civilwarnovels Chapter 199 Exiled Warship
Chapter 199 Exiled Warship
Chapter 199 Exiled Warship
"Everything is ready except for the large ship."
Daniel led Leo toward the shipyard, excitedly explaining, "And even if you're just looking for a ship, you can completely trust the Know-It-All."
During his time with Daniel, Leo had come to realize that he was an incredible person.
Daniel may not have demonstrated great strength, and he may not be fully knowledgeable in many professional fields.
But as long as you make your specific needs clear, Daniel will always be able to respond.
And his responses often actually help things.
But once Leo recalls what Daniel did, he realizes that Daniel didn't seem to have done anything at all.
No, he did do some things, such as concealing intelligence and using information asymmetry to instigate others.
Know-It-All may not be a conman, but his behavior is hardly more honorable than that of a conman.
There was one thing Leo was absolutely certain of: the know-it-all was not trustworthy.
As a businessman, Leoben doesn't easily trust anyone; he only trusts profit.
Only when interests are aligned can mutual betrayal be avoided in cooperation.
So far, their goals are aligned, which is why they have been able to reach their current position with the same pace.
Leo naturally wanted to acquire the distribution rights for the spices, thereby launching his own business legend.
As for Daniel's goal—if he wasn't lying, it was rather romantic in a unique way—
Leo snapped out of his thoughts and said to Daniel:
"Although I unexpectedly made more than twenty gold coins in that futures trading, it still seemed a bit difficult to buy a large ship with that amount of money."
D，
Daniel smiled. "A know-it-all wouldn't offer advice that's impractical, Mr. Gibson. Since I've brought it up with you..."
It's definitely something you can afford."
A large ship for less than a hundred gold coins? Leo was a little worried. Could it be a flawed sailboat that had changed hands many times?
Before Leo could think any further, they arrived at the dock.
The two began to observe the boats moored in the sales area. All the boats here had prices quoted, and as long as you could afford it, you could take the boat away at any time.
These ships do not belong to the dock; they have their own owners, and the dock only charges some site fees.
Leo set his sights on a light sailboat. If things had gone according to plan, he would have owned such a boat and used it to start his maritime business.
However, such a small boat could not cross the River of Despair. In order to control the spice trade routes, Leo needed a stronger and larger ship.
However, the price quoted for that ship alone was already over eighty gold coins.
After that, the price of the boat would rise rapidly for every foot it grew.
It was as if the ship was built not of light, flimsy wood, but of glittering gold and silver.
Leo said, "I can't afford these."
"But what I wanted to introduce to you wasn't these ships."
With that, Daniel led Leo deeper into the area.
Soon, they arrived at the repair area.
Not all the ships that have entered these compartments are damaged or scrapped.
Leo has done some research these days and knows that regular maintenance is an essential operation if a ship is to serve for many more years.
However, these ships were all large, mostly three-masted sailing ships, and there was even one four-masted sailing ship.
Daniel said, "It is said that when the navigator discovered the New World, he was sailing a four-comb sailing ship. It was a black ship, enormous. Even now, I doubt there is any ship that can match the size of the navigator's ship."
Leo didn't care about a pirate legend, but he cared about only one thing:
"Don't even mention a four-masted sailing ship, I can't afford even a three-masted one."
Daniel smiled and said:
"Mr. Gibson, I know you're a shrewd businessman, so you must understand what it means when a valuable item suddenly starts to drop in price, right?"
Leo knew perfectly well: "Either there's a problem with the product, or the market is changing, or the seller is having cash flow problems."
"And the ship I'm going to introduce to you is just such a product," Daniel said. "You just mentioned three reasons, so guess which one that ship fits?"
For commodities like ships, price fluctuations tend to follow a fixed trend and are unlikely to be drastic.
It's not impossible for someone to sell a ship at a low price due to a shortage of funds, but the probability of encountering such a situation is extremely low.
Even if the other party really said that, Leo would definitely think there was a trap involved.
