Poor Captain Jack Sparrow stood outside the castle grounds, surrounded by several cavalrymen on horseback, and the spears in his hands were pointed at him.
Not for anything else, just because of this guy's dress... It's too blatant and arrogant. Just a line of words engraved on his face: I am a pirate!
It has to be said that this is also due to Du Wei. The outfit he designed for Captain Jack Sparrow was completely based on the design of the charming pirate captain in the famous movie in his previous life, especially the red hair. The turban, the mustache on the chin, and the dark circles under the eyes...
Such a strangely dressed person came around the area of Rollins Castle, and was immediately spotted by the guard cavalry of the Rollins family on patrol. Since Du Wei was kidnapped twice, the strength of the guards of the Rollins family has increased several times. If it wasn't for Jack Sparrow holding the token Ruolin gave him, he would have been tied up by these cavalry long ago.
"Aha! My captain, you're here!" Du Wei ran out of the castle in a hurry with a big laugh, and couldn't help being stunned when he saw the pirate captain who was being pointed at by a group of cavalry with spears. A guarding knight immediately jumped off his horse and bowed: "Young master, this guy is dressed strangely and doesn't look like a good person, but he is holding the token of Lord Ruolin's Excellency in his hand. We suspect him..."
"There is no doubt, this is my man. Let him go." Du Wei waved his hand, and the knights retreated. Du Wei looked at the nervous Jack Sparrow, walked up to him and patted his shoulder hard, and said with a smile, "You're finally here. Are you done with what I told you?"
The pirate captain had already experienced Du Wei's power, so he bent down quickly and said with a smile: "Master, the matter was very successful. Although something went wrong, it was solved with Miss Joanna's help. And the result is better than that. Much better than expected.”
Du Wei glanced around: "This is not the place to talk."
Then someone took Captain Sparrow to his study.
Into the study. Where has this vulgar pirate seen the scene of the rich and powerful of the Imperial Martial Arts Family? Those sterling silver candlesticks alone made him almost dazzled, and then the following people brought up high-quality black tea from the south, and the sterling silver tea set also made Sparrow very nervous.
After driving away the servants and closing the door, Du Wei unhurriedly cast a sound-silencing magic, so that the conversation in the room does not have to worry about being spread out. Only then did he sit on the chair, his face straightened: "Let's talk."
"Yes!" Captain Sparrow quickly stood up. Putting down the teacup in his hand, he said in a low voice: "This trip to sea lasted a total of three months. We swept away 19 islands in the eastern sea area. Miss Joanna took action, and we threw those stubborn guys into the sea to feed the sharks. There are a total of 421 people gathered. There are a total of 32 large and small ships, and there is even a sea king-class warship!"
"Sea King?" Du Wei was slightly surprised.
In the Roland Empire, ships on the sea are divided into four grades according to their displacement. The order from largest to smallest is: Poseidon class. Neptune class, Haiban class, Sea Soul class.
Among them, the Poseidon class ship is the largest, and it can be called the first class main force ship in the imperial navy. For example, Du Wei's father, Earl Raymond led the navy to the south for an expedition, and the flagship "Dandong" when he returned to the imperial capital triumphantly. It is the giant ship of the Poseidon class. The captain is more than three hundred steps, about one hundred and fifty meters. The maximum carrying capacity can carry a total of 800 crew members and fighters. In this world, it can be called the giant of the sea.
And the slightly smaller one is the Sea King class. The length of the ship can reach a maximum of 100 meters, usually around 80 meters, and can carry 500 combatants. And it is also equipped with a certain number of long-range attack weapons such as ballistas.
In this era, because there is no gunpowder and thermal weapons, there is no ground for that kind of artillery. The so-called catapults are actually nothing more than some giant crossbows, which are fired from nooses. The shooting range can reach about one thousand meters, the penetrating power is strong, and it can shoot through iron plates. Often in sea battles, as soon as it is fired, if it hits the target, it can pierce the opponent's hull and directly cause hull damage to the opponent. .
In this era, there are no long-range attack weapons such as artillery, and only giant ships of the Poseidon level can be equipped with a small amount of magic cannons. It is a long-range weapon similar to artillery produced by using magic principles, but it is extremely expensive. Although it is powerful, compared to the artillery that Duwei knew in his previous life, it is cost-effective and requires expensive magic materials and profound magic principles. It is even said that some manufacturing techniques have been lost.
And because of these reasons, in this world, the so-called naval warfare is basically still at a low-level stage, relying on the captain's combatants to kill and injure the opponent's personnel with weapons such as throwing or bows and crossbows at a long distance, and then relying on the ramming angle of the ship's hull to hit them The opponent's ship makes the opponent lose its mobility, and then fights a "board battle", relying on the fighters on board to land on the opponent's ship and then fight hand-to-hand.
Under such circumstances, the ship has a large capacity and can carry more combatants, so it becomes the main force in naval warfare.
Although there are many pirates in the eastern waters of the Roland Continent, most of them are ships below the medium size, and they are often unable to compete with regular fleets. Even some large armed merchant ships have the ability to protect themselves against pirates.
A sea king-class ship is extremely rare for pirates!
Seeing Du Wei's doubts, Captain Sparrow quickly explained: "That big ship seems to be quite old, and the hull is also a bit dilapidated. It needs a lot of effort to repair. The pirates captured by us are It is relatively large in the East China Sea, and it is said that this ship was originally a warship in the navy, and after the retirement period was reached, it was bought by a wealthy businessman and used as a merchant ship, but it was snatched by pirates at sea."
Du Wei just nodded. If even pirates can easily get a Neptune-class ship, what is the Imperial Navy doing? !
