Munitions Empire

Sea traffic is not random, although it may seem the ocean is boundless, maritime routes are actually few and fixed.

If one deviates from these routes, the chance of encountering other ships decreases, and if danger strikes, one would be all alone without help.

What's more frustrating is that straying from these routes can lead to encounters with more pirates and uncharted reefs, and can take one away from the trade winds, affecting the ship's voyage.

The Poplar Kingdom of the Elf Race has always been a naval superpower, with better sailors and ships, as well as richer experience and a larger number of warships to maintain their lead.

Now, during the homeward season, countless ships traverse the sea, and some fleets can even see the end from the beginning.

These vessels carry steel purchased from all over the world and other goods, or directly carry Gold Coins, returning to the Poplar Kingdom to invigorate the entire Kingdom's economy.

Atop a huge cargo ship, a sailor standing at the top of the sails squinted and saw a plume of black smoke on the horizon.

He didn't know what it was and immediately lowered his head to shout at the others below, "Look over there! Something is approaching! What is that thing?"

The sailors on deck didn't understand the situation either as they hadn't seen the smoke due to their lower position.

However, soon, knowing the direction of the strange object, they also noticed the rolling black smoke on the sea surface and two slender masts without sails.

"Where are their sails?" a sailor, seeing the fast-moving strange ship, curiously asked an old sailor beside him.

The old sailor shook his head. He too did not know how a ship could sail so fast on the sea without sails.

"It's getting closer!" the lookout atop the mast yelled, pointing at the distant strange ship. Flapping in the wind beside his ear was the massive flag of the Poplar Kingdom.

"Could it be pirates?" the executive officer, holding the helm at the rear of the ship, asked the captain standing beside him.

The captain opened his monocular, looked towards the increasing size of the strange ship on the horizon, and felt uncertain, "I don't know either. This is the first time I'm seeing such a ship, and the first time... I'm seeing that banner."

Through his monocular, the Dragon Banner of the Great Tang Group's Ironclad Warship was speeding towards them, and it was clear the other party had also spotted them.

"But we have at least 10 armed merchant ships. Aren't they just asking for death by approaching us like this?" the executive officer looked ahead, saying with some uncertainty.

"It doesn't seem like they're coming to cause trouble. If they approach like this, they'll soon be surrounded by us... This doesn't look like a naval battle," the captain responded with confusion.

While they were guessing, on the bridge of the Brunas 1 Warship, the captain also put down his binoculars.

He turned to an officer beside him and ordered, "Sound the battle alarm! Notify all battle stations to be battle-ready! Begin targeting as soon as the main gun is loaded!"

"Load all cannons! Aim the main gun!" the weapons officer approached the voice pipe and ordered loudly.

Following his orders, a group of skilled sailors in the cramped and enclosed space pushed the prepared shells into the gun breeches and quickly shut the breechblocks.

Then, the gunner responsible for aiming started to adjust the artillery, aligning the scales with the calculations from the optical sight.

Mechanical computers are splendid things, predating real computers by a hundred years, but capable of replacing them to calculate approximate artillery firing parameters.

Before World War II, almost all battleships were equipped with such devices to assist gunners in rapidly calculating firing angles, allowing them to control the artillery to hit the target as quickly as possible.

Nevertheless, hitting a moving target at sea is still very difficult. Shooters often have to fire a trial shot, correct the shooting angle after a straddle shot, and continue this process until they hit the target.

If the opponent changes direction and escapes the straddle aim, then the parameters need to be reset and corrected again until a blind hit is achieved.

However, this applies when both sides fire from distances over ten kilometers. Now the distance between Brunas 1 and the opposing warship is already less than 10 kilometers.

Moreover, the Navy of the Great Tang Group, equipped with Ironclad Warships, show no signs of firing yet. They want to get even closer to the target, and then show these pitiful elves the state of their full firepower.

"Signal with flags! Tell them there's a risk of collision if they keep approaching," said the Poplar Kingdom's captain somewhat apprehensively as he saw the black strange ship drawing nearer.

