"Hey, Clen, is it true that my brother said that chart book was worth a Brigentine?"

"I'm not familiar with the market value of charts...... But Wahnar is famous, and the picture album he drew by his own hand says that 10,000 pounds should not be overestimated. ”

"Oh God! A fully equipped High Beam, a catalogue of the same value as the High Beam, a £3,000 cargo and a £1,200 mixed-sail Skuna...... Isn't the money we make from fighting a war...... Isn't it ......?"

The big Karen gave the little Pierce an angry look: "Why do you always get rich overnight as a privateer merchant?" The profits of plundering are never comparable to serious management. ”

"What kind of business is that! Go grab it! ”

"We're not pirates!" Clen slapped little Pierce on the head and couldn't help but sigh, "It's easy to make money by robbing, but it's not easy to earn...... Because if we lose once, we'll have nothing......"

Southampton, Drake Chamber of Commerce headquarters, Lorraine is hosting an important guest.

His guest was Hierro. Mindel, the brother of the local celebrity Viscount Mindel, the president of the Mindel Chamber of Commerce, is also Raven's teacher and guide of navigation.

Hierro was a gentleman in his forties, with bright gray eyes, and although he looked meticulous, he laughed very heartily, not like an Englishman, but like a Scottishman.

Lorraine couldn't afford to love the rigidity that England loved, and she and Hierro hit it off at first sight and had a good conversation.

"Heroic, warlike, upright and generous young man, it seems that I am really old, and I have no idea that a young wolf has been caught in the sheepfold of Southampton."

Lorraine raised her teacup with a wry smile: "Mr. Mindel, it has only been four months since Drake formed the Chamber of Commerce, and it has only been two months since he settled in Southampton. You haven't heard about it because we don't have a good reputation, so don't be presumptuous. ”

"Ability has nothing to do with seniority, Mr. Drake Jr." Hierro laughed three times, "The Drake Chamber of Commerce has just been formed, so it shouldn't have joined the guild yet, right?" ”

A trade association is a self-organized non-governmental organization within the industry, and often has a president and board of directors responsible for coordinating internal conflicts.

It is of great benefit to a chamber of commerce that members share intelligence and information within the framework and provide intermediaries and headhunters to help each other.

The problem is that joining a guild requires a recommendation, and generally only accepts the recommendation of the founding members or councils, which is destined to require the accumulation of contacts and prestige to join the guild.

Lorraine is very self-aware and has not thought about it so far. But listening to Hierro, he seems to be intent on becoming Lorraine's recommender......

Pie in the sky?

Lorraine was a little flattered and couldn't help but sit up straight: "Mr. Mindell, what do you mean ......?"

"The Offshore Guild is an ordinary small guild, established 37 years ago, with 29 members, most of which are small and medium-sized chambers of commerce mainly engaged in offshore trade. As one of its executive directors, the Mindel Chamber of Commerce happens to have the right to recommend, and also hopes to recommend outstanding young people to a broader stage. ”

"Inexplicably grateful, my sir." Lorraine owes deeply.

"Wait for my good news, young man. Introduce you to the president and other directors, and the process will take about a month. ”

"I'm looking forward to it."

……

The naval battle that took place west of the island of Baylor had a great impact on Lorraine.

The sunken Kirk, the burning Skuna, and the blood, the corpses, and the artillery fire.

He felt keenly that the wide-bottomed merchant ships, with their thin hulls and weak decks, could no longer adapt to the increasingly harsh conditions of Cantabrian.

It just so happened that he had captured the High Beam, and compared to a month ago, he finally had room to adjust.

The Chamber of Commerce fleet was readjusted.

The First Fleet still uses the Butterfly Flower as its flagship, and the renovated Yuanguang was renamed the Cattail Flower according to the naming rules of the Chamber of Commerce, becoming the only wingship.

Ramos was transferred to captain of the Cattail and remained as the fleet's vice-admiral.

As a result, the overall capacity of the First Fleet has been reduced by 20%, but the firepower, speed, and response are no longer the same as in the past, and the survivability has been greatly improved under the premise of limited reduction in route profits.

The Artis Beauty and the Beverly Merchant were transferred to the Second Fleet to increase capacity and attempt to open trade routes between Prussia and Sweden.

Lorraine also formally formed the British Native Transshipment Fleet.

