1778, December 17.

In the depths of winter, the once-busy Cantabrian route gets as cold as the season.

Christmas is coming, sailors want to be reunited with their families, and dock workers don't want to toil.

From the beginning of December, the cost of loading and shipping has increased exponentially, and the closer to Christmas, the more outrageous this price becomes.

Therefore, December is the annual off-season for shipping, and in this month, most of the small chambers of commerce are suspended, and the large chambers of commerce with sufficient manpower will also take the initiative to reduce their capacity and arrange rotational rest for their employees to buy people's hearts.

It's just that this year's off-season is lighter than usual, and there is hardly a single boat on the thriving route.

The war is coming to an end.

The news of the imminent decisive battle between the British and French chambers of commerce was spread by the English with ulterior motives, so much so that rumors were overflowing, making it difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

Many chose to wait and see, stopping business on the route early, and ceding the vast sea area to the two protagonists of the incident.

But there are also profit-seeking independent pirates who want to take advantage of the chaos to get a piece of the pie.

Two days after setting sail, Lorraine repelled three raids, and the Kirk accidentally damaged one ship, but there were no casualties, and the impact on the speed of the ship was almost none.

Anyway, their speed is already slow.

No one pays attention to these annoying little sharks, and the decisive battle is about to start, they just want to know when it will start.

God looks down on this blue ocean from high in the clouds.

The wind was southwest and west, and on the edge of the Celtic Sea there was a flotilla of ships, Lorraine's Trojan fleet.

Twenty-five kilometers from him, at ten o'clock, was another, larger, but equally fast-moving fleet, which was the main fleet of Lonza.

The two fleets form the two fulcrums of an unequal triangle, and the third fulcrum of this triangle is a strange ship.

It was a crudely converted Brigentine.

The left and right side gun doors are wide open, and from the gun doors extend thick wooden poles like oars, and two rows of wide and large rafts are tied, like oars that have long been eliminated by history, and like split ships dedicated to special fields in later generations.

The ship also untied all the sail lines, the foremast was still there, and the mainmast was dismantled and a super-mast with a height of 39 meters was tied.

The 39-meter-tall mast is generally used on standard fourth-class Galen-type cruisers, and it will not do any good at all when used in Brigenting.

It was expensive, heavy, and even without a sail, it would destroy the center of gravity of the hull, making Brigentine unable to sail steadily.

But that's how the ship was used, and the base of the supermast was only roughly fixed to the maindeck, barely supported, and was tightly wrapped with the original mainmast by dense cables.

The ship was named the Hyacinth.

Half a month ago, she was still the property of the Yodel Chamber of Commerce, and after the encounter was abandoned by the baroness, Lorraine bought her for 3,000 pounds and bought a fourth Briganting for the Drake Chamber of Commerce.

But she was not assigned to any fleet, and from the day she became the fortune of the Chamber of Commerce, she was anchored in the dockyard of Sayre Harbor, secretly handed over to Cren's old friends for this thankless modification, and became Lorraine's secret from everyone.

The temporary captain of the Magic Alter Hyacinth was Pierce, and every sailor on board was a veteran employee who had followed Lorraine on the adventures and gains in Hebasil, and who were loyal to the Drake Chamber of Commerce.

They hid in the dock for more than half a month, until Ronsar sailed out of the Isles of Scilly with the main fleet, and then took advantage of the night to sneak out of Plymouth Bay and became the eye of God in Lorraine to monitor the entire battlefield.

Pierce was standing on the highest lookout platform with a goggle in his hand and a safety rope strapped to his body.

He was more than thirty kilometers away from both fleets, hiding the Hyacinth deep below sea level.

But with the special height of the additional mast, he can easily monitor the entire sea surface, and observe the movements of the two fleets at any time according to his needs.

He devoted most of his energy to the main fleet of Ronsar Comfort.

After two days and nights, the fleet was scattered and calm, without the slightest alertness of possible attack. In fact, they did not encounter any hostile attacks along the way.

The calm unnerved Pierce, who feared that Lorraine would shoot himself in the foot.

If the Desai Chamber of Commerce really values Acharin, the heir who is so low in rank, if Veron can't withstand the pressure of the Chamber of Commerce and really accepts Acharin's suggestion, gives up the gold weapon, and sneaks up on Lorraine, then Lorraine's plan will be completely ruined.

He had no choice but to leave behind the empty Kirk type and flee into the Celtic Sea, avoiding the battle while giving up the fame he had earned at the expense of his life.

Price...... It's too big!

Suppressing the worries in his heart, Pierce dutifully monitored the movements of the main fleet.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, he finally saw the fleet in disarray, and the sails flashed in the distance, and a large group of warships puffed up their sails from the upwind and swooped straight at them with swiftness!

Pierce locks on the Reindeer!

He clenched his fists excitedly: "Well done, Admiral Desai, that's it!" Acharim broke up your family, why should you listen to his arrangement and get out for him! Attaboy! ”

He jumped down the mast and shouted, "Smash the balance raft and bring down the additional mast!" I'll go to the Butterfly Flower to report the news, the Hyacinth, return! ”

All the crew knew what this string of orders really meant.

For a moment, a roaring cheer rang out from the Hyacinth: "Drake, long live!" ”

……

Soon after, the Butterfly Flower.

"The Sprue of Latin Sail! Twelve o'clock, fast approaching! Lorraine, little Pierce is here! ”

Henna's voice came from the lookout, and Lorraine was shaken, and immediately ordered: "Abandon the Kirk type, turn the fleet, and sail for twelve o'clock!" ”

This is the order that everyone has been waiting for for a long time!

The sailors of the Kirk immediately put away their sails and anchors, lowered their skiffs, and rowed as fast as they could to their counterparts Brigenting.

After accepting the sailors, the seven slender battleships raised their sails, turned their bows, and ran as fast as they could towards the speeding Sprue.

The ship's sailors soon saw the little Sprue ship.

The Sprue is the most common small clipper in the offshore sea, and the standard structure is a sloop, which can maintain efficiency and stability in both downwind and crosswind with the advantages of lightness, small size and length.

The Spru, which was specially used for communications, was further equipped with a top sail and a bow and mast sail, and even the mainsail was replaced by a Latin spinnaker that was cumbersome to operate but more suitable for cutting the wind.

These high-speed sails, designed by Clen, allowed her to reach an astonishing ten knots in crosswinds.

Coupled with the fact that Lorraine's fleet was approaching each other, a distance of thirty kilometers, it took the two sides less than an hour to converge.

Pierce boarded the Butterfly Flower like a nimble little monkey, and before he could catch his breath, he shouted at Lorraine.

"Brother, the French fleet has launched a surprise attack from the upwind, Ronza. Roy was defenseless and severed! ”

"Where's the location?"

"From ten to eleven o'clock, twenty kilometers from the water!"

"Good work...... Lorraine waved his hand, closed his eyes and thought for a moment, "Order, the fleet detours and breaks into the battlefield from due north." The decisive battle began, and we went to teach the French a lesson. ”

His order was translated into a flag at the first time, and the entire fleet cried out.

"Decisive battle!"

"Detour due north and raid the battlefield!"

"The Admiral has an order, go full speed!"

"Onward! England, forward! ”