Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 474: Black Sail Pirate and Alexander

“Have you heard from Verricolo in Wangdu?” Claude asked.

Villicro was also a teenager friend of Claude and Boquer, after which the family went to Wangdu and Villicro joined the Guardianship Corps. During the Five Year Eastern War, Claude met with Villikro once, at a knight's medal recognition ceremony, where Villikro, like him, was awarded the knight's medal for shooting well at more than 200 enemies on the battlefield.

Bok Al nodded and shook his head: “I didn't see Villicro, but I heard from him. It was at that gathering organized by Mrs. Maria that I met a Major Officer of the Logistics Department of the Guard Corps called Nixon. It wasn't until half a day after the conversation that he turned out to be Verricolo's brother-in-law. He told me that Villicro had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel by virtue of his neutrality in the Kingdom's civil war, but not in Wangdu, but in Limassosya County.

Five years ago, Villicro became a family, and his wife was the second daughter of a hereditary Earl, married to a large estate in Limassosya County. It is for that reason that Villicro applied to stay in Limassosya County, where he now has a son and a daughter and lives very happily ever after. But his father, Uncle Kubrick, is old enough to drink, a little ill, and now lives in the estate. ”

“Time passed so fast, we were born in White Deer City or in the country, no worries, we only knew how to play and make noise every day, and in the blink of an eye, we all had children.” Claude exclaimed, getting up and picking out a bottle of fruit wine in the wine cabinet, ready to pour you a glass. It's just that Uncle Ruby Will stopped. He said he was older, so it's better to keep drinking black tea.

Bok Al sighed and remembered the happy times he had in White Deer City. After a moment of boredom, he watched Claude pour himself fruit wine and grab a bite of a glass before hesitating to say to Claude: “Actually, on his way back, I saw Ericsson, and his black sail pirates robbed our refugee fleet..."

Claude looked up at Bok Al, took a sip of the glass and smothered it, continued to pour himself a second glass, then asked indifferently: "What did he say to you? ”

“Here, this...” Bok Al thought about answering: “He wants to make some deals with our immediate battlefield...”

Claude didn't ask for a deal, but frowned and circled indoors: "You tell him about the meeting and everything you talked about. ”

“I didn't recognize him at first, but he looks completely different from what he did when he was younger, giving a sense of wild brutality and pride to me. One long hair draped down to the waist, with an extra scar on his face and bright eyes. Although he's grown up a lot, he's still the shortest of the four of us compared to me.

When we discovered the Black Sail Pirate fleet at sea, their dozen pirate ships saw our refugee fleet coming to our fleet without a frigate and without any hesitation. I could only have ordered my squadron of guards to scatter around the ship in case they used their precise marksmanship to behead these pirate leaders.

So my boat headed toward those black sail pirate boats and hung the banner of the bargain. Those Black Sail pirate ships were rather disciplined, surrounding our refugee fleet, not aboard, but with artillery from the pirate ships, and those pirates waving all kinds of weapons to terrorize the refugees on the ships with horrendous expressions and words, scaring many people on the spot.

Ericsson stood at his pirate bow and directed his ship towards me. The closer I got, the more I felt familiar with him. Later, he called out his name in a tentative manner, and he recognized me because he dared not recognize my body. It was only after he discovered me that he ordered his pirate fleet to be brought together in parallel with our refugee fleet.

But he was careful not to come to my boat, but to invite me and my father to his boat for a while. We boarded his ship, a three-pole oceanic battleship of the Kingdom Storm fleet, now his flagship. It's just been greatly modified, reducing the number of artillery on the deck, adding two sided longitudinal sails, increasing speed and stability a lot...

A few more pirates on the ship knew our father and son, and we were all delighted to see each other, calling our names and saying hello. I didn't know them very well, and my father later told me that all of them who greeted us were residents of White Deer Town, and that they were sailors on the Red Sea Shark, Captain O'Truney's father, and that they all followed Ericsson out of White Deer Town with his family during the Storm Fleet rebellion.

Eriksson entertained us in his captain's room, and he asked me what I wanted, and I said, "Let's have a fresh meat." We spent half a month at sea eating bread dumplings every day, and I dreamed of eating a lot of meat. Alexander laughed and asked us what was going on with this fleet. I told him what had happened, and he heard that White Deer City had become a piece of rubble and shushed, and then instructed the chef on board to cook us a great meal.

After we had eaten, Ericsson suggested that we go with him to his parents' hiding place, and this time he wanted to go home to see his parents. According to his account, I assume that he joined the Storm fleet in search of his father, who later defected the fleet and returned to White Deer City to take his mother, as well as the families of the sailors, who officially became Blacksail pirates.

