January, Baston area

The earth entered the cold winter, the fat man sighed hot air to his almost frozen right hand, reined in the war horse, and looked at the sky in the distance.

The caravan consisted of a dozen flatbed wagons carrying goods, the ruts of which rolled up the white snow like dry ice on the ground, and at the rear of the caravan was a small city, with small stone walls like a fence surrounding the whole city, and the walls were piled up with snow up to several centimeters thick.

"The snow is too heavy, let's find a place to rest first, and then continue walking tomorrow!" the fat man beckoned to the guards behind him, and the garrison at the city gate saw that it was a group of cavalry from the regular army, and hurriedly straightened up

"Sue me, where is the warmest inn in the city!" the fat man asked in a loud voice as he stopped his horse in front of the garrison

There are not many small towns like this on the road, basically one every 50 miles, not so much a town, it is more appropriate to say a post station, the scale is not large, generally there are 7 to 8 inns and taverns or something, mainly for people to stop, these areas are generally distributed on the connection points of the city boundary, there is no village in front of the village, there is no store in front of the village,

Even if the fat man is a regular army, he is treated the same as a caravan in these places,

"Newport Hotel, go forward 200 meters and then turn left 50 meters!" The garrison looked at the fat man's general's armor, and then glanced at the thirty or so black-armored cavalrymen behind the fat man, and replied loudly with a little nervous expression, "The three-story house with a wooden oval sign on the door is, my lord, I can't guarantee that the food in that house is the best, but it is definitely the biggest in the town, there are so many of you, probably only there can be lived there!"

While the fat man was talking to the garrison, a caravan coming from the opposite direction also stopped at the gate of the town at the same time. The merchant above jumped out of the carriage and went to another garrison to register.

"Have you been running a lot of caravans lately?"

The fat man glanced casually in the direction of the caravan, plus the team that went out just now, he had already met the eighth caravan today, in order to rush back to Normandy to reunite with his wives, the fat man was a rare brave wind and snow

The garrison raised his head and said disapprerovingly, "My lord is right, since the construction of Haicheng began, the caravans on this road have almost increased several times, and today's caravans are quite small. Today's snow is too big, many caravans choose to wait, these people on the road are bold, this time is like this, the cold of heaven and earth, can not stop these merchants from seeking wealth Ah, for the sake of Xinhai Makoto, everyone is crazy!" "You mean, these merchants are heading for Xinhai City?" The fat man seemed to think of something. asked with a solemn face

"Of course, can't you see it?" the garrison nodded at him, sighed into the cloth-covered hand, and said, "You know." The construction of Xinhai City is the most popular topic now, and the huge coastal city is like the biggest heat source in this cold winter, attracting the attention of merchants all over the northwest coast. Five large ports, more than 80,000 workers, and a surprising amount of materials needed...... "If I were a businessman. I'll be tempted too!" The garrison's voice stopped, and he said with emotion, "It is said that there are even many chambers of commerce that have come from Ikadivar itself, to be honest, this kind of scene has not been seen for a long time after the unification of the Ikadivar continent!" The garrison shook his head, it didn't look like he was lying, "If I were you, go to the hotel I just mentioned immediately, otherwise the room might be tight at that time!"

"Hurry up ahead, okay! I still have to bring goods from here to Haicheng" An impatient voice came from behind, and another caravan came, not many people, five carriages, just as the fat man was talking, this was already the third team,

A wry smile appeared on the corner of the fat man's mouth, he was really crazy, and even the small caravan came to participate, "Okay, let's go in first!" The fat man rode into the town, and the streets were lined with temporary two-story houses made of wooden planks, newly painted and colorful, just like other towns in the coastal area, turning the road ahead, the fat man saw the three-story building with a wooden oval sign on the door that the garrison said, "Sword and Beauty!"

