Chapter 658
658 Chapter 687: Captain Henry!
In the midst of the brutal slaughter, it was not as if there were no fish that escaped from the net. A small boat that was paddling by hand had somehow escaped from the boat. Before the gray fog approached, it had quietly rowed out in the opposite direction!
And on this small boat, it was the captain who had commanded everyone on the deck just now!
“d.a.m.n it, why is it like this? Why is there still that thing here? Could it be from that direction?”
“No… No, that’s obviously from the East Road!”
The captain looked in the direction of the East Road, and the fear and anger in his eyes slowly turned into suspicion. He muttered, “Could it be… that the steel arms empire didn’t rebel, but encountered this kind of thing?”
If that was the case… What would he do?
His name was Henry. Bartolo was one of the princes of the royal family of the Western Islands, the country of Tanzania!
However, because he did not have the talent of a mage and was not a direct descendant, he did not have any real power in that country. He could only enjoy the support of the royal family. Moreover, without a formal t.i.tle, he could not continue his descendants. This led to him being able to enjoy the support of the royal family, but his descendants might be reduced to carrying bricks in the future…
This kind of situation was intolerable to most n.o.bles, but he could not do anything about it. The sensitivity of his ident.i.ty made him a target. His direct descendant elder brother who supported him when he was young did not become the king, he was even beheaded and hung on the city wall.
It was already good enough that he had not been beheaded along with them. It was even more impossible for him to hold on to power. His former military power had been completely seized, and he could only retire and wait for his death… …
But two years ago, because of a major event, a rare opportunity appeared… …
The major event came from the distant eastern continent: the Steel Arms Empire.
From a certain day two years ago, the Western countries had lost contact with the eastern continent. First, many cargo ships were delayed, and then many mage families that were in contact with the eastern continent had also lost contact with their branch families, no matter what, they found that they could not contact the other side.
After that, more and more ships went missing, just like kites with their strings cut. Many n.o.bles suffered heavy losses. It must be known that most of the goods they transported were worth a lot of money.
As a result, the royal families of various countries sent their ships to investigate the situation, but none of the ships that were sent could return!
This happened several times. The western archipelago countries suspected that the steel warrior empire had seized their ships. Thus, the various countries finally decided to jointly organize a military fleet to head there!
However, the result was unexpected. This advanced warship that gathered the highest military technology of the various countries and was equipped with a fleet of several great wizards, but none of them returned!
This caused the various countries on the islands to panic. They were even anxious to hold a world conference.
During the World Conference, after a few days of discussion, the upper echelons of the various countries finally came to a conclusion from scholar Houlton, who had the deepest understanding of the steel martial empire: there might have been a coup d’état within the steel martial empire!
Scholar Houlton suggested that the power of the Steel Martial Empire was formed by the mage families that had joined the western islands, as well as the powerful local warrior and military officials!
As the steel warrior empire had to contend against the powerful orcs, the number of high-level warriors that they had was more than the entire western islands combined. Under such circ.u.mstances, the local forces and the n.o.ble forces that had migrated here had been constantly in conflict.
He believed that the balance over there might finally break down and the warrior forces would join forces to suppress the mage n.o.bles and seize the regime of the Jiawen dynasty!
This was the only way to explain why the fleet had never returned. It was because no matter if it was the pirate forces or some individual forces, it was impossible for them to wipe out the combined fleets of the various countries. This ability.., obviously, only the forces that had integrated the power of the Steel Arms Empire could have it!
However, because they did not have accurate information, they could not rashly organize an army to go against them. Many of the country lords felt that they should send people to gather specific information and try to organize a larger scale military operation!
However, the west coast route was like a meat bun hitting a dog. How could they guarantee that they would be able to return if they did not organize a larger fleet?
Moreover, what if they could not return even if they organized a larger fleet? The fleet that they built last time was already very powerful. All the countries had contributed their most advanced warships. That operation had suffered heavy losses. It was obviously impossible to organize another wave before they understood the situation clearly.
After a discussion, a scholar whose status was not inferior to Houlton came up with a plan, which was to bring out the proposal of the East Sea Route once again!
At that time, someone had already proposed the idea of opening up another route. However, because the steel arms empire did not build a port and Transport Road for the east coast, this proposal had been shelved in the end.
However, the current situation was special. The west coast was obviously protected by a huge amount of armed forces. If the opening up of a new shipping route was successful, it would be of great significance to be able to detect intelligence or catch the Steel Arms Empire off guard!
In addition, this kind of thing could make use of the efforts of the Navigators who had nothing to do, greatly saving the government’s costs. Therefore, everyone agreed to this resolution, and finally… ! A sky-high reward was issued!
The adventurers who could successfully open the route could not only have the huge wealth bestowed by the government, but also promised that they could choose one of the 32 countries to obtain the dukedom and own a considerable territory!
Therefore, under such a great temptation, many civilian captains, or people like Henry who did not get along well, enthusiastically joined the mission to explore the route!
The exploration of the unknown route was a very dangerous thing. If nothing was gained, it would be light. It was very likely that they would be left on the sea forever. Therefore, Henry was well prepared, he had almost exhausted all his previous connections to get this big ship called the victory!
The victory was a famous battleship of their Tanzanian Tritz. It carried the most advanced equipment. In addition to the steam engine, it also had a heating and distilled water system for the crew. The rudder and propeller were enclosed in iron to prevent them from being damaged.
In addition, the ship had enough food for the crew to eat for three years: 61,987 kilograms of flour, 16,749 liters of beverages, 909 liters of wine for treatment, 4,287 kilograms of chocolate, and 1,069 kilograms of tea, about 8,000 cans contained 15,100 kilograms of meat, 11,628 liters of soup, 546 kilograms of beef jerky, and 4,037 kilograms of vegetables. In order to prevent scurvy, there was also a supply of lemon juice on the ship.
All of this had almost wiped out all of his wealth, and he had also borrowed a large sum of money from the bank. It was obvious that he was going to burn all bridges!
He did not expect such an outcome!
He had thought that Iceland was the final test, but he did not expect the nightmare to come one after another!
There were at least ten more days before the trip to the eastern continent, and that was according to the prediction of the speed of the warship. He would have to paddle at least three times, right?
He had run so fast that he didn’t even bring a pot of fresh water, let alone food. How could he row to the Eastern Road?
And… could he still go there now?
Henry looked at the strange gray fog in the distance…
The gray fog was obviously from the eastern continent. After experiencing the horrible Iceland incident, he knew very well what the h.e.l.l was in the gray fog. If the eastern continent had suffered such a thing.., that place would have become a terrifying h.e.l.l!
But if he did not go there, where could he go until now?
Thinking of this, Henry powerlessly closed his eyes. A deep sense of despair surged in his heart! !