Leo believed in the first reason: there's no such thing as a free lunch. As a businessman, he understood the principle of getting what you pay for better than anyone else.
He squinted: "You need to introduce me to a ship with flaws."
"Yes," Daniel nodded.
Leo frowned: "Mr. Clark, if I really become the new agent for those green-eyed people, I will be traversing the entire Sea of Despair. Don't you know how fatal the word 'flaw' is in that universally acknowledged most dangerous sea?"
“Of course I understand,” Daniel nodded. “And I wouldn’t risk my life either. But there are flaws, Mr. Gibson. Here it is.”
Daniel stopped, raised his left hand, and pointed to the long ship to his side.
It was a three-dimensional paddle sailboat, with a rather bulky design, so it had a deep draft.
However, one can imagine that this ship can sail smoothly even in a storm.
If price were not a factor, this would definitely be a good ship to cross the Sea of Despair.
However, although Leo's knowledge of ships was limited, he did know what rams and reinforced bulwarks were.
These two parts are often built for only one type of ship—a warship!
Leo's eyes widened, and he asked with a face full of doubt:
"Is that a warship?"
Daniel praised, "A businessman's eye for talent is truly exceptional."
"Are you crazy?!"
Leo spread his hands, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"You want me to buy warships! There are only two kinds of people who build warships: the military or pirates, and how dare I buy warships from either of these forces?"
Judging from the ship's orderly and solemn design, Leo guessed that it was probably built by respectable people.
Why would military longships appear in a privately owned shipyard?
There's something fishy about this; it could be a huge trap.
Daniel is not someone who can be completely trusted; Leo must be careful.
If Leo gets into trouble with the wrong people because of this, it won't just be a matter of losing money; he might even lose his life.
Daniel smiled without saying a word, only saying:
"Let's take a look at the boat first."
With that, he led Leo onto the deck.
The tactile feedback from beneath one's feet indicates that the ship was constructed from very thick timber, proving that it was by no means a crudely made warship.
The comb rod stood straight and tall, and Leo couldn't find even the slightest gap on it.
The sail is equally exquisite; no matter how strong the wind, it is estimated that it will not be able to tear it.
Leo walked into the captain's cabin, where there were even maps on the chart table.
This map shows the five routes on the Sea of Despair.
Hmm? Leo frowned. Could this ship come from the Sea of Despair?
Recently, Leo has also heard rumors that a large number of warships have gathered near Shoepad Island, seemingly preparing to launch some operations on the Sea of Despair.
Strangely, no new information has been coming in for a long time, as if someone is deliberately blocking intelligence.
Therefore, he became even more convinced that a naval battle that would go down in history was about to break out.
The other furnishings in the captain's cabin were all common items.
Leo suddenly noticed that there were many closure marks on the counter, indicating that other items must have been placed there before, and the marks were left as dust accumulated.
Those things should be moved soon, but what are they?
These details aroused Leo's suspicion, as if someone was deliberately concealing some information.
Just then, Leo noticed some writing on a painting.
That might be the name of the painting, or the name of the artist.
However, Leo didn't recognize the words on it; it wasn't the Royal Language.
In fact, there are quite a few writing systems in the world, but the most widely circulated is naturally the Kingdom Language, followed by the Ice Language.
However, the Far East continent has many regimes and complex tributary relationships, so it has not yet been able to unify the written language and spoken language.
But for the people of the Kingdom, when it comes to the languages of the Far East, they should only be able to think of one: the language of the Moon.
Leo couldn't tell which language the script was written in.
But he was certain that the ship's previous owner must have been a foreigner.
Leo asked Daniel warily, "What kind of ship is this?"
Daniel said, "You'll understand once you get inside the cabin."
Then, the two left the captain's cabin and went down the stairs to the ship's interior.
The cabin was dimly lit, with only a small candle lamp burning humbly on the mast.
The lights also illuminated several blurry faces, which Leo and Daniel all looked towards after they entered the cabin.
