Rewind the clock to about two quarters of an hour ago......

"Look, there's a ship over there——!"

The lookout on the mast suddenly shouted excitedly, and on the messy deck, the captain of the Black Sparrow, known as the "Black Blind Man", quickly got up, jumped to the stern with his only good leg, and stared wide-eyed.

Really... Not far behind them, a standard Sackland galleys were slowly approaching.

"The swallow-tailed flag on that ship... Like the Iron Crown?" suddenly shouted one of the sailors.

As soon as the words fell, the surrounding sailors changed color!

Their Black Sparrow is not a serious merchant ship, once discovered... Disastrous!

"You idiot, which is the Iron Crown?!" An experienced old sailor next to him immediately noticed the abnormality, and scolded at the rookie who had just scared everyone half to death:

"Wide-eyed, you can see that there is a lion under the crown of that banner, and three dragons under the real Iron Crown of De Salion!

But these words did not make the faces of the sailors around them look better, one by one is still trembling, and even the face of the "black blind man" Ed himself is cloudy.

Imperial galleys were usually armed with at least one ballista, forty heavily armed sailors with crossbows, and twice as many sailors, and because they were warships, they were much faster than ordinary merchant ships, and could be increased by human oars if necessary.

In other words, whether the ship belonged to the Imperial Legion or the Governor of Byrne in the South... None of them are the objects that this "Black Sparrow" can provoke!

It's too late to even run away - by the time they can see each other, they've definitely discovered their "black ship" without any flags, and if they speed up to escape, nothing good will come of anything other than exposing themselves.

So Captain Ed immediately rejected the idea of escaping - this is an inland river and not a sea, can a broken merchant ship still run past a battleship?!

"Black Sparrow" is not a "black pearl" after all......

"They're speeding up, they're approaching!" At the top of the mast, the lookout suddenly exclaimed, and the doglegs, who were already trembling, immediately panicked.

"Boss, what should I do?!"

"What's the panic?!" Captain Eddard glared at the embarrassed doglegs beside him, pondered for a moment, and yelled at the lookout at the top of the mast:

"Look again, see if there are any other signs on that ship!"

The lookout's eyes widened as the order's eyes widened, and almost all the sailors on deck couldn't help but raise their heads and wait for news from above.

After a few minutes, the lookout finally sent the answer: "See, there is also a swallowtail flag on that ship, with the logo of the Yode Chamber of Commerce on it!"

The sailors' expressions on the receiving news barely changed, and their faces were still pale - as the richest and most powerful chamber of commerce in the South, the relationship between the Yode Chamber of Commerce and the Governor of Byrne was almost well known, and it seemed that the Yod Chamber of Commerce could borrow a warship from the Governor of Byrne.

But Captain Eddard's expression was overjoyed, and he stared at the battleship as if to write down its appearance, and it took a long time to make up his mind and give the order to the sailors:

"Everyone, listen, let's stop the ship!"

As soon as the words fell, everyone was stunned, and even the lookout on the top of the mast almost fell from it.

On deck... Deathly silence.

"That's... Chief. An old sailor swallowed his spittle and plucked up the courage to speak, "You are doing this... Shouldn't you explain it to us?"

The other sailors instinctively gathered behind him, and as Captain Ed's eyes became more and more strange, they almost wondered, "Are you crazy......?" Of course, they don't dare to say such things.

A bunch of cowards... Looking at his timid doglegs, Captain Ed hated it, although he would never admit that his little heart was also "fluttering".

But the question is, can they run even if they want to... It's a battleship, and if it can run away if it is discovered, it won't be able to run out of the range of the ballista - military ballistas, one shot can make their little sampan feed the fish!

But this kind of thing can't be said, otherwise it will really be finished with this group of timid dogs...... What's more, Captain Ed didn't want to run away, he wanted to do a big deal.

That's right... The moment he knew that the ship belonged to the Yod Chamber of Commerce, Captain Ed knew that his once-in-a-lifetime good fortune had finally come!

This is an Imperial warship, and even the Yode Chamber of Commerce can't borrow it if it wants to—what does it mean to be able to get Governor Byrne to free up a ship for the Yod Chamber of Commerce?

Explain that the ship must be escorting something valuable, or that some big man is on board!

"Be quiet, you fools!" said Eddard, turning, and scrambled up the side of the ship on one leg, holding on to the reins, and yelling at the doglegs:

"Think about it, why are we running?"

A group of sailors fell silent for a moment, and then looked at their captain like fools... Even the young sailor, who liked to shout loudly, had a look of disdain.

Isn't this nonsense... If you don't run, you'll die.

A bunch of idiots, running is really dead...... Captain Ed hates itchy, but now he still needs this group of dogs, and when he gets the ransom... Hum!

"Yes, if they find out that we are not merchant ships, then we are dead. The captain waved the short knife in his hand: "But now they don't know... We're not really a merchant ship!"

"We'll find out when they get close!"

"That's right, which merchant ship doesn't even have a box of goods?!"

"I guess they found out a long time ago... Real merchant ships all fly the dovetail flag of the Chamber of Commerce, but we don't have one!"

"Nonsense, if you have the money to hang the flag, do you still need to rob it?!"

...... There was an uproar on the deck, and Captain Ed, who couldn't bear it anymore, raised his short knife and nailed it directly to the feet of the sailor who screamed the most joyful!

"Shut up, you cowards!" Captain Ed scolded: "You can't use a little brain, we have hostages in our hands, why do we want to escape?!"

"Since that ship is flying the flag of the Yode Chamber of Commerce, it means that there are big names in the Yode Chamber of Commerce on board! As long as we find a way to let them know about the hostages, do we still need to worry about not being able to get rich?!"

But this answer did not satisfy all the doglegs, and immediately an old sailor stepped forward: "What if we don't plan to give money, we are not serious merchant ships." ”

"You're still not a thief, can't even tear up tickets?!" Captain Ed scolded: "Besides, who is stupid enough to tell people that they are not serious merchant ships? We saved their families and are life-savers, and they have to thank us!"

"Hear me clearly, you idiots, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" Captain Eddard's eyes widened:

"Are you going to be a poor ghost for the rest of your life, or do you want to make a lot of money?!"

"The Yode Chamber of Commerce has money, not as rich as you poor ghosts can imagine, a million silver coins is not even a hair for them, and now we have their family in our hands, as long as we use him as a hostage and find a way to maneuver for a while, we can make a big profit from the Yode Chamber of Commerce!"

"Now the choice is yours - those who don't want to do it with me can abandon the ship and run for their lives now, and wait to be sent to the bottom of the gem river with bows and arrows and ballistas to feed the fish, or they will all follow me to finish this big vote and get the ransom and we will disperse on the spot!"

All the doglegs had no objection to this proposal...... If they could get a million, they wouldn't have to continue to be thieves, and even if the Yode Chamber of Commerce was willing to give them money, they wouldn't let them go, and it was necessary to run away when the time came.

As he spoke, Captain Ed stood on the side of the ship with his arms outstretched, and his only eye was scarlet: "Divide one million equally, do you dare to join me?!"

"Roar ——!!!!"

There was a boiling on the deck!

"Boss, what are we going to do now?!"

"Of course, let's go see how our meat ticket is......" said Ed as he jumped off the side of the ship, a hint of hideousness on his face:

"Listen to it all for me, and tell him that it is a merchant ship of the Yode Chamber of Commerce, and no one is allowed to reveal half a word to me!"

"Understood——! "The doglegs are also smiling faces, hehehe.