On this August day, a sense of fear and uneasiness hung over the entire retreating fleet.
The warship carrying the nobles in front was attacked by the Bloodsail Pirates. This news was notified by the Griffin Knights and spread to the entire fleet.
Cook, the experienced naval commander of Kul Tiras, had originally decided to return the entire fleet, but the messenger sent by Lothar insisted that Anduin and Duke could handle the enemy fleet, and that the murloc troops led by the Naga had already arrived.
After some hesitation, Cook decided to maintain three-quarters of the sail and split the fleet into two. The Kul Tiras fleet with a certain combat capability would lead the way in the front, and the transport ships behind would have a chance to escape if they saw something was wrong.
Three hours later, a large blood sail appeared on the horizon.
The strange scarlet color almost made the lookouts subconsciously sound the alarm. In fact, one young lookout actually did so. But Kull, who had foreseen the danger, arranged for double the number of lookouts, and the other more experienced lookout stopped the young man.
"Wait! Look carefully at the flag above!"
After seeing it clearly, all the lookouts were stunned.
"Captain, I suggest you come and see this."
Yes, it is indeed a warship of the Bloodsail Pirates.
The Kul Tiran Navy, who were of the same lineage, could recognize those ships almost to the point of being ashes.
The design of one horizontal sail and three triangular sails to remain flexible in all wind conditions; the specially raised side of the ship for boarding battles; and the detachable wooden outer deck installed for bombardment, all of these clearly tell the Kul Tiras navy that this is indeed their old rival.
However, the Golden Lion Flag of the Stormwind hanging on the main mast is telling the world that this is already the property of the Stormwind.
The Kul Tiras navy's eyes were burning with excitement.
Before forming the Bloodsail Pirates, the leader of the Bloodsail Pirates, the then Duke of Farrell, had built at great expense the best warships in all of Kul Tiras.
In terms of quality, it was even better than Admiral Daelin Proudmoore's main fleet. The only difference was that the number of ships taken away by Duke Farrell was relatively small, with only 12 large merchant ships and 24 warships. After the transformation and upgrade, these 36 ships were definitely the main battleships of the Bloodsail Pirates.
Now that Stormwind had taken away 12 of its capital ships, it would be strange if the people of Kul Tiras were not jealous. If they hadn't known that Stormwind was about to fall, they would have suspected that Stormwind was going to endanger their position as the hegemon of the sea.
Not only that, the quality of those newly built small warships is also quite good.
Together with the ships originally taken away by the nobles, what appeared before the Kul Tirans was a huge fleet consisting of 70 large and small warships.
If the Kul Tirans had not seen through the telescope that it was the Nagas and the Murlocs escorting the Bloodsail Pirates on the deck, they might have been jealous to the point of going crazy.
Brigadier General Cook put down the telescope and muttered to himself: "Damn it, if we didn't have more powerful greenskins to deal with, I would definitely suggest to the admiral to suppress the Stormwind when I return."
On the Poseidon, VanCleef leaned over the porthole, staring intently at the strange fleet that was sailing in the opposite direction from the south of the fleet. The distance between the two sides was so close that he could even see the desperate and frustrated expressions on the faces of those noble private soldiers.
That was definitely not an expression of joy at surviving a disaster.
If we have to use one word to describe them, it would be - stray dogs!
The excited blood pumped out of VanCleef's heart, igniting his whole body. He felt that his body and soul were burning.
The nobility is finished!
Those arrogant and barbaric nobles are finished!
The voice was so clear, so real, that VanCleef almost couldn't control himself.
No matter how Duke did it, next, when the rotten flesh is cut off, even if Stormwind City falls, Stormwind Kingdom will surely be reborn!
Unconsciously, Edwin VanCleef's heart was filled with the light of Duke. It was a passion that made him devote everything he had, including his loyalty, his life, his soul, and even his most beloved daughter Vanessa.
It was late at night, and VanCleef couldn't calm down for a long time.
Of course, he is not the only one who cannot remain calm.
King Llane read the report three times, but after finishing it he was still stunned for a full minute and couldn't speak.
This report is so shocking.
Not only him, but all the high-ranking nobles currently remaining in Stormwind City were silent.
Among the nobles who evacuated, one-tenth were actually demons! When the Bloodsail Pirates launched the attack, the demons revealed their true forms and caused the largest number of deaths of nobles since the founding of the Stormwind.
Of the 387 nobles with titles, only 32 survived, and all of them were injured. Seven families were wiped out forever, and the remaining 13 families were also sparsely populated. Half of the surviving nobles were minors.
Most of them were severely frightened.
This is not a report fabricated by someone or some force. The testimonies of more than 800 survivors are almost consistent. These survivors also include several extremely devout pastors.
Not only them, the testimonies of the Bloodsail Pirates captives were similar.
Llane closed his eyes in pain: "Do you want me to tell the people that the lords they trust and regard as leaders, the nobles of the Stormwind who inherited the legacy of Emperor Thoradin, one tenth of them are demons?"
Llane's voice was not loud, but it was clearly heard in every corner of the meeting room.
Everyone looked at each other.
If this were to happen, it would be a huge blow to morale.
At this time, Earl Carton, who was once an ally of the Brando family, raised his hand slightly and asked to speak: "Why can't we think positively? At least we have twice as many ships. We have enough fishermen to serve as sailors. We can evacuate our citizens at twice the speed."
Llane shuddered, and suddenly his chest seemed to feel a little warm again: Yes, the people's losses will be reduced.
Earl Carton spoke again: "Those who died in this battle were all local lords. I think that when announcing the results to the public, we should first respect their opinions. After all, they are the cornerstone of the kingdom."
The Earl's words were simply heavenly music.
The nobles who evacuated this time did account for the majority, but not every noble could evacuate, such as those who held important military positions in the kingdom.
Their own offspring turned into a demon and killed their own family... How could they possibly announce such a shameful thing? In fact, they had already thought of the reason, but they just didn't dare to bring it up.
Now that Earl Carton had given them this way out, they were so happy that they wanted to run up to him and kiss him on the spot: Wow, it turns out that we have to rely on our own people at critical moments.
This is yesterday's guarantee.