"The Invincible Uncle Team of the Selector Squad, all the members of your squad, Selector No. 95270 Wang Mancang, Selector No. 93776 Hanbei Takenaka, and Selector No. 90909 Li Marie, all of you have successfully entered the trial world - the Age of Sail through the current exploration type entry, this trial world is the official trial world, and you will face the other selection squads. ”

"Please note that the Selector's Squad Invincible Uncle Team is currently in the Trials World Preparation Period, which is not part of the official start of the Trials World, and you will not be able to learn about the regular missions in the Trials World during this time, but the Drafter's normal activities are not restricted. ”

"According to the spatial information, the preparation time for your trial world is 480 hours, and your country and place of entry in this world are the Netherlands, the port of Amsterdam. ”

Hearing a series of information from the space, Lao Wang and the others did not rush out of the cabin, but continued to stay in the cargo hold for some time, and all the staff listened carefully to the introduction of the pre-preparation time in the random space, and then looked at all kinds of information and items in the team space, this pre-preparation time was as they speculated, full of doubts.

"The pre-preparation time has become 20 days, what do you think?" Lao Wang wondered, he clearly remembered that after they made the choice to enter the trial world, there were about 30 hours left in the countdown to enter the trial world, and now, after entering, the pre-preparation time became 480 hours, which was a full 20 days, which was already nearly a month, needless to say, it should be a random space according to the remaining time of their own team, and the time was expanded according to the proportion.

"It's... If you calculate it, does this so-called preparation take a lot of time?" Mary was also puzzled, and Takenaka shrugged directly, saying that he had received too little information and had no special ideas for the time being.

"It's a blessing or a curse, let's go out first. Lao Wang replied with a dull head, and then took the lead to step up the stairs of the cargo hold and walked out of the cabin.

Over here... Amsterdam?

As soon as they stepped onto the deck, a question arose that the port city in front of them looked a lot like Amsterdam, but it didn't look like it everywhere.

Before they entered the cabin, they had the impression of Amsterdam's beautiful scenery, the fusion of classical and modern, and the open and confident city, like Van Gogh's sunflowers, warm and intense.

Now, Amsterdam is a different story, a world of trials modeled after the real-world city of the same name in the 17th century, in the midst of a golden age of great development, with a bustling port and ships rushing in and out, even more lively than a modern port in the real world.

Of the 20,000 merchant ships that were active in the oceans during this era, 15,000 of them belonged to this great city, Amsterdam, the most important home port of the famous sea coachmen, and its position was unassailable, at least from the point of view of maritime commerce.

"Mr. van der kamp, Mr. van der kamp!" a young man dressed as a sailor waved his hand and beckoned to the three old kings who were looking around on the deck, "We have arrived, the great port of Amsterdam. ”

"Uncle, call you. Takenaka reminded Lao Wang in the team channel that the Dutch surnames arranged in the space were quite awkward, and Lao Wang lacked understanding of these Western surnames, so he didn't react immediately for a while.

"Of course it's great, and I have to sigh every time I come back. Lao Wang found a good excuse for his distraction.

"Of course, by the way, you have a good business this time, and I am sure you will soon have your own merchant ship, and if you are going to sail in the near future, remember to hire me, you know, Alger is a good sailor!" the young sailor took up his salute and said, "Then Mr. van der Kamp, I will go ashore first, and see you next time." The young man said heartily, his freckled face full of excitement and desire, and he could imagine with his toes what a sailor who had gone ashore on a long voyage with his salary.

"We'll see you next time. The old king replied with a smile and nodded to the young sailor.

"Arms dealer Onis van der Kamp, wandering gunman Alice Hunter and weapons dealer's nephew and handyman Fred Van der Kamp. Mary muttered a few words in a low voice, and said to Lao Wang and Takenaka: "It seems that after the formation of the team, the space will also arrange our identities a little bit more related, Lao Wang, you are good, you have used miscellaneous labor, hehe." ”

Takenaka's little face was amused by Mary's laughter, and said, "Miss Mary, let's not be joking, we don't have a clue yet for 20 days of preparation!"

"My Zhuda understands, why don't you have any ideas this time?" Lao Wang said proudly: "Your uncle, ouch, this time it's really your uncle." ”

"Uncle is also very relaxed, if you have an idea, let's start introducing it, don't let people lose their appetite. Takenaka asked.

The old king did not speak, but took Mary and Takenaka up the gangway to the dock, walked a little distance, turned around, and motioned for the two of them to look back at the sailing ship that had carried them to Amsterdam, just like him.

Logically speaking, they entered the replica "Amsterdam" in the real world, and when they entered the world of trials out of the cabin, they should have seen the original ship itself in the age of sail, but the ship in front of everyone now is very different from the imaginary "Amsterdam".

The Amsterdam is a three-masted schooner, but the ship in front of it is a two-masted schooner, about less than 20 meters long, with a slender hull and a narrow first deck on the surface.

"What does this mean, old king?" asked Mary, "does the change in ship shape have any effect on us?"

"No, Lady Mary, you're missing the point, I'm showing you the boat. Lao Wang said with a little teasing: "Comrades, I think what the little sailor said just now is reasonable, since it is the age of sailing, then we should first get a ship of our own, let's see what space has prepared for us." ”

Lao Wang grabbed a horse sword silver coin from the team space, and said with a jingle in front of the two: "Three thousand pieces of this thing as start-up capital, let's earn a boat in 20 days, the two shopkeepers, are you interested in being a maritime merchant?"

