living in 16th century england

Chapter 9 Pirate's Lair
Forgot who it was, he said: Fraud is the main theme of human society.Men, women, children, landlords and merchants, illiterates or scholars, popes or kings.They are all defrauding each other for profit, without exception.

It's not cheating, it's on the way to cheat.There are only three types of human beings, those who have not yet been defrauded, those who are defrauding, and those who have successfully defrauded or failed.

Matthew sneered: There is shit in my heart, everyone is shit.

The other party was dissatisfied: "Are you too young, or do you really know nothing about the inner world of human beings?"

Matthew: "The reason why human beings are great is that they are constantly overcoming their own weaknesses and restraining their own desires. Even a hypocrite with complex thinking, if he pretends for a lifetime, does not hurt others, and strives to maintain his own image, Until death comes. Is he still a hypocrite?"

This person is not a stalwart who never admits his mistakes: "...I really never thought about it..."

Matthew: "If this step is achieved, then he will be a respected gentleman. There is a saying that only the coffin can be concluded."

The other party was silent for a while: "...It seems that you are right, but I don't seem to be wrong either. But I do have a new understanding of this sentence."

Matthew: "Because there is never an absolute right or wrong."

The man said: "I want a pure, pure world. Is there something wrong?"

Matthew: "There's never been an absolute right or wrong."

Matthew immediately stopped the raging crowd before they would be chopped into minced meat.It's a pity that there is still one unlucky guy who lost half of his head.

Robert had some resentment: "Why didn't you say it earlier?"

"Let's hang them up first...Mr. Williams, everyone is precious...don't tie your neck...you idiot, do you know what hanging is?"

The three of them soon became hanging salted fish, even their clothes were stripped.

Matthew went under the tree, the snow crunching under his boots:
"Now, I still have a few questions, who can answer me?"

Because of the rope, the three salted fish are spinning slowly.Someone begged for mercy: "Please, for God's sake."

God?Let it go, are you thanking God or me?Matthew was a little tired: "Who ordered you to come?"

The three suddenly fell silent.

There was a commotion among the crowd, and William's eyes widened.Robert leaned on the big sword and looked around.Danny said: "Yes, they should have accomplices."

Matthew smiled and said, "Danny, it seems that you have thought of it."

Robert: "They were sailors...or were sailors."

Hearing this, Matthew observed carefully, but suddenly his heart moved.

People with complex thinking have more thoughts.

Matthew's first object of suspicion was Jack Hawkins, who directed and acted himself.This is very common. Even if the modern police handle a case, the first suspect is the informant.

The second object of suspicion is the major families of Plymouth.Not many people know how much money the Hawkins family has. £1000 is more accurate.After much deliberation, there are only two left.

Jack Hawkins does have a motive.And his family just bought a boat, so there shouldn't be many gold coins left.In fact, Jack liked to keep his gold coins with him.I only gave my wife and children a few for the family.

Don't think that this is a scumbag. In this era, there are no men who can give their wives gold coins.

But Matthew ruled out his suspicion in just a second.

Matthew took out the letter and shook it: "Who wrote the letter for you?"

One said: "No one told us, you know, there are people in Plymouth who write letters for whoever pays."

Matthew chuckled: "Don't lie to me, it's very bad for you. There are only 116 people in Plymouth who can write. Which one are you talking about?"

The three of them suddenly became numb.The people around were also dumbfounded. How could Master Matthew... even be so clear about this kind of thing?No wonder their family can get rich!
William took someone's ax in the crowd: "Anyone who is hanging and lying should have his hand cut off."

Everyone immediately agreed, since he was here to cheat the ransom, of course Captain Jack was fine, presumably there was some delay, which is also very common.

So it's not a big deal to watch the excitement.

William's face was already long, but it became longer when he stretched it.His personality is similar to that of his father, and he will be chopped when he comes over.

Yugan was frightened out of his wits and shouted, "I said, I said, it was a monk who found us... God, please help me."

Danny laughed, "William, he wants to see God."

Matthew raised his forehead: "William, he already said it."

William gestured with an ax: "What does it matter? My father said that anyone who deceives the Hawkins family must pay the price. I'll ask after I chop it off,"

Robert couldn't help but leaned over and whispered: "Matthew, is this true? 116 can write?"

Matthew raised his eyebrows: "...you guess."

