The king on the Great Wall

Page 216

All these experiences made him gradually have this premonition: the whisper in the depths of his heart, the whisper in the dream, will eventually lead him to become the king of the whole world, and even become a god!

But just when he successfully obtained the status of King of the Iron Islands, successfully pulled up a team capable of controlling the overall situation of Westeros, and devoted himself to this battle for hegemony without hesitation... On a certain day a few months ago, About a week after he attacked Icestrait Harbor and successfully burned the Northern Fleet on the pier, his sleep began to become dreamless, and the whispers in his ears no longer appeared.

Inexplicably, he was beaten back to his original form from a chosen one, and became an ordinary pirate leader.

As if waking up from a big dream that lasted more than ten years, this quiet change did not make him lose power or weaken his strength, but brought about a change that was invisible to outsiders but had a great impact: from that moment In the beginning, all his actions and decisions had to be made independently by himself, relying on thinking and judgment!

Is this the turning point for him to be abandoned and go to extinction, or... the time is ripe, and he is about to reach the pinnacle of his life?

He didn't know, and the more he guessed, the more anxious he became.This kind of anxiety can only be calmed down a little by winning a big victory and slaughtering a dozen hateful enemies for a blood sacrifice!

"Dangdangdang!"

Euron's thoughts were interrupted by a rapid metal knocking overhead. This was the alarm bell from the observation post on the top of the mast, and the sentry had spotted the enemy fleet!

-

Chapter 609 The King of Iron Island

The Iron Fleet had arrived at the mouth of Blackwater Bay for a few days. After attacking and capturing one of Daenerys's patrol boats the night before to announce their existence, they have been in the south of Dragonstone Island, facing the "throat" at the sharp corner. "Cruising and demonstrating.

It can not only seize the main external channel of Blackwater Bay, but also block the route of the Dragonstone Island fleet to attack King's Landing, without worrying about being cut off. It is simply stuck on the neck of Daenerys Navy, which cannot be more perfect.

The hostilities will not cease until the Queen agrees to marry Euron and voluntarily go to bed.

The Crow's Eye's plan is very simple and crude, and it can be roughly summarized as follows.

When Dragonstone sent patrol ships out of port, he sent longships to follow them and eat them one by one;

The opponent's sea and air are all out to fight, so I will use the advantage of faster speed to retreat and pull, looking for the opponent's fighter plane that is out of line, and take a bite if I seize the opportunity. If I can't catch it, there is no loss;

And if Daenerys dared to ignore her own existence and launch a general attack on King's Landing, then the Iron Fleet would rush to the mouth of the Blackwater River to copy the Queen's fleet's back route when they were exhausted in the battle, and annihilate the Targaryen navy in one fell swoop!

If Iger could infiltrate the Iron Fleet's battle meeting and know Euron's plans, he would exclaim: Not only is this bastard not a lunatic, but he also has the essence of Mao Zedong's sixteen-character formula!

Facing Euron's conspiracy, the Dragonstone fleet reacted quite quickly: after several encounters and losses, they realized that the situation was wrong, and immediately stopped the activities of the ships alone away from the military port, and in the early morning of the third day, the whole fleet The fleet dispatched in groups and sailed out of the military port.

But instead of rushing southward towards the Iron Fleet, they circled Dragonstone Island to the north for half a circle, and headed straight west from the secondary channel.

The Crow's Eye hurriedly led the fleet to scatter to track and investigate the situation, and soon discovered two facts that surprised him: the other party not only took the ship away, but even the port guards withdrew from the pier and retreated into the castle on the island; The entire fleet sailed to the port of Duskendale City, which was closer to King's Landing, without any tricks.

The Dragon Queen's fleet not only gave up the blockade of Blackwater Bay, but also handed over the dominance of the entire ocean. Did they simply admit defeat?

There was obviously a fraud in this, and Euron quickly figured out the enemy's plan after dispatching a large number of ships to conduct close inspection: the Queen's fleet did not give up the command of the sea, but transferred to the pier outside Duskendale City, where it received The addition of personnel from the army is mostly intended to strengthen the strength to deal with the war!

