At one o'clock in the morning on April 29, 1780, Lorraine, with a small fishing boat, finally found the San Carlos quietly moored on the lake.

She behaved cautiously, even though there were no known opponents on the lake, and kept the lights strictly under control.

Of course, this is also related to the smooth development of the war situation on the shore, and there is no need for naval artillery to support from the lake according to the original plan.

This shows Nelson's profound command skills and strong wrists.

When Lorraine called Nelson's name, they hadn't yet joined the ship's crew.

Henna and Lorraine stood side by side at the bow of the boat, wondering at first hearing the name: "Why do you think Nelson will be on the boat?" He is the commander-in-chief of today's operation, and he should command the army from the shore. ”

"It must be him." Lorraine replied with a smile, "Daniel is a London gentleman who prides himself on being rigid, and he will not change the established battle plan without authorization, regardless of whether he needs support on land, and Leif could not think of such a delicate order for light control." To be honest, I doubt that if the ship were put in command of him, he would have ordered the sailors to go ashore, because it would have been convenient for him to participate in the war. ”

"No one else?"

"Who else could there be right now? Nelson's loyal captain of the guard? Let's not forget, this ship is almost entirely staffed by our sailors, and Nelson's chief guard has no control over the ship, and neither Daniel nor Leif will approve of his orders. ”

Henna was convinced. But it was only persuasion, because she just wanted to gossip with Lorraine, and it didn't matter to her who commanded the ship.

Barto shook the wind lantern to send a light signal representing Lorraine's identity, and the short, dead ship responded with the highest level of light, long and short, and told Lorraine at the first time that the commander of the ship was Nelson himself.

On deck, Nelson gave Lorraine the warmest hug.

"I've always underestimated you, Drake, you're almost perfect except for your faith."

"The standard puritanical speech that has been lost for a long time......," Lorraine replied heartily, "it seems that you are not the colonel that the Spaniards pretend to be. ”

"I'm the real deal, even if I searched all over Spain, I couldn't hope to find a handsome young officer like me."

"For your sake, I compliment you."

The two laughed and walked to the side of the ship together, looking side by side at the noisy battlefield not far away.

"How's the battle going?" Lorraine asked.

"Mr. Major is as trustworthy as you are." Nelson pointed to the place where the fire was at its highest, and Lorraine recognized it as the camp of the National Army and the residence of the commander of Torresias, directly above the Gospel of Santa Maria, "Ten minutes earlier he had completely routed the opponent's defenses, and almost two companies of Spaniards had retreated, and only then did he regain his foothold in this area. ”

"Because there's their bunker there, it's big and it's strong."

"A well-guarded bunker?" Nelson blinked, "If I'm not mistaken, you don't seem to have mentioned this trouble in your previous letter." ”

"I promise I didn't mean to, after all, I only got the news a few hours before you did, and there were four guns pointed at my head at that time."

"Four guns?"

"Four guns, well maintained, buckshot loaded."

Nelson chuckled, "It sounds like your life alone in the civilized world is no easier than ours. ”

"Who knows?" Lorraine shrugged indifferently, "Colonel, although I destroyed the arsenal at the core of the bunker and cut off most of their gunpowder, the Spaniards did not completely lose the power to fight back. As far as I know, there is gunpowder in the Watergate tower and the forts on the city walls, there is no shortage of grenadiers in the towers and sailors stranded on the shore, and there are strong turrets in the bunkers. ”

"You mean, we can give our Army some help?"

"By destroying the shore defense batteries near the lakeside pier while the Spaniards were on their own, we could make the San Carlos more useful."

Nelson accepted Lorraine's suggestion.

The San Carlos sprang into action, lifting the lights and anchoring to the docks.

Before the ship could be launched, Nelson saw the one-armed Bartow, carrying a gun, and escorting two richly dressed Spaniard-looking captives across the deck.

He was confused for a while: "Drake, being pointed at the head with four guns, do you still have time to receive prisoners?" ”

"As long as it's a captive of value, I'll always be able to make time." Lorraine explained the exact location and structure of the lakeshore fort to the temporary gunner, and at the same time took time to respond to Nelson's words, "There is another little trouble that you didn't have time to know, the change of commander of the fortress originally planned for May 5 has been brought forward. The ceremony is scheduled to take place on 1 May, and tomorrow Mr. Governor of Nicaragua and Mr. Admiral of the Grenada garrison will join forces. ”

"Their ship will be a fifth-class ship, and as for Grenada's military strength...... I don't need to say more, do you? ”

"No, I don't." Nelson's face was a little ugly, "A grenadier regiment, a line regiment, four gunboats, more than 120 guns. If they arrive tomorrow, we won't be able to build even a basic line of defense......"

"That's why I need the help of those two." Lorraine drew a big fork on the shore defense map, and did not raise his head, "The one with the beautiful beard is the current commander of the fortress of San Carlos, the commander-in-chief of the civil army, Baron Torresias, and the one without the beard is Major Marat, the nephew of Colonel Marat, the commander of the Grenada garrison formation." ”

"In my opinion, Major Marat is more valuable than the baron, but the baron sent them himself, or the provider of the important news just now, I can't be more reasonable."

"In one of the infiltration, you actually captured two of the three military commanders of the fortress......" Nelson rolled his eyes at the hearing, "and listen to you, you are going to use ......"

"Alert!"

Before Nelson could finish his sentence, a warning shot exploded from the belvedere.

"At two o'clock, an unknown ship was found approaching quickly! Large Sloop ship, with traces of tell-modification, no markings, no communications...... The distance is 1.8 km. ”

Lorraine and Nelson hurried to starboard to look, and saw a sloppy Slop approaching in the middle of the night with its sails blowing.

The wind was not strong tonight, but thanks to the excellent fluid design and the lightness of the small boat, she still reached a relative speed of more than four knots, and she was still picking up speed, which could be discerned with the naked eye.

The flag was raised on her mast!

It was a pirate flag, and in the center of the black flag was a blood-colored underblob, with a skull with a bearded beard on it.

The skeleton wore a peculiar tricorn hat, and four fuses protruded from the brim, and it was twisting like a snake as the flag rolled.

The observing sailors gave the most straightforward annotations at the right time.

"Unknown Sloop raised the flag, it has been confirmed, it is the Caribbean Blackbeard Pirates! Here comes Edward the Blackbeard, Wilfert the Arsonist! ”

"The pirate ship is 1.4 kilometers away, first-class combat readiness, enemy attack!"