Iron Powder and Spellcaster

The sun was setting, and the Skua had set sail again.

The sailors who had narrowly escaped death sang songs happily. They scrubbed the deck and took care of the cables. The bloody boarding battle a few hours ago seemed to be just an illusion.

But the rotary gun that was just installed on the top floor of the stern building has not yet been removed.

Next to the rotary gun, Winters, Bud, and Andre were sitting on the deck, leaning against the fence in a daze.

The excitement of participating in the battle for the first time has passed, and the mind that was previously overwhelmed by blood has returned to reason.

Recalling the battle just now, in addition to some sense of pride, the three warrant officers only felt fear and confusion, as well as a sense of nausea caused by recalling the tragic scene of hand-to-hand combat in which skin was torn, flesh was torn, and organs were flowing everywhere.

"Hey, I always feel that this is not done well." Bud sighed. He did not directly name what it was, but Winters and Andre would not have misunderstandings.

The pirates who finally surrendered still failed to save their lives. Major General Leighton fulfilled his promise and did not kill anyone.

So he arranged for the cadet warrant officers to do it for him, and he specially selected those warrant officers whose swords were not stained with blood as executioners, that is, the cadets who did not actually participate in hand-to-hand combat during the boarding battle.

In such a cramped environment on the ship, the battle did not turn into a melee, so the only ones who really fought against the pirates were the warrant officers at the front, and most of the rest could only cheer from behind.

"Even if the pirates can make it ashore alive, they will still be hanged in the end. In fact, the end result is not much different." Winters also felt that killing prisoners was not good, but he could not deny that this was indeed a simple and effective solution: "I I feel that on the one hand, the Major General is indeed a bit bloodthirsty, and on the other hand, these pirates are really difficult to deal with. The Skua, a small ship, cannot hold so many people. Stay on the Good Luck, and they will find an opportunity to seize the ship. what to do?

"If I kill, I'll kill. What if I don't kill?" Andre yawned and stretched his waist again. He seemed very tired now.

Compared with the joy before the war when Major General Leighton directly decided to fight the pirates, after the war, he spent much longer discussing how to deal with the prisoners and the ending.

After the war, the interrogation of the pirates unearthed unexpected information: the Good Luck did not capture the Skua by mistake, but pirates on the entire inland sea were now looking for a three-masted light Veneta. warship

Because the pirates got the news: the ship was filled with gold and silver used by the "Tanilia Islands Captains and Plantation Owners Association" to bribe the ruling committee of the Seablue Republic.

The Tanilia Islands Federation of Captains and Planters operated a noisy, guild-style democracy with a loose structure and weak power. But it is undeniable that the captains and planters are the actual owners of the Tanilia Islands.

On the inland sea, pirates are rampant. Tanilia has long been used as a place for pirates to sell stolen goods and a supply point, and the relationship with the Seablue Republic has always been extremely tense.

The pirates didn't know why the Federation wanted to bribe the Hailan Ruling Committee, but they were sure that a three-masted clipper loaded with gold and silver coins was sailing to Hailan City at this moment.

As for the reason why the Federation bribed the Hailan Ruling Committee, the pirates' statements were varied and contradictory. There was no accurate statement at all, but they firmly believed that there must be such a treasure ship.

Because it is difficult to deduce the result from the reason, but to find the reason from the result... Isn't it easy to find a reason that can convince yourself?

Even before their execution, the pirates on the Good Luck still believed that the Skua was the treasure ship, and the warrant officers were the soldiers responsible for escorting it.

Troop escort? Or escorting bribes? Winters, Bud and Andre had never heard of escorting a shipment of gold and silver on their way home.

Could it be that this is a secret mission? Only Major General Layton and Major Moritz knew what was going on?

Winters thought so at first. But as soon as he saw the expressions of the major general and major, Winters knew that they were also confused.

However, the pirates' words were so conclusive that they did not seem to be lying, making the major generals, majors, and warrant officers all doubtful.

So the pressure came to the Fat Captain. The fat captain was so anxious that he was sweating profusely. He swore that he knew absolutely nothing about the treasure ship and that there was absolutely no bribe from the Federation on the Skua.

No words or oaths can dispel any doubts. Anyway, the Skua only has such a small area. If what the pirates say is true or false, you will know everything after checking it.