Trouble?

trouble.

After receiving the supplement from the army, the Dragonstone fleet will definitely become more difficult to deal with than before.

But that played into Euron's favor.

He went around half of Westeros and rushed to King's Landing, not to destroy Daenerys' naval power, but to contain her attack on King's Landing so that she could not use her full strength.The total strength and equipment of the Unsullied and the Land-Grant Army are limited. Distributing the personnel and weapons of the land troops to the navy will greatly reduce the ability to attack the city walls of King's Landing. Although Stannis is an idiot, no one will deny that he is an idiot. For an excellent defender, if he relieves the enemy's pressure by himself, the probability that he will be able to hold onto King's Landing will be greater.

No matter how strengthened the Queen's Fleet is, it cannot be the opponent of the Iron Fleet, but the time that can be delayed by dispersing the enemy's siege combat power is real.Even though Riverbend is defeated, its strength still exists, and the attitudes of Westland and Valley are also ambiguous... As long as it drags on, time is on Euron's side!

***

The sound of the alarm bell spread throughout the fleet, and immediately attracted everyone's attention. The captains of the ships picked up their lenses to look around, and soon found the enemy ship on the sea level to the north of the fleet.Due to the clear weather, the black and red sails that symbolize Targaryen are particularly eye-catching against the blue sea and blue sky, as if a bloody wave emerged from the sky. Looking at the direction, they are impressively heading towards the Iron Fleet—that is, the south.

Euron turned his head: "Order the fleet, turn around and sail towards the mouth of the Blackwater River at a low speed, make sure the little queen's fleet is within our sight!"

The order was conveyed to the entire fleet with the flag. Although these money-grubbing and lustful pigs are usually annoying, they are very familiar with naval battles. Hundreds of ships began to turn around one after another. It seems chaotic, but in this mess, the distance between the ships is still stable and safe, and the course is accurate and consistent. Not only do they not interfere with each other, but they even consciously make room for the flagship to go first, which is worthy of appreciation place.

An unbelievable scene appeared: the mighty Iron Fleet, which roamed the world, was chased by the Targaryen fleet, which was only half of its number.

The reason why Euron did not stop fighting was of course not out of fear, but because he intended to lure the enemy into pursuit, and controlled the battle location at Aegon's High Hill in King's Landing...that is, the sea area that the Red Keep could observe and look out for.

Stannis' last royal fleet is huddled there-if the Queen's fleet attacks King's Landing, Euron will watch the battle and wait for the right time to intervene; if Daenerys orders the Iron Fleet to die, stay in the shadow of the Red Castle The Baratheon Royal Fleet will never sit idly by.

After all, if the Queen's fleet defeats and drives out the ironborn, it will be their turn.

Euron did not succeed in reaching a cooperation agreement with Stannis, but this did not affect their military cooperation and mutual advancement to a certain extent - with the Land Grant Army's complete victory in the Battle of the Blackwater River, They have all realized that Daenerys is the biggest opponent of all contestants.

……

The rhythm of naval battles is completely different from that of land battles. All tactical actions are carried out in hours. In the case of chasing and escaping, although the Iron Fleet retreated at a low speed, from the time when the sentries spotted the Queen's Fleet with binoculars to when the two sides approached It still took more than an hour to see each other with the naked eye.Half a day after the Queen's fleet assembled and left the port, when the sun began to slant westward, the two fleets finally arrived in the eastern waters of King's Landing one after the other, and the outline of the Red Castle could be seen in the distance.

The Iron Fleet, which had arrived earlier, stopped retreating and began to organize and arrange battle lines in the southern sea at the mouth of the Blackwater River.

