"They have hundreds of ships! Every ship is filled with Barbary pirates!! ”

Randy hadn't been surprised for a long time, the other party was able to gather so many Barbary pirates, if the information is true, it means that the Barbary pirates have invested all their strength, if this defeat is achieved, the Barbary pirates who have been crisscrossing the Mediterranean for many years will never turn over.

Seeing that Randy was lost in thought, Artoria urged, "Give the order!" Randy, what are you waiting for? They are nothing more than an undisciplined rabble, and even if there are many of them, it is easy to defeat them. ”

Randy patted Artoria and motioned for him to calm down, "I have given the order for all the troops on the ship to be vigilant, and to attack the enemy as soon as they find it, presumably they will already be fighting the enemy." ”

As Randy's words fell, a loud bang came from the right side of the Royal Victory.

When the Barbary pirates braved the darkness of the night to launch a surprise attack, and the distance between the two sides was only fifty meters, both fleets discovered each other.

"Enemy attack!"

The Norman sailors who were the first to spot the enemy raised their crossbows, aimed at the opponent's galleys and pulled the trigger, and then heard a scream from the enemy galleys.

Immediately after that, the soldiers on the side of the ship gathered one after another, and suddenly the arrows rained down, and the sailors on duty in the distance shook desperately, and the alarm bells hung in mid-air, and the well-trained sailors immediately woke up from their dreams, picked up the weapons around them, jumped up, and rushed out.

"Damn! Assault! Assault as fast as you can! Sink their battleship with ramming. ”

Seeing that the other party had already prepared and that his side had fallen into a disadvantageous situation, Hyreddin roared wildly and waved the scimitar in his hand, and after a crackling sound, all the bows and crossbows fired at him were blocked, and at the same time, there were also a large number of pirates around him who frantically waved the leather whips in their hands, whipping the slaves who were rowing, making these slaves even more desperate.

"It's coming! Ballista! Ballista! Greek fire! Aim at them and sink them. ”

Hearing Captain Norman's order, the sailors on the outboard of the ship quickly moved into action, and in a group of several people, they turned the ballistas on the sides, and with great difficulty, they picked up the heavy ballista guns weighing 20 kilograms cast in pure iron for melee combat, and shot them violently after winding.

The heavy ballista didn't have a long range because it was so heavy, but the lethality at close range was amazing, and the arrows with the tip of the awl instantly pierced the thin deck of the galleys, breaking through their bottom without stopping, and the sea water was pouring in.

"Leave him alone! Go on the offensive! ”

But the name of the outlaw is not in vain, and at such times the Barbary pirates become crazy, paddling desperately, holding a posture of doom, and moving faster.

"Attack! Attack! Attack! ”

Seeing this group of frantically sprinting outlaws, several naval officers with ballistas on the side of the ballista, yelled angrily, replacing the ballistas with shovel-shaped arrows to increase the destructive power, under the control of professional Norman sailors, the hit rate of these ballistas at close range reached an astonishing height, and the two galleys that had been hit too many times by the attack and had serious water in the hold were slowly silent in the unwilling howls of the pirates, and the remaining several pirate warships were also damaged to varying degrees, and their speed was reduced a lot.

"Rush over! Rush over! ”

At this moment, the pirates had rushed to a fairly close distance, almost the dead end of the ballista, and the most powerful weapon of the Norman Empire was no longer of any use at this moment.

"Iron Cannon and Heavenly Flame Canister have been fought!"

At this moment, several soldiers came out of the cabin with a large pile of clay pots, which were originally intended for special catapult crossbows, and unlike the safer crossbow arrows, these unstable and very problematic fire pots were carefully stored in a special cabin rather than placed on the deck, so they were not brought until now.

"There's no time! Throw it directly! ”

These murderous weapons were scattered among the soldiers on this side of the ship, and the naval officers gave the order, and the sky was directly covered with a large number of black clay pots.

"It's a canister of oil! Get out of the way! ”

The pirates naturally knew the power of these things, and exclaimed to dodge, but all this was not easy, such a close distance, the speed and inertia of the ships like sharp arrows made them unable to dodge, some iron artillery volleys exploded, shrapnel and iron sand flew sideways, causing serious damage to the pirates who could hardly find a defense, some of those fire oil bombs fell on the water, and the fire oil splashed out to form a large fire source, and some smashed into the opponent's ship and directly caused a fire.

In an instant, the fire was in the sky! Violent explosions and bright fires, accompanied by the screams of the pirates, brought the battle to a fever pitch, and several more pirate ships were hit, and the hull of the ship was flooded on a massive scale, and it was about to sink.

In the first round of attacks, the Normans won with too many weapons and firepower beyond the other side, and the outermost side of the world killed an average of two pirate ships for each Norman warship, and its own casualties were extremely light, only a few people were injured by the shrapnel stray bullets of the iron artillery, and a fool knocked the Heavenly Flame Oil Tank to the ground, and there was no other thought.

