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The war against Songaskia would continue with numerous assaults from all sides, all with differing outcomes. The first to act was the Lieutenant-Admiral Nathaniel Bigge on the shorelines of Bou Gasagou, a major Songaskian Pearl City on the western coast. While Bigge had already been dismissed from his position when the actual battle occurred, his orders were issued some time ago and could not be rescinded, so the battle proceeded. The idea was to completely obliterate the city with coastal bombardment, after quickly dispatching the coastal defences, the orders were issued to split the fleet up, the heavier Second Line Calemberger would continue to bombard the city, while the smaller Third Line Calemberger would be used to defend the fleet from an impending attack by the Songaskia. The complete order was issued from the Admiral to "flatten the city" and as such, the cannons were loaded with explosive rounds that caused a complete carnage in the Songaskian city, houses exploded while rubble flew everywhere, slaying many civilians and military alike. Perhaps this entire endeavor, Count Nathaniel Bigge tried to prove one desperate last time that he was competent before he was to be sacked as had been revealed at the Imperial audience, banking on the Songaskians having no means to defend themselves and sending his fleet blindly into the heart of the Songaskian Massaya.
The Songaskians however did respond when the fleet from Sikassaro sailed north to aid the city of Bou Gasagou. Originally it was headed for Massoilagui, but they suddenly stumbled upon the Grand Armada when sailing past the coastline to the northern city. The Songaskian fleet, while numerically inferior to the Grand Armada, had more average firepower in the smaller ships, if at the end of the day slightly less than the total of the Regalian Armada. Unfortunately, Nathaniel Bigge's order to split up his fleet into two segments proved to be his undoing. Without the ability to properly maneuver the bombarding ships into the combat line because the smaller ships were further away, the Songaskian vessels bull rushed through the Third Line Calembergers which were outgunned three to one in number of cannons, sinking the HM Ödel and HM Meerkau while the other three quickly made a run for it. With the Third liner ships abandoning them, the heavier Second Line Calembergers tried to mount a defense by switching their bombardment tactic over to a naval sea battle, but the chaos of the Second liners retreating and the lack of ability of the Regalians to respond caused significant casualties. A full retreat was quickly ordered to return to the Frontier Armada which was massive, though on their flight, the HM Erhardt, HM Büdlowe, HM Krassthoff and HM Trimper were all sunk, while the sole Second Line Calemberger HM Meerköning was the only to escape. Of the Grand Armada, six out of the ten ships were sunk. 2600 Sailors lost their lives and over 2700 supply bales were lost. Almost 4000 bales of Regalian gold worth of people and material simply sank to the bottom of the ocean, never to be recovered. The remaining ships limped back to the Frontier Armada before being sent home to the shipyards for repairs. The tragedy of the loss was that if both parts of the fleet had not been ordered to perform two different tasks, then the superior firepower of the Regalian fleet would have likely won the day. Obviously, not many people in the capital were too happy with the result, especially since this was a painful loss reminiscing of the Songaskian surprise attack that also coincidentally destroyed the Grand Armada in the Regalian Archipelago just three years ago during the Songaskian invasion of Regalia.
If there was any silver lining to the events it would be that the Grand Armada did destroy three of the nine Songaskian ships. It was later also discovered that this was the main Songaskian fleet with the highest firepower. Even if all other Songaskian fleets would come together now, they could no longer outmatch the firepower of the Frontier Armada, so it was only a matter of time before complete naval dominance would be achieved. Additionally, the city of Bou Gasagou took considerable damage from the explosive shelling and would have barely any fortifications left to make a siege necessary.
Further north, Christopher Black and Ulric Typhonus worked together to assault the city of Massoilagui, also a large Songaskian Pearl City. The overbearing firepower of the Regalian fleet, more notably the three Nautknights with their massive cannons, as well as the Nebenmark's three hundred cannons all opened fire on the city in an orchestrated fashion. An orchestra of cannons first shot through the walls like paper, before pummeling the larger buildings and towers dotting the skyline of the city. Within the time span of several hours, a grand total of 11,000 artillery rounds had been fired at the city, and notably around the city walls, only sad piles of rubble remained. Eventually, the Prince of the city agreed to a surrender even without a pitched battle on the condition that the civilian population be spared and that the soldiers in the army would be permitted to stand down their weapons and surrender to Regalian custody and have their lives protected against reprisals. No formal response was issued by the sieging armies, though for the time being, they agreed to a ceasefire to allow leadership to resolve their decision amongst themselves.
