No one noticed when the man in black on the third floor left. The crowd was immersed in a frenzy of noise, and a minor riot ensued. The white captain stepped on the boat due to excessive excitement.
The seat board was broken and he rolled down from the balcony. Fortunately, he was not physically injured, but he lay straight on the ground, letting out painful "shenyin" together with those who were crushed by him.
An hour later, the captain staggered into a tavern in the dock area of Pasig River and ordered a large glass of Tuba wine made from coconut water. This is almost the cheapest alcoholic drink in the Philippines. While drinking, he cursed his fate.
of ruthlessness.
"Captain Fernando," someone greeted him. The captain found a young Chinese standing in front of him, wearing a straw hat, a common Chinese double-breasted coat, and a pair of European-style sailor trousers. He seemed
Deliberately pushing his pottery wine glass in front of the captain. Fernando stared straight eyes, nose twitching, greedily absorbing the aroma of rhubarb liqueur. An ordinary Chinese can afford to drink it and sell it for a lot of money in Manila.
"Princess of the Tang Dynasty" sweet wine!
"My master is in the private room next door. He wants to treat Mr. Fernando to a few drinks. Please come with me." The Chinese turned around and stood up. He picked up the wine glass very slowly. The captain's eyelids
There was a beat: in the Chinese man's hand, a shiny golden thing was revealed under the ordinary pottery cup. The man had turned around, and Fernand reached out to hold the gold coin and slowly put it into his sleeve.
inside.
"Whatever," the captain said to himself, "nothing is left after all." He dropped the glass, grabbed his hat, and followed the Chinese man to the back of the tavern.
Fernand squinted his eyes, going from the bright outside of the tavern to the dark cubicle at the back. The change in light made his eyes uncomfortable. There were no windows in the cubicle, the door was closed behind him, and the only light source inside came from
A simple coconut oil lamp on the dining table, its flame swaying like a struggle, could only illuminate half of the table. After the captain's eyes gradually adapted to the dim light in the private room, he saw a somewhat hunched man sitting there.
Behind the table, his seat seemed deliberately to avoid the faint light of the oil lamp.
"Please take a seat, De Fernando." The hunchback, half of his body hidden in the darkness, spoke in a hoarse voice that deliberately changed the tone. Captain Fernando sat on the chair opposite and ate a little.
I was surprised: not many people in Manila knew their home country, but this mysterious man spoke French.
The Chinese brought a cup and plate to Fernand, filled it with sweet wine, and then retreated to the door, seemingly disinterested in all the conversation.
"De Fernando, there is a question about you that has been bothering me." If anything could make Fernando stop guzzling sweet wine. The question of this mysterious man is, "Who do you believe in?"
God? The Vatican, or the Huguenot?"
The captain's hand trembled and he didn't notice that his wine spilled on the table. He broke through the siege from La Rochelle, worked for the Muslim pashas in the Barbary Islands and was almost killed by Portuguese cannons; he worked for the British in Surat.
However, the shipment was attacked by the Dutch East India Company, and both the ship and the cargo were lost. He never mentioned these experiences to anyone, at least when he was not drunk. In the territory ruled by the Spanish, a Huguenot had nothing but to be sent to
There will be no other outcome than being burned at the stake.
"God is the only true God," the captain said slowly.
The body in the darkness moved in the chair, and the captain now saw that most of the man in front of him was wrapped in a black cloak, with a black half mask on his face, revealing a very finely trimmed beard.
"Captain Fernando, I know you are a businessman." The man in black spoke in Spanish, "A businessman always has only one God."
He raised his right hand, and the black sheepskin glove made Fernand tremble: It was as if sitting in front of him was a non-human ghost wrapped in a black body. The black hand let go, and a ducat rolled.
When they reached the table, a few wine glasses hit the captain's wine glasses before falling down with a golden clang. "The gospel of God is indispensable, my friend, especially after a big gamble."
Fernand's eager eyes were focused on these gold coins. Under the flickering and dim light, it seemed as if the entire table was dancing with brilliant golden light.
"Sir, you won't make up for my loss for free, right?" He desperately tried to swallow some saliva to lubricate his dry throat, and even forgot about the wine in front of him.
"What kind of ship is there under the shed of the Manila Shipyard? Why does the Governor value it so much? Mr. de Fernando?"
