Chapter 245: Interception at Sea

The morning glow fills the sky, reflecting the endless ocean as far as the eye can see. The Flying Fish of Dawn is full of sails, riding the wind and waves.

"My lord, Professor Bob and his servant have woken up, and are now in a bit agitated...... "Schward went up to the slipway and reported to Lorlist.

The two sacks that El and the others carried last night were the same Professor Bob who had cracked the dwarven gunpowder recipe and his servant Sivira. Through El's elder brother, Ledos, now the boss of the community, learns that Professor Bob has no children and no family, but that he has a widow named Sivira who has been his personal servant for nearly twenty years.

According to Ledos's inquiry, Professor Bob's relationship with this woman named Sivira is not very clear, and it is likely that he did not marry her because of his reputation, in fact, the two have a good relationship, and it seems that Professor Bob's monthly salary from Daystar Academy is given to this Sivira to arrange his own life.

Daystar Academy has a very low ranking among the colleges in Morente City, seemingly around twenty-one. Professor Bob's salary is not high, only three goldfords a month. Because the professor likes to study some strange things and spends a lot of money on them, he doesn't have a lot of money. In addition, Professor Bob did not have a very good time at Daystar Academy, and repeatedly threatened to find another job.

Originally, Lorist thought that he could easily recruit Professor Bob, but who knew that Professor Bob was a staunch liberal and hated the aristocracy. Lorist went to invite him in person, but he was scolded and kicked out by the professor with a broom.

Although I don't know if Professor Bob had any conflicts with the nobles in his early years, but when time was pressing, Lorist didn't care to understand the inside story and looked at the thatched house again, so he ordered El to bring someone to directly knock the professor unconscious last night, and even his servant Sivira was arrested together, and the professor couldn't help it when he arrived on the ship.

"Okay, I'll go see him and calm the professor's emotions. Lorist said, he didn't see Schward rolling his eyes behind him.

Professor Bob's emotions were not a little excited, but very excited, especially when he saw Lorlist, and he understood why he was on the ship. At this moment, his anger erupted like a volcano, and a series of profanities poured out from the market, making people stunned, and it was hard to believe that this was a knowledgeable and well-behaved college professor.

"Professor Bob, I didn't mean anything to invite you, I just wanted to ......" Lorist waited for Professor Bob to stop.

"Don't think about anything, I won't do what you want, I won't agree to whatever you want to do, you hateful ......" Professor Bob didn't listen to what Lorist was saying, and another scolding, mixed with words attacking Lorlist's own intelligence, pulled Lorist to the point of equality with donkeys.

Lorist turned a deaf ear, as if she hadn't heard Professor Bob's personal scolding. He turned his gaze to the professor's servant, Sivira, and found that she was a little seasick, and hurriedly ordered Schward, who was standing outside the cabin, to go to the medicine box in his cabin to get the medicine for seasickness, and by the way, make the professor a cup of tea to moisten his dry throat......

The professor was finally helpless against Lorlist's cheekiness, thinking that he would provoke Lorist to beat him up, and that he would be able to show his unyielding belief in not being used by him. Who knew that Lorist didn't take his scolding to heart at all, but took care of the seasick Sivela.

"What the hell do you want me to do? I'm a poor professor and don't have any money. Professors from so many colleges in Morente City are much higher than me, and haven't you heard of my dispute with the college? In the eyes of other professors, I am just an old stubborn who does not do his job properly and likes to study strange and strange things......" Drinking tea, Professor Bob, who had been silent for a long time, opened his mouth again, this time he did not curse, but was deeply puzzled.

Lorist smiled, as long as he could communicate normally: "Professor Bob, I came to you for gunpowder. ”

"Dwarven gunpowder?" Professor Bob was still puzzled, "I've already finished researching this, and I published the recipe in an academic report last year, wasn't it published in the Morent Daily? ”

"Professor, I'm interested in your opinion that there is still a lot of room for improvement in the dwarves' gunpowder firing. What I wanted was the best ratio of gunpowder. Lorist said.

Professor Bob spread his hands: "Then you should go to the dwarves and get a large amount of saltpeter ore from them, so that you can test all kinds of gunpowder and finally get the best ratio." The problem is that in the human world, we have not found saltpeter mines. Those dwarves won't sell us saltpeter ore at all......"

Professor Bob cursed a few more words, but this time the target was the square-headed dwarves.

"Professor, I don't have a saltpeter mine, but I can provide you with a large amount of nitrate for gunpowder testing. That's what brought you here......" Lorist said.

"It's impossible to ......," the professor jumped up in shock: "How come you don't have a saltpeter mine and can provide a lot of nitrate? If you have a lot of nitrate, you can tell me the first time you come to the door......"

