Struggle in the Steam Age

Everyone on the island expressed their support for the proactive attack. The military felt that it was too passive to wait on the island to be beaten at any time. The people in the civil affairs department felt that maintaining a state of alert would not only require a large amount of military expenditure but also mobilize a large amount of valuable labor. It would be fine for a short period of time, but it would be impossible to maintain it for a long time.

But now there is the most important problem to be solved, which is to determine where the pirates are now. After all, Lawrence and the others have lost track of the pirates since the Elysion Navy broke contact with the pirates.

"Although it is complicated to determine the enemy's position on this sea, it does not mean that there is no trace." The captain of the Enterprise took out a chart marking the surrounding area at this time and said, "We are basically It can be judged from the Internet that the group of pirates should be in this sea area now."

Everyone nodded in agreement, because this is the edge of the Sea of ​​Stars, and this is the only island that the pirates could choose to repair. It is easy for them to encounter powerful naval forces if they continue to go north, west and south, but if they continue to go east, there is only a vast sea left.

"According to our current information, the other party should have fled here after being hunted down. That is to say, they had gone on a long-distance voyage without repairing before." The captain tapped the chart with a pen and said, " And when they got to this safer place, I believe the first thing they did was to find a place with fresh water to clean the bottom of the boat and repair the boat."

"Sorry, I have a question." Knight Joseph stretched out a hand to indicate that he had a question to ask, and he asked the captain after getting consent. "The journey from the New World to here is at best a mid-range trip, and there should be no need to clean up the ship."

"This journey on the voyage is indeed not a long-distance voyage." The captain nodded and said. "But if you consider that this area is tropical, the growth rate of various marine organisms is much faster than that of the old continent. Therefore, the maintenance of ships is more frequent than in other places."

"For example, our Enterprise has done a bottom maintenance before, thanks to the fact that there is a river estuary in this harbor, so the maintenance of the ship is quite easy."

"No wonder a few days ago I saw the Enterprise leave its berth on the pier and go to the mouth of the river to drop anchor." At this time, some people present belatedly remembered some things they had seen before. Naturally, everyone also understood why the group of pirates wanted to find a river estuary to renovate their ships.

"Among the many surrounding islands, there are not many islands with fresh water, and even less people pay attention to them. We only need to investigate those places and we can roughly locate the pirates." Finally, the captain concluded.

After further analysis, Lawrence and the others found that the pirate fleet could choose less than ten places. After all, a pirate ship is not a sampan, and those places where the water level is too shallow can't get through. So this can just rule out a large number of small rivers that flow into the sea.

After the meeting, Lawrence and the others dispatched men to approach the suspicious spots to search for possible pirate fleets. As a result, the scouts sent in the afternoon of the next day found the location of the pirate fleet.

"You said that group of pirates is on the east side of our island?" Lawrence didn't believe it at first when he received the reconnaissance report. He really didn't expect that the pirates he was looking for were actually on the same island as himself. But after thinking about it, he felt that this was quite reasonable and not abnormal.

Nova Sauer itself is the largest island in this area, with lush vegetation and rich products. Naturally, there are also many freshwater rivers that flow into the sea and the wood needed to repair ships, and can provide a lot of supplies for pirates. And because the level of development of this island was very low before, the safety of this place is also very high.

According to the report of the fishermen who discovered the pirates, they saw that two of the five pirate boats had been towed to the beach for cleaning and repairing. The other three boats were parked at the mouth of the river in a somewhat scattered manner, looking very scattered.

"Did they find you?" According to the narration of the fishermen who came to report, Lawrence marked the locations of the pirate ships on the map, and then asked another important question.

"They must have seen us. After all, our boat is small and the mast is short. The people on board are just ordinary fishermen, not the professional lookouts on pirate ships. So they must be very early when we can see them You found us." The olive-tanned fisherman said respectfully to Lawrence. "But you don't have to worry about anything, those pirates won't change their plans because of us."

"Why do you say that?" Lawrence was a little curious. When he thought about it, if the fleet he led needed to do something concealed, he would definitely kill those people who found him around him, and if he couldn't kill them, he would definitely adjust his position. It is impossible to stay where you are and do nothing.

"Because it's not the first year that group of pirates have been here." The fisherman looked expectant and said, "According to previous years' experience, they don't attack us fishermen and fishing boats very often, let alone because we changed their reservations. plan of action—”

Hearing this, Lawrence immediately understood what the fishermen meant. Because the surrounding islands are basically planting cash crops or providing services to ships as their main business, the fishermen on the fringes basically don't pay much attention to them, and they don't care about anything except tax collection.

And because of poverty, these fishermen have very simple boats and fishing gear, and they can barely make ends meet by fishing on weekdays. And those island owners who tax them will often cause their lives to fall into difficulties.

So they often choose to flee in boats when they hear they are being taxed, which makes them even more unpopular. So there are no fishermen on many islands.

The reason why there are so many fishermen on New Sauer Island is purely because it used to be a no-management zone, so the surrounding fishermen basically ended up here. However, since there was almost nothing on the island at that time, it was normal for them to trade with all sea ships and even pirate ships passing by here in order to buy necessities or treat diseases.

As for pirates, except for some extreme cases, they will not rob fishermen who don't have a single copper on them. Therefore, a certain tacit understanding naturally emerged between the residents of this area and the pirates.

The reason why many fishermen on the island are willing to work for Lawrence is also very simple, that is, Lawrence has built a seafood processing factory and bought various seafood from them at a fair and reasonable price. Open to them without discrimination, they find a sense of belonging in this place.

Naturally, Lawrence also took this opportunity to strengthen his control over fishermen, such as establishing fishing cooperatives and providing housing for those fishermen who volunteered to join the fishing cooperatives while providing them with housing in the port and providing education for their children.

In addition, all those who join the fishery cooperative can get a guaranteed wage so that they can spend the time when they are unlucky and can't catch fish. At the same time, they can also purchase all kinds of fishing gear from Lawrence on credit at a very low interest rate.

Although the fishery cooperative has just been established for more than ten days, 1/3 of the fishermen who heard the news around have actively joined the cooperative. For example, the fishermen who came to report this time are members of the cooperative.

"Thank you for the information." After asking all the questions he wanted, Lawrence thanked the fisherman and let him go. As for his reward, he went to the cooperative to receive it directly, and Lawrence didn't need to hand it over to him.