The French fleet was plotting a victory, preparing to inflict heavy damage on the Continental Detachment at the Chesapeake Bay, in order to wash away the defeat of the Continental Fleet in the Windward Islands. The humiliation of Parker's play.

An outsider may never be able to probe the twisted and tangled emotions between the Drake brothers, just as Bell has no way of knowing what Lorraine is trying to do with Shaq.

He went to look for Emmons after dark, as usual, but learned from Barry Sr. that Emmons had passed him by and had left New Orleans in a hurry two hours earlier.

Unluckily, it seems to have entangled Bell's ankle from this moment on.

He tried to contact Shaq's hidden line in New Orleans, but the hidden line was lost.

He sent a report to Lorraine overnight, and Lorraine sent the Blue Dew to Charlestown in Bermuda to look for Leonard, only to report two days later that Leonard had departed for England ten days earlier in order to buy the largest private shipyard on St. George's Island......

This is the real numb claw.

Leonard is in control of sixty percent of the club's series of secret agents, and is also the most important bridge between the Chamber of Commerce's business and the smuggling business. Without his assistance, Carmen's work dragged on for at least ten days, and even the most suitable messenger for the delivery of information to Shaq was lost.

After all, this is a sensitive time, and the seafarers who remain in New Orleans, including Lorraine, are expected to be under Galvez's watch, and overly sensitive movements can produce a series of undesirable chemical reactions, and the seafarers who are not in New Orleans ...... Pierce, Noah, and Daniel were not fit to pass on the information, and the distance between Karen and Acharin was too far to solve.

After much thought, Lorraine finally decided to take the risk, let the Bell group board the road mark, disembark in the middle of the sea, and go straight to the Royal Navy dockyard in Bermuda.

The Road Marker set sail on the fifth day after the meeting, and Bell landed on Bermuda on the seventh day, but such a tight arrangement eventually came to an empty spot, and Bell failed to meet Shaq and ultimately failed to hand over that vital piece of information.

Where exactly did Shaq go?

Rewind time to noon the day after Lorraine's meeting with Galvez, Royal Navy Dockyard, Bermuda.

In Shaq's office, the innocent Captain Amani had an angry look on his face.

"Sir, this is a conspiracy!"

"Is the bureaucracy of the Admiralty made up of blind and demented? Have they forgotten the integrity and honor of the nobles and gentlemen? ”

"During your tenure, the blockade rate of the Chesapeake Bay by the Continental Detachment was as high as 68%, and the number of rounds under your personal command even climbed to 79%, which is unprecedented, the peak of the Continental Detachment since the turmoil in North America, the data is almost twice the average of your previous two ships, and the number of ships actually sunk and captured has also reached 1.5 times!"

"Can't they see it? How can you turn a blind eye to such a remarkable record! How can it be ...... How can you shamelessly blame the Continental Army for receiving armed assistance! ”

"God will be ashamed of them!"

"Sir, you should appeal, especially now that the situation in North America is becoming more and more tense, you should stand up and defend such a chaotic life, such as going directly to Buckingham ......!"

"You're too noisy, Captain."

In particular, Amani's excitement was interrupted by laziness outside the door.

The sleepy-eyed Emmons scratched his head and pushed the door open, his beard unshaven and dusty, but the moment he met Shaq's eyes, his whole body was solemn.

"Admiral, I'm back."

"Night flight?"

"I bought a deadly fishing boat, set sail at six o'clock in the evening, and went ashore twenty minutes ago."

Shaq nodded silently: "Have you read the letter I brought you?" ”

"Looked at it at least twenty times on the ship." Emmons sighed softly and asked, "Do you think this is suppression or protection?" ”

"I don't know......," Shaq looked at a blank look, "It's not the first time that someone has taken a fancy to the merits contained in the Great War and is eager to squeeze me out of my current position, and I'm not surprised at all." ”

"This time, however, the Courier delivered the letter along with the messages of Deputy Minister Lindham and Lord Hood. The deputy minister reminded me to keep an eye on the movements of the French warships and to be vigilant against the guns outside of intelligence; The Lord's words were vague, saying only that Tavistock had not called a ball for too long, and that it was Drake's dereliction of duty as a nobleman to dust the family crest. ”

Emmons covered his chin with a frown.

