The Value of Fine Wine

Su Ming and Katharine continued to communicate about the battle situation using the communication array. Although the response delay ranged from twenty minutes to an hour, Su Ming had gradually adapted to this message-style asynchronous dialogue mode.

"You can retreat deeper into the Arctic Circle?" Katharine was quite surprised. "The shipping lanes in that area are completely frozen!"

"The initial configuration I chose for the Pansy is the ice-breaking configuration," Su Ming explained. "Therefore, if the battle turns unfavorable, we can forcibly disengage from the battlefield at any time and move deeper into the icy sea."

The forces assembled by the Temple of Light this time are unprecedentedly powerful: eight "Dawn Pioneer Class" main cruisers, two high-end magic warships, and the Naga Clan navy fighting in coordination.

Even if the Silver Dragon Guard is successfully eliminated, the remaining enemy naval forces are still extremely powerful, and the possibility of other unknown variables cannot be ruled out.

Moreover, although Yinfei's whereabouts are unknown, it doesn't mean she won't suddenly appear on the battlefield.

"No wonder you dared to fight back." Katharine finally understood Su Ming's intention.

Su Ming's core tactical objective is to completely destroy the enemy's aircraft carrier capable of carrying dragons, as well as the two crucial magical warships. Once this objective is achieved, the remaining conventional gunboats of the Temple of Light will essentially lose their ability to defeat the Pansy, and control of the sea will be firmly in their hands.

This move will eliminate the enemy's most threatening strategic foothold, giving our side absolute initiative in subsequent base expansion operations.

The encirclement that General Tai'ao'duo could envision would be a circular formation facing Su Ming head-on, blocking his escape routes in other directions. Therefore, if the battle failed, the Pansy could simply retreat into the icy seas of the Arctic Circle.

Temple of Light pursued the Pansy's broken-open route, Su Ming would excitedly recommend to them agricultural products from his hometown: intelligent sea mines.

Su Ming believes he has a great talent for driving sales.

In short, the Light Fleet might be able to anticipate Su Ming's side's firepower configuration, but they could never have imagined that they would be facing a warship with icebreaking capabilities.

This is the source of Su Ming's invincibility.

"I understand that," Katharine said. "Furthermore, we've confirmed the models of the large magical artifacts carried by the enemy's two magic ships: ' Veil of Eternal Winter ' and ' Heart of Winter.'"

Following this communication, detailed documentation and relevant performance data were also sent.

"Veil of Eternal Winter" is a weather manipulation magic weapon that can guide and enhance blizzards, creating short-term extreme weather within a region to provide battlefield cover.

As the fully shipboard version of "Heart of Winter's Ring of Winter" possesses extremely powerful frost-based attack capabilities. The Light Fleet's tactical intentions are clear: to use "Veil of Eternal Winter" to create a favorable battlefield environment for a surprise attack, and with the help of its frost-based bonuses and amplification effects, to launch a fatal blow against the Pansy using "Heart of Winter."

The Light Fleet maintained exceptionally tight secrecy regarding these tactical details; these core secrets were not obtained directly through military channels.

However, Su Ming's side integrated the inside information from Katharine, the export records of specific magical materials from the Northern Lands over the past three months collected by Princess Dafulin, and the tracking of recent abnormal transaction flows in the alchemy market by the vast merchant guild resource network controlled by Zijin.

The cross-verification and in-depth analysis of intelligence from three sources made the Temple of Light's entire battle plan as transparent as a goldfish in a glass bowl.

****

March 10, the day after the Pansy set sail.

The MK71 203mm heavy gun, after undergoing modernization, conducted its first live-fire test. Accompanied by a deafening roar and gushing flames from the muzzle, a salvo of high-explosive shells accurately struck a sizable ice floe in the distance.

A massive column of water, carrying shattered ice shards, shot skyward, instantly tearing the hard, thick ice floes apart into countless flying fragments by the violent impact.

The astonishing destructive power left all the onlookers on deck in awe, with low gasps rising and falling.

Only Beianqi seemed a little sullen. She crossed her arms and muttered, "Now even a three-year-old can launch an attack by tapping the touchscreen a couple of times!"

This is true to a certain extent: the newly installed advanced fire control computer system can integrate gun-aiming radar data and current weather parameters in real time, perform complex trajectory prediction calculations, and make corrections based on the actual situation, completely eliminating the arduous manual calculation process for artillery officers.

"... I'll set a password for the MK71's touchscreen," Su Ming said with a smile.

Beianqi rolled her eyes at Su Ming. "You're making the last bit of beauty in war between big ships and cannons disappear!" she protested angrily.

However, her attention was soon drawn to a new technology—dynamic propellant.