Although some pirates are equipped with long-range weapons such as crossbows, bows, and javelins, they rarely use them at such times, and even if they do, they will not be able to hit the target due to the direction of the wind or distance, or they will be blocked by the wooden walls on both sides of the ship, and they will not be effective.

In the next round, the Normans began to suffer casualties......

Despite the efforts of many parties, it has also achieved certain results, but the pirate ship still rushed over, three fish that slipped through the net slammed into the side of the Norman warship, causing a violent shock, the sharp impact angle of the iron-clad and the huge impact force, instantly knocked out a large hole in the side hull, the pirate ship began to retreat, and the sea water poured into the cabin incomparably.

"Don't be afraid! Our ship is not so easy to sink! Keep attacking! ”

The captains of the Norman Navy are not worried, even if there is some damage to the Norman battleship with a watertight compartment design, it is just to enter some seawater, the waterline is lowered a little, the speed is reduced a little, it is not a big deal, but with the continuous influx of seawater, there are a large number of sailors gathered on one side of the ship to attack the enemy, so that the hull began to tilt to one side, so the captain immediately ordered the ballast stone to be moved to the other side, and immediately sailors equipped with long-range weapons ran into the cabin, and after a while, the hull began to become stable, Taking advantage of this, Norman sailors sank another pirate ship.

"Damn! Hook Lock! We rushed up and took their boat. ”

Seeing that the ramming angle did not play its due role, the pirates on the opposite side were so angry that if they wanted to ram again, they had to turn the bow of the ship and drive some distance, but this time was enough for the Normans to sink their hull hundreds of times.

Although the Norman ships were very tall and it was not easy to place a springboard, in the previous battles with Norman pirates and maritime merchants, Barbary pirates also improved their tactics, and some pirates untied the hook around their waists, threw them round and hooked the side of the Norman battleship, and then began to climb with a scimitar.

"Cut their ropes! Cut it off! ”

The Norman soldiers on this side also noticed the enemy's movements, and a group of soldiers lowered their crossbows, drew their swords, and bent down to slash at the opponent's ropes.

"Shoot! Shoot those infidels! ”

Seeing the Norman sailors leaning out, the pirates, who had not yet begun to climb, raised their bows and crossbow javelins in their hands and fired at the Norman sailors, and many Norman sailors on the deck who were only equipped with leather soft armor were hit, screaming and falling into the sea.

A large number of Barbary pirates swarmed in, under the cover of long-range bows and crossbows and javelins, rushing towards the Norman battleship with scimitars in their mouths, although the Norman soldiers desperately cut the ropes, but these are only the symptoms but not the root cause, the cool sea water of the Mediterranean Sea is the best cushion for the Barbary pirates, falling into the sea from a height of three or four meters will never kill people, and the pirates come and go in the wind and waves, one by one swimming level is not low, fall into the sea, and will not die for a while, Instead, the exposed Norman sailors were shot by the Barbary pirates' bows, crossbows, and javelins, and fell into the sea, making the battlefield even bloodier.

"Leave them alone, get ready for hand-to-hand combat."

The captains of the Norman warships saw that their subordinates were fighting less and less, and they couldn't help but feel a heartache, and gave such an order, the Norman sailors retracted their bodies again and hid behind the wall, holding iron cannons and heavenly flame canisters and throwing them downward, and the explosives on the battlefield were flying iron sand, and the fire oil was evenly spread out on the sea surface, constantly expanding, and burning, making the Barbary pirates who fell into the sea scream again and again, at this moment, the Heavenly Flame Flamethrowers were also ready, under the operation of the sailors, these jets sprayed the oil through the oil pipe with the principle of pressure pumps, Ignited by the oil lamp hanging below, a hot pillar of fire shot towards the Barbary pirates, although such an attack is unlikely to kill in one hit, but the morale of the pirates is extremely huge, many pirates were frightened by this cold attack and could not move, fell into the sea, and some were directly hit, and the skin and flesh were blurred in an instant.

"We're going to be burned to death in the sea!"

The pirates shouted in a panic that this sounded a bit fantastical, but this happened in reality, and some Barbary pirates screamed and plunged into the sea, and then saw the oil layer that was still expanding within tens of meters above their heads, and gradually fell into despair.

Many Barbary pirates were killed or drowned, and the burned corpses floated on the surface of the sea, which became fuel for the flames, and the air suddenly emitted a disgusting smell of barbecue, but at this moment, more Barbary pirates made the right choice to attack the Norman ships, and climbed into their ships to be safe.

The pirates used ropes, planks, ladders, and tools to climb like ants, so that the Norman sailors could not help but exclaim: "Oh my God! How many of these pirates are there? ”

The Norman fleet had a full 200 search ships, but only 50 of them were combat ships, and their opponents were pirate warships more than ten times larger, so that all the Norman transports were safely hidden inside, and did not participate in the battle. At the beginning of the battle, the Norman Empire used long-range attacks to unilaterally torture and kill, and after entering the melee hand-to-hand combat stage, the Normans' advantage began to decline sharply, and the Barbary pirates, who had the advantage of numbers, gradually began to seize the initiative on the battlefield.