So the major general directly ordered the cargo to be inspected. The warrant officers searched the Skua carefully, opened every box and bag of goods in the cabin, and knocked every plank to ensure there were no hidden compartments.

In the end, it was proved that what the fat captain said was true. The only cargo in the ship was sugar and tobacco.

So now the situation facing the Skua is very clear: the pirates firmly believe that there is a treasure ship sailing from Tanilia to Seablue City, and all the pirates in the inner sea are already red-eyed and want to intercept this ship;

There may really be such a ship, but it is definitely not the Skua. There is not a single ownerless gold coin on the Skua, and the ship is only loaded with ordinary sugar and tobacco;

But unfortunately, the appearance of the Skua is very similar to what pirates think of as a treasure ship, or in other words, the treasure ship that pirates think of is a light three-masted clipper like the Skua;

The Skua couldn't prove to the pirates that it was not a treasure ship, so it couldn't stop the ship and let the pirates inspect it, right?

This is the situation. The Skua on the inland sea is a high-risk ship at present. Normally, a naval flag may be able to keep it safe, but now a flag is absolutely impossible to scare away the pirates.

Because the two senior army officials seemed not to have thought that they could immediately dock and let the officers disembark. The Fat Captain also hoped that the army officers could stay on the ship to protect the Skua, but he deliberately did not propose this plan.

Therefore, Major General Leighton, Major Moritz and Captain Fatty all agreed that the Skua must not sail directly to Hailan City now. It needed to leave the main route as soon as possible and take a detour back to Hailan City via waters less traveled by ships.

Otherwise, we can only pray for strong winds on the sea.

Perhaps the sincere prayers of the sailors had an effect. As dusk approached, the originally weak sea breeze began to gradually strengthen again.

The Skua took advantage of the wind and resumed sailing through the waves at a speed of eight knots.

"I think the major general's idea is right. In this situation, pirates are like dogs that smell smells. Even if we are iron-clad, we cannot withstand two more boarding battles. Returning to Hailan City as quickly as possible is the first step. First priority," Andre said casually. He was simply lying on the deck now, seeming to want to take a nap.

"Those oarsmen are innocent people, they can't be killed indiscriminately, right?" Bud obviously did not agree with Major General Leighton's solution.

No one disagreed with the order to change course. What really sparked controversy was the handling of the Good Luck.

Major General Layton's solution was to kill all the pirates who were still alive, push the pirates' bodies into the sea, scuttle the pirate ship directly, and return the Skua to Hailan City as quickly as possible.

The problem is that in Major General Leighton's eyes, there is no distinction between coerced rowers and pirates. Anyone alive on a pirate ship is considered a pirate and must die.

But for the first time, Major Moritz raised objections to the leadership. In his view, the oarsmen were in a coerced position, they were essentially innocent sailors caught as slaves on a pirate ship. Killing all these sailors who were not pirates would be too sensational and would damage the reputation of the Army.

"Humph." Andre sneered, obviously disapproving of the innocent person's statement: "Which innocent person? Wasn't it because they helped paddle the Skua that it was overtaken? Besides, didn't you also suffer from the losses of those oarsmen?"

Bud was at a loss for words. Bud didn't know what "Stockholm Syndrome" was. Three oarsmen did attack him, and he could think of no reasonable excuse to defend the oarsmen who had been incited against him by the pirates.

Winters listened to the conversation between the two and thought of the rotting smell in the cabin, the emaciated bodies and desperate eyes of the rowers, and couldn't help but sigh: "I don't think those rowers actually wanted to help. pirate."

"Then what do they want to do?" Andre disapproved of this attitude of pity for the enemy.

"They just want a good death."

This answer left Andre speechless for a moment. He scratched his head and opened his lips several times without making a sound. Finally, he regained his indifferent attitude: "Don't think so much. If they dare to fight us, they will die." We deserve it. We are just a few low-level officers - not even officers, just trainee officers. We don't have any power, hehe, but we also have no responsibilities. We just do whatever the superiors tell us to do. The sky is falling. Those with high military ranks deserve it.”

Winters thought that maybe he had to have this kind of mentality in order to sleep well every night. He smiled bitterly and said: "That's right, just use yourself as a tool."

