On the turquoise waters of the English Channel, the bow of the Beagle breaks through the waves and sails in the wind.

Colonel Fitzroy held a monocular and observed, and ordered the helmsman: "Left full rudder, first seize the upper hand, don't rush to the close range." ”

At his orders, the Beagle quickly turned its hull to the north.

Immediately afterwards, Colonel Fitzroy shouted another order to the crew on deck: "Gunners, musketeers, reload ammunition!" Quartermaster, how many Congreve rockets did we bring this time? ”

The quartermaster replied with a loud voice: "Report, we have prepared 200 rounds for this sea training!" ”

"Good! Don't save it, bring it all up for me! Set up the rocket sampan first, and if things change in a moment, give it two rounds of shelling, and when it's nearly a hundred and fifty yards, give me a fucking rocket shot! 200 rockets, I have to shoot them all in eight minutes! ”

"Yes!"

Just as the Beagle was making a U-turn, two ships in the sea ahead seemed to have spotted the Beagle's tracks.

Soon, Arthur saw through his telescope the red, white and blue tricolor on the other man's mast.

He frowned and muttered, "French flag? ”

Elder on the side listened to this, and corrected with a smile: "What! Arthur, the French flag is white, this is the sea signal flag, it is asking us to keep our distance from him. ”

As soon as Elder finished speaking, he heard Colonel Fitzroy order, "Tell them that we are asking for a dialogue." ”

Soon, the yellow and blue communication flag was also raised on the main mast of the Beagle.

On the opposite boat, Fred was pinching his waist and talking to a man with a white turban, beard, and a scimitar pinned to his waist.

When the first mate of the Black Thorn saw the flag on the Beagle, he hurried to his side and whispered a few words.

I saw Fred spit out the straw in his mouth with a snort, and scolded: "Fuck, why is this shit boat shit so much?" Tell them to get out of here, Lao Tzu has no time to entangle with them. ”

Hearing this, the first mate had no choice but to reply: "Mr. Fred, there is a reserve flag of the Royal Navy hanging opposite, isn't it good for us to talk like this?" After all, they probably just want to escort them. ”

Fred glared and said, "It's just a crossing the Strait of Dover, how can a pirate dare to run to the English Channel to rob without long eyes?" ”

When the man in the white turban opposite heard this, he couldn't help but brush his beard and asked in barbecued English, "Mr. Fred, I'm afraid it's not appropriate for you to say that, right?" After all, I'm standing in front of you. ”

Fred laughed when he heard this, and he hooked the other person's shoulder.

"Brother, you're different! Isn't this a special case? Alas, you are also unlucky not to have been born in a good era. If it were the 16th century, and the 'Silver Hand' Barbarossa Hayreddin was still alive, a hundred French wouldn't dare to destroy your base!

But the French's retribution is also coming quickly! That bitch had just destroyed Algiers, and the next month the Revolutionary Party had been blown out of power. So, Allah actually bless you, and your bad luck is just His occasional dozing. ”

When the other party heard this, he was also silent for a while, and then he put his right hand on his left chest, and sighed with a slight bow: "Ansalam Likong, I hope we can all have good luck in the future." ”

When Fred heard this, he took a puff of his cigarette and said, "But it...... Dude, I used to sell you some slaves, and that's fine. But, if you want me to take your boat, that's a bit ...... After all, as you know, I don't have a lot of money either. ”

When the man in the white turban heard this, he couldn't help but press his hand down, but just as he almost touched the waist knife, Fred's voice sounded again.

"But you're lucky this time, and I'll tell you the truth, I'm not going to do it in London, this Black Thorn is going to America. I bought some property there a few years ago, and if you are interested, you can go with me to make a fortune.

I still have a lot of desperate poor people on this ship, and although they are not directly white slaves like they were in the Ottomans, they can also be used as laborers in the Americas for seven or eight years, and we will add some black slaves when the time comes.

Looking back, whether it is a tobacco plantation or a cotton plantation in the West Indies, it is very promising! During the planting season, you can run some business orders, smuggle goods, and help me transfer goods during the picking season.

When you save a sum of money, you can also turn to some serious business, isn't it much better than floating on the sea every day? IMHO, since the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the crackdown on pirates has become more and more severe.

Even if you didn't mention this today, as an old brother, I also want to persuade you. ”

When the other party heard this, he couldn't help but ask, "Didn't you do a good job in the UK?" Why didn't you do it? ”

Fred grinned, revealing the big gold teeth at the corners of his mouth: "Brother, the situation in Britain is different from your Barbary pirates. All you have to do is rejoice in the Pasha, who is in charge of Algiers, and all will be well.

But this basin of Britain is different. Not only Scotland Yard, but also the parish, the magistrate's court, and some messy folk detectives and robbers, if one of them goes wrong, it is easy to fall into the pit.

Come to think of it, man, I'm just a little business like the slave trade, selling stolen goods, smuggling goods, bribing judges, and clearing channels. Over the course of a year, excluding the cost of labor costs, dotting relationships, etc., it is just a small profit.

After a busy year, sometimes the income is not as good as dozens of looms in the textile mill. For this money, I have to be busy like this, am I easy? I'm not like you, you Barbary pirates have a big vote, and you can get a few beautiful slave girls to spend your time when you go back.

Alas, I'm a man who has to work hard all my life! In this respect, it is indeed better to believe in Allah than to believe in God. ”

When the white-turbaned man heard this, he pursed his mouth twice, and finally couldn't hold back his mouth and said, "Mr. Fred, Allah and God are actually the same person. ”

"Oh? Is it? Fred hugged each other affectionately and said, "No wonder I think you look like my own brother, it turns out that we believe in the same thing." Well, at lunchtime, you can tell me about the Koran, and let's talk about this topic. ”

Fred was chatting with the pirate leader when suddenly the first mate interjected, "Sir, the ship is constantly approaching us, and it doesn't seem quite right with their behavior. ”

"Something is wrong?" Fred opened his mouth and scolded: "Lao Tzu is more wrong than him!" What's going on? Is it possible that you still want to rob Lao Tzu? Serious pirates are my brother, you let them try to come up! ”

When the first mate heard this, he was almost speechless to Fred, who had no common sense of navigation.

At this time, it was the pirate leader who was the first to discover the subtleties of the situation.

He took out the binoculars in his pocket and looked in the direction of the Beagle for a while, when suddenly he said something to his mouth.

"They waved the flag and told us to stop sailing immediately and have them board the ship for inspection."

"Huh?" Fred almost laughed: "Are you really not afraid of death?" Brother Ahmed, are you interested in going to the Americas to do another vote? ”

Ahmed looked at the size of the Beagle and thought for a moment before slowly nodding his head and saying, "You can do it, but after that, we must flee quickly." If this news reaches the ears of the Royal Navy, we will probably not be able to die for ten lives. ”

Fred sneered: "That's what Lao Tzu wants!" Royal Navy? It was Napoleon who defeated Napoleon, but we, the glorious army that had experienced the artillery fire of Waterloo! Pass my order, let them in, Lao Tzu let them see what is called the impact from the cavalry ensign of the 18th Dragoon Regiment! ”

(End of chapter)