Leo could sense the intense hostility emanating from these people.
He couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Who are these people?"
"The owner of this ship."
Leo was surprised that the owner of such a large ship was among these listless faces.
He asked curiously, "Which one is the captain?"
“There is no captain,” Daniel shook his head. “They are all equals; they are the common owners of this ship.”
Leo asked, puzzled, "How can a ship sail without a captain?"
"So it's moored here now," Daniel shrugged. "A ship isn't easy to break into pieces, but gold can."
Hearing this, Leo understood:
"This ship's origins are questionable!"
Daniel smiled. "And that's precisely the only flaw in this ship. I've had the shipwright inspect it, and there are no major problems."
Warships, from the Sea of Despair; foreign writers, including Leo, pieced together these clues and deduced a conclusion:
"This is the boat they stole."
"No," Daniel shook his head, "I found it."
"Found it?"
Daniel nodded: "I had to talk myself hoarse to gain their trust before I learned who those people were and where this ship came from."
Tell me everything.
However, Daniel began by asking, "Do you know about the Clown Islands?"
"I've heard a little about it; I heard it's pirate territory."
"To be precise, it's the navigator's territory," the know-it-all said, "but the navigator isn't on the Clown Islands now."
How did you know?
"That's what these people say, and besides, I met the Navigator not long ago."
Leo looked surprised: "You've seen the Navigator?!"
"Yes, I was also surprised that he wasn't as fierce as the rumors suggested."
Daniel said,
"But that's not the point. The important thing is that a large-scale naval battle broke out in the Clown Islands while he was away."
Hundreds of ships were involved in the battle, and three factions were involved.
That would certainly be a fierce battle, however:
"You mean three forces?"
“That’s right,” Daniel nodded. “It was originally just a civil war between pirates, but then a fleet of decent people suddenly got involved, which made the situation very complicated.”
"Who's winning?"
"There were no winners in this naval battle; all three sides suffered heavy losses," Daniel said. "The righteous fleet was even completely wiped out."
Hearing this, Leo finally understood:
"The fleet may have been completely destroyed, but not all the ships sank; otherwise, we wouldn't be on this ship now."
"That's it," Leo nodded, "A few petty pirates got greedy, stole the ship, and wanted to sail it to the kingdom's port to sell it for a good price, but—"
"—There will be many obstacles to selling the warship!" Leo continued.
"That's right, the local rulers will definitely verify the origin of this ship, but it certainly can't stand scrutiny, so it's currently in the repair area, not the sales area."
No wonder Daniel said that Leo could afford the boat.
If its origin is legitimate, a ship of this quality is probably only affordable for a lord.
However, Leo was now somewhat curious: "But if such a large-scale naval battle occurred, why haven't I heard a single word about it?"
"Information about the Sea of Despair has previously come from two main sources: one is brought by righteous people, but all of their people died in the naval battle."
"Another option is to rely on slave traders, but the slave king has been missing for a year, and the number of slave ships traveling to and from the Sea of Despair has decreased sharply. Moreover, everyone can feel the tense atmosphere on the sea during this period, so what fool would choose to go to sea at this time?"
Leo then asked, "So, to whom did this ship originally belong?"
"These pirates are really careless. When I first boarded this ship, I saw many coats of arms, and I recognized them as the coats of arms of Newgate City."
"New Great City?"
"The largest outpost established by the Easterners in the New World, and this outpost belonged to the regime of the Far East."
Leo suddenly realized that this was a warship built using technology from the Far East, which explained its exquisite craftsmanship.
He gazed at the exiled warship:
"And you want me to buy this ship?"
“There is no better option,” Daniel said. “Small pirate groups dare not attack warships, and even if they encounter large pirates, only sturdy ships can withstand their attacks.”
"But what if it's from the new gate city—"
"—You are a citizen of the kingdom,"
Daniel, unusually, interrupted Leo.
"Why should we worry about what foreigners think?"