(4th Watch)

More than a month ago, the Norman Offshore Fleet made a surprise attack on Constantinople and carried out smashing, looting, burning and sabotage activities in Cam Ranh Bay. Therefore, another fierce man in Eastern Rome, Her Royal Highness Lilianu, personally stepped out. Taught them a good lesson.

After that, the commander of the Norman Offshore Fleet, Field Marshal Carter, accepted it when he saw it. Lead the fleet away. There was no chance for Her Highness Lilianu to show her talents.

The news soon reached the city, and the Ecumenical Patriarch Sergius II was very excited. High-profile announcement of the possession of such a heroic crown prince of Her Royal Highness the princess. The future of the Roman Empire must be bright. The commanders of the other legions were extremely embarrassed and regretful. This was followed by an unusual fear.

If they had a reason not to go out before this, they said that the enemy army was strong, and I was afraid that it would be difficult to win in a hurry, and so on. But Her Royal Highness the Princess's expedition this time proved that the other party was nothing more than a few thousand pirates who were not well-equipped. It can be defeated with a few thousand wrestling slaves who have been improvised - oh, Lilianu's guards now. No more than not knowing, one compares. But it makes people feel that these generals guarding Constantinople are simply a group of wine bags and rice bags.

However, Her Royal Highness the princess is very generous. Just when the generals were sincerely frightened and didn't know what to do, Her Royal Highness the Princess took the initiative to gather them. It is said that they discussed how to write a letter to their father, the emperor, Basil II, who was on a foreign expedition, to report this matter.

The generals had the intention of suppressing the matter - but on second thought, thousands of pirates had invaded Constantinople, Cam Ranh Bay had been half destroyed, and the towers on the northeast side of Constantine had been bombarded by enemy ballistas. There are so many big things that can't be suppressed no matter what. And as the main party, Her Royal Highness the Princess, who has become the hero of Constantinople, is the one who decides his life and death with a word. Many generals shook their heads and sighed, not knowing how much money they would have to extort this time when the handle was held in the hands of Her Royal Highness the princess.

"Let's destroy the wealth and eliminate the disaster, people are princesses, what else can we do?" the generals comforted each other.

The results surprised the generals greatly. Her Royal Highness the Princess was very surprised at the meeting: "Isn't it the truth: tens of thousands of well-armed pirates from the other side came ashore to rob Cam Ranh Bay. After that, the main palace took everyone to fight together, and then repelled them?"

The generals of the Eastern Romans heard this from Her Royal Highness the Princess. Immediately, they echoed with a smile. But I didn't expect Her Royal Highness the princess to give face so much. Not only will she not write to His Majesty the Emperor to punish her, but she will share her own military exploits with everyone. So generous and loving. Sure enough, it deserves the demeanor of my heir to the Roman Empire.

Then Her Royal Highness invited the generals to the theater to see the latest plays, and then watched a fierce battle in the gladiatorial arena between lions brought from Africa and tigers from the Caspian Sea. In the end, they were feasted on the most luxurious food. In the middle of the night, the drunken generals accepted the gift of the princess as a gift of delicate maids-two each......

In this way, the generals received the benefits of Her Royal Highness the Princess, owed Her Royal Highness the favor, and accepted the beauty of Her Royal Highness the Princess, the spy. The generals initially bowed down under the pomegranate skirt of Her Royal Highness the Princess. Basil II, who was far away in Budapest, also received reports that were not quite the same.

Of course, Her Royal Highness the princess also has a clear priority. Therefore, the description of the enemy is basically correct. Thus did not prevent Basil II from being furious, scolding the Admiral of the Black Sea Fleet and later rewarding his good daughters and the loyal generals of Constantinople. After that, the Aegean Fleet, the Adriatic Fleet, and the Mediterranean Fleet, which had been tasked with transporting troops to southern Italy, must intercept the damned, barbarian fleet, and then send all the enemy warships into the Mediterranean to feed the king.

In this way, Marshal Carter was unlucky, and he ran headlong into the encirclement network composed of more than 600 warships of various types of the three fleets of the Eastern Roman Empire.

In a normal state, the Eastern Roman fleet outnumbered the Norman fleet by six or seven times. Despite the fact that the Norman fleet was heavily armed with scorpion crossbows. But the Eastern Roman warships also had the super secret weapon of Greek firearms. Coupled with the sheer numerical superiority, it is not difficult to win. ...,

However, fortunately, a storm before this also patronized the Eastern Roman fleet. And it seems that the other party was not very lucky to find a harbor to escape the storm, so he was seriously injured in this storm. Dozens of warships that were not of good quality, or were not lucky enough, were simply dismantled into pieces. The Greek soldiers were swept to the bottom of the sea by the waves and went down to feed the king. And the rest of the battleships were not comfortable, the deck was in shambles, some of the battleships had broken masts, some of the battleships had broken sails, some of the battleships had broken sides, and so on.

