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"I'm sorry, Captain, I disappoint you..."
When Lu Yuan was woken up by the knock on the door, he got up and opened the door, and heard the young man Jin say such words in a confused way, admitting his fault. [No pop-up novel website] He pressed his forehead to dispel some of the sleepiness. At least he couldn't get angry with this young man.
Young Jin stood in front of the captain's cabin door with his head lowered, while Jacques stood slightly behind him. Lu Yuan noticed that he had taken off the duty badge on his chest and held it tightly in his hand. Seeing Lu Yuan's gaze turn around, Jin bit his lip and straightened his body, raised his head and looked forward, obviously ready to accept any punishment.
Lu Yuan observed the black circles under his eyes and swollen shoulders. It was obvious that he had been driving the boat all night (a rotation system, so it was normal to drive overnight for the first time). The young man looked very nervous, as if he had been driving for a long time. From the battle of time, there were large stains of sweat on his hair and the front and back of his clothes. And although he was admitting his mistake, what Lu Yuan saw in his eyes was more reluctance.
"I thought the ship sank..." Lu Yuan stomped down the deck and complained softly after roughly knowing that there was nothing wrong with the ship based on the sense of the counter-shock. He straightened his messy hair and put the triangular captain's hat back on his head. "what time is it now?"
"Oh," Jin didn't expect Lu Yuan to ask this question at all, and Jin was confused. "Six o'clock. Captain."
"Well, thank you for your hard work." Lu Yuan patted his head. Take the lead and walk towards the stern. "Tell me what's going on... Damn it, it's obviously eight o'clock when the shift changes! I said unless the ship is going to sink, don't wake me up..."
Lu Yuan was still complaining profusely, but Jin suddenly made up his mind and interrupted Lu Yuan's nagging, "We are surrounded, sir!"
"What?" Lu Yuan stopped in confusion and looked outside the side of the ship. Except for a line of white on the horizon, it was almost still dark, but Lu Yuan could at least confirm that there were no ships nearby, only the damn "Blue Bird" was still behind.
Jin was not in a hurry to speak. He took a deep breath first. Then he explained clearly, "After dark last night, I lowered the ship to half speed and entered the night sail. During that period, the Blue Bird kept trying to approach and attack us, but I was forced out of the way by the side. But later I discovered that he threatened us on the port side far more often than on the starboard side... In other words, I was fooled! I was deceived by him and deviated from the scheduled route and walked south for at least forty nautical miles! And this morning At that time, Jacques discovered traces of the Saint Martin fleet fifteen nautical miles to the right!"
"Then why do you say we were surrounded?" I heard Jin's description. Lu Yuan actually came to the same conclusion as him right away, but he still deliberately asked Jin to let him continue to play.
"I...guessed it, Captain." The young man said so. But there was a hint of "it must be like this" in his tone both internally and externally. Obviously, Jin believed in his own judgment very much.
Lu Yuan nodded noncommittally and asked him to continue. Jin scratched his hair uneasily. "The Blue Bird has been forcing us to go south, and then the local fleet of St. Martin Port appeared on the west side... This must not be a coincidence! I think in several other directions. There must be a British fleet waiting early. There, it's a trap that's been prepared. We're driven into a big pocket, Captain."
"Your judgment is correct. You should go south to avoid the Bluebird's harassment." Lu Yuan nodded, confirming the young man's judgment of the situation, but he still stretched out his hand and spread it out in front of Jin. "The only mistake you made was that you should have woken me up when you first noticed the problem."
Lu Yuan said this because Jin had traveled at least another fifteen nautical miles before waking him up. It was only when he knew that he couldn't get out of this pocket no matter what, that he thought of Lu Yuan...
Seeing Lu Yuan's hand stretched out in front of him, Jin trembled violently, and then his eyes filled with tears.
But he still bit his lip, resisted, and gently placed the officer's badge that he had been holding on to Lu Yuan's palm.
