Chapter 9, Twenty-seven moments in the four years of Chongzhen (9)
The ninth moment: When the time traveler meets the time traveler
In December of the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, above the East China Sea, the morning light in winter was very dim.
When the sun slowly crawled out from the horizon, it no longer had the radiant rays of light that dominated the sky. The gray light was more like a sunset that had lost its luster than a vibrant morning sun, as if it was about to fall to the sea level again.
The salty sea breeze carried a deep chill. Wearing a thick cotton coat with very rough fabric, Li Meng leaned against the side of the "Beginning of Spring" and watched the color of the sea and sky gradually spread from lavender to light blue in the distance. He couldn't help but Zhu sighed melancholy and let out a white mist.
Although it was cold and windy outside, Li Meng climbed out of the dirty cabin and breathed in the fresh air. During the days of wandering at sea, except for a short period of time every day, only the person whose turn is emptying the urine bucket can climb up to the deck for some air, and everyone else can only sleep in a small area in the bottom cabin. Don't move around at will. After a long time, the disgusting smell will be nothing to mention.
Therefore, no matter how strong the wind was on the deck of the "Beginning of Spring" or how cold the weather outside was, he still couldn't bear to let go of this rare breathing gap.
Breathing the cold air and closing his eyes, the events of the past year seemed to appear before Li Meng's eyes again, all vividly in his mind.
——First, when I was swimming in Qingdao Beach, Shandong Province, I met an unscrupulous tourist who littered with rubbish. As a result, I was hit head-on by a wine bottle in the water, and I fainted immediately... until I woke up. When he arrived, Li Meng's swimming trunks had turned into tattered cloth, and he was holding a heavy iron pot in his hand, and his identity had also become a soldier in Jiaozhou, Shandong, whose parents both died during the Chongzhen period in the late Ming Dynasty. The children of the household.
Since all the farmland of various military guards in the late Ming Dynasty had been occupied by officers and gentry, if the poor military households in various guard posts in Jiaozhou wanted to survive, the only way to survive was to eat from the sea and sell illicit salt by boiling seawater. , to improve your life a little bit. It's a pity that this business has already been occupied by someone - in the late Ming Dynasty, government officials were usually the biggest robbers and bandits, so the inspections responsible for detecting smuggled salt were usually the largest smuggled salt dealers in the local area. For example, in Jiaozhou City, not far from Li Meng's home, there lived Mou Laozhong, a salt inspector who was investigating smuggled salt. This Mou Laozhong had hundreds of ruffians under his command. Traveling across several counties in Jiaozhou During this time, he did not make much salt. He only robbed salt from the homes of military households and civilian households in various places every three days and resold it to salt merchants, thus making huge profits. At the same time, he also killed people, set fire to rob things, and made the people miserable.
Li Meng did not originally intend to start a big fight at the beginning, but the world in the late Ming Dynasty had always been "killing people and setting fire to gold belts, repairing bridges and repairing roads without bones." These salt workers under the salt inspection were not engaged in production, but specialized in production. Predating is like a blood-sucking mosquito beast, and its sense of smell is particularly sensitive. Li Mengcai led the villagers to sell illegal salt once, and had to fight with the salt inspectors on the way, beheading seven people. When he returned home after selling the salt, he found that the village had been ransacked by Mou Laozhong's thugs again. Everything turned upside down... In desperation, as the leader of the village, Li Meng had to make a guest appearance Once, Rambo sneaked into Jiaozhou City alone with a knife and assassinated Mou Laozhong at night. As a result, the saltmen were leaderless for a while and fell into chaos as they competed for the inspection position left by Mou Laozhong. Finally, Li Meng and the others were given some breathing time to sell private salt freely.
Taking advantage of this precious respite, as well as the silver earned from trafficking in illegal salt, Li Meng finally pulled up his own team and trained a group of spearmen who were so-so and capable of fighting, known as the "Salt Pole". Next, He fought fierce battles with various government officials, bandits, and salt dealers and road bullies, and won many times, gradually monopolizing the private salt trade in Jiaozhou. Li Meng also got the gangster nickname "Erlang Zhenjun", and his life was very smooth for a while.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. After Mou Laozhong's salt inspection position was vacant for several months, a new salt inspection officer who parachuted in from other places and was said to have a profound background finally took up the post. Li Meng originally didn't want to break up with the government right away - after all, the current Ming Dynasty seemed not chaotic enough, and it was not a good time for time-travelers to raise flags for rebellion, so he asked someone to make peace with the new inspector and gave him gifts, and planned to spend some money to make peace with the new inspector. Spend some money to buy peace.
