Chapter 74: Meeting an old friend in a foreign land
"Damn it, there's no need for us to rob it, it's a pirate itself, and now it wants to rob us!" Captain Grolai cursed loudly.
"How do you know it's a pirate ship?" Dany was puzzled, "It didn't hang the skull flag used exclusively by pirates?"
That's right, the skull flag is also very popular among pirates in this fantasy world.
"The skull flag is prepared for those wild pirates," Blackbeard shook his head gloomily, "If the pirate king has his own family emblem, there is naturally no need for the popular skull flag."
After saying that, he no longer paid attention to Dany and began to hurriedly shout at the sailors to deploy troops.
Dany carefully observed the ship again for a while. In addition to the black sails and the unusually conspicuous golden black jade, when it turned sideways, she saw the three words "Tranquility" painted in black paint on the dark red hull.
"Oh my god, Westeros!" Dany exclaimed, "Why are Westeros people going to the Summer Sea to become pirates?"
It turns out that "Tranquility" is written in the Common Language, not the most popular Valyrian language on the continent of Essos.
"Sir, do you know the Tranquility?" Dany turned her head and asked Jorah Mormont, who was standing on tiptoe to look out.
Well, except for the captain, the first mate, and the lookout, no one else had binoculars.
"Tranquility?" Jorah looked puzzled, "It's a bit familiar, I don't know where I've heard of it."
"That ship is from Westeros, and there is a huge golden squid painted on the sails. It's a bit like the sea monster of the Greyjoy family!" Dany explained.
"Seven layers of hell!" The big bear slapped his forehead and screamed as if he had seen a ghost: "Is the hull dark red?"
"Yes," Dany said in surprise: "You know him?"
"Euron Greyjoy, the villain known as the 'Crow's Eye'!" Jorah spoke word by word, gritting his teeth, as if he hated the person represented by this name very much.
"But that cuttlefish, even if it is a sea monster, the direction is reversed. The Greyjoy sea monster is head down, but the other one is head up, and the tentacles are different." Dany said puzzled.
Don't think this is a trivial matter. The family emblem cannot be sloppy. The reversed direction is almost equivalent to two different family emblems.
Refer to the national flags of various countries in modern society on Earth, such as the flags of Russia, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Ordinary people will be confused when they see them, but they are indeed different national flags, with differences.
"This actually explains why Euron Greyjoy is here." Whitebeard Astan showed a look of sudden realization.
Jorah also nodded and said, "He must have done something. He was expelled from the Greyjoy family by Duke Balon. Exiled people are often ashamed and unwilling to bring shame to the family, or out of jealousy, they will slightly modify the family emblem, such as reversing the direction."
Dany glanced at the black bear standing on his chest, and her mouth opened and closed several times. She really wanted to ask: Do you have no shame and do you have any jealousy at all? Why not let the big bear lie on the ground?
Big Bear Mormont wore a black wool sweater and brown leather armor. On the chest of the leather armor was a big black bear, standing up and roaring, which matched the motto of the Mormont family, "Stand tall."
According to the tradition of Westeros that "everyone knows", if he feels ashamed, he should learn from Euron and let the black bear lie down.
Dany's sight was also noticed by the big bear. His face turned red and he stammered, "I don't hate my family."
Whitebeard said coldly, "You don't feel ashamed either?"
The big bear was furious, "I serve the queen, I am honored! And no matter what, I am better than you who dare not even show the family emblem."
"You" Whitebeard was angry and opened his mouth to refute, but he looked at Dany and held back his words.
Only nobles have family emblems.
The nobles of Westeros are divided into knights, earls, marquises, dukes, and kings, and knights are the lowest level.
Knights can also be called knights, but they are actually half a level lower than knights and are only considered as a reserve of nobles.
Big Bear Mormont has two identities. He is the Earl of Bear Island, who was inherited from his ancestors. He was given the knighthood by King Robert who quelled the Greyjoy rebellion 10 years ago. He was also a knight, but he already had the title of Earl.
Big Bear was to be tried by Eddard Stark for selling slaves. He was afraid of death because he had taken the ice there, so he would definitely be beheaded.
But he gave up his title of Earl and exiled himself. But the title of Knight given to him by Robert was not taken away, because he escaped the trial, and Eddard had no chance to take away the title of Knight given to him by the king.
Therefore, Dany and others called him "Ser Jorah" or "Ser Mormont".
Dany and Jorah both knew that Whitebeard had hidden his identity.
His knowledge, experience and conversation were not even as good as that of Earl Mormont. It was difficult for people who had not received orthodox aristocratic education to have the excellent qualities he showed.
But Whitebeard was dressed in a simple linen robe, holding a cane, and never showed his identity credentials such as the family emblem.
Whitebeard also guessed that his identity was suspected, so he was speechless by Big Bear.
Well, speaking of this, I have to sigh. As the most orthodox descendant of the royal family, Dany did not make a family emblem.
Moreover, she is theoretically an "illiterate" and has not received formal aristocratic education.
"That sea monster ship is so fast, it is really chasing us!" The lookout exclaimed, breaking the awkward silence among the people on the bridge.
