In the afternoon, a dhow arrives and swings on the low sandbar of Pig Island, into Nassau Bay.

The improvised dock was already occupied by the big ships, the dhow anchored on the sandbar, the crew rowed to the shore, and the captain jumped onto the beach. The captain was too young and knew the people on the shore well, greeting him all the way.

A week has passed since the Battle of Eleuthera Island, and now a total of four three-masted battleships are docked in the deep-water bay of Nassau. These sea forts were scarred, especially the two warships. Around the docks, numerous Spanish prisoners were carrying various equipment for repairing ships. After the fall of the Spanish fleet, the pirate ships sailed into the Blue Harbor. These soldiers, who were still besieging the Langang battery a minute ago, had no choice but to surrender. The commander promised them that they would be able to regain their freedom after helping to repair the warship. Recalling the naval battles in which hundreds of cannons roared, the young captain still felt a sigh of embarrassment, there were too many people killed in the battle.

Carpenters were banging and banging on the ship, busy replacing damaged gunwales. Many of the canvases were stacked on the beach, and the tailors cut out the useful parts of the broken canvas and reassembled them into usable sails. A row of tents was erected along the road from the port to the base, and blacksmiths set up wrought iron furnaces, making and repairing iron parts such as hundred-fold rings, hoops, nails, and pulleys.

The whole of Nassau Harbor is a busy scene. Seeing these busy colleagues, the captain's pace quickened a few points. What he still can't understand is that after the Battle of Eleuthera, there was no one among the pirates of the Bahamas who could compete with the commander, why did he refuse to run for the consul of the pirate group? Not only that, but after the war, the entire fleet was not stationed in Blue Harbor, and the commander said that the deep-water channel in Nassau could accommodate all the three-masted warships, and he placed the fleet in Nassau, where there were only improvised facilities.

There are so many things that the captain can't understand about what has happened in the fleet these days, but he doesn't ask much. Not only him, but after the decisive battle with Chiron's fleet, no one in the entire fleet now questioned the commander's decision, and the captain intuitively felt that the fleet was now a little different from the ordinary pirate gang.

In the memories, the captain came to the destination, the fleet command in the port of Nassau. It was a simple house made of wood and canvas, and there were no guards standing guard with guns, so he reported and walked straight inside.

Commander with the German Ernst. Feng. Morality. Maiden was gesturing at the chart, and the captain stood up, "Report to the Commander, I'm back." ”

The commander, that is, Chen Shouxu, looked at this student with satisfaction, after the decisive battle with Kailong, now the first batch of officer candidates on the ship has graduated. These students grew up at sea, have a good foundation, and are familiar with ships. What they lack is a theoretical summary of experience. The first batch of officer candidates originally had a certain cultural foundation, and Chen Shouxuan taught them quickly. In addition to keeping Rhaegar by his side, Chen Shouxu sent the rest of the men to serve on the schooner, and they would continue to learn in battle and sailing.

Chen Shouxu smiled and asked him, "Captain Robert, what did you bring me back from this voyage?" ”

Robert was a little nervous, he stood up straight, "Commander, in accordance with your orders, I traded our booty with the locals on Grand Bahama and Andros, and I brought back a boatload of grain, vegetables, and cloth. ”

Chen Shouxu nodded with satisfaction, "Sit down, you're doing a good job." To be a good captain, in addition to having good seamanship, it is also very important to learn how to deal with people. Doing business is one of the most important lessons in dealing with people. ”

"Yes, sir."

Chen Shouxu looked at Robert next to him, his fingers trembling slightly, and smiled, "Relax." Your fingers are shaking so much. ”

Chen Shouxu didn't say that it was okay, but Robert was even more nervous when he said this. Maiden also wanted to laugh a little when he saw this, "Captain Robert, your commander has a very difficult task for you. ”

Robert immediately sprang up from his chair and stood upright, looking ready at any moment.

"Come here," Chen Shouxu called Robert to the chart table, "remember the island of St. Eustatius?" Mr. Maiden will board your ship, and your task is to transport him to the island of Sint Eustatius. Once you arrive at St. You's Island, Mr. Maiden will tell you about the next voyage. ”

"Yes, sir."

"Remember, this voyage is not hunting. Do not plunder any boats on the way, and getting Mr. Maiden to the island of San Ju safely and quickly is the highest priority of the mission. Although you are the captain of the ship, the commander of the voyage is Mr. Maiden. ”

"Yes, Commander."

"You hurry up and go back and prepare, the ship will be unloaded immediately, and you will leave tomorrow."

Robert saluted, turned and walked out of headquarters.

Maiden watched the young captain walk out and said to Chen Shouxu, "Have you noticed that the people in the fleet are in awe of you?" ”

Chen Shouxu was a little surprised, "You know that I have been in the headquarters to refine our plans recently, and I rarely go out. I didn't feel any different than before. ”

Maiden shook his head, "Look at Robert, he's your student. I've never been so nervous in front of you before. ”

Chen Shouxu was thoughtful, he raised his hand, habitually wanting to hold up his chin with the back of his hand, but he didn't want to touch a handful of beards.

"How long has it been since you shaved?"

"I think about it, it seems like more than a month, how can I ask about this?"

