Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 641: Lady Maria's reply

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Claude didn't know that his riot at the Black Snake Casino was misunderstood as a murder for hire, and of course he couldn't explain it. The days had to go on day by day, so he decided to stay calm during this time and play his role as a responsible forest manager and the second son of the Field family. Therefore, in the next few days, he still ran in both directions, going to the forest farm for inspection every day, and then going home to be a filial child and an elder brother who loved his younger siblings.

On the afternoon of January 8th, Borik, who went to the royal capital to deliver a letter, finally came back. He was wearing new clothes and his face was glowing, and he brought back a reply from Lady Maria. According to him, his trip to the royal capital to deliver the message went very smoothly and he was very lucky. After arriving at Baron Noriman's mansion in the royal capital and delivering the letter, Baroness Maria soon summoned him and asked him what happened in White Deer Town, and was very concerned about Claude's situation.

In the end, Lady Maria let him stay at the Baron's Mansion for a few days, and after she was done with her work, she wrote a reply asking him to take it back to Claude, and ordered the Lutheran housekeeper to entertain him well. So Borik stayed at the baron's house, eating and drinking well. During this period, he also visited the royal capital several times and saw the prosperity of the royal capital.

After the New Year, and after staying for another two days, Mrs. Maria summoned Borik again, gave him a reply letter, had someone buy him new clothes, and rewarded him with a gold crown. He then embarked on the return journey, working hard. Although there was heavy wind and snow on the road, it still only took him five days to get back.

Claude now regrets why he didn't think about his financial problems that night at the casino. He even paid a large sum of money to the last Silver Taller around him to the two members of the Black Snake Society who led him. Only after he returned home did he realize that he had no money. Although he found a few riazos in the cabin, the money was not of much use. As for the eight silver thalers given to my sister, they are almost used up because they were spent on medicines and supplements for the family and my mother during this period.

If I had known earlier, I would have just grabbed one in the casino that night. Although the gambling table was full of chips instead of cash, I could have found an exchange place in the casino, where I should be able to make a lot of money. Anyway, since I was so poor, I could have robbed the rich and helped the poor. I only blame myself for not thinking at the time that fighting in such a vain was really uneconomical.

Claude had no moral bottom line at this time. He didn't think there was anything wrong with robbing the Black Snake Club's casino. It's all ill-gotten wealth anyway, so I don't feel any guilt after grabbing it and spending it on experiments with alchemical magic. This is much better than being trapped by money now. It's a pity that I didn't think of this at all at that time, and my heart was filled with the frustration of entering the treasure house and returning empty-handed.

At this moment, Claude and Borik were waiting in line at the National Bank to withdraw money. The reason why Claude regretted not grabbing a big deal at the Black Snake Club was that he needed to pay Borik a The reward of Jin Kelang reminded Claude of the reality that he no longer had any money around him.

Unexpectedly, just after the New Year, so many people lined up to withdraw money at the National Bank. There was only one counter for withdrawing money, the tellers were slow, and the queue was long. Many people complained there. Only then did Claude realize his mistake. If he had grabbed one at that time, he wouldn't have had to wait in line here.

Fortunately, Madam Maria opened an account for Claude in the National Bank, otherwise Claude would probably go to the Black Snake Club's casino again at night. Last time he went to settle a score with Albert, so this time it was very likely that he was actually going to rob. For money, Claude doesn't mind going to trouble with the Black Snake Society. Even if it's a risk, it's better than being embarrassed and having no money to pay the bill...

Finally, the queue came to an end, and Claude advanced three gold crowns from his account this time. He first paid a gold crown to Borik who was waiting on the side. This was the agreed reward. He thanked him a few times and left. The remaining two Jin Kelang went home and gave one to his sister for household use, and the other was kept by him as a backup in case of emergencies.

After everything was settled, Claude had time to sit down and put away his idea of going to the Black Snake Club Casino to rob. He took out Madam Maria's reply letter and opened it to read what it said.

When Claude wrote to Mrs. Maria, he detailed the changes that had occurred in his family and his father's arrest on charges of endangering the security of the kingdom. At the same time, he told what he knew about his father's plan to open up White Deer Town to Nubi. The route plan of the West Asian Continent Kingdom Tiersim's direct jurisdiction was also revealed in detail. In the end, the route was successfully developed. Father and the others also introduced the situation of organizing a merchant fleet to trade.

Claude knew very well that at this time, only the most sincere attitude could obtain Mrs. Maria's help. He did not need to hide their father's plan, and told Madam Maria what he knew and guessed, so that he could ask Madam Maria to find out what happened, preventing the merchant fleet from returning on time, and his father They were arrested for it…

Lady Maria did not disappoint Claude, and her reply was filled with several pieces of paper. In addition to expressing her sympathy for the tragedy of Claude's family at the beginning of the letter, the next step was to get back to business and introduce the situation she had learned about. .seven

Something really happened to the merchant fleet, but it was not a shipwreck or offending a powerful person as Claude imagined, but it was the unfortunate target of pirates.

Mrs. Maria said in the letter that the anti-Austrian five-nation alliance in the eastern part of the mainland knew very well that they could not compete with the Kingdom on the Nubisian continent, so on the one hand, they vigorously strengthened their maritime power and controlled the Kingdom of Ovelas to go to the seven overseas countries of the Nubisian continent. Maritime routes of the territorial jurisdiction. On the other hand, they lured and recruited large and small pirate gangs on various islands near the Nubisian continent, allowing them to rob and destroy the seven overseas jurisdictions of the Kingdom of Ovelas on the Nubisian continent, forcing the seven Residents of an overseas territory moved inland, away from the coastline...

