Power and Empire Chapter 2508: Falcon falling (18)
Dark night, an offshore island in the southern waters of Istanbul, the black hull of the Imperial May reconnaissance ship carefully turned out from the side of the island, like a ghost, and the sea hit the mermaid bow of the reconnaissance ship , Like a sharp knife cut, the white waves rolled to both sides, the sails of the battleship have been all laid down, relying solely on the natural flow of the sea, the speed is not fast, almost sliding on the sea, quietly, the entire reconnaissance ship has no lights , The outside side decks are all dyed black. Under the cover of dark night, let alone spotting from a long distance, you may not be able to see it even if you enter the range of 50 meters.
It’s a dozen miles away from the port, and even the port patrol boats will not pass by here.
Since more than ten days ago, the May issue has entered this sea area. The May issue’s target is the southern port of Cluny, which is a dozen miles away. This is the most important sea support point on the southern coast of Istanbul. In the southern coalition forces of hundreds of thousands, half of the rations are transported by sea from here, and the port’s transport ships have been maintained at hundreds of ships. From a distance, it is a white sail forest.
In the night breeze, the imperial navy captain Hadania, standing at the bow of the ship, held a long tubular second-generation observation mirror in his hands, looked at the brightly lit port in the distance, and counted the number of transport ships in the port. At the same time, he asked his deputy to write down the number of transport ships in the port today, and the sight in the observation mirror was making his calm complexion jī moving.
"The entire port is almost empty, and there are only 16 transport ships left, a full 133 fewer than yesterday!" The deputy also moved with a face, and waited for ten days, every day. Blowing the sea breeze and eating salted fish here, I finally waited for what I wanted to see the most. What does the empty port mean? The collective news of hundreds of transport ships illustrates a fact.
"One hundred and thirty-three transport ships, if fully loaded with supplies, should be able to support a large fleet for more than 30 days. It seems that the other party has finally begun to dispatch!" Hadania gave out a happy smile Sounds, a handsome young man with sky-blue eyes, brown curly hair emerged from the edge of the captain’s cap, and after a while, he put down his observation mirror, these transport ships that did not return to the port, plus what he observed yesterday Looking at the other side’s loading of supplies overnight, Hadania has reason to believe that even if the opponent’s main navy is not in Port Cluny, at least it will be nearby
"By staring at the opponent's transport ship, you can roughly know the hidden location of the opponent's fleet"
This is the suggestion made by Stink, who has just been promoted to the Imperial Navy’s staff at the Imperial Navy’s combat meeting. This young man with the background of the youngest admiral of the Strand Navy’s squadron, just by relying on this sentence, Let the originally very vague battle situation become clear at once. A fleet operation of such a huge scale involves more than 300 warships and tens of thousands of sailors' supply consumption, and it cannot be traced by itself. , It’s impossible to rely solely on battleships for combat, and a huge number of logistics transport ships are needed.
"Yes, the Southern Allied Forces can hide the combat fleet, can they hide all the transport ships?" The admiral of the Imperial Navy became excited. In the sea battle, the most feared thing is that they don’t know. The opponent’s fleet is located in the vast sea, and no one can guarantee that they will not accidentally step into the opponent’s ambush circle. Similarly, who can track the opponent’s main navy position in advance is equivalent to mastering the initiative of the entire battle. Quan, the main force of the coalition navy has been lurking, and it is about to become a heart disease of the Imperial Navy. Although the Imperial Navy is brave and good at fighting, no matter who is thinking, more than 300 warships will suddenly appear behind him at a certain moment. Everyone will feel a chill from scalp to toe
According to the intelligence of the Imperial Navy, the transport ships of the Southern Allied Forces are basically in Port Cluny. From this, it can be judged that the hidden range of the Combined Southern Navy Fleet can only be within fifty to one hundred miles of Cluny Port. Based on this judgment, the Imperial May reconnaissance ship was secretly dispatched to this area.
