The Mysterious World Under Steampunk

Cape Ziwangyang was defined by the map surveying and mapping experts formed by various countries as the southernmost point of the continent, which is the Antarctic of the continent. Self-proclaimed.

But this title that they are proud of has changed a few decades ago because of the second continental map survey, or disputes, because someone in the surveying team proposed that the southernmost tip of the source continent should be Xiajiao Bay Cape where the lighthouse is located.

As a result, Xiwangyang Cape and Shrimp Claw Bay began to fight openly and secretly for the title of the continent's Antarctic, and the people in the two places almost became mortal enemies.

The reason why they attach so much importance to this title is not only because it represents a kind of reputation, but also because of the huge benefits behind the reputation.

Before the name Antarctica of the mainland, Cape Ziwangyang was just an ordinary cape, and Cape Ziwangyang Port was just a small fishing village with a population of less than 200. Poverty and suffering were the only themes of this small fishing village.

However, after they won the title of Antarctica of the mainland, this small fishing village received various investments, and in just a dozen years it became one of the most important ports in the southern part of the mainland, and the people in the small fishing village became rich as a result.

In addition, there are a huge number of tourists from all over the world who come to the Antarctic of the mainland every year. The net profits generated by the various consumptions brought by tourists are even more than twice that of cargo transfer at the terminal. Now the Cape West Port is almost 7% More than ten families are engaged in tourism-related industries, and the tourism industry of Cape West Port is closely connected with the name of the continental Antarctic. Once the reputation of the continental Antarctic is lost, the tourism industry will inevitably be destroyed. blow.

Even if the freight industry at the port does not necessarily suffer too much loss as a result, those profits are all in the hands of the big chaebols and nobles who invested in the docks earlier, and have nothing to do with the local ordinary people. They don't care about the Antarctic Name attribution.

So when Shrimp Claw Bay began to compete for the title of Antarctica, almost all ordinary people in Xiwangyangjiao Port were making various efforts to defend the name, while the port managers and vested interests seemed very calm, They did not use their identities and powers to do anything for Cape West to keep the Antarctic of the mainland.

This has caused the social situation in the entire Cape West Port to show fragmented changes. The people at the bottom seem to be enthusiastic, while the high-level officials and businessmen are like stagnant water.

This kind of social division did not change too abnormally at the beginning, after all, everyone's attention was focused on the matter of competing for the continent's Antarctic.

But when the Antarctic battle for the mainland did not win the victory expected by the people of Cape West, it turned into a vague suspense. This title has fluctuated between Cape West and Shrimp Claw Bay in the past few decades. The disappointment in the people of Cape Xiwangyang suddenly turned into anger, but this kind of anger was not only directed at Xiajiao Bay, but also directed at the high-level officials and businessmen in Cape Xiwangyang Port.

People in Cape Ziwangyang believe that the government and businessmen who manage the port have obtained huge benefits from Cape Ziwangyang, but they have not contributed anything to the reputation of Cape Ziwangyang, not even a little verbal support. Officials and businessmen are no longer worthy of all the benefits generated by Cape West Port, so the port recovery movement began to appear in Cape West Port.

At the beginning, the port recovery movement was only carried out in the form of peaceful demonstrations, and even the leaders of the movement tried to recover the port in a formal way by entering the port council.

But the local officials, businessmen and dignitaries are unwilling to see the matter develop further, because they know very well that once the leaders of the movement enter the parliament and put forward the bill of port recycling, with the support of the people, the bill will definitely be passed.

So they had to find a way to prevent those movement leaders from entering the parliament, but when they were still thinking of a way, a certain nobleman among them made a very stupid decision to directly send people to assassinate those movement leaders, and it was terrible It was the assassination that leaked the news in advance and was not completely successful. Several movement leaders escaped. In order to make up for the loopholes, the nobleman directly framed the movement leaders as murderers without discussing with everyone and publicly wanted them.

Naturally, no one would believe such a low-level lie. Everyone was completely angered, and even some neutrals completely sided with the port recycling movement.

Although the port management responded immediately, the response was equally stupid. They just sent the nobleman back to his territory without any punishment, and the arrest warrants of the movement leaders were not lifted. , as if he had already approved the practice of that great nobleman.

This approach also completely drove those movement leaders to a dead end, forcing them to form an underground armed resistance organization, which made the port recovery movement change from mild to violent, destroying ports, robbing goods, assassinating officials and wealthy businessmen, etc. The method began to appear in Cape West Port, and there was no sign of stopping until it entered, and the concept and slogan changed from recycling the port to fighting against the corrupt government and greedy nobles. The anti-establishment revolution is also gradually taking shape.

Benjamin Hart is not from Cape Ziwangyang. His hometown is Blueberry County in Mason Duchy. Mason Duchy is very far from Seaman Kingdom where Cape Ziwangyang is located. There are two countries in between. Ziwangyangjiao is mainly because he is a barefoot party member. He was secretly sent to Ziwangyangjiao by the party organization to learn more advanced and efficient anti-rich movement ideas from the barefoot party here.

The Barefoot Party is a general term. Civilian resistance organizations in almost all countries call themselves the Barefoot Party, which makes the Barefoot Party look very powerful and spread all over the world, but in fact the Barefoot Party does not have a unified organization and leader. Even the party rules, programs, slogans, etc. are not unified.

However, no matter where the Barefoot Party is, whether it is true recognition in the heart or just verbal propaganda, it is said that the Cape of the West is the holy land of the Barefoot Party, and the resistance organization there is that the Barefoot Party has the most advanced Rebel thoughts and related knowledge can only be called a real barefoot party if you have studied there.

