What others didn’t know was that while Byron waved vigorously at Red Beard on the surface, deep inside the Whale Song, he was so angry he could stomp his feet.
Idiots! Your coordination is horribly inefficient. It took half an hour to form a simple battle line according to the prearranged plan, and it’s still not done properly. According to the Navy’s wartime regulations, never mind being this disorganized, even if a captain sailed away from the formation on his own, he would be executed a hundred times over! Such a huge target as Red Beard, without the saturation attack of a battle line, how could he truly be killed?
Violet rubbed her buzzing ears.
Even though she was a formidable Third Order pirate, she didn’t even think about retorting but softly explained, "Pirates are used to fighting on their own. We had a good plan at the beginning, but when it came to executing it, we found too many issues with being better in theory than in practice. Even with the Flame Rose positioned in the middle, I couldn’t see the other warships one or two kilometers away. A Kingdom-class battle line is composed of Battleships of Third Grade and Above, all with similar designs and parameters for easy coordination. Our ragtag fleet is different, making the difficulty much greater. The sailors on the pirate ships haven’t had any training either; they can barely mimic a proper formation. When the battle starts and smoke fills the air, visibility and coordination will only get worse."
Everyone knows that for undercover operatives, secrecy is the top priority. Apart from Violet herself, nobody else had any clue about Byron’s existence. This novice commander had already tried her hardest to achieve this much on her own, and this was with the full cooperation of other Great Pirates.
"I’ve arrived, wait for my signal."
In the time it took to have this conversation, the Golden Deer had already quickly breached the barricades of the old, obsolete ships and arrived alongside the Goddess of Vengeance.
Without slowing down at all, Bruh, the Guardian Knight at the helm, executed a high-angle drift at sea. As they passed by each other, Byron grabbed a rope hanging from the mainmast and swung onto the deck of the Goddess of Vengeance like an agile monkey. He rolled to dissipate the force of his landing and sprang up unharmed, saluting Red Beard, "Captain, I was delayed by a bunch of old hulks on the way; I’m sorry I’m late."
Red Beard, slightly excited, stepped forward and clapped him on the shoulder, "Mr. Bill, my discerning eyes have indeed not misjudged you. Your loyalty shines brighter than gold!"
He then looked eagerly toward the three-masted ship behind Byron, "That’s the Golden Deer under your command, right? You guys..."
Byron immediately understood the meaning in his eyes, which read clear as day: Whose subordinates are these? Great stuff, I want it!
Every pirate with aspirations to the Pirate King’s throne values talent. All the more so because the ship had just demonstrated such impressive performance that anyone would want to recruit it. But before Red Beard had a chance to make an offer to keep them, Bruh, who was already in tune with Byron, didn’t say another word and piloted the Golden Deer to break through from the other side. En route, a 32-pound carronade unleashed its power repeatedly, sinking any obstinate hulk that dared to block the path, making Red Beard even more covetous.
He had originally thought the Golden Deer was just a fledgling pirate ship, but now he had recognized the superiority of this sailboat as a pirate vessel.
Byron blocked Red Beard’s view and reproached himself heartily, "This pirate ship and its captain and crew are indeed excellent. But in a battle of this level, they can’t be of much help. It’s already quite difficult for them to bring me back. This allows me to fight shoulder-to-shoulder and share life and death with the Goddess of Vengeance, with you, Captain, and with my colleagues. Having them roam the periphery can at least split the fire from those hulks. I also encountered two of the seven free pirate ships you assigned to me out there, but they refused to help. I regret that I wasn’t able to bring you more reinforcements."
After hearing this, Red Beard couldn’t help but be moved, his regret tinged with admiration, "As long as you, my right-hand man, can return safely, it’s the greatest luck for me as a captain. Don’t worry, I’ve already sent the list of free pirates who joined us back to the Navy Department for review. You can tell your friends, as long as we win this battle, the York Family will not be stingy with a Privateering License. Even the chance of enlisting them as true Navy officers one day, turning them into lords, is not a dream."
As he spoke, he also patted a small, black, shell-like horn on his belt. Byron was already familiar with this Miracle, the Echo Conch. If you speak into it, an echo can be heard in the corresponding conch, with a maximum communication distance of 1,000 kilometers. It can also record all echoes within three months, ready for playback at any time. This was also one of his targets. He thought it must still hold many of Red Beard’s and the York Family’s confidential dealings.
"Thank you, Captain. They will definitely appreciate your kindness. But now is not the time for talking; I’m the best at flag signals on the Goddess of Vengeance. I’ll get up to the crow’s nest right away to help you and the signal officer coordinate the fleet."
