No matter where you want to gain a foothold, the first thing to do is to understand there first.
And this is what Zhang Heng has been busy with in the past few days. He traveled to every corner of Nassau City, talking to the fishermen in the market, the drunks in the tavern, the prostitutes in the street, and the black merchants in the exchange, of course. There are also pirates who can be seen everywhere in the city and have various pleasant or unpleasant exchanges.
In order to make this process easier, he had to spend another 19 silver pesos, but the money was worth it. In return, he also basically found out the situation in Nassau.
Many people regard pirates as a group of villains, hooligans, and uneducated barbarians who have left civilized society. In a sense, there is no problem with this secular view. People who become pirates are hardly clean, so It is also natural for people to think that a city run by pirates is also full of chaos and crime.
But based on what Zhang Heng has seen so far, this statement may be biased.
Indeed, if you throw thousands of energetic pirates who can drink and fight in the same city, you can hardly expect them to keep themselves safe and not cause trouble. This is why Nassau is always very lively every day, but if If you are willing to look more carefully, and not only focus on those street fights or jealousy in front of the brothel, you may be able to see the hidden order through the superficial chaos.
About sixty-three years ago, the first European immigrants set foot on the land here and built a fort and city. In honor of King Charles, they originally called it Charles Town, but the residents of the island soon discovered that the honesty Cultivating land and fishing are far from taking advantage of bad weather to lure nearby ships into crashing into rocks, and then going up to plunder property to make money. Therefore, most men on the island began to engage in pirate activities, and gradually, they were no longer satisfied with Wait for the ship to hit the rocks unfortunately, and turn to take the initiative to attack.
At the same time, because of the unique geographical environment of the Bahamas, it has also attracted the attention of other pirates. The large and small islands here can help them hide and avoid the pursuit of warships. The pirates also need a supply objectively when they are plundering around the Caribbean Sea. and a base for selling stolen goods.
It was against this background that Nassau was born. The name came from a British prince, but the irony is that it eventually became a kingdom of pirates.
After years of continuous development, Nassau has formed a unique business system.
The pirates went out to sea to plunder and sell the stolen goods to black merchants on the island, and through their respective relationships, these black merchants transported the stolen goods to nearby ports such as Charleston, New York, Boston, etc., turning them into legal commodities , You can enjoy super high profits with almost no risk.
This is the largest business on the island, and other businesses are basically based on it. For example, those theaters, casinos, and taverns earn the silver coins distributed by the pirates, and the appraisers are responsible for robbing the pirates. Some intelligence dealers sell their merchant ship information in the tavern, and the fishermen and villains here are natural supplements to the sailors. In addition, some bold arms dealers and slave traders are also active here.
Nassau has no ruler in name, and what is responsible for maintaining order is a parliament-like organization composed of all kinds of people, including black merchants, captains of pirate ships, and big landowners on the island... They jointly run the city.
Zhang Heng guessed that the so-called establishment of forces in the main mission should be judged by joining the island's council, and this is not easy. Among them, the big landlords can be excluded first. These guys are basically the first batch of people who came to the island A person who owns his own plantation and private armed forces, which is not realistic for him who now has only 20 silver pesos in his entire family.
It is obviously more difficult to become a black merchant. It is almost impossible for a cargo ship carrying stolen goods to pass through the customs without a background in the upper class. In fact, there are many families behind the black merchants on the island. They are not small. They use the power of their families to roam around the Governor's Mansion and Customs in the colony, bribe the officials there, and legalize smuggling. This is not something ordinary people can do.
Therefore, in this circle, only the road of becoming the captain of a pirate ship seems to be feasible.
But it's not easy either, not to mention those famous pirates in history, even in this era, those unknown people who can command a whole ship, let those rebellious pirates obey their orders and go to sea according to their own rules. Command actions also have two brushes, and Zhang Heng knows that he still has a lot to learn.
He is not in a hurry, although he has a lot to learn, but fortunately he has plenty of time.
Four days later, the Sea Lion gathered all the crew members and went out to sea again to start her journey. This was also the first time Zhang Heng set foot on this warship. One of the best pirate ships, with thirty-two cannons, including twenty-four nine-pound cannons, and eight twelve-pound cannons, it has an overwhelming firepower advantage in front of its prey.
This time they got word that they were going to rob a Dutch supply ship and a Spanish merchant ship.
Zhang Heng performed very well in the battle. He successfully rescued three companions with a short musket, which made him further accepted by the pirates. Unlike Marvin, Zhang Heng did not run away after joining the Sea Lion. On the contrary, he Having rented a house in Nassau instead of sleeping in a hotel, it looked like he was ready for a permanent stay.
This also added a lot of points for him. Taking this opportunity, Zhang Heng made a request to Owen, wanting him to teach him how to fight in close combat. Zhang Heng has already learned from other sailors that Owen is the best swordsman on this ship. pirate.
Owen used to be a promising young officer, but because of something, he offended his superior, so the latter sent him to the most dangerous place to complete an impossible task, and Owen killed his superior in a fit of anger After that, he had no choice but to leave his hometown and go to Nassau to become a pirate.
Unlike most pirates, Owen has a very upright character and still retains some of the style he had in the naval school, which made him seem a bit out of place at first, but once the pirates knew what he was like, they were very willing to make friends with him. Especially every time he fights, he rushes to the front and wins the favor of many people.
When the original boatswain on the ship died in battle, the pirates elected Owen to be the new boatswain.