Chapter 28 The Pier
I don’t know if it was because of offending the tax collector, the Skua waited at the anchorage for a night and a morning, and was not allowed to enter the port until the next day when the sun was west.
When the pier was visible to the naked eye, Winters began to reorganize his luggage. Only then did he understand why Instructor Nal said that people no longer use long swords, but chose to wear more portable weapons.
Because compared with Major General Leiden and Major Moritz's swords, the long sword used in the military academy is too "long".
Winters gestured repeatedly and hung it on his belt. The bare scabbard was not good-looking either.
It is inserted obliquely on the belt? The scabbard easily rubs to the ground, and it is not comfortable to have a one-meter-3 iron bar on the waist.
Behind the back? It's weird, I've never seen anyone carry a sword.
Holding it in your hand? It probably looks like a bandit who is going to fight with others.
After thinking about it, it might be more convenient if you can hang it immediately.
The Major General and Major’s swords are both one-handed swords and can be easily hung on the belt.
Their swords are shorter, lighter and more gorgeous than Winters' long sword.
I don’t know how effective the actual combat is, but compared to portability and decorativeness, Winters’ long sword can be beaten all over the ground.
Winters looked at Bud and Andre and suddenly laughed. He laughed at his timidity in his hometown, and was too nervous because he was about to go home, so he was at a loss.
After understanding this, he no longer had to worry about how to wear the long sword and be more handsome. He tied the sword and his luggage together and walked onto the deck with his hands.
The Skuo is very close to the idle berth. The sea blue port is full of ships, and if you are not careful, you will get intimate contact.
So the sails of the Skuo had been put away, and the sailors were carefully guarding against the collision of the ship with long wooden poles.
It felt that the distance was almost the same, so the acting captain picked up the first mate's work again, picked up the rope and threw it hard towards the berth of the dock. The dock worker who had been waiting on the berth quickly caught the cable and tied it to the wooden pile.
The sailors on the boat shouted and tried their best. Several other sailors held long wooden poles to help and steadily parked the boat at the berth.
The sailors began to put on wooden boards between the trestle and the side of the ship. Winters just came forward to prepare to get off the ship, but was called by the major.
Winters keenly noticed that the Major's habit of playing coins without consciously was gone, and even his hands were shaking slightly. Obviously, alcohol addiction and dehydration had tormented him very much.
The major even spoke a little hoarsely. He said to Winters listlessly, "After you get off the boat, take your classmates first, don't break up all at once. Go to the military headquarters to report first, and then you go home."
Winters received the order, saluted and turned and got off the boat.
In fact, he was a little surprised why the major called him. Could it be that he was familiar with his face because he had drunk wine with him?
On the pier, the acting captain was delivering the bills with the customs officer at the dock.
As a commercial republic, customs is an important source of income for Hailan, and previous ruling committees have attached great importance to customs construction.
In Hailan, the tax collector will board the ship to inspect the cargo before entering the port, and will be responsible for collecting customs duties. The tax collector takes one copy and leaves two copies to the merchant ship as tax payment certificate and port entry permit.
After entering the port, the customs personnel at the terminal will check the goods again and take a note left by the tax collector for reconciliation and cargo inspection. The merchant ship can unload the goods only after the inspection is correct.
This simple and effective system has curbed corruption within the customs to a certain extent and is a model of efficient administration in this era.
After walking through the long pier of the dock and finally stepping onto the solid land, Winters suddenly felt uncomfortable.
After he first recovered from consciousness, Winters almost vomited his stomach because of seasickness. But when he was already familiar with the skuo, which was always in a bumpy state, and stepped onto the ground again, he actually felt seasick again.
It was clear that there was solid land under his feet, but Winters only felt his steps floating, and his whole body seemed to be shaking involuntarily.
Fortunately, the situation was not strong. Winters cheered up and looked up at the Marina Port Pier, scanning his familiar and unfamiliar hometown.
There are some subtle differences between Hailan and her memory, but her temperament is still the same, busy, noisy, and people come and go.
Everyone is busy with their own affairs and walking their own path. No one pays attention or cares about a young officer who has been away from home for many years returning to his hometown.
Putting one hand on Winters' shoulder, Bud said to Winters with a smile: "Is this the largest port in the league? It does feel more energetic than Guitu City."
