The closer they got to Hidden Gold Bay, the more ships they encountered.
Captain Wilson said, "Sir, we'll reach Hidden Gold Bay in three days. We have to be on high alert for the rest of the journey."
"What's wrong?" Loriste asked.
"Sir, the waters here are known as the Ocean of Sorrow. It's one of the most dangerous and dangerous areas for pirates. It's best not to let fishing boats or cargo ships near. Because this area isn't within the patrolling range of the Ford Commercial Alliance's Invincible Fleet, there are countless robberies and murders here. The sailors and crew members who were smiling and asking for help just a moment ago could turn into murderous pirates the next moment. Some captains and sailors who suffered losses in their business didn't mind stealing some goods to make up for their losses.
When I was a cargo captain, I stumbled here. We saw a half-sunken cargo ship with a few women begging for help. I didn't suspect them to be pirates and even wanted to make some money from the ship. It was only when we got closer that we realized there were nearly a hundred pirates lying in ambush at the bottom of the ship. I surrendered quickly and didn't give the order to resist, so the pirates let us go. "Captain Wilson didn't hide his past experiences.
"The Ocean of Sorrow? You mean the Ocean of Sorrow for the maritime merchants? "Loriste said.
"Yes, that's what I mean. This area of the sea can be called a fork in the road. The west leads to the Kingdom of Haneabada and the Kingdom of Shaisya. Both are archipelagic countries. The Kingdom of Shaisya is rich in spices, while the Kingdom of Haneabada is famous for its slave trade. The largest and most famous slave trade market is the Kingdom of Haneabada. To the south is Hidden Gold Bay, and to the east is the Principality of Lulm's Methrin Port. It used to be a smuggling port to the former Crimson Empire. Now, we have to add the sea route to the north that leads to our family's territory. "Captain Wilson remembered these sea trade routes vividly.
"If this area is so important, why didn't the Ford Commercial Alliance's Invincible Fleet include it in their patrolling area?" Loriste asked.
"My Lord, the warships of the Unrivalled Fleet aren't suited to travel so far. The sea here is very stormy, and the castle-shaped warships of the Unrivalled Fleet aren't very resistant to the wind. It's very easy for them to capsize when encountering strong winds and waves. In fact, the Ford Commercial Alliance established the Invincible Fleet to protect Cangjin Bay from being plundered by pirates, and to maintain the golden trade route from Cangjin Bay to the Golden Coast of the Romon Empire. That section of the Sunshine Sea is calm, and it is the place where the Invincible Fleet can show off, "Captain Wilson explained.
"Are there any powerful pirate groups in this area?" Laurist asked.
"No, my lord. This is the most ridiculous part about the Ocean of Sadness." Captain Wilson smiled bitterly and said, "Compared to the thousands of islands in the Sunshine Sea, there are no places for pirates to hide in the Sad Ocean. There was once a group of pirates known as the Sea Dragon Pirates that had divided this area into their sphere of influence, but they were quickly defeated by the Ford Commercial Alliance in conjunction with the fleets of the Haneabada Kingdom and the Shaisya Kingdom. They would never allow a powerful pirate force to appear here.
Therefore, they could turn a blind eye to the small scale pirate activities. In any case, the unlucky ones were the small merchant associations or the free smuggling cargo ship owners. Once the safety of the merchant associations or the merchant fleets formed by a few dozen cargo ships was threatened, they would take action and eliminate the pirate groups that could potentially become a big problem.
To all the ship owners that appeared in the Sad Ocean, they had to guard against pirates, and at the same time, they had to open their eyes wide and search for suitable targets. In this area of the ocean, no one would mind playing the role of a pirate. This is a lawless and fertile land. Countless sins and wronged souls are buried under these thousands of miles of blue waves … "
"Phew …" Dolus let out a long sigh of relief after listening to Captain Wilson's sigh. "Wilson, you're not lying to me, are you? The waters here look very calm. Look at those ships over there. They're all sailing quietly. It's not as chaotic as you said. Aren't they all fine?"
"Hehe." The first mate cum helmsman, Old Jack, laughed. "Lord Dolus, it's precisely because there are so many ships that they don't dare to target others. If there were only two or three ships, they would have long been beaten to a pulp. Those ship owners over there are not fools. They are also afraid that they would become the target of others if they were to steal someone else's ship. Therefore, the more ships there are, the safer it is. You don't know this, but there are a few ships that have designs on us, but I've already avoided them. "
"Designs on us?" Loriste was shocked. "Why didn't I notice …"
"My Lord, look at that cargo ship that's about a hundred meters away from us on the left. It's up to no good. If our ship is going straight, you will notice that the cargo ship in front of us is changing its course and slanting towards us, blocking our way. If our ship is also a cargo ship, we might not be able to avoid it in time when we notice that the ship in front of us has suddenly slowed down. We would have to change our course and slow down. This way, it would be easy for the cargo ship in front of us to catch us off guard. Once it gets close to us, the sailors on it would be able to jump over and rob us. However, this precious ship of ours is not so easy to deal with … "
Old Jack turned the wheel a few times, and the Flying Fish of the Kingdom of Dawn gracefully drew a small arc on the surface of the sea. It nimbly circled around the cargo ship that was cutting in at an angle in front of them, and very quickly left it behind.
