socalfunplaces Chapter 175 Capture the King to Catch the Thief
Chapter 175 Capture the King to Catch the Thief
Chapter 175 Capture the King to Catch the Thief
Only now did Dick realize that Earl Hubert had been preparing for this moment all along.
At this moment, Duke Collins' castle is filled with nobles and high-ranking officials from all over the world.
The matter to be discussed concerns the attack on and recapture of Goddess Island.
The representatives of other regimes had no objections to the conditions and promises offered by Jonas.
With just a final mobilization, an unprecedented fleet will be assembled.
However, at this moment, Earl Peyton ordered Dick to speak out and question the conclusions of the crowd.
Dick was puzzled and didn't understand the meaning of the loyal dog's actions, but he was Earl Hubert's squire and should obey his master's orders.
So he took a deep breath and loudly repeated what Hubert had taught him:
"Underestimating the enemy and advancing rashly will inevitably lead to defeat."
Dick felt the gazes and doubts of the crowd, but a true knight should never waver because of the cold looks of others.
So he straightened his back, stood there without changing his expression, and remained motionless.
Then, someone discovered that he was the champion of the previous martial arts tournament.
Perhaps for this reason, the Duke of Collins asked him:
"Young man, who are you? What do you want to say?"
The loyal dog once said that the real value of the martial arts tournament lies in the title of champion.
Now Dick truly understands this.
Because of his championship title, the host duke was actually willing to listen to him speak.
He was merely a squire who had recently graduated from knighthood.
Dick realized this was an opportunity he had to seize:
"My lord, my name is Dick Buchanan, and I am a knight's squire. My statement just now was merely to illustrate that a hasty attack on Goddess Island is definitely not the best course of action."
"A mere squire dares to speak of military strategy?" Duke Collins scoffed. "Have you ever participated in a battle? Or have you ever led troops?"
Dick didn't, and besides, that wasn't his opinion.
He didn't know how to answer, so he secretly glanced at Earl Hubert.
The loyal dog sat sideways on the chair, so that his body was just hidden from the people in front of him and they could not see him.
He nodded slightly, encouraging Dick to continue.
Was this a test? Regardless, since it was a loyal dog's order, Dick had to carry it out.
He took a deep breath and replied:
"I regret to inform you, my lord, that I have never participated in any battles, but even I know that it is unwise to send troops out rashly."
Crown Herald Johnasfar suddenly asked:
"What's the reason?"
Upon hearing this question, Dick recalled what had happened a few days ago.
Hubert suddenly asked him how to conquer Goddess Island.
Dick offered many solutions, but Count Hubert rejected them all with detailed reasons.
At that time, Dick's confidence was severely damaged, and he doubted whether he really had no potential to be a general.
Fortunately, he aspired to be a knight, which required a strong and unwavering mind, enabling him to quickly recover from setbacks and resolve to improve himself in this area.
However, at this moment, Jonas asked the same question that he had asked before, and Dick instantly understood the loyal dog's intention.
He must have anticipated this conversation, and even guessed what questions the "examiner" might ask.
In this way, the answer was given to Dick.
The loyal dog truly lives up to his reputation... he's even more formidable than the rumors suggest.
Having received the answer beforehand, Dick calmly replied:
"There are three things I cannot fight."
"What are the three things that are absolutely forbidden?"
"The distance between Shoepad Island and Goddess Island is thousands of miles. The journey is long and arduous. Our army is exhausted, while the enemy is well-rested and ready. This is unacceptable."
Jonas countered, "We also have other islands in the Sea of Despair. Forget-Me-Not Island is not far from Goddess Island, and the Star Islands are an even larger archipelago than the Clown Islands."
"Such a large force, if it chooses to stop midway instead of launching an attack immediately, might alert the pirates and allow them to react prematurely."
Dick explained,
"If we lose the initiative in the surprise attack, and the pirates are able to calmly establish a defensive line, the cost to our army will likely be even greater."
Upon hearing this, Jonas fell silent, seemingly unable to come up with a point of rebuttal, and thus remained silent for a long time.
Duke Collins then asked, "What is your second reason?"
