Law of the Devil

Poor Captain Jack Sparrow stood outside the castle grounds, surrounded by several cavalrymen on horseback, and the spears in their hands were pointed at him.

Not for anything else, just because of this guy's dress...it's too blatant and arrogant. It's almost a line engraved on his face: I'm a pirate!

It has to be said that this is also due to Du Wei. The outfit he designed for Captain Jack Sparrow is completely based on the design of the charming pirate captain in the famous movie in his previous life, especially the red hair. The turban, the mustache on the chin, and the dark circles under the eyes...

Such a strangely dressed person came around the Luolin castle, and was immediately spotted by the patrolling Luolin family's guard cavalry. Since Du Wei was kidnapped twice, the Luolin family's guard strength has increased several times. If it wasn't for Jack Sparrow holding the token Ruolin gave him, he would have been tied up by these cavalry long ago.

"Aha! My captain, you've come!" Du Wei hurriedly ran out of the castle with a big laugh, seeing the pirate captain who was being pointed at with spears by a group of cavalry, he couldn't help being stunned. A guarding knight immediately jumped off his horse and bowed, "Master, this guy is dressed strangely and doesn't look like a good person, but he is holding the token of Lord Ruolin's Excellency in his hand. We suspect him..."

"Don't doubt, this is my man. Let him go." Du Wei waved his hand, and all the knights retreated. Du Wei looked at the nervous Jack Sparrow, walked up to him and patted him hard. Shoulder, smiled and said: "You are finally here. Are you done with what I told you?"

The pirate captain had already experienced Du Wei's power, so he quickly bent down and said with a smile, "Young Master, the matter was done very successfully. Although there was some trouble in the middle, it was solved with Miss Joanna's help. And the results are better than Much better than expected.”

Du Wei glanced around: "This is not the place to talk."

Then someone took Captain Sparrow to his study.

Into the study. Where has this vulgar pirate seen the scene of the rich and powerful of the Imperial Martial Arts Family? Those sterling silver candlesticks alone made him almost dazzled, and then the people below brought up the best black tea from the south, and the sterling silver tea set also made Sparrow extremely nervous.

After driving away the servants and closing the door, Du Wei unhurriedly cast a sound-silencing magic, so that the conversations in the room would not have to worry about spreading. Then he sat on the chair and straightened his face: "Say. "

"Yes!" Captain Sparrow hurriedly stood up. Putting down the teacup in his hand, he said in a low voice, "This trip to sea lasted a total of three months. We swept away nineteen islands in the eastern sea area, and Miss Joanna took action. , Those stubborn guys were all thrown into the sea by us to feed the sharks. The rest of the people gathered together totaled 421 people. There were 32 ships of all sizes, including a sea king-class warship!"

"Sea King?" Du Wei was slightly surprised.

In the Roland Empire, ships on the sea are divided into four grades according to their displacement. The order from largest to smallest is: Sea God Class, Sea King Class, Sea Plate Class, and Sea Soul Class.

Among them, the Poseidon-class ship is the largest, and it can be called the first-class main force ship in the Imperial Navy. For example, Lao Tzu Du Wei and Earl Raymond led the navy to the south for an expedition, and the flagship "Dandong" when they returned to the imperial capital triumphantly. Poseidon-class giant ship. The captain is more than 300 paces, about 150 meters long. The maximum carrying capacity can carry a total of 800 crew members and fighters. In this world, it can be called a giant at sea.

And the slightly smaller one is the Sea King class. The length of the ship can reach up to 100 meters, usually around 80 meters, and can carry 500 combatants. It is also equipped with a certain number of long-range attack weapons such as ballistas. .

In this era, because there is no gunpowder and thermal weapons, there is no ground for that kind of artillery. The so-called ballistas are actually just some giant crossbows, which are fired with a noose. The range can reach about one thousand meters, and the penetration is strong. Shooting iron plates, often when fighting at sea, once fired, if it hits the target, it can pierce the opponent's hull at once, causing hull damage to the opponent directly.

In this era, there are no long-range attack weapons such as cannons, and only giant ships of the Seagod level can be equipped with a small amount of magic cannons. It is a long-range weapon similar to cannons made by using magic principles, but the cost is extremely expensive. Although powerful Huge, compared to the artillery that Du Wei knew in his previous life, but the cost performance is low, requiring expensive magic materials and profound magic principles. It is even said that some manufacturing techniques have been lost.

And because of these reasons, in this world, the so-called naval warfare is basically still at a low-level stage, relying on the captain's combatants to use weapons such as throwing or crossbows to kill and injure the opponent's personnel at a long distance, and then relying on the ramming angle of the ship's hull to strike The opponent's ship makes the opponent lose its mobility, and then fights "board battle", relying on the fighters on board to land on the opponent's ship and then fight hand-to-hand.

Under such circumstances, the ship has a large load capacity and can carry more fighters, so it becomes the main force in naval warfare.

Although there are quite a few pirates in the eastern waters of the Roland Continent, most of them are ships below the medium size, often unable to compete with regular fleets. Even some large armed merchant ships have the ability to protect themselves against pirates.

A sea king-class ship is extremely rare for pirates!

Seeing Du Wei's doubts, Captain Sparrow hurriedly explained: "That big ship seems to be quite old, and the hull is a bit dilapidated, and it needs a lot of effort to repair. The pirates captured by us are It is relatively large in the East China Sea. It is said that this ship was originally a warship in the navy, and after the retirement age was reached, it was bought by a wealthy businessman and used as a merchant ship, but it was snatched by pirates at sea."

Only then did Du Wei nod. If even pirates can easily get a big ship of the Sea King class, then what is the imperial navy doing? !