Lorist smiled and shook his head: "Professor, you should understand that gunpowder is a very powerful weapon, and it can even change the situation of Guelintlan's dominance. I don't want to be a thorn in someone's side for that. Nature is actually very wonderful, the human world has not found saltpeter mines, but there is a way to provide a large amount of nitrate, but no one has found it except me. If you're patient, you'll know what this method is when you get to my family domain. ”

"Tell me first, what's the solution?" the professor was a little impatient.

Lorist shook his head.

Professor Bob glared at Lorlister fiercely, and Lorist smiled unmoved.

"Okay, I'll trust you for once, you'd better not lie to me......" The professor conceded. There is no other way to admit defeat, everyone is on the boat, and they can't run away if they want to.

"There's a boat ahead, be on guard!" the lookout shouted overhead.

"Professor Bob, Lady Sivira, please rest in peace for a few days on the ship, take a look at the view of the sea, and when you reach my family domain, I am sure you will understand that not all nobles are abominable. If anything, please do whatever you need it, and I will do my best to satisfy both of you if you can. I took my leave. Lorist lowered his head and hurried to the top deck.

"Two large three-masted schooner merchant ships, four medium-sized two-masted fast-sailing merchant ships, and six medium-sized two-masted schoon-armed merchant ships, fanned around us, as if hostile! No, they planted flags of wine barrels and swords. They are the ships of the Chikde Chamber of Commerce! They are the enemy......"

Overhead, the screams of lookouts were heard, and the ships ahead were clearly discerning.

Lorist hurried up to the slipway, and saw the first mate, Old Jack, measuring a long rope fluttering in the wind with a strange ruler, and his mouth was still babbling, as if he was calculating something.

"Captain!" Old Jack soon shouted at Captain Wilson at the helm, "we are headwind, the speed is only eight knots, the group of bastards on the other side is downwind, half of them are fast sailboats, the speed has reached ten knots, at this speed we will not be able to make a big turn to avoid maneuvers, and in ten minutes we will be head-on into the ......"

"What's going on?" Lorist snapped.

"My lord, the fleet of the Chiked Chamber of Commerce on the other side obviously has bad intentions, and the commander of the fleet is very experienced, and the formation they have formed is to round us up, no matter which direction we break through, we will fall into the flank of the other two ships. Once they destroy our sails with long-range attacks, our ship's speed advantage will not be able to be exploited, and we will have to let them slaughter it. I would have liked to turn around and avoid it, but our ship has a deep draft on the wings, and if you turn a big circle, they will already be in contact with us......" Captain Wilson quickly explained.

"Avoid the two big ships on the other side, take a zigzag and rush through the middle of the two ships on the left, Joske, shoot down the sails of those two ships, El, change the rockets, let the crossbow shoot those ships at will......" Lorist thought for a moment, and immediately made a decision.

Josk stood in the bow of the ship, his green longbow drawn into a full moon. There was a thunderclap, a green bolt of lightning shot out of his hand, and almost in the blink of an eye, the medium-sized two-masted fast sail merchant ship that was speeding towards him was only fifty or sixty meters away, as if it had received an invisible punch, and the tallest mast at the rear of the ship shook twice and fell towards the bow......

Joske actually broke the mast with an arrow, and the speed of the medium-sized two-masted fast sailing merchant ship slowed down at once, and even changed direction and turned in circles on the sea, and the ship was in chaos. A gap appeared in front of everyone.

Joske bent his bow and aimed at another ship opposite, the crew of this ship had already noticed the power of Joske's arrows, and the helmsman began to zigzag the ship as well, no longer rampage straight ahead. There were also several bow-wielding crews, crowded to the bow of the ship to fire arrows in this direction, intending to interfere with Joske's aiming.

Josk was silent, and looked at the chaotic arrows flying from the opposite side, but this arrow did not work as well as the first, and broke the mast, but grazed the mast, and although it took away a large piece of wood, the mast was really fine. There was a burst of cheers from the sailors of the ship opposite. At this time, the two ships were only thirty or forty meters apart, and they were still approaching rapidly, and Lorist stood on the slipway and could clearly see that the sailors and crew members of the opposite ship were preparing for long-range attacks such as pulling out large crossbows and igniting fireballs.

Josk took a deep breath and shouted, the green longbow in his hand thunderclaped, and the screams and screams of the opposite ship were continuous, and the four or five sailors who were still holding bows in the bow just now fell to the deck with the green arrows stuck in their throats, and the sailors and crews who were busy on the deck all fell. These more than 20 people were hit by an arrow, and the deck was suddenly empty, and the rest of the people who were not hit by the arrow all found a place to hide, no one expected that the enemy's golden archer was so good, and this continuous shooting skill was already amazing.