Back in Regalia, social unrest increased after a night of chaos near the Regal Bastion. Large numbers of citizens had started staging protests outside the Bastion to free the imprisoned Grand Revain Ulric Typhonus, though the largely peaceful protest gained a somewhat more tangibly sour undertone when the protestors were joined by large swathes of angry vagrants and beggars, the destitute and disenfranchised who had suffered at the back end of recent finance cuts to the Sanchella, which in turn had to shut down almshouses for the poor. It was particularly the poor that picked up torches and angrily camped outside of the Regal Bastion to call for the Undercrown to submit to the demands of the higher nobility. At the same time however, due to the supposed crimes and treasonous activities of the Norrvakt family, the Undercrown Charles Montagaard issued a fine for their treasonous activities. Beyond executing Carthas Norrvakt, the Norrvakt Patriarch's adopted ex d'Eluise son, the family was charged with paying a sixth of their finances to the state as recompense. Due to the sudden loss of finances, the Norrvakt were also forced to disband 2,000 levies from their army, as they lacked the funding to properly maintain the full host.
The Songaskians however did respond when the fleet from Sikassaro sailed north to aid the city of Bou Gasagou. Originally it was headed for Massoilagui, but they suddenly stumbled upon the Grand Armada when sailing past the coastline to the northern city. The Songaskian fleet, while numerically inferior to the Grand Armada, had more average firepower in the smaller ships, if at the end of the day slightly less than the total of the Regalian Armada. Unfortunately, Nathaniel Bigge's order to split up his fleet into two segments proved to be his undoing. Without the ability to properly maneuver the bombarding ships into the combat line because the smaller ships were further away, the Songaskian vessels bull rushed through the Third Line Calembergers which were outgunned three to one in number of cannons, sinking the HM Ödel and HM Meerkau while the other three quickly made a run for it. With the Third liner ships abandoning them, the heavier Second Line Calembergers tried to mount a defense by switching their bombardment tactic over to a naval sea battle, but the chaos of the Second liners retreating and the lack of ability of the Regalians to respond caused significant casualties. A full retreat was quickly ordered to return to the Frontier Armada which was massive, though on their flight, the HM Erhardt, HM Büdlowe, HM Krassthoff and HM Trimper were all sunk, while the sole Second Line Calemberger HM Meerköning was the only to escape. Of the Grand Armada, six out of the ten ships were sunk. 2600 Sailors lost their lives and over 2700 supply bales were lost. Almost 4000 bales of Regalian gold worth of people and material simply sank to the bottom of the ocean, never to be recovered. The remaining ships limped back to the Frontier Armada before being sent home to the shipyards for repairs. The tragedy of the loss was that if both parts of the fleet had not been ordered to perform two different tasks, then the superior firepower of the Regalian fleet would have likely won the day. Obviously, not many people in the capital were too happy with the result, especially since this was a painful loss reminiscing of the Songaskian surprise attack that also coincidentally destroyed the Grand Armada in the Regalian Archipelago just three years ago during the Songaskian invasion of Regalia.
If there was any silver lining to the events it would be that the Grand Armada did destroy three of the nine Songaskian ships. It was later also discovered that this was the main Songaskian fleet with the highest firepower. Even if all other Songaskian fleets would come together now, they could no longer outmatch the firepower of the Frontier Armada, so it was only a matter of time before complete naval dominance would be achieved. Additionally, the city of Bou Gasagou took considerable damage from the explosive shelling and would have barely any fortifications left to make a siege necessary.
Further north, Christopher Black and Ulric Typhonus worked together to assault the city of Massoilagui, also a large Songaskian Pearl City. The overbearing firepower of the Regalian fleet, more notably the three Nautknights with their massive cannons, as well as the Nebenmark's three hundred cannons all opened fire on the city in an orchestrated fashion. An orchestra of cannons first shot through the walls like paper, before pummeling the larger buildings and towers dotting the skyline of the city. Within the time span of several hours, a grand total of 11,000 artillery rounds had been fired at the city, and notably around the city walls, only sad piles of rubble remained. Eventually, the Prince of the city agreed to a surrender even without a pitched battle on the condition that the civilian population be spared and that the soldiers in the army would be permitted to stand down their weapons and surrender to Regalian custody and have their lives protected against reprisals. No formal response was issued by the sieging armies, though for the time being, they agreed to a ceasefire to allow leadership to resolve their decision amongst themselves.
Back in Regalia, social unrest increased after a night of chaos near the Regal Bastion. Large numbers of citizens had started staging protests outside the Bastion to free the imprisoned Grand Revain Ulric Typhonus, though the largely peaceful protest gained a somewhat more tangibly sour undertone when the protestors were joined by large swathes of angry vagrants and beggars, the destitute and disenfranchised who had suffered at the back end of recent finance cuts to the Sanchella, which in turn had to shut down almshouses for the poor. It was particularly the poor that picked up torches and angrily camped outside of the Regal Bastion to call for the Undercrown to submit to the demands of the higher nobility. At the same time however, due to the supposed crimes and treasonous activities of the Norrvakt family, the Undercrown Charles Montagaard issued a fine for their treasonous activities. Beyond executing Carthas Norrvakt, the Norrvakt Patriarch's adopted ex d'Eluise son, the family was charged with paying a sixth of their finances to the state as recompense. Due to the sudden loss of finances, the Norrvakt were also forced to disband 2,000 levies from their army, as they lacked the funding to properly maintain the full host.
