Accompanied by several Corsican sailors, the three Lawrences boarded the only two line battleships of the Corsican Navy.
Lawrence had no interest in studying these battleships, while Grosso had already reached a proficiency in his understanding of ships, so the main purpose of the two of them was to accompany and explain to Nelson.
However, after visiting for a while, Little Nelson became a little less interested because these two battleships, like the Reasonable, were both third-class ships.
There is almost no difference in the internal structure, and even the layout of some cabins and artillery is not as good as the configuration on the Reasonable. This also makes little Nelson not very impressed by the two battleships.
What really attracted Nelson was the small auxiliary ships anchored in the port.
These auxiliary warships, which were born to adapt to the Mediterranean environment, are rarely seen in the Royal Navy. After all, the Royal Navy's focus is still on ocean-going warships.
"My God, the sails on this ship are so big."
Nelson, Lawrence, and Grosso boarded a Mediterranean three-masted ship together. As soon as they got on the deck, Nelson stared straight at the canvas above his head that was several times wider than the ship's hull, and couldn't help but sigh.
Lawrence immediately winked at Grosso, who could only sigh helplessly when he saw this, walked behind Nelson, turned into a commentator, and said in broken English:
"This kind of boat is also called a fast dhow. It only takes about a hundred people to control it. These sails are all enlarged, so they have a particularly strong ability to catch the wind, a very fast speed, and a very shallow draft."
While explaining, Grosso also incorporated his many years of experience into it:
"Arab pirates particularly like this kind of ship. Damn it, I've encountered it a few times. They hung all the sails and ran faster than rabbits. They couldn't catch up. But you come with me.
..”
Grosso said, leading Nelson and Lawrence to find the ladder leading to the lower deck. After the three climbed down from the ladder, Grosso pointed to the twenty artillery pieces neatly arranged in the lower deck and said:
"In a normal galley, this is the position of the oarsman. However, in order to increase the firepower of this kind of ship, the oarsmen are eliminated and replaced by a gun deck. This makes its steering performance not very good, which is a flaw."
...
Once Grosso began to explain, Nelson would listen attentively and ask questions of his own from time to time. Some of the questions even made Grosso scratch his head and didn't know how to explain.
By the time the three of them had looked at almost all the major ships in the port, it was already sunset.
Nelson's face was flushed with excitement and excitement, and it was particularly bright under the sunset.
He bowed solemnly to Lawrence and Grosso again, and said sincerely:
"Thank you very much, Monsignor Bonaparte, this opportunity is really rare. And you, Mr. Grosso, your knowledge is so profound."
Lawrence smiled and said nothing, while Grosso waved his hand and said casually:
"You are so knowledgeable, even if you leave a pig at sea for twenty years, it will understand this."
Nelson laughed twice at Grosso's words, then looked up at the sky and whispered:
"Thank you both again. The time for free activities is coming soon. I think I should..."
"etc."
Lawrence suddenly interrupted him and said slowly:
"Actually, I am also very curious about things in England. Can you answer some questions for me? I will explain it to you on the Reasonable Ship."
"Really? Great, Your Excellency, please tell me."
When Nelson heard what Lawrence said, he became excited and said repeatedly.
Lawrence first casually asked a few common questions, such as where Nelson's hometown is, what the scenery is like there, and what his family is like, and Nelson answered Lawrence meticulously to these questions.
Seeing that the preparation was almost done, Lawrence suddenly asked casually:
"By the way, little Nelson, do you know the old man your uncle helped down today? He doesn't seem like a soldier."
"That old man?"
Nelson closed his eyes, frowned and thought for a while, then shook his head and said:
"I don't know him. He rarely leaves the cabin, and my uncle almost never mentioned him. Oh, by the way, I once heard my uncle call him... something like an earl."
"Count...did he come to Corsica alone?" Lawrence frowned and asked.
"That's not true. He has dozens of servants, but he and his servants live alone in a cabin on the first floor, and the sailors are not allowed to enter that cabin. The servants should leave the Reasonable later.
of."
...
Lawrence then asked a few more circumstantial questions, but Nelson only knew so much information, so Lawrence finished with a few regular questions and sent Nelson back.
"Tsk... There's nothing to gain from this. The old man even hid it from his own people."
After seeing Nelson off, Grosso leaned against the wall, scratched his hair distractedly, and said:
"I wasted so much time in vain. Alas, my tongue is dry from talking to that boy."
Lawrence said casually while pondering and analyzing the information provided by Nelson:
"Really? I think the harvest is not small. At least little Nelson is very grateful to us, isn't he?"
"Go, go, go, if he is a big man like a king, it would be of some use to be grateful to me. What is the use of this little brat being grateful to me."
Grosso waved to Lawrence and said angrily:
"But what are you going to do? There are only two valuable points in what that boy said: an earl has dozens of servants. But there are a lot of such people in England."
"That's true, but the identity of the old man and his purpose of coming to Corsica must be made clear."
A light flashed in Lawrence's eyes and he said in a deep voice.
He had already vaguely felt that the English Earl went to great lengths to hide his identity and came to Corsica for an event that would affect the fate of Corsica, and Lawrence could not sit back and watch this completely unknown event happen.
on your own head.
"Then what should we do? Find a few more sailors with reasonable numbers to inquire about the information? Invite them to the tavern to drink a few bottles of rum, and they will even tell you how many illegitimate children there are."
Grosso suggested with a frown.
After hearing this, Lawrence just shook his head slowly and said:
"Those ordinary sailors probably don't know as much as Nelson, and it's easy to make people suspicious when they openly inquire about information on a large scale."
"That's true. Then where are you going to start?" Grosso sighed in frustration and asked Lawrence.
Lawrence rubbed his forehead for a while and said slowly:
"From this point of view, we can only start with those followers. They don't even know who their master is."
"This..." Grosso said hesitantly:
"What's the difference between this and asking the sailors on the Reasonable for information? You won't be discovered."
Lawrence did not reply immediately, but raised his head and closed his eyes. He thought for a while, and after finalizing a rough plan in his mind, he nodded to himself and said:
"No, the difference is still huge."
"What's wrong? What's wrong?"
"I can't blatantly take a Royal Navy soldier into a dungeon."
