice of the two elders." Prince Layton said earnestly, "My father The situation on the side must be extremely bad, otherwise they would not ask us for help!"
"What Your Highness said is true." Captain Bray nodded and said, "Although we have established a country, the fleet led by His Majesty is the foundation for us to gain a foothold in the East China Sea. If the main force of the fleet is severely damaged, our situation will become worse. It's extremely difficult. Not only will we have to face the threat of the Yongye army leader, but the natives of the islands that we forcibly suppressed will also take the opportunity to rise up, making us have no place to stand here. Your Majesty, we can't just sit idly by. .”
"The question is how to rescue?" Cairns, chief financial officer, frowned, "This time, His Majesty took away two-thirds of the warships and most of the sailors in the campaign against the Dunau Plain. Well, the native islanders in the south have received the news that our port is empty, and they are about to move now.
If we use all our warships to rescue them, they will rush into our villages, towns and ports to kill and plunder us. At that time, our ten years of hard work will be in vain! "
"I don't know this truth. The problem is that we can't take both sides into account now. We have to make a certain choice. Should we stick to the port, or go to rescue His Majesty, keep the main force of the fleet, and plan for the future?" Bray asked rhetorically. .
"Our ports in the Great Bay Islands are important, as is the main force of the fleet led by my father." Prince Leighton pondered for a while and said, "Let's make a compromise. Anyway, the rescue of warship sailors needs to be mobilized from major port cities. How about By the way, if the craftsmen, officials and other important personnel of those ports are brought to Longhou Port, if they concentrate their efforts to defend a port, it will naturally consume a lot less power. Able to minimize losses!"
Keynes pondered for a few seconds, and finally had no choice but to nod his head: "Since the loss is inevitable, then control the loss within an acceptable range. This is indeed a non-solution."
"I also agree with this approach." Captain Bray nodded.
"Since the two uncles have no other opinions, let us start to act." Prince Layton said impatiently, "Saving people is like putting out a fire. If we delay for a minute, the irreparable loss on the father's side will be much larger." One point, give the two uncles three days to assemble the fleet, I don’t know if it’s enough.”
"Counting the evacuation of craftsmen and officials, I have been a little nervous for three days." Captain Bray replied conservatively, "We will do our best, and we will count as many as we can gather at that time, and let them stay at Longhou Port as defenders. Yes."
"That's the only way to go!" Prince Leighton nodded.
After Donghai Kingdom's second warship summoning order was issued, the scene was completely different from the first time.
For the first time, from the captain to the sailors, all of them were gearing up, eager to wait, almost without hesitation driving the warships and warships, all wanting to get a share of the Donau Plain.
Less than a month later, the second call-up order for warships was issued, and important talents from major ports were relocated to such important large ports as Longhou Port.
As long as people with a slightly sensitive sense of war smell can smell something wrong.
There are only two possibilities for issuing a second warship call.
The first possibility is that the battle on the Donau River went very smoothly, and there were a large number of looting targets. They couldn't plunder, and they summoned follow-up troops to go for reinforcements.
This possibility is not great, because if this happens, they will not hide it at all, and will definitely summon the fleet by beating gongs and drums.
The second possibility is that there is a problem in the battle ahead, and the second echelon of warships needs to be summoned to reinforce, and it is a very urgent and dangerous one. Otherwise, there is no need to take all the craftsmen and officials away, right?
If they went rashly, they might become cannon fodder.
No one is stupid!
Many captains and captains, even after receiving the order, would dawdle one by one, dragging as much as they could, pushing as much as they could, and some even summoned the crew overnight and sailed out to sea, planning to find a small island to hide him for ten days After half a month, look at the wind direction of the entire battle situation before making a decision.
Those small ports and small cities are also like fried pots one by one.
They took important personnel away, isn't this a clear sign of abandoning here?
Those who themselves have objections to the rule of the East China Sea state are ready to move.
Those who are loyal to the East China Sea nation desperately squeezed onto the battleships and to the big ports such as Longhou Port.
The final result was that before the enemy came over, Donghai Kingdom itself had become a mess.
This was unexpected by the instigators like Prince Layton, and their grasp of human nature was far behind.
There is no turning back when you open the bow.
