Just when almost all the captains lowered their heads, a gray-haired general standing not far away stepped forward at this time, calmly, and said word by word.

"Your Highness, please allow me to say a word. ”

"Well, go ahead, Bud. ”

Bud is a general who stood out in the battle of dragon slaying three years ago, although he is no longer able to go to the front-line battlefield because of his old age, but as an expert in dragon slaying against dragons, he was allowed by Alice to participate in this operation, hoping that he can be a staff officer and can put forward some practical suggestions for this operation.

Now it seems that bringing him with him can indeed bring some small surprises to Alice.

Although the sea dragon and those red dragons, black dragons and other dragons live in different environments, there are still many similarities in temperament and habits, they are all pure-bred dragons, and they cannot get rid of the nature of dragons from the soul.

"Sea dragons are a type of dragon, and they still haven't gotten rid of their limitations, and I think we're prepared enough to deal with those dragons. ”

At this point, his tone paused slightly.

"But, Your Highness, we still need to guard against some hidden dangers and accidents that may arise, dragons are cunning, and those pirates are also cunning, and those who are not cunning have been reduced to a white skeleton in the English Channel. ”

"We must guard against their contact with our enemies and attack us from two directions, on land and at sea, and an unusually sudden storm will change the whole situation of the war. ”

Two directions, Tempest, enemy

Although it is not explicitly stated, from these three points, everyone present can deduce that Bud is referring to the Francis Drake, who has been known as the Storm Demon King and has been transformed from an ally to an enemy.

Bud went on to say bluntly that Francis Drake had confirmed that he was an enemy of the Empire, but because of her previous friendships with Semiramis and Alice, few people were willing to mention the name.

"We must guard against all possible possibilities, the pirates who confront Francis Drake in the North Sea cannot be trusted 100 percent, and they can always choose to cooperate with Francis Drake for the sake of profit.

The people around him couldn't help but nod their heads at Budd's question, and for the first time they looked at the old man with a serious attitude.

"Good. ”

Alice looked at Bud's resolute expression and clapped her hands gently.

"As an old man who has followed Beowulf for many years, you have lived up to the trust I have placed in you. ”

Although there are still some doubts about the use of these old men from Yeat, who have followed Beowulf, this does not mean that Alice does not agree with their strength and wisdom.

Now Bud is standing up and really focusing on the interests of the Baltic Empire, because they don't trust the pirates in the North Sea, because they are also pirates who burn, kill, loot, do all kinds of evil, and have no faith.

After all, there has always been a saying in the Northlands that all pirates have been captured and killed on the mast.

"But the possibility you mentioned is unlikely to happen. ”

Alice's black pupils looked at Bud, who was breathing slightly and looked away slightly.

Bud's advice is indeed good for the Empire, which can indeed show his loyalty to the Empire, but from another point of view, he brought up this matter in public, which can be seen as an offense to Alice.

It can be seen that people who are loyal to the empire do not trust whether Alice will act too emotionally in this matter, in the matter of Francis Drake.

"First, the economy of those pirates is in our hands, and if they are hostile to the Empire, then they will not even find a port to supply in the Northlands, and they will face a situation where they will not be able to buy water, food, or equipment if they have money, and their broken ships will not be resupplied by anyone, and they will need to be constantly vigilant against the pursuit of the Empire, from the sky to the deep sea, our army is everywhere. ”

"But those pirates don't think that long-term, they are tempted by immediate benefits, and they only think about the consequences of those actions after they have taken action. ”

Bud did not settle down because of Alice's explanation, but continued to ask new questions.

Pirates don't think that long-term, and even if they are liquidated later, sending all those pirates to the gallows to die, or throwing them into the sea to feed the sharks, it will not change what has happened.

"Second, then, the strength of those pirates is not worth mentioning in my eyes, and even in the face of a situation of being flanked on both sides, I believe that our army can achieve the final victory and defeat the enemy with absolute superiority. ”

"What about the [Tempest Demon King]? If she joins the battlefield and defeats our navy here, then we will not be able to continue to clamp down on the North Sea Pirate Kingdom militarily, and at that time the West of the Empire will usher in changes, and our plans for Western trade and the opening of markets in the West and the South will have to be put on hold. ”

Those pirates weren't tough to deal with, but if Francis Drake was in the middle of the battlefield in person, the situation would be very different.

Bud hadn't seen Alice make a move with his own eyes, but he thought that on the top of the sea, the same strong man with the title of "Demon King of the Storm" would be the enemy, and he would not be able to gain an advantage and win in a short time.

At that time, when Alice is pinned down and unable to take care of the fleet, other enemies can attack as much as they want, and the storm will greatly limit the fleet, and will stand on the action of the sea dragon.

"Well, indeed, it is necessary to guard against them, and I will keep our intelligence forces on the lookout for news from the North Sea and Francis Drake, to make sure that while we are engaged in an engagement, they will not suddenly appear from behind us and attack us. “

Alice pondered for a moment, and finally agreed with Bud's suggestion, although according to her understanding, Francis Drake could not do anything about uniting mortal enemies and carrying out a sneak attack from behind.

But after all, this is about the Empire's plans for the past few years, no matter how cautious she is, she can't bet on whether Francis Drake has made a change, whether he will change the situation facing the North Sea Pirate Kingdom now and do something she doesn't like, she doesn't want to do.