As Shaq's brainstorm, he knew early on that Shaq's rise to prominence lay in the love of His Majesty George III and the favor of the Admiralty Underlord.

In addition, there are two heavyweight admirals, Lord Hood and Sir Parker. They were both Elijah, the father of Lorraine and Shaq. Drake's comrades-in-arms and best friends, whenever they mention Shakel, they always regard him as an important junior, not a hero in the army.

Shaq's personal connections are extremely lacking in the Drake family's magnitude, and his circle has and only these four forces, and they are the biggest and only reliance on Shaq's survival in a series of political intrigues and intrigues.

Now two of the four forces actually advised Shaq to accept this obviously unfair order and retreat in a hurry......

Emmons desperately recalls the military situation these days, always feeling that some key information has been overlooked or omitted.

Yet he couldn't think of anything.

There has been no significant expansion of the Continental Congress's navy, and thanks to the activity of the Haidt Shipyard, almost all of the new warships launched by the US Navy in recent years have been anchored at the Charles Estuary in Boston.

The French Navy, which assisted in the defense of the North American coastline, also made no conspicuous moves.

After the Battle of the Windward Islands, in order to maintain the balance of power in the Caribbean, they were very badly transferred, and they had basically curled up into some bays with advantageous terrain, and handed over all the vast coastline to the Royal Navy, which was under the control of Shaq.

Besides......

"And Peter......"

Shaq's sudden voice woke Emmons from his musings.

He couldn't help asking, "Is it even Sir Parker?" ”

"Peter is different." Shaq shook his head, "He had his good nephew bring me a handwritten letter telling me that he would launch a second military strike against Martinique in mid-August if I was interested in continuing to dominate North American defense. ”

"Not 'in mid-August,' but 'in mid-August'?"

"He made it very clear that the Duke of Wales, Endeavour, and Poseidon's Son were on standby at Port Royal in Kingston in case of unforeseen needs, and that he could organize a large-scale fleet in seven days, and blockade the open waters of Fort-de-France in twenty days at most."

"Is Sir old confused!" Emmons' eyes widened in horror, "Wantonly creating a decisive battle at an unnecessary time will leave an indelible stain on his military career!" He's trying to help you do this, is the situation really that bad now? ”

"That's the problem." Shaq's voice sounded tired, "We don't have intelligence, neither the Admiralty, nor the Secret Service, nor Peter. We all smell the mountain rain coming, but what exactly will this rainstorm wash away? It's all just speculation based on experience. ”

"Do you have any good plans?"

"Not really. The situation was too chaotic, with the immovable Americans, the unusually active French, the vacillating Spaniards, the sneaky Dutch, and the enemies, friends, and idlers who sat in neutrality and waited for the show to begin. ”

"The surname Drake is supposed to be the best at profiting from this chaos, and my ancestors have shown a talent for navigating troubled waters more than once, but I ...... My father always favored Lorraine, and he passed on this talent to my stupid brother without reservation, which was his specialty. ”

"I occasionally wonder if Lorraine was by my side......"

At this point, his words were abruptly interrupted by his own laughter.

"How stupid." He laughed at himself, "If Lorraine were here, of course he would have wished I had died in the battle with the French, and to remain silent was already his greatest reason and restraint." What would be any helpful advice......"

Captain Amani swallowed and cautiously intervened in the dangerous topic, "Sir, I think you can indeed try to ask Chairman Drake for advice. I had a few contacts with him and he is a helpful gentleman with good ......"

"You're too noisy, Captain."

The interrupt was exactly the same, but the last time it was Emmons alone, this time, it was Shaq and Emmons who spoke in unison.