After more than ten days of observation of Clooney Port, the May reconnaissance ship confirmed this conjecture. Each time the transport ship arrived at the port was not fully loaded. One time may be accidental, but every time it is, it is very clear. The problem is, what Stink said is correct. The main force of the opposing fleet can be lurking, but people have to eat and all kinds of materials must be replenished. The materials that have been unloaded are the materials consumed by the hidden southern joint fleet. , The location where the Southern Joint Fleet is lurking should be south of Clooney Port. This is the final judgment made by the Imperial Navy Department. From Clooney Port to Istanbul, it takes at least four days. If the Southern Joint Fleet heads north, Transport ships will inevitably be transferred from Clooney Port to follow. Now, most of the transport ships in Clooney Port have disappeared overnight. It feels like a trajectory that is not clear at first, and it suddenly becomes clearer
"Report this situation to the Operation Department immediately, the enemy is dispatched!" Hadania took a deep breath and exclaimed, his eyes still falling on the dark sea in the distance, and he was exhausted for more than ten days. Swept away, in this sea area, more than 300 ships are emerging like a sharp blade in the cold night, and the person who discovered this first was himself!
When the sun rises from the sea level, in the Lulan waters further north, the waves discharge a white line, slapped on the beach of a small island, near the rock wall where the tide is floating, a total of 220 ships are waiting. The imperial navy fleet lurked in the shadows of the cliffs. The waves hit the sides of these warships, forming patches of white blisters, making a grunting turning sound. The quiet wind gave people a solemn atmosphere. In the center of the fleet, the huge metal hull of the Dragon-class battleship of the Sixty Imperial Navy undulates with the waves.
"Commander-in-chief! The May issue sent a message back. Last night, the 133 ships of the port of Clooney were missing!"
On the bow of one of the huge metal ships, the young naval staff, facing the shining sun, walked to the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Fleet, Dustern Khai, standing in front of him, and said excitedly.” At the same time, according to Clooney According to the report from the Carranza Cliff Observation Point, eighty miles north of the port, in the early morning, an unknown number of huge fleets passed by the sea 25 miles outside the cliff, and the direction of travel was the Hytland waters."
"That said, the other party has finally come out!"
Du Stellenkai turned his head from the bow of the battleship, the sea breeze was blowing on his face, he wore a carefully designed military uniform, a black long flat hat, a black collar, and black boots. His eyes flashed with a chill, and he swept across There are countless warships like the forest in front of us. Three-quarters of the imperial navy’s power is assembled here. One hundred and twenty-four Imperial Dragon Tooth battleships, 60 Dragon-class battleships, equipped with more than 8,000 Thors, and all sailors. Thirty-one thousand people, whether it is for Dustellenkai or the Imperial Navy, this is an unprecedented mass gathering, and the enemy is also unprecedentedly powerful, the combined naval fleet of the six southern countries! What the two sides decides will be the control of the entire Obaro Inland Sea!
"Order the fleet to anchor! Let's go!"
Du Stellenkai raised his hand and gave an order with a cold expression. The golden color of the sun ignited his clothes from behind him, and people walked over from the deck as if they had come out of the sun, and waited. After so many days, I finally waited, and the other party was really able to bear it. The main southern navy moved northward quietly. It must have come to rescue the 200,000 southern coalition forces who were trapped. They thought they were doing it without knowing it. It only takes three or four days to reach the waters of Istanbul, Kyoto, and give the imperial navy a full blow, and it may even turn the whole battle situation around.
The opponent would never have thought that the army battle of hundreds of thousands of people was just a bait to lure him into appearance,
"Anchor" with a loud command, countless white sails rose from the masts of Rulin, the huge shafts of the Dragon-class battleships began to rotate, the entire sea water was suddenly boiled, countless empires The battleship came out from the hidden cliff, like a dark cloud covering the sea. The huge sail was swollen by the downwind, and the heavy bow began to slide on the calm sea for more than ten days. The squeegee unique to the battleships of the Imperial Empire has reached its maximum speed in a short period of time. The wolves-like fleet is turning to the south, like a sword out of its sheath, that makes people excited. The creak of the open sea is definitely the most beautiful war song in the world!