The Kingdom's transport fleets to the seven overseas territories directly under the Nubisian continent can only operate twice a year, once in the first half of the year and once in the second half of the year. Each time, two-thirds of the kingdom's fearless fleet needs to be dispatched for maritime escort, and the size of the transport fleet cannot exceed fifty ocean-going transport ships. Even so, every time the fleet travels, it will inevitably suffer countless small-scale attacks. When it returns, there will only be three or five warships or ocean-going transport ships. Even if the voyage goes very smoothly, many sailors will say that they are heading to Nubi. This sea route in the West Asian continent is a bloody road...

Under such circumstances, Captain Altruni's ocean-going fishing vessel the Red Sea Shark did not attract anyone's attention when it first arrived in the Tiersim Direct Territory. People thought it was just a lucky smuggling ship. Lucky They avoided the encirclement of the anti-Austrian Five-Nation Alliance Maritime Combined Fleet patrols and the attacks of pirate gangs active in the coastal waters of the Nubicia continent, but when they returned, they might not be able to have such good luck again. No People discovered that Captain Altruni had opened up a new route.

Therefore, when Captain Altruni arrived at the Overseas Territory of Tilsim for the second time with a huge merchant fleet, everyone there realized that this red-faced captain was not just lucky, but had mastered a trick that could not be done for him. A well-known secret route.

However, Captain Otruny stuck to his promise and strictly prohibited his crew and sailors from revealing the secrets of the new route, and the turmoil soon subsided. In the Tiersim area, no one dared to blatantly attack the merchant fleet from the mainland, but secretly there were countless interested people running to communicate. The situation was like the sea before a storm, unusually calm and depressing...

Mr. Morsand and his friends planned to open up this new route. They only saw the golden path of money and ignored the risks they were about to face. In fact, they are just a group of local petty officials and businessmen. Although they have an adventurous spirit and speculative vision, they do not understand the overall situation and the real situation of the Nubicia continent, so it is inevitable that they will fall into trouble.

This is what Mrs. Maria lamented in her letter. She obviously had good cards, but Mr. Morsan and the others had beaten the game to pieces. All this can only be blamed on Mr. Morsan and the others for being too greedy. Otherwise, if they reported to the royal capital immediately after the new route was opened, they would not be able to escape a title. But they wanted to make a profit first and sent a merchant fleet to the mainland of Nubisia, so a good thing turned into a bad thing.

Captain Otruny also had a premonition that something was wrong, and instead of returning as planned, he quietly set sail late at night a few days in advance. However, the pirates planted many spies in the overseas territories of Tilsim, and they were able to hide from the first batch but not the second batch. Five days after setting sail, numerous pirate gangs swarmed in on sea-going ships, and the merchant fleet was besieged. After losing most of his men, Captain Altruni had to order a surrender in order to save the lives of the remaining men, and the new route fell into the control of the pirates.

It is said that Captain Altruni and several sailors who were unwilling to join the pirate gang were left to fend for themselves on an uninhabited island in the Silent Ocean. The rest of the crew and sailors were forced to become part of the pirates. They led the pirate gangs along the new route through the Silent Ocean to the Stormy Sea, where they found several islands as a place to stay, and began to attack and plunder trading merchant ships and transport fleets on the outer sea routes...

This is also the main reason why the Kingdom's Admiralty requested that Mr. Morsan and his associates be dealt with severely and charged with endangering the security of the Kingdom.

The Kingdom's Dreadnaught Fleet was already feeling overwhelmed by the route blockade of the anti-Austrian Five-Nation Alliance Maritime Combined Fleet. Coupled with the twice-yearly escort missions, most of the Dreadnought Fleet's combat power was consumed fighting pirates. During the reciprocal killings, they could only barely guarantee the security of the eastern waters of the kingdom and maintain a strategic confrontation with the United Fleet.

No one expected that the new shipping route planned by Mr. Morsan and his associates would be mastered by pirates from the Nubisian continent, which would cause such great harm to the safety of the shipping routes in the central and western waters of the Kingdom. In less than half a month, More than 20 trading and transport ships were hijacked and plundered, which was like a stab at the most vital part of the kingdom.

The kingdom's fearless fleet had to send a temporary squadron to the central and western waters to patrol and look for traces of pirates. They were lucky enough to catch five pirate ships robbing them. After a fierce naval battle, one pirate ship sank and two were captured. Some of the pirates who were captured and surrendered were sailors and crew members of the Bailu Town Merchant Fleet who were forced to surrender and become pirates. The truth of the matter came to light.

The Kingdom's Admiralty was very angry after receiving the report, believing that not killing local officials such as Mr. Morsan and the few businessmen who invested in the merchant fleet would not be enough to deter those greedy guys who did not take the safety of the kingdom into consideration. Because the new routes opened by these guys attracted pirates active on the Nubisian continent, causing immeasurable losses and harm to the central and western waters of the kingdom!

If the Dreadnaught Fleet detaches a squadron to patrol the mid-western waters all year round, it will cause the Dreadnought Fleet to be at a disadvantage in the confrontation with the Anti-Austrian Alliance Combined Fleet due to insufficient strength, and may even lose the fragile balance of maritime power. and peace, leading to a large-scale naval battle between the two parties, and the anti-Austrian alliance completely closed the sea route to the Nubisian continent. The consequences were something the kingdom could not afford...