After some conversation, Edward understood the whole point: the pile of long-barreled bronze cannons and the priest who called himself Elfwin were all under the command of another person, and it was only the ordnance officer who mistook him for some Captain Andreas, so there was a misunderstanding.

"This is not the Earl of Glamorgan, this is the Grey Swan!" Again, Edward emphasized.

The priest's eyes were a little misty, full of the alienation inherent in people who were immersed in books: "So, you are not Lord Andreas either?" ”

"That's right, I don't know any Lord Andreas."

"But you are almost exactly what the Lord described......" Father Elfwin did not continue, and the Armoury Officer's exact words were a green robe that looked like a dried salted fish.

"Okay, what will you do?" Edward had lost his patience, and he felt it was time to get rid of the fool.

"I can sing." As soon as the priest opened his mouth, he saw that the other party was not interested, and he immediately realized his own stupidity, how could these rough people like to listen to a man sing "Christe eleison" all day long.

So he immediately changed his words: "In addition to the four gospels, I am familiar with all kinds of ancient legends, and I have also read the works of Laziz, from the runes for epilepsy to the art of cutting the trachea, all ......"

"You're a doctor?" Edward immediately turned his head excitedly, "God forbid, you should have said it earlier—I had recently escaped from a plague-stricken ship, and that was a hell of a life—and now there is not a real doctor on our 'grey swan', or a farrier who can treat cattle." ”

"But they told me to find ......"

"There are so many big and small boats here that they look like herrings in the North Sea, maybe the one you're looking for has already gone to sea with those Earls, so don't waste your efforts, I'll give you a separate compartment and the right to share the bounty, how about it?"

Elfwin looked malnourished, so even though he learned that the other party was a Rosary, Edward still didn't offer him higher conditions, and he didn't even believe that this guy who was thinner than himself was a real priest.

Just as Captain Edward finally "abducted" the naïve-looking Father Elfwin onto the ship, a drunken captain had just lost his gold-embroidered coat to a drunkard in a hotel in the harbor.

"Lord Andreas, what should you cover your stomach with when you go to see the sailors?" Someone joked that the round belly was just exposed on the edge of the table, and everyone looked at it together, and they all laughed.

"You're going to get cold." A woman flatters with a debauched attitude.

"I don't know how many times this belly has been wet with seawater, but do you know what a real cold belly is?" Unaware that his artillery and manpower had been abducted like the golden robe, Andreas continued to boast in a very smug tone, "When I was in Norway, a boy on the ship slept with a slave of a pirate lord, and the barbarian asked me to pay for the girl, but I didn't agree, and then the Norwegians kidnapped the boy. As I pulled the anchor, I saw him on the fjord, pierced in the stomach by the pirates, and forced to run with spears, and I watched him flee with his legs and his entrails falling out with a thud - that's what a cold belly called. ”

The story is obviously fascinating, and the gamblers are so engrossed that even the dice in their hands fall to the ground.

The dock of the fleet made the port of Dover bustling with activity, but the top adults were now gathered in the fortress, silent.

"It's not something we can deal with." Abbot Beorn was the first to speak, but he was more likely to persuade the prince than the commander of the army, the Earl of Lincoln.

"The Danes are so fast that we have already lost twelve Cnearr (Knorr in Angloly, the Norse ship of Knorr)." A certain fleet commander complained.

"Half of them are the work of that Flemish man in Guinemer!" The sentence was not so friendly, especially when the other party deliberately spit out the Flemish people very clearly, and Baldwin, Earl of Lincoln, looked up sharply and looked at the person who spoke with a sharp gaze: Berenga, the bastard son of Mercia.

"Adults, now is not the time to panic." Count Baldwin set the tone first, "I know the fleet is not ready, it is only half-manned, and the weapons have just been divided. We thought that the battle would not be at least a month and a half away, but since the enemy had chosen to attack at this time, the fleet must not retreat! ”

"Your Excellency, you need to know one thing." Berenga still chose to openly confront the Count, "We are the Royal Navy, not the Linton fleet, not the Boulogne fleet......"

The lords began to stir up, and the Mercians were apparently openly accusing Baldwin of selfishness and intending to use the English fleet to fight for Boulogne. At this time, Berenga also turned to Prince Edmund himself, and his voice was especially loud in the bright hall: "My lord, I remember that His Majesty's edict only gave Lord Baldwin to command the militia in the East, and we are the kingdom's butescarles and overseas mercenaries (lithsmen), according to the kingdom's decree, the commander of this fleet (dryhten) should be your lord, the rightful lord of Kent and the Five Harbors. ”

Baldwin waved his hand unchanged: "Your Excellency doesn't need to remind me, let Lord Ansgar talk about this matter." ”

Ansgar, the old royal stableman, was coughing, and only came to his senses after being reminded by his eldest son, Harding, groped for a white horse with a red background from his side, and handed it to Harding.

"My lords, this is the battle flag of the navy, Your Majesty confessed, during the war, it will all be in the hands of Lord Baldwin." Harding declared in a humble tone.

The lords glanced at the prince, and Edmund was talking in a low voice with the tall Sigbert, as if he had not heard Berenga and Harding.

"We've got to fight because time is running out, adults." Baldwin finally spoke again, this time, he looked extraordinarily determined and noble, "The king is in the west, and he will cross the sea at any time, so we have no choice but to lose the strait even if the last ship sinks." ”

Outside the fortress, the stars had begun to shine, and the lords of Dover were still in a heavy mood, as if waiting for the darkest depths of the sea to send the most evil monsters. At this moment, the harbor below, in the shallow water of daytime filled with noisy human voices and seafarers with their backs like centipedes, the cheerful singing pierced through the night and into the ears of everyone:

"Expedition to the sea, expedition to the sea! Listen to the white gull chirping,

The sea breeze blows and the white foam flies.

The West, the far West, is on the verge of falling.

Gray boats, gray wooden boats, you can hear the call of the people,

Those who died before me?

I will cross westward, I will say goodbye to the forest where I grow,

Our time is gone, and the calendar is coming to an end.

I will wade west to the flood alone.

The waves of the shore do not recede for a long time,

The Lost Island comes the call of lovesickness,

On the island of Iresia, the land of the elves that no one can find,

Everywhere is always green, that is the eternal land of our people! ”