The four-meter-high side of the Norman battleship can be climbed in less than a minute, and although it is not easy to attack on the back, the Norman sailors on the defending side still have the advantage, but there are also a small number of pirates with high martial arts who can cut down their opponents and climb up.

"Go down! You bastard! ”

Seeing his comrades around him being cut off an arm, screaming and retreating, the pirate on the opposite side roared wildly and showed half of his body, one leg was already on the side and was about to climb in, a centurion of a Norman sailor, who was also the captain of the navy on this ship, slashed at the pirate on the opposite side with an axe, and the pirate immediately swung his knife to block, but his posture was very embarrassing, and he could neither use all his strength nor stabilize the center of gravity, although he blocked it, he also shook a little, lost his balance, and was smashed by the captain's shield, The smashed head broke and bled out, screaming, and fell into the sea with a thud.

But after all, there are only a few sailors like the captain of the navy, and many places have begun to lose ground so far in the battle, and more and more Barbary pirates have poured up to engage in hand-to-hand combat with Norman sailors, both sides are light infantry, and the Barbary pirates with low defensive strength are usually only equipped with a scimitar, while the Norman level is more formal, with a smock with a soft leather armor inside, a battle axe and a round shield, and two throwing axes hanging from the waist, which is much more high-end than the Barbary pirates' armament.

But this kind of attire, but also let the speed of these sailors be affected by a certain amount, the heavy weapon of the tomahawk in the practicality is not as good as the Arab scimitar Norman sailors, in this regard, more disadvantaged, but their left hand equipped with a shield, but can effectively block the opponent's attack, even if the disadvantage of the equipment is leveled, soft leather armor can provide limited protection, but also make the damage caused by the opponent low.

In general, the equipment of the Norman sailors still has an advantage, and in terms of organization and training, they are also a lot higher than the other side, but the number of pirates is too large, and with these numbers and the fear of death brought by religion, ethnicity, and occupation, the pirates began to gradually suppress the Norman sailors.

"Retreat! Retreat backwards! Retreat in the direction of the oars, lean together in a circle, and then go up to a part of the soldiers to shoot. "A Norman captain slashed down an enemy with an axe, splattered him with blood, and a year's worth of blood on his face, combined with a Viking-style beard and bloodshot eyes, became unusually hideous at the moment.

Hearing the captain's order, the remaining sailors resisted desperately, and while converging in the direction of the oar, which was a cut above the center of the battleship, more than two hundred soldiers on a heavy ballista battleship, only seventy or eighty people were left at this time, and most of them were lost.

"Damn! Do you want to think of a way? The captain thought as he retreated.

Of course, not all warships were as difficult as they are today, and those artillery battleships, which had been newly built and much more powerful than the improved ballista battleships, with four short-barreled cannons on each side of the ship, were showing their might at this moment.

In the captain's wild laughter, the gunners desperately loaded ammunition and ignited, causing a huge roar of artillery, those Barbary pirates who tried to get close to these warships were all shattered by heavy lead-injected stone bullets, and every roar of the lethal artillery could cause fatal damage to the enemy's battleships, and some warships with weak defenses could even be smashed in half by huge stone bullets.

The horrific battleship, coupled with the huge hull, more Greek fire throwers, and more Norman sailors, made it difficult for the Barbary pirates to attack the ship, and after paying a lot of ship and casualties, the pirates finally gave up attacking these artillery ships and launched an attack on other ships.

However, this Norman fleet, armed with only five artillery ships, will never be able to withstand these crazy Barbary pirates!

Seeing the shouts of killing, metal clashing, screams and artillery roaring on the periphery of the fleet, and looking at the skyrocketing fires that lit up the night sky, Randy sighed: "Compared with the iron cavalry and the strict array of land battles, the battle at sea is another heroic. ”

The Norman Emperor walked quickly to the bridge and came to Apraksin's side, only to see the admiral kneeling down on one knee and saying: "The subordinates have no command, let the king be frightened, damn!" ”

Randy waved his hand to make the general stand up, and sighed, "I don't blame you for this, I didn't expect the other party to be so crazy, I'm afraid these are all the power of the Barbary pirates, but we haven't suffered any big losses so far, have we?" ”

"Your Excellency is forgiving! The subordinates were grateful, indeed, the subordinates really didn't expect that the other party would gather such a large fleet, and the subordinates really didn't expect it. ”

"They're coming for me!"

After Randy finished speaking, he looked at Apraxin and stopped, and before he could speak, he said: "I know what you have to say, I give you this permission, all the Norman soldiers in all the transport ships are at your disposal at this moment, and you can assign them at will now." ”

After saying this, Randy turned around and looked at the monarchs of several other countries with a stern face: "I think everyone understands by now, if I can help the emperor at this time, I am grateful." ”

"Where! Where! The purpose of our trip is to kill all the infidels, both on land and at sea. Charles, King of Burgundy, nodded in reply, and the other kings nodded in agreement.

(End of chapter)