"Can anyone tell me what just happened? What the hell is wrong with our fleet? ”

On the bridge of the reserve command ship "Marumas", Wessex's Crown Prince Urimus looked stunned and asked loudly. At this time, several military staff members standing behind him looked at each other. They lacked a say in the rapidly turning war situation, and they were still at a loss for a while as to the reason for being abused with more strikes and fewer fights.

None of the staff responded, and the crown prince's anger continued unabated, and he exclaimed: "General Moussane, you say! ”

The eldest of the military staff was the crown prince's so-called "General Moussane". He is full of gorgeous hair, full of old age, and wears an old military uniform, but he looks energetic, and his words and deeds also give people a sense of neither humility nor arrogance.

"Your Highness, the enemy's combat strength has exceeded our expectations, and the current situation is very critical, but it is too early to say defeat. Our battleships are the best protected among flying battleships of the same tonnage, and the enemy's new weapons have the ability to destroy armored ships in one blow, but they cannot destroy our battleships. I am confident that, with the command of Admiral Brasigliano, he will soon be able to turn the tide and, if the situation is too bad, he will be able to lead the fleet out of battle in time. ”

The Admiral Moussane's answer not only upheld the independence of the fleet commander's decision-making on the spot, but also cleared the crown prince and the entire staff team of potential failures. However, the ambitious Yurimus was clearly not satisfied with this vague answer, and he immediately called: "You say, Dr. Moussane! ”

Next to General Moussane, there was a middle-aged man with similar eyebrows, and this was his son, Dr. Moussane. Speaking of which, the elder Moussane has made outstanding achievements in war, and has numerous honors, and after retiring with the rank of lieutenant general in flight, he was hired by the Wessex royal family as a lifelong adviser, and the younger Moussahn is the youngest doctor of military command at the Royal Military Academy of Wessex, and has made great achievements in the field of tactical research and military education, and is good at wargaming, and has won the "King's Cup" wargame of the Wessex military for three consecutive years, and is recognized as an expert in military theory.

"The current situation is like a tug-of-war for us, and whoever makes it to the end is the winner. Only by gritting our teeth and persevering can we have any hope of winning. Your Highness, no matter how big our losses are—even if we lose half of our fleet, as long as we can obtain the new weapon technology of the Normans, we will not lose money! The ships we have lost today are believed to be replenished soon from the Ulster Free Federation. The tone and demeanor of little Moussane when he said this showed his usual full self-confidence.

"Oh?" Yurimus looked suspicious at first, but soon, he suddenly realized, and his face suddenly turned from gloomy to clear.

Little Moussane then said: "As far as my personal suggestion is concerned, it is better to send a telegram to the flagship for now, so that the commander of the fleet will be firm in his fighting spirit and go all out, and not sway from side to side and hesitate. ”

"That's right!" Crown Prince Yurimus answered, and he immediately ordered the herald to send a telegram to the flagship as Moussane Jr. had just said.

Old Moussane frowned, but did not say anything to stop him. Seeing that the crown prince did not speak again, he turned around and whispered to the triumphant little Moussane: "The real war is completely different from your war games!" ”

"I know, of course I do." Little Moussaan replied very calmly, "Directing a battle on the battlefield and playing wargames in a wargame room are two completely different states, but no one can escape his own personality and way of thinking, whether on the battlefield or in the weapons room." As you know, Admiral Brasigliano is our finest fleet commander, he is experienced, knowledgeable, quick-witted, and has a high prestige among officers and soldiers, but he has a fatal weakness - he is not decisive enough, which is why I would advise His Highness the Crown Prince to issue such an order. ”

Old Moussane sighed: "Your original intention may be right, but have you ever thought that this order may disturb Admiral Brasigliano's judgment of the battlefield situation?" Judging from the situation of the battle, the Normans were fully prepared for this battle, they had an advantage at both the psychological and tactical levels, if the situation of the battle evolved to the point where there was no hope of victory and a favorable retreat, Admiral Brasigliano should have decisively led the fleet to withdraw from the battle, but because of the blind insistence on this order just now, you should know what the result would be! ”

Little Musahn touched his nose and defended himself: "The royal fleet of Wessex is fighting with half of the main force, and the opponent is the unstrengthened Northern Fleet of the Norman Empire. ”

Old Moussane continued to whisper: "Judging from the number of warships alone, it seems that the Norman Northern Fleet has not been strengthened, but those armored ships and cruisers equipped with 'devil's bombs' have actual combat effectiveness several times that of before. Objectively speaking, the Norman fleet in front of us is stronger than any Norman fleet we have ever encountered! ”

Little Musahn shook his head and said: "If we can't cross this hurdle, our generation, and even our next generation, are destined to stay in the bitter cold land of the north and live a life of poor materials." ”

The elder Moussane apparently disagreed: "This way of life has been going on for thousands of years, and our ancestors have been like this for generations, so why do we have to change it?" ”

At this point, Moussane Jr. hesitated for a moment, then turned his gaze to Crown Prince Ulimus. At this moment, the legal heir to the throne of Wessex stood alone in front of the porthole, silently watching the aerial battlefield where fierce battles were going on. In his strong and upright body, there are grand wishes that ordinary people can hardly imagine. As the prince of a country, his ambition may bring the country to the pinnacle of history, or it may plunge the country into the abyss of defeat, and no matter what the final outcome is, countless lives will be martyred in the process......

