Chapter 291 Navy and Pirates
In the vast ocean, a ship departed from the South Continent, carrying a lot of rare treasures from the South Continent, preparing to go to the Kingdom of Loen to avoid the war that has not yet stopped.
The sky was sunny, but the temperature was much milder than in the past. Even standing on the deck under the sun, it was not as hot as before.
Outside the captain's room, there was an old man who had been sailing on the sea for more than 40 years, Old Thorn. He was an old antique in this industry and knew all the changes in the sea and the sky.
He could smell the signs of the coming storm from an abnormal cloud or a slight sea breeze.
Learning to observe the stars in the sky is a compulsory course, and he is also very good at it.
Recently, he has always had a feeling that the sun this year is not as hot as in previous years. Although this change is very slight, he still observed some abnormal phenomena.
Will the sun have an accident?
Such an idea is ridiculous. No one will believe his words. He also knows this very well, so he has never talked about this matter with others, but just spends more time observing the sun in the sky every day.
"Old Thorne, we are almost at Punin Harbor. Thanks to your guidance, we can easily avoid all kinds of storms and huge waves."
The captain brought a full oak cup of dark beer. This kind of beer is quite bitter, and young people nowadays don't like it very much, but old guys like him like this kind of bitter beer the most, which is more flavorful.
Old Thorne took the beer and took a big sip. The slightly dark and turbid liquor flowed down his beard, and his collar was immediately wet.
After a comfortable burp, Old Thorne said, "Captain Roll is too polite. This is my job, so I have to try my best to keep the ship away from possible dangers."
After that, he laughed and said, "I am on this ship myself, and I can't joke with the god of death with my life."
Captain Roll smiled and chatted with him for a few words, and then prepared to leave. Before leaving, Old Thorne grabbed the corner of his clothes and said in a low voice, "Don't blame me for being too talkative. The natural factors on the sea are easy to overcome, but dangers often come from man-made disasters. I always have an ominous premonition for this trip, so you should make more preparations."
Captain Roll patted Old Thorne on the shoulder and said that he would pay attention to these problems and let him stay on the ship with peace of mind.
When the lighthouse of Puning Port was already in sight, Old Thorne's worries were also put down by half. In the absence of pirates, the safety index of the coastal ports of South Wales was still very high.
Just when the crew on the ship relaxed their vigilance, the sailors on the watchtower found that there were strange ships approaching here from three directions in the distance.
"It's pirates!"
"Pirates are coming!"
The sailor quickly sounded the alarm, and the people on the ship were alert. Under the captain's orderly arrangement, they began to stick to their combat positions.
This place is very close to Puning Port. Once a battle occurs, the port's garrison will come to support them. They just need to hold on for this period of time.
The captain and the crew on the ship all thought so. Only Old Thorne was worried. He had been sailing on the sea for so many years and was used to the weakness of South Wales against pirates in recent years.
The garrison of Puning Port may refuse to send naval support on the grounds of preserving the safety of the port, even if the pirates have already wreaked havoc at their doorstep.
Good premonitions are often daydreams, but ominous premonitions often come true.
Under the eager gaze of all the crew members, Puning Port only sounded the alarm to prevent pirates from taking the opportunity to attack the port, and did not send out even one warship for support.
Old Thorne and others were wrapped alive by six or seven pirate ships.
Seeing that he could no longer count on the defenders of Puning Port, the captain could only grit his teeth and issue an order to sail at the highest speed. Even if he collided with a ship, he had to rush out of a safe path!
The ship, which was sailing at full power, rushed forward with a momentum of burning everything together. The pirates who had already surrounded them were thrown into disarray, revealing a safe passage.
The captain immediately commanded the crew to seize this opportunity to escape the encirclement.
They were lucky and successfully escaped the pirates' encirclement, but in the process of forcing the ship just now, the entire ship was almost sunk by the pirates' gunfire, and there were water and fire everywhere.
Even though they had already rushed out of the pirates' encirclement and were very close to the port, the defenders of Puning Port still had no intention of coming forward to deter the pirates.
They would rather leave the warship in the port to blow the wind than go out for a turn.
Old Thorne, who was used to the incompetence of the Southwell County port garrison, just sighed, and then sat and watched the young crew members and passengers greet the garrison of Pnin Port, the Grand Duke of Southwell, and all the stupid and cowardly nobles with extremely vulgar language.
Fortunately, the small pirate group with only six or seven ships did not dare to directly conflict with the garrison of Pnin Port, and left in a huff.
The burning ship finally docked, but what was waiting was not a friendly greeting, but a ruthless tax bill for docking at the port.
