The earl's lips curved down in a sneer, and he turned around and gave a few instructions to a sailor who seemed to be the leader. Then a rapid whistle sounded on the deck. Under the dumbfounded gaze of the financial officer, a dozen sailors quickly took their positions. The carronade gun on the deck was taken off its gun jacket and quickly turned to starboard. The muzzle was raised. Sparks flew everywhere with a loud noise. The 48-pound solid The iron bullet passed over the bow of Galen's ship, flew over the head of the gold-painted Neptune statue, and fell into the sea on the other side of the ship. The splashing water column was almost as high as the mast. The second shot hit between the yacht and the Galen ship, and the water column fell down and showered the deck of the Galen ship. The shocking effect of the fork shot appeared before the eyes of the quaestor and the earl through the smoke and flying water. A large group of East Indian sailors rushed back and forth in panic on the deck of the Galen ship. The gun door on one side of the ship slowly opened, but there was too much cargo on the ship, and the gun door was closer to the waterline than usual. The waves stirred up by the sea wind hit the hull, and the sea water immediately flowed into the open gun door, and had to Locked up again. The result was that when the Esmeralda had sailed away, the Galen ship was unable to return a single shot.
"Are you crazy? What are you doing?" Andrade finally recovered from his stunned state. "Just one of your cannonballs hit the cabin and it's over. Sanafria has cargo for the colony. Royal charter for saltpeter. The cargo hold of that ship coming back from India must be full of saltpeter. For God’s sake, if the supply of saltpeter to the entire colony is depleted, what do you want the Governor to do?”
"Don't worry, dear Sebastian." The count was still smiling, "I am just expressing my friendship to Don Sanabria. Besides, he is not the only one who can contribute to the welfare of the royal colony. I can also serve you. Your respected Lord Salamanca should know this."
It’s sunset in Manila. It was as sultry as usual at this time of year, but the sun had already fallen into the clouds that were gradually rising from the sea level. The golden light coming out of the clouds reflected a gorgeous brilliance on the quiet water of the Pasig River. A golden carriage drove to the river and stopped in front of the gate of a villa. It was a white garden house known throughout the colony for its elegance. It was decorated among the trees by the river, like jewels set in the green shade. It was completely incompatible with the exaggerated style of this gold-painted carriage. However, the four strong horses tied in front of the shaft still won unanimous praise from the onlookers. Unfortunately, just look carefully. You will find that the four horses are not only of different breeds, but also the coat color is not exactly the same. In order to cover up this shortcoming, the carriage owner tied towering rosettes on each horse's forehead, which made it look even more vulgar.
A Spanish gentleman in his late fifties stepped out of the carriage with long strides. Take off your gorgeous feathered hat. He threw the cane and the cane to the East Indian attendant, revealing a few strands of neatly combed hair sticking to his oily and sweaty scalp. He slightly adjusted the white silk ruff embroidered with gold thread, and was very satisfied that his black jacket and leggings sewn with Nanjing satin were crisp and shiny. The gold medal with a ribbon hanging on the front had been polished. After passing it many times, it is bright and clear. He looked around with a scornful air, and then shouted to the servant standing on the steps: "Where is Madam? Go and inform your master that Mr. Esteban Sanabria is visiting!"
Inside the house, whose exterior is painted white with shell powder and lime, the foyer is deep. The corridor is winding. A strong black slave led them in a twists and turns. Mr. Sanavria was annoyed to find that the nigger in front of him was a head taller than him. This unpleasantness affected the personal attendant who followed closely behind. The poor Indian manservant was originally short. He will shrink into a ball more and more, walking on tiptoe, not even daring to breathe out.
In every room they passed, servants in livery were busy, decorating the walls and doorways with bouquets and ribbons; climbing up and down, wiping the floor-to-ceiling windows made of bright Australian glass; or delivering goods back and forth. There are all kinds of food and wine - many imported from Lingao. The imported food brought by Chinese merchants was originally an important source of colonial dining tables, and now novel food was brought from Lingao, especially a variety of delicious candies, wines and beverages. There were even ice cubes prepared to be shipped, but the Spanish were skeptical - as we all know, Lingao's latitude is lower than Guangzhou, and it is impossible to find ice and snow there.
On the table were huge silver platters with lemons stacked into towers, just as the Italians do. Exudes a lovely aroma. It seems that the richest and most beautiful white widow in the Philippine colonies, Baroness Lucrezia Charlo, put a lot of thought and money into preparing her name day celebration.
