The Sin of Ludwigs

I swear that unless I return to Europa, I will never set foot on a long-distance ship in this life.

I hate the sea, the boundless sea is terribly blue, and I can't see a piece of land even after walking for a month; There will be no intersection with me, but there is no choice on board, and even several times, my cabin door was knocked maliciously in the middle of the night.

I consider myself a very unsqueamish person. When I was in Ludwigsburg, the Viscountess once commented on me and said: "Honey, even if you go on vacation, you should bring at least ten people with you. .To be honest, it's too little for you to bring only two people, I can't imagine them driving the carriage and ironing your collar at the same time."

If the Viscountess sees my unkempt appearance on the troop carrier, I'm afraid this poor woman will faint directly, right?

Captain Bland Van Smit, who lives in the cabin next to me, is a Dutchman. He and his bodyguards carry guns and sabers with them, and act as the supervisor of the team, preventing these forced recruits at any time. mutiny.

On the first day on the ship, the first sentence Captain Brand said to me was: "If you can't hold on, you will die in New Jersey. After all, a lieutenant colonel is still very valuable. You die on the ship. We will only get one-tenth of the money."

He also said: "Ten years ago, we would have received money from the British as soon as you boarded the ship. At that time, no one would care about your life."

Captain Bland has a standard Dutch appearance, with several deep scars on his face, which are very scary. It is said that they were left during the war with the Indians.In front of him, even the burliest bodyguard is submissive. He disdains to talk to me, but he still sends a younger Irishman, Orlaine, to take care of me.

The journey at sea was so long that it seemed endless. I was so sick I could hardly get out of bed a few days ago. Then there was a storm in the back, and the roaring waves smashed the fleet to pieces. The sail, which was as thick as an arm, was easily broken like an autumn leaf. This storm tormented the fleet for two days and one night.

Immediately after this frightening storm, I fell ill, with a high fever and almost unconsciousness. Allen found me several quilts, which were suffocating. Even so, I was still shivering with cold , Straight talk nonsense.

In a coma, I seemed to hear Brand yelling angrily: "He's not dead yet? Why isn't he dead yet? Take a gun and shoot him to death! I won't waste my medicinal materials!"

It's over, I thought to myself, I didn't die under the gun of the old lecherous Earl, but I would die in this ghost place. If I had known this, I might as well elope with Helena, ah, goodbye!My Helena!My Mingheng Pepper!My Lena Red Rose!My Zenovia as beautiful as a tulip!

However, it may be the blessing of the ancestors of the Edmund family. After being in a coma for three days, when I opened my eyes again, in the dim cabin, the first thing I saw was holding a candle in one hand and facing away from me. I don’t know what I’m doing. Captain Bland.

Captain Bland didn't notice that I was awake. Even though there was no third person in the cabin, he still glanced at the cabin door from time to time like a thief, then lowered his head and continued to mutter something.

My brain, which has been sluggish for a long time, started to work slowly. Captain Brand seemed to use a Dutch dialect, and he stuffed something into the corner while muttering.Seeing that he was about to turn around, I quickly closed my eyes and pretended not to wake up, but judging from the sound, the captain put down a lot of things I didn't know what they were in at least three different places.

It was several days before I had the extra strength to find out what the captain put in—it was a kind of black lacquered shell, which was pressed directly into the crack with great force, embedded Be strict.With my limited knowledge, I can't see what kind of animal shell it is.

It is said that when sailors at sea encounter storms and diseases, they will use some means known only to them to pray for the blessing of the Lord—but looking at these dark things, I actually doubt that the captain wants to pray for me to go away quickly Back into the arms of God.

Captain Brand did not mention what he had done, and he still had a bad face when he faced me, but he stopped calling me "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel" in a sarcastic tone. You owed a lot of money to be sold here, right?"

I told him all about my strange and unbelievable experience, and emphasized to him: "My estate can produce [-] talers a year!"

"Tsk, come on." The captain said, "My ancestor was also a nobleman. I know you guys very well. Let alone 20 thalers, even 20 thalers a year, you can spend as much as you want. [-] talers owed to others."