The "Tranquility" is in the middle of the first battle row, with the former Baron Greyjoy's ship "The Great Ocean Monster" and "Nightcrawler" on the left and right, and the "Thunderbolt" on the left and right. ", "Howler" and a large number of non-archipelago residents who can't tell the difference between "Iron XX", "XX King" and a bunch of giant longships named after various real or mythical sea creatures ... The second row is a large long ship with a slightly smaller body, the third row is followed by the third row, and the fourth row is a circle larger than the previous row.In addition to the four broad horizontal formations, because of the huge advantage in the number of ships, Euron can also have a large number of small longships with impossibly long wings, which can easily outflank and break the enemy's rear after the battle begins.

And not far to the northwest of the huge ship formation of the Iron Fleet, the Baratheon Royal Fleet, who had already discovered the enemy's situation, hastily arranged three battle formations.

Huge main battleships such as "Fury", "Sea Deer", and "Duke Stephen" in the first row are guarded by a group of "Madame XX", "Earl XX" or "Princess XX Prince" and so on. The name sounds like a medium-sized warship with an aristocratic atmosphere... After losing the control and taxation of the Seven Kingdoms, and the financial support of the Iron Bank, Stannis can no longer afford to rely on the financial and manpower of the king's land. The majestic fleet that he led when he was the Lord of the Seas under the command of his brother Robert in the past, so he could only maintain the most critical flagship combination for appearance while retaining some medium-sized warships and auxiliary ships, decommissioning...or selling them to various city-states Many large battleships that transition between the two.

And the consequence of this reduction is: Although the first row of the Royal Fleet today still looks quite decent, its overall momentum cannot be compared with that of the past at all, so that even if it is pieced together and traveled thousands of miles from Meereen The Daenerys fleet that rushed over was unable to confront it head-on, let alone the Iron Islands after crazy military expansion.

The two fleets were lined up, but not facing each other: the Iron Fleet faced north with its back against the coast of the Kingswood, while the Stannis fleet faced east with its back on King's Landing, forming an angle of ninety degrees, both facing each other. Looking at the dark blue sea that is temporarily empty and without shadows of boats.

Amid the waiting gazes of thousands of eyes, the Queen's Fleet arrived late and finally arrived at the attacking position before sunset.

Afraid of being caught off guard when entering the arena, the Targaryen fleet with black and red sails had already slowly arranged their formation according to the tactical plan while moving before approaching the mouth of the Blackwater River.However, compared with the other two parties who have already formed a classic naval battle formation at an angle in front, the formation of the Queen's Fleet is a bit strange... It is also roughly long, but the narrow side faces the direction of advance or King's Landing columns of the city.The two fleets that were preparing to fight were arranged in three parts that could be vaguely identified as left, center and right, while the Queen's fleet was arranged in three parts: front, center and rear.

If you rush into Stannis' fleet in such a formation, the latter's center army may be under pressure, but the wide wings can easily encircle the front army without the Iron Fleet. Destroy it!

Euron didn't understand why at first, but after spending a few minutes of careful observation, he suddenly understood the opponent's commander's plan: the opponent's formation looked strange because he subconsciously judged that they were going to attack King's Landing attacks, but in reality their main target is themselves!Looking at the opponent's front, center, and rear formations from another angle, they are actually still right, center, and left. It's just that the entire fleet is moving to the right side of the formation, which is why it looks so weird.

Daenerys actually wanted to use dozens of ships on the right wing to contain the entire Stannis royal fleet, and then use about a hundred ships behind to deal with her iron fleet, which was three times the size of the two ships combined. Her enemies are at war at the same time!

This little queen must have had her brain burnt out by the dragon flames!

Both Stannis and Euron had this thought in their hearts, but the fleet that was clearly on the verge of defeat did not even stop for a minute. Amidst the sound of rumbling guns, they immediately launched a general attack on the Royal Fleet as soon as they were in position.

The enemy made an absurd tactical arrangement for some reason, and naturally there was no reason to miss the opportunity. Euron laughed loudly, and ordered: "Order, the fleet lowers its sails and oars, and presses forward slowly. Tannis is entangled and then come closer to contact!"

