Seagulls, waves, rocks, sailboats, rum, and cheap women with heavy makeup.
When these words are put together, what can you think of? Close your eyes and don’t think about anything. Let’s listen to the call of the sea.
It was raining lightly in the sky. Wang Xu, dressed in black, was walking on the muddy road, looking at the buildings on both sides.
Because of the rain, visibility was not high and there were not many pedestrians on the road.
But judging from the buildings on both sides and the vaguely visible sails on the pier, Wang Xu felt that he had returned to ancient Europe, an era before steamships had yet appeared.
"Ancient Europe, what kind of world was this?" Wang Xu pressed his hat with his fingers. Dressing up well would allow him to better integrate into society.
Occasionally, pedestrians passed by in the drizzle. After seeing his black dress and diamond-encrusted hat, they all lowered their heads humbly, preferring to take a detour from him rather than go straight through.
Wang Xu held a civilization stick in his hand and walked in the drizzle, letting the rain hit his body and face with a slight coolness.
A few minutes later, the path came to an end, and beyond was the endless sea. A few seagulls whose wings were wet by the rain stood on the pier cleaning their feathers.
"Dear Sir, do you need help?" The Sheriff who was guarding the dock ran out of the wooden house after seeing Wang Xu and covered his head with his clothes and asked.
Wang Xu looked at the man and saw that he was wearing a red uniform with the British imperial flag on his cuffs.
Seeing this, Wang Xu withdrew his gaze and said, "Where is this?"
"Sir, this is Speck Port, the last supply station on the way to London. Sir, where are your followers? Have you encountered pirates?" Wang Xu was dressed very decently. At least in the eyes of the sheriff, he was Speck.
Sir Alan, the governor of Hong Kong, does not have a diamond-encrusted hat.
Can you do whatever you want if you have money? The answer is yes.
The Sheriff lowered his head slightly. He instinctively sensed that a big shot was coming and he had better serve him carefully.
"Port of Speck, pirates, the last supply station heading to London!" Wang Xu muttered this word and looked at the endless sea.
After a moment, he withdrew his gaze and nodded slightly to the Sheriff: "Thank you for your answer, this is your reward."
Wang Xu gently stretched out his hand. The Sheriff's breathing became rapid and he quickly held his hands in a gesture of receiving.
The next second, two collision sounds were heard, and the Sheriff's eyes instantly narrowed. They were two charming gold coins.
"Oh, my God, thank you for your generosity. Magistrate Ferbart is always ready to serve you, distinguished gentleman." Although Ferbart is the Sheriff, the only thing he can manage is the wharf, which is responsible for collecting taxes for Governor Sir Allen.
.
He had never seen even coins, let alone gold coins. Looking at that, he wanted to kiss Wang Xu's shoes.
"Fabat, I heard you mentioned pirates specifically, so how is the security in Speck Port?" Wang Xu was a newbie here, and every sentence was about exploring the world.
Feibart knew everything and replied firmly: "Sir, this is very close to London. No pirates will come to harass the port. The security here is very good."
"Can you show me your gun?" Wang Xu raised his head slightly and looked at the musket behind Feibat.
Feibart hesitated for a moment. They had a rule that guns could not be left behind, but he soon forgot about this rule. In front of this rich man, the rule meant nothing.
"Of course, it's my honor to serve you." Feibart took off the musket and handed it to Wang Xu respectfully. This is the charm of two gold coins.
Wang Xu took the musket and checked it. It was a flintlock gun that could only be loaded with one projectile at a time. After shooting, the ammunition had to be loaded from the muzzle and inserted with a stick.
If he read correctly, this should be the earliest flintlock gun. It appeared in 1547. The craftsmanship and design level are extremely backward. This is an unimproved model and belongs to the first batch of flintlock guns in the world.
Looking at this primitive flintlock gun, Wang Xu guessed that the current time period should be between 1550 and 1620.
At this stage, Britain kicked off the Great Navigation, the Spanish Armada roamed the world, and pirates and privateers were rampant. This is referred to as the Age of Discovery.
"The Age of Discovery?" Wang Xu handed the flintlock gun back, and under Feibart's distant gaze, he gradually moved away with his civilized stick.
The Age of Discovery was a world where capitalism was rising and the world was moving from ignorance to science.
In Wang Xu's mind, there are many movies and TV series about this era. It is difficult to judge what kind of world this is just by using the word "Age of Discovery".
But it doesn't matter, he has plenty of time to explore, and he knows where to explore.
Jingle Bell
Pushing open the door of the tavern, the wind chimes suddenly rang.
Wang Xu covered his nose with his hand. The tavern in the Age of Discovery was not as good as people imagined.
This is a gathering place for pirates, sailors, adventurers and explorers.
You can't expect these rough guys to sit in a pub and pick up girls politely or watch a football match like modern people.
"Hercules, defeat him, defeat him. I've put three silver coins on you. This is all my wealth."
"Philido, if you defeat this big man, I will be yours tonight."
The smell of feet, perfume, barbecue, and beer all mixed together, making Wang Xu a little unbearable.
However, the sailors in the tavern did not think that they gathered together in twos and threes, drinking and chatting, playing cards for fun, or wrestling with each other to compete in strength. The group of people was lively and happy.
There were even people around who offered handicaps for the drunkards in the tavern to place their bets.
Several women in corsets were wandering among the crowd, dragging trays with wine glasses.
The drunkards took away the wine glasses and put the copper coins on the tray. Occasionally, some old perverts would not do that and liked to stuff the copper coins into women's bras.
These tavern girls were not angry, and they laughed and joked with these people. Some of them looked like they were old friends, and they even took the initiative to sit in each other's arms and take away the only copper coins they had.
"Look, what I found? A fat sheep suspected of being a nobleman appeared in the cheap tavern. Is he planning to hold a dance here?"
"Hey, you have to be careful what you say. You will be hanged if you rush into the nobles. The guards might rush in the next second."
As Wang Xu appeared, the drunkards blocking the door started talking, but in fact no one dared to take action.
This is the port of Speck, not an empty sea.
If you collide with a noble here, the island's sheriff and guards will teach you how to be a good person in a matter of minutes. The lightest one will be a whip, and in serious cases, you will even be hanged.
"Friend, how about buying me a drink?" A drunken bald man stood up unsteadily and said vaguely: "Buy me a drink, and I will tell you a secret."
"Come on Zacro, the secrets you can know are no longer secrets." After hearing the words of the bald man, the people around him started to cheer.
As if he was irritated, Zacro slammed his fists on the table and said loudly: "I'm sure you haven't heard of the secret I'm going to tell you, you scumbags."
"Then what do you mean?" The people around him were still making noises, shouting for Zacro to speak up.
Zacro burped, his anger turned into a smile, and he shook his head and said: "If you want to lie to me about your secret, there is no way. I will only tell the person who invites me to drink at least one bottle of golden rum."
A bottle of golden rum costs two silver coins. For a sailor who drinks low-quality wine for a long time, two silver coins is definitely a big price.
The hecklers sat down one after another and complained in a low voice: "There are no secrets, nothing worth a bottle of golden rum."
"Yes, it's just that you don't know. This is a secret about the captain of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow." After Zacro said this, his head fell on the table.