The fat man rolled his eyes at this popular name, and got down from the war horse, this inn is indeed the largest in the town, although it is only three floors, it occupies a length of more than fifty meters, and it should be more than 100 from the perspective of rooms, the fat man sent a guard to go in and book thirty-five rooms,

Behind the inn is a courtyard, the war horses are led into the stable, there are a lot of merchant carriages parked in it, some are full of goods, some are empty, some of the members of the caravan are chatting in twos and threes, seeing the army people entering, the merchant's face is not the slightest surprise, commonplace, it is not surprising to meet the army people on the road, this is the only way for Baston to the direction of Xinhai City, the army people are often on this road, the merchant's gaze stopped for a while and quickly shifted, the evil spirit on the soldier's body, at any time is a kind of oppressive force that people dare not face"Your Majesty, I've already taken over the entire third floor!" The guard who booked the room walked out with a large bunch of keys, "Okay, it's been a tiring day, let's rest early!"

The fat man waved his hand to the other guards, and walked into a somewhat simple room, the fat man sat on the bed, the room was very small, and the skylight was above his head, because the cold had been closed, and one end of the bed was facing the round window, and there was a living room of about 20 square meters outside, which was the top room of the hotel,

After hesitating for a moment, the fat man leaned on the bed and took out a copy of Wen Jiàn from his clothes, which was a report delivered by the Ministry of Supervision, and several princesses arrived at the same time, which not only caught the fat man off guard, but also made the nerves of the Ministry of Supervision collapse to the extreme,

"It seems that the report of the Ministry of Supervision is not groundless!" The fat man's eyes swept over the report written by the urgent investigation, and a helpless wry smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and the situation outside just confirmed the authenticity of this report

In this report, which is full of accidents, the fat man suddenly discovers that he has inadvertently ignited the wolf smoke of a war, and with the rapid expansion of O'Barro's overseas land, it has set off a great storm within the empire's business community.

After more than half a year of strong external expansion, the Falcon Empire has derived a vast area from Normandy known as the New Land. This area has the Duchy of Baston, the Duchy of Bres, the Marquesate of O'Acha, the Duchy of Bangor, the city of Rwanaca and other large and small, connected by a narrow strip of coast for more than a thousand miles, this area, in terms of area, has been equal to one-tenth of the land of the Ikadivar continent, in terms of population. The population of this narrow area has exceeded 700,000 after the capture of Bangor in December.

In the face of such a huge cake, the merchants of Ikadivar have begun to act,

In the Battle of Biye Valley, the Falcon Kingdom defeated the Southwest Army, establishing the status of the Lord of the Northwest in one fell swoop and stabilizing the internal environment of Dìng. The gradual improvement of the road network and the strong military support have also aroused the ambitions of domestic merchants, and the development of maritime trade has moved from domestic trade. rapidly developed into trade between two continents,

Not only the eyes of the Chamber of Commerce, but even several domestic forces have quickly focused on the new region. There is enough population to function, there is a vast land, and there is a natural harbor. With the escort of the Imperial Navy and the protection of His Majesty the Falcon, what else is there to worry about?

And this time, several major princesses in China went to the new land collectively, which sent a clear message to the country.

The big forces behind these princesses have finally begun to stretch out their hands to the new land area, if they are still hesitating now, and when everything is a foregone conclusion, what they will miss is not only hope, but also the opportunity to soar into the sky.

The fat man stood in front of the oval window on the top floor, looking at the snowy world outside the window with blazing eyes, only he knew that the northwest was not as calm as most people saw, although it was not an undercurrent, but it was definitely a precursor to the stormy capture of Algernon Katya finally returned to the Algernon family with a ransom of up to 8 million, it is also ironic, it was Julil Lsford who wanted to kill him before and then quickly interceded,

Fort Julilsford, who had just become the head of the new southern district, urgently needed to show his ability to the southwestern army that was fighting a bloody battle with the non-Congo army, and to do this, there was naturally no better thing than saving the former southwestern commander-in-chief, and it didn't take too much effort to do it

The estimate is correct, 8 million gold coins, this is already the limit of the cash that the Algernon family can take out in a short period of time after the blow has just been hit, if it is more, it is estimated that the Algernon family has to ask His Majesty the Gallic Emperor to borrow it,

In that case, the variables caused are likely to make the situation out of control, Gao Ming knew that the Vecchia Falcon was deliberately blackmailing himself, and the Algernon family finally had to swallow this bitter fruit, the Algernon family lost the southwest, and was injured in the northwest, it is said that the parade of the spring curtain season just past January, the pomp of the Algernon family, who had done their best to show their wealth, could be described as miserable.