-

Chapter 610

There are many who, for various reasons, still fight for the Baratheon dynasty, but none more loyal than Davos Seaworth.

Not only because he was attracted by Stannis's idea of ​​absolute justice, but also because everything he has now was given by the former.

Stannis made him a knight, gave him a fief, let him leave the smuggling boat, wear the coat of arms of the Hand of the King, and sit on the Iron Throne to rule the Seven Kingdoms. What kind of honor and privilege is this?

Right now, among the seven children of Davos: Dale, Allard, Malik, and Massos are four serving as captains or second-in-commands of warships in the royal fleet; The youngest son was also accepted as a servant, and it was only a matter of time before he got rid of his status as a commoner; his wife, Maria, lived with him in the prime minister's tower, and was accompanied by servants and guards when he went in and out. …

Stannis Baratheon had given it all, at the price of a few knuckles - and it could not have been more just to punish him for his former lawlessness.

If it is said that the hereditary nobles of the kingdoms, the Narrow Sea, and the other seven countries may just lose some face, lose two fiefs, and live a tighter life after the change of dynasty, Davos, the founder of the Seaworth family Man... as long as Stannis is defeated, he and his whole family will be thrown from the sky and thrown back into the mud, beaten back to their original shape.Not to mention today's status and the bright future of the children, it may be difficult to keep even the little bit of family property left by the smuggling back then.Even if you survived by chance, you will lose everything!

And that was an ending he absolutely could not accept.

He would die for Stannis, really.

One is out of loyalty, and the other is to understand that failure is sometimes more terrifying than death!

***

Because he had to command the defense of King's Landing, Stannis could not personally command the naval battle on the battleship, so Prime Minister Davos could only do it for him. The subordinates reported and analyzed and judged the situation on the battlefield by combining their own experience and knowledge of naval battles with the suggestions of the consultants.

The first thing they discovered was that the most forward of the three companies of the Daenerys fleet, that is, the ships on the side facing the Royal Fleet, all hung the red dragon flag and the sea monster flag at the same time without exception.

This is so weird.

After questioning and thinking, Davos understood the reason: this was the squadron Euron Greyjoy sent to Meereen, the goal was to bring back the bride with three dragons for him, but because time passed and a series of stories Because of the long story, this fleet was eaten and digested by Daenerys and integrated into her navy.She put this little band of ironborn at the head of the fleet today, and pitted them against the royal fleet instead of Euron's great Iron Fleet, presumably to put an end to any danger of their defection--between King's Landing and Among the main forces of Daenerys' fleet, no matter how thoughtful these ex-pirates were, they could only fight desperately to find a way out.

The second discovery came a little later and was full of oppression.

They thought that the sound of the cannon was the signal to start the battle of the Queen's Fleet. They didn't realize until the rumbling sounded again and again: the night watchman actually moved the weapons that repelled the Southern Alliance Army on the Blackwater River a few days ago to the warship and used them on the warship. In the naval battle!

In the not-so-intensive but endless sound of cannonballs, the shells falling into the sea splashed eye-catching white water, and the ones hitting the warships constantly brought news of the damage and casualties of the ships—this is a kind of It is still a weapon with a range far exceeding that of the ballista equipped on the battleships of the Royal Fleet. Although the hit rate is impressive, it still easily disrupts Davos's original combat plan of "long-range consumption and waiting for the Iron Fleet to join the battle".

Observing through the lens, he saw white smoke coming out of several warships in the center of the Queen's fleet, and also saw that the entire fleet of the opponent had almost stopped moving forward, and began to deploy a defensive formation as if to defend the center." "Gunboat"... The other party wanted to replicate the Battle of the Blackwater River on the sea—not fighting hard, but relying on the benefits of new weapons to slowly blow down the morale of the Royal Fleet.

Never be passively beaten!

"Order the fleet - advance at full speed, outflank left and right!"

woo woo woo woo...

With the lessons learned from the Golden Group, Davos didn't dare to play any temptations and pulls, and just stud.

The battle horn sounded, although it could not overwhelm the sound of the guns, but at least it was a brave response.