"Ah, Lord Bud!" Winters held his heart with his right hand and bowed in a strange manner, waved his hand to the bustling crowd on the dock, and said to Bud with a smile: "Welcome to the heart of the noble Republic of Venetta, the gems on the inland sea, the city of commerce, the city of wealth--Sea Blue!"
Bud replied with a strange look, and he joked to Winters: "But why did I hear that Sea Blue is a city of masks, conspiracies, assassinations and secret associations? Isn't Venetta the most famous assassin?"
"Hey, that's all the past." Winters blushed, and he didn't refute because Bud was right.
The Venetta people are violent and violent, committing life and death, and revenge. In addition to the custom of wearing swords and masks, they also have the tradition of secret associations.
Outsiders do not understand these customs, but the Venetta people do not feel anything to be ashamed of, and they are proud of it.
However, Winters has lived in the United Provinces for six years, so he also felt that the culture of the Venetta masks, poisons and daggers was not very friendly.
He waved his hands repeatedly to explain to Bad: "That's all in the imperial era. Besides, the Venettas assassinated the royalists and the old nobles, and those assassins are all heroes of the alliance."
Thirty years ago, when the Catholic Church had not split again, the cruel heretic repression aroused the resistance of the Venetta people.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content later! The Venetta people with poisonous daggers hidden under the cloak wandered in the sea blue streets and alleys, assassinating the clergy of the public church on the street. A large number of clergy of the public church were corpses on the street, and the remaining bishops and judges hid in the fortress and shivered and dared not take a step.
When the nobles and militia armed forces broke up within the alliance, the Venetta people also enthusiastically assassinated a large number of Gulf nobles. In addition to the pseudo-royal members, the last legal successor of the Duke of the Mountain Front was killed by the Venetta Assassin, which directly led to the complete extinction of the Frusland family's side branches.
"Is it a past? Why do I see that there are still pedestrians wearing masks on the street now?" Bud smiled into two crescent moons, and he pointed with his hand: "Look, there are also those people next to the carriage, all wearing masks."
Winters looked along Bud's pointing and two black four-wheeled carriages parked on the stone road next to the dock. The two four-wheeled carriages were fully enclosed, painted black and decorated with white wood edges. The small windows on the carriage also pulled curtains, making it impossible to see who was sitting inside.
Four people standing beside the car were wearing black triangle hats and black cloaks. They were wearing white fools' masks on their faces. This mask was a full-coverage mask, with only the lower half slightly raised and resembling a bird's beak.
Venetta is luxurious because of its wealth. Both clothing and supplies are beautiful. Although the four-person and two cars parked by the dock are simple, they are conspicuous by other colorful pedestrians and carriages, which makes people not want to notice.
"Not all people wearing masks are assassins. Wearing masks is just a custom. You don't understand this, right? No matter how ugly a man or a woman wears masks, she will add a little bit of beauty. You have never seen the scene of the Carnival, right? At that time, everyone in the city had to wear masks." Winters looked at the men in black robes carefully, but couldn't see anything, so he said: "What kind of servant should be the luxurious family? Come to the dock to pick up people."
"Shouldn't the servant wear a tiny suit?" Bud was in a mood.
Before Winters could answer, a rough voice broke into his chat with Bud: "What do you care about others? Maybe some people like to use this outfit as a number clothes for their servants."
Without having to look at it, he knew it was Andrei when he heard the sound of the sandpaper. He saw Andrei holding a large luggage bag in his hands, which looked extremely heavy. He was so tired that he was sweating after walking a few steps from the boat.
"Huh! How many things have you brought back?" Winters was startled by Andre's luggage.
Andrey panted, "I brought all the things back!"
When Andre put his luggage on the ground, he even made a metal collision sound, and he didn't know what was inside him.
"Don't you have to go back? How good is it to be divided into two?" Winters was amused by Andre's brute force. He remembered the task that the major gave him. Seeing that some of his classmates had already come out, he said to Andre and Bud: "Tell me to those who have already come out, don't disband first, wait for the major here. I'll go to the exit of the pier."
Bud nodded, and Winters walked to the intersection of the pier and the ground with his luggage, and conveyed the Major's orders with every student who had just arrived from the ship.
