Iron Power And Sorcerer

Iron Power And Sorcerer Chapter 29

2021-03-10

Chapter 29 is within reach
Luck is relative. The luck of other pirates above the inland sea seems to be not very good. After all, not all pirates have the good luck of Gold. It can also be said that lucky Goddess is on the side of the Skua again.

On the next journey, the Skua, avoiding the main route, encountered only a few unfamiliar ships.

However, the wind was strong at sea, and the Skua, which was moving forward with full sails, was brisk. Those strange ships only saw the mast of the Skua before being thrown far behind by the Skua.

Like the fat captain's proud boast: "This is the best clipper in the Inner Sea."

But the Skua, which made a big circle, was delayed by three days. Voyage, leading to unexpected delays in the trip, Major Moritz, who had no flexible reserves, drank his wine again.

The warrant officers watched as the gentle major's lips became dry and cracked, his temper became more and more irritable, and even his mental state began to become abnormal.

The major was not falling and beating on the ship every day;

Who is not afraid of mental illness? Even Major General Layton began to avoid Major Moritz intentionally or unintentionally, and the pressure on the warrant officers was even greater.

But fortunately, they finally arrived in Hailan City safely. When they saw the landmark lighthouse of Hailan Harbor, the warrant officers could not help but shed tears.

The root cause is not only the excitement of returning home, but also the "little luck" of Major Moritz, who is finally able to get rid of severe alcohol addiction.

The closer you get to the sea blue port, the more Winters can actually feel the prosperity of the largest port in the alliance.

At the end of the route, the Skua tried to avoid other ships and couldn't do it. Because the sea blue port is the origin, the routes of hundreds of ships form a fan, either heading for or just leaving the port.

Winters even saw a real battleship cruising offshore, and it was a real big guy. Compared with the towering ship building and the huge hull of the other party, the Skua was simply a child.

But what the warrant officers didn't expect was that the Skua did not enter the port directly, but was moored on the sea outside the port.

The acting captain was immediately surrounded by warrant officers who were eager to go home.

"A big port like Hailan Port does not allow small merchant ships like us to dock at will." The acting captain, who was sprayed with spittle stars, smiled bitterly and explained the rules of the sea to the army: " Hailan Port It has not been expanded for more than ten years, and there are few berths. Merchant ships have to wait at the anchorage outside the port and line up to enter the port.

We will anchor here first, and then there will be customs officials coming by boat in a small boat. Goods, if you are in a hurry to go home, you can ask the customs tax collector if they can accommodate you and let you go ashore on their small boat."

But the warrant officers soon fell into disappointment again, because They found that the "customs boat" in the mouth of the acting captain was really a "boat".

This boat is also at worst than a Canoe, about two people wide and less than three meters long. Two tax collectors and two oarsmen filled the boat so much that it held up to one more person.

Watching the boat go up and down with the waves, Winters was really worried that the boat with four customs employees would be overturned in the next second.

"This mate is playing with us?" Andre was about to be mad: "Let's go home in this kind of boat? I might as well swim back!"

" Can you swim then?" Bud asked abruptly.

Andre suddenly lost his temper. After being silent for a while, he awkwardly replied: "No."

But he asked Bud as if he would not admit defeat: " Can you swim then?"

"I can," Bud replied calmly.

"What are you bragging about?" Andre was furious: "When did the military academy teach swimming? The biggest swimming pool in the military academy is the water tank in the practice room. Don't tell me it was learned by monastery again. ?"

"The cultivator doesn't teach swimming, and the cultivator doesn't know how to swim." Bud smiled and said, "But the cultivator likes to eat fish, and the monastery has its own fish pond."

Whether it is Orthodox or Catholic, fish has a special religious status. In the age of ancient empires, the Western church was still an underground organization that was about to be attacked every three times. At that time, the church used the images of fish and wine glasses as secret signals. So Bud is not just bluffing Andre.

"I can swim and it is impossible to swim back. It's not too far from the shore." Winters quickly stood up to end the big discussion about swimming skills: "Is there a boat on the Skua?"

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"Where?" Andrei suddenly came to his senses.

"It hangs just behind the poop."

Hearing the good news, Andre ran to the poop excitedly. Winters and Bud were helpless. followed him.

But when he actually saw the boat, Andre couldn't help but be disappointed, because the boat on the Skua was smaller than the customs boat.