They followed the winding corridors through the building and out the back door into the vine-shaded paths in the garden. This garden cleverly mixed Chinese and Moorish styles and was quite famous in the colonies. The lawn in front of the blooming jasmine bushes has already gathered many guests who came early because they were afraid of being late for the event. The female guests were scattered in the white pavilion entangled with fresh vines and flowers, sitting on the swings, whispering in twos and threes, and bursting out with delicate laughter from time to time.
Unlike ladies who compete in clothing and jewelry and show off their hair in buns of various heights, Spanish gentlemen almost all wear dark Pulpovan coats, with sweat-soaked ruff collars tightly hugging their necks. They gathered around a waterside pavilion in the garden near the river, and a cheerful and crisp singing voice floated out from it accompanied by the melody of the harpsichord. Sanavria followed those eyes of admiration or jealousy, and his eyes suddenly froze. Not only because the hostess was singing loudly, but more importantly, Sanabria's sworn enemy in Manila, the evil mercenary leader, the so-called Count of Sardinia, was sitting in front of Lady Lucrezia Charlo at this moment. In front of her, she played the piano and accompanied her. There were five or six Filipinos with violins, mandolins and bamboo flutes standing beside them. They were the band invited by the Baroness to play music for the dance. Obviously, they had nothing to do at the moment.
The most wealthy businessman in the colonies now looked no further than his own enemies. If anyone had observed carefully, they would have thought that the flames burning in his eyes were intense enough to burn down the count's luxury carriage, and were as powerful as the heavy shells fired by the Esmeralda to intimidate the Neptune - the aerial cannon incident has become a The hottest topic of discussion in the upper circles of the colony was the previous mystery of the setting fire to the submarine boat in the dock. There were rumors outside that the count ordered someone to set the fire, but most people believed that it was the jealous Sanafria. Mr. nonsense. On the contrary, the Japanese person involved, Paul, did not express any opinions - he rarely appeared in public, so no one could ask for his opinions.
The count ignored the enemy's "murderous gaze" at all. He concentrated entirely on the music performance, raising his face from time to time and answering the beautiful singer's flirtatious glances with a smile.
The hostess covered her face with a small Japanese folding fan while singing the proud song of the deceased Lorenzo de' Medici:
Youth is so beautiful,
It's easy to waste your time,
There is no joy now,
Ming Dynasty calls Naihe!
The sudden burst of applause and bursts of cheers and applause were like pouring a bucket of cold water on Sanafriya's head, sobering up his head full of revenge fanaticism. At the end of the song, the hostess took the count's hand, asked him to stand up, and unexpectedly gave him a kiss on the cheek, which caused a chorus of shouts, laughter and sighs filled with wonder and jealousy. Lucrezia's extraordinary beauty and alluring charm had always been the object of envy among the white women in the colony, but now it was the men's turn to be jealous.
Some arty busybody wrote: "The count stood by the piano stand holding the baroness's delicate hand. His tall and strong body and handsome and charming appearance are enough to make people imagine Leocares' Apollo wearing clothes. appearance."
Indeed, Weiss's clothing today was indeed an important reason for the commotion among the audience. After all, they only know how to wear stuffed pumpkin pants, tied at the hem of equally stuffed Pulpovans. As for making funny slits in the coat to reveal the colorful lining, filling the hat with bird feathers, and putting on a ruff that looks like grouse neck feathers, this is how a Spanish man dressed in the first half of the seventeenth century. Your own common method. If only he knew some new things that were just popular in the Netherlands and France, wearing a powdered wig, a lace lapel, half-crotch pants with garters tied with bows, and tassels and ribbons hanging all over his body. , exuding a completely girly flavor, that was the fashion for the next century and a half. As for the gray velvet tweed the count wore today, it was modeled after the dress of a later admiral. The European bumpkins in this time and space had never seen or heard anything. In other words, they were dumbfounded. For example, Iker Suvisareta, the Basque captain who once boarded the Count's yacht, now bids farewell to the old and almost decaying galley warship and is preparing to command a newly completed two-masted patrol ship. ——My hands were unconsciously pulling on my newly made coat, trying to get rid of those fancy and unnecessary accessories that hindered my masculinity.
Sanavria, on the other hand, stared intently at the count's cuffs embroidered with gold thread and the shining gems on his buttons.
"No, it must be inlaid glass. If it were true, he would have bought everything in Manila long ago! Damn liar -" He was immersed in angry thoughts until he heard the hostess laughing again. Come to your senses. (To be continued...)
