Iron Powder and Spellcaster

Luck is relative. The luck of other pirates on the inner sea seems not to be very good. After all, not all pirates have Gold's good luck. It can also be said that the goddess of luck is on the side of the Skua again.

During the rest of the journey, the Skua, which avoided the main routes, only encountered a few strange ships.

However, the wind on the sea was strong, and the Skua with full sail was moving at a brisk speed. Those strange ships only saw the mast of the Skua and were left far behind by the Skua.

Just like the fat captain proudly boasted: "This is the best clipper ship on the inland sea."

However, the Skua, which made a large circle, also delayed the voyage for three more days. As a result, Major Moritz, who had not anticipated the delay and had no flexibility to reserve, drank all his stored wine.

The warrant officers watched as the originally gentle Major's lips became dry and cracked, his temper became more and more irritable, and his mental state began to become abnormal.

The major was either beaten and beaten on the ship every day; or he would stay up most of the night and pace up and down the deck "thumping, thumping, thumping", causing all the warrant officers to lose sleep with him.

Who is not afraid of mental illness? Even Major General Layton began to avoid Major Moritz intentionally or unintentionally, and the pressure on the warrant officers was even greater.

Fortunately, they finally arrived in Hailan City safely. When they saw the landmark lighthouse in Hailan Port, the warrant officers couldn't help but shed tears.

The reason is not only the excitement of returning home as a wanderer, but also the "little luck" of finally being able to get rid of Major Moritz, a patient with severe alcohol addiction.

The closer he gets to Sea Blue Port, the more Winters can feel the prosperity of the largest port in the alliance.

At the end of the route, the Skua couldn't avoid other ships even if it wanted to. Because Hailan Port is the origin, the routes of hundreds of ships form a fan, heading to or just leaving the port.

Winters even saw a real battleship cruising offshore. It was a real big thing. Compared with the other party's majestic shipbuilding and huge hull, the Skua is simply a child.

However, what the warrant officers did not expect was that the Skua did not enter the port directly but anchored on the sea outside the port.

The acting captain was immediately surrounded by warrant officers who were eager to go home.

"A big port like Hailan Port does not allow small merchant ships like us to dock at will." The acting captain, who was sprayed with saliva, smiled bitterly and explained the rules of the sea to the group of soldiers: "Hailan Port has not been expanded for more than ten years. , there are few berths, so merchant ships have to wait at the anchorage outside the port and queue up to enter the port.

Let's anchor here first, and customs officials will come over in a small boat later to order the goods. Officers, if you are in a hurry to go home, you can ask the customs tax collectors if they can be accommodating and let you go ashore in their small boats. "

However, the warrant officers soon fell into disappointment again, because they discovered that the "customs boat" mentioned by the acting captain was really a "small boat".

This small boat is not much bigger than a canoe, about two people wide and less than three meters long. Two tax collectors and two oarsmen filled the boat to the limit, and the boat could not hold more than one person in it.

Watching the boat bob up and down with the waves, Winters was really worried that the boat the four customs employees were sitting in would be overturned in the next second.

"Is the first mate playing tricks on us?" Andre was about to get mad: "You want us to go home in a small boat like this? I might as well swim back!"

"Then can you swim?" Bud asked suddenly.

Andre suddenly became silent. After a long silence, he awkwardly replied: "No."

But he refused to admit defeat and asked Bud: "Then can you swim?"

"I will." Bud replied calmly.

"What are you bragging about?" Andre was furious: "When did the military academy teach swimming? The largest swimming pool in the military academy is the water tank in the practice room. Don't tell me that you learned it from the monastery again?"

"Monks don't teach swimming, and monks don't know how to swim." Bud said with a smile, "But monks like to eat fish, and the monastery has its own fish pond."

Whether it is Orthodox or Catholic, fish and meat have a special religious status. In the ancient imperial era, the Western Church was still an underground organization that was attacked every once in a while. At that time, the Church used the image of a fish and a wine glass as its password. So Bud wasn't just bluffing Andre.

"It's impossible to swim back even if you know how to swim. It's not close to the shore." Winters quickly stood up and ended the discussion about swimming skills: "Actually, there is a boat on the Skua?"

"Where?" Andre suddenly became energetic.

"Hanging just behind the stern of the ship."

After hearing the good news, Andre ran to the stern of the ship happily, and Winters and Bud reluctantly followed him.

But after actually seeing the boat, Andre couldn't help but be disappointed, because the boat equipped on the Skua was smaller than the customs boat.

The customs boat might be able to carry five people if it works hard, but the boat on the Skua is just a large bathtub. It is visually estimated that there will be no room for three people to sit on.

