Chapter 144 The South

Chapter 144 The South

Alan stood at the end of the queue, he looked very nervous, looking at the entrance to the shipyard for a moment, then looking down to check if his collar was organized.

Captain Quirk tapped him on the head, “Hey kid, what’s up, don’t move around, stand properly.”

“Well …… yes!” The teenager’s slightly red face looked aghast, and he stared forward and stopped moving.

Last night received a notice from the naval headquarters that a big shot was coming to inspect the shipyard, allowing the crews of the original Hope and another ship stationed at the shipyard to do the acceptance of the new equipment to be ready to meet.

It wasn’t until after dinner this morning that the shipyard learned: the person who was coming to inspect was none other than Paul Gleiman, the Lord of Arda.

As soon as the scheduled time arrived, the officers and men of the yard were assembled in a parade of welcome, and the head of the shipyard, Rubin.

Junior Allen just joined the Navy a few days, many people and things are not familiar with, do what is careful, once heard that the Lord of Alda is coming to inspect them, can not help but be panicked.

He has grown up, seen the biggest official is the mayor of the nearby town, seen the nearest person to the lord is the tax collector who comes to the village to collect taxes, and has not seen a real nobleman, let alone the actual ruler of a territory.

According to the adults, that was someone who could decide the fate of commoners like them with every word and action.

What did the lord of Arda look like, did he have a nose and two eyes like ordinary people?
Just as he was imagining things, an announcement came from the doorway, “Count Gleiman has arrived!”

“All present – attention!”

With Quake’s command, all the officers and soldiers immediately changed from a slight resting position to standing at attention.

Then a line of people walked in from outside the gate.

“Salute!”

Accompanied by a second command, the officers and soldiers saluted with their hands raised in unison.

Among the group of people who came in, Alan recognized one of them as Naval Commander Austin, and at this moment, he and another person also raised their hands to return the salute to the officers and soldiers.

As for the other man, looking at the way the people around him were treating him with respect, it wasn’t hard to guess that he was the Lord of Alda, Earl Greiman.

Alan was a bit surprised, the count seemed to be around 16 years old, with dark brown and almost black hair and eyes, his appearance was plain and unimpressive, because he grew up in a noble family, he looked a bit stronger than his peers in the village, was such a young man the supreme ruler of the count’s territory of Alda?

Behind the earl followed by a woman with green hair, twelve-year-old boys have begun to pay attention to the appearance of the opposite sex, Allen has not seen such a charismatic big sister, the girl encountered in the pirate stronghold is also very beautiful, but compared with the eyes of this can only be considered as a green little apple.

“This is our Navy Candidate?” Earl Greiman saw a row of teenagers standing neatly.

“Navy alternates?” Austin was a little surprised to hear that.

“Aren’t you using children to train reserve officers? I have now decided to name their status as ‘Officer Candidates’.”

“That’s a good name, my lord, from now on they will be the ‘Officer Candidates’ of our Navy. “

The young Earl came to a few of the equally young alternates and said, “I learned of your encounters in Austin’s report, and I hope that you will consider the Navy a second home.”

He looked to Alan, who was clearly the youngest, and reached out to pat him on the shoulder, “What is your name?”

“Allen …… My name is Allen, my lord.”

The teenager reddened and answered with immense apprehension.

Paul laughed, this was the seed of his navy’s future growth and development.

He patted the teenager’s shoulder, “Don’t be nervous, can you adapt to life on a warship?”

Alan replied, “Adapting, I feel good up there.”

Paul nodded his head in relief while Alan recalled his old home, the one where his mother was always busy.

How could life on a warship be any better than trying to compare it to his own home?
There were a lot of rules and regulations, and if you made a mistake – even forgetting to salute an officer – you had to take off your pants and expose your bare buttocks to the picketers, and it wasn’t just a slap or two like his mother had punished him with before, it was a real spanking with a thick paddle, and your buttocks would be swollen for half a day afterward. The seniors on the ship said that this was already a mercy on account of the fact that they were still underage candidates.

