This also meant that as long as they won this battle, Warwick would have no more obstacles between him and seizing this country outright and being crowned king.

"The Pirate King, Wild Hunt Byron Lancaster’s fleet has just taken position.

The reason the Pirate Fleet could challenge the Treasure Fleet back then was that overseas, there wasn’t a single battleship that was, in the strict sense, Third Level or above.

But here we’re on the Old Continent’s home waters, where battleships are the main force in Fury of the Seas; cruisers are just there to make up the numbers.

That’s also why I dare invite this Pirate King to help, without fearing a backstabbing from him.

And in large-scale group warfare, personal power gets infinitely diluted. Treat him as cannon fodder to go all-out against the Royalist Party, and I can solve two problems in one go.

By then I’ll be able to quite naturally save the land I promised the Northern Territory and become the true King Over All Lands!"

His own abacus was clacking just as loudly: if Byron lost too much strength in this battle, the promise would naturally become void.

Interests are often not distributed according to merit, but according to how much trouble you’re capable of stirring up.

"My main Second and Fourth Fleets, the Sixth Security Fleet, plus the Pirate King’s Pirate Fleet—four fleets in total—against the Royalists’ main Third Fleet, the Fifth Security Fleet, and the Seventy Three Support Fleet from the colonies. The advantage is mine!"

He immediately issued the same order as the Royalist Party:

"All fleets, battleships of Fourth Level and above, form the line of battle with the flagships and prepare to engage, Qiangfeng!"

Both sides, with each sub-fleet as a unit, formed into single-file columns; each column had around ten battleships of Third Level and above, and even more Fourth Level Nominal Battleships.

Together they surged toward each other in a mighty, rolling advance.

Thump! Thump! Thump!...

The heartbeats of countless officers and sailors were already like war drums pounding.

Lumber is not an industrial product, nor a generic commodity you can buy just by throwing money at it. To build a single Third Level Battleship you need at least two thousand high-quality oaks planted a century ago.

In most Oceanic Kingdoms’ Navies, Fourth Level Battleships are enough to enter the fleet’s backbone "main line of battle," becoming those gears in large-scale fleet engagements that can decide the nation’s fate.

So in this era, once the main line of battle sails, it’s either not used at all, or it becomes an ultimate gamble that can decide national fate and the next decades, even century, of maritime hegemony!

Even across the entire history of Sailing, such national fate wars are rare.

And the sheer number of warships possessed is already the greatest deterrent. Once too many are lost, it may be impossible to make up for the losses in the coming decades.

Calling this battle a wager of the nation’s fate is no exaggeration.

In addition, aside from conventional warships, the flagship of every sub-fleet is certainly a Miracle Battleship of Third Level or above.

In Spiritual Vision, brilliant Divine Light lit up the sea. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

As one of the great sea powers, the Kingdom of Hightins, aside from lacking a single Legendary Warship that could suppress an entire sea and establish dominion over the Ocean, probably wouldn’t dare claim second place in conventional naval strength, but getting into the top three is no stretch.

The only question was how much it would lose in this battle, and whether the damage to national strength would be irreversibly devastating.

Byron almost felt his heart bleed at the sight.

If this fight weren’t absolutely unavoidable, he would have already pulled every dirty trick in the book.

As a man of the "I am the vanguard" survival school, he had always held to the principle of using "Monkey Steals Peach" instead of "Black Tiger Heart Removal" whenever possible.

And he was also a devout follower of the famed rabid-dog-style martial arts masters—if you’ve agreed on a time to duel someone, then one day before that... drive a dump truck over and kill him!

Sadly, for now his will still couldn’t withstand the edge of the battle line.

Just as Byron was lamenting over his warships and comforting himself with "out with the old, in with the new; Steam Battleships are my true love," the vanguard forces on both sides, the fastest units, had already closed to within a hundred meters—cannon range.

The commanders gave their orders simultaneously:

"Open fire!"

"Open fire!"

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!...

Countless heavy ship-borne cannons on the battleships let out furious roars, hot cannon flames blossomed, and the massive detonations almost shattered the North Sea itself.