Lu Yuan said a word silently, and the fingerprints and sweat stains on the badge disappeared instantly, cleaning it up and making it wrinkled and shiny again. He twisted the badge and pinned it on Jin's chest again, and then helped him straighten his clothes. "Don't take it off yourself... Jin, the ship hasn't sunk yet. You will still be my officer on duty until eight o'clock."
Lu Yuan immediately walked onto the stern, but did not stand beside the wheel. He just gave the order loudly, "Officer on duty, full left rudder. If the Blue Bird dares to approach again, hit it!"
"Yes, captain!" Jin agreed excitedly, turned around and ran to the wheel. When Lu Yuan saw his back turned, he quickly wiped his tears and couldn't help but laugh. After all, he is still just a fourteen-year-old child... Jin's character is indeed not suitable for being an adjutant. He is too stubborn and trusts his own judgment too much. But this is exactly what a good captain needs. "Perhaps the Maria can be handed over to him in the future..."
"Jacques!"
"exist!"
"I want you to go up to the observation deck and help me stare at the east! If you find a British person, notify me immediately. I want to know how big his bag mouth is!" Lu Yuan took out a nearby chart and sat down regardless of the image. On the deck, start marking it. If the encirclement has not yet been formed, then Lu Yuan will of course break through. If the encirclement has been sealed... His finger moved south on the chart, and finally pointed at the location of a deserted island, "Then load the boat with bottles, and then go to the island to fight guerrillas!"
"Got it, Captain." Jacques quickly climbed up the main mast along the rope ladder, and drove down the man who had just changed shifts with him. The guy was cursing all the way down and looking in the direction of Lu Yuan, as if he wanted to complain to the captain! The crew is always very sensitive to competing for positions, whether it is beds, gun positions or posts.
Lu Yuan turned his head as if nothing had happened. Pretending not to see it. At this time, he only believed in Jacques' eyes!
"How strong is the wind now?" Lu Yuan stirred the air with his fingers in confusion. You can barely feel the sea breeze.
"Less than level two, Captain." Jin replied from the side.
"Bitch!" Lu Yuan cursed bitterly.
*******
After seeing the "Maria" resolutely turn left. The Bluebird, which had been pressing on his port side, knew at once that the trap was exposed. This slippery guy immediately ran away, not even approaching within a range of 300 meters.
In the past, the "Maria" avoided the "Blue Bird", which was the same as walking on the street avoiding a mad dog, but it just didn't want to be bitten by the mad dog. But now the goal of the "Maria" is to break out of the encirclement, so it is very possible to destroy the "Blue Bird" at the cost of battle losses.
Therefore, the "Blue Bird" changed its previous active style and just stayed far behind like soy sauce, ignoring any actions of the "Maria".
It seems. It seems that this is all her mission.
…
In the weather in March and April, the gentle sea breeze made all the people on the boat drowsy. The climate was so comfortable that it made people ache.
The speed of the boat made Lu Yuan's balls hurt even more.
In the afternoon, the ship sailed out to a distance of more than ten nautical miles, and the black line of land could just be seen in the distance.
"The British fleet has been found! ... It's Guaptillo's local fleet! In the east!" Jacques reported loudly on the mast, pointing in the direction of three o'clock with his finger. At this time, if you stand at Lu Yuan's level. Even the tip of the opponent's mast has not yet appeared above the horizon.
Lu Yuan once again spread out the charts on the deck. Considering how precious charts were in this era, this was another stupid thing that no captain would do. He sketched it directly on the drawing, and soon a battle situation spread across the entire Eastern Caribbean. appeared on the drawings.
"To the west is the San Martin Regional Fleet, about seven battleships of level four or above; to the east is the Guaptilo Regional Fleet and the Colonial Fleet, about fifteen to twenty-five battleships; to the north... I guess it is stationed in San Martin Juan's East India Company Caribbean Fleet. Forty-two battleships! What a big pocket..." Lu Yuan joked, then frowned a little. Are you going to such great lengths just because of the Maria? This pocket is as exaggerated as a cannon hitting a mosquito. "Who is in the south?" Lu Yuan thought for a while. He didn't believe that the British knew how to encircle three and one was missing. The south was the decisive position and would definitely be reserved for the most reliable fleet!
