Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 42 Letter from Bordeaux

The successful sea trial of the "Eagle of the East Coast" demonstrated the good qualities of the 32nd class of students of the Navigation School.On the way back to Datan Port after the sea trial, Lu Ming, the headmaster of the Navigation School, kept smiling.The 31-year-old former shipyard worker has been living, studying, and exercising with this group of children for a year. He can call out the names of each of these children, be familiar with each of their personalities, and understand each of their thoughts. He almost treats these children as his own sons and is teaching them.He walked up and down on the boat, chatting with this child from time to time, and laughing with that child. Seeing the intimate appearance of these future navy seeds and him, Wang Qinian was a little jealous.

The "East Coast Eagle" has entered the Naval Shipyard again. After the crew disembarks, the craftsmen will conduct a detailed inspection of the ship; next, they will listen to the opinions of the crew in order to correct the deficiencies , to be able to do better when building the next ship.

There were two days off after the sea trial. Julien D'Eblol didn't go anywhere. When he came back, he just lay on the hardwood bed in his dormitory, staring blankly at the roof, and his thoughts drifted away. .

It has been a year since I came here. At first, I was just a prisoner of war sentenced to hard labor. I quarried endlessly in the chaotic and dirty mining area. I often couldn’t get enough to eat, and I also had to face the attacks of Charuya barbarians. Julien did not even want to recall those dark days now.

I used to think that my life was like this. I was imprisoned here for endless mining for the rest of my life, until one day I died of starvation, disease or fighting in obscurity.It's just that people's fate is always so unpredictable. Because I have received a systematic and complete naval theory education, I was actually taken by these Tartans, and then I went to teach in a sailing school, and I left the dark mine from then on.Many times, Julien thanked Mrs. Dwyer for the hundredth time in his heart for helping him to learn knowledge.

The Tatan people are really generous. They built beautiful houses and classrooms for these 60 children, provided them with the most abundant food, taught them the most valuable knowledge, and instilled in them the principles of life.These children are really lucky. Compared with their difficult schooling in Bordeaux, these children seem to be living in paradise.

Now I really like this place. Compared with the humid and hot St. Christopher Island, there are no cruel pirates, no drunk Brits, no shameless profiteers who sell their souls for money, and no slutty dancers. —Well, Julien licked the corners of his mouth, and he admitted that "slutty dancers" are sometimes very cute.In short, everything here feels very novel. The people here are full of energy and vitality; the buildings here are simple, beautiful, and durable; the army here is well-equipped and well-trained; He will go crazy enough to decide to attack here, may he be well in heaven.

The children here are very polite and say hello to themselves every day.Their desire for knowledge is really strong, and they are also very diligent and hardworking. Sometimes Julien really feels that teaching these students knowledge will make him feel happy; the food provided by the Tatan people is also quite good, seafood, beef, pork, eggs And so on.Also, they are generous with their teachers.Although I am limited to the status of a prisoner of war and only have a salary of 80 yuan per month, the Tatanese also give me a subsidy of [-] yuan per month, plus some bonuses for festivals and festivals. I have saved nearly [-] yuan in this year. Yuan.With this amount of money, one can live a decent middle-class life even in Paris, not to mention that the prices here are so low, and living materials have become more abundant recently.

It stands to reason that he should just teach and live here quietly like this, but Julien is very clear that there are still important things in the distance that are holding his heart back.Julien's thoughts gradually drifted away: Mrs. Deville who sponsored him to study when he was young, and Miss Mathilde who sponsored him to develop in the Caribbean colonies when he was young.

I owe them.Julien sighed and sat up in bed.He dug out the money bag from under the pillow and counted it. There were 78 one-yuan coins in total.After thinking for a while, Julien took another two dollars out of his pocket and threw them into his purse.Then I took out a piece of paper and picked up a pen, but I didn't know which one to write to.Now Tatan Port already has a fixed route with Amsterdam - Captain Couette's merchant ship goes back and forth twice a year, and sometimes they also serve as postmen. As long as you pay enough fees, they will be happy to help you carry letters or thing.

