Above the English Channel, the Begel was in an advantageous position to gain the upper wind.

From the lens of the monoculars, Colonel Fitzroy observed the movements of the ship opposite.

He saw that the gangplank between the two boats was put away, and then both ships were flagged 'willing to stop and be inspected'.

"This ......"

Colonel Fitzroy looked at the two ships of similar size, and for a moment it was difficult to tell which one was the Black Thorn they were looking for.

He pondered for a moment and decided that before the identity of the other party was confirmed, it was better to keep a certain distance according to the custom of naval warfare.

He opened his mouth and ordered: "Let the sampan boat go to sea, and eight marines will board the boat and inspect it." If you notice something is wrong on the way, wave the white flag, and we will come to your rescue as soon as possible. ”

Following the orders of Colonel Fitzroy, several marines, led by two non-commissioned officers, jumped into two dinghys tied to the side of the board.

With the push of the winch, the two dinghys descended little by little with the hemp rope, and finally fell to the surface of the sea steadily.

Arthur stood in the bow of the ship, sniffing the cool sea breeze, but he always felt a lingering smell of blood lingering in his nose.

Agareth stood beside him, and when he raised his right arm, an illusory red-eyed raven flew over the sea and landed on his forearm.

Agareth put his ear to the raven's beak, and he nodded as he listened to the raven's report.

"Hmm...... Well...... Well done, my little darling. ”

The Red Devil took out a small colored ball from his coat pocket and fed it to the raven's mouth, smiling and touching its head: "This is a reward for you." ”

Seeing this, Arthur said calmly with his pipe in his mouth: "I'm quite willing to put down this!" ”

The Red Devil grinned: "Of course, do you think I'm Ling?" Arthur. I have always been generous to those who are serious about things, but you are not a diligent devil. How about it, do you want to make a deal, ten souls, in exchange for a message for me. ”

"The information that a soul buys will get ten times the huge profit when it changes hands. Agareth, you are really more business-doing than Jews. ”

Hearing this, Agareth snorted in his nose: "Arthur, you are belittling me!" Judas sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, and I can't afford to pay that low! For the devil, the life of a prophet is much more than thirty silver coins! ”

"Really?" Arthur asked, "What about my life?" ”

"Oh, my dear Arthur."

The Red Devil rubbed his hands together and smiled: "Your question involves my trade secrets." I can't answer that question, but I can tell you that the news of the price tag of ten souls will allow you to save more than ten lives. ”

"Really?"

Arthur thought back to Agareth's words for a moment, and only after confirming that the guy was using a declarative sentence did he speak: "It seems that there is a devil who is going to make a fortune today." ”

The Red Devil smiled, "Arthur, look at what you said. We are all fair deals, and Agareth teaches Tong Chau to be a fool. ”

Arthur didn't speak, but reached out and put a handprint on the contract that Agareth had conjured.

Almost instantly, his stretched brow furrowed, and the scene of Fred talking to someone instantly came to his mind.

He quickly took off his pipe and cursed in a low voice: "Fuck, Fred is really a big business!" Not only did he sell indentured slaves to North America, but he also got involved with the Barbary pirates, who specialized in transporting white slaves to the Ottoman Turkish Empire! ”

The Red Devil floated around him, smiling, "But how are you going to convince Colonel Fitzroy to believe you?" You can't tell him you know that the Barbary pirates made a deal with the devil, right? ”

"Persuasion? Why should I convince him? ”

"And what are you going to do? Wait for the other side to take the initiative to attack? ”

Arthur didn't say anything, he just came to the gun in the bow, smiled at the gunner and asked, "Is the shell loaded?" ”

The gunner was stunned by his question: "Of course." ”

Arthur nodded expressionlessly, then pointed at the sky and shouted, "Oh my God! Look, isn't that God? ”

The gunner looked up at him flickeringly, and Arthur took advantage of this to fasten the burning pipe to the cannon fuse.

The gunner turned around, scratched the back of his head blankly, and asked, "Sir, where is God?" ”

Arthur didn't answer either, he just counted down.

"Three, two, one......"

Only a bang was heard, and the cannon fire rushed into the sky, and the cannonball flew out rapidly along the barrel, but due to the long distance, it was unable to follow, and finally had to smash on the sea not far from the Black Thorn.

The bow was filled with white smoke, and the gunner was so frightened by this movement that he was confused, and it took him a long time to realize what had happened.

He couldn't help but say angrily: "Are you crazy? The captain hasn't given the order yet, why are you doing such a thing? ”

Arthur put his hand in his pocket and shook his head: "I said it all, it wasn't me who did it, it was God." ”

Then he walked towards Colonel Fitzroy.

Colonel Fitzroy was also frightened by the sudden shot, and as he walked towards the bow, he scolded angrily: "Which bitch raised the cannon?" I skinned him! ”

Arthur stepped forward, stretched the folded monoculars again, and placed them in front of Colonel Fitzroy's eyes: "Mr. Colonel, don't be in a hurry to get angry yet, you see what this is?" ”

In the view of the telescope, two flags were slowly raised on the two ships.

On one side is a skeletal pirate flag painted with a silver-white arm emblem painted in a blood-red background.

On the other side, there is a triangular blood-colored St. George flag.

As a sailor who had lived on ships for more than two decades, Colonel Fitzroy certainly understood what these two flags meant.

On the former, it symbolizes that the Barbary pirates will slaughter the place.

The latter side represents the bloody battle of the British pirates to the end.

"Bitch raised!"