"Do you have any questions or suggestions? If there are any, please put them up as soon as possible, I don't think it will take long for us to really enter the battlefield. ”

"What I want to tell you is that our opponents are very strong, very powerful, there are pure-blooded dragons, there are pirates who have been roaming for many years, there are rebels of gods with the blood of gods, and the vast majority of people can only experience despair when faced with such enemies. ”

"However, there will never be us among the great opponents, who we are, we are the navy of the Baltic Empire, whether it is the empire of Attila or the Scandinavian empire of Siegel has fallen at our feet, we are strong, we are very strong, we are so strong that we are only one step away from completing the unification of the Northland. ”

Alice propped her hands on the table, and her whole temperament was like a sword drawn from its scabbard, sharp and sharp.

"I don't want to put too much pressure on you, but I'm here to make you realize that we have to win this battle, and we need to have a big victory. ”

"I don't think it's a big problem, the enemy is strong, but we are stronger than them, so what you need to do is to fight seriously, and seriously implement the tactics I have formulated, some of you may have been pirates for a period of time in the early years, but now you are no longer pirates, you are already the navy of the Baltic Empire, and all you need to do is obedience. ”

Everyone present knew it, but a few of them looked puzzled, and they didn't quite understand why Alice wanted to emphasize this point at this time.

"It seems that you still have a little doubt, so let me explain more, the significance of this place is not only related to the plans we have made now, but also some of the future development of the empire. ”

"This world is very vast, but the Northland is only that big, if the empire wants to develop, it must spread its influence from the northland to other places, and now there is a good opportunity in front of us, this victory will be the first stepping stone for the Baltic Empire to enter the main stage of this world. ”

Alice and Semiramis will not be satisfied with the simple transformation of the Baltic Empire into the Northland Empire, their ambitions are more than everyone imagined, the Celtic Isles in the west are only the first goal of the Baltic Empire at this stage, and there will be more countries, more tribes, and more lands waiting for the empire to conquer and control.

This was predestined long before the Baltic Empire was founded, when Alice had set her goal, the Northlands, far from the circle of the main plane, were just a novice village, and in the central regions of the main plane further south, where the country was even stronger.

It's as if the war that took place in the southern Mediterranean and destroyed the port of Alexandria was incomparable in scale to the three western expeditions of Attila, and the tactics, excellent equipment, and use of magic that appeared in it were unimaginable to the people of the North.

If it is to develop, then conflicts are inevitable, and the birth of a new force must be stepping on the corpse of the old force, and before it is stabilized, there will be a violent conflict with the existing interests.

So this war must be fought, and it must be won, and it must be won beautifully.

"The will of the empire will be carried out, and the honor of the empire will be maintained. ”

Everyone present put their left hands on their hearts, bowed their heads slightly, and said solemnly to Alice, as if they were taking an oath.

"So, go and mobilize, I hope that our fighters can take this war with the most serious attitude, and deal with our enemies in the best condition, and I don't want to be unprepared after the war. ”

"The Baltic Empire does not need waste that will not obey, and if it can't be done, withdraw from the army. ”

Quitting the army is the most severe punishment for a warrior, which not only means that his honor and reputation will be lost, but also that he will lose a series of benefits in the empire, and the possibility of gaining more rights.

The Empire's navy has been established for a long time, and there have been several wars before, but the opponents at those times were only pirates, and now it is the first time they have faced such a formidable enemy.

There is no better way to train an army, to make it strong, than to fight a war and win.

"Yes, your will, Your Highness. ”

Everyone was fanatical, even Bud was trembling with excitement, the Attila Empire had many shortcomings, but the way to boost morale and make the warriors frenzied to fight was still worth learning from the Baltic Empire.

Soon, the whole fleet began to be mobilized, and sailors of all races began to run on the decks of each race, to inspect the ships, to maintain their weapons, to load the bed crossbows and catapults placed on the ships, and to prepare for the storm.

No one can guarantee that Francis Drake won't show up on the battlefield, and no one can guarantee that the sea dragon won't cast a powerful spell like Tempest that can change the climate.

What they can do is to be prepared for everything, to deal with all possible accidents, and to minimize their own losses in the event of accidents.

None of these sailors had ever had experience in large-scale naval battles, but many things had already been emphasized during training, and all they needed to do was to do what they were doing step by step, as if they were training.

In addition, the navigators who stayed on each ship came to the watchtower, and they took the weather measurement tools, felt the direction and strength of the wind flow, felt the concentration of water vapor in the air, and judged the weather that might occur in the next few days.

The air force on board the ship had left the ship and was heading around to gather intelligence, divided into several parts, taking turns scouting to make sure that not even a single bird could fly into the airspace here.

At the bottom of the sea, the underwater forces belonging to the Baltic Empire also began to prepare, and in order to make the trade go smoothly, Alice requisitioned a large number of powerful sea beasts from the hands of the Kraken and the merfolk.

There are ten Canglong alone, three sea dragons, and some other sea beasts that have reached the legendary level, and there are about ten scattered sea beasts, and these twenty sea beasts that have reached the legendary level are basically the strongest underwater force in the Baltic Empire.