Therefore, there are also a large number of barefoot party members from various countries like Benjamin Hart in Cape Ziwangyang. This seems to have become an open secret locally. The local powers-that-be will not do anything to them either.

And the local dignitaries and the barefoot party seem to have fallen into a very strange balance after so many years of struggle. Although they are enemies, they do not intend to break the current balance and use more intense means to deal with the other party. After a while, the city government's arrests and the Barefoot Party's sabotage actions were like two staged dramas that had already been agreed upon.

Benjamin Hart was not used to this balance at the beginning. He even felt that the barefoot party in Cape Ziwangyang had lost the vigor of the initial movement against the powerful and had fallen, but as time went by, he had become After adapting to this environment, I can see new things from all over the world every day, and I can participate in various resistance movements every day, and I don’t have to worry about being caught suddenly and hanged in the square.

Especially when he found out that one of the behind-the-scenes sponsors and leaders of the Barefoot Party in Cape Ziwangyang was actually the big man in the port council and city hall because of an accident, he immediately had a good opinion of the Barefoot Party in Cape Ziwangyang. He is overwhelmed by his ability, for only the most imaginative of men turn their enemies into their staunchest allies and then dismantle them from within.

He can imagine that the rich and powerful in Cape West Port may have already been infiltrated by the Barefoot Party, and the balance situation in Cape West can be explained now, since it can be completely eliminated. The enemy, taking back the port, why bother to destroy the port and get a dilapidated result?

At that time, when he found out about this incident, Benjamin thought he must be dead, because it was definitely a big secret for the local barefoot party, and any leak of the news would completely destroy the cause of the barefoot party.

But what people didn't expect was that he was not dealt with. The local barefoot party leader just told him not to leak the news, and did not take any corresponding precautions, so he let him go, as if he didn't care It seems that this news will be leaked to the enemy.

However, after he thought about it carefully, he understood why he was treated like this. Presumably they didn't think it would be of any use for him to tell the story. Even if he speaks out, he will only be regarded as a false accusation. Not only the rich and powerful want his life, but even the barefoot party will never let him go.

Therefore, this secret has always been kept in his heart, and it has become a burden for him for a long time. In order to prevent himself from revealing this secret accidentally, he not only became taciturn, he even quit drinking, and for the sake of To ease the psychological pressure brought by the secret, he can only find a hobby for himself, and this hobby must be exciting enough to make him forget the secret, and finally he found this hobby, which is to collect banned books of the Otter Federation.

The first time Benjamin came into contact with the banned books of the Otter Federation was when he was fifteen years old. At that time, he was still a servant of the old Sir’s house. After nightfall, the other servants who lived with him took out a manuscript, and then Facing the faint candlelight, he read the contents in a low voice.

So far, he still remembers that the content of the manuscript is a story about how a noble lady fell in love with a farmer. Although now it seems that the story is very vulgar, and it may even be named as a banned book of the Otter Federation. Written by the locals, but it is undeniable that it was his inspiration for the banned books of the Otter Federation.

For the countries in the origin continent, the Otto Federation is a taboo word, and almost all things that design the Otto Federation are prohibited, and it is not only the people in power in various countries who issue the ban, even the church has issued a clear ban, and directly called the Otter Federation a country of heresy.

However, for those who are dissatisfied with the status quo, especially the rebel organizations that oppose the church, the king, and the nobles in various countries, the Otter Federation is a beacon in their minds, including the Barefoot Party organizations along the coast. The method collected all the descriptions about the Otto Federation, and finally pieced together a complete image of the Otto Federation.

In their eyes, the Otter Federation is the perfect embodiment of human civilization. There is no king, no dignitary, and no church of gods. There is no need to pay various taxes. Everyone has a job and can get a good salary. Individuals have food, food does not even cost money, everyone can enjoy the delicious food and wine that only the rich and powerful can enjoy, and even everyone has the decision to decide whether the leader of the country will stay or not, which is simply unimaginable for people from the mainland .

Therefore, almost all rebel organizations in the Old Continent regard the establishment of an Otto Federation as their lifelong goal, and this kind of behavior also makes the countries and churches in the source continent deal more serious blows to various things related to the Otto Federation.

For example, in transoceanic transshipment ports like Cape West Port, a large number of ocean-going cargo ships from the New World come here to unload or dock here every day. In order to prevent these cargo ships from bringing in items from the Otter Federation, the church has specially set up a search hall. , is responsible for conducting an overall search of all New World ships docked at the port, and any possession of prohibited items will be punished with various criminal laws, the highest criminal law is even direct death.

It is precisely because of such a strong prohibition order that any item from the Outer Federation has become a luxury item, and the price remains high. Among them, the price of books is the highest, a constitution manual that can be seen everywhere in the Outer Federation The price after being shipped to the source continent is almost equivalent to the same volume of gold.

It is precisely because of such huge benefits that smuggling of contraband in the Otto Federation is common, and even the harsh criminal laws cannot stop the greed of smugglers.

Benjamin's job at the port is to guide the dispatcher of the ship. Every time a new ship comes to the waters near the port, he will send inspectors, search teams and epidemic prevention officials to the ship for inspection, and then he will guide the ship Dock at designated docks.

So he can always be one of the first people to get in touch with the ocean-going freighter. With this advantage, he reached an agreement with some sailors of the ocean-going freighter. In the sea, he hooked the smuggled goods to the dispatch ship to help the sailors hide the smuggled goods, and the reward for each assistance was a book from the Otter Federation. As for the book, it didn’t matter to him, because Anyway, he couldn't understand the words of the Otter Federation.

He has been doing this kind of work for several years, so he knows almost all the ocean-going smuggling ships from the New World. The identity of that ship, for example, the whistle he heard now belonged to an ocean-going smuggling ship named Beloved.