After receiving the money, the fat man was a little reluctant to order the release of the people, and personally watched the whole process of Algernonkatya being released. Algernonkatya, who had been under house arrest in the dungeon for more than thirty days, seemed to have come from afar to weep bitterly, as if he wanted to vent all his grievances and frustration through crying. The battle of Biye Valley completely destroyed the confidence of Algernon Katya, who was hailed as the most outstanding military genius of the younger generation, and anyone thought he was either crazy or stupid. will run to Biye Valley stupidly, and in the end, it will be served with tens of thousands of troops.

The destruction of confidence is far more tragic than the death in battle, brocade clothes and jade food, never suffered blows and setbacks, thought that he could control a qiē, but found that in fact it was just the object of the other party's tricks, it is said that Algernon Katya, who returned to Gallic Kyoto, did not even dare to go out of the door, and several times there was news of beating the servants, the kind of monkey that turned around around him, dripping eyes, it is estimated that no one else can really understand the taste except for the parties.

At the same time as the fat man rushed to Normandy, in the sea area of Xinhai City, some uninvited guests from the south began to appear,

In winter, the sea gradually becomes gloomy with the cold, the sky is full of black and oppressive clouds, most of the time it is bitterly cold, the air is extraordinarily dry and cold, there is no snow on the sea, but there is rain. The rain fell on the sea, splashing extremely small and beautiful splashes. The sea gradually became gray in the drizzle, and the visibility was very low, only the constant ripple of the sea. As if anticipating the impending storm, five Dragon's Tooth warships quietly appeared on the nearby sea, this is the detachment in charge of the cruise, the mast of the Dragon-class flagship is undisguised with a large Falcon Navy flag fluttering in the wind, and the drizzle makes it impossible to see any ships on the sea with extremely low visibility two thousand meters away.

Captain Potakdi of the Dragon's Tooth No. 139 stood on the foremost deck of the Dragon's Tooth Battleship, raising his lookout scope to see the sea in the distance, as a cruising fleet, he received reports from some caravans that someone had seen an unknown naval warship nearby. The Admiralty suspected that this was the Navy of the Congo Empire that had been transferred from the southwestern seas, and in a sense, the Admiralty had no plans to engage it for the time being, and the Admiralty Duströnkay had already reported the matter to His Majesty the Falcon, but had not yet received a reply

The Admiralty could only order the cruising fleet to be vigilant and deploy near the Haicheng area, as the future base camp of the Imperial Navy, Duströmkai had no intention of letting anyone peep at his new home at will, and the three cruising fleets were ordered to set off. Searching in three directions respectively, in fact, Potakdi did not expect his luck to be so good, he searched along the north. If the enemy is coming from the south, they should not appear in this area

But a small black dot in the distance still caught his attention, and he couldn't see it very clearly. Faintly, it seems that you can see the outline of the sail battleship, which is a large battleship. Five or six small and medium-sized warships followed, "My lord, the detachment orders to meet it!" Overhead, the voice of the flag-bearer on the mast came overhead, "Catch up? Is this going to war?" Potakdi froze unexpectedly, the commander of this detachment was Joseph, the rudeest of the imperial privateering fleet, but also the most aggressive, at this moment on the flagship Dragon-class battleship of the detachment, Joseph stood on the deck, like a condensed statue. His eyes were like lightning staring at the black spots on the sea in the distance that were getting closer and closer, and in the blink of an eye, the distance between the two sides quickly approached to about a kilometer.

