Gotland, the capital of the territory of the pirate king Ragnar, is located on an island in the middle of the sea. It can be reached in a few days by sailing northeast from Zealand. Since there was no need to garrison Sealand, Ayla took all the 2,000 garrison Heystein had left for her and set off with Alfred's fleet.
But Alfred was quite critical of this operation: "Although Gotland is just an island, it is located at the center of the entire pirate kingdom and is a strategic location. Even if Ragnar is not there, he will definitely stay. It is heavily guarded. With our current strength, it will be very difficult to capture Gotland."
Alfred and Ella were on a ship, so they discussed battle plans along the way. Ella insisted on pulling Amy to join, but Alfred did not object. However, sandwiched between Alfred and Ella, Amy could hardly get a word in.
"If it were a naval battle, would Gotland's side be at an advantage or disadvantage?" Ella asked, looking at the map spread on the cabin.
This map was brought by Alfred. He said it was the most detailed map of Scandinavia that could be found in England. However, compared with Gan's map, the level of detail was not even the slightest bit worse. It can only serve to mark the relative position.
"In a naval battle, of course we have the advantage. But why would Gotland come to fight us in a naval battle if he doesn't defend the city?"
In fact, Alfred often couldn't keep up with Ella's thoughts. For example, this time, Ella's answer was beyond Alfred's expectation as always: "Then since Gotland does not dare to engage in a naval battle with us, don't worry about it. Go through it and attack Uppland directly! "
Uppland was a large city on the coast of the Kingdom of Sweden, adjacent to Westmanland, the site of Ragnar's siege. To get from Zealand to Uppland, you have to pass near the island of Gotland.
Alfred was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood Ella's intention and nodded: "Indeed, attacking Uppland is more reliable than attacking Gotland."
"Wait, wait a minute!" Amy couldn't help but interrupt, "Didn't the King of Beasts let us attack Gotland in exchange for the fiefdom? What's the use of attacking Upland?"
Alfred explained to Amy with a smile: "Have you never thought about it, Hestein already has a huge advantage, why do you want to offer such conditions in exchange for the support of Purple Robe?"
"Why……?"
"According to intelligence, Ragnar has been besieged by Hestein. If Hestein can kill or capture Ragnar, then it will only be a matter of time before Gotland surrenders. But he asked Purple Robe to send troops to help - also That is to say, under the current situation, he is not completely sure that he can catch Ragnar."
"Yes, yes! But what does this have to do with our attack on Upland?"
"Hestein hoped that the Purple Robe would capture Gotland and cut off Ragnar's return! However, the Purple Robe did not follow his plan. This is the wisdom of the Purple Robe."
"Hmm... I don't quite understand."
Ella raised her head: "Amy, do you still remember our plan when we just escaped from Constantiniya?"
"Huh? I remember that Your Majesty was going to take a boat to Brusis, and then go to Cyprus... But we didn't know that Brusis had been conquered by Hestein, and we suddenly got into the pirates' den..."
Ella nodded and pointed out Upland on the map for Amy:
"Look, after Ragnar escapes from Westmanland, if he wants to return to Gotland, the fastest way is to take a boat to Uppland. Therefore, the effects of capturing Uppland and capturing Gotland are actually about the same. wrong?"
"However, it is much easier to capture Uppland than to capture Gotland." Alfred said with help: "And as long as we move fast enough, Ragnar will plunge into our encirclement network, At that time, it was not Hestein who killed Ragnar, but Purple Robe! With this result, Purple Robe may even replace Hestein as the King of Heroes!"
Alfred became more and more excited as he spoke. This plan meant that their fleet would march past the heavily defended Gotland. If Gotland doesn't come out to intercept, Ragnar will fall into their trap. And if Gotland wanted to stop them, they would have to run out of the strong city walls and fight a naval battle that would not be beneficial to them.
Compared to attacking Gotland honestly, this plan transferred the initiative of the war to Ella. Moreover, Ella who acts like this can get more than she expected.
Alfred became increasingly grateful that Ella was his ally, not his enemy.
However, Ella nodded repeatedly to the first half of Alfred's words. But after listening to the second half of Alfred's words, Ella suddenly looked confused: "What did you say? Didn't Hestein ask me to be the lord of Sweden? Why be the King of Heroes?"
"Your Majesty! He is saying that as long as you are the one who kills Ragnar, you will have a chance to become the King of Heroes! Become the lord of his Heystein!"
"Can it still be like this?" Ella exclaimed, "Amy, you are so smart!"
"That's it! At that time, Your Majesty will be able to send troops to take back the throne of the Qiqiu Empire!"
"And maybe I can even get Hestein to lick my toes!"
Ella and Amy held hands and danced around the boat.
Alfred felt his head hurt. The purple-robed person in front of me should obviously be very smart... but why does she feel like a blank slate in politics?
Alfred and Ella's mixed fleet slowly sailed into the territory of Gotland.
Gotland's troops had long received reports of the approaching enemy fleet, and the tribesmen outside the city rushed into the city to take refuge. Several stampedes occurred because of the panic.
When Alfred's fleet was already in sight, the generals guarding the city had no time to wait for all the tribesmen to enter the city, so they ordered the city gates to be forcibly closed. Those who held the city gate and tried to squeeze into the city had their hands chopped off by the soldiers inside the city. This made the people in the city cry loudly.
Without any time to pay attention to the cries, the soldiers guarding the city walked to the top of the city with weapons in hand. To boost morale, their leader gave a pre-battle speech. He boasted about the prowess of his own soldiers and laughed at the boldness and ignorance of the enemy. The morale of the soldiers was so high that they could not wait to fight to the death with the invading enemy in the next moment.
However, before the leader could finish his speech, Alfred and Ella's mixed fleet had already sailed away from the city of Gotland in a swaggering manner.
"Go...go?" The soldiers in Gotland City looked at each other.
Alfred's flagship suddenly thought of something, turned its head suddenly, and returned to the city of Gotland alone. Gotland's soldiers watched helplessly as a flaming object was thrown from Alfred's flagship, over the city wall, and fell into the city.
The little leader guarding the city suddenly became nervous and shouted: "Be prepared, the enemy is preparing to attack the city!"
"Boss...Boss! That ship ran away again."
"Leaving again?"
The little boss and the soldiers stared at each other.
A burning smell came from the city.
"Asshole...it's on fire! Go put out the fire!"
By the time the soldiers hurriedly put out the fire, Alfred's flagship had already sailed to an unknown location.
