This was the first time Dias had sailed with his father, and they were heading to the South Seas, the legendary Spice Islands, full of gold. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The Bartolomeu family was a well-known Portuguese merchant and even one of the first Portuguese navigators to discover the Spice Islands, but now they are in the middle of the road, and the family is reduced to only three ships.

The shipping route to the Spice Islands has always been known as the Golden Trade Road, as the name suggests, this is a way to let people lead to glory and wealth, all the spices brought back from the Spice Islands have always been in short supply, and the returning ships often rush to buy out the spices as soon as they dock, and some of the precious spices are even more expensive than the same weight of gold, and there is no market.

As soon as such a golden waterway was opened, it attracted countless large and small maritime merchants to come and go, prepare ships one after another, and rush to that golden land.

But this is a road to fortune, and it is also a road to death.

The Spice Islands are so far from the mainland that it can take more than half a year for ordinary merchant ships to go back and forth, during which they will suffer from storms, lost, disease, mental breakdowns, etc., and even some unlucky ones will be attacked by pirates and die at sea without anyone knowing.

Therefore, after the initial madness, only the largest fleets were left in the Golden Passage, some of them belonged to the huge families of the marquis or even the duke, and some were the union of several smaller families, but they all had a huge fleet composed of a dozen or even dozens of merchant ships without exception, and some of the largest fleets even had accompanying warships. Only such a fleet can sail on the golden sea route for a long time. It was a precious experience that countless small fleets of ships that had disappeared into the sea had exchanged for a bloody lesson.

A failed investment caused the Bartolomeu family to owe a large amount of foreign debt, and they offended the Lisbon maritime alliance and could not participate in the joint fleet, in order to repay the debt, the Bartolomeu family could only drive the family's only three small ships to fight on the golden waterway.

Of course, Dias didn't know any of these things, he was still a ten-year-old child, and he only knew that his father was finally willing to take him and let him go to sea with the ship.

"Daddy, Daddy, are the Spice Islands really full of gold?"

"Daddy, Daddy, why is it all sea water outside and no land can be seen?"

"Dad, Dad, why is it all seawater, and we can still tell the direction?"

"Daddy, Daddy, why do the uncles put down their sails, is it because the storm is coming?"

......

In contrast to his son's exuberant curiosity, Captain Dinish, the head of the Bartolomeu family and owner of the three merchant ships, was so exhausted that he almost turned white.

The smaller the fleet, the weaker it is to withstand danger. For example, in the event of a storm, even if a few ships capsize on their side, other ships can rescue them after the storm stops; for example, in case of an accident, if the cabin is flooded, and the food is soaked in seawater and cannot be eaten, you can also ask other ships for support; for example, pirates, once there are 20 ships in the fleet, then they can almost ignore those small groups of pirates, if they get on 50 ships, the large number of pirates will have to weigh and weigh......

And now, Bartolomeu's family only has three ships, and even if there is only one small pirate, they may not be able to resist it!

But fortunately, the few storms encountered along the way were not big and did not cause any damage. Although there were some accidents, they were all handled well. There are also a few sick crew members, so there is no way but to say that they are dedicated to the god of the sea. There are also pirates, who have taken a remote channel with many years of sailing experience, and although they have made a big circle and dragged on the voyage, they have been very lucky to have not encountered pirates until now.

And, if the calculations are correct, there is less than a day left before the Spice Islands......!

The last minute is the most cautious! It's not far from the Spice Islands, but you can't take it lightly!

Thinking of this, Captain Dinish put his son to sleep, went to the deck again, and began a new round of patrols.

"Is that little hole in the cabin plugged?"

"You! Raise the sails! Now it's right to be downwind, just in time to pick up speed!"

"Tell the other two ships to speed up and try to reach the Spice Islands tomorrow morning!"

"Everyone work hard! When you get to the Spice Islands, everyone has a good rest, there is everything to eat and drink, and there are women!"

"It's the last moment, don't take it lightly!"

......

He was patrolling around, boosting the morale of the crew, when suddenly, the frightened voice of the lookout came from the lookout on the mast: "Yes...... There are pirates! there are pirates! it's the Vikings! it's the Vikings!"

