Chapter 168: The Voyage of 1492 AD and the Disaster of Columbus
"Ha! Lift your head and let me take a good look! Huh? This little face with donkey hooves and a rough face doesn't look like a pagan Heide who deserves to be burned, nor an idolater who deserves to be beheaded.
Zeng (G?tzen)...tsk! In this Moorish land full of pagans, I actually met two Latins from the southern city-states?..."
"Heide Gerzen?...Are you Deutsche? Crusader mercenaries from HRE?!..."
"Haha! Burgerschaft! Ignorant city-state people! We are the knights of Bavaria, a famous mercenary group! When we are fighting among the peninsula city-states, the citizens of your city-state will be killed as soon as they hear our horn.
I was so scared that I knelt down and begged for mercy!…”
Beside the Pine Bridge on the banks of the Henil River, Christopher Columbus rode a mule and took his younger brother Giacomo Columbus, facing a group of twelve Shinra mercenaries. These fierce Bavarian mercenaries,
They all rode tall war horses and wore strong breastplates, and they surrounded them from all sides with ill intentions. The mercenary captain at the head smiled, stared at the well-dressed city-state people in front of him, and pressed his hand to the knight's sword at his waist.
.
"Latins of the city-state! Open your blue eyes and take a good look at the words on my breastplate! ... Oh, maybe you don't know Highland? Then drop your weapons, kneel down with your head on the ground, and say to me Rhine
Lord Knight Harder kowtows!…”
"O Lord! The words on your breastplate?...'Gotes Feinde, haben keinerlei Barmherzigkeit und Erbarmen.','Enemies of God, without mercy and mercy?'...Merda! How is this possible?! Is this really a great German mercenary group?"
…”
Columbus widened his eyes and looked at the line of text on the breastplate of the mercenary captain Reinhard. That was the motto once used by the famous "Great Mercenary Group" on the Apennine Peninsula. And killing and looting was cruel and brutal.
The reputation of the large mercenary group among the citizens of various city-states can almost stop a child from crying at night...
"No! No! Although the great mercenary group of the peninsula is very famous, wasn't it defeated by Ha Kud's white mercenary group long ago? Those are all rural legends, more than a hundred years ago
It’s an old story…”
Although Columbus was rude and stubborn, he was not stupid. He looked at the worn armor on these mercenary knights, the heavy worn sword scabbards on their waists, and the bloody sacks bulging behind the horses, and he quickly understood.
"Haha! Merda! What kind of German mercenary group?! They are just bankrupt wandering knights who, in the name of scaring people, plundered everywhere in the Holy War of Castile!..."
"Merda? Ugh! You donkey-faced city-state person, how dare you scold me? Witness the Lord! I suspect you are a pagan who worships the devil!... Kneel down, kneel down for me, open your package, and let me take care of you.
examine!…"
The leader of the Bavarian mercenary captain, Reinhard, made a "clang" sound and pulled out a knight's sword more than one meter long, pointing it at Columbus's chest. The surrounding mercenary knights also pulled out their swords, with faces on their faces.
It is an undisguised murderous intention.
"Captain! Just kill these two fat sheep! ...Haha! Look at this outfit, you can squeeze out dozens of gold coins!"
"Ah... God bless you! It's all... a misunderstanding... a misunderstanding! My package... is for you... for you to check!..."
Seeing this scene, Columbus clicked, sweat broke out on his forehead and back, and his knees couldn't stop feeling weak.
At present, in this desolate pagan land, there is no human habitation in front or behind. It is easier to kill two travelers than two dogs. And in the rural legends of the peninsula, the behavior of these mercenary knights
, but he knows it all too well, it is more cruel than the bandits everywhere...
"The Lord is witness! I... I am Christopher Columbus!... I was the great navigator hired by Queen Isabella... I... I have a letter written by the queen!..."
"Shit! What about Columbus, Dilumbu's?! What about the Queen's great navigator? Sir, I am still the Grand Duke of Bavaria!...Kneel down! I make you kneel down! Hand over the package!..."
Facing a row of sharp swords and mercenary knights who killed without blinking an eye, Columbus shook his head and mustered up the courage for three seconds, and then decisively chose to kneel down. He unloaded the package from his back tremblingly.
, gritted his teeth and took a few breaths before being kicked to the ground by two mercenaries, who snatched the package in his hands.
"Aha! Bless the Virgin! Let me see how many tinkling little cuties you have...huh?!"
Mercenary captain Reinhard couldn't wait to untie the heavy package and frowned.