And when General Carter looked at his own fleet, because he hid in time, he suffered much less trauma. In other words, it is not necessarily without the strength of a fight. At the same time, now the east wind is great, it is the moment for their own sail. If it is blessed by the Lord of hosts, it is not known that this battle will be won completely.

Thinking of this, General Carter's blood boiled. Shouting loudly: "Raise the sails and rush out in formation"

Immediately afterwards, there were tax collectors holding two small flags, one red and one green, and climbed to the mast like a monkey, and condescendingly waved the flag.

Immediately afterwards, the Norman fleet was immediately reorganized from a dense formation to a prismatic formation, and the distance between the warships was just enough to support each other's firepower against the surrounding warships, but it did not appear too dense. In order to prevent the opponent from using Greek fire, your own fleet will not be able to dodge, and then it can burn to a piece of this tragedy.

Seeing that their warships were getting closer and closer to each other, and on the deck, Vikings and sailors were also busy running back and forth, carrying the munitions and supplies in the cabin to the deck, picking up a large crossbow arrow in the shape of a spear with a barb, and wrapping a piece of cloth around it, and under the cloth head was a leather bag with fire oil - this is the large arrow used by ballista warships, which is special for naval warfare.

The Norman soldiers hurriedly took out their torches, lit the cloth heads, and placed the bolts into the grooves of the scorpion crossbows. Aim.

"Launch"

In an instant, in the front row of the Norman fleet's prismatic array, a total of twenty-eight improved ballista battleships, together with a heavy ballista battleship, a total of more than thirty dangerous, burning giant crossbow arrows roared towards the opposite battleship - this time, it startled the Eastern Roman fleet, which was closely preparing bows and arrows, and engaged in broadside battles and Greek firearms.

In war, whoever has the longest range of weapons has the upper hand -- this is especially true in naval warfare. It is for this reason that Norman ballista warships roamed the northern seas and went south to the Mediterranean, and it was for this reason that Norman warships were able to fire powerful long-range giant crossbow arrows, which was also known to the Eastern Romans. But I have heard of it and I have heard of it, but it is the first time I have seen it.

This first round of ballista attacks, although the range is adequate. But because of the direction of the wind, the actual effect was much better than expected - on the opposite side, a total of four Eastern Roman warships were hit, and the sharp crossbow bolts directly tore through the wooden hull, and then the leather bags in the cabin or on the deck were opened due to the violent impact, and the flames spread directly......

"Fire, extinguish the fire," shouted the Eastern Roman soldiers in panic, sailing on the sea - the ship was burned, and it was no joke

The soldiers immediately hurriedly put buckets into the sea, lifted the seawater, and then extinguished the fire.

So here, the Eastern Roman soldiers made another mistake here.

Oil fires cannot be extinguished with water - this has been made clear in the previous chapters when the city of Naples was broken. But the Eastern Roman soldiers didn't know - so the Eastern Roman soldiers were tragic.

As the ships burned little by little, the soldiers began to change their firefighting strategies, holding guns and oars, or taking off their clothes and slapping the flames. But the effect is also not obvious. In this way, these Eastern Roman galleys were quickly surrounded by fire and devoured......

Then came the second round of attacks - the Norman warships had come to a steady halt and were ready to shoot at the Eastern Roman fleet.

"Damn it, charge, rush over, and you can teach these grandsons a lesson with Greek fire," the Greek generals saw that this was not the way to go, and ordered to take the initiative. A total of more than 600 Eastern Roman warships, tens of thousands of Eastern Roman navy shouted loudly and rushed towards the Normans. It's just that, because of the direction of the wind, the sails of these ships have been put away. It's just that the slaves are paddling, and it's not fast enough.

"Charge at us and break through their encirclement," ordered the Norman commander, Field Marshal Carter—a total of one hundred and twenty-three Norman warships with fully fully sailed, painted black sails, and the Norman letters on the sails looking extremely intimidating.

At this moment, even the Eastern Roman soldiers who no longer looked down on the so-called "barbarians". It's all starting to get serious. Gather all your strength to deal with these difficult opponents.

In the process of charging each other, the Norman fleet fired two more volleys, and the battleships of the Eastern Romans on the sea were set on fire. Some of them staggered and sank little by little. Others have succeeded in extinguishing the flames after slowing down. He pounced on him like a fierce god. Seeing that the fleets of both sides are getting closer and closer. The soldiers on both sides also let out an earth-shattering roar at the same time. On the side of the ship, archers spread their bows and arrows, and pirates and sailors waved their weapons and shouted curses. A big war is about to start............ ，