The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 442 The Big Wedding
The building was filled with soldiers in armor, and the swords gleamed like ice.

But the rich businessman's expression did not change much, and there was only frustration and melancholy in his eyes.

The rich businessman slowly stood up, gently shook his sleeves, and then raised his hand to straighten his messy collar.
"Please lead the way."

The wealthy businessman took a step forward, pressed back the half-drawn goose-feather knife of the tiger-bearded man, and spoke calmly.

The rich businessman's cooperation startled the soldiers standing guard outside the door, and then everyone showed a look of respect on their faces.

Even when a sword was at his fingertips, he remained calm.

Such courage is naturally respected by the men in the army.

"grown ups."

The leading officer slightly turned sideways to make way. This time his voice was no longer cold, but carried a hint of respect from the bottom of his heart.

"please."

The wealthy businessman nodded slightly and strode out.

There were many soldiers in the teahouse, each occupying a key road and separating the crowd.

However, the guests in the teahouse were not driven away.

When he walked out of the teahouse, the rich businessman discovered that the place had been surrounded by a group of armored soldiers holding swords and guns.

Outside the teahouse, the leading officer wore an iron crown, his brows were sharp as blades, and his eyes were cold.

His figure was tall and straight, his shoulders under the armor were broad and powerful, standing still like a cold blade in its sheath, without revealing its edge but containing a murderous aura.

Seeing the rich businessman coming out, the officer smiled, swept away the solemn look around him, and said with a smile.

"Your Excellency has come to Xiangyang. We should have gone back to the city to welcome you and set up a banquet to entertain you. But now, we may have to wait a while..."

The rich businessman frowned slightly, feeling a little confused.

But just when the rich businessman was about to ask.

A huge noise suddenly came from the dock.

The next moment, large groups of soldiers armed with swords, guns and armor suddenly swarmed in from outside the dock.

These armored soldiers were all wearing robes and belts and were fully armed.

Although there were a large number of people, they were extremely orderly. In just a moment, they occupied both sides of the streets in various parts of the dock.

Their attire was different from that of the soldiers in the teahouse.

All the soldiers in the teahouse were wearing black armor and black helmets.

However, most of the armored soldiers who subsequently poured into the dock were wearing Ming helmets and armor.

Flags filled the sky above the dock, and the sound of horse hooves like heavy rain echoed through the streets of the dock.

The wealthy businessman looked in the direction of the sound and saw a team of armored cavalrymen wearing red armor and looking extremely murderous and ostentatious galloping from the outskirts of the dock.

The first rider wore a three-flag sun and moon helmet, a gold-rimmed fish-scale armor, and a bright red brocade robe.

Two dragon-like patterns bared their fangs and claws from the brocade sleeves.

The wind blew against it, causing the pattern to flutter continuously. The two stripes seemed to be constantly leaping as if they had life.

The armored cavalry moved as fast as the wind and in a moment they were close.

The cavalry officer sat high on his maroon warhorse, and as he galloped towards the teahouse, his eyes were directed towards the wealthy businessman.

The rich businessman felt awe in his heart, and when he looked at the other person, he saw a pair of eyes as sharp as an eagle's.

Even though he had been an official for many years and had experienced the ups and downs of officialdom, he had already developed the ability to remain calm in the face of emergencies.

But just one glance made the rich businessman involuntarily take half a step back.

The rich businessman calmed down. The team of armored cavalry did not stop, but moved forward quickly. Soon, only their backs were left in the rich businessman's sight.

At this time, the rich businessman withdrew his gaze, and found that wherever the team of armored cavalry passed by, all the armored guards on the dock saluted with their eyes full of respect.

In the teahouse, the soldiers who were originally standing still even bowed their heads.

The same was true for the officer next to him who was obviously in a high position.

Suddenly, an idea flashed through the rich businessman's mind.

The person who could make all the officers and soldiers in Xiangyang City salute and respect him so much, could it be...

