Aztec Eternals

The Portuguese fleet meeting that day reached a consensus after a long discussion. First, the fleet must replenish food and prepare for the return.

Secondly, in addition to the weapons used by the crew, all "spare military supplies" can be traded with the natives. The two ships have a total of 40 standard scimitars, 10 muskets, 10 breastplates, 1 two-pound cannon, and 2 barrels of sealed gunpowder. All goods are sold at a tenfold increase! 1 gold per scimitar, 10 gold per musket, 20 gold per breastplate, 200 gold per two-pound cannon, and 2 gold per barrel of gunpowder. Together, it is at least 544 gold ducats, an astonishing 2 kilograms of gold!

Of course, the natives may not have so much gold. If they take out pearls, spices, and dyes, the fleet can accept it. It just needs to be sold again, and it is more troublesome to cash it out, which is far less than hard currency gold.

All the gold exchanged is distributed according to the goods taken out by each ship. And from each ship, 30-40% was given to the palace steward and the Portuguese royal family, that is, to the upper level. The captain took 20-30% of the rest, and the crew divided the remaining 40% equally according to the number of people. One important crew member was counted as two shares, and ordinary sailors only had one share. And the crew members who participated in the trade with the natives were counted as two more shares in the distribution of the income that day...

In short, the Portuguese navy has been sailing and "trading" for many years, and it is still quite experienced and fair in the distribution of income! At least, their captains will not monopolize too much spoils like Columbus, causing extreme dissatisfaction among the sailors, and even causing rebellion!

In the final analysis, the European sailors risked their lives, not afraid of death in storms, and even not afraid of the terrible consequences of "degeneration" of their souls... They resolutely went to sea with the fleet, wasn't it for these riches? Could it be for the glory of the Lord? ...Well, that's right. After all, the priests of the church are all obsessed with money. Indulgences are in vogue at this time, and have almost reached their extreme!

According to the current indulgence market, "murder" can be saved by 8 gold coins. "Murder of blood relatives" can be saved by an additional 6 gold coins. "Rape" can be saved by 6 gold coins. And all kinds of other crimes can be paid for with money.

According to the priests, this is because "Jesus and the saints" have almost infinite merits. And the right to use their merits is in the hands of the "shepherd of the Lord", the church. When believers buy "indulgences", the priests of the church hook their fingers, and the merits of the Son of God and the saints are released, instantly offsetting the sins of you and your ancestors! This is the source of the famous saying that has been passed down to later generations, "Silver coins jingle and fall into the bottom of the box, and the soul jumps out of purgatory with joy"! …

In such a greedy and decadent religious atmosphere, wealth is naturally equated with piety. Right now, wealth is everything, and it is the "salvation" that the entire Catholic world is extremely eager for! Shining gold is the most sacred wealth, and it is the extreme greed and desire of the people of God from the bottom of their hearts! And no matter how cruel and despicable the means they use to obtain gold are, and how contrary to doctrine they are, as long as they have gold, they can easily atone for their sins!

"Damn it, why are you in such a hurry? The gold hasn't been completely obtained yet, but you are starting to discuss how to spend money happily! Send someone off the ship first and tell the natives here about the "goods" we can trade! Let's see how much gold they can take out?...May God bless you!"

In order to worry that the natives would not understand the goods being traded, the sailor officers who disembarked also brought samples and demonstrated the shooting of the matchlock gun, oh no, the "thunder weapon". Seeing the shock shown by the natives, the quartermaster Matim sneered in his heart, but his face did not show it at all. He only sold weapons to the natives, and it had nothing to do with him whether the other party would use them or not. It's better if they can't use them! Who knows what will happen next time the fleet comes? …

"Ah! Quartermaster...they said they said...they want all these samples! At the price offered by the fleet...and they want all the weapons, armor, and magic tools listed on the ship! It just takes a day or two to collect gold and transport it from various tribes!..."

"Lord! This is really, really a rich native tribe!"

Quartermaster Matim understood the natives' answer without Shushu's translation. More than 100 grams of gold sand was handed directly to him, and he just weighed it and determined that the weight was definitely 31 gold ducats, and it was estimated that there were 40! Counting the refined leather armor traded this morning, more than 300 grams of gold were obtained from the natives today!

On the other side, several native militiamen took over three samples, a scimitar, a matchlock, and a breastplate. The militiaman holding the breastplate looked at it very carefully, and touched it again and again on the solid chest steel plate. His expression was quite serious, and he was obviously thinking about something. Soon, he looked at the white-skinned demon opposite, but saw that the bearded officer excitedly pulled the translator Shushu, holding the gold in his hand, and went to the ship! The transaction on the third day was delayed very slowly. The gold of the native tribe seemed to arrive in batches. Their transactions with the fleet were also carried out in batches. The natives first took out 700 grams of gold and exchanged the remaining 9 breastplates first. Then, more than 300 grams of gold were used to take away the remaining 9 muskets and 19 sailor scimitars.

