Chapter 23

If Scandinavia is the source of the image of the Dragon Nidhogg in the Viking mythology system, bocken fjord must be the nasal cavity used by the dragon to spit fire and frost.

Bypassing Kam Island, the Artemis beauty sailed into bocken fjord.

The hydrology here is complex. Cliffs and cliffs are common on both banks, and islands are all over the way.

During the journey, the channel suitable for large ships is sometimes wide and sometimes narrow, and sometimes staggered with other ships, leaving only a few meters of small gap between the two ships.

In this environment, Haina's steering skills must be incompetent.

Lorraine took over the hand wheel early and stowed the main sail. Haina stood in the watchtower, and the vital bow sail was entrusted to Karen's care.

Their destination is Stavanger black port.

Stavanger, the fourth largest city in the kingdom of Norway with the same name, is built on the tongenes peninsula on the West Bank of the Fjord, and this prosperous black port is built on Rennes Island, which is separated from one of the seas and has a straight-line distance of less than 20 kilometers.

The ship sailed on the water and rounded the wharf along the outline of the island.

Standing at the high rudder position, Lorraine saw a grass slope in the south of the island. On the grass slope, there was the famous Utstein monastery with white walls and red roof.

The monastery was built on the sunny slope of ustine Island, which is close to Rennes island. It began in the Augustan period and was once the oldest religious building in the kingdom of Norway.

It was brilliant for 400 years. It was not until the religious reform broke out in Europe in the 16th century that it was abandoned by the king and given to the ivazon family. Then it became the private property of the Garman family for one reason or another.

As it happens, the Garman family is the actual controller of starneg black port and the only member of the management committee.

If the news from Elgin is true, sir Garman, who manages black port, was expelled from the family for non religious reasons. He is an "abandoned son" and a pure Viking.

Thinking of this, Lorraine couldn't help narrowing her eyes.

Sir Garman's faith and identity are his advantages, while never contacting the real Vikings is his disadvantage.

How to develop strengths and avoid weaknesses and quickly open up Stavanger's business path?

He thought deeply that a tall and slender gunboat was suddenly inserted behind the side of the Artemis beauty.

She spread her sails all over the narrow channel, smashed the waves, and swept away against the side of the beauty.

The crew of the beauty was startled. Lorraine steered and Karen controlled the sail, scrambling to avoid the possible collision.

In the moment of wiping the side, Lorraine saw the flag flying on the other party's main mast.

Black background, white pattern and pattern case are two skull skulls that look at each other. There is a sword and an axe under the skull, crossed into an X.

Two young men as tall as giants stood side by side on the deck, with Scottish swords hanging from their long hair and wheel axes on their backs.

When the two sides were closest, Lorraine vaguely saw the bald head spit: "boom, Englishman!"

A moment later, the gunboat disappeared and the frightened crew gathered around Lorraine.

Little Pierce's face was pale, and there was a drum on his forehead that had just been hurt. It was red and swollen.

He trembled with lingering fear: "Captain, was that a skeleton flag just now? Are they... Real pirates?"

Karen frowned deeply: "from the aspect of the flag, they should be the Viking Gemini pirate regiment that has gained great reputation in recent years. The head is a pair of twin brothers, Lev and bonit of the Eriksson family."

Haina looked at Karen in a strange way: "do you know them?"

"I haven't seen the two captains, but the black Harbor Branch of bell dock repaired the ships for them and handled the merchant ships they robbed, so I'm more familiar with them..."

Pierce opened his mouth. "Their boat... Is so big."

Lorraine held the steering wheel and shook his head slowly: "brigantin standard, 30 meters long, double mast. The foremast cross sail is 20 meters high, the main mast longitudinal sail is 22 meters high. The bow inclined mast is 5 meters, four triangular sails are hung, and there are two fishing sails between the double masts."

"This ship type is a standard high-speed ship, with 12 knots downwind and 5 knots upwind. It is slender, stable and adaptable."

"She's not bigger than the beatis beauty. You think she's big mainly because her masts are longer and there are much more sails than the beauty."

"Besides... Brigantin has five decks. Even if the two upper decks are removed, under the condition of similar draft, her side height is nearly two meters higher than the beauty."

Karen looked dignified. "Captain, do you see what's on their deck?"

"Guns." Lorraine breathed out a long breath, "there are eight guns on the main deck, all of which are six pound guns. There are two stern gun windows closed in the poop, and the ten side gun windows on the gun deck are also closed. If they are full, there are twenty gun ships..."

Karen took a deep breath: "this is a real gunboat..."

……

Even though psychological construction had been carried out for a long time, the experience of meeting the Gemini pirate regiment in the black harbor sea area at first cast a shadow on the hearts of the crew of the Artemis beauty.

The North Sea is not calm.

In this small sea area, Scots, English, French and Dutch haunt the dense routes, and the most powerful and cruel... Are the Vikings.

The Viking pirates' nest is on the dotted islands around Scandinavia, with a total of about 20 or 30. The Gemini Pirate Group is only one of them, and far from the most powerful one.

This brought Lorraine back to a problem.

If the chamber of commerce wants to use northern Europe as one of the fulcrums of triangular trade, it must properly address the threat of piracy.

Sir Garman... Will it be an opportunity?

In the setting sun, the Artemis beauty sailed slowly into the calm harbor.

Stavanger's Wharf was a little broken and looked far less orderly than Elgin. At least Lorraine didn't see the pilot.

The ship randomly chose an empty anchor wharf to anchor, far away from the Gemini Pirate Group at the other end of the harbor.

After the ship stopped, Lorraine left Karen and pierce to guard the ship. She took Haina into the port and began to inquire about Sir Garman's hobbies and residence.

In his mind, Haina and he are both pagans. In the Viking port, they should be born with affinity higher than God's faith.

Unfortunately, his plan is good, but his luck is not very good.

After inquiring about the port area, he learned that Sir Garman spent most of his time on the island of ustine across the Strait. He came to black port to deal with chores only two or three days a month, and the last port was just five days ago.

He also likes peace and quiet. He doesn't like strangers to disturb his peaceful life

This is almost the worst news. It means that Lorraine is likely to stay in this strange black port for a whole month.

He and Haina reluctantly walked back to the wharf and found that a group of big men like pirates were crying to attack the Artemis beauty.

There were about a dozen of them, clamoring for confrontation around the plank road and the ship.

Karen carefully pulled out the board. They couldn't get on the ship directly, so they began to throw hooks and ropes on the ship and climb up the deck by connecting the side.

There were five or six hooks and cables hanging on the main deck more than 20 meters long at the same time. Pierce worked hard with a kitchen knife. Karen wanted to protect him and deal with three or four opponents who boarded the ship at the same time. After a while, he added several blood holes to his body and defended very hard.

Lorraine was stunned.

My boat... Was robbed at the anchor wharf?

"See the ghost Hey!"

Lorraine, who hit all the soft nails in the port area, was angry and even his Chinese popped out.

His anger started from his heart, and his evil came to the side of his courage. With a clang, he pulled out his sword, and the fierce tiger fell down the mountain as if he had jumped into the battle group!

"Haina, try to stay alive!"

"Oh."