Julien stared blankly at the letter, and was hesitating when there was a knock on the door.Julien stuffed the purse carelessly under the quilt, got up and opened the door.There was a student outside the door, who was holding a letter in his hand. When he saw Julien open the door, he handed it over and said: "Good day, sir! Here is your letter from Bordeaux. Here it is, the people on the pier just sent it here."

"Good day, Yuri!" Julien's heart moved when he heard Bordeaux, he took the letter tremblingly, and said gratefully, "Thank you, Yuri!"

"My honor, sir." Yuri said shyly, "Then, I will take my leave first."

After waving goodbye to Yuri, Julien felt his heart beating faster, he quickly closed the door tightly, and then staggered to sit on the edge of the bed.Trembling, he opened the envelope, and a piece of letter paper that seemed to be scented floated out.

"Dear Julien: I almost fainted in the garden when I first heard the news of the failure of the St. Christopher's company expedition and your disappearance. At that time, my body and soul seemed to no longer belong to me. I Force myself not to go to the pier every day to inquire about you. Mother Teresa told me that praying to the Lord can give me peace of mind. I lived in the monastery for three months until I couldn't stand thinking about you, God couldn't Stop me from thinking about you.

There is nowhere to talk about my troubles, no one to respond to my thoughts.I get up at seven every day, go to the docks to find out any news about you or the Tartans, and then go home to pray.My father asked me to help him run the textile mill. I didn't care about work and made a mess of things.My father scolded me in great disappointment. I tried my best to hold back my tears, but I had nowhere to say anything.

Day and night, I have neither rest nor peace.If I fall asleep, tormenting nightmares wake me up.When I dream of you, you in my dream are always waving goodbye to me.

I lost the meaning of existence and could barely breathe until Mr. Pierre brought you news from the port of Tartan.God, I couldn't hold back my tears when I heard the news of your peace.I walked home happily, I told Mother Teresa, I told my father, I told everyone I met, and I felt as if I was walking on a cloud of happiness.Julien, dear, I miss you so much that I hardly want to wait any longer.By the way, Mrs. Dwyer seems to have a new love recently.When she heard the news of the failure of the expedition, her grief lasted only one afternoon. I really can't understand her cheap love.

My brother will go to Santo Domingo next month to deal with the plantation. I asked my father to let me go, and my father agreed.I thought, maybe I'll go to Tatan Harbor to meet you.Mathilde my love, at Bordeaux at sunset, October 1633, 10. "

Julien lay limp on the bed, as if the scented letter paper had covered his face.

After a long time, he got up and sat up, read the letter paper several times, and then stuffed the letter paper back into the envelope with satisfaction, and put the envelope at the bottom of his closet.

Julien calculated the time again, and felt that Mathilde should already be in Santo Domingo by this time.Her family owned a large cotton plantation there, and the cotton was shipped to Bordeaux to be processed and sold in a factory controlled by her father.There are many such textile factories in France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, especially in the United Kingdom. Norfolk in the eastern part of the United Kingdom is full of wool or cotton spinning factories. The products produced are not only supplied to the country, but also exported to Eastern Europe and Northern Europe in large quantities. Or the colonies of the New World, which are quite lucrative.

Didn’t the Tatan people buy back a lot of textile machines from the UK a while ago? A group of people studied those textile machines for a long time, and then it seemed that they were going to redesign a new type of textile machine that could rely on water power. Large-scale industrial production, I don't know if it has been successful.If successful, the cost of the produced product will be greatly reduced.But even so, it may be difficult to sell to other countries or regions. Regional trade barriers and high tariffs can make even low-cost merchants unprofitable.

Julien shook his head. Is he not good at such industrial and commercial matters, or is he thinking about whether Mathilde will come here? How long has it been since he saw her?Is her smile as sweet as ever?Thinking about it, Julien couldn't help being crazy...

(End of this chapter)