Pirate Kingship

Bantaan Islands.

Under the blue sea and sky, a white sail rides the wind and waves across the sea.

On the deck, a sailor played the flamenco guitar, an instrument unique to the Kingdom of Castile, expressing his uncontrollable homesickness.

Melodious singing lingered throughout the merchant ship.

"The name of this ship is the Teapot, and she sets sail as the wind blows. Blow, blow hard.

Soon the Teapot will come, bringing us sugar, tea and rum."

A flock of seagulls chirped to accompany him.

Old Tom, the captain with a beard, looked at the Yucatan Island gradually receding behind him, as well as the group of natives on the shore who were waving enthusiastically, with mixed feelings in his heart:

"I really didn't expect that there were wise men among the natives, and they actually deceived everyone silently.

On the surface, it seemed to have been wiped out by the smallpox plague, leaving an empty city. It turned out that it was just to lure the snake out of its hole and induce the two overlords to fight.

In the end, the two forces lost their wives and troops, and no longer had enough force to seize the land of Yucatan.

Most of the colonists in the entire Bantaan Islands temporarily restrained their bandit nature and had to become civilized people again and do business with the natives honestly.

Moreover, many city-states have publicly declared their belief in a new god [the Father of Medicine] and will no longer be afraid of any plagues. I don’t know if this is true.

Anyway, I heard that the weird bird-beaked plague doctor wandering the island seems to be on the verge of disappearing on his own.

However, these are things that big shots have to consider and have nothing to do with us lower-class sailors.

Although there were many twists and turns, our ‘Teapot’ finally returned safely with the cargo this time. "

Old Tom's current mood can only be described as mixed.

Fortunately, this time I went to Yucatan and through regular transactions, I was able to buy a large number of indigenous specialties as I wished.

What is worrying is that unlike before, those city-states have all set up a foreign trade department with dedicated personnel responsible for unified trading.

And he is so proficient in business, it's like he suddenly went from the Stone Age to a modern regular army.

Old Tom even felt that their temperament had a faint hint of the Remit people.

The prices of common goods are all well known.

What is the local selling price in Bantaan, and what is the landing price at the major ports in the Old World such as Valencia Port and Felixstowe Port? He is even more familiar with it than this old captain.

"I wonder if some of them have taken up the position of [Golden Eye] of the Jinyuan sequence. They don't look like a group of natives at all.

The profit from this ocean trade has been reduced. I hope we won’t encounter the sea again when we return.”

clang clang clang.

But before they could leave the Yucatan coast, the lookout on the mainmast suddenly sounded the alarm.

"No, there are pirates!"

In the chaos on the ship, the captain Old Tom, whose heart suddenly twitched, quickly raised his brass monocular to look at the pirate ship that sailed out of a pile of rocks.

The pirate flag on the mast has been raised high. The main body is a dragon-headed skull with blood dripping from the corner of its mouth. Below it is a knight's sword and a pirate scimitar crossed with each other.

My mouth suddenly felt bitter:

“Unlucky, that’s the privateer fleet of the Pioneer Pilot Colonial Company of the Kingdom of Hetings!

And it is also the flagship of the pirate general [Sea Hunter] Byron Tudor.

According to legend, this is the fastest pirate ship in the entire Bantaan.

We can't run away. "

The confidant merchandiser sent by the shipowner beside him suddenly screamed:

"Can't run away? Then organize the sailors to resist, Captain Tom!"

He took off the nine-tailed cat from his waist and waved nine thin whips in the air, making a shrill whistle.

He roared at the sailors behind him who came from different countries and races, but were mostly in ragged clothes:

"You damn pigs, hurry up and push out the artillery. If the pirates take away the goods, I will throw you all into the sea to feed the fish."

The captain and a group of sailors around him looked at this guy who often punished crew members corporally, as if they were looking at a fool.

If it weren't for the fact that he was a first-order transcendent, he would have been silenced forever.

"Stop the ship, lower the sails, lower the anchor, raise the white flag, and we surrender to the [Golden Deer]."

Captain Old Tom's order gave the crew a deep sigh of relief.

The fear was actually mixed with a hint of happiness.

Today is different from the past. During this period, [Sea Hunter] seized the Castilian defense vacuum and spread his name throughout this east-west route.

This supports the fact that the most distinctive feature of privateers who have privateering licenses from the Kingdom of Hetings is that they are very disciplined.

I heard that as long as you don't resist, your methods are much gentler than other pirates.

But once they dare to "violently resist taxes", yes, what they hear in the tavern is this word that should not appear in the mouths of pirates.

The blood flag must be shown, making the resisters on the merchant ships regret it for the rest of their lives!

"Tsk, now I finally have time to go out and rob myself, and the targets I encounter are becoming less and less challenging.

This is already the fourth ship today, and not even a single person resists.