A few curses came from the cargo ship behind them. Old Jack laughed loudly. "My Lord, the ship you designed is really too amazing. It's nimble and easy to control, and it's so fast. It's almost twice as fast as those cargo ships. No one will be able to catch us easily."
Before he finished speaking, Aire angrily slammed his palm on the railing. "Old Jack, you didn't have to dodge just now. If they want to touch us, let them come. Let's see who's going to rob who!"
Josk also nodded, seemingly agreeing with Aire's words.
Loriste laughed. "It's not a matter of who's robbing who, Aire. Even if we rob that cargo ship, we don't have enough people to take care of it. Instead, we'll drag down everyone's journey. Forget it, let's let that ship go for now. We'll teach them a lesson when we have the chance."
November 16th. Cloudy. The wind was strong and the waves were strong.
Thanks to the three-meter-deep wing plates at the bottom of the hull, the Flying Fish of the Kingdom of Dawn did not jolt in the wind and waves like those cargo ships. The sharp bow of the ship broke through the waves, and the slender hull was like a swimming fish, leisurely and contentedly spreading out its full sail, like a sharp arrow streaking across the turbulent sea.
The November sea breeze was already very cold, and it felt like a sharp blade brushing against one's face. Loriste told Schwald to stay in the cabin and not come out. He continued to stand beside the rudder and learn how to steer from Old Jack.
It was close to noon when the lookout on the mast shouted, "There's a fleet of ships 600 meters ahead!"
Loriste regretted not bringing out a telescope. It would have been better if it was just a monocular. This was a divine weapon for fleets and fleets at sea. It could be discovered by the enemy first and allow them to calmly deal with all kinds of sudden situations. It wasn't like now, where the lookout could only see the situation within a kilometer at most. With the weather, it would be impressive if they could see 500 to 600 meters ahead.
After a while, the lookout shouted again, "There's a large merchant fleet 400 meters ahead. There are 18 large ocean-going cargo ships and 20 medium-sized armed cargo ships. Heading south, sailing at half sail. "
Captain Wilson heaved a sigh of relief. "It's fine. Usually, large merchant fleets sailing in these waters belong to the seven major merchant guilds in the Ford Commercial Alliance. If they're heading south, their goal should be the same as ours, which is to go to Cangjin Bay. It's just that we can't see what their logo is in this weather. We'll need another half an hour to get close to them, and then we'll know which merchant guild it is."
"There's a large ocean-going merchant fleet 200 meters ahead. Their logo is a sword stuck in a wine barrel with a circular frame …" the lookout shouted again after a while.
"Chikede Merchant Guild?" Captain Wilson was startled. "Old Jack, turn around and overtake them from the outermost area. Don't go through the middle of the fleet."
"What's wrong? Why don't we go straight and make a big turn?" Ell asked unhappily.
Captain Wilson smiled bitterly. "Sir, don't tell me you don't know about the Chikede Merchant Guild."
Laurist patted Ell's shoulder. "I know that the Chikede Merchant Guild is one of the seven major merchant guilds in the Ford Commercial Alliance. In the beginning, it was called the Sword and Barrel. Later, when the current president, Chikede, took control of the merchant guild, he disliked the name and changed it to the Chikede Merchant Guild. The Chikede Merchant Guild is very low-key in Moriente City. Almost no one would notice that the Chikede Merchant Guild is one of the seven major merchant guilds. "
"Sir, you're right. The Chikede Merchant Guild is a giant on the sea. They have nearly a hundred large ocean-going merchant ships and countless medium-sized armed cargo ships, as well as seven or eight shipyards. They have a lot of say in the Invincible Fleet. On land, they're the buyers and sellers of bulk goods. Their dealings are all wholesale merchants, so many people don't know about them.