The small boat at Customs might have been able to fit five people with all its effort, and the boat on the Skua was a large bathtub, and it was estimated that there would be no place for three people to sit on it.

"This ship is not as good as the customs one." Bud said with a bitter smile.

Andre started mutter incantations to calculate: "Three people can sit at a time, and we have thirty-six people including two officers. Thirty-six divided by three is twelve."

He slapped his thigh excitedly: "Twelve round trips will bring us to the shore. It's actually not troublesome. It won't take long!"

Winters is about to be loved His classmate Andrea Cellini cried stupidly. He finally understood the mood of Major Moritz when he saw him and several artillery warrant officers humming and humming cannons during the landing battle a few days ago.

He and Bud looked at each other sadly, confirming that both of them had realized that Andre's intelligence had lost its resuscitation value: "Think about it, three people ashore, and someone has to take care of them. The boat is coming back! One round trip will only transport two people ashore. Considering that it will take longer to return with only one rower, it is estimated that it will not be finished by tomorrow."

"Yes, still Rest assured and wait for the port. We still have luggage, and the boat can only take two people if it is loaded." Bud was always thoughtful, he added the luggage that was ignored by Winters: "Didn't the new captain say it? Wait It won't be long, and it will be docked tomorrow at the latest."

But Andre obviously didn't listen to the second half, he added the two elements of "luggage weight" and "return paddler" In his own primordial mathematical model, he is contemplating new solutions.

At this time, two customs tax collectors had already boarded the ship. They wore hard hats and black leather armor. The vital parts of the leather armor are reinforced by thin iron plates, and the joints are protected by chainmail.

The two tax collectors were tall and aggressive, with swords hanging from their belts. From the appearance, it is better to say that they are a group of bandits or mercenaries rather than the civil servants of the Veneta customs.

If it wasn't for the fact that one of them was holding a folio, Winters would have thought they were just tax collectors' bodyguards.

"Is this the customs tax collector? Why does it look like he can fight better than a pirate?" Winters said to Bud in surprise. He looked at the two tax collectors and felt that he was the same There is no guarantee of winning against one.

Bud chuckled lightly, leaned against the ship's rail and replied, "Since ancient times, tax collectors are a more dangerous profession than being a soldier. When I was born, the emperor had been driven away, But throughout my childhood, I always heard rumors of federal tax officials slaughtering corpses in the wilderness."

Winters laughed loudly. Resist taxes to the point of killing people - sovereign wars don't count, sheriffs and city guards can settle any citizen who doesn't want to pay taxes.

"The Union-Provincial Republic is a republic established by urban militia, so the Union-provincial government's strength control in the countryside is not strong, and the Union-provincial government doesn't pay much attention to the countryside." A faint smile.

As a well-educated Unionist who grew up in the countryside, attended a military academy in the city, Budd understood the political system of the Union Republic far better than Winters: "For citizens, the Union Army The shackles of the emperor were broken, and the city was free to develop. But in the rural areas, the inter-provincial republic inherited all the rights of the old aristocracy, what it was before and what it is now. So for ordinary farmers like my parents, only It's just a different emperor."

"It's not the same." Hearing his friend seem to be bashing the Confederacy, Winters subconsciously wanted to refute. For him, the alliance, the coalition of the militia means Marshal Ned, General Antoine Laurent, unsullied. But he actually didn't know much about politics, and he couldn't think of anything different for a while.

"Hahaha, it's really not the same." Seeing that Winters couldn't think of anything different, Bud began to refute himself: "After all, the Republic has banned marriage taxes and things like that. The aristocratic privilege that insults personality cannot be said to be without progress, but the rights related to economics are rejected to yield an inch."

"Yes, there are still changes." Although the pure virgin Winters actually I don't know what a "marriage tax" is, but he said with a consistent optimism attitude: "As long as there is progress, it is a good thing. How can anything be done overnight?"

I heard that the tax collector After getting on the ship, the acting captain of the Skua hurried out of the cabin, trying his best to imitate the old leader, stooping down and trotting to meet the two customs officers.

"What's on the boat?" The tax collector holding the folio was very indifferent. He had experienced this flattering performance too much and he had long been used to it.

"Tobacco, and sugar." The acting captain replied, shoving the large and small bags into the tax collector's arms: "You can try our fine tobacco, and other products like Candy as white as a cloud, try it."

