Chapter 6, Twenty-seven moments in the four years of Chongzhen (6)
The sixth moment: The incredible savior
November of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Liaodong Peninsula, Lushun
Lushun was known as "Shizikou" in the Yuan Dynasty. In the fourth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Ma Yun and his troops to sail across the sea from Shandong to guard Liaodong. Because the sea journey was smooth sailing, Shizikou was renamed Lushunkou. In the early Ming Dynasty, it was the recipient of Dengzhou's maritime military supplies. One of the points was that after the Jinzhou garrison was built, the Jinzhou garrison Zuo Qianhu Station was set up in Lushun. The southern city of Lushun was built in the 10th year of Yongle and was built by Xu Gang. It is one mile and three hundred paces in circumference. The moat is one foot two feet deep and two feet five feet wide. This small town with a circumference of just over one mile is located next to the later military port, offshore. Only two hundred steps away, one mile to the west is Xiguan Mountain, which is also known as Baiyu Mountain in later generations. In the late Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang said, "If there is gold, there should be white jade" and it was renamed Baiyu Mountain. As for the northern city of Lushun, it was destroyed by the war.
This place controls the Bohai Sea from the south to the north with Dengzhou. Lushun is surrounded by mountains. The Tiger Tail extending from Laotieshan Mountain forms a natural breakwater. There is only one waterway at Lushunkou leading to the port. The unique geographical conditions make This place became a famous military port in later generations. The Beiyang Navy in the late Qing Dynasty used it as its home port. It built sea forts in places such as Jinjin Mountain, and established a solid defense line against the land on the surrounding hills to the north. However, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, which dominated the world, had such excellent defensive advantages, but they still could not withstand the Japanese attack. They easily fell into the hands of the Japanese army in the Sino-Japanese War of 1884-1894. Later, Japan and Russia fought again here. The Manchu and Qing Dynasties calmly declared their neutrality. The so-called Japan The military god Nogi Nogi Nogi showed off his prowess in suicidal tactics here, shocking the world with his bloody offense and defense.
However, at this time in the late Ming Dynasty, the accuracy and power of artillery were not enough to control the nearby plains from the mountains, so Xiguan Mountain, Huangjin Mountain and Laohwei next to Nancheng were not fortified. Except for the towering Lushun Nancheng, or Lushun City, There are only some shacks of the villagers scattered among them.
In the past Tianqi years, Dongjiang Town, which was composed of refugees from Liaodong, used this as a stronghold to fight successive bloody battles with the slave slaves invading the south. It had turned the tide of the war little by little, and was almost only a little bit close to seeing the dawn of victory. ...It's a pity that since Marshal Mao Wenlong was killed, everything has come to nothing.
The howling cold wind swept over the turbid waves, and the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town with withered faces touched their deflated bellies and huddled numbly in the drafty shacks.
In the second year of Chongzhen, in order to completely disintegrate the combat effectiveness of Dongjiang Town and allow Huang Taiji to lead the elite troops of the Eight Banners into Beijing, the hinterland of Liaodong could be stable and worry-free, and the grand cause of destroying the Ming Dynasty could be realized in one fell swoop. Yuan Chonghuan, the governor of Jiliao It was once strictly ordered that all ports in the Bohai Sea and North Korea were not allowed to send a single ship to the Dongjiang River. One meter per fish and Dongjiang are not allowed to be sold. Facing Governor Yuan's repeated strict orders, all state capitals suddenly felt like they were facing a formidable enemy. All ships that were prohibited from entering the sea would have all their goods confiscated, and merchants who dared to transport grain and cloth to Dongjiang Town would be thrown into prison.
Soon, the terrible epidemic spread rapidly throughout Dongjiang Town, and thousands of soldiers and civilians starved to death one after another... Although after killing Mao Wenlong, Yuan Chonghuan, in order to prevent going too far, aroused opposition between the government and the public. His criticism could not continue to cover Huang Taiji's entry into the Pass to destroy the Ming Dynasty, and he ordered the restoration of food supply to Dongjiang Town. But just a few months later, the powerful Eight Banners army broke through the border and ravaged the capital, looting the prefectures and counties around Beijing. After the various Qinwang armies were defeated, they turned into bandits and wreaked havoc everywhere. Even Guan Ning's army rebelled for a time, thus turning all parts of Hebei into a big inferno where rebels were rampant. Not to mention that Jiannu came and went again, breaking through the Xuanda and Shanxi front lines again, creating countless hungry people, defeated troops and rogue bandits along the way. The troubles lasted until the third year of Chongzhen's reign... With such a mess in the rear, Where else could the imperial court allocate much food to Dongjiang Town?
Therefore, even after Mao Wenlong's death, people in Dongjiang Town continued to starve to death one after another, and food was always in short supply.