Vikings? Vikings!

The lookout's words exploded through the crowd like a thunderclap, leaving everyone stunned and at a loss. Some sat down and muttered to themselves, others ran around trying to find a place to hide, and some clenched their weapons and shivered...... There was chaos everywhere.

Even Dias woke up and came behind his father, pulling at his father's clothes: "Dad, what's wrong? Why is everyone ......?"

His son's movements woke Captain Dynish, who was stunned, and his frozen brain started to beat again.

How did the Vikings come here? Didn't they always operate in the North Seas? Did I go the wrong way? No, looking at the weather, this is indeed the South Seas......

How many Vikings are there? If you have one or two, you can still fight for them, right? No! The key is what kind of ship they are! I don't know if they can escape if they escape......

Now the most important thing is to calm everyone down, fight when you should fight, run away when you should escape, if you can't escape......

Hey, you shouldn't be soft-hearted and bring Dias on the ship! The Ivekings have always been chickens and dogs......

After thinking for less than ten seconds, Captain Dynish's train of thought became clear, and he crouched down and looked at his beloved son: "Diash, listen carefully to Daddy! This is not a joke! You go back to your room right now! There is a secret door under the bed in the room, you open it and hide in it! You must hide well! You must not make a sound! Wait for Daddy to come to you! Daddy is not here, you are absolutely not allowed to come out, understand?"

Looking at his stern-looking father, Dias nodded heavily, and then ran towards the captain's room.

Seeing his son leaving, Captain Dinish did not hesitate, picked up his light work, climbed up the mast to the lookout, and looked into the distance.

I saw that just two or three nautical miles to the west, there was a small island, and there were dozens of black warships of all sizes parked on the side of the island.

There are so many ships that they will definitely not be able to fight, but they are still in the harbor, and they have not had time to set sail yet......

No, they can't escape, they have clippers! Once they set sail, they will catch up with us in an hour at most! And they must have spotted us by now! We're going to be finished this time!

Captain Dinish's heart was full of despair, but he was a captain after all, and he still retained the last shred of his sanity and madness to fight for his life.

He jumped off the lookout at once, mobilized his internal strength, and shouted at the chaotic crew: "Don't panic, everyone! The Viking ship is still parked on the edge of the island! It hasn't set sail yet! We still have a chance to escape! Don't panic! You, you, and you, raise the sails! And a few of you, go to the cabin! Go to the oars......

His face was full of hideousness, and he roared loudly: "We are rushing towards the Spice Islands! We are only half a day's way away from the Spice Islands! As long as we are fast, we can escape! No matter how arrogant the Vikings are, it is impossible to attack the Spice Islands! And you, notify me of the two ships behind! The Merry goes north! The Lion goes south! We flee separately! Meet at the Spice Islands! The Vikings have limited clippers and cannot chase in three directions at the same time! Only by being separated can we survive!"

Captain Dinish's words were clear, and with great confidence, the chaos on the ship was suppressed at once, and everyone began to act according to his instructions.

But Captain Dinish himself knew that this series of measures would hardly have any effect, the Vikings had a lot of clippers, and they only had to think that it would be enough to stop all three ships and then kill all the people on board!

But the will to survive is so strong, for himself, for his son, even if it is a mortal game, he has to fight in the end!

After giving the order, even in despair, Captain Dinish insisted on climbing the lookout and began to pay attention to the movements of the Vikings in order to give orders.

In his field of vision, the fleet of Vikings did not move, and the black warships were still parked on the edge of the island, motionless, as if they had not seen the three small merchant ships passing by them.

What is the situation? Is it really that we didn't find out, or do we look down on our three small boats and disdain to rob them?

But it's best not to chase after you! Take advantage of this opportunity to escape as far away as possible! The farther you escape, the better your chances of surviving!

The three merchant ships were like a race, the crew frantically manipulated the sails, slid the oars, and even dropped some heavy debris, and you chased after me, and fled like crazy.

They fled faster and farther until they could no longer see the Viking island, until they saw the golden-sand Spice Islands, until they plunged headlong into the crowded harbor......

And until the end, the Vikings did not catch up.