It seems that after the hard overtime work some time ago, new rules on this east-west route will soon be established. "

On the quarter deck of the Golden Deer, Byron saw the white flag raised on the Teapot, put down the telescope in his hand, and sighed helplessly.

"Yes, Captain, you came out to rob it yourself. No, it was to collect taxes. You are really dedicated."

"I think when our Pioneer Navigation Company evaluates the business model award this year, we must give you a special award."

"Second, you must not refuse. It is actually an honor to give this award to you. It is all to encourage those who are behind to follow your example."

A group of trainee captains following him immediately gave him compliments.

The people on the flagship are indeed elites. Just listening to what they say, you know that they have a very promising future.

After overturning Bantaan's power structure, Byron finally had time to start doing his own job.

Pirate hunting is mostly not about aimless wandering along shipping lanes, as many people imagine.

Instead, they would plant their own spies on the shore, and even let pirates infiltrate sailors recruited by merchant ships to act as spies.

By coincidence, the clerks of the "Ministry of Foreign Trade" in the indigenous city-states were all employees of the Pioneer Pilot Colonial Trading Company.

Although they haven't had time to build a fortress or station troops, there is no problem in urgently training a group of indigenous pirates to take up their posts.

With them providing information, it would be natural to be on the right path for merchant ships to pass by.

Sell ​​goods with the front hand, rob with the back hand, eat two things with one fish, enjoy yourself.

tread!

After a while, Byron led a group of elite pirates onto the ship, and his boots stepped on the deck, as if stepping on the hearts of the merchant crew.

As the power and authority controlled by [Sea Hunter] became stronger and stronger, the majesty on his body became more and more profound. He just asked casually:

"You all know the rules of our vanguard, right?"

Captain Old Tom and a group of sailors nodded again and again:

“I’ve heard, I’ve heard that if you pay a quarter of the value of the goods for the first time, your company and all your allies will be exempt from robbery.

If you go to your company's office to pay taxes proactively before sailing, you can pay only one-fifth.

It’s our first time to fly this route and we are not familiar with the process. We bother you to do it yourself. We will definitely pay the tax proactively next time. "

As he spoke, he glanced accusingly at the shipowner's confidants beside him.

The reason why they did not file their taxes in advance is simply that the merchandisers were lucky and were reluctant to part with the one-fifth of the tax that would allow them to go smoothly.

Some pirates are extremely cruel and often torture and kill the prisoners who resist. The reputation of these pirate captains for their cruelty is spread in the Bantaan Islands and can make children stop crying.

For example, Byron's two former captains were [Blood Eyes] Salman and [Red Beard] Edward.

But there is also a type of pirate known as "righteous thieves".

The discipline is relatively much better. They regard themselves as Robin Hoods of the sea who rob the rich and give to the poor. After seizing a merchant ship, they usually only take away gold, silver and necessary supplies.

In many cases, the ship itself will be returned to the original owner, and some trophies will even be given as a parting gift.

There will be no abuse or killing in this process.

Compared with them, the one-stop service provided by Pioneer Navigation Company can be called the righteous thief among righteous thieves.

It is so conscientious to get at least 155% of the profit once and only a quarter of the tax to avoid being robbed a second time.

We will come again next time!

“What bothers me the most is those robbers, they have no technical skills at all.

In this world, only death and taxes are inevitable.

You see, all the captains are very reasonable. "

When Byron said this, no one dared to correct him violently.

Now is the golden age when there are no tigers in the mountains and monkeys are kings.

The Castilians suffered heavy losses and their defenses were severely reduced.

Before the arrival of the next batch of support from the "World Snake Celestial Circulation" from the mainland or deep into the south, there will be carnivals from all countries.

In order to compete for the fat sheep, the major pirate gangs also fought fiercely among themselves.

The Pioneer Pilot Colonial Trading Company relied on its superior geographical location, upstream and downstream connections, and considerate services to gain control of the east-west route in the Yucatan Island waters in one fell swoop.

There is no need to compete with the Pirate City Black Sail Port for the main road of the first circulatory zone, but you can eat all the fat except for the high-quality pork belly.

Although I have to give a share to my allies, it is still much more than what I originally earned.

If we continue to transform wealth into strength, when the Castilians come back in the future, this place will no longer be what it used to be.

Fake Pirate: "Hand over all the money."

Real Pirate: "Sir, please sign here."

Mr. Byron Lancaster, the pirate and former nobleman, is very familiar with this trick.

Just as the quartermaster took out a bill of lading sent directly from the city-state's "Foreign Trade Department" Feiou, he filled out a handover form.

Very considerately, they gave it to the captain to prove that they had indeed been robbed, so that the shipowner could have time to explain.

An unharmonious voice suddenly sounded:

"Sir [Sea Hunter], I want to join your privateer ship. I apply for a public trial. I want to accuse someone on this ship of abusing the crew!"