His parents are said to be hiding on a large island deep in the silent ocean, an archipelago of three large islands and a dozen small islands. His parents live on a large island of 20,000 people, and all members of the family of his Black Sail pirates now live on that island, with over 6,000 people. Eriksson, on the other hand, with his Black Sail Pirate fleet, shot several islands in the waters of the Nubari Islands, becoming part of a group of pirates in the waters of Thousand Islands.

Every three months, Ericsson returns with a rotating fleet to their families' hidden islands and delivers supplies and supplies from robberies to the pirates' families. He wanted to take our refugee fleet with him, and I refused, telling him it wasn't that simple. With more than 60,000 people in our refugee fleet, shipping in the past was nothing but bullying, and Ericsson could not guarantee that so many people would be provided with the food and daily needs they needed.

I then gave him a suggestion that if he needed to emigrate, he could go directly to the mainland of the kingdom to recruit the unemployed sailors and sailors, as well as the craftsmen, and put their families on the island. This would both increase the island's population and guarantee their loyalty, much better than the idea of hitting my refugee fleet. It would also be possible to control the number and pace of recruitment on its own, without worrying that too many people would disrupt order on the island.

Alexander Haha laughed, saying that I had changed a lot and that people were smarter. He said he could stop thinking about this refugee fleet, but he hoped that our family would follow him and that one day he would establish an archipelago kingdom, just like the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands, which would then make me the Grand Duke and make me a hereditary nobleman. I immediately refused his request and told him what his duties were, and if he did, do not prevent me from returning to the war zone.

Erickson sighed, so he stopped talking to me. He was well informed about the waters of the Nubari Islands and told me that the war zone under his direct administration had completely defeated the Kingdom of Hicks and won the colonial war. And let me tell you that he was somewhat sorry for you in White Deer City, because he didn't know his father was your father's partner, and only thought his father was hired by your father to be attacked by pirates...

He knows a lot about overseas jurisdictions, and I suspect that his Black Sail pirates have also set up agents in our area of direct jurisdiction. He said he knew you were one of the five giants in the direct jurisdiction war zone, which is why he restrained his men from attacking and plundering the coastal zone of the direct jurisdiction, just to avoid any trouble for you. But he finally made a request to me to tell you.

If we can make some deals with his Black Sail Island, he assures us that his Black Sail pirates will not commit any future crimes against the Territory, or even accept employment in our Territory's war zone to deal with the harassment of the fleet and other pirate groups that attacked the Kingdom of Hicks off the coast of the Territory. As for the contents of the transaction, it was nothing more than armaments such as artillery ammunition, and daily goods such as grass...

I thought it was strange to ask him, after all these years as a pirate, if there were no reliable channels for selling and purchasing? Eriksson cursed, saying that there were smugglers and smugglers from the colonies of the West Coast countries in the waters of the Nubari Islands, although their takeover prices were too low, often one third to one quarter of the market price of the goods.

Blacksail pirates are mostly from the kingdom of Orvilas, which is even more damaging, with the lowest acquisition price and the highest purchase price in dealings with those who sell stolen goods in other countries. But there is no way to get supplies without dealing with these black-hearted businessmen. All they could do was swallow this and lose it. So Alexander asked me to ask you if you could make this deal with them Black Sail pirates? ”

“And then Ericsson let your fleet go and gave you some food and water?” Claude said, Bok Al nodded.

Claude looked at Boc Al's father, who had been silently making tea on the couch next to him, and suddenly asked, "Uncle Rubiewell, what do you think of Eriksson? ”

Mr. Rubiewell raised his head: “My view is that your teenage partners have changed dramatically, that you are now in a high position, that your reputation is preached in the Territory and in the West Coast colonies, and that you have orders in the war zones, and that many things can be decided with one word. And Ericsson is about as big a change as you are, except he's the head pirate, and you're the general of the kingdom.

Though you have become one of the five giants of the war zone, there are rules on your head that govern what you want to do with care and don't give people the power to attack you. And I didn't see that on Ericsson, and he didn't have much to worry about, just like when we told him it was a refugee fleet, his first thought was to take the refugee fleet back to his nest, not to think that he could arrange so many people.

When he said that he would sooner or later establish an archipelagic nation like the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands and that Boa had been granted the Grand Duke, I understood that his ambition was great and he did not see the world as a kingdom. Perhaps this is because he has become a pirate and can no longer be bound by the rules, and everything is free and dominated by himself, without interference from anyone.

As for Eriksson's deal with the war zone, my advice is not to accede to his request. Because doing business with him is actually increasing his strength and expanding the size of Blacksail pirates. I now regret Bok Al's idea to recruit people for his trip to the kingdom itself, only then Bok Al had to do it to get the fleet out of the way. ”

Claude lowered his head and slowly filled the glass with fruit wine. Mr. Rubiewell's opinion was simple. He didn't care if Claude and Bockard were teenage friends, he just said what he thought of Eriksson. Of course, as a businessman, you are born to hate bandits, pirates, groups that profit from robbery, and they are born to die against each other.