But he counted on his fingers for a long time and found that unless he relied on the power of other countries' navies, the British might not be able to send more warships.
"South..." Lu Yuan pondered, and August, Misha, Xiaoji and other military officers stood beside him, waiting for him to make the final decision.
In such weather and lack of wind, the difference in boat speed becomes negligible. The only way to get out of this pocket, it seemed, was to go south... using the speed and maneuvering of the ship to gain advantage bit by bit. Just like a marathon run, in these wind conditions it can take a full day of running to gain enough distance to jump out of the pocket.
But what is there in the south?
"Xiangnan!" Lu Yuan nodded and strode towards the cabin. Maybe it's time for something like that to come into play.
*******
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"Azure Canvas" manufacturing drawings:
Manufacturing drawings specifically for the manufacture of a dark blue quality boat canvas.
The Spanish shipbuilder Oren, one of the inventors of the Galenic warship, devoted himself to making up for the design flaws of the Galenic ship in his later years. He tried to split the method of manufacturing magic battleships as a whole into strengthening each component. "Azure Canvas" is one of his completed works.
Requirements: Carpenter level is greater than 40. (Limited to use by Lu Yuan
Number of times used: 10/10
Note 1: Each time the blueprint is used, ten hundredweights of new ordinary canvas, four hundredweights of ordinary cables, twenty hundredweights of cotton cloth, two hundredweights of dyes, and an additional property (coins, jewelry) worth four thousand five hundred pesos can be provided. , nugget gold...etc.
Twelve hundredweights of fine sailcloth can be made from each use.
Explanation 2: Azure sail canvas, this special canvas reinforced by magic, is more durable than ordinary canvas and will not be damaged even after long storms. But once damaged, it cannot be repaired. The azure canvas attracts the sea breeze. It can effectively increase the sailing speed of the ship in light winds. (The durability of the sail is increased to 200, and the minimum speed of the ship is +1 knot!
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This is when Lu Yuan's carpenter level reaches 40. The analyzed light golden blueprint is one of the two golden blueprints presented by Oren, the master shipbuilder of Trinidad!
This drawing is so practical. And it's extremely targeted, unlike those treasure chests that always come out with random stuff!
So much so that Lu Yuan's expectations for another golden drawing that required a carpenter level of 60 to be analyzed were instantly heightened and he was full of daydreams. This kind of sail was probably designed to improve the slow speed of Galen's ship. The old man had good intentions for Spain.
Some people may say that since the flaws of Galen's ship are already known, why are they still guarding Galen's ship? Why not just build better battleships? But you know it's over the ocean. How many Galenic ships are still sailing? I can’t even count them!
The service life of ships is very long. Most of the Galenic warships owned by the Kingdom of Spain are still in their prime years of service. If all the new battleships were built to replace that number, it would not be enough to fill the wealth of Spain! Therefore, even though we know that the navy is in deep trouble, transforming the Galen ship is still the only way out.
Lu Yuan called a few sailors to move the goods required on the drawing into an empty storage room.
After making a random excuse and sending everyone away, Lu Yuan unfolded the drawings.
There are no gorgeous light and shadow effects. It seems that Oren doesn't like those gorgeous gimmicks.
The money and dyes in the room seemed to be "raw materials". They are all decreasing rapidly. At the same time, the canvas placed in the middle began to change from white to light blue little by little, and the color continued to deepen. Lu Yuan took two cautious steps forward and got close to the canvas to observe carefully. really. When he got close, Lu Yuan could feel the fluctuations of arcane power layer by layer. This use of arcane power seems to be very rudimentary, just using magic to carry particles of matter. "Padding" the canvas so that it doesn't appear to have any added thickness. But the texture of the canvas is getting finer and finer.