According to the rules, the more than 1,000 grams of gold was divided equally between the two ships that provided the goods, with each ship receiving more than 500! When a full pound of gold was transported to the flagship, all the sailors celebrated excitedly! They had already calculated that this was a huge sum of 150 gold ducats, and apart from the share submitted to the royal family and the captain, everyone could get at least 3 gold coins! Everyone!

"Strange! The natives here seem to value armor the most, followed by muskets, and finally scimitars? But on the southern continent, the native tribes there like weapons the most, and then armor?..."

On the entire celebrating ship, only the scholar Martin frowned and took out a feather pen to record the intelligence of the natives of this "Haiti Island". He was not short of money and was used to seeing gold coins. The income from these few gold ducats was not as interesting as the new and novel native appearance. In the past few days, he has been observing and recording these things, preparing to compile them into travel notes in the future, and then leave a classic inherited by the family...

Boatswain Haroldo smiled and came over to take a few sneak glances. He was relieved when he confirmed that scholar Martin did not keep any private accounts of the fleet's trade, but simply recorded the local customs and human feelings. I think that as wise as scholar Martin is, he will not risk the taboos of the entire fleet. Otherwise, the end of hindering everyone from making a fortune... Tsk tsk! That would be really ugly. In such a deep sea foreign land far away from order, the noble status is useless!

After these easy-to-carry military supplies are traded, the fourth day's trade will be the highlight. Knight Silvera personally brought his deputy to transport a 2-pound iron cannon off the ship, and also gave it a barrel of gunpowder. The native headman on the opposite side sent out several militiamen to carefully examine this "grey and bright thunder magic weapon". This "magic weapon" was not made of copper, but a long and thin iron cylinder. But isn't iron always brittle and easy to have sand holes? Can iron be used to cast cannons? …

"Boom!..."

"Crack!"

The iron bullet shot out with a bang, breaking a small tree as big as a bowl. The demonstration shooting of the fleet sailors proved that iron can not only cast cannons, but also cast them very well! When the sailors looked at the horrified native headman with expectation, they sent a bucket of gunpowder. The other party did not come back to his senses for a long time, and even trembled in fear!

"This...this!...the magic weapon of the evil spirit...the terrible thunder!..."

"Ahem!..."

Fortunately, the Taino language of the native headman was not understood by any Portuguese sailor present. The only one who understood it also lowered his head and said nothing. And a native warrior wearing leather armor came forward in time, took out a bag of gold sand that had been prepared long ago, and poured it on a sheepskin laid on the beach.

"Yellow stone...trade...yours!..."

The shining golden light instantly attracted the attention of all the sailors. And that small pile of gold dust was the agreed 200 gold ducats, or even more!

"Ahaha! This cannon was taken from my ship! So these more than 200 gold ducats belong to our ship!... Come, come and check the quality of the gold with me!..."

Silvera Knight laughed, holding the Cross Knight Sword, and walked to the gold. He proudly took the sheepskin filled with gold dust in his hand, and carefully checked the quality of each grain against the sun. And the eyes of several sailors were all focused on him, on the dazzling golden light in his hands!

Taking this opportunity, the guide Shushu was finally able to move a few steps away silently. And the ordinary militia also approached. The militia lowered his head, as if looking at the sand on the ground, and spoke softly.

"God bless you!"

"Huitzilopo bless you!"

"Where do you moor your ship at night?"

"Ah? The location of the ship... uh... north from here, no, northwest! It takes about half a day to row a boat, but it's very fast..."

"Northwest? Half a day to row a boat?... How far is it exactly?"

"Yes! It's northwest, not docked. The specific distance... sometimes it's half a league, sometimes it's a league... In addition, they are very vigilant at night and will extinguish the torches on the ship..."

"Torches extinguished? A league?... Um... Is it ten miles?..."

"It seems so, yes, about the same..."

"Shushu!!..."

Just as the two were talking, the boatswain Haroldo looked over, his eyes were sharp. He silently pressed the scimitar on his waist and strode towards Shushu. Then, he squinted his eyes, glanced at the ordinary-looking, fearful Taino militia, and then looked at the nervous and timid guide Shushu, and asked with some dissatisfaction.

"Shushu, you and this native are together, mumbling, what are you talking about?!..."