Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 227 The Crusader Song, The General's Command Takes Effect

When Wang Cheng reappeared, he was already wearing a suit of silver-scaled armor, holding a pair of [Iron Spine Horizontal Mazes], and stepped onto his new flagship—the revitalized warship [San Diego], which was planted with "kidney flowers".

He used the plaques from Xiangji Temple and Xuanwu Gate, which together formed the set of imperial heirs, to acquire all of Mao Haifeng's property.

This level-five living warship, which had been subdued by the other party, naturally became his guardian spirit.

"Big ship's bow!"

The bald-headed leader of the Imperial Guard, along with Xu Youde and Peng Wujiu, who served as the location coordinates for the "Debt Collectors," were all waiting here. Upon seeing Wang Cheng appear, they hurriedly came forward to greet him.

Just like when Lao Wang was around, the wartime title was always "Big Ship Head," representing the fleet's overall commander.

"Order: All fleets to reach Level 1 combat readiness, and proceed to their respective combat positions."

The twenty-four generals and thirty-six fierce warriors commanding the ships responded with a resounding "Yes!"
"Follow the order!"

Although Wang Cheng was young, he had already proven himself in actual combat, and all the proud and fierce generals who followed him to conquer the world were very convinced of his abilities.

Moreover, many of them were studying naval warfare tactics under Wang Cheng at the newly established naval academy, and many of them were already secretly calling him "Principal".

Just like calling the Prince of Jinghai "the ship owner," it signifies a close relationship that is different from others.

Wang Cheng's eyesight had been enhanced, allowing him to see the combined fleet about ten miles away clearly without needing a brass telescope.

The hundreds of ordinary small warships under the command of the Otomo family are nothing to fear.

Even without using its sailing warships, the Donghai Kingdom could easily crush them with just over four hundred warships of more than four hundred tons each.

The massive fleet that once ruled the East China Sea was far beyond the reach of a mere local daimyo.

What drew Wang Cheng's full attention was the Westfrankish fleet with blue cross flags flying on its mainmast, including many regular warships flying naval swallowtail flags.

Wang Cheng raised an eyebrow:
"Although their main force is the same as ours, consisting of cruisers below level five and armed merchant ships, their scale is quite large."

"Carlo must have used his position as governor to temporarily requisition armed merchant ships from both the Eastern and Western Francois, right?"

The Frankish fleet now numbers 33 ships, only slightly fewer than the 42 ships of the Eastern Sea Kingdom.

Just by looking at the size of this temporary fleet, one can tell how much Baron Carlos cared about the Ōtomo family's affairs; he treated it as his own business.

What a great ally of the Franks!

Moreover, although their numbers were small, their size was much larger than the sailing warships that the Eastern Sea Kingdom had purchased from the Netherlands.

The towering forecastles, sterncastles, and masts that reach into the clouds make these warships resemble impregnable sea fortresses, perfectly suited for employing the Francois' traditional land warfare tactics.

The reputation of the "Invincible Armada" was largely earned by its army.

Wang Cheng raised his hand, and the navigational beacon that Carlo had secretly used to lock onto Shen Yueye was now imprinted on his wrist, its light shimmering, proving that it was working.

“Pretexts like ‘close allies’ are just a facade.”

I'm more inclined to believe that the maternal family history, which even my senior sister herself wasn't entirely clear about, concealed enormous interests that even the Governor of Macau coveted.

When Carlo first met his senior sister, he wanted to use his strength as a fourth-rank [Tide Knight] to forcibly capture her.

Unable to capture them, they joined this war, which was not originally theirs, at all costs.

After all, strictly speaking, it was my old Wang who first guided the West Franks into Yingzhou, and incidentally introduced firearms to this country.

The scale of our Donghai Kingdom's trade with the Frankish people is not small, but these are all huge sunk costs.

It's easy to imagine how much value his senior sister held in his eyes.

I'm becoming increasingly curious about my teacher's wife and mother-in-law, whom I've never met before.

