270 – Battle of Griffino (8)
When the three lead scout ships, including the flagship with Peter Yeager on board, finished resting for a while, the watchmen from each ship shouted in a loud voice.
“Estimated over 100 enemy ships! We’re approaching full speed! The distance appears to be about 1.4Km!”
“An enemy large fleet appears 1.4 Km behind! “We must run away!”
“f*ck! Send a signal to the flagship to raise anchor immediately! “More than 100 enemy ships are chasing you like crazy, you bastards!”
The words of the watchmen, who were not supposed to say anything other than observations, were filled with personal feelings, but none of the soldiers and officers of the Reich Empire thought of blaming them.
Because, to be honest, if they had not had a general named Peter Yeager at the forefront who could create miracles in any adverse situation.
This is because he would have thought about deserting instead of standing in a hopeless battlefield where he seemed certain to be defeated.
Peter Yeager also did not blame his soldiers for being frightened at the sight of the enemy’s large fleet of more than 100 ships.
Until he came to this point after setting up the plan, he had been somewhat confident, but when he saw the enemy’s fleet, which was over three orders of magnitude in size, right in front of him, he felt fear.
However, since I had fought in the vanguard of life and death many times, my reason did not waver even when I saw the enemy fleet boasting enormous numbers.
“The entire army immediately retreats to where the main force is! The flagship stands at the very rear! “The flagship will always be at the forefront in the most dangerous places!”
Some of the soldiers on the flagship thought that Captain Peter Yeager was crazy.
It was completely incomprehensible that a nobleman who was carrying the lives of over 100,000 soldiers of the Reich Imperial Army and over 2 million people of the western coastal region would take the risk of standing in the vanguard.
But of course, Peter Yeager has his own reasons for doing so.
‘If there is a 50% chance that I will die if I continue to stand in the vanguard, the chance of being defeated if I stay safely behind without standing in the vanguard is close to 100%. In fact, in terms of strategic value of life, my head alone weighs more than the lives of 10,000 soldiers. The weight of human life is no different from that of me or an ordinary soldier. Therefore, if it is for victory, I am willing to risk death.’
Captain Jaeger drew his sword and brandished it in place of his baton and gave orders.
“Unfold all sails! Row and retreat as quickly as possible to where the main force is waiting! The flagship deliberately slows down every time I send a signal, creating a situation in which it seems unlikely that it will be caught by the enemy! Hurry!!”
The officers and soldiers on deck desperately sped up to avoid being caught up by the Warsaw fleet of over 100 ships.
When they saw the Reich Empire’s fleet moving, the Warsaw fleet even broke up its formation and began pursuing it as fast as possible.
“Pick up the speed! The ship moving last over there is the flagship! “No matter what happens, don’t miss the flagship!”
“If we can catch that bastard Peter Yeager on the flagship, it will be a great victory for us!”
“Fight without fear of death for the glory of His Majesty the Grand Duke of Warsaw and for the glory of Deus! Charge!”
Peter Yeager moved to the stern of the flagship (the back of the ship) and saw with the naked eye that the enemy was approaching.
Seeing as no arrows or ballistae were flying and the distance didn’t seem that far, it seemed like the enemy’s vanguard was about 200 meters away.
Then, the main body of the Warsaw army was about 100 ships located at a small distance from the vanguard.
Captain Jaeger began to think anew about how to keep them at bay in the future, when arrows and magic from small ballistas rained down from the Warsaw warships.
If it had been on land, a significant number, if not more than a hundred, would have hit ships or people, but since the ship was rocked up and down and left and right by the waves, most of them split into the air or fell into the sea.
However, magic and arrows fired from dozens of ships often hit the soldiers on the deck.
“Ugh, sh*t! Load the crossbow! “I’m going to shoot those bastards dead!”
“You crazy bastard, don’t you know it’s a waste of arrows to shoot here?”
“Dirty Warsaw bastards, how many arrows do you have to sit and shoot from this distance!”
As blind arrows and magic killed Imperial soldiers, the Reich Empire soldiers felt their blood boiling from excitement.
Peter Yeager covered his head with a shield and stood against the wall, giving orders.