Facing the crew members and passengers who dared to insult, the Pnin Port garrison was particularly brave at this moment.
If you don't cooperate, you will be beaten, and if you don't cooperate again, you will be locked up. If you dare to make trouble, you will be shot on the spot.
No matter how angry the captain was, he could only pay a large sum of money obediently.
The huge tax bill, plus the cost of repairing the ship, even if a large amount of ticket money has been collected for this trip, you still have to pay part of the money.
Old Thorne could hear the captain's constant curses from a distance, and he no longer looked as cheerful as when he served him a drink just now.
In addition to the captain and crew, he also heard several passengers who were obviously nobles of the Loen Kingdom. They were filled with indignation and said that they would report to the king when they returned to Backlund, and loudly rebuked the uselessness of the South Wales Navy.
After listening for a while, Old Thorne went to Captain Rolle to mutter a few words. Captain Rolle soon put away the anger on his face and went to talk to the passengers. In and out of his words, he was blaming Captain Southwell County. From the Grand Duke to the incompetence of an ordinary naval officer.
In a three-story hotel room in Puning Port, Hasta was watching everything that happened through the window.
The incompetence of South Wales's navy and its fear of pirates really opened his eyes.
He found out clearly that there were more than 20 small warships, eight medium-sized warships, and one heavy warship in Puning Port.
The overall naval combat power is much higher than the seven pirate ships just now.
Except for one barely considered medium-sized ship, those pirate ships were all small ships and could not be compared with well-equipped warships.
Even if only two medium-sized warships were launched, it would be enough to scare the pirates.
But the result was shocking, which made Hastur deeply worried about the coastal defense issues of the Loen Kingdom.
With such fighting power and ethos, once the war in the southern continent spreads, the entire coastal defense line will collapse in one blow.
After all, a navy that even pirates are afraid of cannot compare with the regular army of the Southern Continent.
Sharon, who was standing at the window on the other side, looked over. She knew that half of Hastur's purpose of visiting South Wales was to consolidate South Wales's coastal defense line.
"It's really disappointing, even I can't stand it anymore." Hastur said with a smile.
Sharon calmly uttered one word, "It's difficult."
"The civil strife in the southern continent will not end for a while. If you want to attack South Wales, you will need to prepare for at least half a year. There is still a lot of time." Hastur is still very optimistic about the future.
"You can take advantage of the situation."
"Miss Sharon, how do you know what I'm thinking?"
Hastur looked at Sharon in surprise. He was indeed planning to borrow the hands of the Loen nobles who had returned from the Southern Continent to complain to the king and put pressure on the Grand Duke of Southwell, forcing him to delegate power to him.
Sharon glanced at Hastur lightly, "Do I look stupid?"
Hastur quickly explained that he had no such intention, and Azshara, who was lying on the window sill, meowed twice at the right time to Sharon.
It means that her master just looks down on her intelligence.
With a slight coldness in Sharon's eyes, she glanced at Hastur, and then began to knead Azshara who was inciting the trouble.
Not long after he became an instigator, he had already learned how to control fire.
…
"Dear sister, your worrying second brother has returned safely from the southern continent and set foot in the kingdom's territory at four o'clock in the afternoon on March 8th."
"This should have been a happy thing, but when we were approaching Puning Port, we encountered an incident. The heroic navy of our kingdom was afraid of the little pirates and allowed them to rob merchant ships outside the port. I am proud of the kingdom. We are deeply concerned about the coastal defense issues.”
"Didn't Count Hall, who is always wise, see this clearly? He was also blinded by the falsehood that he boasted?"
"If one day the war from the south spreads, this will become their most powerful stepping stone to attack the kingdom."
"Maybe I can stay here, wait for the war to come, and fight for the title of earl on the battlefield."
"Well, I really don't want to go back to Backlund and see Hibbert's proud smiling face. He will definitely take the opportunity to ridicule me for leaving the Southern Continent and nail me to the pillar of shame for this matter."
"But the wanderer who has returned from afar really misses his family, especially his lovely and kind sister. He hasn't heard her call him second brother for a long time."
Late at night, under the dim light of the hotel room, Alfred Hall, wearing a black coat, was writing hard.
After writing a letter full of paper, Alfred Hall carefully checked it several times to confirm that there were no problems, and then asked someone to send the letter back to Backlund first.
He planned to stay in South Wales for a few days to explore the situation here and see if it was suitable for him to stay here and make contributions.
At the same time, he also wanted to test Earl Hall's tone to see if he wanted him to return to Backlund more, or if he would arrange other ways out for him.