open sea

Chapter 1416
Bai Lier was not as frightened as the other women brought to Westminster Abbey by the Ming army, she just stared at everything she saw with wide eyes.

On the way to Westminster Abbey, her attention was focused on the first two 'red hats' on horseback.

This was the first time she saw Ming Jun, not only her, but also more than 20 women in their group saw Ming Jun for the first time.

But people in London have long known the existence of the Ming army. It was during the Ming-Xi War that merchants from the sea bought and sold goods in London, bringing the invincible Spain to be defeated by a country named Ming in a corner of the other side of the world.

It was almost the most fashionable topic of conversation in the streets and alleys of London at that time. Even though none of the nobles knew what was going on in that battle, they could still praise the war that made the awe-inspiring Philip II ashamed without hesitation.

A few years later, it was revealed that the army had landed on the New World in a large scale, and the end of the war was beyond everyone's expectations. Almost as soon as England learned of the war, it ended in Spain's defeat.

At that time, England was almost full of joy, and no one cared even if there were occasional news that the shipwrecked sailors brought back news that they were wounded and killed by the Ming people on the shore before they landed in the New World, or even the whole ship sank.

The nobles were busy supporting the merchants to go to sea, and even the Queen was busy trying to establish contact with Daming.

Whether it's going to Havana or even Mexico, or trying your luck on the east coast of the New World, what people see is huge opportunity.

The arrival of Yang Gao, the prophet, and Tang Er, the arms dealer, made them the hottest figures in London, and people wanted more gorgeous silk and expensive treasures.

But later, the situation changed. When Plymouth became independent and the kingdom’s army’s colonization in Ireland suffered setbacks, the Ming Dynasty began to be portrayed as a horrible hell.

But from Bai Lier's point of view, it seemed that the red hat in front of her was not that scary.

Judging from the unprecedentedly low status of women after the Renaissance and the long-standing separation of nobles and commoners in Europe, good guys and bad guys are basically divided into classes.

A terrible man, like those scumbags who came over the bridge last night.

Wearing tight pants and wrapping the entire calf with muddy white socks, and wearing a linen shirt that seems to have never been washed to distinguish the color from the upper body, shivering in the cold, clutching a rusty butcher knife, with a mouth full of rotten teeth, wishing to see a woman Swallow it down.

Instead of a red hat riding in front at this time.

After last winter, news about red hats and blue hats entered the city of London. When she was fortunate enough to be invited to the Jazz's mansion for a banquet, Belle listened to those noble youths talking about the war situation, and people mentioned the red hat more than once.

But no one has ever told her that everyone in the red hat wears bright red cotton armor, and every button on it is made of copper. The thick cotton armor looks mighty and tall, and it is decorated with expensive fur and embroidery at a glance.

He might be an enemy of such a person, but Belle subconsciously believed that he would not be a bad person, even if he was a bad person, it would be better than falling into the hands of those scumbags in London.

This is not just a simple dislike of the poor and love of the rich, Bai Lier has her own philosophy of appreciating people.

Before the war, her father was trying to pay a generous dowry to marry the 16-year-old to a 44-year-old down-and-out aristocrat with three ex-wives and six children, but with a seat in the House of Lords of Parliament to achieve family status.

The status of women in this era is very bad no matter which side, and similarly, women in the upper class are subject to more constraints, while women in the lower class are forced to be a little freer due to life.

Of course, this freedom is also relative. The spread of the plague, the sudden death of livestock, the impotence of men, the loss of milk, and the arrival of storms will turn innocent women into witches.

Born to receive the traditional education of the Anglican Church, a hybrid of Christianity and Protestantism, Belle is very clear about her mission and value. Keeping chastity in the chaotic era is the greatest virtue as a tool for marriage.

Falling into the hands of unemployed London thugs is much worse than being taken away by the Ming army. At best, the former obviously doesn't have enough opportunities to get sex, and the latter doesn't look like a bad situation.

At least as far as the Eastern Banner Army looked, a clean and well-proportioned man standing anywhere in England with a silk shirt showing his neckline would not be short of women to throw himself into his arms.

Facts have proved that Bai Lier's judgment was very accurate, and the women's worries were completely unnecessary until they were taken to Westminster Abbey by two Eastern cavalrymen. On the long road, the two cavalrymen expressed their wonder at their bell panniers with their eyes, He barely glanced at them.

Once inside Westminster Abbey, things got even stranger.

Bai Lier roughly estimated that there were about seventy red hats working in various places in Westminster Abbey in an orderly manner, totally unlike the vulgar, barbaric, and dirty soldiers she had seen in England.

The Ming army, who had removed the cotton armor and was wearing a dark blue cotton military uniform and cotton skirt, spread a thick and shiny canvas on the floor of the corridor, put the leather backpack on the canvas as a pillow, and then lay down.

She covered her body with red cotton armor, and finally covered her face with an exquisite helmet with carved patterns and guns to block the sun, and fell asleep holding the musket.

Some people sat and ate around a bonfire on the garden lawn of the church. The diners held cakes that Belle had never seen before, and everyone had the same exquisite clay pots and wooden bowls in front of them. Say something easily.

Those who hadn’t eaten trimmed their beards with their standard knives in the clear water in a tin basin. They didn’t shave, but trimmed their messy beards neatly. Almost all of them had long or short neat beards.

Belle had seen that kind of knife before, and it was used to mount on muskets.

These red hats act as if they, these women, don't exist.

In fact, Bai Lier was quite sure that the red hats had seen them, but it was as if they hadn't, not to mention the embarrassing things that might have happened in their imaginations, and the Ming army had hardly any reaction to their existence.

The most exaggerated thing is that these people don't seem to face up to their identities, and they don't seem to have any intention of exchanging ransom for bringing them here, but simply treat them as cooks.

There is even a man from the Ming army with slender eyes and a bright smile on his face, teaching them pancakes and pickles?

While teaching, I asked them what skills these younger girls had mastered, and then asked what their life was like in the past day, and finally shook their heads with a sigh, thinking that they did not conform to the concept of spouse selection of Ming soldiers.

The oriental flag army soldier pouted and was very dissatisfied with the original words: "Oh, we know that the vulgar ones can't be used in the kitchen, and the elegant ones can't be used in the hall. You are useless."

(End of this chapter)