Chapter 39: Naval deliberations 2
Chapter 39: The Navy’s Discussion 2
Facing Captain Austin’s astonished expression, the Lord Earl continued, “It’s not just about promoting your position, but also transferring you to another branch of the military – the Navy.”
He had just become the commander of the newly formed 6th Company, and the soldiers under him hadn’t even been recognized yet, and he was going to be transferred to another army. Wait, the Navy? Does Arda Territory have a navy? A puzzled expression appeared on Austin’s face.
Paul saw Austin’s inner doubt and explained, “Yes, given that the threat of pirates still exists, as well as for the sake of future ocean trade considerations, we’re going to set up the navy as a new branch of the military.”
Austin understood, it was probably because the Earl had looked at his own characteristic of being familiar with sea life since he was a child, and it should have been someone who recommended him. Ocean trade? Not a bad idea, it looks like he has a lot to offer.
Sure enough, Paul continued, “It was Bryce who recommended you to me, he said that you come from a family of ship merchants, and have followed your elders in the sea since you were a child, making you a very suitable seedling for the navy.”
“Lord Bryce is flattered.” Although he was inwardly delighted, his mouth still had to be modest.
Paul’s words changed, “However, the position given to you will be prefixed with the prefix of agent for the time being, whether it can become official or not will depend on your own skills.”
Austin straightened his chest, “Please rest assured, Lord Earl, I will definitely live up to your expectations.”
Paul waved his hand, “Everyone will say that to me, but what I care about is the final result!”
“Yes, my lord! Where are the sailors now, we will go down to the sea and train now.” It was important to show your drive now.
Paul pointed to Austin, “You’re alone in the whole navy now.”
Austin: “……”
It turns out that he is a bare-knuckle commander ah, this is the rhythm of rowing to the pirates to fight for their lives all by himself ah.
“Don’t be anxious, everyone is not too familiar with this piece of the sea, so there is no rash action. I am going to prepare the navy according to the fleet, brigade, squadron, squadron, and you are my acting commander of the Northwest Bay Fleet, and at the same time also serve as the acting detachment commander of the first detachment of the first brigade of the first squadron of the first detachment of the first squadron of the first fleet of the Northwest Bay Fleet, which is the same as the Bryce them as the position of the sole commander oh.”
“Given your familiarity with maritime affairs, you can draw up your own enlistment criteria, which I will review and then hand over to the Recruitment Office to recruit qualified soldiers and sailors for you, who will be personally assessed by you. At the same time for the veterans in the two current infantry battalions who are proficient in waterborne and ship-handling, I will allow you to freely select and add to your command, and put up the navy’s shelves as soon as possible.”
Austin was then relieved, this would be much better, “Yes, Lord Earl, we will definitely form a fighting force as soon as possible.”
“As for the ships, right now you can only utilize captured pirate ships or requisition a group of civilian ships for your training. But I will order the shipyards to build a batch of warships in a surprise attack, you can go ahead and give your opinions on the style, structure and other details of the ships.”
“I’ve known the shipyard’s Rubin supervisor since I was a child, I’ll go to him for advice.”
Paul nodded his head in satisfaction, everything is going smoothly well.
“Go back and estimate the expenditure required, come to my room tonight and we’ll discuss it in more detail.”
“Okay! Lord Earl!”
Captain Austin stood up and saluted, turning around and just about to immediately, when something suddenly occurred to him.
“My lord, I suddenly thought of an idea, if you agree, it would be a great addition to our fighting strength.”
Paul was immediately interested: “What idea? Don’t talk nonsense, quickly say it out.”
Austin deliberated carefully and said, “I have been responsible for the interrogation of pirate captives, a considerable portion of them were coerced into joining the gang, basically they have not done any bad things or their own sins are lesser, can these captives be handed over to me, so that they can wear their sins and make meritorious achievements in the navy.”
“Well, if this request ……”
Paul hesitated a bit, his right hand resting on the table, his index and middle fingers alternately tapping the tabletop as he pondered the feasibility of the suggestion. “It’s not impossible, you first send me their information, and we’ll organize manpower to carefully screen them together. But even if you let them join the Navy, don’t let them show their faces in public again.”
“Your Excellency is wise!” The right amount of horse’s ass was necessary.
But Austin was still standing there without moving.
“Anything else?”
Austin squeaked, “Uh …… that pirate leader named Quake might be something to consider as well. He should have a lot of experience in commanding naval battles, which is exactly what we lack the most.”
Only the Lord Earl seemed to recall something bad as he stared eerily at the Captain.
“That pirate leader? The ‘Great Quirk’ who wrote a letter to humiliate me? Hey, hey, you don’t want to hit the snake.”
“Uh …… just pretend I didn’t say anything.” Captain Austin turned to leave.
Paul beckoned, “Never mind, bring his file along and read it first.”
……
The next morning, Austin carried in a thick stack of notes detailing the interrogations of a host of pirate captives for lesser offenses. The paper used for the records was a new type of paper invented by Paul, which had been circulating in the Northwest and was growing in popularity.
Paul called Schroeder, Joyce, Bryce, Claude, Cecil and five other company commanders with Austin to review these records, screening those who can enter the naval service, this must be strictly controlled, the Navy will be Paul’s heart, can not let those black sheep mixed in.
“This Quaker gang is really interesting!”
Looking through the information of the Quake Gang pirates who were captured just before, Paul turned to Austin and said, “No wonder you want such a pirate leader.”
“Yes, I think this Quake man and most of his men can be recruited.”
Indeed, this Quake gang is really an alternative among pirates, from the information up, they seem to have no record of robbing ordinary civilians, the robbers are all rich people and some small nobles, the strange thing is that they have also taken in some paupers – of course, this is what they claim to be, and they don’t rely on plundering for a long time to make a living, but they are also merchants and traders, and they occasionally They are also merchants and traders, occasionally hiding their identities to do a little short-distance shipping and other small business.
Austin added: “Most of the members of the Quake Gang came from bankrupt farmers and runaway slaves, and very few of them had a black mark before joining the pirates. They’ve never had much to do with other pirates, and they’ve had a few run-ins with a number of gangs.”
Paul secretly nodded, “Quite a bit of robbing the rich to help the poor, no wonder the ‘Loach’ slipped away without a word when he saw the situation during the Battle of Lakewood Town, a little peer friendship is not spoken.”
In fact, this is what he thinks too much, pirates live every day with a knife licking the blood of the day, which has what peer friendship, each other fire and things are commonplace.
After careful examination of the crowd, a total of 300 prisoners were screened out.
Paul thought about it and decided: “It’s impossible to recruit all of them, even if they haven’t done any great evil, at least their age and physical quality should meet our recruitment standards, and also the pricks who don’t obey the management during the imprisonment period are even more unacceptable. Cecil, you gather intelligence on the activities of the Quake Gang and see if they really haven’t plundered civilians as they themselves say.”
Then he turned to Austin again and said, “These people have to be recruited into the Navy in batches, broken up and assigned to various teams, and also focused on monitoring them up, so they must not be allowed to huddle together.”
Austin led the order, “Yes, Lord Earl.”
(End of chapter)