The particles attract the wind and stick to the canvas. Lu Yuan just stands here. I could already feel the gentle rippling wind. This feeling of wind seemed familiar. Lu Yuan recalled it carefully. Yes, it was the kind of power used by the Assassin Brotherhood's Assassin Master Ray Seir...
The manufacturing of azure canvas did not take a lot of time. When Lu Yuan walked out of the cabin, the "Maria" was still driving southward slowly.
Lu Yuan called August and Zhuo Xiaoji and explained the matter in a low voice. The two people showed surprised expressions at first, and then happily called a few people each and went down to the bottom deck. In order to keep it secret, these people will stay busy there until the war breaks out or they leave the pocket of the encirclement.
The current deck officer on duty has been replaced by Misha, and Elizabeth is her assistant. The two of them are sorting out the supplies on the ship.
Both men were wearing ordinary sailor's clothes, and one was carrying a short-barreled shotgun!
They were on duty with the sailors, and they also stormed enemy ships brandishing shotguns! After a month of hard work, they finally gained the approval of the crew. Now they can give orders to these crew members even if August is not around. The two beauties usually have a fierce personality when facing sailors, and they often swear and curse, but the sailors... like them very much! Because although Misha is strict, as a logistics officer, she is definitely the most generous in distributing rum! And Elizabeth... Who makes them like to listen to the aristocrats so much... I have to say that sailors are a bunch of cheap men!
"Throw away all these!" Following Lu Yuan's order, they were reducing the weight of the ship. So Misha commanded the sailors. Moved almost all the water and food onto the deck!
At her command, the sailors were startled! Many newcomers stopped immediately, while the old sailors who knew the rules went to move the buckets honestly, with a little delay at most.
"We only have so much fresh water! If we throw it all away, what will we drink later?" A young black man stood up and asked. He had been hiding behind Reginald before, and now he jumped out to speak. The impolite tone made Lu Yuan frown when he heard it. Misha looked at this man in surprise. This was a clearly defined battle time. At this time, subordinates were absolutely not allowed to question their superiors. All orders must be strictly implemented!
It’s just that Lu Yuan said before that the affairs of black people should be managed by Reginald. But that Reginald seemed not to have heard the young black man's offense, lowering his head and concentrating on rolling the bucket of fresh water.
Lu Yuan's face turned cold.
"Thunder!" Lu Yuan faced the black leader he appointed. Reginald growled. Without hesitation, he gave the order, "Twenty lashes! Go and execute it yourself!"
Reginald raised his head in astonishment, looking incomprehensible.
"Captain, he just told the truth... Please let him go. You see, he is still a child. I promise..." Reginald also did not follow the order. Instead, he ran to Lu Yuan and begged. Get excited.
Lu Yuan suddenly laughed and pursed his lips. He said kindly to Reginald, "Do you think I am your father?! Asking for mercy from me...who do you think you are!"
He reached out and grabbed Reginald's officer's ribbon and pulled it off!
"You have been dismissed. If you are not satisfied, take your people and get off my ship! I don't want this kind of subordinates who play tricks on me!"
His face turned cold, and he knocked Reginald into the dust without any mercy. Reginald has only been on the ship for half a month, but he actually dares to challenge his authority? ! Black people...hehe, it seems they never know where to stop before that line!
Lu Yuan turned around and raised his voice to the black people surrounding him. And all the sailors on the deck announced, "Reginaard's management authority over the black crew members is removed. From now on, all crew members will only be managed by responsible officers! This is a time of war, and I don't want to see any more disobedience..."
He hasn't finished speaking yet. The young black man, who had caused Reginald to be removed from office because of him, shouted again. "You can't do this, what mistake did Reginald make?! We black people won't agree...Ah! Ah~uh~!"
The sailors backed up in horror. Escape from Lu Yuan.
Lu Yuan walked over and turned the black man who had just been hanged in the air around. Let his twisted face face those crew members. "Black people? I saved you, not because I like black people, but just because I hate the slavery system! So, don't treat me as an angel, I am not your savior! On my ship, the system I set is above all else! From today on, put away your laxity and get serious!"