The wind and rain pierced the deck, and the fleets of the two sides could already vaguely see the situation on both sides through the white raindrops floating in front of them, and on the opposite side came a large sail warship, plus four medium-sized warships, this kind of equipment was more like a reconnaissance team,

The huge sail is divided into two layers, the top and bottom are almost the same wide, blown by the wind like a semi-round ball, the huge almost covers the side of the warship, the sail is long, with a hard angle of ten meters, from a distance it looks like a row of knights wearing armor and holding a spear, the pointed triangular bow is like a sharp sword like a sharp speed to split the wind and waves in front, the momentum is violent, with an unstoppable arrogance, like five hungry wolves from the opposite sea swoop

"This is the navy of the Gangfei Empire!" Joseph's pupils constricted, and he saw clearly the flag of the Gangfei Empire Navy on the opponent's warship through the gossiscope glass, his face looked very solemn, and there seemed to be a flame bursting in his deeply sunken eye sockets,

But he tried hard to control his own feelings, the unique shape of the opponent's sail warship, let many years of sailing experience let him know that once this kind of fast assault warship with full wind power enters the downwind direction, it will inevitably be like a spike off the string, fiercely plunged into the opponent's ship group, and then use the hard angle of the front end to open the opponent's stomach, in such a nearly freezing sea, if a person falls into the seawater, he will freeze to death because of the cold in a very short time, and the chance of surviving is almost negligible, in such a harsh environment, the biggest weapon of the warship is speed, as long as it penetrates the enemy's ship deck, no matter how large the warship is, it will fall into a situation of destruction, "whether to meet or avoid!" Joseph's face hesitated, and the Admiralty had not yet issued an order for battle

"Admiral, the other party is gaining the upper hand!" said the nervous voice of the lookout overhead

"Bastard, this should be regarded as a declaration of war!"

Joseph scolded very unwillingly, in the battle at sea, whoever can seize the upper hand position first is equivalent to grasping the initiative in this encounter, the opponent is a very fast sail light warship, and the cold and biting sea water is their greatest weapon. As long as you use the wind, you can easily strengthen the impact of your own fleet,

"Admiral, the ships have sent a request for war, thinking that the other side has the intention of going to war!" shouted the lookout post on the mast

Joseph hesitated for a moment, and finally raised his hand to measure the speed and direction of the wind. shouted loudly, "The fleet turns 11 degrees to the left, and orders the 2 fast ships that are in the vanguard to immediately seize the upper hand!" As the order was given, the fastest dragon tooth ship in the two fleets quickly separated from the ship group,

The cold wind howled. The sails of the warship swelled and creaked, and the originally scattered fleet began to move to the left, like a giant beast running on the sea, drawing a huge upward slope on the calm sea, and the sound of the heavy bow crashing against the ice floe was constantly heard in front.

"500 meters!"

"300 meters"

The opposing fleet had no intention of slowing down

"Attention, port side!"

With a terrible shout coming from the side, a warship with a wide body guarding the flanks was hit head-on because it couldn't dodge, "Bang! The sound of the ship's side tearing was particularly harsh in the howling sea breeze, and the broken wood was scattered, like two huge icebergs colliding together, and between the lightning and flint, the sail warship of the Gangnon Empire had penetrated deep into the flank of the cruising fleet like a cluster of arrows, opening a terrifying hole, and countless broken planks flowed out with the sea, and the cold sea water was pouring into the hole, and the mast hanging the sail was heavy down, and the deck was in a mess, and the corpses were all over the ground, drenched in blood, and the wounded were lying in a pool of blood and groaning in pain.

"Bastard, kill it!"

In an instant, Joseph's angry roar almost pierced through the two decks, everyone knew that this dragon tooth ship had suffered a heavy blow, and suddenly their eyes were red, "boom", countless red lights shot out from the sides of the dragon-class battleship and other dragon tooth ships with full anger,

Countless splashes of water boiled the sea with the firelight, and the decks of the two triumphant sail warships turned into powder in an instant.

Countless shells had already smashed several holes in the deck, and at the same time left forty or fifty gaps in the side of the ship, and the huge explosion lifted the entire deck into the air, and the people and things on it rained down like raindrops.

The fierce counterattack of the cruising fleet completely frightened the non-imperial fleet half to death, and the four sail warships sailing with the wind quickly turned and fled (to be continued......