Against the adult sailors, there is another tool that makes people talk about – nine-tailed whip, the use of this terrible torture device can only be dominated by the ship’s captain, the reason for the punishment and the number of punishments are also decided by the captain, in the specific implementation of the process, the entire ship’s personnel are asked to focus on the deck to watch the process of torture, to serve as an example of the role of killing chickens. The whole ship is required to watch the execution process from the deck to make an example of the ship, and the whole execution process is full of ceremonial feeling by beating drums, lighting whips, drinking water and other steps.

In short, on board the warship was a tense and orderly life, not at all as comfortable as before at home.

But Allen never regretted joining the Alda Navy, he and his companions captured together by the pirates back to the village, the village has been buried by the pirates killed his mother, he swore in front of his mother’s tombstone, must destroy all the pirates in the whole world, can help him to realize this wish only the Alda Navy.

At this point Paul said, “Take us to the new ship and show us around.”

Austin steered ahead, “This way, Lord Graiman.”

The group headed toward the dockside, and a few of the prospects followed them as temporary attendants.

Two sloops, larger than the Hope from the looks of it, with six gun ports on each side of the ship, lay quietly at the dock.

“Do they have names?”

“The one about to go south has been named the ‘Southern,’ and the other has not yet been named.”

The crowd boarded the Southern, and Paul delicately stroked every part of the hull he passed.

“Has the crew that will go south to open a new route been identified?”

“Considering that this is an unfamiliar voyage, we’ve asked the crew from the original Hope to pilot the ship to the south; after all, they have the most experience in maneuvering this type of ship.”

Paul looked to Quirk, “You and your crew have a great responsibility.”

Quake gave him a salute, “Aye, we will live up to the expectations!”

Paul suddenly thought of something and asked, “What kind of things do you guys carry on board? Like food and such?”

Austin replied, “We’re going to test the ship’s range to the limit and try to keep her from docking to resupply on the way, so we’ve prepared a large amount of cured meats, cookies, canned goods, all easy-to-preserve foods, and of course, fresh water, but fresh water can easily go bad, so alcohol is essential as well.”

“There are also plans for two hens on board to provide fresh eggs for any sick people that may appear, and a cat to catch any rats that sneak onto the ship.”

“To deal with possible dangers at sea, the Southern will be armed with twelve cannons, and four spare barrels in ballast underneath.”

After the elimination of Gaden’s gang, the pressure on the navy was almost non-existent, and the remaining scattered pirates surrendered of their own accord one after another or went far away, so Austin was relieved to equip most of the guns on the Southern.

Paul, however, tugged on the Admiral’s sleeve and pulled him into a corner, making sure no one was around before asking in a whisper, “Do you know about scurvy?”

Austin didn’t understand why the lord was being so mysterious and said, “I’ve never had it, but it’s said to be a horrible birth disease that breaks out after a long sea voyage.”

Paul shook his head in denial, “Contagious disease? No, it’s not contagious.”

“According to my research, if you don’t eat vegetables for a long time, you can get this disease. So make sure you guys bring lots of vegetables and dry them out if you want to keep them for a long time, they’re better than nothing anyway. Once they’re eaten or rotted, forget about the range test and get ashore to replenish them, I don’t want to mess with anyone’s life.”

Austin was surprised, the Earl was still into this?

However, seeing that the lord’s face was grave and did not look like he was joking at all, he nodded vigorously, “Yes, I will definitely keep your instructions in mind.”

Paul added, “By the way, southern citrus, oranges and other fruits can also prevent scurvy, have them bring more on their return voyage.”

Then the conversation turned, “Note, make this one of the classified matters of the Navy, let only the senior officers know, absolutely no publicity, I don’t want my future maritime rivals to know about this kind of measure that can greatly avoid attrition, keep it secret for as long as you can.”

“Please don’t worry, I will be careful.”

It looked like adjustments would have to be made to the material preparations on board the Southern.

(End of chapter)