"Schei?e! What kind of junk is this? Two books? "Oriental Insights", "Geocentric Theory"? ... What is this thick parchment? "Tuscanelli Map"? "Spice Islands",
'India', 'Serys', 'Sipangu'? What nonsense! A sailing compass? A ruler?...Ha? Are you really a sailor?..."
Reinhard rummaged through Columbus's package for a while, then fell impatiently to the ground. He followed the "clinking" sound of coins and finally found a small, deflated money bag. Then, he opened it and suddenly became excited.
Furious.
"Verdammt! Damn it! This guy is dressed smartly, like a rich fat sheep, but in his wallet, there are only 11 Grosso silver coins? Not even a gold ducat!..."
"Captain! This other guy is even poorer. He only has 6 silver coins and 11 copper coins!..."
"Verfluchte Scheiäe! You two poor fellows from the city-state have made this trip for me in vain!"
Reinhard was so angry that he put his sword across Columbus' neck and spat on him. Columbus was scared and angry, and his whole body was shaking violently, but he couldn't move at all. In this group of people,
In front of the mercenary knight wearing armor and holding a sword, with blood on his hands, no matter how strong he looked, he was just a lamb waiting to be slaughtered who could not escape.
"Arme Sau! Damn poor guy! It looks like this, but there's nothing in the package! At such an old age, you haven't saved any money in so many years? Poor guys with no money should just stay in the city and support themselves.
Bao, why are you wandering around in this Moorish place? Thanks to me following you, I thought you were a businessman from the city-state..."
"Idiot, lazy fool! You don't work hard at all! If you don't have money, won't you go rob? If you don't have money, won't you kill the infidels? Master, I work so hard, working from dawn to dusk to rob and kill!..."
Reinhard looked ferocious and cursed fiercely for a while. Then, he was about to turn the hilt of his sword and wipe the neck of this poor city citizen, when he heard his men yelling in surprise.
"Boss! Look, look! What is this? It seems to be a parchment letter from a noble gentleman. There is a big seal on it. It seems... it seems to be the queen's seal!..."
"Um?…"
Reinhard frowned, took the exquisite parchment letter and read it, his eyes changed.
“In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to Christopher Columbus, the navigator. We have seen your letter to us and noted your plans to sail westward... Please bring your detailed sea voyage
Figure, in front of the Royal Navigation Committee, present your specific plans and requirements to the respected King and Queen... In compliance with the orders of the King and Queen, I send this letter, Hernando de Talavera..."
After a while, Reinhard finished reading the letter, pondered for a while, and put down the long sword on Columbus' neck. Then, he narrowed his mean green eyes, stared at the Latin man in front of him, and asked in a deep voice.
"The Lord witnesses! Are you really the great navigator hired by the Queen?"
"I...I am..."
Thinking of the failed plan presentation not long ago and the sailing proposal rejected by the committee, Columbus pursed his lips, remained silent for a moment, and swore half-truly and half-falsely in the name of the Lord.
"The Lord witnesses! I am the Queen's great navigator! The Queen has always supported me and asked me to study the route westward across the ocean to reach the rich Khitan and India!..."
"Ha?! If you sail west, you can reach Khitan and India? The legendary rich country full of gold, silver, spices, milk and honey?..."
Hearing this, Reinhard was startled, and licked his lips greedily, with a desire for plunder in his eyes. After a while, he shook his head, narrowed his dangerous green eyes again, and asked Columbus.
"It's strange...You guy, since you are the Queen's great navigator, why don't you have any money?...Huh? Where is your money? Where is it hidden?!...Say! Hand it over! I will let you leave alive..."
"My...my money?...The Lord is my witness! I have no money...I owe usury to the merchants of Venice..."
Seeing the murderous intent in the eyes of the mercenary captain and feeling the imminent threat of death, Columbus was silent for a while, then stretched out his hand and pointed carefully at the corner of the package. There was a ball there that was tightly clenched into a ball, but
There was no fine paper thrown away. But when I opened it, it was a copy of the loan contract.
"The merciful and majestic Lord, witness to the honest and fair contract...Christopher Columbus, loan and honest merchant Eleazar, 2212 gold ducats, 9 silver grosses, 21.8 copper denarii. The annual interest rate is 60%, interest
The accrued principal...the contract time is January 1489 after the coming of the Lord..."
Reinhard looked suspicious, but after reading a few sentences, his voice trembled with shock and he almost roared.
"Ah? Ah!...Two thousand ducats, with an annual interest rate of 60%?...My Holy Mother! You...you! You can actually owe so much debt! Such a lot of Verdammt!!..."
