Lu Ming

Chapter 236: The Completion of the Talents ([-])

Du Dewei now finally knows what those barrels in the shipyard are used for.A large number of wooden barrels were lifted onto the deck, and workers with white gauze masks on their mouths and noses began to spread the lime in the barrels to all cabins.

In fact, not many of the 18 boats can enjoy this kind of treatment: only the 5 largest ones, and the rest, including those dilapidated fishing boats, will be sold on the spot, and they are not even eligible for repairs.

So in the rest of the day, Du Dewei first drove 18 hard-earned belongings to the Qingshi Wharf with his own hands, and then watched them being auctioned off on the spot with mixed emotions
What shocked him was yet to come: the next day, after inexplicably signing a few more documents, Du Dewei got another ship payment of more than 4 taels
After looking at the depreciation clearly written on the document and the various expenses of the auction, he fell into confusion again.In the end, when he was sure that this was not a trick to lure snakes out of their holes and kill donkeys, someone happily took the silver and went to those little shopkeepers to share the money.

Du Dewei's happiness only lasted for one day, and then he realized the famous saying of Confucius: "When friends come from afar, don't be careless." - Early the next morning, when he saw about 10 broken boats sailing into the Mawei Water Village, There was an ominous premonition in my heart.Soon, the premonition came true, and a man with a simple and honest face stood on the bow of the boat and shouted at him from afar: "Dewei, my brother is here to join you!"

The position of the general manager of the foreign committee is equivalent to the preparatory section chief in later generations. It is a temporary position lower than the ninth rank, and there is no lower official than this.However, even so, the two generals of the new Foreign Affairs Committee still cherish this official position very much.You know, this seat was bought with the wealth I accumulated over the years.

Therefore, even though Du Dewei and Cao Hu dislike each other in their hearts, since everyone has put on the official skin and become the general manager, some grievances and grievances have to be put aside for the time being.

With the arrival of Du Dewei and Cao Hu, in July 1628, the Maweishui camp accepted more than 7 scattered pirates to join them.The number of these latecomers is generally not large, there are five or six boats, and there are one or two boats.

Traveling through the crowd naturally welcomes these people.

The new manpower has effectively reduced the difficulty of managing the defectors: mixing sand is the best management method.

The latecomers are treated the same as the old-timers.The recruits will also be diverted and resettled, most of the ships will be sold, and a small number of qualified ones will be bought by the crossing forces.In short, each boat will be turned into silver and returned to the shopkeepers after discount.This is an established step, and the property rights of all property must be clear-private persons are not allowed to own shares in any items of the army.

Regarding the future path, if the shopkeepers are unwilling to continue to serve as soldiers, they can also choose to develop as senior officers, or they can be dismissed on the spot. Of course, there are very few such people.

When the recruits were "tricked" into isolation in the Maweishui camp, the outside world was becoming more and more exciting.

First of all, on August 8, half a month after Xiong Wencan posted the notice, Youguang swaggered into the mouth of the Minjiang River in the eyes of all the people.

The streamlined You Guang with white soft sails and a row of cannons on the deck caused a sensation as soon as Pu appeared on the stage.Chinese boats large and small on the Minjiang River all screamed when they saw the strange boat gliding past at high speed.

A large number of troublemakers quickly followed Youguang in small boats.Fortunately, the troops around Fuzhou were greeted in advance today, so apart from some sensational scenes, there were no other accidents.

The Youguang ship soon stopped at the official wharf at the south gate of Fuzhou, at the same place where Zheng Zhilong had docked at Fuchuan.

Next, a large number of officers and soldiers began to pour out from the south gate, and then a certain master surnamed Huang from the governor’s yamen came out in a row. After greeting each other with Zhang Dongdong who got off the boat, the two sides walked arm in arm and rode together on the top of the eighth boat. Lift the big sedan chair and walk away.

And the melon-eaters who formed crowds of people around the pier quickly spread the first-hand information: it was Caochuan, the "giant canal" on Dayuan Island on the other side of the sea.This person has 5000 elite monk soldiers under his command. This time, he came to discuss the matter of recruiting after seeing the list posted by Xiong Futai.

Accurate information is naturally not known to the people who eat melons: the news spreaders mixed in the crowd are all pre-installed by the Fuzhou station.

As a result, there was a lot of talk in Fuzhou that day: beautiful sailing boats, monks and soldiers wearing short jackets with shiny scalps, the governor's yamen's big fights, and so on.

At this moment, Zhang Dongdong and his entourage, who had finally turned from the dark to the bright, were talking and laughing happily with the governor in Fuya, expressing their love for each other.

It's not easy for everyone to say.

Since Xiong Wencan left Beijing after his majesty's resignation until today, in the words of later generations, this is considered to have completed the phased results.Although the old bear has always been pushed behind the back of the crossing crowd, but after all, he is the governor, and all the steps of the two sides still need him to endorse and take responsibility, so to be honest, the old bear has been under a lot of pressure all the time. of.

