Upon hearing the Spartan king's question, the dragon smiled and immediately replied, "Your Majesty Leonidas is right!

Ptolemy, the commander of the navy sitting in the crowd, was stunned for a moment, and then said with a wry smile: "Your Excellency, the navy has suffered a lot of losses in the previous breakthrough, and now we have lost the strong coastal defense fortress of Giant's Port, and we are also responsible for defending the west coast of the Sea of Qin and protecting the flanks of Hot Springs. ”

Elrens nodded: "I also understand that the burden on the marshal's shoulders is not light, but the defense of the Adriatic Sea is equally important, and my requirements are not high, I believe that Your Excellency can do it." ”

Ptolemy asked curiously, "Is it so?" I ask your Excellency to speak up, and if this is the case, I will give it my full support. ”

"My request is to ask the marshal to transfer the Southern Naval Fleet to Illyria and merge with the old ships in the Adriatic Sea to form a new Western Fleet!" replied the dragon with a smile.

"Southern Naval Fleet?" the Admiral thought with a frown.

About half a year ago, Princess Celestia Cleo and Elrens and others attacked the Athenian-controlled Delos Floating Island, which not only succeeded in one fell swoop, but also formed an alliance with the Athenians. At the time, Ptolemy was in an alliance with the vice-regent Melaglos, and relations with the royal family of Pera of Cleo were strained. Since Princess Celestia took control of Delos, the Southern Naval Fleet was driven out of the base.

Ptolemy knew that the Southern Naval Fleet was no match for the opposing Floating Islands and the Puppet Legion. What's more, there is also Elrens, a powerful black dragon. In order not to increase the conflict with the royal family, the admiral ordered the fleet to withdraw from the port of Paros and choose another place to be stationed. The main force of Ptolemy's command was the Northern Naval Fleet, which was originally stationed in Giant's Harbor. After the Delos incident, the morale of the already weak Southern Navy fleet was even lower, and it could only take on some secondary tasks. If this fleet is only transferred to Illyria, it will indeed not have too much impact on the defense of the Sea of Koto.

Thinking of this, Ptolemy finally nodded and said, "Since Lord Ellens said so, then well, I will transfer the fleet to Illyria as soon as possible." But do you have a port there that you can use as a base?"

"Not yet. Elrence shook his head, "But there are plenty of deep-water bays to the west of Illyria. It shouldn't be too difficult to rebuild a temporary port. ”

The admiral thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I will send an experienced engineering force to assist you." ”

With the support of the fleet as a basis, Elrens was sure that he would be able to resist the Western Romans.

Then the king of Sparta asked, "But even so." The strength of the newly formed Western Fleet is also incomparable to that of Western Rome, and if the other side is really determined to send troops into battle, I am afraid that it will be easy to defeat you in a decisive battle at sea!"

The dragon shook his head: "Who said I was going to duel with them at sea?"

Leonidas was stunned and wondered, "But if you don't defeat the opposing fleet." How can we prevent the other side from crossing the sea and landing?"

"It's simple. I'm going to strike first and take the initiative to cross the sea and attack the other side!" Ellens said confidently, as if describing an easy matter.

"What?!" everyone was shocked when they heard this!

Leonidas couldn't help but object, "Although Western Rome has many internal strife, it is a great power after all, whether it is its navy or army, it is far beyond the strength we can mobilize in the Adriatic Sea, plus the Holy See of Bright Heaven has a large number of top magicians. The current Pope, Gregory VII, has been even more famous for many years! We are still unstoppable in our full defense, with such a few dilapidated warships and a pitifully small number of army troops. If you take the initiative to attack, you will definitely lose!"

Everyone agreed with the words of the King of Sparta, and Olympias also frowned and persuaded: "Your Excellency, although you are powerful, after all, the war cannot be decided by your own strength alone, is it too risky for you to make such a plan?"

Elrence smiled and said, "You misunderstood me, in fact, I didn't plan to fight the other party, although I took the initiative to attack, but I will not fall in love with the war, let alone try to occupy the enemy's territory." Just make a gesture, and after a quick landing and destruction, you will immediately turn around and return to Illyria. ”

"What do you mean......" Leonidas had a lot of experience in combat after all, and when he heard this, he somewhat understood the dragon's plan.