In addition, after Mao Wenlong's death, the new Dongjiang Commander-in-Chief Huang Long, who was appointed by the imperial court and parachuted down, was unable to suppress Mao Wenlong's old troops in Dongjiang Town. Instead, he caused anger and resentment. The internal strife in Dongjiang Town soon became more intense. Chen Jisheng and others A series of famous generals were killed one after another.
In the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, even the soldiers stationed at Dipi Island at the headquarters of the Dongjiang General Army had a massive mutiny because of Huanglong's harsh treatment, which forced them, who were hungry and cold, to dig ginseng and resell it for profit. Although this mutiny Soon, due to the arrival of the court's food and salary and the initiator of the mutiny, The internal strife was automatically suppressed, but the unlucky Huanglong was also kidnapped during the mutiny, and had his nose and ears cut off by the rebels... As a result, even after the Pidao mutiny subsided, the "disabled" General Huanglong was really I didn't dare to stay in Pidao anymore, but quickly moved my trip to Lushun.
But no matter what, for most of the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town who neither starved to death nor died from internal strife, the three years of Chongzhen were still half-starved and half-fed, and the first half of the fourth year of Chongzhen was also able to make do. In the second half of the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, the astonishing Battle of Daling River broke out, attracting all of Beijing's attention. Since the destructive power of the slaves in this plane to the capital was far greater than that of the same period in history, the Beijing court was even more strapped in financial and material resources, and could only devote its few resources to the battlefield in western Liaoning... In this way, Dongjiang Town became The stepmother is once again in crisis of food shortage!
——Dongjiang Town in the fourth year of Chongzhen was not as grand as it was in the seventh year of Apocalypse and the first year of Chongzhen when General Mao Wenlong was still alive, but there were still about 30,000 soldiers distributed in Juehua, Zhenjiang, Hengshan, and Jinzhou , Shepu, Seri Island, Zhangziliu Island, Chengdao, Ludao, Changshan Island, Xiaochangshan Island, Wangjia Island, Michuanbao and other hundreds of castles, cities, ports and islands. In addition, there are Liao people on the island, family members of officers and soldiers, and Liao people who fled, plus the Tieshan "refugee camp" set up in North Korea, the total number of Liao people under the jurisdiction of the entire army town is no less than 200,000 to 300,000. .
Although the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town have tried farming, the most fertile Liaohe Plain in Liaodong has been taken away by the Tatars. Most of the existing land in Dongjiang Town are barren islands. Even in the modern world, the agricultural harvest is very small. It's a tragedy. Coupled with the harsh climate of the Little Ice Age that continues to cause disasters around the world, it is a miracle to be able to harvest at all, and it is normal to have no harvest... Therefore, Dongjiang Town can only count on transporting grain from the rear.
As a result, in the second half of the fourth year of Chongzhen, the number of grain ships coming from Dengzhou and Tianjin in Shandong became increasingly scarce. Even if the local government could still build a grain transport fleet, it would be defeated by the Guan Ning Army who only knew how to rebel and not fight. The money was cut off, but the imperial court would rather give millions of dollars to these rebels than provide supplies to the loyal ministers in Dongjiang Town. Dongjiang Town itself does not have much stockpiles, and the rations for the soldiers are not enough to eat. Coupled with the corruption of corrupt generals, the lives of the military households and Liao people who were already half-starved and barely surviving will naturally become even more difficult. Since autumn, countless people have starved to death on various islands in Liaodong, and the scene in Dongjiang Town has once again become miserable.
If Marshal Mao Wenlong was still there, the Dongjiang Army might still be able to muster up the courage to launch a fatal blow against Jiannu, trying to snatch food from the enemy's hands to survive the difficulties. But in view of the current situation of the generals in Dongjiang being separated and internal strife, and many of them having secretly colluded with Jiannu, it is very difficult for the Dongjiang Army to maintain itself. Naturally, it can only wait to die in the face of famine... That's why Huang Taiji was able to use all the country's troops and put all his capital on the Dalinghe battlefield without worrying about the hinterland of Shengjing and Liaoyang being taken advantage of by the Dongjiang Army and a black tiger would take out their hearts.
But just when hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Dongjiang Town were on the verge of starvation, and no one came to take them even if they wanted to be sold into slavery, the situation changed...
"...Dudu——"
An unusually loud whistle broke the silence on the sea surface at Lushunkou. The soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town who were so hungry that their eyes were dimmed on the beach at Lushunkou and on the cliffs turned their heads and looked in confusion, and then they were trembling with fright at the behemoth that appeared on the sea, and their thoughts went blank...
Big ship!
What a big boat!
How could there be such a big ship!
And it’s actually an iron ship!
The so-called "large warships" made of thousands of materials by the Ming Navy were as ridiculous as toys compared with the huge iron ship in front of them.
"...My mother...this ship has at least several thousand...ah no...at least tens of thousands of materials!"
