"Colonel, I'm sorry."

At the gate of the villa, a smiling Carmen and a cold-faced Noah sent Nelson out of the hall.

Nelson was helpless.

"Don't apologize for the regret God has arranged, since Drake is ...... ill"

Click.

A piece of plaster in the shape of a human head fell from the sky, smashed to the ground with a thud, and cracked into eight petals.

The three of them looked up in unison and saw a handsome, strong young man in loose pajamas.

He was leaning at the window edge, his feet on the plaster sculpture on the pillar of the foyer...... To be precise, it was the severed head of the Sagittarius goddess, Queen Boudicca, the guardian of the Celts, who broke the stubble on her neck.

It's embarrassing......

Lorraine blushed and jumped from the first floor with a thud, her supporting foot kicking her neck stubble, and poor Queen Boudicca, stripped herself of the volcanic stone pillars and fell down on the steps with fine debris.

Crash!

Lorraine pretended to be calm and patted the floating ash on his hands: "What, the guardian queen of the Celts...... I've long wanted to swap her for the Whaler's Bloodline Grandmother. ”

Half an hour later, Lorraine, fully dressed, finally met Nelson in the large study.

It's not etiquette.

Nelson was a close friend, and meeting in the big study would seem alienated. But there was no way, there was still a knife poking at the desk in the small study, and the doorknob was dragged in two by Lorraine for some unsightly reason.

Even the Ofie in the house could not get out of the house until the locksmith arrived, and it was even less likely that Nelson would have entered it decently.

On the other hand, a large study is at least a far superior location to a lawn.

The guests and hosts sat down, each curious.

Lorraine felt that Nelson had certainly not come to visit the sick, and Nelson wanted to know the secret behind the head of the family.

The two of them were facing each other for a long time, and then they spoke at the same time.

"Colonel ......" "Drake ......"

"You say ......" "You say ...... first"

"Then I'll ...... say" "Then I'll talk about it first......"

Yes! Oh my!

Fortunately, Finreal happened to enter the door with the coffee, and Lorraine quickly took it, taking advantage of the delivery gate to end the wordless embarrassment.

"Colonel, please explain your intentions."

Nelson sipped his coffee with a wry smile, forgetting to add his usual milk and sugar, and was jaw-dropping bitter.

He quickly put down his coffee and cleared his throat: "Remember our meeting in Port Royal last month?" ”

"Together?" Lorraine frowned and recalled, "You mean colonial friction?" ”

"Yes!" Nelson shook his fist in high spirits, "I said that I moved the Governor, and I also received an official order from the Admiral, so, I need your help!" ”

……

Here's the thing.

After the meeting of Port Royal, Nelson, who was obsessed with his exploits, immediately began to appeal to the Governor of Jamaica, John Brown. Lobbying by Major General Darling.

Major General Darling was also a man of fame and fortune.

In middle age, he was greatly favored and ordered to represent the king in charge of the core of Great Britain's rule in the Caribbean, and the military and political affairs of Jamaica and its surrounding islands were at the height of power and fame.

But he still lacks a noble title that haunts his soul and can shade future generations. For soldiers, the easiest way to obtain a knighthood is, of course, war.

John. Rear Admiral Darling planned to use troops against the Spanish colonies in Central America, with the intention of acquiring fertile land and securing a high-quality military port for the navy, breaking the Spanish dominance in the southern Caribbean.

Nelson's lobbying echoed his thoughts.

Two people who want to make a difference in their lives from the Spaniards come together and soon agree on a course of action.

The whole plan is divided into three phases, named "Operation Lanhai".

In the first phase of Operation Lanhai, Major General Darling will send a small force to land from the Mosquito Coast and move west along the San Juan River to the north to Lake Nicaragua.

In the second phase, the landing force will leap over the lake to capture Managua, seize the essence of the Nicaraguan colony, and prepare the logistics for the third phase.

In the third stage, with the whole of Nicaragua as a bridgehead, no less than two regiments were gathered to cooperate with the navy to seize the port of Barrios and take full control of the Gulf of Honduras and the nearby islands and reefs.

In Lorraine's view, this action is strongly biased.

Although Major General Dahlin is the initiator and main planner of the operation, he will surely grab the greatest merit. But assuming that the operation is successfully concluded, the Navy will actually be the one receiving the biggest dividends.

Port Royal, the Cayman Islands, and Port Barrios will be linked, the entire southern Caribbean Sea will be the place where the Royal Navy will gallop freely, and Spain's New World fleet will be cut in two.

Even the process of operation itself, whether it is a cross-sea landing, a river crossing or a lake-jumping operation, is not an area that the army is good at, and it is simply impossible for Major Darling to act alone without the navy.

Nelson had already been identified as the commander-in-chief of the land and sea in the first and second phases, and Rear Admiral Darling would only personally command the Army of the Third Estate, because at that time, Nelson was to command the navy.

Lorraine teased curiously with the coffee cup in front of her.

