Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 442: Lion of the North (Part )

The fleet sent by the Royal City Guard to block the Alva River was nominally commanded by Duke Ralph, but in fact all the soldiers sent out were the men of the guard captain Quick.

Quick was an orthodox knight who had been canonized. His father was a court baron without any fiefdom, so naturally, the title could not be inherited by him. As an honorary title, it could only be regarded as the lowest level among the nobility.

Quick thought he had gotten a great bargain by being able to follow Duke Ralph's banner and carry out the mission of blocking the river to stop the enemy. Not only would he be indispensable in the future rewards, but he could also skim off a lot of money from the merchant fleets just by blocking the river.

Other nobles naturally couldn't bring themselves to collect tolls from the merchant fleet, but Quick didn't care about this problem at all - ordinary merchant fleets naturally didn't dare to offend the Royal City Guards. Even if they encountered nobles or royal merchant fleets from other countries, they still had the prestigious shield of Duke Ralph in front of them. As long as they were not too greedy, Quick and his confidants could take the opportunity to make a fortune while successfully completing the task of blocking the river mouth.

He would return to the capital with this considerable profit and give some of it to honor the powerful people who held important positions in the royal court, asking them to actively lobby for him. Perhaps he would have the opportunity to be granted the title of a true hereditary noble.

Thinking of this, Quick couldn't help but glance at Duke Ralph who was sitting next to him drinking - yesterday they stopped a merchant fleet flying the flag of Maple Leaf City, the Duchy of Barclay. Although the leader of the other caravan repeatedly stated that he had a business cooperation relationship with a baron in Jinhui City, Quick still detained the fleet for a whole night on the grounds that he had not informed them in advance. In the end, he forced the other party to pay a toll of 50 gold pounds. The soldiers also took the opportunity to move away several barrels of fine wine that was obviously supplied to the upper class.

Duke Ralph, who always loved drinking, turned a blind eye to this and acquiesced to their blatant extortion of the river.

Quick thought that this once famous Duke of Liguo seemed to have lost most of his spirit after losing his fiefdom and the Knights.

A soldier in charge of lookout came running down from the deck, "Boss, there's another fleet coming up the river from the east!"

East? Duke Ralph put down his glass and stood up, asking, "Did you see clearly? Is it a warship or a merchant ship? Is it hoisted?"

Quick took the telescope handed to him by his subordinates, walked onto the deck and looked out. In the summer, mist was rising over the Ralph River. Although he was at a long distance, he could vaguely see the enemy ship with a tall mast and three sails billowing in the wind.

A three-masted sailing ship! Either it belongs to the Grand Chamber of Commerce of Orland, or it must be the royal caravan of the Central Kingdoms!

"His Excellency the Duke said that the ship our enemies were traveling on was a strange, sailless vessel." Quick rubbed his hands with a smile and ordered his men, "Go down and tell the Duke that this isn't an enemy attack, but a passing merchant fleet from another country."

This is a big fat sheep!
"Boss! Why did they stop suddenly?" The trusted deputy suddenly asked in confusion.

Quick quickly raised the telescope and looked again, and found that the fleet suddenly slowed down less than three miles away from the river mouth, and stopped the boats in the middle of the river. Then the leading boat slowly turned sideways... as if it wanted to rely on inertia to turn around on the spot.

"Oh no! Have they discovered us?" Quick slapped his thigh, anxious and angry. "We've only been here for two days. Could it be that they've already heard about us?"

The deputy pondered for a moment and speculated, "Could it be that the leader of the Maple Leaf City merchant fleet leaked the news yesterday? These merchant fleets have always had close ties, and they all use carrier pigeons to transmit urgent messages."

Damn it! That must be the case! We can't let this fat sheep get away! Quick raised his hand and waved it violently, shouting an order: "Notify everyone! Hoist the sails and row! We'll chase them, swerve from the side, and stop this caravan directly!"

The speed of the three-masted sailing ship is comparable to that of a turtle, while the two-masted shuttle warships of the Royal City Guard are several times faster than them. As long as they raise the sails and row, they can stop the enemy in a short while.

The captain of the guard gave the order personally, and the six brigs guarding the river mouth all started to move. No one wanted to stay where they were, for fear that they would not be able to get any benefits if they were too slow. For a while, they were racing against each other on the river.

As the two-masted warships gradually approached, a huge three-masted sailing ship, completely horizontal in the middle of the river ahead, became clearly visible. Quick frowned and opened his mouth wide, "Oh my God, what the hell is this?"

The other ship's hull was smooth and black, with a faint metallic luster. Its bow was as sharp as a shuttle and had a huge wedge-shaped ram. The entire hull was more than half filled with water. Just by looking at it, one could imagine how heavy this strange iron ship was.

The masts on the deck were so crude that they were not even painted with tung oil, and the sail tarpaulins that seemed to be of an unreasonable size seemed incompatible with the iron ship in Quick's eyes.

This is definitely not an ordinary merchant ship!
Suddenly, there were several dull roars like rolling thunder, and then everyone heard the sound of the hull being damaged and broken. A leading shuttle-shaped warship seemed to be hit hard by an invisible huge wave, and the whole hull turned sideways. The soldiers on the deck were thrown directly into the water by the violent impact.

"It's the enemy! They're coming from Fengyuan City!" Duke Ralph, who had fallen behind the fleet, finally came to his senses and recognized the ironclad ship disguised as a sailing ship. He shouted a warning to Quick, who was on the other ship, "There are terrifying magical weapons on their iron ship. Follow me and turn back to the river mouth. We'll blow up the river and then evacuate!"

Fortunately, Quick's ship wasn't attacked. He swallowed hard, looked at the other ships huddled together in their haste to turn around, and gritted his teeth as he ordered, "These idiots have completely blocked our retreat. There's no time to turn around! Let's dock!"

It is rumored that this wizard lord from the North possesses many powerful and terrifying magical weapons. It would be a dead end to fight with them rashly. However, the opponent's target is definitely the more powerful Duke Ralph. The iron ship will definitely chase the Duke to the river mouth to prevent them from blowing up the river.

If you don’t escape now, you won’t have a chance later!

Quick pushed aside his panicked deputy and ran to the stern to steer the boat himself, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Paddle hard! Head for the shore! Go straight to the beach and don't worry about hitting the rocks!"

The soldiers on the deck were in chaos, but many of them returned to the lower cabin, picked up the oars and paddled hard. Quick looked behind him in panic and saw the two warships that had just been hit hard - a huge hole appeared in the middle of the hull, just hitting the waterline, and the cold river water was rushing into the cabin frantically. Those soldiers rowing in the cabin were undoubtedly the most unlucky. They were attacked by some unknown weapon from the enemy ship across hundreds of meters, breaking the hull and exploding inside the warship. Sticky blood and broken internal organs and flesh of the dead were almost everywhere, dyeing the river water around the warship bright red.

The people on the deck were not having a good time either. If they were thrown into the water, they still had a chance to swim to the shore and escape, but if a broken and collapsed ship crushed someone who was unable to move, they would have to be buried with the rapidly sinking warship.

The screams of the injured and the cries of those who fell into the water mixed together, and a red light appeared from time to time at the bow and stern of the opposite iron ship, followed by a burst of muffled thunder. The warships huddled together in the middle of the river were constantly hit, and several warships that were already carrying a large amount of kerosene and dragon flame powder even exploded directly, and then caught fire.

When the last roar came, Quick watched with cold hands and feet... The warship on which Duke Ralph, who was originally escaping the fastest, was hit right at the stern, and even the huge rudder was blown into the air.

(End of this chapter)