Whether they were soldiers or civilians, they all gathered on the beaches and hills, all with dumbfounded faces, looking at the big ship stupidly. After all, they had never seen such a big ship in their lives, and had never even heard of it. It wasn't until the huge iron ship slowly sailed into the bay and the huge bow gradually opened that they ran away shouting "Oh my God", "The Lord of the Land appears", and "The monster ship is coming".
The next moment, the villages and towns on the shore were in chaos. The Ming army and the people were all running around noisily. Every house was closed and the doors were tightly closed. Beacon fires were lit on several bunkers. He was hopping around like an ant on a hot pot.
Mao Shisan, wearing a Russian-style military coat, stood on the bridge of the No. 1 landing ship, holding a telescope borrowed from a certain "chief" and carefully looking at the familiar scene on the shore: the port. "It's like a livestock pen." "People's Market", dead trees with their bark peeled off in the wilderness, dead babies abandoned in the weeds on the roadside, starving corpses who were too hungry to run, so-called "road corpses" that were eaten by wild dogs and hungry people... …I couldn’t help but burst into tears for a while.
"... It's really hard for the folks, but it doesn't matter. Just wait and enjoy the blessings when you get on the chief's ship." He muttered silently in his heart.
At this time last year, Mao Shisan, like those struggling with death on the shore, was also an ordinary military child in Dongjiang Town. He originally lived in Lushun, and later moved to Zhenjiang Fort on the banks of the Yalu River with his adoptive father. I remember that he was really hungry that day, so he took advantage of the warm weather in the afternoon and sneaked to the beach to see if he could dig out a few shells or some crab screws from the ice-covered beach. It would be good to fill his stomach with anything - since the autumn of the third year of Chongzhen, he had not eaten decent food for more than two months.
Mao Shisan's parents died in the Battle of Lushun during the Tianqi years, and finally a countryman of his father adopted him. The two of them depended on each other for life. Although they luckily survived several difficulties and barely survived, life was still extremely difficult - they were military households, but they had little land, and it was not easy to grow crops in the land of Liaodong. In the early years, I relied on the food distributed by the court, but I didn't get much from the distribution. On weekdays, I still had to fish and hunt, and dig some wild vegetables, so I could always make ends meet. But since Marshal Mao was killed by the old thief Yuan, the life of the military households in Dongjiang has become even more miserable. The food distributed is given priority to the generals' servants, and those military households have almost nothing to receive. Although Zhenjiang Fort is close to the Yalu River, you can occasionally catch small fish and shrimps for toothpaste, but the food is also very nervous, especially when fishing in the Yalu River, there will be conflicts with the Koreans from time to time - originally the Dongjiang Army They are not welcomed by North Korea. The wild vegetables around Zhenjiang Fort have basically been harvested. Fortunately, there are vast forests not far inland. It is not a problem to light a fire to keep warm. Otherwise, it would be really impossible to live this life. .
I remember that it snowed every day during those days. I was supposed to stay in the shed and try to rest as much as possible, but Mao Shisi had no choice - there was nothing to eat at home. For this young man who had just grown up, his stomach was too big. The feeling of sour water in my body was really indescribable pain.
Even if he wanted to borrow food from neighbors who were in the same difficulty, it would be impossible. In Dongjiang Town now, there is no longer the situation when Marshal Mao Wenlong was still there, where everyone was united in revenge against the slaves. Except for the increasingly indifferent friendship between fellow villagers, no one can care about anyone else.
Although Mao Shisan's stepfather was sent on an errand the day before and might not receive any reward, he was able to get a bite of food at least, and he might even bring some leftovers when he comes back tomorrow. But Mao Shisan was so hungry that he was dizzy and couldn't wait until tomorrow. Braving the howling cold wind, he dragged his feeble footsteps to the coast. There was no life on the icy coast. Not to mention anything edible. He felt that he had hallucinated, and felt that a huge iron ship was parked in the bay not far away... Then, Mao Shisan fell down as soon as his eyes blurred, and then he knew nothing.
When Mao Shisan woke up again, he was already lying in the cabin of the No. 1 landing ship, and he was delighted to find that he was not dead, but was rescued by a group of strange short-haired people on the big iron ship - -According to a North Korean who got on the boat earlier than him and could speak a few words of Chinese, some "chief" found him fainting on the beach. It was snowing at the time. If it hadn't been for the kindness of the chief, he would have been frozen. Died on the beach.
Then, Mao Shisan drank hot rice porridge and put on new clothes, so he stayed on the big ship with peace of mind and followed these short-haired "chiefs" to their hometown. "Vladivostok" goes to work as a laborer - here at short-haired "Chief" you can at least have enough food and clothing for a while, but when you go back to Zhenjiang Fort, you can only starve and freeze, and maybe even your life will be frozen and starved, so the choice is self-evident. metaphorical.