There were many pedestrians on the dock. In addition to merchants, sailors, and passengers, there were also a large number of porters. A strong porter in short dress passed by Winters. Winters suddenly felt that the person's back was very familiar. He suddenly remembered who this was. He shouted at the back: "Benwei? Benweinuto?"
The porter turned around in confusion, then fell into surprise. He rushed over and hugged Winters with a smile.
Benwinotto was a friend of Winters at the Hailan Branch of the Army Infant School. After Hailan Road graduated, Benwin did not continue to go to school, while Winters went to the United Provinces to study in the preparatory school. The two occasionally had correspondence, but they had not met for six years.
"Look at you! They are all real officers!" Benwei punched Winters in the chest with tears in his eyes.
Winters also laughed and hammered back: "You have become taller and stronger now. Are your family still okay?"
"Okay! My mother is always talking about you!"
The two people who had not seen each other for many years wanted to say a lot, but couldn't explain clearly in a few words, so they could only explain the recent situation. Not far away, Benwei's coworkers were urging him to go back to work.
"Your family hasn't moved, right?" Benwei asked reluctantly.
Winters shook his head quickly: "I haven't moved, your family hasn't moved either?"
"I haven't moved. I'll go back to work first. I'll go find you when I get off work in the evening!"
"I'm sure!"
After a brief conversation, they parted again. Winters never thought that he had just returned to Hailan and met his old friend and classmate on the dock.
Just as he was lamenting that we would never meet in life, the four passengers on the skua also got off the boat and walked towards Winters from the pier.
When passing by Winters, one of the passengers held up his hat and smiled and nodded to greet Winters.
Because they had fought with pirates together, although Winters didn't know who these four passengers were, they also had a comrade-in-arms relationship, so he smiled and nodded in return.
Winters watched the backs of the four passengers walk down the pier, and walked straight through the bustling pedestrians on the dock, and headed straight for the two black carriages.
He immediately looked at Bud and found that Bud was also looking at him. It was obvious that Bud also noticed the four passengers. The two grinned and looked at each other, not expecting that the person who was going to pick up in the two black carriages was actually the four passengers on the Skuo.
Winters turned his gaze back to the four passengers, but what he saw made him gasp.
A man in black robe seemed to hug the passenger who nodded to him just now, but Winters clearly saw a sword strip stained with blood coming out of the passenger's back and trembled slightly in the sun.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! The next moment, the man in black robes began to draw his sword and fight with the passengers. A sharp woman screamed and stinged everyone's eardrums, and some pedestrians also discovered the cruel fight that was happening on the dock.
Among the remaining three passengers, one was sacrificing his life to stop the man in black, and the other was protecting the higher-ranking passenger and fleeing to the Skuo. The higher-ranking passenger repeatedly called for help.
Winters witnessed all this and subconsciously decided to do something because he could not watch these "comrades" be killed in broad daylight.
Without other weapons around him, he directly pulled out his unscathed training sword and rushed forward.
The incident happened in an instant. Before the warrant officers could understand what was going on, they all stood there as the two men in black robes were chasing the two passengers with swords in their arms.
The passenger who seemed to be an escort turned around to fight and tried to stop the two men in black robes.
Seeing the guard stop, a man in black robe also stopped and pulled out a particularly short musket from his robe. He didn't see him hanging the fuse with trouble, but he just pointed the musket at the guard and fired it directly.
A red light flashed, accompanied by a burst of white smoke, and gunshots rang throughout the dock. If people were confused and didn't know what happened just now, then the gunshot immediately caused all the passers-by on the dock to panic.
Although I don't know how the man in black robe fired the musket without ignition, Winters knew that there was no reason to be missed with such a short distance, and that guard would undoubtedly die.
However, what was unexpected was that the guard who was hit by a musket at close range was not dead, but also rushed towards the man in black with his sword, as if he was not shot at all.
The elderly passenger with a higher status was shouting for help and rolling and creeping towards the Skuo. Winters passed by him and met another man in black robe.
Without time to think, Winters instinctively used an angry slash towards the front with all his strength. This was Winters' full-strength sword. Even if there was a long sword without a blade in his hand, it could slash the bones. If the opponent didn't want to die, he had to avoid it.
However, the opponent's one-handed sword bypassed the sword's sword path with a flexibility that the long sword could never achieve, and penetrated Winters' chest like a poisonous snake.
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Chapter completed!