Reborn As a Pirate

The latest website: Big victory, complete victory, complete victory.

The battle on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain came to a close at sunset.

On land, the Iron Felt Battalion killed 62 people and injured 47 people. The guards killed 2 people and injured 6 people. The deaths and serious injuries were all loyal soldiers drawn from the original earl's guards.

The musketeers from the Jackdaw were much more tactful than them, and knew how to complete tasks while protecting themselves, which was highly praised by Arrow.

The Indians suffered heavy losses. It can be verified that a total of 385 people participated in the battle, 142 people died, 88 people were seriously injured, and most of the rest became prisoners. According to the confession, less than 20 people chose to escape. It can be said that the entire army was wiped out .

Their misery is far more than that.

The Baton Rouge Legion skillfully asked the names and locations of all the four tribes involved. The elite slave-hunting team with the army as the backbone had already set off. Prevent this retaliatory action from being carried out.

According to the most optimistic estimates, the nine tribes in northeastern Louisiana would be wiped out.

On the lake, the Jackdaw easily sank a Sloop-type sloop and a Schooner-type ketch with its strong guns, and captured the Brigantine-type pirate ship [Hyla].

There were only 37 captives in this water battle. Lorraine did not hand them over to anyone. Instead, he convicted them with the seized nautical diary before docking, and directly confiscated all of them in accordance with the punishments imposed on pirates in various countries. Hanged from Brigantine's mast.

Under the setting sun, those dozens of corpses swaying with the waves brought an incomparably huge impact.

Lorraine, dripping with blood, sat lazily on the bowsprit, like a scene of a devil rushing out of hell in a boat, which is unforgettable for those who saw it.

The name of the tyrant Edward spread like wildfire, starting from the Iron Felt Camp and those captured Indians, and blowing through every corner of New Orleans like a hurricane.

After that, nine days.

At the invitation of the Earl, Lorraine led Carmen in fine attire to visit the Kent Manor again. In front of the gate of the manor, he met Aero who was leading a group of wounded soldiers.

Lorraine, recognizing some of the faces among the wounded, stopped and called Arrow through the window.

"The knight of Arrow,

If I'm not mistaken, these people..."

"They are all guards who have betrayed. There are twelve in total. The current guards should be reliable. Unfortunately, after review, there are less than 20 people who are still willing to serve the earl. It is imperative to reorganize the guards."

"What's the difference between this and disbanding the guard directly?"

Arrow shook his head solemnly: "The earl always has a reason for his actions, just like today's decision to release these traitors, although I don't understand, but I believe the earl will not be aimless."

"The reason..." Lorraine pondered for a moment, "Probably there is a turning point."

"What turnaround?"

"A turning point in the war."

...

The pasture in spring was covered with blankets, and the whip frame used for violent inspection had been completely dismantled, and the servants were busy dismantling the highest gallows, and the corpses on it had long since disappeared.

When Lorraine saw the earl in the study, he was full of joy and complacency.

"What would you like to drink?" the count asked Lorraine with a smile.

"Whiskey, on the rocks."

"Where is this beautiful lady? If I'm not mistaken, she is your right-hand man, Miss Donna Linka?"

Lorraine smiled faintly: "You guessed wrong, she is Carmen, my staff officer."

Carmen bowed respectfully, and gave the earl a standard lady's gift: "It's the first time we meet, and Carmen, the trade manager of the Edward Merchant Group, sends his greetings."

The Earl frowned in displeasure: "The trade manager is also not allowed to mention the last name?"

"There is no so-called prohibition. It is just that the earl has a noble destiny. To deceive you will make my conscience condemned."

The count was stunned for a while, and then burst into uncontrollable laughter: "Edward the Tyrant, the water and soil in Louisiana really can't raise such an excellent farmer."

"Swinging a scythe exercises my arm strength, concentrating on farming cultivates my physical strength, and driving wild animals breeds bravery. Apart from these three, I have nothing."

The earl was noncommittal to Lorraine's rebuttal, poured two glasses of wine at the bar, and pushed one of them in front of Lorraine.

"Come here at this time, have you seen many unexpected scenes?"

"Yes, those who betrayed you were released instead of exiled, and the corpses that had been hanging for many days were also lowered. I think in your opinion, there is no one who needs to be deterred."

"As you said, there is no one to deter, and now I need to show goodwill."

"Has anything changed?"

