Two Hundred and Sixtieth Five, Making Money Is Not Easy

On September 28, 1779, on a sunny day, the newly renovated Jackdaw wandered away from Baltimore, swaggering out of the Chesapeake Bay before Shaq and the Lion switched defenses. .

Lorraine has two new documents in hand, one is a special contract for Boston, and the other is a statement from the Continental Congress to Boston.

Considering that there are still many chores to be done after returning to New Orleans, in order not to affect his thoughts, Lorraine left the explanation to Carmen, and he put most of his energy on the special contract that must have huge long-term benefits.

The content of the contract is still different from the draft.

The first is the cycle, 45 days, which is equivalent to a regular contract round, which is conducive to the allocation of goods by the supplier, especially the supplementary supplier of Lorraine, Mr. Habsburg who is not very good at communicating.

Secondly, on the basis of the original 2,200 Charlevilles, 400 dragoons were added, which is still a special way of paying first and then goods, so there is already an extra 240,000 pounds of cash on the Lorraine ship.

The price of this money is that the side firepower of the Jackdaw has shrunk further, from 16 twelve-pound guns to 12. Correspondingly, the cargo hold of the whole ship has been increased to twelve. A harmless armed merchant ship, presumably, with only a cargo hold gap remaining.

The third change has to do with Baltimore's regular contract.

In the original draft, the regular contract renewal was calculated from the end date of the special contract. Under Lorraine's arguments, this detail was adjusted to start from the next arrival of the Jackdaw in Baltimore.

Adams thought that Lorraine wanted to make time for the upcoming peace talks, but he didn't know that in Lorraine's mind, the peace talks might not even start at all.

As expected, Cotton Jack would regard the conditions handed over by the Continental Congress as a letter of war, and even if he did not leave a mark on the messenger, he would still regard Edward Kenway as a thorn in his side and a thorn in his flesh.

A formal war is inevitable.

However, it is impossible for Edward to become a close opponent to the Pirate King. Even if the Jackdaw fully equipped its firepower, the situation would not be better than it is now.

So in order not to affect the subsequent smuggling activities, Lorraine has to make sure that Cotton Jack is busy, preferably busy going to heaven, and has no time to care about that little enemy who is digging for gold in the Chesapeake Bay.

"First Mansfield III, and now Cotton Jack VII...Speaking of which, the pirate kings of the Caribbean and I are really destined."

...

go round and round,

Five days later, the Jackdaw returned to New Orleans with a cabin full of gold coins.

Compared to Baltimore, Boston's contract length is criminally generous. Lorraine has no risk of overdue, but the biggest trouble is the inventory backlog caused by the disrupted supply cycle.

If this matter cannot be handled properly, it will affect the rare relationship of mutual trust between Lorraine and Earl Galvez.

After the rotation was arranged and the sailors were given a five-day vacation, Lorraine sent Yacharin as a messenger to solemnly invite the earl to go to New Orleans to pick up the gold.

There are a total of 240,000 pounds worth of gold coins on board. According to the proportion, 59,280 pounds belong to Drake, 53,200 pounds are to be transferred from Galvez to Habsburg, 38,600 pounds are the cost of the bill, and the rest is the earl income.

Of course, that's just a single statistic.

Due to the shrinkage of the manifest, there will be 200 Charlevilles, 800 Dragoons, and 12 land guns left in the warehouse during this contract period, with a total of eleven compartments in stock.

And except for the 600 dragoons among them, the rest are high-priced goods repurchased from the Habsburgs. No matter whether they are handed over three times or left behind, they are all uninteresting.

Lorraine and Galvez discussed it, and offered to buy 200 sets of long and short guns, worth 23,600 pounds, to realize the full firearmization of the sailors of the Jackdaw.

Galvez reciprocated, not only simply accepted the unfeeling request of the Americans, but also proposed that his new estate needed a batch of small cannons to drive away wild animals and natives, and he took the twelve light cannons into his pocket with a wave of his hand.

The inventory problem has been properly resolved.

It stands to reason that the next step is the dividends that everyone loves to see. The Chamber of Commerce has a balance of 35,680 pounds. Although it is not as exciting as the previous two contract periods, it is still a considerable amount.

However, Lorraine did not do this. Instead, he gathered all the sailors, and on the third day of rest, he took the Azure Water Drop to Little Cayman Island.

Leonard and Alves were already waiting there at some point, and Lorraine immediately announced the convening of a board meeting of the General Chamber of Commerce, and two representatives of the Caribbean branch attended the meeting.

The first topic of the meeting was the secret reserve fund of the Caribbean branch, a total of 10,000 pounds, which Leonard kept and judged when it would be put into use.

Lorraine had discussed this issue with his sailors before.

Chuck is a cornucopia of outstanding business talents. In September, the monthly profit of the Caribbean branch climbed to 3,600 pounds. The increase is amazing.

However, he is too adventurous, and his business philosophy is advanced and radical, and he has a faint taste of playing with leverage.

It is necessary to add insurance for him to ensure the normal and orderly development of the branch. The proposal was unanimously passed, and 10,000 pounds were handed over to Leonard on the spot.

The second topic belongs to the subsidiary link of the General Chamber of Commerce's smuggling business.

Lorraine asked Leonard to buy three Bermuda sailing ships.

Two two-masted Brigantines, berthed at Lucie and Kingston respectively, are dedicated to Lorraine and Leonard as transportation ships. A single-masted Sroop, which is used together with the Azure Drop for mobile calls, and is usually moored at Crow's Nest and New Orleans.

