The closer you get to Tibetan Gold Bay, the more ships you will encounter.
Captain Wilson said: "My lord, there are still three days before we can reach the Golden Bay. We must be more vigilant for the next part of the sea."
"What's wrong?" Lorist asked.
"My lord, the sea here is called the Sea of Sadness. It is one of the most rampant and noisy seas. Whether it is a fishing boat or a cargo ship, it is best not to let them approach. Because this is not part of the Ford Business Alliance Armada. The range of patrols, so there are countless robberies and murders. The sailors and crew who were smiling and begging for help at one moment are likely to become murderous pirates the next moment, and even some captains and sailors who are losing money in business do not Mind a cameo, loot some goods and go back to make up for the loss...
When I was a cargo captain, I stumbled here. That time we saw a semi-sunken cargo ship with several women on board calling for help. I didn’t suspect that they were pirates. Make a fortune. As a result, I found out that nearly a hundred pirates were ambushing in the bilge of the cargo ship. I surrendered quickly and did not order resistance. Those pirates let us live. "Captain Wilson did not hide his past experiences.
"The Ocean of Sadness? It refers to the sad place of merchants at sea, right?" Lorist said.
"Yes, that's what it means. This sea area can be called a three-fork on the land, leading westward to the Kingdom of Haneyabad and the Kingdom of Shaysia, both of which are archipelago countries, Shays The Kingdom of Asia is rich in spices, and the Kingdom of Haneyabada is famous for its slave trade. Its Nubit Port is the largest and most famous slave trading market. To the south is the Tibetan Gold Bay, and to the east is the Ametrilin of the Principality of Rulm The port used to be a smuggling port leading to the former Cresson Empire. Now we have to add the sea route leading north to our family territory." Captain Wilson still remembers these sea trades.
"This sea area is so critical, why didn't the Armada of the Ford Business Alliance include it in the scope of patrol?" Lorist asked.
"My lord, the battleships of the Armada are not suitable for running to such a far place. This sea area is very windy and rough. For the castle-type battleships of the Armada, their wind resistance is a bit weak, and it is easy to encounter strong winds and waves here. As a result, the ship capsized. In fact, the purpose of the Ford Business Alliance to establish the Armada is to protect the Gold Hidden Bay from being robbed by pirates, and to maintain the golden trade route from the Golden Hidden Bay to the golden coast of the Roman Empire. That section of the sunny sea was calm and calm, and it was the place where the Armada showed off its power." Captain Wilson said.
"Then is there any powerful pirate gang in the sea here?" Lorist asked again.
"No, my lord, this is the most ridiculous place in the Sea of Sadness." Captain Wilson said with a wry smile: "Compared with the nearly thousand islands in the Sunshine Sea, there are no places for pirates to hide in the Sea of Sadness. There used to be a The pirate gang known as the Sea Dragon Pirates divided this place into their sphere of influence, but they were soon destroyed by the fleets of the Ford Business Alliance and the Kingdom of Haneyabad and the Kingdom of Shaysia. They would never allow this place to A powerful pirate force emerges.
Therefore, they can turn a blind eye to small-scale piracy. Anyway, the unlucky ones are those small chambers of commerce or free smuggling cargo ship owners. Once the safety of the merchant fleet composed of dozens or dozens of cargo ships of those big chambers of commerce is threatened, they will take action to kill those pirate gangs that may cause trouble.
For all ship owners who appear in the Sad Ocean, on the one hand, they have to guard against pirates, and on the other hand, they have to keep their eyes open to find suitable targets. In this sea area, no one minds being a guest pirate. This is a fertile land of lawlessness, countless sins and wronged souls are buried under the thousand miles of blue waves... "
"Woo..." Dolles on the side let out a long breath after hearing Captain Wilson's exclamation: "Wilson, you are not lying to me, the sea here looks very calm, look at the ships over there are all quiet Driving quietly, it is not as chaotic as you said, isn't there nothing wrong with them?"
"Hehe," Old Jack, the first mate and helmsman, laughed: "Master Dolles, it is precisely because of the large number of ships that they dare not take other people's ideas. If there were only two or three ships, they would have been beaten to death. Then None of the ship owners around are fools. They are also afraid that if they snatch other people’s ships, they will become the targets of others if they are damaged. Therefore, the more ships, the safer. You don’t know, there are several ships that are trying to trick us. But I have already avoided them."
"Thinking of us?" Lorist was surprised: "Why didn't I find out..."