You don't have to wait for Mary and Takenaka to speak, because the eyes of these two people have already begun to glint with excitement, as the selectors, how many people don't like excitement and challenges?

Without further ado, the invincible uncle's troops divided into two ways and began to run for the sea in order to buy a ship, and the vegetable seller who had "business experience" went to the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce and the Exchange to be responsible for understanding the market, applying for licenses, and formulating shipping plans.

Mary and Takenaka work together this time, tasked with finding a shipyard and port nearby, choosing an armed merchant ship as a starting ship, and learning about the approximate value of their funds by the way.

After all, no matter how erudite Takenaka is, he can't even master the knowledge of the currency of the Netherlands in the 17th century, and they don't know the purchasing power of Ma Jian silver coins in the trial world.

About two hours later, the two groups met and received mixed news.

The good news mainly came from Lao Wang's side, the Netherlands is heavy on business, so in order to encourage commercial activities, the processing of trade licenses could not be simpler, and Lao Wang even brought back the trade license and the weapon monopoly license on the spot.

As for the routes, there is no problem, there are many choices, the Netherlands can run Rotterdam, Bruges (at this time Bruges belongs to the Republic of the Netherlands), etc., there are more foreign routes, to London, Hamburg, Copenhagen, etc. are good choices, and they are all profitable.

According to Lao Wang's understanding, 8 knots of speed of merchant ships to run these routes, spend 3-5 days to basically run back and forth, that is to say, before the preparation time arrives, Lao Wang they can run at least 4 times of business, making money is not difficult, of course, the higher the profit, the better the ship they can buy.

The bad news was brought by Mary and Takenaka, and it has to be said that there are good and bad things in the development of commerce, and the prices in the whole country of the Netherlands are on the high side, and the silver horse sword coins weighing 33.7 grams are well minted, but the purchasing power in the Netherlands is very average.

After the two of them inquired in the shipyard, the desperate result appeared, an extremely ordinary dhow and single-deck small sailing ship will cost about 2,000 swords and silver coins, which is not counting the necessary equipment money on the ship, so it seems that the space is still slamming the door and vomiting blood, and the 3,000 yuan in Lao Wang's pocket can also buy a strengthened version of the small sampan.

To put it simply, the boat that Lao Wang can buy directly now is equivalent to the sampan that Captain William Barents used to escape for his life.

Poverty made Mary and Takenaka not speculative in their conversation with the shipyard owner, so they could only come back in disgrace and join Lao Wang.

After some discussion, the three finally decided to temporarily use the method of chartering ships to buy goods to quickly accumulate capital first, and then talk about it when they made money.

This is not a pity, in fact, even in the Netherlands, not every merchant has his own merchant ship, and a lot of trade is carried out by renting ships or even renting a few cabins on large ships, and the way of sharing is not suitable for the three of them, so they chartered the whole ship as a temporary car.

Next, it is the intense preparations, "going to sea" is only two words, but in practice, you know that the things that need to be prepared are like a sea of smoke.

The first is stocking, in this world of trials, there is a clear division of nautical business activities according to different types, in other words, every merchant has access to all the goods, but if it is not a merchant who does this certain business, there is no way to obtain enough purchase quota for the corresponding goods, in short, there is no way to buy goods if you have money.

Lao Wang is a weapons monopoly merchant, and the most purchased goods on the exchange are swords, cannonballs, guns and a series of weapons and equipment from the maritime period, but although these things seem to be dazzling, they are all labeled as goods without exception and cannot be used.

For this voyage, Lao Wang and they not only had to pay for the hired ship, but also recruited sailors, paid their salaries and the captain's salary, plus the money for team building and dinner, as well as the purchase of supplies, 3,000 sparkling horse sword silver coins, and only 1,000 were left as the guarantee money when they set off.

In the early morning of the fourth day when the king and the others entered the world of trials ahead of schedule, in the port of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, a cargo ship named Maria was busy preparing to depart.

This wonderful coincidence made Lao Wang can't help but joke Mary again and again, saying that she is the real owner of this ship, and it should be to the point where the man and the ship have the same name and the man and the ship are one.

"Uncle, tell me what will happen to us on this voyage? Now that the world has not yet begun, we can also take a vacation to relax, how nice. Takenaka looked very excited, unlike the excitement he had felt when he heard that he was going to buy a ship to go to sea, after all, the little guy was now working on a 17th-century round-bellied merchant ship.

Lao Wang, the route they need to run this time is the route from Amsterdam to Hamburg, these two ports are very close to the shore, there is a dense navy here, there are basically no pirates, and the probability of privateers is also low, even if you choose a round-bellied merchant ship, it is acceptable.

Wang Mancang set off with the ship as the owner of the ship, and as the sponsor of the voyage, he was treated with courtesy by the captain of the ship, who was usually the highest in the ship, and all of them had to obey unconditionally, which is why throughout the Age of Sail, defective sailors were often punished with death.

The second most noble person was Lao Wang, who sometimes accompanied the voyage of the ship, and was usually a big merchant or an explorer who received special support.

Before sailing, Lao Wang briefly asked the captain about the price of this two-masted sailing ship, and the captain told Lao Wang that the ship was not very old, only about two years, and the price was 15,000 swords and silver coins when it left the factory.

Huge amount of money, this is equal to 15 times Lao Wang's current assets, and he has to work hard to make money!

Lao Wang was still thinking about it, when he suddenly heard the sailors cheering in unison, the sailors blew the brass trumpets, and Wang Mancang's maiden voyage began in such a cheerful laughter.

Today, the port of Amsterdam is shining brightly, and it seems to be a good weather for doing business.