New Shun 1730

These questions sound grand and philosophical, mixed with moral issues and whether one’s faith is firm or not.

But for Hancock, these questions are not really questions, or they are not worth thinking about at all.

He was just a young man in his early twenties.

When his uncle started his business, he probably needed some difficulty, courage, skills, etc.

When his uncle started his business, it was the golden age of pirates. Because Britain, from a pirate-supporting country, immediately turned into the country that was most hostile to pirates with the end of the War of the Spanish Succession.

A large number of pirates, retired soldiers and sailors from the war, flooded the Caribbean.

Doing business at that time was indeed risky.

You might be caught by anti-smuggling ships.

You might be eaten by Spanish or French warships, although it was more like a black-eating-black model.

You might be caught by pirates, and it was very likely, because that was the golden age of pirates.

It was an era of great waves.

If you were unlucky, you would be caught, killed by pirates, or intercepted by warships, and you would lose both your money and your life. Most people were thrown directly into the sea to feed the fish.

If you are lucky, you can do two or three things. With more money, more ships, higher social status, and more connections, everything will go smoothly.

The governor is a friend.

The customs is a buddy.

The plantation owners on the Caribbean sugar islands are all partners.

The golden age of pirates is over.

The difficulty of smuggling oriental trade goods in the Netherlands and Sweden has decreased.

The price of French honey has begun to drop sharply.

The brewing workshops and big pots in New England have developed.

Now, everything is beautiful and smooth.

Hancock, who was in his early twenties, had no cousins. As soon as his uncle died, the title of Boston's richest man fell directly on his head.

In this situation where you are full and have nothing to do, you have to find something to do.

If you don't know the meaning of life, you need others to guide you, at least do something, otherwise there is nothing to pursue.

Everyone is qualified to think about the meaning of life, what is the purpose of life, what is the highest truth, etc. But at this time, people who are still well fed and well-fed are more likely to fall into such thinking.

Once money has accumulated to a certain extent and personal connections have been established, in the current business environment, it is really an era for merchants who have laid a solid foundation and have sufficient capital to make money without doing anything.

From the golden age of pirates, or the thirty or forty years after the signing of the Treaty of Madrid in Utrecht, the great waves have washed away the sand. Many merchants died in this process.

And those who survived are naturally winners.

Hancock's uncle can already specialize in luxury goods, export wine, arrange military logistics, and even the British government has to help expel the French from Acadia.

Having reached this point, he is already a "Colonial agent" certified by the British government.

They are selected by the colonial government and paid a fixed salary. Because information and communication in this era are unchanged, and it often takes months to transmit messages, they and colonial officials have a lot of power to "act at their own convenience".

Their main business is to cooperate with the Trade Commission to deal with land issues, border disputes, military affairs and Indian affairs. They provided documents and news to British officials, ensured that controversial colonial legislation was accepted, and tried to prevent policies opposed by the colonies...

This did not contradict their opposition to British trade policies.

It should be noted that a large part of the "Colonial agents" were celebrities in the North American colonies. They were gentry and businessmen in North America, and the little salary given to them by the British government was useless. They mainly relied on this identity and their relationship with the governor and officials to obtain economic benefits.

In short, the British government gave them 10 yuan a month. But they relied on this identity and their relationship with the officials to make 10,000 yuan a month through smuggling monopoly, etc.

So, they were not "officials" in the true sense, but more like local gentry.

There is a semi-unspoken rule in the officialdom of Dashun that has existed since the previous Ming Dynasty: no official within 800 miles of their hometown. This is what they worry about.

These "Colonial agents" in North America who are paid by the British government are not similar to those who theoretically live on salaries, have to go through the civil service government for promotion, and may be in Liaoning this year and transferred to Guangdong next year.

They can use the power of the British government to obtain orders, logistics, franchises, etc.

But they can also oppose the British honey tax and the tax increase on French sugar according to their real needs.

Thomas Hancock took John Hancock to the Bahamas this time, hoping that John Hancock could be familiar with his business process and inherit his family business in the future.

But the unexpected result was to broaden Hancock's horizons.

Although before this, Hancock certainly couldn't have been unaware of China because of the existence of tea, porcelain and silk.

But this was the first time that he, from the well of North America, not only heard about the outside world, but actually came into contact with the vast world outside.

He knew that the world existed.

He knew the existence of Britain, France, the Holy Roman Empire, etc.