Amani blushed and stepped back, and Shaq stopped talking about sex, sinking down, and looked at Emmons quietly, "I'm waiting for your advice, Emmons." ”

"3 votes for, 1 abstention, Admiral." Emmons' face was bitter, "I've always hated unequal concessions, but reason tells me that you'd better heed the advice of the wise. ”

"Unequal concessions......

Shaq was silent for a moment, as if regretful as if he was glad to be.

He leaned over and pulled out another new letter from the built-in safe on his desk and handed it to the two confidant officers.

"In short, this transfer is time-sensitive. The new Admiral will be handed over in three days, after which the Lion will be retired from active duty and transferred to the Plymouth Naval Yard for a year's maintenance and maintenance. ”

"My new position has been decided, with a civilian resume at the Admiralty as Vice Admiral of the External Relations Division and Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the External Relations Division. The two positions allow me to bring a total of five attachés, and you are all on the list of attachés, and Amani will be promoted to major this winter. ”

The style of painting changed too quickly, and Amani and Emmons opened their mouths wide in a daze: "Mention ...... Admiral, even the order has come down, has this matter already been decided? ”

"The appointment came with the official letter. But it only says the proposed position and the date of the handover, and I have the right to choose whether to accept it or not, and the actual entry process will not be done until I go back to Plymouth. It was extremely rare that Shaq, who had always been strict, actually stretched his waist in front of his subordinates, "The destination has been decided, gentlemen, and we should clear some hands in the last three days." ”

"Amani."

"Yes, sir!"

"There is a great deal of procedural flaw in Judea's dismissal, and I have consulted Madame Judea, and the time has been reclocked to 1779, and I have forged five applications for his retirement, each of which is stronger than the other, so that people can see my retention of him and his determination."

"Uh...... The salary that was sent out......"

"Don't worry, only the title has been retained, and his salary has never been paid."

Captain Amani burst into sweat as big as a soybean: "Long ...... The chief is wise. ”

"Emmons."

Emmons raised an eyebrow, "Your always-on servant is here, my master." ”

"I heard that Lorraine is fiddling with a new type of ship in Boston?"

"An invincible, terrifying sea beast, these are the words of the former Major Judea after a drunken experience. The ship was designed to use the barrel caliber of a battleship, thirty-two pounds with sixty-eight pounds, with the body of a first-class ship, nearly seventy meters long, and the speed of the latest fifth-class high-speed ship, that is, more than ten knots. ”

"I admit that if these design indicators can be achieved one by one, she will indeed be a great ship. But invincible...... I heard that she only has one gun bay, forty-eight or fifty-two. Perhaps Judea wants to say that she will become invincible in the world of privateers and pirates, otherwise she will still be just a small bug that can be pinched to death in the face of a real first-class ship. ”

Shaq listened with great interest, and suddenly asked, "Thirty-two pounds for sixty-eight pounds, can you buy these contraband on the black market?" ”

"As far as I know, he has gotten thirty-two pounds from the French, which is sufficient, but it is impossible to have sixty-eight pounds. Sixty-eight-pounder shipborne mortars can only be produced by the Royal Navy's cannon foundry, and each one has its own file and whereabouts......" Emmons said softer and more scared, "Admiral, you don't plan to ......"

"From the moment I accepted the order, at 2.17pm yesterday, I ceased to be the owner of the Royal Navy dockyard. In view of the positive manner of the past two years, my departure inventory took place overnight and in just six hours, and the checklist and confirmation were already on our way to Kingston this morning. ”

"This means that the loss of anything in the warehouse now is no longer my responsibility, but the fault of my next one."

"Of course, I can't supply sixty-eight pound mortars, and the entire continental detachment doesn't have a sixty-eight pound need, but there are indeed six new forty-eight pound sets in storage."

"Emmons, didn't you just say that our concession was unfair? Perhaps your personal relationship with Secretary Raymond will make this transition fairer, I've heard some of the things you both did and I have to say, very clever......"

[Interlude 1781...... ENDS】