There is another reason why Lao Xiong is particularly happy today: he has sent back to the capital the memorial that Zheng Zhilong, the enemy of the imperial court, and other pirates "fighted to death".In the middle, Lao Xiong used various spring and autumn brushwork to hint at his contribution to sowing dissension, which can be regarded as a phased report of the intersection.

And after discussing with Zhang Dongdong today, Lao Xiong can roll up his sleeves and start working officially, completely opening the curtain of destroying bandits in Pinghai.So Master Futai is still quite excited at the moment.

10 days later, on August 8, outside the sea of ​​Fuzhou, the repertoire in which Cao Chuan, a high official, accepts Fujian Governor Xiong Wencan's recruitment will be staged soon.

More than 150 ships of various types gathered on the sea, forming a dark ship formation, which was overwhelming.

The first ships in this formation are naturally under the banner of the crossing forces: the destroyer fleet headed by "Youguang" and its sister ship "Zhengfeng".There are also 6 "Taijiang" class frigates in the main fleet - after the 400-ton Youguang entered service, the 150-ton Taijiang returned to their original class: frigate.

After the main fleet composed of 8 machine-sail gunboats, there is a large number of Fuchuan teams led by the machine-sail Fuchuan "Gouyan" and "Yuandou".These two lucky boats that were first purchased by the traversing congregation are now different things: the one that inherits the names of these two glorious ships is a new mixed-breed ship produced by Taijiang Shipyard.

This mixed-breed ship has both Chinese-style hard sails for catching the wind, and a European-style hull with better seaworthiness, and the line shape of the entire ship has also been improved, making it an excellent transport ship.

Today's actions can be said to be an all-out force for the time-traveling forces.Due to the need to support the scene, all the 150 ships include not only warships, but also all the merchant ships purchased and built by the crossing people since they occupied the big people. The pirate ships that have recently surrendered are all included in the team.

In addition, at the end of the team, there are 5 western-style sailboats.

This special formation is the Dutch fleet led by the naval training ship "Chengfeng" sail training ship.In order to avoid being too shocking, the tonnage of this group of Dutch ships is generally not large, and they are all small boats of about 200 tons. If there are too many red hairs, it is easy to deviate from the theme.

But even so, Mr. Hans Putmans, who was standing on the "Heerenveen" and kept using the telescope to observe the surroundings, was already very excited.

You must know that, except for those damn Portuguese who can enter and exit Guangzhou City during the trading season, other powerful forces such as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, so far no merchants have been authorized to enter this ancient city.So Putmans, who has received the promise of the crossing crowd, is very excited. He is about to make history today.

At 6 o'clock in the morning, at the same time as when Xiong Wencan sent Zheng Zhilong off, the mighty fleet started to move.Naturally, the Gunboat Squadron took the lead, followed by the Fuchuan Squadron, and the European-style boats followed at the end.

In order to take care of the slow troops, the gunboats slowed down after entering the Minjiang River.Today's Minjiang River is exceptionally quiet - yesterday the government ordered that boats are prohibited in the Minjiang Estuary this morning.

The large troops arrived at Fuzhou Nanmen Wharf on time at 7 o'clock sharp.

A similar scenario began to play out again: Lord Futai dispatched his entire army to the south gate to meet the [-]-strong pirate brigade who had come to surrender.

Unlike Zheng Zhilong's time, today's Fuzhou City does not prohibit people from entering and leaving.It's just that at this moment, the south of the city pier has already been cleaned up, and a large number of elite Fubiao soldiers have surrounded the pier area, and the people watching the excitement have been isolated.

But this blockade can't stop the enthusiasm of the people who eat melons: at this moment in Fuzhou City, the South Gate Tower is already densely packed with onlookers, and Mr. Ding, who watched the tower, made a fortune today.

After seeing the fleet entering the port from a distance, the eight-carried sedan chairs parked in the city gate and resting immediately went to the pier.And not long after the "Caochuan" boat Youguang stopped at the pier, Lao Xiong's sedan chair also arrived at the pier.

Next, Comrade "Cao Chuan" in a white robe stepped off the boat steadily first, and Governor Xiong Wencan of Fujian, wearing a red official robe, also walked out of the sedan chair at the same time.

The perfect order of appearance and speed of movement of the two drama masters not only interpret the most fundamental high and low in the officialdom, but also express Xiong Wencan's broad mind and thirst for talents, which can be described as superb acting skills.

The next moment, the white-robed man took a few steps forward, and under the gaze of thousands of eyes, he clasped his fists with both hands, knelt down on his knees, and shouted, the hero was wrong, he shouted: "Cao Chuan sees the Governor!" !"

At the same moment, the sailors on hundreds of ships also crossed their hands and saluted at the same time, shouting "See you, my lord!"

And Xiong Wencan stepped forward quickly, bent over and helped someone Cao up.

At the same time, those rhythmic people who had already been placed in the melon-eating crowd raised their arms and began to cheer.

The melon-eaters who didn't know what to do, naturally started to cheer at the same time. For a while, the scene was as enthusiastic as a tide, just like a real estate sale scene.

(End of this chapter)