In a flash, the scarlet armor had illuminated the entire Xiangyang dock.

Everywhere you look, you see a dazzling red.

The busy dock seemed to be paused at this moment.

The laborers who were carrying the goods put down the goods in their hands, the workers who were lazily leaning on the recliners all stood up, and the ship owners who were standing tall also got off their respective ships.

The bustling Xiangyang Wharf is now silent.

The only sound left in my ears was the rustling of the flags caused by the river breeze.

The wealthy businessman looked puzzled and looked again in the direction of the team of armored cavalry galloping past.

Above the wide river in the distance, a rolling red cloud was cutting through the waves and drifting down the river.

Including the wealthy businessmen, everyone on the dock focused their attention on the red cloud.

In just a moment, the rolling red cloud gradually became clear in front of everyone's eyes.

In a flash, the red cloud was approaching - it was actually a huge fleet consisting of hundreds of warships!
The leading flagship was sailing steadily on the river like a mountain, steadily splitting the water and leading the warships behind it to slowly press forward.

The rich businessman's eyes narrowed slightly. As the flagship got closer, he also saw the differences between those ships and ordinary boats.

Such tall ships are rare in the inland navy. At least there are only two or three in the Huguang navy, but there are at least forty or fifty here.

But that's not the point.

The key point is that the front and both ends of those ships are hung with bright red hydrangeas, and many places are hung with red ribbons.

It doesn't look like a warship...

It's more like a wedding boat...

If you think about it carefully, it seems that the horses of the armored cavalry that just passed by all had the same red ribbons hanging on them.

The wealthy businessman looked around at the soldiers standing in the streets and found something unusual.

These armored soldiers also had red cloth belts wrapped around their waists.

The fleet was getting closer and closer, and soon it was docked at the pier.

As the central city of Huguang, Xiangyang had a very spacious dock, but with hundreds of warships docked, the dock still seemed very crowded.

At this time, the rich businessman finally reacted. When he came all the way from the south by boat, he was surprised why so many mooring spaces were left. Now it seems that they were left just for this fleet.

As the ship docked, the pleasant sound of ship bells continued to ring, accompanied by loud military bugles.

Large groups of soldiers walked off the ship in an orderly manner. The first to get off were a group of soldiers wearing red arrow clothes. Judging from their attire, they were undoubtedly soldiers from Hanzhong Town.

Only the soldiers of Hanzhong Town would use the color red on such a large scale.

The Ming army favored red, but only used red in some parts, such as the lining, the mandarin duck battle jacket and the like.

Or the red tassel on the top of the head, the straps on the clothes, etc.

But only in Hanzhong Town would the armor be dyed red.

The benefit of doing this is undoubtedly that it can make the army look more powerful and more spirited.

But the price to pay is a huge sum of money.

Dyeing the armor red and maintaining it is a considerable expense.

Red dye was still not cheap in this era.

However, soon after hundreds of armored soldiers from Hanzhong Town came down, the subsequent soldiers who came down presented a completely different scene.

These soldiers had dark skin, wore turbans on their heads, and hung weapons on their waists that were not the standard swords of the Ming army, but shorter weapons that looked like extended hatchets.

The armor they wore was also very different from that of Hanzhong Town, and was mostly brown in color.

The rich businessman frowned slightly. He had seen soldiers dressed like this before. They were clearly the uniforms of the Xuanweisi in the western part of Huguang. Moreover, their armor and spirit were similar to those of the personal soldiers of the chieftains of various tribes. The rich businessman seemed to have thought of something. His pupils shrank slightly, and then his expression darkened again.

The circumstances around him and the strangeness everywhere made him understand everything.

The rumors turned out to be true...

The marriage between Chen Wang and Shizhu Tusi will take place today!

……

On the Xiangyang wharf, the troops were divided into four groups.

Chen Wang stood under the flagship, staring at the tall flagship in front of him.