Major General Leighton's solution was only half implemented in the end. All the pirates who surrendered were slaughtered, and the pirates who did not surrender were all rehabilitated. The corpses were all pushed into the sea to feed fish and shrimps. The pirate captain was only left half alive because the major general wanted to take him back to Hailan for further interrogation.

The oarsmen were not executed as pirates, a result Major Moritz fought hard for.

The Good Luck was not scuttled, which was the result that the fat captain fought hard for.

We still don't know the name of the fat captain on the Skua, but he's no longer on the Skua. The current acting captain of the Skua is the original first mate. The fat captain has taken over Good Luck Gold's shift and led several sailors to become the captain of the Good Luck.

As the fat captain said, on the sea - at least on the inland sea, the most valuable thing is not the cargo, but the ship.

Major General Leighton wanted to scuttle the Good Luck, but Major Moritz actually didn't have much of an objection. Both of them were army officers. They didn't understand the market and didn't care about such a broken ship.

But when he heard that Major General Leighton wanted to scuttle the Good Luck, the Fat Captain firmly disagreed, and for the first time showed amazing momentum, slamming the table in front of Major General Layton and glaring.

The fat captain calculated another score for the two army landlubbers with his fingers:

First of all, although the Good Luck is a little old, it is a good boat with a solid hull, complete functions, and durability.

Secondly, although the Good Luck is an old-fashioned galley, most ships on the inland sea are of this type. Although it was unfortunately stolen by thieves, it was brought back to the port for repairs and it became a good merchant ship again.

All in all, the Lucky Number can be sold for a lot of money! It would be too wasteful to scuttle it. This ship is now a serious trophy, and the ownership belongs to the army officers. Wouldn't it be nice for everyone to share the money from the sale?

Here, the Fat Captain cunningly did not mention the specific price at which it could be sold, and only used imaginary attributives such as "a lot" to describe it.

The Fat Captain also persuaded Major General Layton and Major Moritz from another angle:

There are more than thirty oarsmen on the Good Luck. If the Good Luck is scuttled, what will happen to these oarsmen? Where to put it?

There are now about fifty people on board the Skua, and it is already overwhelmed. There really isn't any more room for thirty more paddlers.

"If you want to scuttle the Good Luck, you have to kill these oarsmen; if you don't kill these oarsmen, you can't scuttle the Good Luck." Through this logical chain, the Fat Captain successfully killed Major Moritz He also tied himself to his chariot.

The ship cannot be built. To do so, the fat captain must be killed first.

But how to bring the Good Luck back to the port has become a new problem.

With all the pirates dead, the Good Luck had no crew left to man the sails and steer the ship.

How many pirates are left as crew members? Major General Leighton wouldn't do it, and neither would the fat captain.

Let the oarsmen become crew members? The fat captain also firmly refused. His reason was: How do you know these oarsmen will not have evil intentions? These oarsmen had witnessed and heard the story on the pirate ship. If they had evil intentions and robbed the ship and sold it themselves, wouldn't everyone on the Skua be in vain?

This is the crisis of trust caused by the special living environment at sea. Above the sea, there is no communication, no law, and no supervision. There is only such a ship in the world, and outsiders have no way of knowing what happened on the ship, let alone beyond their reach.

The fat captain didn't even dare to let his first mate take a few sailors to the Good Luck to get the ship back to the port. Because people’s hearts are so divided, who knows if this seemingly honest and honest first officer has any bad intentions in his heart? If the first mate has evil thoughts, then tomorrow there will be a pirate ship named "Doom" on the inland sea.

Finally, the Fat Captain suddenly had an idea and came up with a genius solution:

He himself would take half the crew of the Skua to the Good Luck, so that he could barely maneuver the ship;

The rowers on the Good Luck were not free yet, but were tied to the cabin as before. To prevent them from seizing the boat with evil intentions, they also need to continue paddling. When they arrived at the port, they called for the constable, and then let the oarsmen disembark on their own;

The first mate on the Skua temporarily took over the captain's position, and selected a few sailors from the oars on the Good Luck who had not been damaged to supplement the crew on the Skua, so that the Skua could operate normally. There are more than thirty army officers on board the Skua, and anyone who dares to cause trouble can be easily suppressed.