A louder exclamation rang out, and the four sails of the medium-sized two-busted fast sail merchant ship opposite were full of four sails that were blown by the wind, and the bottom two large sails twisted and hung down in the wind. Just now four arrows from Joske broke the knots of the ropes that carried the two large sails, and the two large sails landed on the top of the deck on the burning fireball in the brazier, and the flames flew up, and the ship opposite suddenly became full of smoke and fire, and the lookout hand who was still on the mast lookout looked at the raging fire below, and jumped into the sea with a desperate scream......

Captain Wilson spun the rudder quickly, and the Flying Fish of the Dawn brushed lightly against the side of the burning medium-sized two-masted fast sail merchant ship, and they had rushed past the interception fleet of the Chicked Chamber of Commerce, and in front of them was a vast sea and sky. When this interceptor fleet turns around again and wants to chase the Exocet against the wind, the Exocet of Dawn can quickly throw them away with the advantage of speed.

"Release!" On the deck of a large three-masted schooner merchant ship more than 100 meters away, with an order, four or five fireballs shot out from the ship, but unfortunately the range was not enough, and the Exocet fell into the sea at a distance of more than ten meters from the distant Dawn Flying Fish.

A big man with a purple face looked at the Flying Fish in the distant morning light, and said lightly: "Don't fire any more fireball bombs, it's just a waste of time if the range is not enough." Release the petrel, tell the third young master that we failed to intercept, and then tell the third interceptor fleet, and tell them to pay attention to the fact that there is a very powerful golden archer on the other ship, who broke through our encirclement with the strength of one person, and also caused us to lose a boat. Leave one boat to save people, and the rest turn around and chase after them. Hopefully, the 3rd interceptor flotilla will not disappoint us. ”

"Yes, Admiral. A crew member hurriedly ran to give the order.

Another big man next to him asked, "Big brother, that boat is really weird, it's too slippery like a loach, and it's hard to catch up with us at our speed." ”

"It's okay, just do your best. The third young master never forgot this boat because it was too fast. Originally, if this ship was willing to stop and carry the third young master and send him to Moldant City, the third young master would not have been eliminated because of the difference of one day. The third interception fleet is led by the Grand Sword Master of Kumori, and the old Ali of the Admiral fleet is very experienced, and he has his own way to deal with that ship when he gets the news from us. If the boat wants to make a big turn, we chase it and surround it, and then it will not be able to fly. ”

The cheers on the Flying Fish in the morning light continued to sound, and the ability to rush through the enemy's interception unscathed made all the sailors and guards very excited and motivated.

Lorist watched the four or five fireballs fall far into the sea behind the ship, frowned, and asked, "What is that?"

Captain Wilson looked back, just in time to see the last fireball fall into the water: "Oh, that's a fireball bomb, my lord, this is the main long-range weapon in the sea battle, that is, it is made of clay, fine sand mixed with silk flax and fire oil, and finally mixed with glue vine juice to make a round ball the size of a human head, which is ignited when used and then fired on a special large crossbow, with a range of less than 100 meters."

It doesn't matter if this thing doesn't hit, it's very troublesome to shoot on the ship, it can't be doused with water, and it's still rolling around. Sometimes, with a bit of luck, a single fireball can wipe out a large sea ship. I've asked my family before if they are equipped with this weapon, but the shipyard says that our family has the latest long-range attack weapons, not to mention such backward things. ”

Lorist was about to speak, but saw El scolding and scolding onto the slipway.

"My lord, those steel crossbows are useless. El said.

"What's wrong?" asked Lorlist.

"My lord, although the range of the steel crossbow is long, it can not be aimed accurately, this is not on land, the sea is up and down, and the opposite side is not a military formation, just close your eyes and launch in one direction, one or two hundred meters away, those ships look the size of your palm, and they are all difficult to aim. And the iron bolts that were fired were of no avail, and I fired ten, and I hit two, one stuck in the hold and did nothing, and the other made a hole in the sail and flew somewhere...... "El complained.

Lorist was embarrassed, he took it for granted, and moved the chariot steel crossbow to the ship, only to know that this was not a long-range weapon suitable for sea engagement, and it was not as threatening as the fireball bullets fired by the Chikde Chamber of Commerce's fleet.

"My lord, the best distance for a long-range attack in a sea battle is thirty to fifty meters, and most of the ships that want to hit the opponent above this distance depend on luck, after all, everyone is on the sea, and the ships are constantly moving, so the range is not an advantage. The main thing in naval warfare now is to rely on broadside battles, and if the opponent has an advantage in forces, ordinary long-range attacks will not cause much damage to the enemy. Captain Wilson said from the side.

Loris nodded, "Thank you for your advice, Captain Wilson, and we'll discuss what kind of weapons are best for ...... when we get back."

Before he could finish speaking, he heard the lookout shouting again: "Ahead, there is a fleet in front of you!"

...... (To be continued.) )