For fear of the attack of the magic dragon, the warships kept a good distance between them; in order to avoid the devastating effects of dragon flames or incendiary weapons on the ships, all the warships lowered their sails... denser than centipede legs The long oars protruded from the side of the ship and launched into the water, and began to swing in a uniform order amidst the callsigns. Three-digit manpower was applied to the ship weighing only a dozen tons...

Basked in the sun that began to slant to the west, the large Royal Fleet formation suddenly accelerated and moved forward, wrapping around the Queen's Pocket Iron Fleet like a big net.

1000 meters, 800 meters, 500 meters... Facing the roaring artillery fire and the iron bullets flying past the ship and overhead, the ships of the Royal Fleet struggled forward.

They were unlucky, and became the victims of the world's first naval battle with an enemy ship with thermal weapons; but they were also lucky, because of the haste and urgency, although the enemy had weapons with overwhelming power, they had not yet been able to scale them up. Production of equipment to expand the advantage... plus the previous battle where the Hewan Army was easily defeated by the Blackwater River as a foreshadowing, with psychological preparation, it was not beaten to the point of being panicked and helpless.

After only paying the price of one ship being severely damaged and losing combat effectiveness, they struggled to cross the range gap between hot and cold weapons and entered the distance where they could counterattack.

The arm of the catapult swings, the torsion device of the ballista snaps, and a large number of incendiary pots, stone bullets, spears and arrows, and projectiles packed in woven bag nets are thrown densely, smashing into the pocket-sized ship that is the vanguard of the Queen's fleet. The Iron Fleet... But the density of the enemy's counterattack firepower has also greatly exceeded expectations. The ammunition also rained down on the side of the ship with flames and smoke. From time to time, one of them hit the deck and exploded and exploded, attracting nearby crew members to run over. Running to put out the fire in a hurry, the sound of the projectile hitting the side of the boat and sporadic screams of pain made the fighting atmosphere ten times stronger in an instant.

Although they had a numerical advantage locally, Davos found that they were unable to form firepower suppression when the opponent was still supported by artillery cover!

"The main function of the ironborn warships is to plunder. They shouldn't have such powerful long-range firepower. The Queen's craftsmen must have urgently refitted them, and put the siege weapons captured from the people of the river on board." An adjutant shrank his neck and said nervously, "Master Prime Minister, we should not continue to shoot at each other, but let the warships collide with each other and fight at close range! As long as they are close to the enemy, their formation The new equipment in the central government has some scruples, so it can no longer continue to show off its prestige, and the quantity and quality of our warships and sailors are superior, and we will definitely win!"

The staff's suggestion coincided with Davos's idea, and was immediately adopted and conveyed.The battle officially started, the command system was still smooth and unharmed, and soon the commanders of all ships got orders.The direction was adjusted slightly, the speed increased again, and the collision angle of the warships was faintly visible under the waves in the setting sun... As the warships of both sides continued to approach, in addition to the catapults and ballistas, the crossbowmen also began to shoot each other , and even in the contest between arrows, the front line of the Queen's Fleet did not lose the wind. It seems that the opponent not only increased the ship equipment, but also added a lot of personnel.

But everything is irrelevant. Warships are not war elephants, and they will not turn around and trample their own people in fright just because they find that the enemy is different from what they imagined. With the degree of bombing, the faces and expressions of the soldiers on each other's decks began to become clear.

"Attack angular velocity!"

"Keep on course!"

"Right full rudder!"

……

While the navigators on both sides were manipulating and commanding the ships, ramming them or trying to avoid them, the center line of the Royal Fleet finally rushed into the Queen's Navy vanguard.

The people of the Iron Islands are very familiar with naval battles. Of course, they will not forget common sense just because they have been loyal to the Queen for two years. Although they are at a disadvantage in terms of number of ships, size and speed, they still avoid most of the Royal Fleet ships as much as possible. Bump into the corner.

"Boom!"

"boom!"

"Stab!"

