night.

In a small estate outside Baltimore, Colonel Alexander Hamilton and the stocky officials were relatively speechless.

In the middle of them was a coffee table. There was a candlestick in the middle of the coffee table. The candle in the candlestick was nearly half lit, reflecting the wine glasses in front of the two of them, and it seemed that the wine had not moved.

The wine hasn't moved, the person hasn't moved, only the candlelight flickers, like a person's mind.

The door of the living room was gently pushed open from the outside, and a dignified woman in a shawl walked in, her eyes soft, but extraordinarily bright.

"John, you told many people that you want to buy Alexander a drink. If he goes back without drunkenness, tomorrow others won't say you are simple, they will only say that you are stingy."

The pudgy official frowned and glanced at the woman: "The country is shaking in the wind and rain, and Alexander and I are shouldering the heavy responsibility given by George..."

"Slightly drunkenness will make your thinking clearer, and sitting down will only waste time." The woman insisted.

"Abigail, you can always convince me." The chunky official sighed slightly and raised the glass in front of him. "Alexander, since it was Abigail's order, we did it."

Colonel Hamilton shook his head, raised the cup, and lightly touched the pudgy official.

"If it weren't for this era, I would really worry that the commander would lose the trust of the parliament, because as long as Abigail is in politics, no one can beat her in eloquence."

"That's why the men hold on to their rights, dear Alexander." The woman smiled and bowed in thanks. "You talk, I'll make coffee for you."

Making coffee is just an excuse, the woman only hopes to open the deadlock. She knew that her husband had encountered a problem, and there was no solution except to discuss with a wise friend.

Sure enough, when she closed the door, the topic naturally opened.

Colonel Hamilton rubbed his eyebrows painfully: "John, what Mr. Kenway said is somewhat true to you."

"Most of them, especially about the Drake family. I don't know which intelligence dealer can find so many secrets."

"Perhaps it was given to him by the French?"

"Perhaps... After all, he has something to do with the Earl Galves."

The colonel became curious.

"Earl Galves? I remember he was the governor of Louisiana, an ordinary nobleman who seemed to have a bit of military talent. He beat the British guy a few days ago?"

"Your information needs to be updated, my friend." The short and fat official stretched his waist. "More than a month ago, I went to France for an envoy and met him in Fontainebleau. He is now in front of Louis XVI. The celebrity seems to have been close to Queen Mary. By the way, because of the victory in New Orleans, he has been promoted to the first parliament and is now a French nobleman, and his fief is in Louisiana."

"A real earl of the New World?" Hamilton said in shock, "Is Louis XVI going to betray the Americans!"

"It has nothing to do with politics, my friend, at least as far as I know, this promotion has nothing to do with politics and French ambitions. Galvez is Queen Mary’s smuggling agent, you know, Lady Deficit’s obsession with gold Can make her do anything crazy."

"Fortunately..." Hamilton took a long sigh of relief, and started thinking again, "Galvez is the queen's agent, and Edward Kenway is Galvez's agent again...Is the price increase this time the deficit lady? From now on, we all have to accept this woman's insatiable exploitation?"

The chunky official smiled, a wise look flashed across his face.

"Actually I don't care about the exploitation of the queen." He said softly, "I only care if Shaq Drake really cut off the passage of the sea. If it is true, how can we raise more for George? Arms?"

"From Kenway?"

"Did you pay attention to his ship? The high-speed bag, with wing sails attached. This ship is an elf on the sea. Once it runs, no one can catch her."

"But he only has one boat after all!"

"As long as we are stable, a boat can bring us a lot. Anyway, the French will not give everything to the Continental Army. They only want a weak England, not a strong America."

Hamilton suddenly realized: "Are you going to increase supply by raising prices?"

The chunky official put up **** triumphantly.

"There are two regiments per month, 2400 rifles, half of the pistols, but 12 light guns are attached, and it is still on the premise of not affecting land transactions."

"This amount... can the French agree?"