What Wang Cheng couldn't understand was that even with these Frankish people added, the Otomo family's navy was still not as strong as the East Sea Kingdom's navy on paper.

What gives them the confidence to guarantee victory, rather than risk losing more than they gain?

While Wang Cheng was observing the Frankish fleet, Carlo was also observing the East China Sea Kingdom's fleet that had set sail to meet the enemy.

"The navy of the Donghai Kingdom is indeed far superior to its army."

Unlike Francisco, who led his retainers and army to advance easily on land, this fleet assembled much faster than I expected.

But there is also good news.

The king of the Eastern Sea Kingdom went to the front line of the Chikugo River and chose to fight a decisive battle with Francisco.

The descendant of the Paleolog family that I located using navigational beacons was actually in the enemy's fleet.

My family has fallen on hard times, but with her, it will rise again in my hands!

He subconsciously reached out and pressed his hand on a rum bottle hanging at his waist. He could clearly see that the bottle was half full of water, and floating on it was a small warship with hundreds of even smaller crew members.

At this moment, the fleet's navigator shouted loudly:
"Reporting to the Governor, the current wind direction is southwest, with a force of 5 and a speed of 20 knots. The sailing conditions are excellent. It is recommended that all sails except the mainsail be fully unfurled and sailing at full speed."

Carlo nodded and gave the order:

"Flatten the mainsail and prepare for boarding action!"
The entire fleet will deploy in a wedge formation with the flagship at the center. We will use the wind advantage to surround the East Sea Kingdom's fleet and wipe them out in one fell swoop.

His commands echoed in the ears of every captain along with the sound of the tide.

"As you command, Your Excellency!"

Sailing at full sail at level 5 is to achieve maximum speed, while furling the mainsail is to prevent cannon fire and gunpowder residue from igniting the sails—both standard tactical maneuvers. The entire fleet gradually forms a wedge formation, also known as a crescent formation, with the flagship positioned behind the mains. This is a basic tactic used by the Francois in naval warfare.

In order to make perfect use of the southwest winds in the Tsushima Strait in June, Carlos deliberately commanded the fleet to make a large detour from the other side of Kuban Island before heading towards Pinghu Port from the southwest.

This is where the downwind advantage of the franc sailing ship can be perfectly utilized, with its tall superstructure being equivalent to several large sails.

Then Carlo looked at his [War Priest].

The latter had organized a group of clergy and devout believers of lower and middle ranks, who knelt before a blood-stained cross that shone with divine light, and sang hymns together:
"I urge you all to join the army, for our Lord has risen in the Holy Land; together we shall bear the cross and march back to the court."
Without this, one cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven; the road ahead is long and arduous, young man. Towards the holy mountain of God, all the wise men of the world follow; though sick and weak, one cannot remain bedridden.
The merciful Lord dispels our delusions, guides us to heaven, and His divine presence will be upon you.

The solemn and ethereal singing gradually spread throughout the entire fleet, evoking a strong resonance among all the Francois and Japanese Christians.

This also triggered a response from the blood-stained cross, which resounded and shot a dazzling silver beam of light into the sky.

Like the ancient and ancient Shenzhou, the Holy Cross Church also possesses a large number of amulets and talismans, which are called "Holy Relics" in their power system.

The most typical examples are the various relics left by the Son of God, as well as the relics, weapons, and crosses that witnessed major historical turning points in different historical events.

For example, the cross they are holding originated from the First Crusade of Sifrecce, and the hymns they are singing are also crusade songs from that time.

Five hundred years ago, the Church declared, "The East is a land flowing with milk and honey," and called on everyone to join the Eastern Expedition.

But only today can they be considered to have "expeded" to the true East.

When they arrived in Dazhao, where even many ordinary people could afford to wear fine silks and satins, all the Frankish people had only one thought:
Why are Easterners not like those people from the New World who use obsidian weapons and are primitive people who haven't even invented the wheel?
Trade can never compare to plunder! If we get the chance, we'll storm their capital sooner or later!