"Colonel, what I'm most curious about now is what exactly you used to impress Major General Darling. Operation Lanhai is almost a tailor-made combat plan for you, and the army cannot do without you for a moment. Once the action is successful, your merits will never be weaker than John's. Darling is the initiator and initiator. ”

Nelson smiled mysteriously: "It's very simple, a similar plan Major General Darling discussed with Sir Parker in the Battle of the Windward Islands, and Sir refused. ”

"Because of the Battle of the Windward Islands?"

"No, Jazz's reason is that he doesn't like the heat and humidity of Central America."

Lorraine blinked: "That is, you convinced Sir of it?" ”

Nelson's shoulders slumped suddenly: "I want to ...... Probably ......"

"Probably?"

"Sir said that my rank was not suitable for commanding an oversized fleet, and that a small squadron of about a hundred men did not need to approach the Gulf of Honduras at all, and the Spaniards would send me into the sea to feed the fish......"

"By implication, Sir is not prepared to support Operation Lanhai?"

"He agreed." Nelson sighed, "It's just that he also said that the composition model of the Halloween fleet back then was very valuable, and this time I can still use the power of patriotic merchants to make up for the lack of fleet strength by hiring......"

That's the whole context of events.

Lorraine could tell, Peter. Parker's old fox didn't approve of anything that would further exacerbate the Anglo-Spanish conflict.

This may be because Spain is an old maritime power, decadent but not abandoned, and its New World navy has never lacked gunners and combat effectiveness, but only lacked the enterprising spirit of Britain and France.

But no matter how lazy the lion is, it has its own low line.

If Parker or his flagship, the Prince of Wales, appeared in the Gulf of Honduras in a hurry, it would most likely cause a miscalculation of the Spanish Navy, which would trigger a full-scale war between the British and Spanish fleets in the New World.

Sir Parker, however, could not resist the temptation to control the Gulf of Honduras and the Southern Caribbean.

This dilemma may have been tormenting Parker before the Battle of the Windward Isles, but it was only now that Nelson gave him a wonderful compromise.

A small formation, with hired armed merchant ships and a mere land force of the Jamaican Governor's Office, represented neither the New World Fleet nor the Colonial Army.

The regions of Nicaragua and Honduras that they were preparing to attack were weak areas of Spanish colonization, and Spain did not care too much about the rest of the gains and losses, except for the last target, Puerto Barrios.

Even Lorraine felt it was the perfect wartime regional grind.

Regardless of whether the outcome is victory or defeat, everyone can safely sip red wine at the negotiating table, and there is no need to worry that the other party will use the wine glass as a murder weapon.

So Sir Parker had only one question left, how to win.

As the active party in provoking the friction, he must assume the obligation not to allow the friction to escalate into war, which means that the fleet handed over to Nelson must be small, but the combat effectiveness must not be weak.

This requirement would be difficult for any admiral to make, but only Nelson was different.

Nelson, who had successfully executed Operation Halloween, gave Sir Parker hope for a small and big picture, and the core element of this hope was undoubtedly Lorraine.

In other words, Lorraine may well have been in Sir Parker's calculations all along, even if the two sides have never met each other since.

"The French are right, Peter. Parker is an old fox who has become a spirit......" Lorraine gritted his teeth and rattled his teeth, and the sound he spat out was so mixed with English and French that it was impossible to hear it.

Nelson looked at him in embarrassment, "Drake, I didn't know you were sick before I came...... If you refuse, I'll go and tell Major General Darling that the lobbying has failed. ”

Lorraine's mind was spinning, weighing the pros and cons in his head, and the final conclusion was that this was an important step in his class leap.

He hadn't forgotten for a moment what Shaq had said to him in the Royal Navy dockyard about what real authority was.

It's no longer the time of Francis and Elizabeth. An officer like Darling would have to work hard to become a nobleman, and a privateer would have to step on a high ladder under his own strength.

But all delusions are based on reality, and Lorraine's path to the ascension is only steep, but it is by no means a dead end.

He has to have wealth, the best wealth; have to have meritorious deeds, meritorious deeds that are difficult for ordinary people to achieve; It is also necessary to have the favor and favoritism of the political or military officials, who at the right time introduce themselves to the table of the king or the House of Lords.

Among them, he has been accumulating wealth, through smuggling, chambers of commerce, looting, war, exhausting all means, and it is also unusually fast.

Merit is an accessory to wealth, and Operation Halloween is one of them, and now the operation is in front of us to take over the sea is another great opportunity.

The hardest part is the referral.

Peter. Parker's weight is definitely enough, and when he grows old and weak, Nelson, a destined legend, will grow into a referral who is not inferior to Sir Parker, or even better.

Lorraine found that she seemed to have no reason to refuse Nelson's invitation.

Thinking of this, Lorraine smiled indifferently: "Colonel, I have only one question. ”

"Excuse me."

"Do you know who you are in this operation? I mean, why do you think Sir Parker is accepting your lobbying? Said moved? Or does he want to carry you as always? ”

"I'm just an insignificant pawn on the chessboard." "I have what I want, and I'm ready to fail, even to be abandoned," Nelson muttered. ”

"I didn't expect you to think so much about yourself...... Lorraine smiled and held out her hand, "Please tell me when and where to assemble, Mr. Admiral." ”