After speaking, he added, "Have all sailors prepare, stand by at the guns! Ready the gunpowder! And signal the ships behind to also be battle-ready!"

"Understood!" a sailor moved to the rear of the ship and started waving the flag frantically, making sure the gestures were clear to the other side.

Soon, the ship behind also responded, picking up speed and opening its gun ports on both sides.

The leading Elf warship also cleared its own course, and the two ships quickly became side by side, ready to sandwich the strange ship charging straight at them.

But the Brunas No. 1 didn't slow down at all, even increasing its speed to a blistering nearly 40 kilometers per hour, and the smoke from its two chimneys got denser.

"The enemy's speed is so fast!" Though it's difficult to estimate speed head-on, many Elf sailors still noticed the problem.

Even when approaching head-on, the enemy shouldn't close the distance this quickly. But before they could express their amazement, the strange ship couldn't hold back and opened fire.

Two cannonballs came whistling through the air, smashing the bow of the leading Elf Race warship. The shells exploded just after breaking through the wooden hull, blasting away the entire bow.

The long bowsprit snapped off and stabbed into the water ahead, and the entire warship's speed dropped to nearly zero.

The explosion was so violent that the area above the waterline was left with nothing but pieces of broken planks, and the underwater front of the bow completely disintegrated into parts.

Seawater rushed into the hull instantly, engulfing the cargo within. Sailors in the cargo hold didn't even have time to scream before being killed or stunned by the explosion and swept into the sea, sinking to the depths below.

The armed merchant ship had been carrying Gold Coins and some saltpeter. The cargo itself was actually not very heavy, which is why it was able to lead the convoy.

But even so, it was now half-loaded, and it didn't take long for the weight of the water and cargo to begin dragging it down into the depths of the ocean.

To make matters worse, the second mast at the bow also broke due to the damage to the hull and snapped under the force of the wind.

Just one look was enough to realize that the armed merchant ship was doomed...

The captain and first officer, who were preparing for battle at the stern, were knocked to the ground by the explosion. By the time they managed to stand up, they saw the bow of their warship sinking.

They still hadn't understood what had happened when they noticed the other armed merchant ship by their side, beginning to turn away from them.

Obviously, if they didn't make way and show the side with their cannons, they would be unable to attack the strange ship coming straight for them.

And at this moment, they had confirmed that the enemy was attacking them and that the enemy was a type of warship they had never seen before...

"Quick! Quick! The cargo hold has Gold Coins! Boxes of Gold Coins!" The captain, pale as death, shouted at the top of his lungs as he finally stood upright.

But the sailors on deck were already panicking, slamming into things like headless flies, regardless of his orders.

After all, there were over 70 slaves on board, none of whom were combat units or trained. The sudden explosion caused a complete riot.

"Damn it!" the captain swore, then looked at the first officer, "Quick! You take some men down! Rescue as much as you can! The gold! Those Gold Coins!"

While he was in the midst of chaos, the captain of the Elf ship, who had turned away, widened his eyes at the prow of the black strange ship racing towards them, where a black device began to slowly rotate.

As the device slowly turned, the two gun barrels that had just emitted fire slowly pointed towards him.

He knew those were cannon barrels, having just witnessed them firing. He also knew that these cannons weren't like any he had seen before or even like the Shireck cannons installed on his ship.

Just a few seconds later, while he stood there stunned, the two cannons fired again, launching shells at his ship.

Then came an earth-shattering explosion, and the deck beneath his feet burst apart, countless splinters slashing through his body.

The two cannonballs scored direct hits on the stern of this armed merchant ship; one exploding in the rear mid-section, the other blasting the lookout tower.

As a result, the ship split in the middle, with severe flooding in the aft and center...

The captain of the Poplar Kingdom's armed merchant ship, who had been hoping to save some of the cargo they were carrying, now witnessed the complete explosion of the ship at his flank.

Now, he realized something—the enemy's combat power appeared to be beyond what their armed merchant ships could handle.

What made him despair was that the enemy had only fired four shots from a distance of a kilometer!