Field Marshal Dali Einfurt, commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, led his senior generals, staff officers, attendants and other close people to board the flagship of the operation, the super-first sail battleship "Hegemony".

This huge battleship is the sister ship of the Empire's number one ace, the "Killing Angel", and it also belongs to the "Orca-class" super first class battleship standard.

At present, there are four warships of this class, namely the "Killing Angel", the special seat ship of the Emperor's Imperial Expedition, and the flagship of the sub-fleet "Hegemony", "Trident", and "Valstadian".

The four giant ships come from the same shipyard, the hands of the same craftsmen, and the specifications of weapons and equipment are exactly the same, but the interior decoration of the VIP cabins on the other three ships is not as luxurious as the emperor's throne ship, and the bow statue of the "Hegemony" is also much simpler, just a wooden carved and painted lion.

The 15,000 officers and men of the expedition marched to the dock in an orderly manner, and they formed a narrow and dense column and boarded dozens of pot-bellied transport ships in batches.

Numerous large sail battleships, cruisers, and frigates took part in the escort, keeping the transports in a safe position in the middle, and this huge task force was a spectacular spectacle that many people had never seen in their lifetimes, and the shore near the harbor was filled with painters who came to sketch.

With the blessings of the send-off, the fleet left the harbor and began its long journey across the ocean to the colonies of the New World.

The first three days of the voyage were a great pleasure for most of the soldiers, who rarely sailed, their accommodation was excellent, not crowded at all, the barns were dry and tidy, and each man's hammocks were far apart.

The transport ship was equipped with a full medical cabin and professional doctors, and the sick and wounded were given soft beds in the convalescence room, for which many people pretended to be sick.

In addition to the three daily rations, the soldiers were given a rotating tour of the spacious entertainment cabins, where each person was given a cup of rye beer and a handful of the famous praline chocolate candies from the town of Candi, and the officers supervised that their men must eat one orange a day to prevent scurvy.

However, all this joy faded with the passage of time, and after about a week, the curiosity of the soldiers faded away, and the loneliness caused by the long voyage found them, and many suffered from mild depression, and some devout believers became upset because they could not attend prayers and evening prayers on time, and even began to go on hunger strike.

Fortunately, Marshal Dalí had everything in mind, and he had a priest of the Templar Church on each transport, as well as a psychiatrist licensed to practice medicine.

Even so, in the second week of the journey, three soldiers chose to drown by jumping into the sea because they missed their families too much, and another officer claimed that he had dreamed of demons, saying that he was too fallen to face the gods, and that he followed the priest to make one last evening prayer and committed suicide by swallowing rat poison in the middle of the night.

A month after the expeditionary force set sail, the attrition caused by non-combat was already very serious.

In the early morning of April 3, the journey is coming to an end, and we will soon reach the shores of the New World.

Admiral Remington, the captain of the battleship "Hegemony", the flagship of the fleet, came to the command room and made a daily report to the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, the Elector, Field Marshal Dali Einfurt.

"Your Excellency, the situation yesterday was not optimistic, according to the news from the ships, four more people in the fleet were killed."

"What? How? I want to hear a detailed debriefing! ”

General Remington's expression was worried, sweat slid down his forehead, and he didn't know whether it was the stuffiness of the cabin or psychological reasons, he took a report from his pocket and read it:

"Yesterday afternoon, there was an accident on board the cruiser 'Sunny Sky', and Lieutenant Sailor Fry, who was repairing a closed compartment, was hit in the head by a hammer that fell from above, and died after rescue efforts failed." With that, General Remington paused and secretly observed the commander's expression.

Dali said with a gloomy face: "This is a poor organization! Be sure to punish those in charge! Don't stop, keep reading! ”

"Yesterday evening, Major Dante, the first mate on board the corvette 'Hummingbird', died of alcohol poisoning due to excessive drinking."

Dali slapped the table angrily, "How many times is this?" As I said a long time ago, they can't be indulged in alcoholism! The army can follow orders, why are you navy people still unrepentant? ”

Admiral Valero bowed his head in shame, "I'm sorry, my lord, I sent a message at noon to ask the ships to strictly control drinking. ”

Dali turned his head and shouted at the captain, "Keep reading!" It could be heard in his tone that he was already very angry, and the officers present knew that Marshal Dalí was an extremely rational man, quite tolerant of unavoidable accidents, but deeply hated accidents caused by human negligence.

"Last night, there was a misfortune on board the transport ship 'Big Fat Dunjack', Corporal Arrow, a grenadier of the 3rd Division, who shot himself, and before the accident, there were witnesses who saw him talking to himself incessantly, and looked like a crazy ......"

Just as the captain was reporting, a loud noise was heard, and the officers felt a violent shaking under their feet, and many army officers in the flagship command room panicked.

"Don't panic! Our boat is fine! How shaky is this...... Apparently a shell has fallen into the nearby water, rest assured! Even if it really hits the hull, it won't sink this big ship! Admiral Valero calmed the crowd and shouted:

"This is our navy's business, please take refuge in the inner cabin, and the naval officer will follow me to the deck!"

"I'm not a layman," Dali said, "and I'll take a look." ”

"We'll go too!" Gavin and Poigni said in unison.

When I came to the deck, I found that the sailors were already busy, and there was no sign of panic, only professional and calm preparations for naval battle, everyone performed their duties, the helmsman calmly controlled the rudder, the first mate stood on the bridge and commanded loudly, and was ordering people to climb the mast to adjust the ropes, "Put away the spinnaker in the bow!" Put away the broadside assist sails! ”

"What's going on, where is the enemy?" Admiral Valero, the commander of the fleet, and Admiral Remington, the captain of the ship, ran over to ask the first mate.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here! I'm about to send someone to the command room to find you! See that fog? The Sylvinian fleet hides inside and fires at us,"

Marshal Dalí raised his binoculars and quickly saw the clue: "Damn it! They must have laid an ambush here a long time ago, first confirmed our position with small boats, and then the whole fleet fired a salvo here! ”

"Exactly," said the first mate, "but their attack caused no damage, the flagship was intact, and we only had one sloopted boat sunk, and the other ships were each slightly damaged, and it seems that the size of the enemy fleet is the same." ”

The captain of the ship, Admiral Remington, looked full of fighting spirit, "These Sylvinians really don't know whether to live or die, their generals must have underestimated the strength of our escort fleet, and they will soon arrive in the New World, before the land battle, give their navy a lesson!" ”

"Well said!" Admiral Valero shouted: "Our ships are strong! The escort fleet obeys orders! There is no need to form a line and line up, the wind is in our favor! Rush straight up to the broadside battle! Defeat them! End the battle with thunder! ”