"These two things are unacceptable because the enemy's strength and weakness are unclear, like being trapped in a fog, making it easy to enter but difficult to exit, which is disadvantageous to our army."
Duke Collins sneered, "Just a bunch of pirates. This is a joint campaign by multiple powers. Do you think we can't defeat a bunch of pirates?"
"That's why I said this operation was too reckless and underestimating the enemy."
Dick remained unfazed.
"Those who discover new continents and pioneer sea routes are navigators, while he is a pirate. If pirates are truly insignificant, why do we always lag behind them? My lord, admit it, the navigator is the strongest navigator of our time."
Collins's soft, long hair couldn't hide the veins bulging on his forehead; he was clearly angered by Dick's arrogant remarks.
Seeing this, Jonas immediately chimed in:
"Brother Dick, you may be right, but we have hundreds of ships. Are we afraid of not being able to defeat them? Besides, although the navigator is a tough opponent, not every pirate is a navigator."
"Based on the information we have so far, the navigator seems to have no connection with Goddess Island, and he is not even on the Sea of Despair, but is wandering around the Sea of Gloom."
"History is full of examples of smaller forces winning against larger ones," Dick said. "And do we really have a numerical advantage?"
Jonas frowned: "What do you mean?"
"After Joachim's death, the pirate world quickly entered the fleet era, and now it has developed into eight major pirate leaders. Each of them has dozens of ships under their command. Even if they have fewer ships than us, the gap is definitely not as huge as you imagine."
"Don't worry about that," Jonas said with a smile. "Goddess Island isn't very big, so there can't be too many ships anchored there."
"My lord, more is not necessarily a good thing," Dick replied.
What does this mean?
"No matter how many ships there are, without a suitable commander, they're just a bunch of headless flies, a burden to the other ships. My lord, have you found a commander to lead the fleet?"
Jonas looked slightly embarrassed, but he seemed to have anticipated this and immediately gave his answer:
"John Justinian, the current Holy City Lord of Sun City, is the person I have chosen. He is a descendant of the Crimson Prince, who is the most famous navigator in history."
“Even the most famous navigator never discovered the New World,” Dick replied. “And the Scarlet Prince was a figure from the First Men era; no one can replicate his glory.”
Just then, a man in his thirties stood up from his seat, raised his chin, and said:
"The Navigator was just lucky. How can he compare to my ancestors? I may not be as good as the Crimson Prince, but I am more than capable of dealing with the Navigator."
Jonas nodded. "And the specific tactics can be discussed gradually. As for the issue of feints and real attacks, we can work on that gradually as well. So I don't think we need to worry too much about that. So, young man, what's your third reason?"
Dick said, "This kind of attack is completely insufficient to solve the problem."
Upon hearing this, Dick noticed that everyone's expressions turned serious, and Duke Collins was the first to ask a question:
"What do you mean?"
"Pirates are far more slippery than eels. An attack might be able to reclaim Goddess Island, but as long as we can't wipe out that gang of pirates, those desperate men will one day get involved again for profit."
"Then let's have another match," the Duke said.
“Pirates have nothing but ships, so they can come and go as they please at sea,” Dick replied. “But we each have our own attachments, our own businesses and lands, and we can’t possibly put all our thoughts on the sea.”
"Moreover, we come from all over the world, and how long has it taken to gather like this? From the time the invitation was sent out to the time we are holding the first meeting, half a year has already passed."
"I believe the planning process must have taken even longer, but how many of you can afford to spend so much time on this so frequently? It's foreseeable that this is the only time the coalition has been able to organize something like this."
This is also the perspective of a loyal dog, and it was precisely this point that convinced Dick.
While a knight must always maintain his original aspirations, others are not required to hold themselves to the same standards.
Humans are inherently lazy; once they can't achieve something in one go, it's hard to muster the motivation to try again and again.
Pirates are like rats; if you kill seven last month, six more may hatch next month.
Unless they are completely wiped out, all efforts are in vain, and the pirates will eventually come back.
However, when Dick asked Earl Hubert how to wipe out the pirates, the loyal dog shook his head and said there was no way.
