Eagle’s Glory

After leaving the dilapidated shack, Edmund Dantes felt a lot lighter.

Although he had maintained his composure and dignity just now, how could he have no fear in his heart?

After all, those soldiers who kill without blinking an eye can suddenly shoot at any time, taking his life and his money.

Although it was summer now, he found that his back was already covered in cold sweat.

Fortunately... the adventure finally got the best result.

If not risking, there may be safety, but there is nothing else, so he would rather risk.

Why should a person who has died once so far be afraid of death?

It was already evening, taking advantage of the increasingly dim sky, he quietly walked out of the small Lavrion port, and then he bid farewell to the translator and the middleman he brought, and disappeared into the night.

Then, with the help of the dim starlight, he came to an olive grove. He followed the route in his memory to the woods, and then walked to a well-hidden tree house.

This is where he is temporarily hiding.

He stopped at the door because he clearly found that there were traces of someone stepping in at the door.

He quietly reached into his pocket, clenched the pistol tightly, and looked at the situation inside through the gap with his alert eyes.

"Oh, don't be nervous, it's me!"

A cry came from inside.

As soon as he heard this voice, Edmond Dantès finally let go of his tense heart, let go of the gun in his hand, and opened the door.

And there was a person inside, sitting in a simple chair, looking at him with a flattering smile.

"Master Wilmore, have you come back after finishing your work?" He asked in a frivolous tone with Erlang's legs crossed.

This is a middle-aged man of about forty years old. Because of running around all year round, he has a dark complexion and long wrinkles on his forehead, but it can be seen that he is a white man.

He is not tall, and his brown hair is scattered like a rag on the top of his head, but his beard is quite clean. His right eye is blinded by trauma, so he wears a blindfold, which makes him smile It looks a bit weirder.

He is a smuggler who has been in Greece for many years, the French Syndicate de Maine.

【Dragon Set*2】

He claimed to be a descendant of a nobleman, so he used the prefix De before his surname, but so far, no one knows the authenticity of this identity, and no one has seen other members of the family - of course, no one has Interested in getting to the bottom of him.

He's a smuggler with a fairly good reputation, and that's enough.

After being introduced by the smugglers, Edmond Dantes got to know him, and because he was good at French, reliable and popular, Edmond Dantes also deliberately attracted him. He temporarily got his cooperation for a sum of money, making him one of his agents.

In order to gain his trust, Edmond Dantes stated the purpose of his hard work - he planned to sponsor the Greeks' war of independence.

However, he did not reveal the main messenger behind his scenes, but played himself as a foreign aristocratic rich man obsessed with heroism.

Syndicate de Mayne doesn't care who he is or what his career is, but for the price he pays, he happily chooses to cooperate.

So, during this time, Edmond Dantès was responsible for the purchase of arms himself, and arranged for him to be in charge of matchmaking. He wanted to use this well-connected smuggler to get acquainted with the current forces in Greece. If he could recruit some It is more ideal if people use it for themselves.

"My business is over, then M. de Main..." Edmond Dantes called the other party's name in a reserved tone, lit the oil lamp hidden under the chair, and then used the dim light The lights looked at each other. "How are things going on your side?"

"It's not that easy, sir." Syndicate de Maine spread his hands regretfully, and then sighed, "You know, the situation of the Greeks is very bad at the moment, they are being beaten down steadily, and the imperial army has They are all blocked, and some of my old friends are either unable to contact, or they have gone to see God... I can't get in touch for a while."

Edmond Dantès listened silently without commenting.

He knows that Syndicate de Maine is just an ordinary smuggler in the end, and even if he has a wide range of contacts, it is impossible to really know a few big people, and it is impossible to contact the rebels under the current situation. Helpless but acceptable.

However, this does not mean that he is satisfied.

Even in order to put a little pressure on the other party, he had to look disappointed.

"Is there any good news for me then?" he asked coldly.

"Yes, sir!" Seeing that the employer was unhappy, Syndicate de Maine restrained her smile and replied quickly. "I contacted an old friend. He is now a bandit a few miles away from here. He has some younger brothers in his hands... He is very interested in serving you."

"Mountain bandits?" Edmond Dantès frowned, "Are they really willing to defect to me?"

"As long as you have enough money, of course they are willing." Syndicate de Maine smiled slyly, "You can also see that this place is now in chaos, no one can survive well, and even more and more living space for bandits. The younger he is, and seeing that even his subordinates are almost unable to support him, of course he wants to find a way out."

Edmond Dantès thought about it, although the bandit has a bad reputation, and he must have done a lot of bad things, but at least now, he is not qualified to be picky.

"Are they reliable?" he asked again. "What if they just want to find out my whereabouts and take the opportunity to rob me once?"

"That guy is not the same as the other mountain bandits, and he is a little bit more moral..." Syndicate de Maine replied.

But he also knew that this kind of reason was really unconvincing, so he laughed again, "Sir, I understand your concerns, and I don't dare to make a ticket for him, but... how many people in this world do you think are Trustworthy?"

Edmond Dantès thought about it and felt that the other party was right.

In the final analysis, he can't pin his hopes on anyone's morality, not to mention that mountain bandits are untrustworthy, Greeks and Egyptians are equally untrustworthy, so what's the difference?

However, that doesn't mean he should take it lightly.

Although I have never seen this group of people, from the experience of Edmond Dantès, most of the bandits are predatory, and they advocate violence. Bad thinking, I am afraid that in the end, I will also choose to kill people.

So, you can recruit them, but you must deter them.

He felt bitterly that he needed to find a way to get some direct weapons.