Next, Mao Shisan, a young boy, followed those weird short-haired "leaders" and experienced a fantasy journey that seemed to him like a dream, and saw many incredible things: no need A large iron ship that can fly at high speeds without even needing to row an oar. A strange "military man" with short hair and green clothes. His power is so amazing that he can be eroded for miles with one shot. Terrifying artillery, a city called "Vladivostok", some "Far East Company" that rules that city, and a small black box (walkie-talkie) that can talk through the air, and an iron cart that can move without an ox-drawn horse, will be in the sky The big flying iron bird... But what impressed Mao Shisan most, who had lived in hunger since he was a child, was the rich food there!
——Every meal is full of rice and white noodles, fish and meat are always available every day, corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes have never been seen before, the meals are also full of refined salt, sauces and oily meat, and there are even spices in the meat and vegetables. ...Every time he walked into the cafeteria, Mao Shisan silently thanked God in his heart for allowing him to escape from the "hell" of Dongjiang Town and come to the "paradise" of Vladivostok. At the same time, I am even more grateful to the kind people of the Far East Company for letting me escape from the sea of suffering just like a dream. I no longer need to suffer from hunger and hardship. I only need to work every day to eat and drink enough, and I also have weird but warm clothes. The houses they live in are much better than the shacks in Dongjiang Town. What's even more incredible is that if you perform well and make meritorious deeds, Far East Company, which according to Mao Shisan's understanding, is an incredibly large company, will even send you a woman to be your wife!
Well, although it is estimated that there are not many women in the Ming Dynasty, usually only Japanese women, Korean women, and maybe even Tatar women, but how can poor military households like them have the qualifications to pay so much attention? If you can have a woman from anywhere to carry on your family line, you should burn high incense!
Therefore, in order to be assigned a woman to carry on the family line through meritorious service as soon as possible, Mao Shisan boasted that he had many acquaintances in Lushun and Zhenjiang Fort, and rushed to take over the job of being a guide and recruiting soldiers and civilians in Dongjiang Town, without any sense of shame as a leader. ——Taking those half-starved Dongjiang Town fellows to Vladivostok to have food and clothing, it must be considered a great good deed! It's obviously very honorable, so what's there to be ashamed of?
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Closer to home, by the time the No. 1 landing ship surveyed the route and completed the beach wash, all the Dongjiang military households wandering outside Lushun City had already fled. Some fled into the city, and some hid in the mountains. Lushun City The door was also closed. Groups of Dongjiang soldiers and civilians tremblingly held their swords and guns, standing on the top of the city with fear and surprise, squinting at the huge ship in the harbor that far exceeded the limit of their imagination.
——With the shocking "Soviet March" playing from the loudspeakers, groups of heavily armed soldiers rushed to the beach south of Lushun City, and then quickly gathered to establish a beachhead. Among them were the short Japanese Ba Dao team, the slightly taller Koreans and the Liao people who were "naturalized" last year, and the "Jurchen" tribal warriors around Vladivostok... However, they were all wearing almost the same clothes at this time. They wear modern military uniforms, have the same short haircut, and hold similar rifles. If you look at them from a distance, you can't see any significant differences.
Next, the Dongjiang soldiers and civilians who were lying nervously at the top of Lushun City were surprised to see a short man wearing a dark green coat and short shaved hair opposite him. He was holding a loudspeaker in his hand and slowly Walking towards the city wall, he kept repeating the following words in a Liaodong accent: "... ...Brothers from Dongjiang Town, my name is Mao Shisan. I used to stay in Zhenjiang Fort. Some of you must know me. Last year, I and some other Dongjiang brothers who couldn’t survive, invested in the Far East Company in Vladivostok. Originally, I was just very hungry and wanted to make a living, but I didn’t expect to work as a pawn for the Far East Company. The treatment of the soldiers was really good. They had rice and white-flour steamed buns to eat every day, and they often had meat. I felt uncomfortable when I thought that while I had a lot of meat and fish every day, my fellow villagers were suffering in Lushun. Together with several brothers, I told the boss of the company about the sufferings of the Dongjiang elders, hoping that The chief can relieve the suffering of the Dongjiang elders. Renyi, the chief of Vladivostok, sent a big boat to pick you up without saying a word, and brought you delicious food. I hope you can have a good meal and then sign up for the boat. Yes, from now on we will eat and drink delicious food together..."
After shouting like this for a while, Mao Shisan felt a little tired, so he threw the trumpet to a former Dongjiang Town soldier named Zhang Yu and asked him to continue shouting... After a quarter of an hour, the two took turns shouting, although Lushun There was still no movement on the top of the city, but in the wild woods outside the city, dozens of Dongjiang military households who had not evacuated into Lushun City in time emerged one after another, and slowly and hesitantly approached the beach.
