shadow of britain

Chapter 102 The blue flag is raised high!
On the bow of the Beagle, the sailors climbed up and down the mast like monkeys, and the three sails were suddenly opened, and the blue flag symbolizing the Royal Navy Reserve was raised high.

Under the order of Colonel Fitzroy, the Beagle honked wildly all the way and charged at full speed towards the Thames estuary.

Such a move naturally drew scolding from cargo ships on the Thames.

"Fuck you! No eyes?"

"Son of a bitch, are you in a hurry to go to hell?"

There were even cargo ship sailors throwing dead mice and fermented herring at the Beagle from a long distance.

"Fuck you, I'll kill you bastards!"

The sailors did not open their mouths to respond to the scolding of the sailors of the cargo ship. They just skillfully lifted the wooden boards covering the ten gun positions on both sides of the Beagle.

When the sailors of the cargo ship discovered the black twelve-pound gun barrel protruding from the gun emplacement, even if their mouths were as smelly as theirs, they were instantly upright and quiet like high-class ladies who were ignorant of the world.

In fact, under normal circumstances, sailors are not so motivated to go to sea.

But when they heard that the goal of going to sea this time was changed to chasing the 'Black Thorn', they immediately felt that they were full of endless energy.

Seeing the sailors enthusiastically taking the initiative to undertake various tasks, Tom felt a little moved.

"I knew that justice still exists in this world."

But as soon as he finished speaking, Elder poured cold water on him: "Come on, Tom. Maybe the sailors are indeed righteous, but I think the main reason is that the target of this attack is a slave smuggling ship." Boat."

Tony was puzzled: "Is there any relationship between the two?"

This time, without waiting for Elder to answer them, Arthur puffed out a smoke ring and said, "For the Royal Navy, since the "Escort Act" was promulgated in the 18th century, it should be difficult to encounter such legal robbery business. Alright."

Elder smirked and blinked at Arthur: "Isn't it? I just took a look at the nominal displacement of the Black Thorn. If we tow it back, even if it's conservative, it will cost five or six thousand Pound!

According to the usual practice, Colonel Fitzroy gets a quarter, and there is no fleet commander on the Beagle, so the rest is divided among the crew.We have a total of 100 people on board, and each person can easily get 45 pounds.

In addition, maybe you can get some awards and honors from the Admiralty.Anyone who doesn't work hard is simply making life difficult for himself. "

"Forty-five pounds?" Tom exclaimed, "This is more than my salary for more than a year!"

Elder grinned and said, "Isn't it? I'm just calculating the value of the merchant ship, and I haven't added the income of other unknown items. If I add it, the final result will only be more scary. Otherwise, you think I Why have you been looking forward to a war with the French?

Ordinary merchant ships are so expensive. If a Frenchman's first-class battleship is towed back, tsk tsk...the cost of that thing is easily [-] pounds. "

Hearing this, Tony couldn't help sighing: "No wonder so many people become pirates, this business makes money so fast!"

Elder replied: "Who says it's not? The good times have passed! The issuance of privateer certificates is too damn strict now. Before the Napoleonic Wars, as long as you can pay [-] pounds, you can legally rob. Now If you have money and connections, it may not be sent to you."

As soon as Elder said this, he heard Darwin's voice behind him.

"Arthur, Elder, Colonel Fitzroy is calling you to the officers' mess."

When Elder heard this, he couldn't help telling Arthur: "I'm going to go all out for you this time. Arthur, don't fool me about the 'Black Thorn'! Otherwise Even if Colonel Fitzroy doesn't care about me, and my uncle hears it, he will have to take my skin off."

Arthur glanced at him: "Don't worry, brother can't lose you. How could I use this kind of thing to lie to you?"

"That's good."

The two followed Darwin down to the officers' dining room in the cabin.

Perhaps limited by the narrow size of the Beagle, the dining room is not that big, and it can barely accommodate a dining table for four people and a cabinet for tableware.

The well-dressed Colonel Fitzroy was cutting the lamb chops on the dinner plate with a knife and fork.

When he saw Arthur and Elder coming, he didn't get up, but nodded at them with a smile and said, "Sit down wherever you want."

As soon as Arthur and Elder sat down, their meals were brought up by the big and round cook.

Today's officer's breakfast is very rich, not only lamb chops, but also peas and fried eggs.

Fitzroy saw Arthur's face turned pale by the wind, he couldn't help but asked with a smile, "Would you like a cup of 'Nelson's Blood'?"

Upon hearing this, Arthur asked puzzledly, "What is that?"

But before anyone could answer him, the cook had already brought the wine glasses on the plate to Arthur.

Fanning his dinner plate, he replied: "No big deal, it's just Royal Navy rum, you'll know when you taste it."

Elder carelessly put one hand on the chair, twisted a pea into his mouth with the other: "That's right, you'll know when you try it."