With the support of a powerful fire control computer, artillery officers are freed from tedious calculations and can devote their energy to higher-level tactical design. One such direction is to flexibly adjust the propellant charge in the propellant chamber according to the ever-changing battlefield situation to achieve more precise and efficient attacks.

"Wow! Multiple shells hitting simultaneously (MRSI)? That's amazing!" The more Beianqi studied it, the more her eyes lit up, her excitement overflowing.

Miao Xin contacted Su Ming, and the "Hawk Chicken" anti-ship missile DEMO test version from Fengshou's side had finally completed its research and development and initial assembly.

"Why is it still a demo version?" Su Ming asked in confusion.

"After all, the magical warships you'll encounter in another world are completely different from the sailboats we use as target ships here," Fengshou patiently explained. "Only when you actually use them on the battlefield to destroy the target enemy ships can this 'test version' label be rightfully removed."

"Alright," Su Ming nodded understandingly, "Then let's arrange two to prepare for teleportation."

Fengshou was quite surprised. "You only want two? That's too stingy! You won't even provide one for a whole ship. Won't those otherworldly beings think we Earthlings haven't treated us well!"

"There's no other way," Su Ming sighed helplessly. "If you could manufacture missiles using only basic metals like copper, iron, and aluminum, I'd take whatever you offered!" His tone carried a hint of complaint. "Do you know what it's like to have to prepare dozens of different materials before each teleportation? It's been so many years since the college entrance exam, and I'm forced to memorize the periodic table all over again!"

Upon hearing this, Miss Ghost couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Not long after, on the bone-fixed frame on the deck of the Pansy, accompanied by a flash of light, two slender "Hawk Chicken" missiles were successfully reassembled and lay there quietly, like birds of prey waiting to hunt.

Zijin strolled over curiously, examining the two missiles closely. "Are they... the ' Hawk Chicken ' missiles used in the Battle of Sacred Mountain again?" she asked uncertainly. "Can this weapon really be effective on a stormy sea?"

Su Ming shook his head and explained, "It's different. This is an anti-ship variant designed specifically for surface ships. It has a faster sprint speed, and the warhead structure and explosive charge are significantly different."

"But didn't we run out of alcohol reserves a long time ago?" Zijin suddenly remembered something important and quickly reminded him, "I remember you used the last of your supplies when you were preparing those torpedoes."

Su Ming's lips curled into a slight smile. "How could there not be? Rupert managed to procure quite a bit of strong distilled spirits in the Sea of Divine Grace. Besides, I bought up all the rum in the Ale's inventory."

****

As they spoke, the service staff were already busy pulling piles of wine jars out of the cargo hold. As the lids were opened one by one, an intensely rich and intoxicating aroma immediately burst forth, spreading freely through the air on the deck.

The alchemy team members then stepped forward and carefully purified the precious liquid before injecting it into the missile's fuel tank.

Seeing such a beautiful and fragrant wine being wasted like this, many crew members showed expressions of heartache and regret.

The collection that Sea of Divine Grace found is not the ordinary stuff you find on the market.

Looking at the flowing wine, Zijin felt a pang of sadness, and a faint blush began to appear on her cheeks.

Seeing this, Su Ming reached out and pulled her away from the area shrouded in the strong smell of alcohol. "[Too much alcohol will make you drunk. With your body, you can probably only handle about a glass of fruit wine, right?]"

Zijin was a little unconvinced, "[I'll practice a bit more and get used to it, and soon I'll be able to drink strong liquor too!]"

"No touching it without my supervision!" Su Ming firmly refused.

[Hmph!] Zijin pouted.

She looked around and suddenly noticed that a figure who should have been there, weeping and wailing over the wine, was absent. "By the way, where's your head instructor at the training camp, Rupert?"

She thought for a moment and realized that she hadn't seen him for two days, and there were far fewer necromancers on the ship.

"Oh, I sent him with the damage control team on the mission," Su Ming replied.

After a moment's thought, Zijin roughly guessed where the group had gone.

"Is the plan to raid the port of Grodno, disrupt the Light Fleet's supply lines, and force them to retreat?" Zijin exclaimed in admiration, "Indeed, you and Katharine always think so thoroughly and meticulously."

"That's indeed a standard tactical option," Su Ming said. "The opposing commander doesn't know we have such a large group of necromancers, and therefore doesn't know we have the capability to launch a ground assault on the port." He then refuted Zijin's statement, "But this time we don't need to wear down the enemy through logistics—that's too slow."

"... What are Rupert and the others doing at the port?" Zijin asked, puzzled.

"Do you remember the battle we fought against the pirates while escorting a large trade convoy?" Su Ming asked. "We won too quickly that time, and most of the enemy escaped."

"Yes," Zijin said regretfully, "Naval battles are so troublesome. Despite having such a huge advantage, we didn't get much spoils."

"So this time," Su Ming revealed a knowing smile, "We need to plan ahead!"