"Among the thirty-two ships now, there is one of the Sea King class and six of the Sea Owl class. Including our Pearl, which is also a Sea Owl.
The rest are all sea soul-class boats, which can only carry less than a hundred people. In terms of the displacement and configuration of these ships, they are barely comparable to the second-line fleets of the Eastern Navy of some empires. Although we have fewer big ships and more small ones, we have far more ships than them. "
After hearing Sparrow's words, Du Wei just smiled and said nothing.
This guy was a pirate after all. Knowledge is still lacking.
Compared with the Imperial Navy? That is whimsical.
Du Wei's father was born in the navy, and he was promoted all the way up by relying on the meritorious service he got with leading the expedition fleet to the south. For example, the last triumphant return, although the expedition fleet led by Earl Raymond only had thirty-five ships. But among them there are five large ships of the Sea God class, and the rest are all Sea King class ships!
Although Du Wei's subordinates got a lot of these ships, most of them were small boats. If they were really compared with the regular navy of the empire, they were still far from enough.
However, Du Wei didn't want to do such a great cause as a rebellion. Such a fleet only needs to be honestly used for maritime trade. If you don't mess with those navies, you can almost sweep the eastern waters.
After Sparrow finished speaking, his face showed embarrassment, and he said in a low voice: "It's just that the development of the matter has exceeded our expectations, so there are some problems now. We can't solve them. Now the fleet is docked at Walker Port in the southern part of Lille Province, where Miss Ruolin presides over the situation. Hurry up and send me back to find you... "
"Just tell me, what's the problem?" Du Wei frowned.
"Money." Sparrow sighed: "Our original plan was to recruit those pirates, then take out the wealth they collected from robbery at sea for many years, and then use this money to maintain the consumption of the fleet. But the problem is..."
Speaking of this, Sparrow couldn't help sighing: "The problem is. These pirates are too poor."
Seeing Du Wei's frown, Sparrow quickly explained: "The empire's maritime military power was originally strong, but in the past few decades, several expeditions have been carried out in the southern sea area, expanding the empire's maritime territory by tens of thousands of miles. In the distance, this kind of behavior of showing off force that wasted money and people did not bring any obvious benefits to the empire's finances, but the expansion of the southern sea route has stimulated the empire's maritime trade. The merchant ships on the sea are more than a few decades ago Compared with the increase of more than ten times. This kind of frequent trade stimulates the emergence of pirates. It allows pirates to have a living space. But after all, it has been just a small fight, because the empire has a huge navy. Once things go wrong If it is too large, it will cause the navy to suppress it, and the small pirates will be wiped out. More importantly, in recent years, the ocean trade in the eastern sea area has decreased, and most of the fleet has been concentrated in the Southeast Asia. The land in the eastern sea area These pirates have difficulty in surviving, so naturally they don't have much money to fish for."
Watching Captain Sparrow say such a big truth in a serious manner. As if endorsing a letter, Du Wei couldn't help laughing: "These things. Are you thinking of them yourself?"
Sparrow shook his head, and answered honestly: "No, I haven't read any books. How could I think of these things? Miss Ruolin told me these things."
Du Wei's eyes lit up.
Jolene? This long-legged chick has a good mind.
Sparrow continued: "This time, we took three months to clear the pirates at sea. Most of the supplies that were brought in were worthless grains and ironware. Even if they were sold, they would not be worth much. But some For valuable things, Ms. Ruolin has already decided to sell a batch of them in Port Walker, and the navy and military in Port Walker also need some connections to deal with them. After all, many pirates are listed on the arrest warrants. We rashly took these guys under our command, so it was inevitable that others would criticize us. Ms. Ruo Lin decided to spend a sum of money to manage the official relationship. In the end, we copied all the pirates' lairs. Yes, and only less than 10,000 gold coins were obtained. After several months of sailing at sea, the ships only need to be maintained and repaired, and there are still some damaged ships that need to be repaired. There is also that big Neptune-class ship. The degree is even more serious. In addition, more than 400 people have been taken in, and people have to eat, drink, and support them... The money recovered from such a suppression is almost beyond their means."
Du Wei's scalp felt numb, and he waved his hand: "Just tell me how much you need in total!"
Hearing this, Sparrow immediately took out a small book Ruolin gave him when he arrived, opened it, and read it to Du Wei: "Thirty-two boats, almost every one of them is To varying degrees of damage, in view of the current financial problems, Ms. Ruolin selected nine of the ships with serious problems, and the repair cost is estimated to cost 3,000 gold coins. This is still using your place name and the navy of Walker Harbor I bought cheap wood from the wharf supplies. Although other ships also need to be repaired, they can still be used for the time being. I will make plans when I have enough money in the future. More than 400 people will come to eat and drink for three months. , It also cost more than 600 gold coins, which is already very economical. Miss Ruolin dare not reduce personnel expenses, otherwise, these newly recruited men will defect. Miss Ruolin also said that since the pirates Now that I have become your subordinates, I can no longer dress up as a pirate. If you wear tattered clothes, it will inevitably embarrass you. I also made two sets of new clothes for each of them, and the leader's clothes are slightly better... so I will remove them again. The most important thing is that the weapons in everyone's hands are too bad. They used to be pirates, and they swarmed up to beat them up. It's too shameful. , as well as swords, have to be replaced. I have seen that among the pirates in the past, there were still poor ones who didn't even have weapons, and even when they encountered an enemy, they just picked up a blacksmith's hammer or a plowing rake and went up. All of these can no longer be used... In addition, there are funds for opening up relationships with the navy. We have recruited people, and almost half of them are wanted criminals (When talking about this, Sparrow paused, no I added the sentence "including me") with embarrassment, and it cost nearly a thousand gold coins to eliminate the arrest warrant."