Arthur picked up the glass and took a sip, aftertaste carefully, he felt that it was no different from ordinary rum.

Just as he was about to put down his wine glass, he looked up and found that the cook, Elder, and Colonel Fitzroy were all looking at him maliciously.

Even Agares, who had been silent beside him, couldn't help covering his mouth and giggling.

Arthur felt something was wrong for a moment.

"you……"

The fat cook grinned and asked, "Young man, do you know why this thing is called Nelson's blood?"

"why?"

Elder couldn't hold back anymore at this time, he slammed his fist on the table while laughing loudly.

"Because when General Nelson died in Trafalgar, in order to prevent his body from decomposing, the Royal Navy soaked his body in a rum barrel to keep it fresh. But when the fleet returned to England, the Admiralty found the barrel The rum in the bottle has been drunk down to the last drop. Now you know where the nickname Nelson's Blood came from?"

The cook also laughed loudly and said, "But don't worry, the buckets on our Beagle are all very clean. I washed them with clean water many times before boarding the ship. But, have they been filled with other things before?" , I can’t guarantee it.”

When Arthur heard this, he couldn't help wiping his mouth with the tablecloth on the table: "I've heard a long time ago that there are many nasty things on board, and now it seems that it's true."

"Where is this going?" Elder said to the cook, "Alan, did you bring any sheep on board this time? Go and get one for my good brother."

Upon hearing this, Colonel Fitzroy couldn't help throwing the white gloves off the table on Elder's face, and he stared.

"Elder! It's almost done! You don't think it's enough to embarrass me, so you really plan to talk about everything! The sea training is only a week away. If you can't bear it, go to the trawling net. Come up and solve it with a fish!"

Elder was reprimanded, so he had to slap his mouth twice, and obediently ate his lamb chops.

Seeing that he was calm, Fitzroy put on a smiling face, turned his head and said to Arthur.

"Mr. Hastings, it's not that I don't believe you about the pursuit of the Blackthorn. But out of caution, I need to get more information from you. If it is really a slave smuggling ship, then It must have some level of basic firepower.

In this way, I have to consider what tactics to use to approach.

And if it's just an ordinary merchant ship, then I have to tell you that it's no problem for me to order the Beagle to stop it for boarding inspection.

However, if it is fired at it, you may not know that shelling domestic merchant ships is subject to military courts..."

After hearing this, Arthur also understood what concerns the colonel had.

He took out the Scotland Yard police card directly from his pocket: "You should have seen my name in the newspaper, Arthur Hastings, Superintendent of Greenwich District of the London Metropolitan Police. Colonel, you don't want to Joking about your future, I am the same as you, now you can trust me, right?"

Colonel Fitzroy took a look at his police officer ID card, and then exclaimed: "Let me just say, how can an ordinary person be covered by newspapers! No wonder your family doesn't let you board the ship. It turns out that you are from the Army. The way after retirement is all arranged by the family.

As soon as you entered Scotland Yard, you became a police inspector. It seems that you will be the chief of the Metropolitan Metropolitan Police in the future.First work in Scotland Yard for a few years, accumulate some popularity, and exercise your ability. After that, you will elect a member of parliament, and then arrange it into the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

If you are lucky, by the time you are in your 40s, you may have entered the cabinet, and it is not impossible to become the prime minister in the future.

This road is indeed much better than coming to the Royal Navy. Young man, if you are fine, you should listen to your family more. Your future is promising! "

When Elder heard this, he just lowered his head and gnawed on the lamb chops, his whole body trembling from holding back.

And Arthur was also noncommittal about Colonel Fitzroy's bold guess, he just nodded: "Thank you for your good words."

And Arthur's non-denial, in the eyes of Colonel Fitzroy, is tantamount to admitting that his mind is already full of the scene of Arthur becoming the Lord of the Navy in the future.

As soon as he thought that the young man in front of him might become the immediate boss of the Royal Navy in the future, even the usually calm colonel couldn't help but think of him being appointed by Arthur as First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy and Chief of Naval Staff scene.

He stood up in a daze, and almost saluted Arthur on the spot. It wasn't until he raised his hand halfway that the colonel realized something was wrong.

He saw the strange eyes of Arthur and Elder looking at him, hurriedly put down his hands in embarrassment, and then patted his chest to assure them.

"Please rest assured that the Black Thorn will not escape my grasp this time, and I will do my best to cooperate with Scotland Yard in completing this hunt."

After saying that, the colonel picked up his gloves and rushed out of the officer's dining room. Not long after, Colonel Fitzroy's roar was heard from the deck.

"The helmsman go to eat, it's driving so slowly, let me teach you what is the top steering skill today!"

The Red Devil glanced at the direction where the colonel was leaving, leaned over Arthur and whispered: "See? Arthur. This is the charm of power. Even if it is just fantasy power, it can still make a Royal Navy officer The Colonel is delirious over it."

(End of this chapter)