In the early morning of the third day after the Aulus fleet was in place, ships from the direction of Azov City appeared in the sight of the sailors.
Seeing the outline of the ship looming on the horizon, the commander of the reconnaissance team hurriedly asked the soldiers to board the observation tower to see how many enemy ships were coming.
The soldier who boarded the observation tower squinted his eyes for a long time, and then shouted down with some hesitation: "Sir, it seems like..."
The commander was a little anxious, and before the soldier could finish speaking, he asked: "How many ships are there? Is it an outpost with a few hundred people? Or is it a main fleet with tens of thousands of people?"
"I see only one," the soldier replied, "and it seems to be a merchant ship."
"Merchant ship? From the city of Azov captured by pirates? Impossible! It must be followed by other ships!"
The commander signaled the ships on both sides to spread out to confirm whether any enemy ships were outflanking them from the left and right. After a while, the left and right wings came back to report that no other enemy ships had been found. There was only that one ship in front, and it was indeed a merchant ship.
The commander looked at it suspiciously for a while, and finally the troops dispersed and let the merchant ship pass.
At noon that day, a second merchant ship came from the direction of Azov City. The commander conducted some reconnaissance as before, but found that there was still only one solitary incoming ship.
The commander couldn't sit still and asked the fleet to surround the merchant ship and stop it.
"Where are you from?" the soldiers shouted to the sailors on the merchant ship.
The people on the boat responded from a distance: "Sir, we are merchants from the Ligurian Republic and are now returning from the city of Azov."
"Isn't the city of Azov captured by pirates? How did you get out?" the soldier asked.
"Sir, those pirates opened the sea route yesterday. As long as you pay some sea fare, you can leave by boat. We were the first to escape, and there are many ships behind us."
The commander frowned: "Lie! Your ship has such a deep draft, it must be full of cargo. How could it be that it was just released by pirates?"
The people on the boat responded hurriedly: "Sir, we are telling the truth! The pirates did not touch our goods after entering the city. The mercenaries must hand over all their armor and weapons to them as trophies, and ordinary people must pay sea fees when leaving the city. That's all. We are just ordinary businessmen who have just escaped from the threat of war and pirates. Because of the long delay, many goods have deteriorated and we have suffered a lot of losses. Please give us a convenience and let us go. past……"
The commander looked at the ship up and down again - excluding cargo, this kind of ship could only carry fifty people, and there were no weapons on board. Even if you let them go, it won't have any impact.
So, the commander waved the merchant ship and let it go.
This situation lasted until the fifth day. Aulus, who realized something was wrong, personally came to the scene by boat and ordered the commander of the team to report the situation to him in person. After asking for the relevant details, he picked up the commander.
Aulus' angry roar came from the deck: "Five days! Nearly twenty ships have arrived from Azov City! Even if there are fifty people on each ship, there are nearly a thousand people! Just let them go. Already?"
"However, no weapons can be seen on those ships, and those on board are indeed businessmen from the Republic of Liguria..."
"The city of Azov has been captured by pirates! Not to mention merchants, why would it be surprising if pirates came over on a Ligurian Republic warship? Why don't you get on the ship to check?"
"But they came in scattered pieces, not like an army!" The commander defended himself in a panic, "And it's not that those ships passed directly through the Black Sea Strait and were not in Constantine at all. Isn't it the port of call at Niye? Even if it is really a pirate pretending to be a pirate, there is probably no hostility..."
Aulus almost threw the commander into the sea. Of course he knew that this group of pirates was not targeting the Seven Hills Empire, but the Island Republic. The group of businessmen in the Island Republic are very sophisticated. If not for this, how could they offer a high price to recover the counterfeit coins in his hand?
But Aulus was in urgent need of getting rid of the counterfeit coins in his hand, and secondly, he had been coveting the throne of the Scipio family for a long time. Three years ago, he had already planned to seize the throne after discovering Su's intention to murder Ella in Antilia. However, he did not expose Su's lies because he had no evidence and the imperial guards were on Su's side. For his plan, he urgently needs to improve his domestic prestige, so he must fight against these pirates.
"The pirates of the Pirate Kingdom killed our Baselisa! Have you forgotten this shame?" He pretended to roar at the commander, "Don't care whether they came against us or what they wanted to do, even if they They want to celebrate their birthdays, but we can’t let them succeed! Do you understand?”
The commander was pressed against the side of the ship by Aulus, with more than half of his body leaning outwards from the railing, as if he would fall off the ship at any time. He was so frightened that he responded repeatedly: "I understand, I understand, General, I understand. Even if it is a merchant ship, I will go up and take a good look..."
"General!" a soldier shouted from the observation deck, "another ship has appeared over there! It's huge! It's ridiculously big!"
"It's just the right time!" Aulus threw the commander on the deck and ordered all the surrounding ships: "Surround them and force them to stop!"
At the same time, on the "Flying Zealander", Ella was proudly showing off her "genius" plan to Amy.
"A ship with fifty people, lasting for ten days, and twenty ships passing through every day may be too exaggerated. But if a ship has two hundred people, lasting for twenty days, it will not even reach three ships every day. It is completely It’s within the normal range! From fifty people to three hundred, all we have to do is empty the cargo and fill the cargo boxes with people..."
"Your Majesty, doesn't your heart hurt? I see that those people who were forced into the cargo box look like they are about to cry! And your Majesty's plan will definitely cause problems..."
"There's no problem. As long as they pass through the Black Sea Strait, they can get out of the cargo box. It's not a big problem..."
Before Ella finished speaking, a pirate hurriedly ran into the cabin. As soon as he entered the door, he shouted, "King of Sweden! It's bad! The fleet of the Seven Hills Empire is surrounding us!"
"Gu...?" Ella was so scared that the crowbar in her hand fell directly to the ground: "How could it be possible? How could such a perfect plan of mine be seen through?"
"I have reminded you almost a hundred times before, Your Majesty, your plan will never work!"
Amy shouted unbearably.
"There is no other way, use the prepared plan!" Ella shouted, "Go and ask Hezekiah!"