Hearing the noise, Mao Shisan turned his head and looked closely. He immediately saw a familiar figure and was stunned: "...Dad!!!"
"...You are...Little Thirteen! I didn't expect you to be alive! I was sad for several months last year!"
Mao Fugui, who was all in ragged clothes, was holding his spear tremblingly. He opened his eyes wide and recognized it for a long time. Finally, he cheered and rushed forward with tears streaming down his face. He hugged Mao Shisan, who had become much taller and stronger. Enter In his arms...after being happy for a long time, Mao Fugui noticed Mao Shisan's strange outfit and short hair, "...Eh? Your outfit...and this hair...could it be..."
"...Yes, Dad, I was rescued from the sea by the leaders' ship that day, and I joined the Far East Company in Vladivostok. Now I have food and clothing, and my life is much better than before." Mao Shisan said generously Frankly said, "...By the way, dad, why are you here instead of staying at Zhenjiang Fort?"
"...Alas, it wasn't Huang Long Huang's fault. He refused to stay with Pidao, so he insisted on moving the camp to Lushun. He also felt that there were no decent houses in Lushun, so he ordered to build one. The more impressive General Military Yamen conscripted us from Zhenjiang Fort to serve as laborers , to cut rocks, cut trees, burn lime and sift sand for him, but he didn’t even get a full meal..." Mentioning this matter, Mao Fugui sighed and complained naggingly, "... By the way, little one Thirteen, who are these short-haired pirates you brought today?" he asked nervously.
"...Dad, don't be afraid. The head of the Far East Company is unparalleled in his benevolence and righteousness. He treats his subordinates well. There is nothing wrong with him. You can bring your fellow villagers here this time and go to Vladivostok with your son to live a good life!" Mao Shisan accompanied him He said to his adoptive father with a smile on his face, and at the same time took some things on his body: "...Oh, I didn't do anything in advance. I think you are here, dad, and you don’t have anything good with you. You only have a pack of compressed biscuits awarded by the chief. Dad, please take it and try it first! It tastes good, but the key is that you are very hungry... Hey, that’s not the uncle of the Li family. What? There is also the second uncle of the Zhao family! Come and sit down and share the biscuits..."
Next, Mao Shisan asked Zhang Yu to speak with a loudspeaker, while he found a flat place, sat in a circle with his old acquaintances who came to Lushun with his father, and talked enthusiastically about his "going to the top" this year. Heaven "The adventure made the living standard in Vladivostok sky high: rice and flour every day, fish and meat every day, clothes and shoes, and women, which made all the miserable Dongjiang military households dumbfounded.
Most of the people around Mao Shisan didn't believe these words from Mao Shisan's mouth. In this suffering era of famine, it is too miraculous to say that even the grassroots soldiers can eat rice every day. As for sending women...that's a treatment that even the generals and servants don't get!
However, after all, there are many acquaintances of Mao Shisan here, so some people think that Mao Shisan may have told part of the truth, but he just happened to hit a good time when "pirates made big deals and rewarded the three armies". Those who usually The pirates were probably hungry and full, and they would never be so extravagant - you must know that when Marshal Mao Wenlong was still there, some Dongjiang soldiers and civilians also used the opportunity of "robbery" to get a few full meals. meal. But since Mao Wenlong's death, Dongjiang Town has not fought a decent victory for a long time, and the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang have not had enough to eat for a long time.
But even so, compared with Dongjiang Town, which is literally waiting to die in hunger and cold, the Vladivostok mentioned by Mao Shisan is still a good place to go - given Mao Shisan's current appearance of being strong and strong, with a red face and crisp clothes. It can be seen that even if the treatment of the Far East company is not What he said was so exaggerated, at least the food and clothing expenses were definitely not bad... Some Dongjiang military households who were quick-thinking or dissatisfied with the new commander-in-chief Huang Long soon had the idea of "turning to the Ming Dynasty". They carefully Asked Mao Shisan for information, and considered whether to board the ship of these short-haired pirates.
Mao Fugui didn't have any extra thoughts. Unlike others, he had no choice from the beginning - so many people saw their adopted son standing with the pirates. If he dared to return to Lushun City again, If you go, I'm afraid your Shangguan will be beheaded as a spy immediately!
Therefore, no matter how reluctant he is now, he can only go with these pirates... Anyway, Mao Fugui has had enough of the miserable life of Liaodong military households with no meals. Moreover, Xiao Shisan is also a filial person. Even if he tries to trick anyone, he would never trick his own father!
"...Little Thirteen, it seems that from now on, we, father and son, are going to have to stir the pot again! How exactly do those short-haired kings plan to arrange us, and what are their particularities and taboos? You have to talk to dad properly..." Looking at Mao Shisan, who has become much taller and stronger, but also seems to have become much stranger, Mao Fugui scratched his hair and sighed, saying with complicated eyes.