"That's right, I'm just going to scare the snake!" the dragon nodded and said, "If Western Rome were to attack us, they would definitely gather the strength of the whole country to cross the sea and land in the southern Balkans, otherwise it would be difficult to play a decisive role." But I first attacked Pescara, an important seaport city on the other side of the Adriatic Sea, and the other side would not have thought that we would have the courage to attack first, and Pescara is a demilitarized port, so we must be empty of guards, and we have a great chance of success, and then burn and loot and leave quickly. By the time they reacted, we would have already returned to Illyria!"

At this time, Ptolemy also nodded his head while thinking and agreed: "This plan is indeed feasible...... Pescara was a direct domain of the Holy See, close to the Roman city where the Holy See was located, and after a successful sneak attack, Gregory VII had to reconsider the merits of entering the war. After all, they want to attack us across the sea with all their national strength, and even if they win, it will be difficult for the Holy See to get the most benefit. Moreover, the country is empty after the expedition, and if we attack Pescara again, or even attack its capital Rome in a big way, then the Holy See will probably face unacceptable losses!"

Elrens smiled and said, "As long as we succeed in sneak attacks, they won't go into battle easily." As far as the Holy See is concerned, if it wins, it can only cheapen others, and once it fails, it will have to bear the losses alone, unless Pope Gregory VII is a fool, he will certainly not be willing to make such a loss-making deal! Of course, when we sneak attack, we also need to grasp the scale, and we must not let the other side lose too much, so that the Holy See will not be annoyed and angry, and will send troops to retaliate desperately. ”

Since the plan seemed to be feasible, everyone's mood was not as heavy as before. As long as you are careful, the two fronts in the west and northeast should be able to keep your ability to keep them safe, at least the southern Balkans can be spared the ravages of war, and with a little luck, when the enemy is exhausted, you can counterattack and even recover the lost territory in Pera and the northern Balkans!

Admiral Ptolemy breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "Your Excellency, I will make full preparations immediately after the meeting, it is estimated that the Southern Navy fleet will be able to set off for Illyria in just a week, I wonder when you plan to attack Western Rome?"

Elrence thought for a moment and replied, "No hurry. If Western Rome were to attack the southern Balkans in a big way, it would certainly require a long period of mobilization. Before that, I'm going to make a trip to Anatonia. ”

"To Anatonia?" the crowd was once again taken aback by the dragon's words.

Anatonia is located to the east of the Balkan continent, separated by the vast Sea of Kono. Since ancient times, the Olympian League has established a number of city-states in the western part of the Anatonian continent, the most famous of which is the Troy Troy City. Due to its strategic importance, the Olympian League had a strong presence in Troy, including the Eastern Floating Fleet and the Anatonian Legion.

However, since the siege of Pera two years ago, the forces here have gradually been transferred to the northern front to support, and their strength has declined. Later, the vice-regent Melaculus was killed for rebellion, and the commander of the Eastern Floating Fleet, Admiral Polybercon, was his sworn enemy, and he simply surrendered to the Nicaean (now Eastern Rome), and even the Trojan Kingdom and the Anatonian Legion were coerced by him and had to surrender to the enemy together.

Since then, the Olympian Coalition has completely lost all power on the continent of Anatonia. At this time, the evil dragon said that he was going there, and everyone looked at each other, not knowing what he was for.

Seeing everyone's curious expressions, Elrence explained with a smile: "We have nearly 100,000 troops on the Anatonian continent and the not weak Eastern Floating Fleet, although they have surrendered to the enemy, most of them are not sincere, but they are only coerced and lured by Polybeccon, so they have to endure for the time being. If these two forces can be regained, not only will their land forces be able to greatly strengthen the defense capability of Thermopylae, but the Eastern Floating Fleet will also be of great help to our plan to attack Western Rome. ”

"So you're going to rebel against them?" Marshal Antigonus, the former commander of the Anatonian Legion, was very interested in the dragon's plan, but he was not very optimistic about his success, shook his head and said, "To be honest, I have had this idea for a long time. However, the generals of the Eastern Floating Fleet were all old subordinates who had followed Polybecon for many years, and although they were dissatisfied with his surrender to the enemy, they would not easily rise up and rebel. As for the Anatonian Legion, it has been disarmed, and there is a group of elite Eastern Roman soldiers stationed near its barracks, and if there is any change, I am afraid that it will be suppressed immediately, and I personally think that your plan will not succeed......"

(To be continued......)