Colonel Fitzroy threw his boat-shaped cap to the ground, his cheeks flushed, and he didn't know if it was because of excitement or anger.

"Fuck, I really let Lao Tzu catch two big fish! All the staff obeyed, turned sideways to the hull, and the guns were calibrated and aligned! ”

On the opposite side of the Black Thorn, Fred was also holding a telescope to observe the movements of the Beagle.

He angrily threw the telescope down and scolded, "How would they know that we have a problem? Close the distance for Lao Tzu, I'm going to go up and slaughter those fools! ”

However, as soon as he spoke, he heard the sound of cannons on the sea.

"Hidden !!"

The first mate's voice ran through the Black Thorn, but before he could finish his sentence, four shells were already whizzing into the Black Thorn's hull.

One shot broke through the corner, one broke the mast, and two more directly took the lives of three unlucky eggs.

"Fuck!" Fred foamed: "If the army artillery had this kind of accuracy back then, Waterloo wouldn't have fought so hard!" ”

He yelled, "What are you doing in a daze? Shoot me back! ”

But Fred roared and roared, and the first mate was not going to follow his advice.

Although the Black Thorn was an armed merchant ship, it was only armed with two eight-pounder guns, and it was far from being in range at this time.

As for the dozens of muskets on board, firing at this distance was limited to boosting morale.

He wanted to give the order to close the distance, but after sailing for a while, he realized that the Black Thorn was in a downwind position, and it was tantamount to a fool's dream to approach the Beger, which was sailing at twelve knots.

At this time, it was the initiative to advance or retreat, and it was almost completely in the hands of the Beagle.

The Black Thorn is at a loss, but the Barbary pirates, who are experienced in naval warfare, already have an idea.

They quickly moved away from the Black Thorn, intending to circle the Begel's weak frontal and return fire.

But the battle-hardened Royal Navy naturally couldn't get him right, and almost at the same time that the Barbary pirates left the Dead Beagle, Colonel Fitzroy ordered a quick approach to Black Thorn.

Fred couldn't help but be overjoyed when he saw this, and he ordered: "Turn me around quickly, Lao Tzu is going to have a hard fight with them!" ”

The first mate looked bitter when he heard this, but it was not easy to refute.

They were in a downwind position, and even if they were to play with the impact, it would be the Beagle hitting the Black Thorn, and there would be no hard collision at all.

However, he still ordered the Beagle to return fire as soon as it came into range.

"Fire!"

With a bang, the shell landed on the Beagle's waterline, leaving only a dent in the Beagle's hull, which had been reinforced with copper skin.

However, even if they were not harmed, the gunners of the Beagle did not intend to get used to Fred's temper.

“FIRE！！！”

Bang bang!!

This was the second round of shelling in a three-and-a-half-minute period.

In order not to sink the Black Thorn, the gunners chose the impact point of the projectile very carefully, either the mast or the canvas.

Their focus is not on killing, but on trying to make the Black Thorn incapacitated.

As Admiral Nelson famously said, the aim of the Royal Navy was 'if you had the opportunity to take twelve ships and only eleven in the end, I would not call it a victory'.

Just when Fred thought that the shelling was over and that he could finally stop for a while, a thick smell of saltpeter suddenly came from the tip of his nose.

Before he could figure out what was going on, he noticed countless white dots of light on the deck of the Beagle, and then heard a terrible screech on the sea.

Fred's pupils narrowed, he knew this thing, because the army had used it to attack Napoleon at Waterloo.

He still remembers that the infantry used only a few hundred rounds of this thing to withstand several shocks from Napoleon's own soldiers, the old French guard.

Congreve rockets!

Fred didn't know its scientific name, and his uneducated cavalryman usually preferred to call it 'Death's Moan'.

Almost instantly, the Black Thorn was on fire, the burned sailors were rolling around on the deck, explosions rang in their ears from time to time, and the smell of roasted and ripe meat filled the air, in addition to the smell of urine left by panic and fear.

The flames writhing like snakes, the screams that came and went, were enough to cover the blood on the feet and the charred corpses emitting white smoke.

Fred looked at the scene in front of him, wondering if he had inhaled too much smoke, and in a trance, he felt as if he had returned to that day fifteen years ago.

The June 18th that cost him two fingers and a toe.

Suddenly, the Black Thorn's hull trembled violently, in the midst of the first mate's terrified shouts.

Fred saw three springboards set up in front of him.

On the gangplank, a dozen Marines with swords in their mouths were rushing to the deck of the Black Thorn.

And on the gangplank directly opposite him, standing was a black-haired young man with an officer's sword in his mouth.

He jumped off the gangplank and stabbed his sword through the jaw of the sailor of the Black Thorn, who had pounced on him.

He shifted his foot to avoid the slash on his left, then stepped on the shin of the enemy next to him, plunging his sword down his throat and piercing the back of his opponent's head with a slight force.

No sooner had he taken the life of a man, he twisted his body again, grabbed the scimitar that was slashing at him with his leather-gloved left palm, and then dived forward and sent the blade in his hand into the heart of the enemy.

When Fred saw this, he suddenly felt that his blood was boiling after being silent for a long time.

Although he occasionally killed a few people over the years, it was just a one-sided torture and killing, which did not arouse his interest at all.

Aside from Willockx, he hadn't met a master of this level for a long time.

"There are such capable people in the Royal Navy?" His eyes widened and he grinned, "Mediterranean fighting, Apennine swordsmanship, Fiore flow?" ”

(End of chapter)