After a few coughs, Dany asked: "Why is Euron Greyjoy chasing us? Did we guess wrong? He also failed to explore the ruins of Valyria and suffered heavy losses. He needs to rob us to recover?"
"It's possible." Jorah glanced at Whitebeard and said thoughtfully: "We only saw the Serenity struggling in the Storm Wall. Maybe he has been lost in the storm and has not entered the ruins. After all, even dragons are lost."
"If we reveal our identities, will he give us a way out for the sake of our fellow countrymen?" Dany said strange words with a strange smile.
Whitebeard was stunned for a moment before he reacted and asked, "Are you sure of a complete victory? Greyjoy is not easy to deal with. The last time Balon rebelled, Euron showed extraordinary cunning and cruelty. Lannister Harbor was almost captured by the Ironborn led by him. If he was not sure of defeating our fleet, he would not have chased us in such a hurry."
"I have dragons, not just an ordinary fleet." Dany said confidently.
The old man looked up at the white and green dragons circling in the sky and said solemnly, "He saw your dragons."
"Hahaha, you don't think I want the dragons to burn his ships, do you?" Dany laughed.
"I am their mother and cherish their lives more than anyone else. The young dragons now can't even resist bows and arrows. If I really let the dragons fly over the enemy ships and spit fire, it would be murdering my own children."
Having said this, she ordered the blood guards next to her, "Call all the warriors in the cabin up, bring bows and arrows and iron shields."
The centaurs are afraid of the sea. If it is not necessary, they prefer to stay in the cabin and keep company with the horses.
"How do you think the other side will arrange their tactics?" she asked Blackbeard Grolai.
The old sailor frowned, as if he encountered something incomprehensible. "Under normal circumstances, pirates without a large fleet will not attack us. The three to one ratio of ships means that when he engages in a boarding battle with us, the other two ships can attack his mothership from the side and back.
We have more than 600 sailors in total, and the other side has only one narrow ship, which can only accommodate 300 pirates at most. With a double number disadvantage, how can that Euron win?"
"Unless he has a killer weapon!" Whitebeard said solemnly.
Dany thought for a while and asked, "What kind of person is Euron? Will he suddenly go crazy? By the way, why was he exiled?"
"The Ironmen Island is relatively closed, and Euron is not King Balon, so few people pay attention to him. I didn't even know he was exiled, but I'm sure he won't go crazy. That man is cunning and unpredictable."
Whitebeard shook his head and looked at the big bear, "Maybe Ser Mormont knows him better."
The Ironmen often plunder the west coast of Westeros, especially the North without the protection of ships, and the people of Bear Island often fight against the Ironmen disguised as pirates.
Mormont sighed, "I wish he had suddenly become stupid, but unfortunately... Let's prepare for the battle."
Then he walked towards the cabin to put on full body armor.
This fantasy world is not without gunpowder, but unfortunately it is not very powerful. It is just a prop used by pyromancers for juggling. Therefore, without cannons, naval battles are still mainly boarding battles, supplemented by bow and arrow shooting. Armor will be safer.
Of course, the premise is not to fall into the sea.
In addition to Mormont, Dany's centaurs and sailors also began to change their equipment enthusiastically.
The centaurs all wore dark red leather armor with breastplates, shiny red copper helmets, a small copper round shield tied to the left wrist, an arakh scimitar inserted at the waist, and a longbow in their hands. They looked like regular soldiers.
Unlike the centaurs who wore uniform clothing, the sailors' armor was in a mess, with rusty plates, chain mail that didn't fit, worn leather armor, and some holding pot lids as shields.
Dahei went into the storm around nine in the morning and came back at eleven. Then the Serenity began to pursue the fleet at nearly 12 o'clock. At that time, the distance was no more than 30 kilometers. Then at 3:30 in the afternoon, the two sides began to enter the combat distance. 1 kilometer.
Although there were no artillery in this world (the artillery of warships during the Invincible Armada period actually had an effective range of only three or four hundred meters), catapults and crossbows were installed on the bow and stern decks.
What was thrown out was not stones, but oil-soaked cotton cloth bags. The oil-soaked linen cotton cloth was wrapped into a "solid bullet" as big as a schoolbag, which was ignited and thrown out.
It is very difficult to hit the target with that thing, and it is mainly used to shoot fixed targets, such as sea vessels attacking cities and sneak attacks on fleets in other people's ports.
The Cydurion is a pure sea ship without any weapons installed, but the rowing boats Summer Sun and Joking Yoso have the purpose of serving as "frigates" for merchant ships. Not only do they have many sailors (rowing requires more sailors), but they also have a total of six catapults and eighteen crossbows.
Blackbeard's original idea was to delay time as much as possible. If it gets dark, the Serenity may not be able to catch up with them.
But he really underestimated the speed of the narrow ship. Not only is the ratio of the sail to the hull huge (the larger, the faster the ship), but after approaching the Cydurion, the Serenity lowered 200 straight oars on both sides of the ship, and the dull drumbeats came from afar, as if beating in everyone's hearts.
Read 70+ Advanced Chapters At Pat Reon
[email protected]/FicToric
(End of this chapter)