"The stage has changed." The earl sat down on the sofa opposite Lorraine. "A stupid assassination brought me into a crisis. A huge crisis. There is no one to rely on. The whole world is an enemy. People who know the cost, this is the least costly counterattack."

"So you deliberately made things big, and dug out every eye and ear around you, even if it shakes the morale of the army?"

"Yeah, you have provided me with an excellent protection plan, including substitutes, guards, personal guards, random driving, the possibility of a single-handed assassination being successful is too low, and mass killings can't hide the news, what's the result? , you have told them for me."

"Four hundred people plus three ships, it is true that it is very difficult to organize a larger-scale armed force while hiding the head and showing the tail, and the Baton Rouge Legion has expressed its position, which means that even if the scale of the next attack is no longer They are twice as big, and they can't guarantee that they will get something." Lorraine shook his glass and thought, "However, with the huge profits of smuggling, I worry that this peace will not last long."

"It doesn't need to last long." The earl sneered, "Tomorrow, I will launch a decisive battle."

"Tomorrow? You mean, you have surrendered the Baton Rouge Army?"

"They just made a reasonable decision to protect the interests they have already got, and give up those more returns that are only left in their dreams."

"Why?" Lorraine couldn't figure it out.

"Because groups are always wiser than individuals."

"Group?" Lorraine tilted his head, "Do you want to tell me that in the face of huge interests, the officers of the Baton Rouge Legion have achieved equal benefits, and are willing to let every soldier become a shareholder and share the cake? "

"Except for the word willing, everything else is fine, you guessed it."

"Except... willing?"

Until then, Lorraine was considered to have understood the entire plan of the Earl.

It never occurred to this gifted commander to profit himself by intercepting smuggled munitions, a lever designed to leverage the recalcitrant Baton Rouge regiments.

The legion was unwilling to join the war, so he used smuggling as a bait to lure them out of their lair and onto the battlefield.

After arriving near the battlefield, he entrusted all the smuggling matters to the Legion.

The legion is responsible for intercepting arms, the legion is responsible for hiring militias, the legion is responsible for settlement of achievements, and the legion is responsible for collecting payment and shipping...

Can these manpower-intensive and trivial tasks really only be handed over to the legion?

The answer is of course no.

If profit is the primary starting point, the Earl's best choice is obviously to hand over the details to the Governor's Mansion or the Kent Manor, and only contact the high-ranking officials of the legion as allies, and let him or them be responsible for the interception of the goods.

The count does not control this legion.

Leaving all the details of smuggling to the legion is equivalent to handing over the initiative of cooperation to the hands of allies and turning oneself into a complete vassal.

Because he is nominally the initiator of the interception of smuggling, the notoriety and risks he bears will not be reduced in the slightest. Because he gave up the initiative, the benefits he gained would definitely drop sharply.

Doesn't the count know that this kind of behavior is harming oneself and benefiting others?

There has never been such a concept of selfless dedication in Western cultural traditions. What the Earl did was just to let the details of the smuggling be revealed to the Legion, and he couldn't hide a trace of secrets.

This means that the senior military officers of the legion must work out a profit distribution plan that can withstand scrutiny, a financial plan like a big pot.

It will protect the earl from being a puppet put on the table by someone.

It will drastically reduce the amount of money everyone has, without inspiring excessive greed or giving them up.

The most important thing is that once certain conditions are met, the earl can induce them to make a choice that is beneficial to them at any time, keep the past, give up, stop the interception behavior in due course, and sacrifice their lives for the earl's reputation and status.

Just like right now!

The successive and increasingly uncontrolled assassinations allowed the Baton Rouge Legion to see clearly the crisis the Earl was facing. Once the Earl died unexpectedly, no one could guarantee that the new governor would tolerate their theft of French nobles’ property.

Now is [timely].

Eight thousand officers and soldiers, each earning a salary equivalent to several months or even years.

Compared with taking more and more risks to gain limited profits, it has become a more rational choice to quickly end this war and secure the windfall obtained by stabilizing the earl's position.

As the earl said, the reason of the group is always greater than reason, or more appropriately, the adventurous spirit of the group is always smaller than that of the individual.

"What a game of chess, my lord."

After figuring this out, Lorraine admired the Earl completely.

The earl accepted Lorraine's praise reservedly, raised his glass, and said softly: "The battle for New Orleans is expected to be won within seven to ten days, so I will stay on the battlefield for the rest of the time and stop thinking about things other than war." matters. Today is a rare leisure, and I want to hear your opinion about the post-war..."