Donghai Country is already in this situation now, they can't give up halfway, they can only bite the bullet and stick to it.
It took them four days and four nights to cobble together a fleet of more than 800 large and small warships. Under the personal leadership of Prince Layton, they rushed Donau River.
The Dawan Islands are not far from the mouth of the Donau River, and the straight-line distance is only 350 nautical miles.
Even if the wind direction is not good, two days and two nights are enough to run there.
Prince Layton and the others went to the rescue, and the natural speed was maximized, non-stop day and night.
As it approached the estuary of the Donau River, the formation of the East China Sea Rescue Fleet slowly opened up, reaching a length of more than ten nautical miles.
The ones who rushed to the front were not the fastest, but the direct descendants of the East China Sea Kingdom, who were most concerned about the situation of the East China Sea Fleet led by Stubin.
Those who dawdle and follow behind are recruited unwillingly.
"Your Highness, in another thirty nautical miles, we will arrive at the mouth of the Donau River. Order the fleet to correct its formation! Your Majesty has been waiting for a week, and it will take half a day. We are here for rescue, not for killing. If you rush forward in such a mess, it is easy to give each other a chance to break through." Captain Bray advised Prince Layton.
"Uncle is the real expert in this area. How do you think this battle should be fought? I will follow your command." Prince Leighton said humbly.
"No, this battle should not be under my command. It should be under the command of Captain Cornell. After all, he has personally seen the new long-range weapons of the Yongye Commander, and he knows the situation of their warships better." Bree Fleet Chang shook his head and said.
"Captain Cornell, how do you think we should fight this battle?" Prince Leighton turned his gaze to another captain in a calm manner.
Captain Cornell was a little surprised and a little excited and said: "Captain Bray is more cautious than the rumors, I am not qualified for the command position, I can only make a few suggestions to Your Highness based on what I know about the situation. "
"Please speak." Prince Leighton put on a look of listening attentively.
"The range, power, and rate of fire of the Eternal Night Army's leading artillery are all higher than our ballistas, and the speed of the warships is also higher than ours. We do not have any advantages in single-ship combat power, and the only ones that have The advantage is quantity, and only quantity.”
Captain Cornell obviously thought about this issue long ago, and he opened his mouth, "Even if you have a numerical advantage, you can't swarm up. The distance between battleships must be widened to form a huge encirclement. Their detour space, in this process, a lot of battle damage is inevitable, but we must grit our teeth and persevere, as long as our fleet can approach them and launch a full-scale attack, I believe that victory will belong to us, after all, forever There are only a few dozen warships led by Ye Jun, and one sinking is one less."
"According to Captain Cornell, the key point of tactics this time is to work together. Even if the battle sinks, you can't retreat, you have to rush forward!" Captain Bray frowned, "This For us, the difficulty is too great, those captains and captains will not work so hard for us."
"They are unwilling to risk their lives because the temptation is not strong enough. If the temptation is strong enough, you can see whether they will risk their lives." Prince Leighton said with a confident smile on his face, "Wait for the order to continue. Among them, any damage to their warships and warships will be counted as our Commons family, and they will be compensated according to a larger size. If there is no wave-breaking schooner in the war, they will be compensated for a wave-breaking square sailing ship afterwards. A wave-breaking schooner, give them a hurricane schooner as compensation, and see if they sell their lives."
"Under a heavy reward, there must be a brave man." Captain Bray's eyes flashed a gleam of appreciation, "Just doing this, there is no guarantee that someone will take advantage of the loopholes, and the financial resources will be consumed too much."
"Now I don't care about that much anymore. As long as we can preserve the main force of the fleet, we will have a chance to start over." Prince Leighton said very generously, "What's more, when the time comes, the battleship will only be handed over to different people. Time is still part of our East China Sea country."
"Alert, alert, alert, a large number of unknown warships are found ahead, approaching us at high speed."
"The number of unknown warships has been confirmed. There are 23 ships in total. The distance between the two sides is eight nautical miles, and the speed is 18 knots. It is expected that the two sides will meet in fifteen minutes."
"Warning, warning, warning, the unknown warship is speeding up, and it has already exceeded 20 knots. The time for the two sides to meet will be advanced."
A series of rioting sounds came from the battleship.