Major Raquel Cross, the captain of the transport ship Charles Joes, was a burly black man with a bald head and a full beard, about forty years old.
In the original body's impression, this was the first black American officer Fang Lang knew. Black people in this era would be discriminated against in the US military, so Fang Lang was surprised that a black person could serve as an American captain. However, there were many black people in Brazil, and Fang Lang also knew how to deal with black people.
After seeing the messenger convey the order, Fang Lang stood at attention and saluted. Just as he was about to report, he was interrupted by Major Cross's outstretched right hand. Seeing the other party's outstretched right hand, Fang Lang quickly reached out his hand and held it tightly.
"Hello, Lieutenant Fang Lang, don't be too restrained on the ship. Welcome aboard the Charles Joes." After saying this, he patted Fang Lang's right arm with his left hand, very enthusiastically.
"Hello, Major Cross. I am Fang Lang from the Brazilian Expeditionary Force. It is an honor to be able to study on your ship."
Cross could see Fang Lang's embarrassment from his expression, but no other white soldiers noticed his abnormality, and obviously did not express dissatisfaction because he was black.
Since Commodore Jackson had directly arranged for him to board the ship to assess his sailing skills, and he was a young man who looked less than 20 years old, Cross thought that this person must be a relative. So he did not act like an officer in his attitude.
"Okay, young man, since we are all going to live on the same ship, we are brothers. I will let the first mate arrange a bed for you first. Then I suggest that you hurry up and make a big purchase today, because there are a lot of empty warehouses on our ship on the return trip. Maybe you can make a fortune when you arrive in the United States." Hearing Major Cross's direct words, Fang Lang's heart was pounding. Isn't this a free transport ship? He needs to think carefully about what can be sold from Italy to the United States to make money.
"Captain, won't we be punished for using a warship to transport personal belongings like this?" Fang Lang was still a little worried about whether he would be punished.
...
...
"Haha... young man, we are just bringing some of our own personal belongings. We won't fill up the boat, so what's the problem? There's nothing to carry on the return boat anyway! Who would care what you bring. This is the welfare of the crew! In the future, your ship will also bring some personal belongings to the crew, right?" Major Cross said meaningfully.
After listening to what Major Cross said, Fang Lang came to his senses. In modern society, crew members are allowed to bring some personal belongings on ocean-going cargo ships. Why can't he react to this when he is in the army?
"I understand. Thanks for the reminder, sir!" I couldn't help but wonder, what can Italy sell to the United States to make money? Many of Italy's most famous products in later generations seem to be luxury goods, chocolate, and sports cars, but these products don't seem to have developed yet at this time!
In this way, Fang Lang, under the leadership of the first mate, settled down and soon came to the streets of Naples, Italy, to start looking for goods that could make him rich. Because it was still early, Fang Lang was not in a hurry. While admiring the streets of Italy, he sighed in his heart that these Italians were not good at fighting, but they were really good at cooking. After walking around for so long, it seemed that the most shops on the streets were restaurants.
This made Fang Lang very helpless. He couldn't bring spaghetti to the United States to sell it! How could he make a fortune? Not to mention pizza. There were no famous Italian industrial products in this era. It seemed that it was basically impossible to get rich overnight.
In fact, none of the above reasons are the reason why Fang Lang cannot get rich. He touched the 500 US dollars in his pocket and sighed helplessly. The capital is the fundamental reason that restricts Fang Lang from getting rich! Of course, don't think that 500 US dollars is a small amount of money. The US dollar in this era is much more valuable than the US dollar in modern society. This money is the military pay that Fang Lang has saved for a long time.
As Fang Lang was walking around, he unexpectedly came to an alley behind the Naval Hospital. Fang Lang discovered that most of the people gathered here were military personnel, including American soldiers, Italian soldiers, and British soldiers. Although they were wearing different uniforms, they were all gathered on both sides of the alley, talking about something.
Fang Lang thought there was something interesting to see, so he couldn't help but move in. He saw several soldiers placing all kinds of trophies on the ground, including German watches, medals, pistols, canteens, helmets, rifles, and even a BMW 750 motorcycle. Fang Lang understood that this was a black market where some soldiers were exchanging trophies.
He strolled around with great interest, because he had been on the battlefield for a short time. Although he had killed a few Germans, judging from the situation when Fang Lang woke up, he definitely had no trophies around him. He touched the five hundred dollars in his pocket and thought, since there is no chance to get rich, he might as well buy some souvenirs and collect them, and wait for them to appreciate in value in the future!
The first thing Fang Lang wanted to buy was a watch, because he didn't have one at the moment. He browsed the entire black market from beginning to end. To be honest, there was no watch of this era that particularly met Fang Lang's aesthetic taste. He had not found a watch that suited him. Just when Fang Lang was about to give up and pick one at random, a hoarse voice in not very fluent English said, "Brother, do you want to change a watch?"
Fang Lang looked in the direction of the voice and saw a short and strong man with black hair and brown eyes, wearing an Italian military uniform, looking at him. There was no rank or logo on the uniform, so it was impossible to tell whether he was a real Italian soldier or a black marketeer. It was not until now that Fang Lang realized that most people would take off the obvious military logos on their bodies. There were also a large number of people who did not mind being known by others.
Looking at the cobra logo with a pipe on his arm, he didn't pay much attention to it and replied casually in Italian: "Yes, man, but I looked where you are and I didn't see what I liked, so, sorry."
This person was obviously relieved when he heard Fang Lang could communicate in Italian. It was obvious that English was a language he had just learned and was not easy to use. He also responded in Italian:
“Haha… brother, I didn’t expect you can speak Italian, that’s great. If you want to change your watch, I think you should take a look at my collection.” As he said that, he lifted up his left arm, revealing seven or eight watches covering his arm.
Looking at the watches covering the man's arms, he was stunned, but also became interested. He walked forward to take a look. One of the watches with a stainless steel case particularly attracted Fang Lang's attention.
The man obviously noticed Fang Lang's gaze and took off the stainless steel watch and handed it to Fang Lang, saying, "Brother, this is a high-end watch that I took from a German general. Take a good look at it."
Fang Lang took the watch in his hand and observed it carefully. He recognized it at a glance as a Patek Philippe 1518 perpetual calendar watch. It was made of stainless steel, which was a rare product.
"I'm sorry, I don't know much about the brand of watches. Can you tell me what brand it is? It's really beautiful." Fang Lang asked, pretending not to know the brand of the watch.
In this era, advertisements could only be placed in newspapers and on the radio, so the transmission of information was far less developed than in later generations. Patek Philippe at that time was also far from becoming a top luxury brand in later generations, and it was only circulated among some top aristocratic royal families.
"Uh! I don't know this either, but believe me, this watch was really taken from the hand of a German general." Fang Lang's question poured cold water on the old man's idea of raising the price.
"Well, can I know how much you're going to sell it to me for?" Seeing that this Italian didn't even know this brand, Fang Lang was overjoyed. He knew that he might get a bargain today, and said calmly.
"How much? No, I don't want money!" The Italian was very happy to hear that Fang Lang wanted this watch, but when he heard that he had to spend money to buy it, he directly refused.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