Hurry up to contact Monte Cristo Island, report to His Majesty his current progress, and then ask His Majesty to send some people to assist me - he quickly made a decision in his heart.

In an instant, many thoughts passed through his mind, but there was no expression on the surface.

"Well then, you can help me contact the leader of the mountain bandit, and let him come to negotiate with me. I am willing to pay him and his subordinates to participate in my business - if he is not willing to come alone , then I will treat him as insincere, and there is no need to talk about other things."

"Your conditions are a bit harsh," Syndicate de Maine said embarrassedly. "Everyone is a little timid these days."

"It was he who asked me, not the other way around, so I have the right to put forward conditions. We must establish initial trust, right?" Edmond Dantes asked rhetorically, "During our cooperation during this time, you As you should have seen, I'm a man of his word, and generous and willing to spend money for friends - so as long as that friend of yours proves worthy of my trust, then I can make up for the concessions he made."

"Alright then, I'll pass on your conditions to him..." Syndicate de Maine thought for a while, then nodded.

"I have one more thing to entrust to you," Edmond Dantes said again.

"Please speak."

"I have negotiated with the Egyptian officer you introduced today, he is willing to trade with me, and I have paid the deposit. The first transaction will be made tomorrow, and I need you to help me transfer these goods to Store it in a safe place."

"Okay! In the name of our great family name, I promise you that I will be able to complete the task." This time Syndicate de Maine came to the spirit, and he answered loudly.

Edmond Dantès has not studied European aristocratic genealogy, nor does he understand heraldry, but he is not a fool. On the contrary, his knowledge is quite extensive, so of course he will not believe the noble status claimed by the other party.

But what's so confusing?

After all, even his own "Count of Monte Cristo" is a nondescript thing, so why should he care about the authenticity of other people's aristocratic pedigrees?

In short, this Monsieur de Mayne is very useful now, and that's enough.

Then, Edmond Dantes seemed to have thought of something.

"The mountain bandits you mentioned have always been mountain bandits, or did they come from somewhere else?"

His question made Syndicate De Maine stunned.

Then he laughed again, "You are really discerning... well, let me tell you straight, he was originally Ioannina Pasha's subordinate, and then Pasha was beheaded by someone sent by the Sultan? They have no leader, so they have to wander around, and they have no other means of making a living, so they have to make a living as mountain bandits..."

I see.

Edmond Dantès probably understands why Syndicate de Main would be friends with such a person.

Just as the Greeks were torn apart, the once glorious Ottoman Turkish Empire has now also contracted a disease unique to the end of the empire-political corruption and chaos, various forces torn apart, infighting, and warlords.

The Pashas (governors) stationed in various places by the empire have become emperors one after another. They often listen to the tune and do not listen to the propaganda. Some even directly monopolize the local military and political power, but only obey the sultan in name, just like the vassal towns in the late Tang Dynasty. .

For example, the Egyptian Ali Pasha, who sent troops with Turkey this time, has actually become the ruler of Egypt and is allowed to inherit his position. The sultan only has nominal suzerainty.

This time the sultan also paid a lot of money to get him to send troops: the two sides signed an agreement, and the sultan promised to hand over Syria and Crete to Ali Pasha after the successful suppression of Greece.

This was the case with Ali Pasha of Egypt, and naturally the same was true of other lords.

Ali Pasha of Ioannina, for example, publicly rebelled not long ago.

This Pasha once relied on his brutal means to rule a large area such as Albania, and began to openly oppose the center of the empire in Istanbul.

In 1820, Ali Pasha assassinated his political opponent Pachobey in Istanbul, and Sultan Mahmoud II took the opportunity to dismiss Ali Pasha and asked him to return to the capital to report his duties.

Ali Pasha, of course, knew that he would die if he got to the capital, so he refused to resign and joined other Pashas in the surrounding area to openly fight against the Sultan.

By 1822, after two years of fierce fighting, despite gaining the upper hand at first, Ali Pasha was finally defeated by the Sultan's army. In January 1822, the Ottoman army came to Ali Pasha's sanctuary and deceived him. Said the Sultan would grant him a full pardon.

Ali Pasha was fooled and was ready to lift the resistance, but when he was asked to surrender and be beheaded, Pasha chose to resist bravely to the end. In the final battle, the bullet went through his body and his head was chopped off. down to the Sultan.

The rest of his body was buried in a local mosque.

After Ali Pasha's death, his original army was scattered, some incarnated as bandits, some disappeared, and some simply joined the rebellion of the Greeks and continued to oppose the Turkish sultan.

Therefore, the current Balkan Peninsula is in chaos. The Turkish Empire and Greece, the warlord Pasha, and other forces of all kinds are intertwined with contradictions. They cooperate with each other and kill each other. The situation is chaotic, and the common people are the most direct victims. Of course also suffered the deepest disaster.

[Ali Pasha of Ioannina is the historical prototype of Ali, the governor of Ioannina who was betrayed by Fernand in The Count of Monte Cristo.

In the original book, Dumas fictional Haidai is the daughter of the Pasha, but in history, the Pasha was 80 years old when he was defeated and killed, and Haidai was only 4 years old... So, in order to make it more To be more realistic, this work sets Haidai as the granddaughter of this Pasha, otherwise it would be too scary...]

After learning about the other party's past experience, Edmond Dantès suddenly became more interested in this group of mountain bandits - after all, compared to the rabble of ordinary mountain bandits, those who have had regular military experience, obviously more useful.

Moreover, their embarrassing situation also leaves them with few options - they are enemies of Turkey, but the Greeks do not welcome them, and they can only work hard for their own survival in a rush.

Maybe they could be our first defectors, he thought to himself.