He knew those magnificent churches and the remaining Colosseum.

He had heard of the mysterious country in the far east.

But he had never seen it.

From the time he was born until he graduated from college, he grew up in this small town of tens of thousands of people.

Relying on imagination.

Or rather, relying on description.

It is impossible to imagine what the world looks like.

How can a person who has never seen the ruins of the Colosseum in Rome imagine what it looks like?

Here, he has seen black people, Indians, and their own group of people.

But for the first time, he touched another part of the world that seemed to have walked out of the background story and background picture.

This feeling is very wonderful. It is a kind of wonder that can only be felt by people who grew up in a small town of tens of thousands of people and read many books and came into contact with the bigger world for the first time.

Strange but not strange.

Read it in books, heard it. But it is strange and not strange for the first time.

The illusion caused by this contact with the outside world, the current situation of not worrying about food and drink and even business, and the reality of being in his early twenties, coupled with the strong religious atmosphere here, all make Hancock feel a very normal emotion.

This is a kind of idea that can be called middle school in the future, or it can be said to be the young fanaticism of intellectuals, or it can be regarded as an idea that they are bored and want to find something to do to find the meaning of life.

This idea itself is good.

But the difficulty of this thing lies in this young restlessness, just like a chicken, it gets hard at any time.

If someone can give correct guidance and give a clear direction, it is still possible to devote oneself to a certain ideal or the meaning of life.

But at this time, in this state of youth and enthusiasm, more people still hope to find the meaning of survival.

Or join some high-style, high-class mysterious organizations that seem to be able to influence the vast world that has been touched.

Or in a religious atmosphere, they want to seek the so-called supreme wisdom and supreme truth.

Undoubtedly, the Freemasonry reached out to him at this time, and he was excited.

Warren asked him to think about all this carefully, but he didn't think about it at all. It was more of a kind of "I joined a higher-class organization, and my life will have a meaning other than making money" that kind of excitement unique to young people who have no worries about food and drink.

After parting at the Bunch of Grapes, John Hancock had been in his residence, excitedly and anxiously waiting for the entrance examination and initiation ceremony of this high-class mysterious organization.

Until a few days later, a carriage stopped in front of his house.

John Hancock welcomed a guest who looked a bit forced.

The visitor was not very old. John Hancock seemed to have some impression of him in the tavern before, but he couldn't remember it clearly.

The visitor was wearing a black gown, a lamb wool hat, and a white wool scarf around his neck. He looked a little mysterious, and he was holding a very delicate leather box in his hand. It was not very big, but it was covered with some mysterious rune marks.

After entering the room, Hancock asked him to sit down nervously and excitedly, but the guest did not sit down. Instead, he said to him with a serious face: "Mr. Hancock, I have accepted an important commission, so I came to see you."

"I'm sorry, please forgive me for not telling you who my client is. But anyway, this person entrusted me with the purpose of accepting you into the guild, and I will take you to the hut of brothers close to the supreme wisdom."

"I regard fulfilling the will of my brothers as a sacred duty."

"So before that, I would like to ask you to answer a question."

"Before answering this question, please abandon all distractions and do not imagine that you may become a member of the Freemasonry in the future. Instead,

I ask you not as a future Freemason, but as a person, an honest person, to answer me sincerely and without hesitation: Do you believe in God?"

Hearing such a conversation, Hancock's heart became more excited and excited.

It can be heard that this is a very pretentious way of talking, and no normal person would speak like this.

Even if he talked like this in a tavern, a drunk would hit him hard on the head with a few bottles of wine.

But at this moment, such a conversation gave Hancock a great stimulation.

This... fits the style of this mysterious organization that he had expected and imagined.

It should be like this. Solemn, mysterious... At this moment, Hancock was satisfied in his heart.

He was satisfied that the Freemasons had formally invited him.

He was also satisfied that the mysterious and stylish scene he had imagined really appeared in his real life.

It was like the scene he had been dreaming about these days was reproduced in reality.

So, he replied very straightforwardly and solemnly, and even unconsciously in a tone of voice: "Yes, of course, I answer you with the honor of an honest and educated gentleman. I believe in God."

"Very good. Then, before that, please close your eyes." The person who picked him up said so, and Hancock closed his eyes obediently.

There was darkness in front of him. He wanted to open his eyes several times, but in the end, the temptation to join this high-class organization made him try to suppress the idea of ​​opening his eyes.