He said that as long as the emergence of lazybones, scoundrels, wronged people, and criminals cannot be prevented, sooner or later some people will be forced to go to sea and become pirates.
Pirates, like other villains, can never be completely eradicated; even the loyal dog came to this pessimistic conclusion.
Herald Johnnas, the chief herald, asked, "What are your suggestions?"
If even a loyal dog couldn't do it, Dick certainly couldn't either.
However, the loyal dog told Dick that there was no way to solve the problem once and for all, but they could delay the day and mitigate its potential impact.
Dick replied, "There's no way to completely stop the weeds from growing, but there is a way to make them grow a little later." Duke Collins said, "Go on."
"If there's even one weed nearby, it can spread its seeds and grow into a meadow. So, if we're going to weed, we can't just deal with the target area; all the weeds in the vicinity must be removed!"
These upper-class individuals quickly understood Dick's meaning and showed expressions of surprise.
Jonas even flicked his mustache a few times, and asked in an odd tone:
"You mean, we should attack the Clown Islands as well?"
Dick nodded: "That's right!"
Jonas said, "This idea is too crazy. We have too little intelligence about the Clown Islands, and the difficulty and uncertainty of attacking there are too great."
Dick nodded: "Yes!"
"And the masters of the Clown Islands are the Navigator and the talkative Benson," Jonas said. "The Navigator alone might be more difficult to deal with than the other six pirate captains combined!"
Dick replied confidently, "Of course!"
"Young man, you are very young. You may not know how difficult it is to deal with the navigator. Back then, he did not have the strength he has now, but the kingdom sent almost all of its naval forces and still failed to intercept and sink his ships."
"You should know that the commanders at the time were the 'belligerent' Earl Lawrence and the loyal Earl Peyton. The two of them joined forces, but unfortunately, they could not defeat him."
"At the time, Earl Lawrence was the Kingdom's Minister of the Navy, and I don't think I need to introduce the name of the Loyal Dog. If even they couldn't deal with the Navigator, how could anyone else possibly succeed?"
Dick nodded: "Sir, you are right. Apart from them, I'm afraid no one can defeat the navigator at sea."
"So, young man, you should give up on this idea."
Dick countered, "Why?"
"The Earl of Lawrence died of alcoholism," Jonas explained, "and the loyal dog has retired from service and has no intention of returning to the front lines. In my original plan, he was the best candidate to be the commander of this allied forces."
Dick said, "Sir, have you noticed that I've been standing the whole time?"
"So what?"
“I’ve already said I’m a servant,” Dick said. “Why don’t you ask who my master is?”
Upon hearing this, everyone turned their attention to the chair in front of Dick.
The attendant who was blocking the way finally realized what was happening and stepped aside.
The moment that dark green armor came into Jonas's view, Dick saw something unusual in the chief herald's expression:
"Earl Hubert Peyton?!"
A slight smile appeared on the loyal dog's face: "It's been a long time, Lord Fal."
"But what are you doing here?"
"This war council invited all the coastal lords and forces, and I participated as well. Is there something wrong with that?"
"But you clearly rejected me in the first place."
"You said it yourself, it was at the beginning."
Jonas paused for a moment, then shook his head, smiled, placed his hand on his chest, and bowed, saying:
"Welcome to the competition, Earl Hubert. Ha! I never imagined that the owner of the newly crowned champion would be the famous loyal dog."
"Isn't it strange that the champion is another champion?"
"Ha! The battle of the plateau! I remember!" Jonas said with a laugh. "The loyal dog became famous on the plateau, and now many people call this young man the Fighter. Will he become famous in the Sea of Despair?"
"Who can predict the future?"
Jonas nodded: "I knew this young man had such mature thoughts at such a young age. So these are your views. So, loyal dog, what exactly do you want the fleet to do?"
The loyal dog said, "Taking over the Clown Islands won't be easy."
"Yes, after all, it's the territory of the leader."
"But what if there's no navigator?"
Jonas raised an eyebrow: "How so?"
The loyal dog said:
"To catch the thief, catch the king!"