"...Dad, don't worry, those leaders are easy to talk to, just wait and enjoy the blessings!" Mao Shisan comforted, "... Of course, the 'purification' stage before joining the gang is still unavoidable. First of all, everyone You have to take a shower and shave your hair, just like my son..."
"...What? Do you really have to shave your head when you join the gang? Just like the Tatars?" Upon hearing this, Mao Fugui felt a little conflicted.
"...It means shaving your hair like a monk, instead of leaving the ugly pigtails like a Jiannu. Besides, shaving your head is not beheading, and your hair can grow back. The chief said that keeping your hair long will attract miasma and make you prone to illness. Plague. And once the head is injured, it is difficult to diagnose and treat..." Mao Shisan hurriedly explained.
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At the same time, on the beach on the other side, the landing soldiers were already lined up in a loose security circle with their guns fully loaded. In the middle of the warning circle, the workers who finally disembarked from the ship quickly put together twenty sets of simple seats using wooden planks and iron legs unloaded from the ship. Each set of seats consists of a long table and two benches, which can accommodate ten people for dining. The entire open-air camp can accommodate 200 people for dining at the same time. On the left and right sides of the dining table group, the fragrant batter has been boiled in five large pots set up by the cooking team, and ten large bamboo baskets next to them are filled with steamed buns and steamed buns.
Attracted by the smell of food, several hungry Dongjiang military households trembled out of the bushes and piles of rocks, accompanied by smiling faces and came forward to beg for food, and soon got their wish. Following their example, other Dongjiang military households hiding in the wild soon appeared one after another, swarmed up to snatch those fragrant steamed buns and steamed buns, and then ate them happily. Mao Shisan was gesticulating and chatting enthusiastically with his acquaintances. When he looked back, he saw that dinner was already being served there. He immediately stopped talking and quickly dragged his adoptive father Mao Fugui over to eat, followed by a large group of people with wild eyes. The green starving ghost... After a while, even the The Dongjiang military households who were guarding the wall of Lushun were all looking at it with greedy eyes. They felt their flat stomachs and couldn't bear it any longer, so one after another people climbed down the city on ropes and came roaring to eat for free. This "beach open-air restaurant" "The number of "diners" quickly expanded to nearly a thousand people. Most people can't find a seat at all, so they can only find a place on the beach to squat and wolf down...
Of course, although there are many people coming to eat, not all diners plan to get on the boat and follow these "short-haired pirates". In fact, quite a few people just come here with the greedy mentality of "freeloading". After eating, he planned to run back to Lushun City with excuses such as "go home to clean up" or "take relatives out of the city" - after all, these short-haired pirates were so unfamiliar, which made people feel a little unsure.
However, there are also many half-starved military households in Dongjiang who have despaired of their future and fate and really do not want to continue suffering in Dongjiang Town. After they have eaten and drank enough, they will go to the Far East Company under the arrangements of the traverser officers. Start walking slowly towards the temporary camp under construction.
However, at this moment, the gate of Lushun City suddenly opened wide, and a tall and strong man who looked like an officer rushed out on a war horse. He slowly approached the beach landing site with more than a dozen soldiers, yelled loudly, and tried to stop him from eating. The Dongjiang military household hurried back: "...all of you, these lowly bastards, come back to the city. Huang Shuai has an order. No one is allowed to beg for food from the thieves. Those who disobey the order will be punished as 'collaborating with bandits'! Don't kill them!" ”
The Dongjiang military households with bulging mouths on the beach couldn't help but hesitate for a moment when they heard this. But a time traveler soldier immediately raised his rifle and shot with a bang, knocking over the officer's horse and making the officer, who was so arrogant just a moment ago, fall to his knees.
"...Get out of here! I'm in a good mood today. I'll spare your life! If you don't get out of here, I'll blow your head off with the next shot!"
"...Hmph! Don't be arrogant like these pirates! If you act in such a arrogant way, aren't you afraid of our great army of heaven?"
Although he said something powerful, the officer was also very cruel. The big iron ship in Lushun Port and the several black cannons just unloaded from the ship were still very bluffing no matter how you looked at them, let alone The other party fired such an accurate musket.
Therefore, after saying harsh words, the officer hurriedly got up from the ground, beating and scolding several military households who were caught on the way and wanted to come to eat. As for those who were eating or even had already eaten, they started to eat. The military households who heard the short-haired pirates "tell the rules" didn't dare to come over and catch them.
While both parties were making a fuss at the "food stall" outside Lushun City, soldiers and workers from the Far East Company had already surveyed the terrain on the beach near Jinjin Mountain and began to build simple trestles and temporary camps. Subsequently, another large cargo ship followed, unloading batch after batch of materials from the ship, and those military households who had just surrendered were also driven over to help, which greatly accelerated the construction of the camp.
