After the rain, the second escort detachment of the First Fleet sailed on the calm sea.

Today is December 25th, 19 days after the previous naval battle on a rainy night. That night, the battleship "Common Market" was like a fierce general galloping on the battlefield, not only cutting down its locked opponents, but also repelling a group of enemies, and the majesty was unparalleled.

After the rapid naval battle and the first record of sinking the battleship "Common Market", the fleet sailed north for three days and then turned east, finally freeing itself from the British pirate ships that had been haunted since they left the port of Recife, Brazil.

The tension, anxiety and uneasiness of Wang Tiehammer along the way were all thrown into the Atlantic Ocean with that naval battle. At this moment, he was in a very comfortable mood, the entire fleet had been in danger for the past twenty days, and a few ships that were suspected of being pirate ships that he occasionally encountered immediately turned as far as they could after seeing such a strong lineup of their own.

Not far from Cape Verde, the fleet will resupply there for a day before heading north along the coast of Africa towards the Bay of Biscay. If nothing happens, the entire convoy will arrive in Bordeaux at the end of January 1637.

On 26 December, the entire fleet sailed into the port of Praia in the Cape Verde archipelago in a low-key manner. Praia, which means beach, was the center of Portuguese domination in the Cape Verde Islands. At this stage, the relations between the Eastern Republic and the Portuguese were relatively good, and the ships of both sides were basically free to dock and replenish in each other's commercial ports.

The king did not allow the sailors to go into the city for recreation. Now is an extraordinary time, and the escort is a heavy responsibility, and there is no room for sloppiness. Therefore. He simply sent two officers with a small number of sailors to the docks to negotiate with the Portuguese. Fresh water and essential supplies such as vegetables, fruits, and spirits should be replenished as soon as possible. If possible. He still wanted to leave the port today and sail for Bordeaux.

After all, this place is too close to the British New Africa Company's stronghold near the Gambia River, and I might be able to tell you something about it at any time.

The Portuguese brought supplies in small boats. The sailors cheered and poured out the meat of the maggots and the rancid smell of fresh water from the barrels, and replaced them with fresh mutton, vegetables, and eggs.

Some of the casks filled with brandy were also hoisted up by pulley booms, and the sailors, with the acquiescence of the officer's smile, picked up the military jugs and poured a little for each of them to drink first.

"Sir, won't you come some?" Johnson, a trainee non-commissioned officer of the 33rd class of the Navigation School, wiped the wine stains from the corners of his mouth with his greasy sleeves. grinning and smiling at the first mate.

"No, I'm on combat readiness now, thank you for your kindness, Johnson." Yasudo smiled and shook his head, turning his gaze to the distant sea.

"That's a shame." Johnson took another sip and said, "After more than twenty days of sailing, I'm fed up with the maggot-laden patties and the foul-smelling fresh water. Although the sailors (ex-pirates) from the Caribbean on board had a good meal, I still felt that it was torture, and I really missed the good times when I was in the nautical school. ”

"Johnson. Don't discriminate against those sailors. Don't forget, that night. These silent sailors once fought alongside us. Anju corrected Johnson's statement and said, "They are not wood, they have their own feelings and joys and sorrows. As a non-commissioned officer in the rope cadet, you should try to get to know them and try to get along with them, which will be good for you. As for your complaints about food and water, I feel the same way. But the good news is that the commander-in-chief of the detachment has decided that we can fill half of the water tank with beer as our drinking water on the return trip. ”

"Aha......" Johnson slapped his thigh with joy and excitedly said, "What a brilliant idea!" I finally don't have to drink that disgusting so-called 'fresh water' anymore. Hey, what's that, St. George's flag! ”

"English!" Ansu was also startled, and looked towards the place where Johnson was pointing. I saw that by the trestle on the east side of the harbor, three battleships equipped with a large number of guns slowly raised a St. George flag, and then began to raise their sails and turn, as if they were preparing to leave the port.

"Strange, the British have a trading post at the mouth of the nearby Gambia, so why should they come to the Portuguese? Is it here to repair ships? Ansu muttered to himself in some confusion. There may be only one explanation, because the British did not have the facilities and materials to repair the ships at the trading post at the mouth of the Gambia.

"I'll ask." Johnson put down the military kettle, and climbed the rope ladder next to the deck to descend to the Portuguese supply ship below.

"Hey, Senna, what are those Brits doing here?" Johnson said in half-baked Portuguese.