In the eyes of Major General Leighton and Major Moritz, this is a very good solution. The only drawback is that there are too few crew members on the Good Luck. If the Fat Captain encounters pirates again on his way back to port, he may have to... give it all for nothing. .

However, the fat captain who is obsessed with money has decided to take this risk. Moreover, considering the Skua's current attraction to pirates in the inland sea, it is hard to say which ship is more dangerous.

The Fat Captain excitedly boarded the Good Luck with half of the crew of the Skua, and a letter explaining the origins of the Good Luck, signed by Major General Leighton and Major Moritz, and sealed with their seals, and the two ships parted ways.

The barcarolle that Winters, Bud and Andre heard now was the chorus of the new crew and the old crew.

Andre didn't speak for a long time, and he had obviously fallen asleep.

Bud seemed to be thinking about a lot of things in his mind. He frowned and said to Winters: "I always feel a little... strange. Everything is evil. It is said that there are several fires in Guitu City every year. But this time it happened that the arsenal was on fire, and the fire was so big; people go overseas every year, but this year there is no overseas dispatch; and this time there is a so-called treasure ship, a treasure ship? Do you believe it? This world must be in There are changes happening that we don’t know about.”

"Hey, why are you thinking so much? I'm still so confused that I can't use magic." Winters understands Bud's anxiety, but he believes that the ship will be straightened out when the bridge comes: "Even if there are some earth-shaking changes happening, We can only be carried away by the waves. Andre is right, we are just three junior warrant officers, we can just be tool men. If the sky falls, those with higher military ranks will be able to bear it."

The first mate of the Skua—oh, no, the captain now—climbed onto the stern of the ship. He was here to deliver drinks to the three warrant officers. It was obvious that even the temporary position of acting captain made him very excited.

"Drink, officers, please drink. I saw that you jumped into gangs today. You are all first-class warriors. Even among the sailors who make a living at sea, there are not many heroes like you. These guys I’ll treat you to wine.”

Winters smiled and took the bottle and asked casually: "What song are the sailors singing? It's nice, but the accent is too strong and I can't understand it."

The acting captain smiled sheepishly: "Some people call these songs barcarolles, but they are actually some unfashionable sailor tunes. Most of them talk about women and wine."

"I think these songs are natural and simple. What's wrong with talking about women and wine? Aren't songs supposed to express emotions? It's a pity that I can't understand what they are singing..."

"Then let me sing it to you in a Veneta accent?"

"That would be great!"

The first mate cleared his throat and sang along with the sailors. His singing voice was rough and wild, but the lyrics contained indescribable sadness:

"Farewell forever! Girl of the Islands.

Say goodbye to this forever! The beauty of the islands.

Because we are heading towards Old Veneta.

We will never see beautiful people like you again.

We roared and laughed like true Veneta sailors.

We roared and laughed to the salty waves.

Until we measured the Gulf of Senas,

From the islands to the sea, there are two hundred leagues.

…

Fill the glass and drink it all in one gulp.

Fill the glass and drink it all.

We drown depression in alcohol.

May every infatuated person be healthy and let us drink from this cup.

…”

In the singing of the sailors, Winters is getting closer and closer to Hailan. He is about to obtain his military position and officially become a trainee officer.

He wasn't a complete novice, but that was just the beginning of education. There are many, many things that he will need to learn in practice.

The prototype of the barcarolle in this article is Spanish Ladies, which is not on the shelves anyway. I wrote a few lyrics and it doesn’t count for words. Whether in the East or the West, barcarolle has a long history. The tracker's chant can also be regarded as a kind of barcarolle. The charm of this kind of song lies in the true feelings of the working people. The so-called true feelings are people's real desires, which may not necessarily be noble. The songs of lower Liba people may not be inferior to the spring and snow, but the true feelings of working people are often more infectious. The original work of "Blood Romance" describes sour songs from northern Shaanxi. Many of the songs sing about men and women. In fact, in the old society, the poor people in northern Shaanxi were under sexual repression for many years and came here to relieve their emotions. However, this kind of sour song may not be very contagious in today's social environment where "I am not afraid that you will have nothing to drink, but I am afraid that you will drink until you die." This shows that songs must also keep pace with the times.