"My lord, look at the cargo ship that is more than a hundred meters away from us on the left. It has malicious intentions. If our ship goes straight, you will find that the cargo ship in front is changing its course and heading towards our channel. It leans over and blocks in front of us. If our ship is also a cargo ship, if we find that the ship in front suddenly slows down, we may avoid it. First, we must turn around and second, we must slow down. In this way, it is easy to be caught off guard by the cargo ship in front and get close by it. Then the sailors up there can jump over and rob. But our treasure is not so easy to deal with... "
Old Jack turned the steering wheel a few times, Chenxi's Flying Fish lightly drew a small arc on the sea surface, nimbly bypassed the cargo ship that was diagonally approaching in the channel ahead, and quickly left it behind. later.
There were a few curses from the cargo ship behind, and old Jack laughed loudly: "My lord, the ship you designed is really great, it is flexible and convenient to maneuver, and the speed is so fast, it is almost faster than those cargo ships." Double, no one can easily catch us."
Before the words were finished, El on the side slapped his hand on the railing angrily: "Old Jack, you didn't have to dodge just now. If they want to move, let's let them come and see who grabs who!"
Josk also nodded, seeming to agree with El's words very much.
Lorist laughed: "It's not a question of who is robbing whom, El, even if we robbed that cargo ship, we didn't have enough manpower to take care of it, and instead dragged down everyone's schedule, forget it, let's let that ship go first." Let’s take a boat and teach them a lesson when we have a chance.”
On November 16, it was overcast, with high wind and rough sea.
Thanks to the three-meter-deep wing panels on the lower part of the hull, Dawn's Flying Fish does not toss in the wind and waves like those freight ships. The sharp bow breaks through waves, and the slender hull is like A swimming fish spreads its sails leisurely and contentedly, like a sharp arrow galloping across the turbulent sea.
The sea breeze in November is already very cold, like a sharp knife brushing against the face. Lorist asked Schward to stay in the cabin and not come out, and he still stood by the rudder to learn how to steer from old Jack.
It was nearly noon, and the lookout shouted from the mast: "A fleet of ships appears six hundred meters ahead!"
Lorist regretted why he didn't get the binoculars out. Even a monocular would be fine. For fleets and fleets at sea, this is a magic weapon. It can be found by the enemy first, and it can calmly deal with all kinds of emergencies. Unlike now, lookouts can at most detect the situation within a kilometer. Coupled with the weather, being able to see five or six hundred meters away is considered quite remarkable.
After a long while, the watchman shouted again: "Four hundred meters ahead, a large merchant fleet, eighteen large ocean-going cargo merchant ships, and twenty medium-sized armed cargo merchant ships. Head south and sail with half sail."
Captain Wilson breathed a sigh of relief: "It's okay. Generally, the large merchant fleets sailing in this sea area are owned by the seven major chambers of commerce that are in charge of the Ford Business Alliance. If they sail south, they should have the same purpose as ours, and they all go to the Golden Bay. Yes, it’s just that the weather can’t see what their logo is, and it will take half an hour to get close to them, and then we will know which chamber of commerce it is.”
"Two hundred meters ahead, a large ocean-going merchant fleet. The flag is a wine barrel with a sword on it, and a round frame outside..." the watchman shouted again after a while.
"Chickard Chamber of Commerce?" Captain Wilson was stunned: "Old Jack, turn around and pass from the outermost edge, don't pass through the middle of the fleet."
"What's the matter, why don't you go straight and have to make a big turn?" El asked angrily.
Captain Wilson smiled bitterly: "My lord, you don't know the Chickard Chamber of Commerce, do you?"
Lorist patted El on the shoulder: "I know that the Chickard Chamber of Commerce is one of the seven major chambers of commerce in the Ford Business Alliance. Its name used to be Sword and Wine Barrel in the earliest days. Later, Chickard, the current president, mastered it. When the chamber of commerce was in power, it disliked the bad name and changed it to the Chicod Chamber of Commerce. The Chicod Chamber of Commerce in Morente City is very low-key, and few people will notice that the Chicod Chamber of Commerce is one of the seven."
"My lord, you are right. The Chicod Chamber of Commerce is a giant at sea. They have nearly a hundred large ocean-going merchant ships, countless medium-sized armed cargo ships, and seven or eight shipyards. They have a large number in the Armada On land, they are purchasers and dumpers of bulk goods, and they deal with wholesale firms, so many people don't know.