"I mean, you're not a few years older than Robert, and now you have such a beard. It makes you feel like you're a lot older than you really are. ”

"Oh, you're right. I'm going to shave my beard today. ”

"Don't shave, it's fine now."

……

The two made a joke.

Maiden stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the four cruisers in the harbor that were being repaired, "Do you think these four battleships are enough for our plans?" ”

"It's five. Marmont wrote yesterday that he had withdrawn from the election of the Pirate Archon, and that the Raphael would join us. ”

"Aside from you, Marmont is the most suitable candidate for the next consul of the Bahamian Pirates. He also quit, so don't the Bahamian pirates have to choose their leaders among a bunch of boys? ”

"There's nothing wrong with that, pirates are supposed to grow in battles of blood and fire. It won't be long before more legendary captains are born among them. ”

The more than a year in the Pirate Corps was also a valuable life experience for Maiden, who had met so many miraculous figures and seen them fall like fashion. In order to get rid of this fate of pirates, he and Chen Shouxu made a crazy plan, and no one knew what the ending would be. But as Chen Shouxu said, victory will not come to us, we must go to victory ourselves.

"Is there anyone else in the Bahamas who you can trust but Marmont?" Relative to the plan, we still have too few people. ”

Chen Shouxu felt that it was not appropriate, "Actually, I am not very familiar with the Bahamian pirate group. Now the entire voyage plan is still in the stage of secrecy, and the entire fleet is known to only a few people. You know that pirates are very complex, and sometimes more people are not always better. ”

"Can we appropriately open up the first phase of the goal to more people?"

Chen Shouxu thought for a moment, "There is still more than half a month before the start of sail, I will consider it." ”

Maiden asked, "Is half a month enough?" ”

"There's no way around it. We have to get around South America before the weather gets worse. Actually, the best time is in February. But it must be too late, but it can't be any later, so we have to set sail in December. Chen Shouxu sighed, "Now the main thing that restricts our departure time is the parts of the battleship, the crew has removed the usable parts of the stranded Santa Idfoldso, but with the Raphael, we have five warships that need to be repaired. According to the existing conditions, we can only barely restore these five ships to a navigable state, and find a way to replenish them on the way. ”

"Can you get some more from the Dutch in Curacao?"

"When we were just a dhow, the Dutch would be happy to support us, and to help the Spaniards in trouble. But now that we have a fleet, the attitude of the Dutch will probably be very different from before, and our strength will be a threat to them. "It's a difference that can't be bridged by personal relationships," so I'm not going to go to Litmanning again this time, and we're all on our own." ”

"It seems that this is the only way to do it for the time being." Maiden held out his hand, "Well, I'll go first tomorrow." Thank you for believing in my friends and for setting aside a boat to receive my companions at a time when manpower was so tight. I assure you, I'll bring Hallren and Westheim to the fleet. ”

"Our program needs enough partners to be successful. If possible, you can also recruit some other talent in San Ju and Curacao. ”

"I will. See you in Aruba. ”

"See you in Aruba."

After shaking hands, Maiden left. Chen Shouxuan was the only one left in the headquarters, and the difficulty of robbing in the Caribbean bathtub was not comparable to that of sailing to the South Atlantic. One difficult thing after another, in addition to repairing ships, storing supplies for voyages, and collecting primary medicines, all made him very troubled. There are a lot of people in Nassau making nautical cookies right now. This unpalatable substance is the most important food supplement in the open sea.

There is also one most critical task that needs to be focused on - the prevention of sepsis. In the 17th century, sepsis was commonly known as Dutch disease by sailors. Because the Dutch route from Europe to the East Indies crossed the Indian Ocean, circumnavigating the Cape of Good Hope and sailing directly to Batavia with westerly winds, westerly drifts and the cold snap of Western Australia. The Portuguese, on the other hand, sailed along the African coastline with fortifications and could be replenished with fresh food and water frequently, and the probability of sepsis was much smaller than that of the Dutch. How to solve the number one killer of this ocean-going seafarer is the problem that Chen Shouxu is most worried about now.

At present, all he can think of is to grow some vegetables on five battleships, for which he has sent people to collect bell pepper seeds.

In fact, the five Galen ships originally had animal pens, and some cattle and pigs would be raised for the officers to eat when they sailed to the open sea. Goats are kept directly on the open deck, so it is not uncommon to see goats jumping on Galen's deck at sea.

In order to keep the whole ship clean and reduce the occurrence of diseases, Chen Shouxu has removed the bottom animal pen. But the goats and hens he was going to keep some of, so they were placed on the open deck. Goat's milk and eggs are both good for the recovery of sick numbers.

The New World is a treasure trove of plants, and there are too many precious plant seeds that Chen Shouxu needs. Cinchona tree, rubber, cocoa, tomato, potato, sweet potato, fine cotton seed and so on. Maiden departed early on the trip, and the most important task was to buy the seeds. If he couldn't buy it, Chen Shouxu looked at the list in his hand, and he was determined to storm a Spanish city and collect all of them.

And beer. In order for sailors not to get sick, they need to stock up on a large amount of beer on board.

Now that there was no money left, Maiden took away the last of the fleet's reserves of precious metals.

Time is really short, and many problems can only be left on the road to solve slowly.

Chen Shouxu walked to the chart, his eyes focused on the first target, Portovello, "First of all, we still have to solve the problem of money." ”