In the gauze-like sea fog, the roar of naval guns resounded through the sky like the roar of thunder god.
Suddenly, a smuggling ship with low freeboard and painted in block camouflage rushed out of the sea fog. Although the wind and waves on the sea were not big, due to the speed, the rough waves kept hitting the high-speed smuggling ship, and the waves continued.
It flew over the bow of the ship, flew over the side, and hit the deck.
The sailors who ran out on the deck braved the waves and worked hard to cover the canvas ropes tightly. If it weren't for the ropes tied around their waists, they would have been swept away by a wave.
"arrive!"
Finally, with an excited roar, Wilmington Harbor broke into the sight of the sailors.
The Port of Wilmington is not that big a port, but when ports such as New Orleans were occupied or blocked first, it became one of the passages between the south and the outside world.
For the merchants in the city, they would stand at the port and stare at the sea every day, expecting merchant ships to break through the blockade and bring much-needed supplies to the south - large amounts of shoes, salt, medicines, munitions and other goods, but these
Items can mainly be obtained from the outside world.
Of course, businessmen do not need to pay cash. They have a large amount of an agricultural product that is urgently needed by the outside world - cotton. The outside world needs cotton from the south, and the south also needs to obtain supplies by exporting cotton.
As in the past, when the businessmen in the hotel once again turned their attention to the empty bay, they couldn't help but sigh.
"Bai Ruian, it's another lonely night!"
"Yeah, there isn't a boat."
"Hey, what a shame. When will the damn navy break through the Yankee blockade and defeat their fleet?"
Just as the merchants were talking to each other, suddenly, someone broke in and shouted loudly.
"There's a boat, there's a boat coming in!"
What!
In an instant, the merchants who were still there sighing rushed out like a whirlwind as if they had been given blood. When they ran to the port, they saw a low-side smuggling ship slowly sailing into the bay.
, as long as you see its hull, you can recognize its identity.
"It's a ghost!"
"It's a ghost ship on the sea!"
"Long live!"
Suddenly there was a burst of cheers on the pier, a ghost on the sea. In fact, this kind of breakthrough ship painted with striped camouflage first became famous in New Orleans. It once transported urgently needed supplies there under the cover of twilight. It is precisely because of them
Because of its mysterious whereabouts and extremely fast speed, it was called the "Caribbean Ghost". Later, it slowly appeared in various places.
As soon as the ship docked, Lin Yuehu felt the enthusiasm of Wilmington Port. Just like in the past, the merchants at the port waved their hats and shouted at them to ask about the types of goods. Some people even shouted directly to take over the ship.
All goods.
Of course, this was impossible, and soon several officials crowded forward and welcomed him.
"Welcome, Mr. Captain."
"Thanks."
Without waiting for the official to ask, Lin Yuehu took out the manifest.
"This is my manifest, sir. As in the past, 70% of the 1,100 tons of cargo loaded on the ship is military supplies."
In order to ensure the transportation of military supplies, the Confederacy issued corresponding regulations. 70% of the tonnage of each ship must be used for transporting military supplies. But even so, many smugglers will still try their best to transport those with higher added value.
Commodities, such as weapons, are definitely more valuable than boots and military uniforms, but for the South, what they need is not just weapons, boots and military uniforms are also urgently needed supplies.
Especially boots, they don’t look very eye-catching, but they are extremely important materials for the army. There is no large-scale military boot factory in the South, and the shortage of military boots even affects the combat effectiveness of the Confederate army. Many soldiers
After his boots were damaged, he even had to march barefoot to fight.
But for those smugglers, they don't care about this, all they care about is money.
But unlike them, Lin Yuehu not only had the weapons he needed, but also the leather boots, military uniforms and a series of military supplies they needed.
Just as soon as he saw the cargo list, the official understood that the captain in front of him must be a very conscientious person. He actually shipped tens of thousands of pairs of boots! After all, boots only have twice the profit.