That night, General Huanglong, who did not dare to send the navy to confront the large iron ship, finally had a sense of luck and asked his servants to organize a night attack from the ground, trying to snatch the mountains of food and "short-haired men" piled on the beach. The guns and cannons in the hands of "Pirates" were immediately exposed in front of the scouts equipped with infrared night vision devices, and then they were beaten to pieces by machine gun fire. They returned in defeat and lost hundreds of people in vain.
Seeing the powerful guns of the short-haired pirates, Huang Long, who failed to steal the camp, had no choice but to order the city to defend. Moreover, after this defeat, the morale of the Lushun Ming Army also dropped, and no one was willing to let them go out of the city to die. What's even more disgusting is that the short-haired pirates continued to set up running water mats under the city, trying to use food to lure the soldiers to surrender. So in the next two days, hundreds of people sneaked out of the city under the cover of night.
Fortunately, although Huang Long, the commander-in-chief, was greedy and tyrannical, he was not incompetent. Seeing that the morale of the army was becoming increasingly unstable, he quickly and quietly ordered a few soldiers to do this. As a result, various strange rumors about the short-haired pirates outside the city quickly spread in Lushun City:
"...That group of pirates likes to enslave people the most. Once they are caught, they will be transported to the pirate lair tens of thousands of miles away, called Vladivostok. There will definitely be a narrow escape from death along the way. Even if you don't die on the way, you still will. Never be able to return to the big world again You know your homeland. Not only you, but also you will be born into slaves and women into prostitution in the future. What? People say that Vladivostok is right next to North Korea? That must be nonsense!" br>
"...I heard that if outsiders like us want to join that gang of pirates, we have to 'cleanse' ourselves first. Do you understand what 'cleansing' means? It means cleaning up the words between your legs. Become a eunuch from now on! When you die in the future, you won’t be able to find your whole body, and you won’t be able to see your ancestors..."
"...Have you ever known that these pirates drive big iron boats and have such sharp firearms? There is no place in the world that they can't go to? But why do they come to this insignificant place like Lushun? Is it because these pirates come to Lushun not to make money, but to arrest people? They like to dig up people's hearts and boil them into oil. They light up lamps at night and shine them everywhere underground. People's hearts are always greedy for money, so when they shine the light on the place where the treasure is buried, they immediately dig it up and take it out. Go get the treasure, those pirates relied on this evil magic to make their fortune..."
As these deliberately concocted terrifying rumors spread rapidly in the city, and in the past two days, General Huanglong learned from the painful experience. He gritted his teeth and took out the grain reserves that he had embezzled over the years, letting the entire city's soldiers and civilians open their bellies. Eat well, the general morale of the military in Lushun City It's barely stabilized - although the quality of the food provided by Huanglong is still not as good as the "pirate rice" on the beach, at least I can eat with open stomach. In this case, the running water table set up by the "short-haired pirate", It is temporarily unattractive to military households in Lushun. Although everyone in the city of Lushun knows that the good days of eating with open stomachs will not last long, but who can guarantee that after joining the gang of pirates, they will really be able to have "big fish and meat" every day?
After all, in the tragic environment of the late Ming Dynasty with continuous natural disasters and military disasters, even the vast majority of small and medium-sized landowners could not guarantee that they would have rice every day and meat from time to time! Therefore, in the eyes of the Dongjiang military households in Lushun City, the "good days" promised by the "Short-haired Pirates" are too illusory and unreal. It is no problem to have the courage to eat a "Overlord Meal". It would be difficult for them to make up their minds and follow the "short-haired pirates". It's like if you go to the job market to apply for a job now, and you encounter a company that announces that there is no limit to the qualifications for applying, all applicants will be accepted as promised. After joining the company, they will immediately give you a house, a car, and an annual salary of more than 200,000 yuan. Overnight Would you be surprised by the life of the upper middle class? As long as you are not a newbie in the workplace, faced with such recruitment conditions, your first reaction is that this company is a liar; your second reaction is that this is probably not a serious and good job, and living such a "good life" requires a lot of effort. A big price, such as Sacrifice one's own moral integrity, chastity and even life... In contrast, the rumors spread by Huang Long, such as "pirates kidnapped people as slaves", "Jinghua" is castration, "poached people's hearts and boiled them into oil", etc., became "true" "Believable"...
But no matter how hard and soft the Huanglong soldiers were, and how many cunning schemes they devised, at best they could only stabilize the morale of the military and the people in Lushun City. As for the villages, towns and forts scattered outside the city, he really couldn't control them and could only Eyes Badi looked at the "beach food stalls" outside the city that were crowded day by day and business was booming. The big iron boats of the "short-haired pirates" came and went, transporting groups of lowly and poor military households with no loyalty. Let's go...
