Facing the cold wind, the warship moved forward through the waves.
Todd sat on the right side of the boat, looking at the twilight coast getting farther and farther behind him, silent.
Huggins slid the oar in his hand, panting heavily, and asked him: "Approximately how long will we stay on the island?"
Todd took out the notepad from his arms, looked at the pencil marks on it, and said while thinking: "Based on the confession of the "Black Skull" prisoner, considering the time between stays, and the factors of spring reverse current, we may
We need to stay on Waiheke Island for two days before we can leave for the mainland."
Huggins stretched out his hand and patted the wooden box under him, nodding to indicate that he understood.
An hour later, the warship docked at the shoal of Waiheke Island.
Huggins directed everyone to pull the hull ashore, lifted the oilcloth in the cabin, and began to inspect the glass in the crates.
Todd sat on the big rock in the shoal, opened the map he carried with him, and observed this small island only four kilometers away from the west coast of Dusk. Viewed from above, the island is oval in shape, with a size of no more than 400 acres. The coast is
The sand bed formed by alluvial sand and gravel is surrounded by dense forests. There is a live spring in the center of the island. Where the spring water flows, it forms an endless river, which is why Waiheke Island got its name.
Closing the map, Todd focused on the helpers around Huggins. There were nine of them in total, and the man called them "reliable acquaintances." Whether they were rowing oars, controlling sails, or carrying cargo, these people were skilled in their movements.
, neat and uniform, silent and silent, hardworking and uncomplaining.
These people don't look like ordinary people. To put it bluntly, Todd thinks they are more like soldiers.
Speaking of which, Huggins' identity is still a mystery to this day.
This man, whether he acts or talks, does not look like a farmer wandering around the market. Although his behavior is sometimes rude, it is strictly logical; although he is not interested in academics, he can understand some simple things.
He didn't like hunting and partying, the aristocratic things, but he always carried dry food and weapons with him.
It didn't look like a noble, nor did it look like a mercenary. Todd initially concluded that the opponent was probably from the army.
In order to find out his identity, Todd once inquired about his past, but the tall man's replies were always the same, over and over again, with nothing new.
"I am a very ordinary messenger. I occasionally go hunting in the mountains."
"I usually help the monastery or other people in need by running errands to earn some extra money."
"I have no family, so there's nothing wrong with being alone."
Todd naturally didn't believe these words. In his opinion, there must be a story about this man, but he just didn't want to mention it. Of course, he couldn't do anything to get to the bottom of it, and he had no choice but to give up in the end every time he asked.
What made him feel at ease was that Huggins had no ill intentions towards him, and even showed some subtle care and maintenance in his daily life.
Bringing his mind back to the current situation, Todd began to think about the antique glass plan.
Initially, the plan was developed to achieve three goals.
1. Establish a base of alien species in Muxi Harbor and completely get rid of the situation of being dependent on others.
Second, find ways to get out of the whirlpool of the struggle between the churchmen and the ascetics, and try your best to prevent the relationship between the two groups from becoming hostile.
Third, if possible, find a way to drive away Father Paul, an eyesore, or make him lose his power.
Although the church agreed to hand over Muxi Harbor to Todd, this was on the premise of helping to occupy the monastery, which undoubtedly conflicts with the second point. Moreover, after the church achieves its goal, it is likely to burn bridges; if he chooses to stay out of the matter, in the struggle between the two factions
If you respond passively, the church will eventually take away the ordination letter and the right to operate the seaport.
Therefore, it is undoubtedly extremely difficult to formulate a thorough plan to achieve the above three goals at the same time. However, these three goals complement each other, and failure to achieve any one of them may cause unpredictable consequences.
So in detail, the steps of this plan are as follows.
The first step is to use the glass processing technology of the previous life to produce craft-grade glass products that are unreachable in this era, and forge these glasses into literary and artistic objects from the Taylor Empire period.
The second step is to grasp the dynamics of pirates going south and study the power situation in the northern islands.
The third step is to maintain a good relationship with the church forces so that you can borrow troops from them when you exterminate pirates in the future.
The fourth step is to have Huggins spread false news among villages and towns that Taylor's treasure is buried in the Northern Islands.
The fifth step is to cooperate with the church army to exterminate pirates, ensure the safety of waterways, and seize warships.
In the sixth step, Todd took the initiative to spread false news that he was going north. In fact, he used a pirate warship to load glass and hide on Waiheke Island, the island closest to the mainland.
Step 7: After waiting for a period of time, Todd will bring a warship full of Taylor's treasures, pretend to have discovered the treasures of the Northern Islands, and return in triumph. And by building momentum and other methods, he will draw the attention of the church from occupying the monastery.
Turn to the glass.
At present, the plan has only been implemented to the seventh step, and the three goals are basically half successful.
It is worth mentioning that when wiping out pirates, due to a miscalculation of the combat strength of the "Black Skull" tribe, the entire plan almost failed completely. Fortunately, Alfonso De Cabo turned the tide and dealt with the berserker Sacru.
So, why not dedicate the glass-making technology directly to the church?
In Todd's view, if he dedicated his glass-making technology to the church, the best-case scenario would be just a reward. The worst-case scenario would be that the church would have no use for the glass craftsmanship in order to prevent it from spreading.
The inventor of value was murdered.
If you use the name of Taylor's treasure to offer treasures to the church, the church, which does not have any naval power and knows nothing about the northern islands, will have to rely on itself to help build Muxi Harbor to obtain more glass products.
However, thinking about it carefully, it seems that there are still some problems in some places.
Speaking of conspiracies and plans, Todd's best efforts in his previous life were just in the small space of the university, scheming with rivals in the department for professional titles and papers, and he had never encountered such a complicated situation; another
On the other hand, as a theoretical researcher, he used to be more exposed to experiments and papers, and he did not expect that one day he would need to personally formulate and implement plans.
Sitting on the stone, he considered the feasibility of the plan again. In the end, his brain ached at the thought, and Todd couldn't even think of a reason.
With such a sigh, Todd simply didn't bother to think about it anymore, and instead focused on the current matter.