.Ordinary smugglers simply look down on such a small business.
In gratitude, he also discovered that there were some items in the cargo list that had never appeared before.
"What kind of rifle is this?"
The officer asked, pointing to the model of rifle in the manifest.
"No Enfield rifle?"
"Scottish style 1862 rifle."
Lin Yuehu took a rifle from the crew and introduced it.
"The Enfield P1853 rifle is definitely the best muzzle-loading rifled gun of this era. There is no doubt about this. But the Scott 1862 rifle is the best rifle in the world."
The Scott 1862 rifle is a rifle imitated and improved by Nanhua based on the Spencer rifle. In fact, it uses .45-.58 center-fire bullets. The excellent performance of the bullets has greatly changed its range and power.
It also makes it an extremely deadly weapon on the battlefield.
Thanks to the expansion of the arsenal, Nanhua can now mass-produce and export this kind of rifle. As long as it can meet the conditions of self-use, it is natural to export a batch to the south. Gonggong is very popular!
"The Enfield rifle may be excellent, but apart from its rifling and mercury flash cap, it is essentially the same as the muskets of the Napoleonic era. Even the best rifleman can only shoot two or three shots per minute at most.
Three times, this old-fashioned weapon can no longer keep up with the trend of the times."
As Lin Yuehu spoke, he pulled the lever of the rifle to load it, then aimed at the sea 400 meters away and fired several shots.
"My God, its rate of fire is so fast..."
Seeing the officials dumbfounded, Lin Yuehu smiled and said,
"Although it's not cheap, believe me, on the battlefield, one Stanislav rifleman is equal to ten muzzleloader gunners!"
Good goods are not cheap, and good goods are not cheap.
The same is true for weapons. The higher the price, the more sophisticated the weapons are. In fact, for Confederate logistics officials, they don't care about the price at all, because... being able to buy them is already a blessing from God.
Soon, the two parties reached an agreement - they would pay for the goods in cotton, settling at a price of 10 cents per pound of cotton. The price was so cheap that it even felt like they had picked it up for free.
While the black slaves were unloading the military supplies from the ship, Lin Yuehu and his party came to the shore and followed the enthusiastic businessmen to the hotel.
The official business was done, and now it was time to deal with private individuals. Although it was now a war, the Confederacy did not completely monopolize trade. Instead, it confiscated smuggling ships, all carrying certain civilian supplies to meet civilian needs. Of course,
Yes, these merchants who are qualified to purchase supplies in the port may be the "white gloves" of those officials.
"Sir, half cash, half cotton, if that's okay with you, I only need 9.5 cents per pound of cotton!"
"Sir, under the same conditions, my cotton only costs 9 cents..."
There was no need to even bargain. As soon as they received the goods list, the merchants rolled up on their own. Lin Yuehu was naturally happy to see this. Of course, he didn't even care about his ship at all. It was impossible to transport it.
Remove all the cotton, and the excess cotton will be stored in the warehouse. These cottons are extremely cheap. Even if they are kept in the warehouse for a few years, when the war is over or the naval blockade is broken, you can get extremely rich profits by shipping them out.
profit.
Of course, and because of this, both the official and the private sector are extremely welcoming to smugglers like him. After all, other smugglers will never accept such barter transactions. For them, after filling the cotton
, the remaining supplies must be paid for in gold and silver coins, not even one cent less.
However, these transactions did not require Lin Yuehu to participate at all. There was also a full-time second mate on the ship who was responsible for transactions with merchants. In fact, Lin Yuehu was not a simple captain. He also had another identity - a Coast Guard reserve officer. In fact, he broke through the blockade
The line is also a kind of training for him and his sailors.
While the second officer was negotiating with the businessmen, Lin Yuehu accidentally glanced out the window. When he saw the sailors disembarking surrounded by a group of women, he couldn't help but smile.
"These guys are truly sailors! They found fun so quickly."
This chapter has been completed!