——In the eyes of Huang Long, a military general in the late Ming Dynasty, the military households in his name were almost equal to his own slaves. It was natural that they should be like cattle and horses, doing hard work for them all their lives. Of course, they could die of starvation, plague, or You can be beaten to death by the slaves, but you will never shed a tear on these lowly creatures, nor give them a penny or a grain of rice, but you must not let them be poached by others! Now seeing these "short-haired pirates" having the audacity to poach directly under his nose, he was of course so angry that he beat his chest and became furious.
However, in view of the fierce force of the short-haired gang outside the city, the Huanglong soldiers, who had already lost hundreds of servants in the previous night attack, did not dare to send troops to destroy the food stall, and could only be trapped in Lushun city. Acting as a coward, not daring to say or move at all, lest I accidentally anger those evil stars and let them push the cannon over to break up Lushun City, then I, the general soldier of Dongjiang, will have nothing to do... …So, this guy was just hired this year A group of poorly skilled rioters practiced medicine without a license and underwent plastic surgery. They were missing several parts such as ears and noses - in short, they looked like Voldemort's Yellow Dragon Commander in "Harry Potter". In the end, they could only While yelling in the room that those who surrendered to the army were unfaithful, dishonest and heartless, he lamented that he was too unlucky and unlucky this year. At the same time, he prayed to the Bodhisattva to protect the short-haired pirates from entering the city...< br>
Although the "Voldemort" in Lushun City, um, or General Huanglong, was already gnashing his teeth and squatting in the corner, drawing circles and cursing people, little did he know that Gao Jianguo, Chairman of the Military Committee of the Far East Company on the No. 1 landing ship, looked at Cheng Cheng The Dongjiang military households who came in droves were also scratching their heads in worry.
——You must know that when they came to Liaodong this time to recruit military households in Dongjiang Town, they not only set up points in Lushun to recruit people, but also in many places under the jurisdiction of Dongjiang Town such as Ludao, Haiyang Island, Changshan Island, and Pi Island. The local area expanded at the same time. I originally thought that recruiting 10,000 or 20,000 people would be the limit, but unexpectedly, more than 30,000 people came at once! The most direct problem caused by this is that the food stored in Vladivostok may not be enough...
Therefore, he firmly rejected Mao Shisan's absurd suggestion of "taking advantage of the situation to attack Port Arthur and rescue the suffering villagers" - with so many people currently being accommodated, it would be difficult for the Far East Company in Vladivostok to digest it. If there were one or two more Tens of thousands of people, aren't they afraid of dying?
"...Although we had sent a small team to Jiangnan to find ways to purchase grain before setting off from the Jeju Island temporary transfer station. But at that time, we did not expect the current situation. Even if we could successfully purchase grain and rice, the quantity might not be enough. That's enough. Otherwise... after the stalls are closed in Liaodong, we can take the entire fleet and try our luck in Japan anyway. There are still many modern small industrial products around us such as low-priced perfumes, glass pendants, small mirrors, fruit knives, etc. Even if we are not familiar with the Japanese market and cannot sell them for the time being, we still have a batch of them brought from the modern world. of silver... Of course, if that still doesn't work, then you can only really become a pirate and grab food to eat..."
While Gao Jianguo was sitting in the cabin thinking over and over again, a sailor knocked on the door and came in to report that the lookout on the mast found a ship peeping outside the harbor. It might be the Ming Navy in Dengzhou or Tianjin, but now Having turned around and gone away, the captain asked for instructions if he wanted to pursue him.
"...Since they have gone out of their way, we don't need to pay attention to it! We don't think we are in enough trouble!" Gao Jianguo waved his hand and said disapprovingly, but he didn't know that because of this negligence, he missed it An opportunity to contact another time traveler force...
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On the sea outside Lushunkou, six Ming Dynasty warships flying the flag with the word "Chen" were rising and falling in the icy waves. The sailors on each ship looked at the several huge iron ships in the Lushunkou Bay. Their faces were already pale with fear, but they did not dare to retreat without permission. They could only look expectantly at a general standing on the deck of the flagship - and saw that A general wears a large cloak and holds a single tube Through the telescope, he looked at the Soviet-style landing ships and modern freighters anchored at Lushunkou for a long time, then shook his head helplessly and said through his teeth, "...Every ship listens to the order! Turn around immediately! Everyone returns! Go back." Weihai!”
"...I have an order! You guys, hurry up and pass on Marshal Chen's words!" Upon hearing this order, all the sailors on the ship suddenly felt like they had been granted amnesty - they no longer have to compete with those big iron ships! So they hurriedly raised the sails, steered the helms, and gave orders to other ships... But no one noticed that "Marshal Chen" was smoking a cigarette and cursing secretly: "... Damn, that Huangshi in Fujian, That ticket from Hainan Island' "Kun thief" is enough to give me a headache. Who knows that an even more difficult Far East company has popped up here in Vladivostok! Looking at their meager Soviet equipment, they can't be real Russians! ”