Unexpectedly, the new salt inspector was a smiling tiger. Although Li Meng tolerated him, he could not tolerate Li Meng, the "Erlang True Lord"! So he accepted the gift and made peace on the surface, saying that he would still have to rely on Li Meng's "salt pole" in many places in the future, and everyone might as well get along well with each other. Secretly, they set up a Hongmen Banquet in an attempt to lure Li Meng and others into a trap; at the same time, they invited a group of officers and soldiers to raid the lair of Li Meng and his gang.
After a scuffle at the Hongmen Banquet, Li Meng and his cronies finally broke out of the siege, only to find that the village had been wiped out with blood. So out of grief and anger, they resolutely launched an army to rebel, and several times defeated the officials and officials sent by Jiaozhou City to encircle and suppress them. The government officials, patrol inspectors and miscellaneous officers and soldiers also captured the newly appointed salt inspector alive. Li Meng took the culprit to the mourning hall, beheaded his head and dug out his heart to pay homage to his relatives. He was very angry, but he also broke the hornet's nest. The chaos in Jiaozhou finally attracted the attention of the Beijing court. Then he ordered Dengzhou Town to send troops to suppress...
Therefore, under the long spears, strict phalanxes, and roaring guns and cannons of the Dengzhou Army, hundreds of "salt pole soldiers" under Li Meng's command who were rampaging in Jiaozhou were defeated with one blow, and they returned defeated, which made him truly feel In this era, the power of the first-class regular army has reached its peak. Then, before he could come up with a countermeasure, the pursuing Dengzhou Army broke through the village. Li Meng had no choice but to lead his men to randomly grab a few fishing boats and go out to sea, preparing to escape from the surface of Shandong, and he was on the run from then on.
(Because he vaguely knew that Sun Yuanhua, the "Westernizationist" in the late Ming Dynasty, was casting artillery in Dengzhou, hiring Portuguese instructors, and training troops with "Western methods", Li Meng at this time had not yet connected the Dengzhou army that came to conquer with the traversers. , just think of it as the "Foreign Gun Team" under Sun Yuanhua)
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Then, under the strong winds and waves of the Yellow Sea in winter, Li Meng's small escape fleet was quickly dispersed. Some ships were sunk by wind and waves, and some have never been found. Only two ships drifted to the Huaguo Mountain outside Haizhou City in a daze, and were stranded on the beach and were lucky enough to be rescued... But only Li Meng was left. Led by a mere dozen people, Moreover, everyone was cold, hungry, and half-dead. The small amount of money and weapons they carried with them were all lost in the storm at sea. Everyone looked very depressed, and they had no ambition to dominate the world. None.
Therefore, as soon as the "Lord of the Deer Village" at the foot of Huaguo Mountain showed his solicitation, Li Meng and others, who were already so cold and hungry that they could hardly walk, immediately agreed in a hurry, even if they sold themselves into slaves - -Otherwise, they estimate that they are going to die right now: It’s freezing cold, food prices are skyrocketing, and you’re not a relative, so why should you be raised in vain? Anyway, if the master's treatment is too harsh, it won't be too late to flee...
Next, these private salt dealers suffered a strange living crime in the manor at the foot of Huaguo Mountain: the prevention and quarantine work for newly imported people-usually referred to as "purification", the Lingao Senate authorities have already They have figured out a mature process. Even in a stronghold behind enemy lines thousands of miles away, as long as conditions permit, they will still follow the same method... So, under the scolding of the manor manager, Li Meng and the others took off their clothes in a shed. He was asked to look at his body like an animal, and then his teeth were looked at. He was asked a few simple questions such as his age and name, and then his fingerprints were stamped on a piece of paper as required—— Li Meng thought it was a document such as a deed of betrayal, and then was forced to shave his head for epidemic prevention reasons. He took a careful shower, and finally got a new dress made of blue cloth. This was regarded as Become one of the "new immigrants". According to the people who manage them, as newcomers, they will have to continue training for several months before they can be officially "joined".
Naturally, the Jiaozhou refugees were reluctant to have their heads shaved, but given the current desperate situation, they had no choice but to accept it. On the other hand, brand new clothes were given out immediately after joining the family, which surprised them - they had also worked as slaves in wealthy families before, and they knew that even the philanthropic gentry would generally only give clothes to new servants. The old clothes...the new clothes were indigo in color and rough in texture, but clean and soft. It just looks really weird, like a bell worn by a monk. Because it was winter, they were given an old cotton robe to keep out the cold.
After going through such a set of "purification" procedures, the steward of the manor was supposed to explain the rules and assign tasks to them. Unexpectedly, at noon the next day, a large ship docked at the manor at the foot of Huaguo Mountain. Private dock, and then Li Meng and the others were all driven into the cabin, saying that they were going to Transport them to the south to work in the fields... Although Chinese farmers have a tradition of relocating and reluctance to leave their hometown easily, it doesn't matter to Li Meng and others who originally fled after being defeated - since they are all Since he has been sold into slavery, he naturally has no choice but to obey his master's orders.