Unlike Moussane Jr., the elder Moussane was not invited to serve as the crown prince's staff for a short time, and in the few contacts in the past, Ulimus gave him the impression of being studious, thoughtful, humble and courteous. It wasn't until after close contact that he gradually realized that this seemingly low-key Highness had an unwilling heart beating in his chest.

Looking at the back of the crown prince, little Musahn said in a low voice: "Next, we can only hope for Admiral Brasigliano and his fleet." May the Creator favor us! ”

It was a foregone conclusion, and all that the elder Moussaan could do was pray.

In the center of the battlefield, Brasigliano's battlefleet was violently bombarding the Norman cruiser formation, especially the unhit "Purple Star" and "Luoshan" ships, in an almost frenzied state. The battered "Champion" and "Triumphant" were not weak, and the main and secondary guns that could be put into battle poured fire on the enemy ships with explosive rate of fire, and the armored ships and cruisers in the battle array made it seem that these lone Norman cruisers could be annihilated in a few seconds.

At the same time, the assault detachment commanded by the "Holy Knight" also launched a charge with unstoppable momentum. Whether it was the shells fired by the Norman cruisers or the artillery fire from afar, it was like tickling the thickly armored Wessex assaultship. In a short time, the big guy hit the flank of the Norman cruiser formation. I saw that it quickly stabilized its trajectory and fired at close range of Norman cruisers with multiple main guns - although the main guns of the "Paladin" were equipped with 63PIR caliber, which was one or two notches lower in absolute power than battleships of the same tonnage, in the state of "face attack", the penetration power of armor-piercing shells was enough to deal with any class of battleships, including the battleships with the best protection capabilities at present.

Against a thin-skinned battleship like a cruiser, it is not even necessary to use armor-piercing shells.

At a distance of less than 12,000 feet from the enemy ship, the main guns of the "Paladin" fired almost with the accuracy of no misses. A wave of high-explosive bombs beckoned, and the Norman cruiser it locked on was suddenly wrapped in blazing flames, and the deafening explosion sounded like a series of thunderstorms on a summer day. The explosion on the outside had just ended, and the thick smoke was still dissipating, and the inside of the Norman battleship suddenly exploded, and the cruiser, which was built with thousands of tons of steel, was reduced to countless pieces in just a few seconds, and the crew did not even have time to try to escape.

The brutal strong assault + face riding tactics of the "Paladin" are the enemy killers carefully honed and pinned on by the Wessex royal fleet. In the first actual battle, he killed the enemy as he wished, collected the "head", and showed the expected tactical effect, but Brasigliano was still sad. Compared to the Norman Empire's new weapons that had been put into practical use on armored ships and cruisers, the Wessex Kingdom's assault ship tactics were only beginning to bear fruit. The second ship of the Holy Horseman-class is still under construction on the slipway, and the third ship has just started, and the scene of the three ships launching at the same time may have to wait for several years.

Aside from these off-the-field factors, Brasigliano took a worried look at the situation on the battlefield: the fragile Norman cruisers were rapidly descending, trying to evade the angry revenge of the Wessex fleet through tactical maneuvers, and although the Wessex battleships had the ability to shoot downward, the guns that could carry out direct attacks on the targets below accounted for only 40-50% of the ship's firepower, and if the tail chasing Norman cruisers reduced their flight altitude, it would inevitably give the powerful Norman battleship formation an advantageous position. But if you relax your attack on those three Norman cruisers, you are in danger of being bitten by them at any time.

In a few moments, the large-caliber shells of the Norman fleet whistled again. All three Norman battleships had been damaged, and the rate of fire and density of fire from their main guns had decreased, but the Wessex fleet temporarily concentrated its fire on the Norman cruiser formation, which gave them the opportunity to take their sights in stride, and several rounds of fire were missed. Seeing the enemy's heavy shells flying past their ships, Brasigliano and his officers were happy for a second, and then they were more and more worried......

Just as Brasigliano hesitated, an order from the reserve command ship was delivered to him. After reading the contents of the telegram, he was stunned for half a minute, and then sighed and ordered the assault ship detachment to annihilate the three Norman cruisers as soon as possible, and the guerrilla detachment abandoned the original target, attacked the enemy battleship formation from the flank, and personally led the battle detachment with the battleship as the core to meet the approaching Norman battleship formation head-on!