He purchased a brand new two-masted mixed-sail Skuna and named it the Siren, and renamed the Mermaid Song as a mermaid to form a team.

The Admiral was the 62-year-old captain Carlo whom Hierro recommended. Merlin, a native of Southampton, is steady and experienced.

The fleet will be fully responsible for transshipment cargo between Edinburgh, Southampton and Cardiff, improving the efficiency of the First and Second Fleets, and at the same time focusing on obtaining Irish trade qualifications and opening up the Dublin market.

The adjustment of the Chamber of Commerce is coming to an end, and Carmen, who has been in contact with Porto, has also heard back.

As Acharin said, the Desai Chamber of Commerce intends to redeem people.

However, they objected to Lorraine's offer to pay a ransom of £1,760 for a Kirk-type to the Mindel Chamber of Commerce, and offered to interview Lorraine.

Proper bargaining was a reasonable requirement among the nobility, not to mention that the other party allowed the Drake Chamber of Commerce to choose the place of negotiation.

Carmen took the place of Lorraine and chose Guernsey on the Strait of Dover as the venue for the negotiations.

Located close to the French coastline and the crown dependency of King George III, the island was under the patronage of the Royal Navy but had no permanent troops, making it a suitable place for negotiations.

Three days later, they will meet at Sir Cod's seaside castle on a cliff on the west side of the island. Whether Mr. Desai should be identified as a pirate or a nobleman was negotiated, and a friendly negotiation began.

Three days passed quickly, and the First Fleet sailed to the West Coast Docks in Guernsey to meet a huge Galen ship.

It was a standard Navy Class 5 destroyer, 40 meters long, 10 meters wide, with a mainmast height of 28 meters, fully equipped with sails.

This is perhaps the type of ship that Lorraine is most familiar with in the world, because the HMS heir, which he served for half a year, is a fifth-class destroyer.

Two watertight cabins, one gun deck, one main deck.

Bounded by the main deck, the bow tower is two floors down and one level up, and the stern is three floors down and three levels up.

Total number of decks, seven floors.

Judging from the data, she only has one more watertight cabin and one upper deck than Brigentin, but the combat effectiveness of the two sides is very different.

She is not a merchant ship, not a high-speed ship, but a real warship that lived only for the battlefield from the very beginning of its construction.

Military-grade expensive ships are mostly elm, oak, oak or teak, which are made of 100-year-old wood, which is dense and heavy, which has a strong waterproof effect and enough toughness to resist shelling.

The two-tiered watertight compartment gives it a high load and balance capacity.

The gun deck is equipped with 20 18-pounder long-range guns, the main deck is equipped with 12 12-pounder long-range guns, and the stern guns are double-decked, 2 upper and 4 lower, all of which are 12-pounder short guns, and 2 bow guns.

Lorraine saw the bow of the ship under the mast of the two bow guns, a high-spirited reindeer with horns like tree forks, which immediately corresponded to Carmen's information.

She is the former French Navy's retired fifth-class destroyer Reindeer, the magic weapon of the Desai Chamber of Commerce, and the flagship of the First Fleet of the Chamber of Commerce......

The sailors of the Butterfly stood silently behind Lorraine, watching the huge battleship with all its minions pass in front of them, and they were one step ahead of the anchor and entered the harbor.

Clen's voice was a little hoarse.

"Desai...... Are the French going to send their housekeepers to Cantabrian too? ”

"We wiped out their Third Fleet, and it's not surprising that the rabbits are in a hurry, and they choose to bite."

"But......" Clen took a deep breath, "Captain, a nine-pounder cannon, can't penetrate her hull, and an eighteen-pounder cannon, with just one shot, can make a big hole in our thickest broadside...... How to fight? ”

"It's not something we need to think about." Lorraine's voice was low, "Unlike other chambers of commerce, we have completely withdrawn from Cantabrian. The destroyer is fully sailed, has a maximum speed of 10 knots, and a headwind of 2 knots. In general, she could not catch up with our 1st fleet of all-high-speed ships. ”

"Only...... Run? ”

"That's all for now." Lorraine stared at the sinking sail shadow on the sea level, "The maximum crew of 250 people is two meters higher than Brigenting's broadside, and these two points alone make her no match for our family." Brave...... It also needs to be timed. ”