But the problem is, this big ship named "Beginning of Spring"... Why does it look like a Western-style battleship with hybrid sail and steam power? ! !
Hey, have I traveled to the late Ming Dynasty in the 17th century, or have I arrived in the late Qing Dynasty in the 19th century?
This sudden and unexpected explosive discovery greatly stimulated Li Meng's spirit for a time, so much so that he passed out on the deck. Others just thought that he was exhausted and exhausted from the journey, so they didn't pay much attention to it and just carried it. He dragged it into the bilge.
So, when Li Meng woke up again, the "Lichun" had already set fire and anchor, set sail to sea, and left Haizhou to go south.
During the next few days of sea journey, Li Meng kept paying close attention to this steamship that was not supposed to appear in the late Ming Dynasty, and the various people on board... It can be seen that most of the sailors on the ship are still from the late Ming Dynasty. The Fujian and Guangdong aborigines, even if they shave their hair short and speak a strange "mandarin", they cannot become modern people. But there are indeed a few well-dressed guys who not only speak relatively standard Mandarin, but also have a vague aura that is incompatible with this era. When they speak, they occasionally leak out a few obviously modern words... …
Alas, should I take the initiative to confess my identity to them? But who knows whether they will be kind to their "common man who traveled through time" next?
——Just like overseas Chinese who often like to trick their compatriots in the motherland, if the other party is the kind of guy who is particularly narrow-minded and full of "domineering spirit", he will adhere to the "Law of the Dark Forest" in "The Three-Body Problem" , firmly believe that "the biggest enemy of a time traveler is always another time traveler", and strive to nip all "unplanned factors" in the bud... So if he goes up to reveal his identity, wouldn't it be tantamount to seeking death?
What's even worse is that Li Meng is not even sure whether they really come from the same era as him - maybe they are decades after he traveled through time? Alas, this kind of thing that seems to require gambling on character and luck is really not easy to make a decision!
Looking at the two "short-haired officers" talking and laughing not far away, Li Meng touched his chin and couldn't help feeling hesitant and entangled.
"...Dang Dang! Dang Dang! The parade is over! It's time to eat! Come and line up for food!"
A crisp sound of copper bells and the loud shouts of sailors interrupted Li Meng's thoughts. When he looked back, he saw that the fat cook on the ship had already used several large iron buckets with lids to cook food with his child labor apprentice assistant. The sailors of the "Beginning of Spring" and the "new immigrants" brought a steaming breakfast.
Judging from the living standards of the people at the bottom of the Ming Dynasty, the breakfast on the "Lichun" can be said to be quite luxurious: each sailor has a large bowl of thick white rice porridge, mixed with chopped pickles and salted fish, plus A piece of roasted dried sweet potato and half a salted egg. The food of the "new immigrants" is worse than that of the official sailors, but it only lacks half a salted egg. It is even better than what Li Meng had before he made a fortune selling illegal salt - in fact, he and the military households in the village At that time, I could only eat two meals a day, sometimes even just one meal. Let alone any vegetables, I couldn't even eat white rice.
Even from the perspective of modern people, such a breakfast is barely passable, so Li Meng is still very satisfied with such a meal.
But the only thing that made Li Meng feel uncomfortable and scared was that when everyone was squatting on the deck to eat, there was a strange Taoist priest walking around among the crowd, and from time to time he would look at her with lustful eyes. , looking at some handsome young men and strong men... while others Those guys who looked like time travelers were also indifferent to this place (actually they had been together for too long and had become accustomed to ignoring the gay behavior of this corrupt Taoist priest). They seemed not to think that there was anything wrong with this gay guy's behavior at all. Li Meng couldn't help but feel that his legs were weak and there was a chill in his back.
Although in the late Ming Dynasty, when the social atmosphere was open, it was quite common for men to have sex with men, and it was not much discriminated against. On the contrary, it was touted as an elegant thing by many literati who were interested in this practice, but Li Meng was Rough people who are not elegant enough can really not stand this stuff!
Blessed by the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother, I must have come to some incredible "Modern Gay Time Travel Group in the Late Ming Dynasty", right?
etc! If you think about it carefully, there seems to be quite a lot of time-travel versions of danbi and gay novels written by fujoshi writers on the Internet in later generations!
Seeing Zhang Yingchen, who was wearing a Taoist robe, squatting down with a smile and hand-feeding food to a handsome young lady with red lips and white teeth - not a lolita, Li Meng quickly turned around carefully and tried to hide behind a pile of cables. Worried about the chastity of my butt after arriving at the destination... Under the lack of heat in the winter sun, the "Beginning of Spring" continued to chop through the waves, carrying the traveler Comrade Li Meng towards the unknown front...