"What are you doing? Are you trying to bribe me?" Next, give yourself a gift.

His attitude is even worse: "You dare to bribe the tax collector, you don't want it anymore? Don't do these useless things! Take me to inspect the goods on the ship, do you know the tax rate?"

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The acting captain was in a cold sweat at the words of the tax collector. Bribe the tax collector to cut off the right hand according to the law, but the fat captain does it every time, a fat hand is still alive, is it possible that where is the problem? Hearing the tax collector asking about the tax rate, he hurriedly answered, "I know, I know."

"Hailan Port doesn't accept physical goods, do you know?"

"I know, I know."

"Take me to order."

"Okay, okay."

"Why are there so many people on board?"

"Your Excellency officers of the army, take our ship back from Guitu City." The acting captain added: "It's our sea blue army."

"oh?" Picking it up, he looked around at the warrant officers in small groups on the deck. The warrant officers were all dressed in cadet uniforms, and Essence, Qi, and Spirit looked very full, not like slaves by any means.

The tax collector came to a conclusion and knew that these people were not slaves, but he still sneered and taught the acting captain: "If you dare to traffic people, you will die, you know?"

"I know, I know." The acting captain hurriedly nodded. The laws of the member countries of the alliance are different, and their attitudes towards slaves are also different. But in the Hailan Republic, bribing public officials only beheads, while human trafficking requires beheading.

"Take me to check the cargo."

"Okay, okay."

The acting captain of the Skua leads two expeditions The taxman went down into the cabin. The original chief mate was also an old sailor who had been at sea for more than ten years, but this time he still had to be severely beaten by the society because of his lack of social experience.

Welcoming the Skua will be a strict and thorough inspection. Will the fat captain who is still at sea suddenly feel colic?

"Hey! I got it!" Andre suddenly shouted excitedly, and he danced with Winters and Budd to explain his latest mathematical theory: "I know how to use this as soon as possible. A small boat took us all ashore. Let three people go ashore, and when we come back, only one boat of luggage goes there, and the cycle goes back and forth.

Only paddle with one person at a time, and make sure Everyone only paddles once, so everyone has plenty of strength.

It only takes twenty-seven strokes to get us all ashore with our luggage..."

Dare to love This dear man has not spoken for so long, he is just pondering his mathematical theory.

Winters and Bud exchanged a painful look at each other again, and Winters suddenly felt his phantom pain come back, and he couldn't help holding his forehead and sighing.

Bud said to Andre seriously: "absolutely didn't expect, you are such a math genius, I still have a problem that I haven't been able to figure out, please teach me. A The old man took a wolf, a sheep and a basket of turnips across the river. The boat was too small, so he could only bring one thing at a time. The wolf wants to eat the sheep, and the sheep want to eat turnips. How can the old man take the three things? And what about the whole thing being brought to the other side of the river intact?"

Winters let out a painful sigh from the deepest part of his chest, feeling his phantom limb pain worsen.

Later, the tax collector ordered the goods, received the money, and left the receipts, and then boarded the boat to go to other ships for inspection.

The Skua anchored at the outer anchorage of Lamar Harbor for the night and waited until tomorrow to enter the port.

Major Moritz, a severely alcoholic, still groaned around on the open deck.

Winters lay on the deck, a few kilometers away from the hometown he thought about day and night, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

Not far from Winters, Bud seems to be sleeping soundly.

Winters suddenly thought that he had finally returned to his hometown, but Bud had left his homeland. In fact, he must have felt bad.

The night was silent.

[Assuming that the luggage of two people is equal to the weight of one person, the maximum load of the boat is three people, and there are a total of thirty-six people. Can it be guaranteed that only one person will paddle at a time, and each person will only row once one way, and twenty-seven round trips will send everyone ashore? ]
[Actually not]
[The history of customs is really very long, the earliest can be traced back to ancient Egypt, and it has always been one of the important sources of income for the ruling class. The methods of taxation by the ancients are similar to those of today. They all make a detailed list, even specific to a certain type of fish or wool. Tax collectors are also a dangerous occupation since ancient times. For a long time, feudal countries even adopted a tax system, tax collectors became contractors, and the ruling class received a stable source of income. But the tax package system is not so benign to those being taxed. In the French Revolution, Lavoisier was executed because he had served as a tax collector to the King of France. ]