The intense desire for conquest triggered the power of the cross, and the beam of light resonated with the cross that was essential on every warship.

hum!hum!hum!
Accompanied by sacred and grand chanting, beams of silver light shot into the sky one after another, and then instantly expanded into massive Crusader heavy knights as large as small mountains.

—Knights of Heaven!
The Church of the Holy Cross, adhering to the principle of "the sword and the cross together," is a formidable armed religious organization.

While the tactics are not as varied and diverse as the "Secret Scroll of Military Strategy" in Shenzhou, they can summon powerful armies corresponding to the cross relics in religious wars, granting various positive buffs.

Layer upon layer of knightly phantoms enveloped each warship, bestowing upon them a portion of their speed, strength, and defense.

The entire fleet sailed with the wind, its speed increasing rapidly, like a heavily armored knightly order transforming into a steel torrent.

Any warship that stands in their way will be instantly crushed.

Even though the mainsail has been furled, it doesn't significantly affect the ship's speed.

The thrust of a sail is essentially the same as the lift of an aircraft wing. The formula is: thrust = 0.5 × sail area × sine of the angle of attack × square of the wind speed.

The area of ​​the sail decreases as you go higher; the top sail and the very top sail are only one-third to one-quarter the size of the top sail and the main sail.

However, the wind speed will increase as the altitude increases.

Based on the principle of "laminar flow"—wind blows from a distance and is slowed down by friction on the sea surface; the closer the air layer is to the sea surface, the greater the friction and the slower the speed.

When the wind speed at sea is 4 meters per second, it will reach 8 meters per second at a height of 30 meters, and more than double that at a height of more than 60 meters where the warship's top sail is located.

In addition to the leverage principle of the mast, the small sail at the top actually has a greater thrust than the main sail.

Therefore, a bandit who is bad at math cannot be a good navigator.

Boom! ! !
Despite facing a fleet, the soldiers of the East Sea Kingdom heard a terrifying sound of horses' hooves, like a tidal wave crashing down.

The sea beneath our feet began to tremble violently, making us wonder if we might crush it.

The Donghai soldiers, whose willpower was slightly weaker, began to tremble instinctively when faced with this enemy.

"Is this the power of the invincible fleet of the British Empire?"

"No wonder they can dominate the Western Ocean with just their army, they're so powerful!"

Wang Cheng had only seen this move in various Western documents he had collected before, and this was the first time he had seen it in person.

"Calm down!"

He tossed it with a flick of his wrist.

A military treatise was unfurled and hung above the Santiago, drawing in the endless, dark military energy from the heavens, which then crashed down.

Above each of their warships, a five-peaked military flag fluttered in the wind, merging the three blessings of fortune, prosperity, and longevity of all the people in their fleet into one.

Above the flagship, a phantom image of a general holding a five-colored command flag appeared.

This is precisely one of the five secret military treatises developed by Wang Cheng based on his understanding of fleet command: "The Tactics of Commanding a Large Fleet" (General's Order).

"It can be used as long as there is one or more warships."

It can materialize the yang energy of everyone in the fleet and launch it along with the cannons, thus countering all supernatural powers and spells.

As long as there are enough ships and cannons, quantitative change will lead to qualitative change, and even ghosts and gods can cut down the muzzle of the cannon.

At the same time, the supernatural abilities, special skills, and extraordinary techniques of the officers in the three classes of air, land, and water within the fleet could flow freely with the general's orders, focusing all their strength in one direction.

This is the first direct confrontation between the Divine Land's [Secret Scroll of Military Strategy] and the Western [Knights of Heaven]!
It represents the true tactical level between regular armies.

Wang Cheng waved the command flag:

"To win at sea with the Marines is heresy among heres!"
"Double column formation, upwind, today we'll teach the Franks how to fight a naval battle."

(End of this chapter)