“Everyone, stick to the deck wall and grab a shield or something nearby to defend yourself! From now on, you will be receiving ballista and magic attacks from enemies for quite some time! “Bow!”
If you try to fire back by shooting arrows, you will only end up wasting arrows and needlessly killing someone, so it is best to keep your body as low as possible in a situation where you are running away.
The veteran marines and officers who understood this scolded the soldiers under their command and somehow made them bow down.
Captain Timo, who commanded the huge fleet in Warsaw, gave orders to the entire fleet.
“Peter Yeager is retreating to where the main force is! Even if he were a bastard, he wouldn’t be able to defeat a great fleet of 115 ships with just 3 ships! Let’s chase him down like this and turn him into Warsaw Whale food together with the main team! Maximum speed! “Unfold all sails and speed up your rowing!”
After the Warsaw commander’s order was given, Warsaw’s large fleet began pursuing Peter Jaeger at full speed.
In the meantime, the Reich Empire’s fleet moved forward while maintaining a safe distance from being caught, and eventually succeeded in joining the main force of 20 ships.
Under normal circumstances, the scouting party, including the flagship with Peter Yeager on board, would have been able to catch their breath and rest a bit.
In front of the Warsaw fleet, which boasted overwhelming numbers, they turned their bows and began to retreat as if they could not do anything.
“Run as planned! Absolutely jump out! Those on the deck, throw wooden stakes and rocks to put in the ballista!”
“Load all the arrows in the crossbow and hang the quiver on the wall next to the deck! “One arrow, one shot, will end your lives!”
“As long as you are good at running away, Captain Jaeger will do something!”
The soldiers of the Reich Imperial Navy actually did not know whether they were luring the enemy or running away due to lack of numbers.
Because if you explained the entire strategy to the soldiers, there was a risk that the operation would be exposed to the enemy in the worst case. Moreover, the level of education of soldiers in this era was below the level of the 5th grade of elementary school, so even if the operation was explained to the soldiers in advance, they would not be able to do anything. There is no guarantee that you will understand.
Because of such circumstances, the soldiers on the ship really trusted only Captain Jaeger and somehow held on with their sanity.
Captain Jaeger chose to quietly retreat to the back while holding his captain’s flag and boarding the flagship.
Some disagreements arose on the Warsaw flagship.
“Captain Teemo, it could be an enemy trap. It’s not too late now, so you should be more careful. “No matter how desperate Peter Yeager is, there seems to be some kind of trap in luring us in like this by saying, ‘Catch me.'”
“We lost four ships and one of our generals to a guy who attacked with only three battleships. If we retreat like this, it will be a shame that will remain in the history of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw’s military! And isn’t there a high probability that the unit that just appeared is the enemy’s main unit?”
“I think so.”
Captain Timo spoke from the deck of his flagship, pointing to the Reich Empire ships fleeing from them.
“According to what Gyeonsisu observed, there are at most 30 ships. Our army has 115 ships. Furthermore, what would happen if Peter Yeager knew that our troops were outnumbered and used individual attack tactics?”
The deputy commander answered those words with clenched teeth.
“The enemy has secured more than 14 port cities, so they can use those as a starting point to resist for a long time. I think it would be better to use this opportunity to push forward.”
“There is no strategy to win in front of the majority. “Let’s hurry and sail the boat.”
Captain Teemo thought.
‘Now that he knows our numbers, if we miss this son of a b*tch Peter Yeager… He’ll find a trick to bite us later.’
“So we have to kill him here! “Brave soldiers of Warsaw, sacrifice your lives to repel the invaders!”
Meanwhile, Captain Jaeger was finally able to hear the news he had been waiting for.
“We have arrived at the western end of El Condor Island, near the place where we decided to change formation!”
As soon as Peter Yeager heard those words, he immediately raised a flag to change the formation.
When the flag was raised, each ship exposed its flanks to the enemy and surrounded the Warsaw Fleet in a semicircle.
Someone who saw it said this.
“The bird spread its wings.”
The bird, with its wings spread wide, aimed its secret weapon, a siege ballista, to sink countless Warsaw battleships, at the enemy ship and waited for the order to fire.