The private room suddenly became quiet, and only Fernando's heavy breathing could be heard: "That is the secret of His Highness the Governor——"
"Mr. Salamanca hired you to command the boat under construction because you are a brave enough captain and because you are always short of money." The man in black squeezed out a chuckle from between his teeth, "I want to know
, what kind of ship is this? It needs a captain like you who dares to risk his life to control it? "
"Brave Captain" Mr. de Fernando was sweating on his forehead. This was the governor's big secret. In the whole of Manila, only four people knew the true situation of the ship. Once it was leaked, the consequences would be disastrous.
"You need money, my friend. I have nothing to do with Mr. Salamanca, the priests in Manila, and I don't like their paranoid fanaticism. I want to know what's going on with the ship and the shipyard."
What?" The man in black put a money bag on the table, untied the ribbon, took out a handful of gold coins, and let them fall one after another from his fingers. With each crisp jingle, Fernand
His pupils shrank, "I am also a businessman, dear Fernando. This is just a business, just a business."
When the man in black left the tavern with his Chinese attendants, the sun was almost setting. They walked out of the tavern and boarded an ox cart with a cloth tent. There were not thousands but hundreds of such ox carts in and around Manila.
The bullock cart finally stopped in front of a warehouse surrounded by a wall. After the two people got off the car, they walked away. The dock area beside the Pasig River is full of simple warehouses with log and thatched roofs like this. The man in black
After passing through the back door of the yard, they took out the key, opened the padlock, and walked into the warehouse with the Chinese. The warehouse door was closed behind them. When it was opened again a quarter of an hour later, the black cloak and mask were gone, and the beard stuck to the chin was torn off.
He also took off his Pulbovan, which was stuffed with a large amount of cotton on his back to disguise his hunch. Count Vananova mounted a horse tied to the yard and left through the front gate. After a while, Guimede put on a
Wearing a Chinese gown and the sailor's straw hat on her head was replaced by a melon cap, she hurried towards the next contact point in Parian District.
Mr. Genolino Panio has been suffering from severe headaches lately, and it seems that all the turbid energy in his body has surged into his brain. But even if his skull explodes, he doesn't want to go to a doctor. Those doctors only know how to bleed people.
He didn't dare ask the barber who was drunk all day long to cut his arm open.
The priest who was proficient in medical skills was not keen on bleeding people, or he could try a Chinese doctor. However, Genolino Panio knew that his headache did not actually fall within the scope of medicine; as the person in charge of the Royal Shipyard
, all his pain stems from a damn contract: to build 12 new patrol boats for the East India Colony.
In the final analysis, everything should be blamed on the bastard Japanese guy, the evil Paul Takayama. It is said that he made the drawings and models of the dhow clipper, and he also encouraged the governor to use them to replace the old galley battleships and crude galleys.
Rowing boats will give the colonial fleet a completely new look. Of course, as long as you see Gaoshan's boat, you will know that this so-called patrol speedboat is based on his boat.
Genolino Panio was also one of the few extremely enthusiastic proponents at the time. No one could be indifferent to the money that such a large order would bring and the awards that would be received upon completion. It was just that he undertook all the shipbuilding.
After placing the order and impatiently ordering work to begin, I realized that I had fallen into a big pit.
Paul Gaoshan's requirements for this seemingly simple boat were unbelievable: strange rigging, and being picky about the size and quality of the ship's materials. He even required that the bottom of the ship be covered with copper sheets below the waterline. It took two works.
Genolino, who had been working as a shipwright for more than ten years, had never heard of such a ridiculous thing. Even the big Galen ships that crossed the Pacific had only a layer of tarred canvas and a little lead covering the bottom of the ship.
Genolino decided to paint the new patrol boats with two layers of wood tar, at least to ensure that they were durable enough. As for the copper skin, to hell with it, all the copper in Manila was collected for the Japanese genius to build his precious cannon.
This is not the most outrageous thing. Mr. Salamanca didn't know what nonsense he had heard from the Japanese bastard, but he actually asked Genolino Panio in person whether the keel and ribs of the new ship could be made of iron.
If it weren't for the noble status of the Governor, Genolino Panio would probably burst out laughing. No one in the world has the ability to bend pig iron into the shape of a ship's ribs, and even if it is cast, its brittleness
It is also not suitable for use as keels and ribs. As for wrought iron, let alone where so much wrought iron comes from in Manila, how to process such a large forging is a big problem.
The person in charge of the shipyard understood this to mean that the Governor was worried about whether his product was strong enough, so he had to double the material used in key parts of the ship. Fortunately, there has never been a shortage of good shipbuilding hardwood here. But now there is dry wood in stock for many years.
It's almost exhausted, but not even one-third of the project has been completed.