To put it bluntly, Jack's farm is actually a... "pirate lair".

The scam was also aimed at Jack, which is William's home court.After Matthew changed his mind, he didn't try to stop him.

The English of this period could breed pirates, and their disposition was very fierce.No one felt that what William did was wrong, and they all applauded.

Ignoring the screams over there, Matthew turned his attention to the other two "salted fish".

"Do you know which monastery he came from?"

The clues are still broken, these idiots said a lot of useless information despite their bamboo tubes.But they didn't know the origin of the messenger, so they came to cheat after collecting some gold coins.

The object of suspicion, of course, became the monastery.But most things in the world do not need evidence.

Under the instigation of his son, Andrew went to the monastery to donate some gold coins, and met some monks.It was quickly hinted at.What a monastery can't make ends meet, there is a lot of land, but more barren, it's a pity.

So...you have to be pious!
You see, the behavior pattern of the powerful class is completely different from that of ordinary people.Many times the fate of ordinary people is just a by-product of their actions.

Before Protestantism appeared in England, monasteries occupied one-fifth of England's wealth and one-third of its land, which is amazing.And to all people, not mistaken, not believers ~ a tax is levied.Then the tax burden is turned over to the Holy See in proportion.

In fact, some people believe that the so-called medieval Europe was actually unified.Unified under the name of the church, even the king needs to be appointed and dismissed by the church.

Some people say that the reason why Italy prospered in the Middle Ages is that there are a lot of reasons for this and that.The only thing that didn't say is that after the Catholicism sucked the blood of Europeans, the profligacy of the religious people in Italy caused the deformed prosperity in Italy.Only when there is demand, does the distant trade have meaning.

Matthew felt even worse about Catholicism.However, he was still planning to rent some land belonging to the monastery, and it was in his interest to expand the number of sheep.Even wasteland can grow grass.

This is called compromise.Because he has nothing to do with the monastery.It cannot be eliminated, so it seeks to coexist.Since coexistence, why make the relationship deadlocked?

A person who has to pay taxes to vampires is incapable of overthrowing these vampires.However, there is one person who has this ability, but he has not yet "awakened", and may even be a devout believer at present.

This man, of course, was Henry VIII.

Matthew naturally took this handsome king as his future backer.No matter what he is now, he will overthrow the church in the future.In that case, just wait.

How handsome was the king when he was young?It can be explained in eight words: recognized in Europe and written into history books.

In mid-December, the smithy produced cast iron shells.In fact, Matthew was not very interested, but he still gave the reward according to the principle.

The sample weighed only three kilograms, round and round like an iron ball, very small.What surprised Matthew was that the sales method of cast iron shells was custom-made.

That's right, the various artillery calibers at this time are messy, and the wall thickness and charge of the artillery are also different. It is simply a mess, there is no standard at all, and they can only be customized.

"Master, have you ever thought about making cannons out of cast iron?"

Matthew, who was in a mess, gave him a surprised look.

In any era, people have no shortage of ideas.

Is the idea of ​​the little broken ball scurrying unique?It's actually an old trick.During the explosion of Internet articles more than 20 years ago, it was common to drive a star-level space fortress to maneuver in the universe.But who remembers the first person to put it forward?Maybe it was the idea of ​​a science fiction writer more than 100 years ago.

But this is also Matthew's original intention. The blacksmith is already married, and he is considered his own family.

"Very good, you can do it."

Very straightforward, so straightforward that it made the blacksmith blink a little bit.

"Try to build two doors first, and try to get samples by the end of January. The caliber~ can only be a multiple of inches, and... can be installed on a 100-ton sailboat, and you can figure out the rest."

The blacksmith agreed one by one.

"If it succeeds, you can share 15% of the blacksmith's future profits. What do you think?"

The blacksmith was overjoyed, he had been envious of the operation mechanism of the winery for a long time.This means that he has also become Matthew Hawkins' most trusted group of people, as well as profit dividends.

Matthew suddenly remembered: "By the way, where is my sword? It's been almost a month, right?"

The blacksmith was suddenly embarrassed, he hesitated and said: "Yesterday... I sold it."

Matthew was stunned, and trembling: "I... you, you... sold it? That's a gift I'm going to give away... I'll give you a gold coin for decoration..."

"...how much did you sell for?"

(End of this chapter)