Hydeland, Istanbul, Sea of Fog
This is close to the central coast of the Istanian Empire. The terrain is low-lying to the north. On the right side of the coastline is the Pangbo wetland, the most famous wetland of the Istanian Empire, with dense waters, vertical and horizontal rivers, abundant water vapor and warm air from the ocean. The impact of each other on the coastline eventually formed the majestic landscape of perennial fog and sea,
Under normal circumstances, the fleet of ships traveling by will not choose to travel too close to the coast. Especially in autumn, the fog in Hydeland is so big that almost the sun in the sky is covered, and only a white afterglow can be seen. According to As the waves change, Robbennis, one of the commanders of the Southern Joint Fleet, knows that the fleet is very close to the coastline.
Because of the waves hitting the battleship, the echo is getting louder and louder, and it is getting more and more rapid, just like a person’s breath is blocked by something,
" Your lord, there is a message from the front, everything is normal!" Adjutant Fa'an reported to him the situation of the fleet. Two days have passed since the secret location. The southern fleet, which is marching along the coastline, is in a cautious division. There are three parts. The first part is the former exploratory fleet commanded by Joshua, the main force of the Fazer Kingdom’s navy is the next five miles, and the third part is the fleet commanded by Robennis. The three fleets are separated by less than two. Ten miles, no matter what unexpected situation is encountered, it will be enough to deal with, if all goes well, the fleet of the Southern Allied Forces will appear in the waters of Istanbul in the early morning of tomorrow.
"Order the ships to keep a good distance"
Robbennis commanded calmly, stepped onto the battleship’s command platform, and there was a vast expanse of white in front of him. Only half of the battleship in front could be seen, and there were only some small black spots in front. Fortunately, the Southern Ship The group has been prepared for the heavy fog in the Hytland area. There are people on the bow and stern of each warship to communicate with each other. This situation will be maintained until it crosses the Hytland waters. It takes about a full ten hours.
The dense fog is a very good cover for the fleets secretly marching north.
Even the cautious Robbennis thinks this section of the road is the safest in the whole journey. The dense fog makes the sailors of the entire fleet very nervous. They are all in their positions, ready to deal with emergencies, here. The collision is no joke. With such a heavy fog, so many warships passing by, a series of collisions will definitely come out. Once that happens, the entire fleet will be messed up, but this tension lasted for four or five hours. After that, people were only tired and numb. The sailors were hitting Hache on the spot, and more people were sitting on the deck and sleeping with their heads down.
The sea in July is not cold or hot, and the wind containing water vapor hits his face. Even Robbennis has entered his own independent cabin to re-examine the waters of Istanbul. Map, and mark out the locations that may encounter the Imperial Navy one by one,
Suddenly, an urgent whistle sounded sharply through the fog, and it sounded in his ears. It was particularly harsh in the calm space. At the beginning, it was a whistle, then two whistles, a whistle...Finally All the whistles are connected together, and the sharp whistle seems to pierce everyone’s eardrums,
"What's the situation?" Robbennis appeared at the door of the cabin with a ugly expression. Is it really a serial collision? The deputy also stumbled over~IndoMTL.com~It is so foggy that no one can see the situation ahead. They both raised their heads and looked at the tall mast at the same time. There is a lookout at the top of the mast, and the lookout is facing. Below conveyed the previous gesture, vigorously hacking downwards, and the semaphore soldiers kept repeating this action,
"It's an attack signal!"
Robbennis' body trembled, and he looked at the gesture of the semaphore hand in disbelief. In such a big fog, was he attacked? He looked forward, and even though the semaphore's gesture was so obvious, he still muttered to himself in a bit of disbelief, what a joke, he didn't even have his sight of fifty meters, even if he was an enemy, he would not choose to be like this. Fight in the environment! It can't be a battlefield here at all! In the mist on the side, a whole piece of fire suddenly flashed, rumbling, and the sound of dense thunder came through the mist,
"pop" Robbennis saw a battleship in front of him and was hit by a series of fireballs.
"Boom Rumble" explosion was deafening, and the sea water set off nearby was like countless water columns boiling the sea. The light of fire shone on the pale faces of all southern navy sailors,
I watched the hull being hit like a roller coaster being abandoned high, like the sky is falling apart and the sea is boiling, and the flames of the iron-clad ship's sides are falling one after another, and the red brother turbulence shoots out. , Set off rough seas shook the nearby warships.
The torn beam is like an angel of death with silver wings! The moment the target is hit, the target is broken!
There seems to be blood and broken bits floating in the wind blowing on your face! 〖To be continued〗【】