On the sea, the Chiked Chamber of Commerce in the north controls the trade routes leading to the Kingdom of Shaysia and the Kingdom of Haneyabad. Almost all the spices produced by the Kingdom of Shaysia every year are underwritten by the Chiked Chamber of Commerce, and Haney Every year, the Kingdom of Yabada uses the huge amount of money earned from the slave trade to purchase a large amount of luxury goods and daily necessities from the Chickard Chamber of Commerce. As for the south of Gold Coast Bay, the Chicod Chamber of Commerce has formed four large merchant fleets, which take turns going to various coastal ports on the Gold Coast every three months for commercial trade... "
Captain Wilson licked his lips and continued: "Don't look at the Chicod Chamber of Commerce being very low-key on land, but they are very arrogant at sea. They often bully those small ship owners and small chambers of commerce who run alone with the help of the ship. If it is The fleets of other chambers of commerce may allow us to pass through them, but the fleet of the Chicod chamber of commerce will suddenly attack you when you enter the center of their fleet, sink your ship directly, and let the captain He and the sailors fell into the sea and struggled to call for help, but they left without moving..."
"That's why you asked old Jack to avoid them and go around?" Lorist said with a smile, "Okay, I trust your judgment, anyway, our boat is fast, and we can quickly leave them behind by going around. go."
…
In a luxuriously decorated cabin of the largest merchant ship in the Chickard Chamber of Commerce's fleet, Chickard Murrayback was in a very depressed mood. It was really unlucky to encounter such a big storm when he was about to get home. Well, he wasn't worried about any accidents, it was just that such a storm delayed his return date and made him very upset.
As the third heir of the Chikry Chamber of Commerce, he was always thinking about how to overwhelm his two elder brothers to win his father's favor and praise. For this reason, he volunteered to take the fleet to the Kingdom of Shaysia to buy spices. In the first half of this year, the old king of the Shaysia Kingdom passed away. The newly enthroned young king did not want the Chicod Chamber of Commerce to monopolize the spice trade.
Chickard Murrayback solved this problem very smoothly. The newly enthroned little king suddenly died of sudden illness, his eight-year-old brother became the new king, and the uncle Wang who was fed by the Chickard Chamber of Commerce became regent, and the spice trade continued as usual.
Murrayback thinks that he has handled this matter well, and he will definitely be praised by his father when he goes back. But he didn't expect that the life at sea would be so difficult, and it would take more than three months to go back and forth, so that he felt that his days on the ship felt like years. He couldn't eat well and sleep well. If he hadn't purchased four trained female slaves in the Kingdom of Haneyabad, Murrayback didn't know how he would survive on this ship.
It was uncomfortable enough to run into such a big storm. Although the merchant ship was big, it was still swaying in the storm. Murrayback also wanted to ask the four female slaves to come over to help him relax, but unexpectedly, the four female slaves all got seasick and vomited in a mess. Murray Barker was so angry that he scolded the slave trader as a liar, and said he had been trained even if he was still seasick, which is really unreasonable!
"Master, don't worry, you will arrive at Zangjin Bay tomorrow night, just bear with it for another day." This was his personal old servant trying to persuade him.
There was a commotion outside...
"What's so noisy about this group of sons of bitches, do they want to eat my whip!" Murrayback cursed viciously, and then walked out of the cabin.
"Young master, young master, look, that boat looks so strange, and it's going so fast!" A sailor who saw Murrayback's unhappy face hurriedly pointed to the rear.
Murrayback turned around to look, and couldn't help being taken aback. I saw a strange ship at the back passing by 50 or 60 meters away from the flotilla, and soon passed the fleet's ships, getting closer and closer to the leading merchant ship.
"Master, the speed of this ship is close to 14 knots. This is the fastest ship I have ever seen." It was the captain of the merchant ship who said this. Captain for ten years.
"No way?" Murray Buck was taken aback: "Is it really so fast?"
"Yes, master, trust my judgment. You can see that the ship is sailing under full sail in such a stormy weather. This ship is extremely resistant to wind and waves, and its structure is also very strong. Although the hull is narrow, it can But it is very stable, unlike our merchant ships bumping in the waves. The designer of this ship is really a genius, he designed a horse that can run on the sea." The captain sighed.
Murrayback believed the captain's words, and he believed in the captain's loyalty. In this case, such a good ship should be owned by oneself. If you can get this ship, take it to your own shipyard to see what makes this ship have such excellent performance. As long as you figure it out, you can improve your own merchant ship based on the advantages of this ship. I believe my father will greatly appreciate my performance.
Murrayback's heart was full of fire, and he ordered the semaphore and the blowing of the horn to let the ship come closer, and said that I wanted to see the owner of the ship.
But after tossing for a long time, the strange ship simply ignored the movement here, and left on its own, and soon became a small black shadow in front of it.
Murrayback seemed to have been slapped in the mouth, and he was furious. How many times had he suffered such an insult, and he dared to ignore his kind invitation. Very good, it seems that the direction of that strange ship is also heading towards the Golden Bay, then, when we go back, we will find you and let you receive the warm hospitality of the Chicod Chamber of Commerce! Murray Buck silently muttered in his heart...
…