Chapter 1393: 1310 guessed wrong again

In the waters near Dragon Island, the main fleet of the Laines Empire had completely transformed: one aircraft carrier was ablaze, and another was now only a third afloat.

Half an hour ago, the Great Tang Empire’s anti-ship missiles launched a surprise attack on the entire fleet, catching everyone off guard. Numerous warships were hit by the missiles, and then various dazzling explosions occurred.

One aircraft carrier after another exploded like oversized fireworks, the fumes and the ammunition stockpiled inside all turned into amplifiers for the Great Tang Empire’s anti-ship missiles, reducing their own carriers to scrap metal.

Blomayer’s face had turned pale; he truly did not expect that the seemingly invincible fleet would be reduced to this state in just half an hour.

He felt like crying but had no tears; at this moment, he realized that his proposal to attack Great Tang Empire’s Dragon Harbor was nothing but a joke from start to finish.

Leines I was already in a state of panic by this moment; he didn’t understand naval warfare at all, and seeing this situation made him almost cry.

If this were on land, he would have fled by now; but since it was on the boundless sea, he had nowhere to run.

He already regretted coming out to oversee the battle, thinking it was a foolish idea. He should have stayed in the Imperial Capital of the Laines Empire and awaited news, even if the news was of a crushing defeat, at least there was no danger to his life, right?

If a missile directly hit the bridge of the Laines Ship later on, wouldn’t he, as Emperor, die right here?

Thinking of this, he really wanted to switch ships; at least… at least a battleship seemed more rugged and should be sturdier than an aircraft carrier.

“General Blomayer…” Although His Majesty The Emperor hadn’t spoken, the guard who accompanied him naturally understood his intentions. He walked to Blomayer’s side and asked in a lowered voice, “Could we let His Majesty change to a safer warship? This carrier seems too dangerous, exploding at any moment.”

The reason for his diligence was his desire to quickly switch to a safer place; staying here was plainly dangerous. Didn’t he see the carrier that exploded not far away, with its deck blown into the sky?

After being reminded, Blomayer also realized that it was not ideal to have His Majesty standing on the Laines Ship and should have him leave promptly.

Firstly, because the Emperor’s body is precious, he should not be in danger; secondly, having such a significant figure here made it inconvenient for him to command.

Therefore, Blomayer nodded in agreement: “Indeed, His Majesty should move to the Ice Crystal City Ship battleship… Ice Crystal City Ship has thick armor, faster speed, and is a bit safer.”

The guard immediately returned to Leines I’s side and reported the matter of switching to the Ice Crystal City Ship battleship. However, he cleverly presented it as General Blomayer requesting His Majesty The Emperor to go to a safer location.

Sure enough, Leines I, whose face was pale — whether from seasickness or fear causing his legs to weaken — immediately nodded in agreement with the General’s plea: “Then let us head to the Ice Crystal City Ship battleship…”

With His Majesty The Emperor preparing to leave, there were naturally numerous procedures to carry out. The most important aspect was to lower the flag representing the Emperor and accompany him to the Ice Crystal City Ship.

Additionally, when the Emperor departs, the transport vessel cannot be prepared randomly; it must be sufficiently large and safe.

Due to the electromagnetic interference, they were unaware that the transport fleet behind them had already fallen into chaos, with Blomayer constantly trying to order the succeeding fleet to return.

Unfortunately, his orders had not gone through; the subsequent fleet continued moving forward, many struck heavily by the Tang Army’s submarine attacks.

For some of the supply transport ships that were sunk, it wasn’t too bad–dozens or hundreds of crew members, along with a shipload of ammunition or vehicles and tanks. Sinking merely meant losing some equipment.

However, some ships were transporting hundreds or thousands of army soldiers who were seasick and vomiting all the way, unable to swim at all.

If such ships were torpedoed and sunk, these army soldiers would quickly sink to the ocean floor along with the ship, with almost no survivors.

Sometimes, a single torpedo could take out over 1500 soldiers, a efficiency far greater than that in ground battles, where an army might need several days to eliminate 1500 people.

On the entire sailing route, one could see floating lifebuoys and oil slicks dispersed by the waves. Some of the Tang Army submarines had run out of torpedoes and still hadn’t managed to sink the remaining Laines Empire transport ships.

After all, there were simply too many of these ships; the Laines Empire had prepared a huge number for this landing, some even being civilian vessels, forming a spectacular gathering of over a thousand large and small ships.

Now, these ships had all become targets, a showcase for the Great Tang Empire Navy submarine force to flaunt their achievements. After today, every submarine captain without a medal for sinking 50,000 tons of enemy ships would be embarrassed to greet their peers.

Above the bridge of the Laines Ship aircraft carrier, the Emperor’s flag was being slowly lowered, and Leines I had already arrived at the stern, ready to board the transport vessel prepared for him. But before he could board, the Ice Crystal City Ship battleship, sailing from afar, was hit by an anti-ship missile on the bridge.

The massive explosion was so near that Leines I was startled, almost missing a step and falling into the sea.

The guards around him scrambled to pull His Majesty The Emperor back to a safe spot, barely catching their breath before another battleship was hit, producing swirling smoke near the horizon.

The Sea Spitfire Fighters that took off couldn’t find their targets and circled overhead; Blomayer looked at the distant collapsed bridge of the Ice Crystal City Ship battleship, not knowing what to say.

Suddenly, he felt very tired, a sense of exhaustion. He hadn’t figured out where the enemy was, yet his fleet was on the verge of total annihilation.

Could it be that… Dorne and Da Qin hadn’t actually attracted Tang Army’s main fleet? Was the opponent always waiting at Dragon Island for them to take the bait?

With this thought in mind, he turned his head to look at the distant horizon, seeing another battleship burning there, cursing all the fools of Dorne and Da Qin in his heart.

Unfortunately, he guessed wrong. Blocking him was only a single aircraft carrier from the Dragon Island defense fleet.