But there are a few points that Claude deserves to think about. First, Mr. Rubiewell says that Erickson is an ambitious guy who can't be bound by any grievances or rules. This is an obscure indication that Ericsson will accept the greetings of the direct jurisdiction war zone, so that Claude does not have to make such an idea, deliberately mentioning Claude's current status, and that Ericsson's wild statement that he wants to build an archipelago kingdom means that Ericsson will not live in peace, especially under Claude's command...

Secondly, since Bock-All proposed to Ericsson to recruit people from the mainland of the Kingdom, Ericsson has abandoned the idea of hitting the refugee fleet, and it is clear that he has listened to that suggestion. Next, he will implement the expansion of the size and power of Blacksail pirates, and there is no fleet in the kingdom to protect the coastal zone, which for Blacksail pirates is a defenceless area where they can plunder wealth and talent.

Thirdly, with human and financial resources, the forces of the Black Sail pirates will surely be expanded, but they will need a great deal of weapons, equipment and arms of all kinds, which are not available for pillage. At the same time, there is a need to provide sufficient means of subsistence for those who migrate to settle in their nests, which are not available to Ericsson from the colonies of the West Coast countries, and which, if procured in part, would be extremely inexpensive because of the distance transported.

So the best deal was in the UTs, and that's why Mr. Rubiewell didn't want Claude to promise to trade with Ericsson's Black Sail Pirates. His son Bockard gave Ericsson the idea of recruiting talent to go to the mainland of the kingdom in order to get away, and not to promise Ericsson an arms deal with the UTs would curb the rapid expansion of the Black Sail Pirate's power and not become an accomplice to the Black Sail Pirate.

What Mr. Rubilwell does not understand is that it takes time to digest the dividends of war, heal the wounds of war and revitalize the economic development of the zone. Claude wanted to be more thorough about this, and it was easy not to deal with Ericsson's Black Sail Pirates, but it would offend Black Sail Pirates and put them at risk of pirate attacks in the coastal areas of the Territory.

During the colonial war, pirates rarely came to the waters of the zone of direct jurisdiction, mainly because they feared encountering two large fleets of the Kingdom of Hicks to expose themselves to pond fish. Now that the war is over, offshore transport in the maritime areas under the direct jurisdiction will inevitably become more busy and prosperous, and maritime transport trade routes that are stable and free from the threat of war will attract the attention of large and small groups of pirates, who will be at great risk of pirate attacks on offshore transport routes until such time as the battlefield integrated cruise fleet does not form a force.

This is also the confidence that Ericsson has made a deal with the Territory's war zones, and he should have seen that, so he offered to accept hiring from the Territory's war zones to deal with other pirate groups that harassed the coastal zone of the Territory. This is also a way to paint the territory and a condition for coercing the immediate battlefield to accept his deal...

Looks like Mr. Rubiewell is right. Eriksson's ambitions are really big, so he doesn't have to fight himself to become a war zone Navy general. It's just a pity that his teenager friend doesn't have a long-term strategic vision. Does he think that being a pirate will last a lifetime or even become a family business passed down to future generations?

Claude never had a pirate in his eyes, but what he needed now was time. When the train and railroad in the immediate battlefield are successfully developed, the next step is to move the steam engine onto the ship and build a steam-powered ocean fleet of iron armor or shells. Until then, don't say that the pirate Windsurf fleet, the fleet of countries on the Farea continent that claim to be invincible, is the same character as tofu scum.

Eriksson's Black Sail Pirate was truly a one-sider player in the Windsurf era, but after the Ironclad era, he had no choice but to hide in Tibet's fate. Numerous manpower and craftsmen can build sailboats, but no pirate power can make Ironclad warships, which is the backbone of a maritime power.

Only before the Ironclad Battleship becomes a reality will the zone of direct jurisdiction need to rely on battleships that integrate captured joint fleets, form ocean cruise fleets, train its own naval officers and commanders first, lay the foundations for subsequent Ironclad Battleships, and at the same time protect the security of the maritime areas of direct jurisdiction.

Claude tapped his finger gently on the table, a lot of things. Before considering whether to make a deal with the Black Sail pirates, there were envoys and reproaches from Wangdu. Almost four months have passed since the victory over the Hicks kingdom, and the king should have been informed long ago. Without the threat of war, those emerging business aristocrats should be thrilled to embark on battleships coming to overseas territories. Perhaps in their eyes, the immediate war zone is like a fat piece of meat, waiting for them to come and take a big bite...