"Them?" Senna, a Portuguese merchant, turned his head to look at it, and then said with a blank face: "The ship of the Guyana Trade Merchant Company, which came here the day before yesterday, is said to have leaked water and needs to be repaired. Now it seems that they have finished repairing and are ready to return to London. ”

"Guyana Trade and Merchants Company......" Johnson read the name in his mouth, and then said, "Thank you, Senna, and I'll treat you to a drink if you pass through here on the way back." ”

"For the sake of your glass of wine, I don't know if you can cash it in, I will send you a message with friendship." Senna lowered his voice and said mysteriously: "The Guiana Trading Merchant Company was only established 6 years ago, and she even has shares in the British royal family. The company was granted a 31-year trade from Cape Blanco to the Cape of Good Hope, but for now their business is limited to trading and ...... around the Gulf of Guinea Gold mining. Yes, they established a stronghold in the Gambia, and while exchanging cheap goods and local stupid natives for gold, they opened their own mines and refined them. Just last year, they shipped back tens of thousands of pounds worth of gold from the UK. ”

"It's interesting news, I think it's probably worth two bottles of Bordeaux." Johnson smiled, "I'll bring it to you on the way back, haluha." With that, Johnson stumbled onto the deck of the Common Market, and then told the security office what he had heard.

"Gold?" When he heard the news from the security department, Wang Tiehammer, who was leisurely drinking green tea, was suddenly entangled for a while, and then shook his head lightly and said, "Forget it." You also said that those were three warships, not those thin-skinned pirate ships. The waterline deck that was a few meters thick was not something that could be blasted open in a moment, and their will to fight was probably much stronger than that of the pirates. Forget it, our fleet is loaded with 50,000 horses of cotton cloth, 800 tons of potatoes, dozens of guns, hundreds of armor sets, and thousands of sabers, and the total value is probably not much worse than the tens of thousands of pounds of gold on their ships. Although I like to bet on luck, this bet is not worth it, forget it, give up. ”

"Understood." An nodded and said, "But I know that their gold mines in Gambia are so valuable, and when I go back, tell the Admiralty that the privateer fleet in the future can consider coming here." ”

While Wang Tiehammer and Anju were talking about the three ships of the British Guiana Trading Merchant Company, the British on these three ships were also silently watching them.

"It's an East Coaster!" A young English officer on the three-masted galleon of the Banjul Merchant is slowly retracting his binoculars, and the hunting flags flying on the masts of the opposing ships clearly indicate their identity.

"Sir, their flagship has 66 guns, God, how can there be so many!" Another young officer whispered in some surprise: "Two frigates, a French armed merchant ship, and two Frut merchant ships, it seems that their strength is not weaker than ours." Sir, our ship is loaded with forty thousand pounds of gold, which is the property of the King and the gentlemen, and I think we had better not risk it. ”

"You're right, James." The young officer carefully packed the monoculars into a wooden box, then glanced at the East Coast Fleet, which was still moored by the dock to replenish food, and said with a sigh of relief: "How can we protect our interests when the people on the East Coast have such a powerful double-deck warship, and we don't even have a ship of more than 800 tons?" ”

"It's time for the gentlemen of the Board of Directors to face up to our situation." Another young officer echoed: "Isn't it because we lack powerful warships that the former West African Joint Stock Company almost went bankrupt under the competition and suppression of the despicable Dutch? Mr. Chris, it's time to make a recommendation to the Council. ”

"I'll think about it." Chris nodded reservedly and said.

……

After the departure of the British warships, the 2nd Escort Squadron of the Republic of the East Coast was not delayed. After replenishing food and fresh water, the entire fleet left the port of Playa overnight, turned northeast and headed directly for Bordeaux.

When they passed through the vicinity of the Canary Islands, they saw the number of pirates from all over the world. Fortunately, these pirates are quite sensible, they are only interested in gnawing on the fat of merchant ships, and they are not interested in gnawing on the hard bones of fleets escorted by warships. Moreover, when he saw the majestic and majestic battleship of the "Common Market", there was no one who would not have long eyes and would come up to touch his head.

In late January, the fleet sailed off the western side of the Iberian Peninsula, just a few days away from the port of Bordeaux in the Bay of Biscay. At this time, the officers and sailors finally let go of the hearts they had been carrying before, it was only a few dozen nautical miles from the coastline of Portugal, and there were many ships coming and going along the way, and it was extremely busy. No pirate would have the audacity to come here and rob openly, that would be horrifying.

Sometimes, though, things go so unexpected. (To be continued......)