"It depends on the queen's love for money." The pudgy official stood up and looked at the dark night outside the window. "If you want to establish a federation, the future government needs absolute strength, and George also needs to build great deeds. All these need to rely on the strength of the Continental Army."

"We don't want a civil war, but we cannot be afraid of it. If we want the British to sit down and talk, we must have the courage to calm the British. Money is not a problem in the face of these problems. Only if it can become the key, the people's taxes will not be paid in vain. "

Colonel Hamilton lowered his head convincingly.

"It's you, the tyrant of politics, John Adams."

...

Unfortunately, after waiting all night, Lorraine finally failed to see John Adams and his legendary wife, Baltimore's true storyteller.

It was still the handsome Hamilton Colonel, who brought Lorraine a brand new contract, and it was not a draft, but a final one.

This shows that the Americans have no willingness to negotiate at all.

Lorraine could only read carefully the binding conditions in front of him.

"Each contract includes 2,400 Charleville rifles at a unit price of 100 pounds; 1,200 dragoon pistols at a unit price of 50 pounds; 12 newest infantry light guns at a unit price of 1,100 pounds. A free ship of consumables is included. No bandages are required, as long as the uniform and Ammunition, medicine can also..."

To be honest, this price is very good, very good.

According to this contract, the Jackdaw’s monthly flow will reach a terrifying £313,200, of which £113,200 is an increase in share. It’s hard to say how much Lorraine can share, but the other £200,000 is actually a real contract income. The conclusion has long been reached.

The cost is 47,000 and the profit is 153,000. The Jackdaw owns 40% of it, which is 61,200.

After deducting the basic expenses and deducting the four-component red, Lorraine will enjoy at least 35,000 pounds a month, and once again, he will earn an extra base amount of the Northwest Branch.

This is only part of the contract revenue.

The source of the uplifted part can only come from the part that the Earl manages for Queen Mary, and the Queen's profit is definitely indispensable, so Lorraine's share can basically only come from the difference between the new contract and the old contract.

Each rifle was 24 pounds, and each handgun was 8 pounds. If Lorraine remembers correctly, the difference for each light gun is 200 pounds, which adds up to 25,600 pounds.

Still divided into four or six, the jackdaw is 10,240 pounds. This does not need to deduct expenses, Lorraine's exclusive is 6,144 pounds.

Personal income up to 40,000 pounds per contract!

Lorraine couldn't help feeling excited, but he still suppressed himself forcibly and concentrated on calculating the risks that he would take to fulfill the new contract.

Risks are everywhere, first of all is the source of goods.

France has always controlled his input to the Continental Army, and dividing it into land and sea at a ratio of seven to three is also one of the means of this control.

Because the arms transported on land cannot be kept secret, most or even all of them will flow into the frontline supply chain based on the needs of the combat team for supplies, and will eventually become battle damage.

This is the smuggling method most in line with the French. It is up to him how many troops there are in the Continental Army. Before peace really comes, the new United States can only live by suppressing his breath.

Unfortunately, the risk on land is too great.

There are canines-toothed fronts everywhere, and Indians loyal to the United Kingdom are in the woods. Once the materials are lost, the Americans will definitely deny it, and all the losses will be borne by France.

But the sea is different.

Most of the maritime merchants are free people, adhering to the principle of the previous and subsequent goods, and in the case of the same profit, France has truly achieved the profit without loss.

Because of this, even if land smuggling is more in the national interest, most of the materials are eventually transferred to the sea, but the quantity is stuck in a special position, that is, there is more than one group of equipment, and there is a huge shortage of two groups.

This number is almost impossible to support the Continental Army's preparation of a new main force. The ordinary line corps is acceptable, but after all, the ability to attack is too weak, and there is no hidden value at all.

The new contract is aimed at the careful thinking of the French...

2400 rifles and 1200 pistols can just form a full line regiment plus an elite grenadier regiment, and even 12 light guns are also the most mainstream standard equipment to strengthen the grenadier regiment's attacking capabilities.

After the two corps are built, the line corps can be used to strengthen the front line, and the grenadier regiment can strengthen the foundation of the Continental Army and build their ability to fight independently.