Especially the mysterious style and the tone of the guide before, which seemed like a stage play, made him feel extremely yearning.

"Perhaps, this is a test of whether I am honest and respect Freemasonry. I can't open my eyes at this time."

"Ah, what a magical experience. When I close my eyes, something I'm interested in is happening outside my eyes."

"Just like the snake that tempted Adam and Eve to eat the fruit, its whisper echoed in my mind, but what echoed this time was: open your eyes and take a peek."

"Yes, I think that's why I closed my eyes. This is the temptation that makes me experience the beginning of human depravity, and even this temptation itself, maybe just to know something..."

When he closed his eyes, Hancock added a lot of drama in his heart.

The initial idea of ​​closing his eyes was an obedience test, which was still a little bit close.

But as the drama in his heart became more and more, the trivial matter of closing his eyes has been associated with resisting the temptation to eat fruit in the Garden of Eden...

Soon, Hancock heard a slight click of the leather box being opened.

Then, he felt a dry and soft scarf tied on his eyes.

The scarf was close in front of his eyes, wrapped around the back of his head, and tied a knot at the back of his head. The person who tied the knot was very strong, and a few hairs were caught in the knot of the scarf, which made him feel a little painful.

When the blindfolded scarf knot was tied, the voice of the person who led him rang in Hancock's ears again.

This was a very strange feeling, and Hancock had never experienced this before: it was pitch black in front of his eyes, but he could hear the voice of others in front of him, but he could not see the person.

Most people would find this feeling strange, because unless it was a child playing blind man's game, no adult would be so idle as to cover his eyes and talk to others.

That voice was right next to his ear.

"This is the feeling of the soul at the beginning of its birth. Babies are like this. This is the purest feeling, which eliminates the deception of the eyes and makes it easier for you to touch your soul."

"There is darkness in front of you. But there is a door there. Push open that door and you will find light in the darkness. The key to this door is the ancient wisdom passed down by the brothers."

"No one can obtain the truth alone. From our ancestor Adam to our contemporary generation, thousands of generations of inheritance have shaped this door."

"Now, please follow me."

"Don't ask anything. When you feel as if the door is in front of you, you can open the veil in front of you."

"Hands, on your body."

"And that door requires you to feel it with your soul. When you know that the door exists, then the door exists."

After speaking, the man stretched out his hand, held Hancock's hand, and walked out step by step. Then with the help of this man, Hancock got on the carriage.

Because he smelled a strong sour smell of horse sweat, the neighing of horses, and the rhythmic sound of wheels on the road.

The scarf was tied very tightly, but the scarf itself was not dark, so before getting on the carriage, Hancock could still feel a glimmer of light in front of him.

He couldn't see anything, but it was enough to feel the light in front of him, at least before getting on the carriage.

The guide said that when his soul felt the existence of the door, he could untie the scarf himself...

According to the previous hints, it is obvious that this means either feeling a faint light, or hearing some mysterious sounds, or something else.

Only in this way can Hancock feel as if his soul really saw the door.

However, Hancock certainly didn't think so at this time. Thinking so is too materialistic, too boring, too vulgar, and too tasteless.

Since getting on the carriage, Hancock's eyes have been dark, and he has fallen into a strange perception.

And he is also trying to find the so-called feeling of the soul sensing the door. After all, he went to Harvard, so he knew that "the door" was a metaphor.

And the feeling of the soul is something that can only be understood but not expressed in words. He didn't know how to say that the soul felt the door.

But he believed, just like every young man who thought he was destined to be the protagonist, that he could feel it.

But now, his eyes were dark, and even the faint light that passed through the veil before getting on the carriage was gone.

It seemed that all the real world he knew had disappeared beside him, leaving only the pure darkness.

"My soul now sees nothingness. I can feel my pulse beating, my heart surging, and my body still obeys my commands. But my soul is isolated from the outside world."

"It is this emptiness and darkness that make it easier for me to perceive the door..."

Hancock reminded himself, and then faced the darkness in front of him, or the magical feeling of not being asleep but unable to see anything, he couldn't help but exclaimed: "What a magical feeling. Darkness, nothingness... another perception beyond the eyes, the perception of the pure soul..."

He exclaimed like this.

But in fact, it was just because the carriage he was riding was wrapped in thick black cloth and had no windows. It was indeed dark inside.