Without exchanging many words, Byron, who had just come to the rescue, gave Red Beard another salute and quickly climbed up the aft mizzen shrouds. Including Red Beard, the surrounding pirate officers were impressed by his courage from the bottom of their hearts.
There were words of high praise like "loyally devoted" and "heroic figure." Of course, some also mocked him as a brave fool.
The battle about to unfold wasn’t a boarding fight. In a long-range artillery battle, being exposed on the defenseless crow’s nest meant one could only resign to fate, never knowing when a stray shot might take their life.
What a joke. Do you think you also have the Captain’s Undying Body?
When Byron climbed the mast with a monocular telescope in hand, arriving at the best spot in the "grandstand" with a clear view of all opposing "enemy ships," the first thing he did was send a message to Violet: "Miss Artist, I have reached the best position in the ’stands.’ The view here is not bad; you just need to repeat my commands to the entire ship. Now, please start your performance."
The response from the other side was crisp: "Understood. Please stay tuned, good citizen sir!"
Onboard the Goddess of Vengeance, Violet’s demeanor suddenly changed, causing the pirate officers beside her to involuntarily cast sidelong glances. The confidence on her face seemed to radiate light, making one almost believe a deity had possessed her.
Violet, through the whalebone talisman, swiftly assigned codes to the six warships under her command—the Qiangfeng, the Bristol, the Lightning Falcon, and so on—from front to back in the formation. Then she methodically reissued instructions, even down to the level of pirate officers in various functional departments:
"Number One, you’re too far forward; watch your spacing. Loosen the mainmast yard braces, trim the topsails back ten degrees, leave some leeway in your wind angle, and maintain formation with the warships behind."
"Number Two, loosen one reef point on the mizzen topsail, stick close to the lead ship, hold the bearing line firm, and serve as a guide for the warships behind."
"Number Three, your position is crucial..."
As these orders were passed down through the Whale Song, the pirate ships, which had been in disarray, suddenly found their backbone and slowly began to merge into a unified whole.
Not hopeless after all; otherwise, the difficulty of hunting Red Beard would have increased considerably.
Watching the nascent battle line forming before him, Byron nodded in satisfaction.
Commanding a fleet is not so different from commanding a sailboat. Take, for example, a ship’s rigging system, comprised of hundreds of ropes. The sight of the tangled lines would bewilder most educated modern people at a glance. Would illiterate sailors be able to remember them all? Equally impossible.
The rigging is like a computer program, composed of simple elements like 0s and 1s (running rigging and standing rigging), but the combinations are exceedingly complex. Fortunately, a ship is operated by hundreds of people, with each person responsible for only one of those ropes. Sailors only needed to remember the boatswain’s whistle or shouted commands. Then, they would know whether to tighten or release the rope in their hands. Only the boatswain is the old sea dog who has spent a lifetime at sea repeatedly practicing, becoming familiar with and understanding the use of all the rigging.
Command of warships follows the same principle. All that’s needed is a systematic command network to integrate all warships. This ensures each combat unit does the right thing at the right time, which is the biggest victory.
And at this moment, Byron was the brain of this command system! Being in the best "box seat" allowed him to see everything exceptionally clearly.
Just ten minutes later, the Bayfolk’s grand pirate fleet formed a fairly tight "stripped-down battle line." Although the Bayfolk side was one ship short, and none of their ships’ firepower could match the Goddess of Vengeance, a Third Rate Ship, they still had good internal relationships and mutual trust. Coupled with a limited instant command system like the Whalebone Talisman · Whale Song, they looked more like a regular army.
In contrast, Red Beard’s side not only had their own agendas, but they also used outdated flag signals. Lacking training and coordination, they couldn’t form a similar battle line and were even less capable of fighting an upwind battle.
The advantage really is mine this time!
Under Byron’s command, that tight battle line suddenly took the initiative to disengage from their number one target, the Goddess of Vengeance, moving downwind. The "hatred mark" effect was still active. As the battle line caught the wind and pulled away, the Third Rate Ship was also forced to accelerate passively, leaving its already sloppy formation and exposing itself to the dark muzzles of the Bayfolk fleet.
Only then did all the warships once again advance, tacking into the wind, and surge into the enemy’s firing range. But that mere wake, less than three hundred meters long, could no longer threaten the battle line formed by six warships.
It was at this moment that Commander Byron finally gave the order to commence battle: "Fleet, full salvo! Fire on me!"
From the entire battle line, the main guns of six Fourth-rate Ships (or their equivalent) thundered in unison.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!...
The orange-red flashes of the cannons illuminated the dark seas, tinted the clouds on the horizon, and stung the eyes of all the enemy pirates.