(Thank you Brother LMXY for your valuable commuter pass.) ）

The Baltic Sea is strategically located from Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of the Central Continent, to the island-lined Southern Islands in the south. It spans more than a dozen latitudes from north to south. Along the continental plate, from west to east, the coastline stretches for more than 2,000 kilometers, which is a rare deep-water harbor in the inland sea above the mother planet of the earth during the Great Evolution Period of more than 4,000 years. And the water potential is stable, and the transportation is convenient. The Strait of Malacca, known as the golden waterway, provides direct access to the Southern Ocean through the long and narrow shipping channel of the Southern Regions Islands.

However, because of such and such accidents, there are not a few ships that sink in this area every year. Coupled with the Baltic Sea coast, which has been circulating since ancient times, the legend of the treasures of the primeval human beings has made this vast sea area covered with a veil of mystery.

In fact, legends about treasures are spread in almost every sea area of the home planet. It is precisely because of this that the legends of this part of the Baltic Sea are never taken seriously by the authorities. It wasn't until decades ago, when the first professional marine salvage ship sailed in, that the local government began to survey the area. Of course, this is also routine, and the result is naturally nothing!

However, this did not discourage humans from exploring the sea, on the contrary, because of the lax salvage policy in the Baltic Sea, a large number of salvage ships flocked to the sea in the following decades. This originally quiet sea area was lively again for a while.

On the premise of not violating the maritime ban policy of the government of the home planet (i.e., the ban on fishing and the prohibition of the exploitation of mineral deposits in the sea), the local government has always turned a blind eye to this phenomenon. Close one eye. Rather than looking for ethereal treasures, they are more willing to spend time and energy to solve the poverty of the coastal freedmen. Because it is not only related to one's political achievements and promotion, but also to win a good reputation for oneself before and after his death. In the eyes of an ordinary official, this may be more important than anything else! From this point of view, the rule of officials at that time was relatively clear.

It's just that because of the strict restrictions of the maritime ban policy, this problem has always been at a loss for them. Not to mention that at that time, even today, 10,000 years later, the problem of poverty has always been a big problem that coastal freedmen need to face. Of course. This is also relative. Compared to the time of more than 4,000 years in the Great Yan Period. With the leapfrog development of human productivity, the living standards of coastal freemen have also been greatly improved.

However, under the circumstance of strict precautions and the lack of a way out, the development speed of the coastal economy is still far less than that of some large cities in the interior. However, with the gradual development of the era of big aviation. The transfer of economic centers. The economy of the home planet is no longer the most important! Opposite. As long as the mother planet is kept natural, the whole ecology, even if the economic index is zero. The value is still endless.

Although the influx of salvage ships did not bring much improvement to the economy of the Baltic Sea coast, it made the marine salvage industry in this area extremely prosperous. Every year, there is an endless stream of groups and individuals who make their profession salvage shipwrecks and explore underwater treasures.

With the continuous heat of the salvage movement in the Baltic Sea and the subsequent major discoveries, other seas along the coast of the mainland have also joined in the following decades, and it has become a fashionable topic for the mother people to pan for gold along the coast for a while!

It can be seen that at that time, mankind's pursuit of the unknown and wealth had reached an extremely fanatical point. Otherwise, a philosopher would not have said that the pursuit of wealth is innate! In fact, it is not only innate, it is simply deeply rooted in the genes.

And this marine salvage movement that arose from the Baltic Sea and then spread to the world, and lasted for more than 100 years, also has a professional term in history, called the marine gold rush.

This so-called ocean gold rush can certainly bring people wealth, and even make some people rich overnight, but it is always for a very small number of people. The vast majority of people risked their lives to go to sea and returned with nothing, which led to many people going bankrupt at that time, and even worse, losing their lives in it. It's really more than worth the loss.

It wasn't until more than 100 years later, when people realized that the industry was risky and unprofitable, and the government banned it, that the popularity of the movement quietly subsided.

But at this moment, the movement is just emerging, and with the waves washing in, it is considered to be the slightest clue given by the Baltic goddess, which is a great surprise and inspiration for the coastal freedmen who are struggling below the poverty line. Not to mention that there can really be a surprise, at least it is also a hope!

At this moment, Papa Barton's mind was like this, and he couldn't bear to look at the lovely little boy in front of him, who had been reduced to slavery because of his father's debts. Although he has never read any books, in the home planet, as long as he is not a fool, he knows the Tao, once he becomes a slave, he will be finished alone! Not to mention the day when there will never be a future, even the basic rights of human beings have been lost! More precisely, a slave no longer belongs to the category of people, but a box of goods, a rack of tools, and a kind of livestock that can speak human language.

From the eyes of a veteran blacksmith for many years, Papa Patton soon noticed something unusual about this piece of metal, which seemed to be so dense and uniform that it seemed to be far superior to that of ordinary metal, at least as far as he knew. Then, he tossed the metal in his hand again, and it felt light. Even the mass is so light.

Then he asked the boy to fetch a basin of water and put the metal in it, and he found that it had sunk to the bottom. The middle-aged man didn't have much concept of buoyancy or anything, and he didn't want to do any scientific experiments, but simply wanted to know whether this thing was sinking or floating in the water.

If it floats, it's okay, but if it sinks, this small piece of metal may really have fallen off from some undersea wreck. This reminded him of the storm a few days ago, probably the storm that swept this thing up from the bottom of the sea!

But in any case, this thing does not seem to be of much help in solving the practical difficulties of the little one. Even if it is really a shipwreck, with his current financial resources, he is not able to develop it at all! The reason why the village chief's son was able to find and occupy an entire shipwreck was because he was the son of the village chief, and he was the head snake here. If this kind of thing is replaced by yourself, I am afraid that not only will you not be able to get rich, but you may even lose your old life in it!

For these people's sophistication, Barton still sees it very thoroughly.

As soon as he thought of this, Daddy Barton lost interest in this palm-sized piece of "iron" in a blink of an eye. Throwing the iron into the furnace, he thought to himself, should he let the little guy out of the rut to avoid the limelight? Even if you go to a foreign land and never come back, it is better than being a slave!

I wanted to integrate this piece of metal with an unknown texture into other metals to improve the quality of the agricultural tools I want to make. But I didn't want to, this palm-sized piece of "iron" was burned red in the furnace, but it didn't melt.

Patton Blacksmith furious, striking the surface of the metal block with a sledgehammer in an attempt to change its surface shape. But he was amazed to find that no matter how much he changed the shape of the little thing, after a second or two, the thing would always return to its original state. This reminded him of a rumored extremely high-grade material, memory metal. It seems that only that kind of material can explain this phenomenon now!

The high melting point, combined with the metallic memory, gave Barton another glimpse into the extraordinaryness of this small piece of metal. But no matter how extraordinary, it is only a small piece of metal, and it does not bring him any real wealth.

According to the old practice, if any strange items are found on the beach, they must be handed over to the local government in time. So Daddy Barton naturally handed over this strange piece of metal, which he couldn't help but do, and soon forgot about it!

In his poor life, there are too many things worth worrying about. What's more, in his opinion, a small piece of broken "iron" picked up by the sea, no matter how valuable it is, it is not a big deal. You must know that even if this small piece is really memory metal, this palm-sized piece of things is not worth much.

So, when the storm brewing in this small piece of metal was approaching, Mr. Blacksmith was still thinking about how to get the little creature out of the gang and prevent him from becoming a slave?

"It's better to follow the ship and go to the Southern Islands!" The blacksmith thought to himself. (To be continued.) )