On the sea, the Chikede Merchant Guild in the north controls the trade routes to the Kingdom of Shaisya and the Kingdom of Haneabada. Almost all the spices produced by the Kingdom of Shaisya are sold by the Chikede Merchant Guild every year, while the Kingdom of Haneabada uses the huge amount of money earned from the slave trade to purchase large amounts of luxury goods and daily necessities from the Chikede Merchant Guild. As for the south of Hidden Gold Bay, the Chikede Merchant Guild has established four large merchant fleets. Every three months, they take turns to travel to the various coastal ports of the Gold Coast to conduct commercial trade … "
Captain Wilson licked his lips and continued, "Don't be fooled by the Chikede Merchant Guild being very low-key on land. But on the sea, they're very arrogant. They often bully those independent small ship owners and merchant guilds by relying on the size of their ships. If it was the fleet of other merchant guilds, they might let us pass through. But the Chikede Merchant Guild's fleet will suddenly launch an attack on you when you enter the center of their fleet. They'll directly sink your ship, leaving the ship owners and sailors in the sea struggling to call for help, but they'll leave indifferently … "
"That's why you told Old Jack to avoid them and circle around from the periphery?" Loriste smiled. "Alright, I trust your judgment. Our ship is fast anyway. If we circle around, we'll be able to quickly throw them behind us."
… …
In a luxuriously decorated cabin of the largest merchant ship in the Chikede Merchant Guild's fleet, Chikede Malibach was in a very depressed mood. He was really unlucky to encounter such a big storm just as he was about to reach home. He wasn't worried about any accidents happening, but such a storm delaying his return date made him very annoyed.
As the third heir of the Chikede Merchant Guild, he was always thinking about how to overwhelm his two elder brothers and gain his father's favor and praise. For this reason, he even volunteered to bring a fleet to the Kingdom of Syisya to purchase spices. In the first half of this year, the old king of the Kingdom of Syisya passed away. The newly ascended young king didn't want the Chikede Merchant Guild to monopolize the spice trade, so the Chikede Merchant Guild had to send someone who could make the decision to solve this problem.
Chikede Malibach solved the problem smoothly. The newly crowned little king suddenly died of a sudden illness. His eight-year-old brother became the new king, and the king's uncle, who was fed by the Chikede Chamber of Commerce, became the regent. The spice trade went on as usual.
Malibach thought that he had handled this matter well, and he would definitely be praised by his father when he returned. But he didn't expect that the days at sea would be so difficult. It took more than three months to go back and forth, so much so that he felt that staying on the ship was like a year. He couldn't eat or sleep well. If he hadn't bought four trained female slaves from the Kingdom of Haneabada, he didn't know how he would have survived the days on the ship.
It was already hard enough to encounter such a big storm. Although the merchant ship was large, it still swayed in the wind and waves. Malibach also wanted to call the four female slaves over to help him relax, but he didn't expect that the four female slaves would all get seasick and vomit into a mess. Malibach was so angry that he cursed the slave trader as a liar. How could he say that he had trained the slave trader to be seasick?
"Young master, don't worry. We will arrive at Hidden Gold Bay tomorrow night. Just endure for another day." This was his old personal servant persuading him.
There was a clamor outside …
"Why are these sons of b * tches so noisy? Do they want to eat my whip?" Malibach scolded fiercely and then walked out of the cabin.
"Young master, young master, look. That ship looks so strange. It's moving so fast!" A sailor who saw Malibach's unhappy expression quickly pointed to the back.
Malibach turned to look and couldn't help but be stunned. He saw a strange ship behind them quickly passing by 50 to 60 meters outside the fleet. Soon, it passed the ships in the fleet and was getting closer and closer to the merchant ship at the front.
"Young Master, the speed of this ship is already close to 14 knots. This is the fastest ship I've ever seen." The one who said this was the captain of the merchant ship. He had been the captain of the Chikede Merchant Group for 20 years.
"No way?" Malibach was shocked. "Is it really that fast?"
"Yes, young master. Believe in my judgment. You see, it's still sailing at full sail in such a stormy weather. This ship is very strong against the wind and waves, and its structure is very strong. Although the hull of the ship is narrow, it is very stable when sailing, unlike our merchant ship that is tossed about in the waves. The designer of this ship is really a genius. He designed a horse that can run on the sea. "The captain sighed.
Malibach believed in the captain's words. He believed in the captain's loyalty. In this case, such a good ship should be owned by him. If he could get this ship, he would bring it to his shipyard to see what made this ship have such excellent performance. As long as he figured it out, he could improve his merchant ship based on the advantages of this ship. He believed that his father would greatly praise his performance.
Malibach's heart was burning. He ordered to signal and blow the horn to let the ship come closer. He told the ship that he wanted to see the owner of the ship.
However, after a long time, the strange ship didn't pay attention to the movements here at all. It left on its own and soon became a small black shadow in front of them.
Malibach felt as if he had been slapped in the face. He was furious. When had he ever been insulted like this? How dare they ignore his kind invitation? Very well, it seems that the direction of the strange ship is also heading to Hidden Gold Bay. Then, when we go back, we will find you and let you enjoy the warm reception of the Cheekend Merchant Guild! Malibach silently said in his heart …
…
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