"Among the thirty-two ships now, there is one of the Sea King class and six of the Sea Owl class. Including My Pearl, which is also a Sea Owl.

The rest are sea soul-class small boats, which can only carry less than a hundred people. Based on the displacement and configuration of these boats, they are barely comparable to the second-line fleets of the eastern navy of some empires. Although we have few big boats, There are many small boats, but there are far more ships than them."

After hearing Sparrow's words, Du Wei just smiled and didn't say anything.

After all, this guy is from a pirate background. He still lacks knowledge.

Compared with the Imperial Navy? That is fantastic.

Du Wei's father is from the navy, and he was promoted all the way through the meritorious service he obtained by leading the expedition fleet to the south. For example, the last triumphant return, although the expedition fleet led by Earl Raymond only had thirty-five ships. But among them, there are five large ships of the Sea God class, and the rest are all Sea King class ships!

Although there are a lot of these ships that Du Wei got, most of them are small ships. If you really compare them with the regular navy of the empire, they are still far from enough.

However, Du Wei didn't want to do such a great cause as rebellion. As long as such a fleet is honestly used for maritime trade and doesn't mess with those navies, it can almost sweep the eastern waters.

After Sparrow finished speaking, his face showed embarrassment, and he said in a low voice: "It's just that the development of the matter has exceeded our expectations, so now there are some problems. We can't solve them. Now the fleet is docked at Walker Port in the south of Lille Province, where Miss Ruolin presides over the situation. Hurry up and send me back to find you..."

"Say it directly, what's the problem?" Du Wei frowned.

"Money." Sparrow sighed: "Our original plan was to recruit those pirates, then take out the wealth they collected from robbery at sea for many years, and then use this money to maintain the consumption of the fleet. But the problem is..."

Speaking of this, Sparrow couldn't help sighing: "The problem is. These pirates are too poor."

Seeing Du Wei's frown, Sparrow quickly explained: "The empire's maritime military power is already strong, but in the past few decades, several expeditions have been carried out in the southern sea area, expanding the empire's maritime territory by tens of thousands of miles. In the distance, this kind of behavior of showing off force that wasted money and people did not bring any obvious benefits to the empire's finances, but the expansion of the southern sea route stimulated the empire's maritime trade. Compared with the increase of more than ten times. This kind of frequent trade has stimulated the emergence of pirates. It has allowed pirates to have a living space. But after all, it has been only small troubles, because the empire has a huge navy. Once things go wrong If it is too large, it will cause the navy to suppress it, and the small pirates will be wiped out. More importantly, in recent years, the ocean trade in the eastern sea area has decreased, and most of the fleet has concentrated in the south ocean. These pirates have difficulty in surviving, so naturally they don't have much money to fish for."

Seeing Captain Sparrow uttering such a big truth, as if he was endorsing it, Du Wei couldn't help laughing: "You came up with all these things yourself?"

Sparrow shook his head, and replied honestly: "No, I haven't read any books. How could I think of these things? Miss Ruolin told me these things."

Du Wei's eyes lit up.

Jolene? This long-legged chick has a pretty good mind.

Sparrow continued: "This time the pirates were suppressed at sea for three months, and the supplies that were obtained during the suppression were mostly worthless grains and ironware. Even if they were sold, they would not be worth much. For valuable things, Ms. Ruolin has already decided to sell a batch of them in Port Walker, and the navy and military in Port Walker also need some connections to deal with them. After all, many pirates are listed on the arrest warrants. We rashly took these guys under our command, so it was inevitable that others would criticize us. Ms. Ruo Lin decided to spend a sum of money to manage the official relationship. In the end, we copied all the pirates' lairs to the bottom. However, only less than 10,000 gold coins were obtained. After sailing at sea for several months, the ships need to be maintained and repaired. The degree is even more serious. In addition, more than 400 people have been taken in, and people have to eat, drink, and support them... The money recovered from such a suppression is almost beyond their means."

Du Wei's scalp felt numb, and he waved his hand: "Just tell me how much you need in total!"

Hearing this, Sparrow immediately took out a small book Ruolin gave him when he arrived, opened it, and read it to Du Wei: "Thirty-two ships, almost every one of them is To varying degrees of damage, in view of the current financial problems, Ms. Ruolin selected nine ships with serious problems, and the repair cost is estimated to cost 3,000 gold coins. This is still using your place name and the navy of Walker Harbor. I bought cheap wood from the wharf supplies. Although other ships also need to be repaired, they can still be used for the time being. I will make plans when I have enough money in the future. More than 400 people will come to eat and drink for three months. , It also cost more than 600 gold coins, which is already very economical. Miss Ruolin dare not cut down on personnel expenses, otherwise, these newly recruited men will defect. Miss Ruolin also said that since the pirates Now that I have become your subordinates, I can no longer dress up as a pirate. If you wear tattered clothes, it will inevitably embarrass you. I also made two sets of new clothes for each of them, and the leader's clothes are slightly better... This is another Two hundred gold coins were removed. The most important thing is that the weapons in everyone's hands are too bad. It's too shameful to be a pirate in the past and swarm up to fight. Now that it's the Luo Lin family's fleet, the ballista, bow The crossbows and swords have to be replaced. I have seen that among the pirates in the past, there were still poor ones who didn’t even have weapons. Go to the ground. All of these can no longer be used... In addition, there are funds for establishing relationships with the navy. Almost half of the people we have recruited are wanted criminals (When talking about this, Sparrow paused , added a sentence "including me" embarrassingly), it cost nearly a thousand gold coins to eliminate the arrest warrant.".