Chapter 28 Bait

It has been five days since we left Rome. The mentality of the sailors and soldiers of the Norman fleet has gradually begun to recover. Although Constantinople was beautiful and built by New Rome, it is the largest city in Europe. However, Krakow of the Norman Empire is actually not much different. In addition to Krakow, several Norman capitals and the emerging port city of Kelsson. In terms of prosperity, there are not much difference in Constantinople. If we talk about defense capabilities, then the "Moscow Absolute Defensive Circle" that the Norman Empire is now fully committed to building is definitely much stronger than Constantinople. Smolensk, which was ceded from Moscow, was vowed by Egil to build the world's number one fortress. In addition, Oslo, the largest military city of the empire, has a different atmosphere.

So, the soldiers and sailors just looked at it fresh at the beginning, and then they didn't feel anything. Unlike the locals in several other countries, they were blinded by Constantine's wealth and glory. As a result, in a few days, hundreds of soldiers were arrested for violating the laws and regulations. There were also a few Greek women who were forced to "beat" and were beaten to death by Constantine's citizens. This almost caused a war between the Crusaders and the Greeks.

As a result, nearly a thousand people from the other five countries were abandoned. They ran away from each other. The ones who ran the most were the temporary recruits from Bavaria, accounting for more than half of the total. This made the Duke of Bavaria Henry feel that he was blind. At the same time, he further strengthened his idea of ​​reforming politics and military affairs.

But in recent times, Emperor Egil has been a little emotional. He always keeps recalling the scene in his mind that Liliannu stood on tiptoe and kissed his left cheek gently. After that, Liliannu blushed and cute, and the sudden stop after running away quickly, turned around and smiled at him...

"I seem to like her a little bit." Egil gently stroked the place where Liliannu kissed a few days ago, and then looked at the sea and said to himself.

"It's just that the identity is a little bit unmatched." Egil then thought of this again. At the same time, frowned. The emperor and the princess seemed to be very compatible at first glance. But there is a problem here. Egil already has a satisfactory wife and does not want to change one. And Liliannu's identity also destined that she would never be like Joan of Arc and Maria as an underground lover who was vassal of Egil. The relationship between the two parties may be further further in the future and become a couple. However, it is very difficult for Egil to completely monopolize Liliannu. Unless...

"Unless I destroy Rome, then after that, it will be like Cleopatra and Caesar... Hehe, hehehe..." Thinking of this, Egil's mood became happy again. Then he let out a low voice. Looking at the blue sea, I felt refreshed and happy.

"No one can escape--huh?" Just as Egil wanted to shout a second-second line, he heard the footsteps of military boots stepping on the deck behind him. So he swallowed the second half of the sentence back.

Afterwards, Egil turned around and saw that he was the commander of the Baltic Fleet and the General Aprakhin. He looked different from the pirate gangster who had just appeared in the first generation of old coach Carter. The navy general was dressed in a very regular manner. The ship-shaped hat, military emblem, eaves and sashes, command knife, naval half-phoenix uniform, and waterproof military boots. He was dressed meticulously - although his defense was close to zero. However, there was no commander-in-chief of the navy to go to the front line to fight for bayonets... so he had nothing to say that he dressed up as such.

This naval general, who is in his thirties, is different from Carter, who is a pirate in the system setting. He is the same as Nelson, the commander of the North Sea Fleet. He is both from a military academy. He is more regular, more brave in combat, and has strong combat power. However, in response to it, he is also more dogmatic, does not know how to be flexible and flexible, and is quite resistant to coastal plundering. This makes Egil quite dissatisfied. Therefore, although he has a naval battle command ability of up to six stars, Egil only arranged a task for him as a commander of the Baltic Fleet.

Apraksin also knew that His Majesty the Emperor was not very satisfied with his actions. However, he still stubbornly adhered to his own ideas and firmly believed that gold would always shine. This truth was. During this Crusade, Egil wanted to dispatch troops and arrange a large number of naval ships. At this moment, the Black Sea Fleet was not very useful. The commander was not selected well. So he had to let Apraksin lead his fleet south and serve as the commander of the joint fleet.