He let go of his hand, shook the cable tied around the man's neck, and dropped the black man's body at Reginald's feet. "You should know that it was your stupidity that killed him... You should know that only people who are trusted by me can run wild on this ship, you? It's far from that! If black people never know where the bottom line is, I can kill you all before killing the enemy! What do you think?!"
Reginald was speechless. He trembled and lowered his body. Instead of hugging the man's body, he just knelt down with humility and put his head on the deck.
Lu Yuan snorted with some disdain and returned directly to the poop.
"If you want to keep the water, then throw away the rum!" Misha said impatiently, and she also had her own way of ordering these bastards. On Lu Yuan's ship, the sailors were given double servings of rum simply because Misha found it useless. Sure enough, this sentence was much more effective than the previous order, and many sailors subconsciously kicked down the fresh water barrels.
****
"Clang clang clang!"
Jacques rang the alarm bell on the mast vigorously, and Lu Yuan raised his head and looked at him.
"Captain! There are ships ahead! Many! Many! Ships!" Jacques looked quite panicked. He shouted randomly and even commanded Jin. "It's the British! Oh my god, Jin, left full rudder..."
"Leave him alone!" Lu Yuan was so angry that he laughed. He spoke to Jin, jumped a few times, climbed to the observation deck of the mast, and searched with a telescope in the direction Jacques was looking.
At the junction of the sky and the sea, a large mast slowly rose! There are more than a hundred roots, densely erected there, moving towards this side like a strong forest phalanx! It seemed that there were more than fifty large ships in there!
"Damn it! It's the East India Company's Far East Fleet. This is what they have been waiting for!" Lu Yuan said helplessly.
He had been guessing that the fleet blocking the road would be that side. He has thought about everything from various countries to various forces, and even large and small chambers of commerce. In Lu Yuan's plan, they simply gathered a dozen ships and tried to outflank the "Maria".
As long as the ships on both sides did not belong to the same force, Lu Yuan was confident that he could always find a gap to break out. It really doesn't work, he still has two big cards in his hand. Either put on a ship to fight guerrillas on the island, or put on a blue sail. Even in such breezy weather, you are still at home. It will definitely not be a dumpling as planned by the enemy.
Therefore, he also made a sinister plan, hoping to take advantage of the opportunity to trick the "Blue Bird"! How about solving the problem of gifts? What a pity... Who would have thought that the East India Company's Far East Fleet in the Indian Ocean, 10,000 nautical miles away, would return to Europe at this time! And he also participated in the operation to catch his little fish!
In total, hundreds of warships were dispatched! The cost of using these ships alone would have been enough to buy a new Maria.
Since I can't do it, I won't think about it.
Lu Yuan took off his hat and was about to give the order to replace the ship with blue sails and sail away in style.
But at this time, Jacques seemed to see Lu Yuan's reluctance. He tugged on Lu Yuan's clothes and said, "The situation doesn't seem right. Captain, look, there is a very strange ship behind the Far East Fleet! And I’ve never seen her flag before!”
"Strange ship?"
Lu Yuan put aside his thoughts for the time being and also picked up the telescope to take a look. Now, both the Far East Fleet and the strange ship are still under the sea level in sight, and the hull cannot be seen. Only various sails and flags flying at the tip of the main mast can be seen.
There was indeed a ship following the Far East Fleet, but its mast was slightly shorter, so it was seen later. But if we calculate the distance, she may not be far from the Far East Fleet, about three or four nautical miles behind her.
But these are not the point!
The point is that the mast of the ship is not only equipped with sails like fish ribs, but also hangs a golden yellow flag with a flying dragon embroidered on it...
Lu Yuan put down the telescope in his hand with a strange expression and gently tapped the barrel of the telescope on his palm.
"That's a lucky ship, coming from the Ming Dynasty thousands of miles away!" To be continued. .
