Francis looked blankly at the calm deck, and the sailors lazily carried the powder kegs back below deck, puzzled.

Why was it tense just now, and suddenly it was calm?

He was a Venetian, or to be exact, a native of Zucarreno, a small village north of Venice.

His father was the richest man in the village, with dozens of hectares of wheat fields, and the flour milled by the family mill was the first choice for the wealthy merchants of Venice to bake bread; It was for this reason that he had the privilege of being apprenticed to a Venetian glass workshop – his father wanted him to learn the world-famous glass making method, so that his brother would inherit the estate.

But because people all over Europe, oh no, the whole world covet this immaculate Venetian transparent glass, which rivals natural crystal, the competition in the glass workshops is fierce.

For reasons of secrecy, the ruling nobles of the Republic of Venice concentrated all the glass workshops in the country on a small isolated island; Every year, more than 300 apprentices are sent to the island, who are the lowest workers in the glass workshop, doing the most tiring and basic work, but they do not even have a copper plate, but have to pay high apprenticeship fees.

Rao is like this, among the more than 300 people, there are only a dozen people who can stay in the end; Staying means a good salary and a better understanding of how glass is made – but only in a way, for example, how to purify quartz sand.

Further up there is the foreman, and it depends on luck - only when the old foreman dies or quits working, the new people have a chance to take the position.

It should be said that Francis was lucky, he was smart and obedient, survived his apprenticeship, and waited for the death of a preparation foreman five years later - under his father's money offensive. Successfully took this position and became the youngest foreman on the island.

As a preparation foreman, Francis quickly mastered the raw materials needed to make all kinds of glass and how to produce them.

We are only one step away from the ultimate goal of learning how to make transparent glass!

But this step is incredibly difficult!

It's all over the island, oh no. There are only three people in the world who know the secret to making clear glass – the three workshop owners themselves!

The final step in the production of each batch of glass is carried by foremen like Francis, carrying a small basin of red, bubbling glass slurry into the workshop's chamber; It took about ten minutes for the foremen to be allowed to enter the chamber, and the molten slurry that had become clear and transparent was carried out, and various utensils were hurriedly prepared.

The secret is in this secret room!

The secret room is extremely well guarded, not to mention the windows, there is not even a gap!

Francis people though smart. But he was an impatient, and he felt that if he had followed the steps, he would probably not have learned how to make transparent glass in his life—the workshop owner he worked for was only in his thirties, and there were seven or eight foremen of his status, two of whom were the sons of the workshop owner!

But the thirst for this secret had penetrated deep into Francis's soul, so that night, he was itching to the extreme, and he did the one thing he regretted the most in his life - breaking the door!

But as soon as he inserted the crowbar into the big lock on the door of the secret room, a fire lit up behind him!

Thereupon. The hunt and escape began, when Francis panicked and plunged headlong into the sea. The island was already boiling, and it was full of people and torches that captured him.

Fortunately, he had been raised in the sea since he was a child, and the water was really good, so he swam all the way to the dock and climbed onto a Galen boat that had just dropped anchor - he did not dare to go ashore because he knew that if he was caught. I will be burned at the stake!

Although he escaped from Venice, he did not dare to show his face until the Galen ship left the Strait of Gibraltar and the starving and dying Francis dared to climb onto the deck and confess to the Portuguese captain.

At first, the Portuguese captain thought he had found a treasure. So he took him all the way to Macau in the Far East.

After several trial productions in Macao, I found that the glass made by this fugitive from the glass island was muddy and worthless!

After beating Francis severely, the enraged captain threw him in Macau and left, ignoring his pleading to return to Europe.

Penniless and unskilled, Francis spent more than a year in Macau in great trepidation – apart from the occasional firing of a piece or two of decorative glass for the local church, he barely made any money!

So when Alfonso stopped him that night and told him that there was a place where he might be hired, he didn't hesitate to follow him - it didn't matter what the wages were, just enough to eat!

"Oh! My dear Ge, it's really you! ”

Alfonso's exaggerated voice pulled Francis back from his tragic memory, and he saw Alfonso open his arms towards a Chinese who had stepped onto the boat.

It was Ge Bi who came, and when he was cruising the sea today with the "Dawn" and the second-hand sea ship "Dawn", he noticed that the Galen ship seemed to be coming in the direction of Ushijima, so he naturally greeted him—these two ships were rebuilt in a hurry.

Seeing Alfonso turn around and want to escape, of course Ge Bi didn't do it, how could he catch up and find out who it was - if it was an enemy with bad intentions, he had to find a way to sink it!

Originally, he had ordered the "Dawn" to be ready for battle, but when Alfonso's figure appeared in the clairvoyant, he ordered the ballista to turn in a different direction - fortunately, thanks to this action to release goodwill, otherwise Alfonso would have made an emergency U-turn regardless of the danger, in which case the Galen ship would have capsized in the sea!

After boarding the ship, the two talked about the old days with the help of an interpreter, and then Ge Bi asked Alfonso what he meant.

When he learned that Alfonso still had 500 Lumi guns here, Ge Bi's heart blossomed with joy - the Fuliao army is currently short of firearms!

The craftsmen Alfonso brought this time, as well as the clairvoyant mirrors, clocks, and even sailing compasses and sextant instruments, also made Ge Bi extremely excited—he had heard of many things, but he had never had the opportunity to see them.

However, when Ge Bi carefully inspected the people and things and began to negotiate the price with Alfonso, Ge Bi's face suddenly fell.

This Alfonso is really a person who doesn't remember to eat and fight - those Lu Mi guns rose to 50 taels of silver as soon as he opened his mouth, and it was just a clairvoyant mirror, a table clock, a pocket watch, and a sextant, this guy was all asking for a sky-high price!

What made Ge Bi feel most angry was that these more than a dozen craftsmen actually asked each of them to pay 300 taels of silver for the "introduction fee"!

Alfonso, who insisted on not letting go, made the deal impossible to negotiate, and Ge Bi angrily left the Galen ship and returned to the "Dawn".

Looking at Ge Bi's angry back, Alfonso was inevitably worried in his heart - this place is the territory of the Chinese, if he really provokes the other party, will that little show not be annoyed and angry, killing people and goods?

But Alfonso's eyes were red with the stimulation of high profits, and he decided to gamble, betting that Chu Fan would still trade with himself if he didn't let go - uh, at most a small opening, and if it was too big, it would definitely not work!

However, to be on the safe side, he ended up parking the Galen ship more than a thousand meters away from the pier.

In the undulating waves, the Galen ship is like a dormant beast, waiting for its prey to come to the door. (To be continued.) )