Bermuda sailing boats are of high quality and low price. The unit price of a single-masted ship is only 400 pounds, and a new two-masted ship is only 3,000 pounds. With limited light firepower, the unit price will not exceed 4,000.

This issue was finally negotiated at 8,500 pounds, and it was still handed over to Leonard, who was required to complete the formalities within 45 days and take the ship into the port.

On the last topic, Lorraine swept the crowd.

"Everyone, the battle is about to start. The Jackdaw is not the opponent of Cotton Jack, so the main force in this battle will be the Drake Chamber of Commerce, the Golden Deer, and the ocean-going fleet of the Caribbean branch."

As soon as this remark came out, everyone was shocked.

Bell slapped the table and stood up: "Lo...Chairman, are you planning to reveal Edward Kenway's identity?"

Lorraine smiled and waved his hands: "The Jackdaw still has sky-high orders to make, and I'm not willing to cut my life for a mere pirate king."

"The question of replacement?"

"It's not a replacement." Lorraine tilted his head. "Whether Cotton officially declares war on the Jackdaw or not, Drake will find an excuse to take the initiative to declare war on Cotton Jack."

This is a purely technical question.

In the Caribbean, the Brotherhood of the Sea is a united entity.

They consider themselves a pack of wolves at sea and regard merchant ships as lambs to be slaughtered.

Under normal circumstances, sheep are not allowed to provoke wolves. If someone is overreaching, the pirates will unite to make an example and maintain order.

But Lorraine was a privateer, and Francis' blood allowed him to easily integrate into the circle of Caribbean pirates, and the token of the Pirate King gave him legal qualifications.

To really want this identity to become a reality and be recognized by the world, Lorraine still needs to take the initiative to report to Turtle Island.

Or to be more precise, it is an official announcement to the pirate world that Lorraine Drake has joined the competition for the seventh pirate crown.

At that point, the war between the Drake Chamber of Commerce and the Cotton Jack Pirates becomes a war between a Pirate King and a Pirate King candidate, within the norms of the Pirate Code.

The two sides can only win allies based on their own abilities. Will the Sea Brotherhood interfere, let alone help one side and launch a crusade.

So the Drake Chamber of Commerce's declaration of war on Cotton Jack is an operational plan, the only problem is the motive.

Lorraine can't provoke Cotton Jack for no reason.

His token belonged to King Mansfield III. Even if he wanted to get his hands on the throne of the Pirate King, the target should be the third candidate that even Katerina was not familiar with.

What's more, Chuck didn't know about the smuggling at all, and declared war for no reason, even the board of directors of the Caribbean branch couldn't get it approved.

This matter needs to be packaged, just like the ladies of the Hanoverian dynasty went to the ball, they had to put Huaguo Mountain on their heads first, and then they had to dress themselves as Monkey King, and then they could show themselves in front of people.

Professional matters should be handled by professional people. Lorraine sat down and Katerina stood up.

"The plan is as follows." She lashed out at Fang Qiu like a general, "During our trip to Boston, the branch will have someone to contact Old Bart in New Orleans."

"I asked old Bart, Cotton Jack is a regular customer of one of his downlines, especially recently, the patronage is particularly frequent."

"The branch wants to spread the news through Bart. Gold ships, porcelain, silk or other things, as long as they are invaluable and are in short supply in the New World, they can be skillfully disclosed to him, making 3-4 in a short time. successful looting that appears to have been targeted."

"October is the best opportunity to implement the plan at this stage. Cotton Jack suffered a lot from Shaq Drake. During the patrol of the Lion, he will suspend entering the Chesapeake Bay. In other words, He has a lot of free time."

"In the second stage, after the Jackdaw returns, to lure Cotton Jack to raid the branch's ocean-going fleet, still through Old Bart's channel."

"You just need to be prepared. There are only a handful of pirate groups in the Caribbean Sea that can really harm the ocean-going fleet. At least Cotton Jack is not one of them. He will return disappointed in this battle."

"But at this time, the chairman has enough reasons to persuade the branch board of directors to launch a war and kill chickens and monkeys. The rest are technical issues, and I won't go into details here!"

She sat back in her seat neatly, Lorraine smiled and knocked on the table.

"That's it. Katerina made this plan for several days, fully considering the pirate's thinking and the price we paid."

"There will definitely be a price. After all, Chairman Drake is a friend of justice. Even if the other party is a pirate, I can't attack him without any reason. This is not in line with my usual character design. When Cotton Jack and Edward are at war Sometimes, it is easy to arouse the suspicion of interested people."

"Olves, this matter is left to you. The offshore fleet originally had a tradition of hiring foreign ships, which can hide the chamber of commerce and prevent Cotton Jack from discovering it early. Leonard also has the priceless ancient gold Some devices can be used, and you and Leonard can discuss it."

"Yes!" Olves, the admiral of the Offshore Chamber of Commerce, replied sonorously.

"By the way, your budget for this operation is also 10,000 pounds, remember to save some money."

"The bounden duty of a businessman is to weigh the input and the output. It is our duty to reduce the cost as much as possible while achieving the goal, especially when facing a small goal with insufficient oil and water."

"Don't be blinded by the reputation of the Pirate King. He is just a downtrodden and lawless person. Cotton Jack VII...he is not worth our investment."

"It's not easy to make money."

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