The Americans can't wait to become the real protagonists of their own wars, and this ambition is clearly revealed in the new contract.

Will Earl Galves agree?

I don't know why, Lorraine vaguely thinks that the answer is yes.

Because the price is too attractive.

Although the strength of the Continental Army may harm the interests of France, the French will benefit from it, and the earl and the queen behind him will make a lot of money in this promotion.

With such a good reason, what is the earl's dissatisfaction with?

The second issue is the settlement terms.

The new contract requires that the United States will guarantee the credibility of the Continental Army and postpone the settlement until the completion of each contract, instead of using traditional methods, one settlement for each ship and two for the money.

This is probably a sign that the Americans are beginning to face the HNA risks raised by Lorraine.

They hope to use the new contract to build a new army, so they want to press the payment method to force the Earl of Galves to guarantee the integrity of the contract, so as to avoid the loss of HNA, which will eventually lead to halfway failure.

This is basically meaningless to Lorraine.

In the two countries, Lorraine, as the weaker side, has no room for failure.

If success is the prerequisite, Americans will not default on debts, and they will not default on their debts. The payment will be settled sooner or later.

What's more, the same clause happens to be in the contract between Lorraine and the earl, which means that the earl is the only one who really needs to bear the financial risk, and the only thing that this clause damages is the earl.

The most important thing in the new contract, and what Lorraine is most concerned about is actually the performance period.

The traditional performance period for US-French smuggling is one month, which is equivalent to the time spanning the Atlantic Ocean, which can ensure continuous trade and continuous business.

But Lorraine is the only ship suitable for this smuggling, the Jackdaw. The cargo hold and rest are all issues he needs to consider.

The increased share of arms can also be solved by adjusting the configuration.

If the Jackdaw reluctantly gave up the upper firepower and vacated the forehouse gun bay and some material bays, all the cargo could still barely be shipped in two trips, plus one ship's consumables, the total number of rounds could still be maintained at Three rounds.

Time is out...

Without hindrance, the Jackdaw’s round trip between New Orleans and Baltimore lasts about 9 days. With the current sea conditions, it would take 2 more days to be safe.

This time a single 12-day itinerary is not a reference. Lorraine deliberately waited for Bell to recover~lightnovelpub.net~ on the road to find out if there are any new changes in Shaq's tactics, and Little Cayman as a starting point is much farther than New Orleans...

However, the period of 11 days for a single round and 33 days for a contract still does not allow him to complete the contract within the traditional time limit.

It is impossible for the crew to pivot on the sea.

Continuous voyages will accumulate fatigue, and the accumulated fatigue will reduce concentration, so that the ability to handle the ship will decrease, which will eventually lead to an increase in the risk of going to sea...

In other words, haste is not fast.

Lorraine pondered for a long while, then raised his head to look at Colonel Hamilton.

"Colonel, I understand your reasons for directly fetching the original new contract, but if you want me to sign and agree, we still need a supplementary agreement."

"Supplement?" Hamilton was surprised and unhappy again.

"Yes, supplementary." Lorraine seemed to have not seen him and made his comments slowly. "The supplementary agreement mainly involves two aspects. First, in view of the tense maritime situation, I hope that the performance period of the new contract will be 45 days. Instead of the traditionally agreed 30 days."

Hamilton was even more angry.

"Is Mr. Kenway teasing me? Two trips in three months, the arms we requested were not met at all, and the new contract is meaningless to us!"

"No, no, no. You have to understand that the munitions safely delivered to Baltimore are American munitions, otherwise they are just sacrificial offerings to the sea, and some of them will become the minions of the British."

Lorraine shook his fingers and smiled softly.

"The training and combat of elite troops will cause wastage, and full play will not do any good to logistics."

"So I have tailored the second paragraph of the supplementary agreement for you, that is, during every two contracts, we shall transport an additional ship of ordnance. The content is mainly rifles and pistols, and the quantity is variable. Only this ship, We have to count on the old contract."