"This ship is not as good as the customs ship." Bud said with a wry smile.

But Andre began to calculate murmuringly: "It can seat three people at a time. Counting the two officers, we have thirty-six people. Thirty-six divided by three is twelve."

He slapped his thigh excitedly: "It takes twelve trips to get us all ashore. It's actually not troublesome. It won't take long!"

Winters was about to cry because of his dear classmate Andrea Cellini. He finally realized what it was like when Major Moritz saw him and several artillery warrant officers groaning and moving during the boarding battle a few days ago. Cannon mood.

He and Bud looked at each other sadly, confirming that both of them had realized that Andre's intelligence had lost its rescue value: "If you think about it carefully, there are three people ashore, and one person has to row the boat back! One round trip Only two people can be transported ashore. Considering that it will take even longer to return with only one oarsman, we probably won’t be able to transport them all until tomorrow.”

"Yeah, let's wait peacefully to enter the port. We still have luggage. If the luggage is loaded, the boat can only accommodate two people." Bud was always thoughtful, and he added the luggage that Winters ignored: "New Didn’t the captain say that the waiting time won’t be long and we will be able to dock tomorrow at the latest?”

But Andre obviously didn't listen to the second half. He added the two elements of "luggage weight" and "return paddler" to his original mathematical model and was thinking hard about a new plan.

At this time, two customs collectors had already boarded the ship. They wore large-brimmed hard hats and black leather armor. The vital parts of the leather armor were reinforced with thin iron plates, and the joints were protected with chain mail.

The two tax collectors were tall and powerful in appearance, with swords hanging on their belts. Judging from their appearance alone, it is better to say that they are a group of gangsters or mercenaries than Veneta customs civil servants.

Were it not for the fact that one of them had a folio in his hand, Winters would have thought they were just the tax collector's bodyguards.

"Is this the customs tax collector? Why does it look like he can fight better than pirates?" Winters said to Bud in surprise. He looked at the two tax collectors and felt that he would not dare even if they were one-on-one. Guaranteed to win.

Bud chuckled lightly and leaned against the ship's railing in a relaxed manner and replied: "Since ancient times, being a tax collector has been a more dangerous profession than being a soldier. The emperor had been driven away when I was born, but since I was a child, I have always been able to I heard there was a rumor that a federal tax official was found dead in the wilderness."

Winters laughed loudly. As a person who grew up in the city, he had never heard of any merchants or craftsmen who resisted taxes to the point of causing death - the war of sovereignty does not count, the Sheriff and the City Guard can deal with anyone who does not want to pay taxes. citizens.

"The United Provincial Republic is a republic established by urban militias, so the federal provincial government does not have strong control over the countryside, and the federal provincial government also lacks attention to the countryside." Bud still had a faint smile on his face.

As a well-educated man from the United Provinces who grew up in the countryside, attended a military school in the city, Bard has a far deeper understanding of the political system of the Republic of the United Provinces than Winters: “For the citizens, the coalition forces shattered the emperor’s Without the shackles, cities were able to develop freely. But in rural areas, the United Provincial Republic inherited all the rights of the old aristocracy. What was before is what it is now. So for ordinary farmers like my parents, it is just a change. Just the emperor."

"It's still different." Hearing that his friend seemed to be criticizing the Confederacy, Winters subconsciously wanted to refute. For him, the alliance and the militia coalition meant Marshal Ned and General Antoine Laurent, which could not be tarnished. But he actually didn't know much about politics, and couldn't think of anything different for a while.

"Hahaha, it's really different." Seeing that Winters racked his brains and couldn't think of anything different, Bud began to refute himself: "After all, the Republic has banned the marriage tax and other humiliating nobles. Privileges can’t be said to be without progress, but when it comes to economic rights, we won’t give in even an inch.”

"Yes, there are still changes." Although Winters, a simple virgin, did not actually know what a "marriage tax" was, he said with his usual optimistic attitude: "As long as there is progress, it is a good thing. There is nothing wrong with it." What about it being accomplished overnight?”

Hearing that the tax collectors were on board, the acting captain of the Skua hurriedly came out of the cabin, tried his best to imitate the old leader, bent down and trotted to greet the two customs collectors.

"What's on board?" The tax collector holding the folio had a very cold attitude. He had experienced this kind of flattering performance too much and had long been used to it.

"Tobacco, and sugar." The acting captain replied, stuffing the big and small bags into the arms of the tax collector: "Try our fine tobacco, and the white sugar as white as clouds. Try it." taste."

