Codex Pirates

Chapter 52: Cracks

William has been floating on the sea with the Redbeard Pirates for a few days. Even a rookie who has just boarded the ship can feel the oppressive atmosphere on the ship, let alone him who has experience as a pirate.

Apart from their own sailboats, there is no one of the same kind on the vast sea, which makes people feel isolated and lonely. The heavy daily work, salty sea breeze, and boring scenery add to the depression in the hearts of the crew. The atmosphere on board is like a powder keg that is about to ignite, and a little friction can cause a big conflict.

At this time, either rely on the captain's prestige to appease the crew, or find a vent.

Barbarossa obviously also knew this truth. In addition to increasing the number of inspections on the deck every day, he also drove the pirate ship to the main channel and wandered all day long, hoping to wait for some prey.

William was helping to clean up the deck that day, when he heard the pirates in the battle suddenly yelling.

Many pirates on the deck looked at Wangdou subconsciously, and William also set up an awning to look up, and saw the thin pirate in Wangdou excitedly pointing to the side of the ship, looking down at him. Many pirates shouted: "There is a ship over there!"

Vice-captain Reis was also on the deck. After hearing this, he climbed to the other mast without saying a word. He was as big and strong as a bear, but he climbed as nimbly and swiftly as an ape. He grabbed the mast and the cables, After three or five strokes, he climbed onto the mast and watched the fight.

William looked at the slightly shaking mast, really worried that Lace would break the mast.

When Reis came to the mast watch, he took out a monocular from his arms, looked at the direction where the skinny pirate was looking, and after watching for a while, he shouted to the pirate below: "Go and inform captain!"

Although he didn't mention his name, William turned his head and ran to the stern after hearing this.

Seeing this, Reis from above nodded in satisfaction, then grabbed a cable with one hand, and jumped out of the watchtower. He swung his body twice in the air, slid down with his hands interlaced, and landed steadily. to the deck.

At this time, the navigator Hai Leiding, who was patrolling in the cabin, also walked onto the deck after hearing the news. He also took a pair of binoculars and walked towards the side of the ship. Worst high rise.

Compared with Hai Leiding, the crew members are obviously closer to Leisi. Several old pirates left Hai Leiding, surrounded Leisi, and asked, "Deputy captain, what ship is it?"

"Merchant." Reis grinned.

A group of people cheered.

On the other side, William trotted all the way to the captain's cabin, and just knocked twice, the door was opened from the inside with a "squeak". Said: "What's wrong?"

William pretended to be excited: "Captain, someone found a ship on the front deck."

Barbarossa had already come out of the house at this time, nodded upon hearing this, greeted William, and strode towards the front deck.

On the way, Barbarossa asked abruptly, "I heard that you had some small conflicts with Crowe a few days ago?"

It was not beyond William's expectation that Frederick Barbarossa knew about it. He purposely said it to be ready to be heard by the other party, but at this moment he put on an embarrassing look.

"You are all companions on the same ship, don't hold grudges against each other." Barbarossa said, "There may be a sea battle next, you are very skilled, go to the cabin to protect him later, don't let him run around, so as not to get hurt, The two of you also take this opportunity to strengthen your relationship."

William's heart moved, but his face showed an unclear reluctance. Hutcherson, with a red and red nose, turned out just in front of the aisle. Barbarossa also called him to stop him and asked him Let's "protect" Crowe together.

Hutcherson is an old pirate. Hearing this, he grabbed William, who was still pretending to be ignorant, and went to find Crowe together.

William muttered something indistinctly, as if he was complaining that the captain did not let him participate in the naval battle, but he was sneering in his heart.

"Red Beard" Barbarossa's survival mode is very close to William's original conception system.

That is to rely on the trading companies on land to provide intelligence support, and use the force of the pirates to carry out brutal attacks on competitors, and then the trading companies digest the stolen goods and turn them into logistics supplies, and then support the pirates to continue to fight.

William's smuggling network was originally set up for this purpose. Smuggling is also an illegal business. It can sell smuggled goods such as alcohol, and of course it can also sell goods robbed by the pirates.

And Barbarossa's model is even bigger than William's original idea. The accomplices on the shore can not only provide information, but also order official forces to provide assistance, and the navy has recently participated.

But Barbarossa's survival mode has a fatal flaw compared with William's conception.

In the system that William intends to build, he must maintain absolute dominance. When he first negotiated the smuggling business with Sherlock, he would rather take a two-way attitude rather than delegate power.

And "Red Beard" Barbarossa obviously does not have absolute dominance in the system he is in, and his accomplices may be at most an alliance. This can be seen from Crowe, Barbarossa and others alienate him , but even though he was so annoying, Barbarossa, Reis and others still didn't make things difficult for him. This was obviously not for the face of Crowe himself, but for the face of the forces he represented.

Although this kind of alliance model that pulls people together will develop faster and become more powerful than the centralized system favored by William, but in William's eyes, it only appears bloated.

In the same camp, people of different forces have their own interests and considerations. The force represented by Crowe thinks that they sell stolen goods, provide information, and provide logistical support for the Redbeard Pirates, so it should be taken for granted. A loot.

And the pirates like Barbarossa obviously want to plunder this kind of "window fortune" at this time, so why should they share with the other side that seems to have done nothing?

What Barbarossa said about making William and Crowe strengthen their relationship is pure nonsense. The real purpose is obvious, which is to watch Crowe and restrict his actions. After Barbarossa and others clean up the battlefield, let Crowe In the past, "spoils of war" were counted. In fact, it was Barbarossa's final say on how many spoils there would be.

The two have their own interests, and they belong to different teams. Without strong external pressure, they can unite as one, unite as one, without thinking about themselves, and move forward. William has never seen such a thing in his previous life. On the contrary, it is common to see cases where the cooperation breaks down and the court wrangles all day long.

Discussing rules and agreements with pirates is a very unreliable thing. William knows that this is definitely not the first time that Barbarossa has done this, because when he and Hutcherson found Crowe, there was no need Opening his mouth, the young man already had a look of helplessness on his face, obviously familiar with this situation.

In the past, Arcadio turned a blind eye to Frederick Barbarossa's rogue tactics in order to prevent unpleasant troubles among his allies. Although the two had occasional disagreements on the distribution of benefits, It is far from having differences, let alone cracks.

It's a pity that now there is one more villainous character in the Redbeard Pirates.

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