Chapter 72 Revisiting the Old Place
May 15, 1627, the first day of April in the seventh year of the Great Tomorrow.
At about 10 o'clock in the morning that day, the Yulinjiao Post sent an alarm message to Base No. 1 and the nearby training camp, saying that a sailboat was heading towards Victory Port from the direction of Luhuitoujiao. But just ten minutes later, the alarm was lifted before the militiamen could finish gathering, because the sentry had already seen Luo Shengdong standing on the bow of the ship through the telescope.
Luo Shengdong stood upright on the bow of the ship, looking at the Victory Port getting closer and closer, and couldn't help but feel filled with emotion. Forty days ago, he was defeated and captured here, and became a hard labor of the Haihan people, thinking that he would never be able to make a difference from now on. Twenty days ago, he successfully persuaded the Haihan people to let him return to Yazhou Water Village and narrowly escaped death. Four days ago, the commendation order issued by Qiongzhou Fucheng had been sent to Shuizhai, and Luo Shengdong was promoted to the originally vacant position of commander-in-chief as he wished. In just over a month, Luo Shengdong was thrown to the bottom by fate, and then was sent to the top of the wave again. The ups and downs were so fast that he could hardly believe it.
But there is no doubt that Luo Shengdong is very clear that it is these mysterious Haihan people who have turned his fate, and if nothing else happens, whether his future career will be smooth will also be affected by them. The impact is that even if I regret it now, I'm afraid I won't be able to get off this pirate ship. Although I vaguely feel that my approach is a bit disrespectful to the trust of the emperor and the Ministry of War, it is of great benefit to my family and myself, and the latter seems to be more practical.
After Luo Shengdong returned home, he did not hide the experiences of these days from his father. Instead, he told them everything, hoping to get some advice from his father. His father, who worked hard all his life and finally only became the 100th president, thought for a long time after hearing this, and then said something to him: "Since you know the Haihan people so well, then think carefully about whether to be enemies or friends with them. Which choice is more beneficial to you? ”
This choice is not too difficult for Luo Shengdong. With him as his friend, Luo Shengdong can continuously get money from Haihan. This is something that several leaders of the Haihan people have made clear. There is no need to doubt their sincerity. . If there are pirates invading the Victory Port area or even Yazhou in the future, the Haihan people promise to take action. When the time comes, they will inevitably have their own share of this military exploit.
Instead of being an enemy, cold sweat began to break out on Luo Shengdong's back when he thought of this thought. I still vividly remember how my subordinates were easily killed by the Haihan people without any chance of fighting back, and how I was captured and did hard labor for more than twenty days. Sometimes when he wakes up, Luo Shengdong even has the illusion that he is still locked in a smelly iron ship cabin. Moreover, when he was released back to Yazhou a few days ago, Chief Tao said harshly that if we met again on the battlefield next time, there would be no prisoners. This was a clear reminder to Luo Shengdong not to fight with the Haihan people. Got it right.
In this case, let’s cooperate with the Haihan people! As long as he stayed close to these Haihan people, Luo Shengdong believed that even if he would not make much progress in his official career, he would at least become a rich man. The last time he accompanied the Haihan people to negotiate with two trading houses, Luo Shengdong watched the whole process. He had never seen those exquisite items in his life, and the Haihan people earned hundreds of taels of silver in just one day. This kind of The speed of making money also amazed him. You must know that the entire Yazhou Water Village has hundreds of people, and the total military pay for a year is less than two thousand taels of silver. The Haihan people are so good at making money, so it's no wonder they are willing to spend tens of thousands of kilograms of fine iron to build that strange iron ship.
When sailing into the harbor, Luo Shengdong heard a loud bang from the coast on his right, and he subconsciously lowered his body - such a loud noise could only be made by artillery!
After a long time, Luo Shengdong slowly poked his head out from the side of the ship and looked toward the shore. He saw a group of people pushing two black cannons on the sandbar on the right. Luo Shengdong rubbed his eyes vigorously and confirmed again that he had read correctly - they were two cannons. Luo Shengdong had seen similar Hongyi artillery before when he went to Qiongzhou Fucheng to participate in a drill.
Perhaps the omnipotence of the time-travelers left a deep psychological imprint on Luo Shengdong. After seeing this scene, the first thought that popped into his mind was not where the Haihan people got the cannon, but these Haihan people. He can even make cannons!
Being able to build strange ships that do not require sails, possessing sharp repeating fire cannons, and now even having powerful cannons, Luo Shengdong has no doubt that if these Haihan people want to take over Yazhou Water Village or even Yazhou City, I'm afraid it won't be difficult. Luo Shengdong didn't understand why these people were so aggressive but didn't attack nearby towns, but at least the existing peace would not be broken in a short time - otherwise they wouldn't have to spend money to buy a house in Yazhou City.
When the ship docked at the dock, Luo Shengdong noticed that some migrant workers on the shore were carrying baskets of stones, and several hills had been piled not far away. There are also a large number of logs stacked next to them. These logs have obviously been processed. Not only have the bark been peeled off, but they are also the same length and thickness. Some of the logs also had one end sharpened, apparently for piling purposes.
"This is going to build a dock..." As a naval general, Luo Shengdong naturally saw the purpose of these building materials piled here at a glance.