Therefore, the navy general was very excited. He was eager to fight a few good battles. He let the Emperor of Ezhai see his skills and look at him differently from then on.

"What's the matter?" Egil asked calmly.

"Your Majesty, you've discovered the enemy... It looks like a pirate." As Apraksin said this, he handed over a monocular lens.

Egil reached out to stop him, then pulled out the one on his waist, put it in front of him for a while, and then saw several other galleys with black skeleton flags in front of him, slowly approaching the Imperial fleet.

"Are those guys trying to die?" Egil said with a frown. In fact, the Norman Navy has encountered small groups of pirates before. However, ordinary pirates are only one or two ships. The larger pirate groups are only about five. The pirate gang with more than a dozen ships is already at the level of the Pirate King.

How many warships does Egir have in total? Excluding the Norman warships that were transporting soldiers and supplies to Cyprus before, they were blocking the ports in Syria and Egyptian coastal areas. At this time, there were 200 ships following Egir. Of course, only fifty of them were warships. The remaining one hundred and fifty were trough-type transport ships. But this was already amazing. When Xerxes attacked Greece, five million Persian troops were equipped with 800 ships. Besides, the naval warfare in this era was not as cruel as the firearm era. Without artillery is a tragedy. Hand-to-hand combat is still the mainstream these days. Although ordinary soldiers are not as capable of professionally trained sailors to adapt to sea combat, they are really touched by the other side, and they are not without resistance.

That's it. In this era, there was a ship even if it was a ship. In the Norman Empire, in Egil's calculations, he was under his command of fifty improved crossbow warships, early artillery warships and a heavy Royal Navy Victory (Egil's ship) with a displacement of 3,000 tons. But in the eyes of the other party, it was calculated like this: the Normans had two hundred large ships.

After seeing such a terrifying lineup, the pirate gangs of all sizes were basically scared to death. They ran as far as they could - of course, they did not dare to attack the Norman warship. The Norman Navy, who was already idle, didn't mind using them as targets to train them. The crossbow cannons equipped on the battleship, the Heavenly Fire Fire Cup and Iron Fire Crossbow used for long-range use, as well as the Heavenly Fire Shots made of Greek Fire Throwers, and the early cannons with insufficient range but amazing power. The Norman warships could sink the opponent from a distance without risk.

In terms of power, whether it is a brand new manufacturing, a fast sailboat with beautiful streams, or an improved crossbow warship with double power of sails and paddle wheels, it is faster than an old sailboat. During this period, Egil could not remember how many sad pirate ships had sunk. Generally, pirate ships were too late to escape after seeing the Norman fleet. However, this fleet had to take the initiative to lean over. No wonder Egil had this question.

"I think this may be a trap for the other party." Hearing Egil say this, Apraksin replied: "Your Majesty, you can take a look at the other party's ships are all fast. Although speed is indeed an important element as pirates. However, few pirate groups will all adopt small fast ships as their own ships. Because such fast warships have insufficient carrying capacity and cannot fight tough battles. The correct way is to mix formations. Several fast ships entangle the prey. The large warships follow up-"

"—So, these warships should be bait, wanting to lure us to pursue and then enter the other party's encirclement... Is that true?" Egil looked around, but he couldn't see where the other party's ship was fast. He knew in his heart that he was not an expert. So he stopped looking and turned around and asked Apraxin like this.

"The Lord is a clever view." Aprakhin nodded and said, "That's what my subordinates think."

At this moment, several small boats had approached a lot, gradually approaching the level of visible sight of the naked eye. On the deck, several idle sailors also saw the pirate flags hanging high and began to cheer - sink the pitiful boats of the other party, and then watch the boats sink in a swirling manner. Watch the pirates howl in the water. This can be regarded as the best pastime during the boring sailing.

At this moment, some sailors have already started to prepare for attack.

"So, what do you think?" Although Egil was proud, he also had self-knowledge. It was the best way to hand over something that was not unfamiliar to professionals. Although Egil was excellent in land warfare, he had never experienced naval warfare. So he began to ask what Aprakhin meant.

Originally, Egil felt that Aprakhin was eager to fight, and most of them would say the tricks and take all the attention. However, what the navy general said was beyond Egil's expectations:
Chapter completed!