"What are you doing? You want to bribe me?" the tax collector scolded and did not take the thing handed to him. He thought to himself that this guy was so ignorant that he would give himself a gift in public.

His attitude got even worse: "How dare you bribe the tax collector and you don't want it anymore? Don't do these useless things! Take me to inspect the goods on the ship. Do you know the tax rate?"

The acting captain was so frightened by the tax collector's words that he broke into a cold sweat. Bribing a tax collector requires you to cut off your right hand by law, but the fat captain does it every time. One fat hand is still alive. Could it be that something went wrong somewhere? When the tax collector asked about the tax rate, he hurriedly replied, "Yes, I know."

"Hailan Port does not accept physical goods, do you understand?"

"I know, I know."

"Take me to order some goods."

"Okay, okay."

"Why are there so many people on the boat?"

"Your Excellencies, they are all officers of the Army. They are coming back from Guitu City on our ship." The acting captain added: "They are our Navy Army."

"Oh?" The tax collector raised his eyebrows, and he looked around at the warrant officers in groups of three or three on the deck. The warrant officers were all dressed in military cadet uniforms, and they looked energetic. They didn't look like slaves in any way.

The tax collector came to a conclusion and knew that these people were not slaves, but he still sneered and lectured the acting captain: "If you dare to traffic people, you will be dead, you know?"

"I know, I know." The acting captain nodded quickly. The laws of each member country of the alliance are different, and their attitudes towards slaves are also different. But in the Sealand Republic, bribing public officials only requires beheading, while human trafficking requires beheading.

"Take me to inspect the goods."

"Okay, okay."

The acting captain of the Skua led the two tax collectors down to the cabin. This original first mate was also an old sailor who had been at sea for more than ten years, but this time he still had to do it because his social experience was not rich enough. And suffered severe beatings from society.

What will greet the Skua will be a strict and thorough inspection. Will the fat captain who is still drifting at sea suddenly feel angina?

"Hey! I know!" Andre suddenly shouted excitedly. He danced and explained his latest mathematical theory to Winters and Bud: "I know how to use this boat to transport us all as quickly as possible. Sent ashore. Let three people go ashore in a boat first, and then bring back only one boatload of luggage, and the cycle goes back and forth.

Only one person paddles at a time, and make sure each person paddles only once so everyone has enough strength.

It only takes twenty-seven trips to transport all of us ashore, including our luggage..."

I'm sorry that this dear friend has been pondering on his own mathematical theory since he didn't speak for so long.

Winters and Bud looked at each other sadly again. Winters suddenly felt that his phantom limb pain was coming again. He couldn't help but hold his forehead and let out a long sigh.

Bud said to Andre seriously: "I never expected that you would be such a mathematical genius. I still have a difficult problem that I haven't been able to figure out. Please teach me. An old man brought a wolf and a A sheep and a basket of turnips were crossing the river. The boat was too small, and he could only take one thing at a time. The wolf wanted to eat the sheep, and the sheep wanted to eat the turnips. How could the old man bring all three items intact to the other side of the river? "

Winters let out a pained sigh from the deepest part of his chest, feeling his phantom limb pain getting worse.

Later in the evening, the tax collector counted the goods, collected the money, kept the receipt, and then got on the boat to go to other ships for inspection.

The Skua anchored overnight at the anchorage outside Sealand Harbor and waited until tomorrow to enter the harbor.

Major Moritz, a severe alcoholic brain patient, still walked around in circles on the open deck sighing.

Winters was lying on the deck. A few kilometers away was his hometown, which he thought about day and night. He tossed and turned and couldn't sleep.

Not far from Winters, Bud seemed to be sleeping soundly.

Winters suddenly thought that he had finally returned to his hometown, but Bud had left his homeland, and he must actually feel uncomfortable.

A night of silence.

[Assuming that the luggage of two people is equal to the weight of one person, the boat can carry a maximum of three people, a total of thirty-six people. Can it be ensured that only one person is used to paddle at a time and each person only paddles once, one way, so that everyone can be sent to the shore in twenty-seven round trips? ]

[Actually cannot]

[The history of customs is really very long. It can be traced back to ancient Egypt. It has always been one of the important sources of income for the ruling class. The method of collecting taxes in ancient times was similar to that of people today. They always made detailed lists, even specific to a certain kind of fish or a certain kind of wool. Tax collectors have also been a dangerous profession since ancient times. For a long time, feudal countries even adopted a tax farming system. Tax collectors became contractors, and the ruling class obtained a stable source of income. But the tax farming system is not so kind to those who are taxed. Lavoisier was executed during the French Revolution largely because he had served as a tax collector for the King of France. ]