"Don't stop, you lazy pig! If you continue to be so slow, you won't get your next meal!"
The shouts from the construction site attracted Luo Shengdong's attention. He turned around and saw a small man kicking a migrant worker on the butt. The man seemed to feel Luo Shengdong's gaze and turned his head to look at him.
Luo Shengdong immediately recognized this man. He was one of the pirates who was captured during the last attack. This guy was said to be a samurai among the Japanese pirates. He had some prestige among the pirates. At that time, he was quite undisciplined by his subordinates. . If it weren't for the fear of the rules of the labor camp, Luo Shengdong would have wanted to deal with him several times. It seems that after he returned to Yazhou, this guy had seized the opportunity to get out and replace him in the labor camp. Location.
"Bah! Japanese pirates!" Luo Shengdong spat angrily. But his voice was not quiet, and everyone near the pier probably heard it.
"Hmph! The defeated general!" Takahashi Minami, who has been working hard to learn Chinese recently, also uttered a sarcastic comment without showing any signs of weakness. Naturally, he recognized Luo Shengdong. In his opinion, this incompetent Ming army general only got into the position of leader of the labor camp by flattering him. If it weren't for the magnanimity of the executive committee, this guy would be Should stay in a labor camp until death.
The two people looked at each other in the distance, both ready to take action if they disagreed.
"Luo Shengdong, why do you get into trouble with others when you come back?" Upon hearing this voice, Luo Shengdong was immediately excited and quickly walked down to the pier in three steps and two steps, respectfully clasped his fists and saluted: "Any Sir, I haven’t seen you for a long time. How are you doing?”
The person who came was none other than Ren Liang. As Luo Shengdong's former boss, he was a little surprised by the respectful attitude Luo Shengdong showed now. He couldn't help but think to himself: "This guy only stayed under me for more than twenty days." He just put it back, and now he is still acting so tame. How much psychological shadow did I cause on him?”
"Gao Qiaonan, as you have seen, is now responsible for assisting me in managing the labor camp. You two will get closer in the future." Ren Liang pretended not to know the conflict between the two.
Luo Shengdong did not dare to make a mistake in front of Ren Liang, but he would not bow to Gao Qiaonan because of this, and just gave him a slight fist touch as a courtesy. Takahashi Minami also bent slightly to bow, but the range of his movements was less than one-tenth of what he did when bowing to Ren Liang.
"Sir Ren, are we going to build a dock?" Luo Shengdong didn't want to get into too much trouble with Gao Qiaonan, so he quickly changed the subject.
Ren Liang nodded and said: "Yes, merchants from Yazhou, Qiongzhou and even Guangzhou will come here to trade with us soon. We must build a larger dock. The main part of the dam project upstream is almost completed. I will transfer the people from the labor camp here to prepare for the construction of the dock. By the way, if you are here at this time, if I am not wrong, you must have been promoted, right?"
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Luo Shengdong straightened his body unconsciously and said with a proud look on his face: "Luckily, Luo has lived up to his mission. He was promoted to the general manager of the water village by Shangfeng the day before yesterday. He is currently in charge of all matters related to the water village in Yazhou and has the ability to dispatch ships by himself. The power of human hands.”
"Congratulations, congratulations!" Ren Liang said with a smile: "Now that you have achieved success and your official position has been promoted, you will not forget what conditions you promised us back then, right?"
"How dare you forget Luo!" Luo Shengdong quickly put away his reserve and said respectfully: "When I came here this time, in addition to purchasing some coal, saltpeter, tung oil, cloth and other items in Yazhou as requested by Chief Tao, In addition, on the pretext of repairing the ship, we have transferred 17 people from five households of shipwrights under Shuizhai. Now they are on the ship. You only need to be responsible for their daily food and accommodation. As for the time limit, it doesn't matter. I will be there. The arrangements have been made at Shuizhai.”
"Oh? That's good news. Wait a minute. I'll notify the shipyard to come and pick him up." Ren Liang took out his PHS phone and called Sun Changmi, telling him the whole story and asking him to come as soon as possible. Get people here at the pier.
"There are only seventeen people. Isn't that too few?" After hanging up the phone, Ren Liang suddenly remembered this question and couldn't help but ask Luo Shengdong.
Luo Shengdong thought that Ren Liang felt that he was not doing things well, so he quickly explained: "Sir, there are very few people who are engaged in the job of shipwrights in Yazhou. There are only ten families of shipwrights in our water village, who are responsible for warships." We have done our best to bring you five households for daily repairs.”
"That's it..." Ren Liangming nodded to acknowledge Luo Shengdong's statement, and waved to Gao Qiaonan: "Takahashi, tell them to stop moving rocks and unload the cargo from this ship first!"
"Yes!" Gao Qiaonan responded with his chest raised and his head raised. Then he stared at Luo Shengdong with a provocative look before turning around and leaving to organize people to carry out Ren Liang's order.
"This Japanese slave dwarf..." Luo Shengdong muttered in displeasure, but he had to admit that this guy seemed to be doing better in his current position than he was at the beginning, at least he had not been in the face of Chief Ren before. I’ve seen this look of admiration.
"My attitude towards flattering my boss must have been wrong in the past. I need to practice better in the future." Luo Shengdong couldn't help but have a strange idea.
(End of chapter)