"Crack!"

Amidst a multitude of chaotic and indescribable sounds—the dull sound of gods stomping their feet on the ground indicated that a battleship had turned around in time to avoid the ramming angle of the other side, and the sides of the two ships collided firmly; The sound of people breaking and tearing means that the belly of a ship is penetrated and torn apart by the other party's ramming angle; while the sporadic continuous crisp crackling sound mixed with loud noises means that the oarsman of the ship did not respond in time , The oars that could not be retracted were crushed by other warships...

Amidst the screams and exclamations of the people who fell into the water, Davos stabilized himself from the huge shock and shaking caused by the impact, and found that the "Fury" he was on and the friendly ship on the right had overtaken an enemy warship. caught in the middle.This is a ship that is fat and wide but slightly shorter than the ship of Fury. It is not a serious warship at all. It is probably an unlucky armed merchant ship that was captured by the ironmen on the sea... Our side will send the largest and most powerful ship to the ship. The warships were placed in the first row, but the Queen even threw such ships into the front line. She really wanted to win and pulled out all the cards she could get.

He didn't know the name of the enemy ship that collided with him, and he didn't want to know. He only heard a few clear and subtle ping ping sounds, and saw the crew of the other party throwing it up and hooking the side of the battleship he was on. Grappling hook... The opponent used ropes and tools to pull and tie the two warships that were still moving towards each other and were about to pass each other!

Being sandwiched between two warships, how dare you still have the courage to take the initiative to launch a boarding battle?

This is too insane!

"Soldiers, take up arms!" Davos could only feel a surge of scorned anger, and he was filled with fighting spirit and pride in an instant-there were second and third battle lines behind the Fury that could go into battle, and the two wings The encirclement is about to take shape, how can we lose this battle?

He drew out the dagger at his waist with a clang, and shouted orders to the crew who looked around him, "Long live King Stannis!"

"Long live King Stannis!"

Under the leadership of the Prime Minister and his bodyguard, the morale of the soldiers and crews on the Fury was soaring. They picked up the best weapons they could get, followed the officers, ran to starboard, jumped over the side of the ship With a height difference of nearly one meter, he stepped onto the deck of an enemy ship.

The soldiers in the first row held their shields high, and everyone was staring at every move of the enemy in their field of vision. They didn't know the name of the bomb, but after learning about the battle at the Blackwater River, they already knew the queen's troops. Possess a strange weapon that can explode... However, they didn't see the panicked sailors of the enemy ship rushing to fight, nor did they wait for the big black ball to hit their heads. They only saw countless Unsullied soldiers coming from The cabin poured out, lined up in a neat formation, and pressed towards them with the momentum of death.

-

Chapter 611

On the ocean to the east of the Red Fort, the decisive battle between all the naval powers of the old and new dynasties was in full swing, and a little to the south, a third party that had not participated in the war was also closely watching the battle between the former two.

The ironborn possess the largest fleet in the entire known world for the time being, but their background is very weak...Even if they have won the battle, Euron still wants to continue to wait, waiting for the opportunity to maximize his profits.

The dragon is still missing, and the Stannis fleet is encircling the column of Daenerys's navy as expected... The center line has formed a melee with its forward, and the encirclement of the two wings is about to take shape.Anyone with a little military knowledge can see that this battle situation is like Daenerys punching Stannis into the cloth bag that Stannis opened. Shrinking and retreating towards the center, if they cannot withdraw from the battlefield or break out forward, they will end up being squeezed into a ball without any suspense and completely annihilated.

The response of the Queen's Fleet is: the center formation following the forward began to spread its maneuvers to the north and south sides, changing the shape of the entire fleet from the original long strip into a "ten", and then sticking out from the left and right, the somewhat distorted and weak The two wings rushed forward again, and finally pulled the fleet into a somewhat weird "Ψ" shape.

To be honest, Euron couldn't see what it was all about.

Is it trying to rely on the temporary two wings to carry out an anti-encirclement of Stannis' fleet?