That's a pretty straight-forward comment--in fact, I seem, like, to be in debt to several shops, adding up to about [-] talers or so.

There's no way, it's really expensive to be a beautiful son-in-law!My beautiful Berlino carriage and "snail" open carriage for driving, with their two coachmen and three horses, alone will eat up nearly half of my estate's products. Not to mention shirts, trousers, whalebone collars, buttons, lace, shoes, pocket watches, umbrellas, etc., all kinds of small and indispensable things, big and small, which are necessary to be a decent nobleman. some.

This should be one of the reasons why the gangsters didn't ask me for a ransom at all. They must know that I can't get it out in a short time.

However, what surprised me even more was the fact that the captain's ancestors were also nobles.

"When I was reciting the noble family tree, I didn't seem to have seen the noble surname Smit." I said.

In fact, what I want to ask more is: Can nobles also serve in the army of other countries and obtain titles?

This is an unimaginable thing. In the Principality of Württemberg, all nobles have only one mission, which is to win the favor of the Grand Duke and gain a foothold in Ludwigs' noble circle.To achieve this goal, everyone is racking their brains. It is an invisible arena that requires a lot of money, energy and time. Successful people enjoy the gift of the monarch in the palace of Ludwigs. The power and joy that come, but those who fail can only withdraw from Ludwigsburg sadly and join the ranks of the provincial nobles known as "old hats". Vichys appears.

It is also part of the goal of the nobles to directly obtain the rank of Grand Duke with noble background, and thus obtain corresponding benefits. However, "giving up the noble status and going to the army of other countries" is an unheard of option. It seems that only in far away Paris, will you This kind of thing happens, and when people talk about such people, they all think "this unlucky guy is over from now on."

To put it bluntly, "nobles can be appointed as officers at the same time, but officers who are not of noble origin cannot become nobles."

"My ancestors were once a famous nobleman, but my father was only the second son and was forbidden to use the family name." The captain said, and he suddenly became very serious, "Sir, you are very young, I think Seeing you is like seeing my little son dying of malaria, so please take the advice of an old man, I came from Amsterdam when I was 14 and I have seen so much. I have seen many young people like you The aristocrats, thinking that the light of glory from heaven shines on them forever, spend their money desperately, showing off their fifteen horses and beautiful carriages, and rushing to buy expensive diamonds to please the ladies. Money, everyone Love, but where do they come from? From fiefdoms and merchants, inexhaustible, inexhaustible!—Many people have told me so, they spend so much, every day seems like tomorrow is the judgment They spend their days frantically having fun until their debts pile up into an invisible mountain. At this time, they either hold their noses to marry a flour merchant or the daughter of a Jew in order to get a huge dowry enough to repay the debts; Everything accumulated by the ancestors was handed over to usurers, and then they went away to die a tragic death in the dense forest."

"I can honestly say that when I saw you, I thought you were just another nobleman who owed debts and had nowhere to go. It seems that you haven't reached that point yet, but judging by your expression just now, you should be This is the beginning of this path of destruction! In the past few years, I have seen at least one earl and two viscounts fail to pay the corresponding money when the bills expire, and they are instantly ruined. East India. Maybe you think I’m scaremongering, but it’s God’s arrangement for you to wake up and stand here talking to me, maybe it’s God’s will for me to say these things to you.”

The captain was very serious when he said these words. Instead of giving me advice, it is better to say that he thought that he was speaking deeply in his heart to another person who could not hear him under the arrangement of God.

Allerein later confirmed my suspicions.

"The captain's youngest son, who ran away after being owed thirty thousand francs, is said to have died of malaria in the East Indies at the age of twenty-two."

Ole Lane also revealed a piece of news that made my hair stand on end.

"When we set off from New Jersey, the news we heard was that the relationship between the colony and London is very delicate. It is said that the South Carolina and Georgia colonies are planning a rebellion...that is where you are about to go."

"That place...it seems that there once was a Francaimon who died there."

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I'm a little bit like pigeons... It's okay to go to work after work, no one reads what I write.