This flagship is the latest warship built by the Xiangyang Shipyard. It is larger than the No. 1 Fu ship and carries a total of thirteen guns.

If it were overseas, this kind of firepower would not count.

However, this is an inland boat, and the main means of attack is still boarding and fighting.

When engaging the enemy, artillery can only be fired from a long distance. The real killing is done by boarding at close range.

The Ming navy's tactics at this time were to, when boarding the enemy, use thunder guns, three-barreled guns and other fire guns that could fire continuously to launch a saturation attack on the enemy's deck from a high position.

Then the soldiers hiding on the side of the ship and in the cabin took the opportunity to jump out and hacked and killed all the remaining enemies.

During this period, European navigation technology had begun to take the lead, and sailing warships capable of carrying a large number of artillery had appeared.

However, in European naval battles of this period, boarding was often still necessary to decide the outcome.

An inland navy of this size is enough to stand out from the crowd.

But overseas...

The Zheng family was the Great Wall of Fujian. East Asia and Southeast Asia were all controlled by Zheng Zhilong.

Zheng Zhilong had a fleet of more than 3,000 large and small ships under his command, and was an undisputed power in the maritime world of East China and South China.

The overlord of the Indian Ocean is the East India Company, but the strength of the European fleet should not be underestimated.

During this period, Europe's influence in the Far East was not strong, but the threat from Zheng Zhilong was imminent.

Zheng Zhilong could use his power to pressure the enemy, but he was certainly unwilling to give up much of the benefits of maritime trade.

In order to obtain high profits from maritime trade, friction with Zheng Zhilong would inevitably occur later.

Shandong's overseas navy was extremely weak and had long been abandoned, and could not get much help at all.

Shandong is still under the control of the imperial court.

However, overseas, Chen Wang has also been able to gradually build up his influence.

In the northern part of Nanzhili, Haizhou and Donghaisuo, which are located on the coast, are now under the control of Chen Wang.

These two place names may not be familiar to many people.

But in later generations, the name of the city here is basically known to everyone - Lianyungang.

With a huge amount of money invested, a huge shipbuilding factory has been built near Haizhou.

The main shipbuilders were European craftsmen recruited by Chen Wang in Macau.

As for the selection of the ocean-going navy, Chen Wang planned to adopt all the main battleships, namely the improved sailing battleships from the Galen type used by the British.

Ten years for the army, a hundred years for the navy.

Zheng Zhilong now controls overseas thanks to his many years of accumulation. Most of the sailors under his command are veteran pirates with rich combat experience.

To train a completely new army, in a short period of time...

To be precise, even if we devote all our efforts to building an overseas navy and vigorously develop a new navy, even if it takes ten years, we may not be able to completely control the overseas oceans.

Historically, when the Qing army attacked Taiwan, it not only had the assets of part of the Zheng navy that surrendered and the Ming navy, but also Zheng Chenggong had already passed away, the Zheng Ming was internally unstable, and there was a financial shortage.

At that time, the Zheng family no longer had the power they had when Zheng Zhilong was there, and their strength had greatly decreased.

But even so, it took six years to finally complete the preparations. After the death of Zheng Chenggong's son Zheng Jing, when Zheng and Ming were in trouble, Shi Lang led the navy to defeat Zheng Ming and occupied Taiwan.

The Qing army entered the pass in 1644, but it was not until 1683, the nd year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, that they conquered Taiwan.

There was a gap of nearly forty years.

Chen Wang couldn't wait that long.

Overseas problems must be resolved.

Since the sailors lacked experience, they recruited European sailors to serve as instructors or even as sailors.

After all, there are many differences in the control of Chinese hard sails and Western soft sails.

Since there were not enough warships, they recruited craftsmen on a large scale and built shipyards.

In Macau, there are many European mercenaries who are living on the edge of a knife.

During the war between Ming and Qing dynasties, European mercenaries appeared.

Therefore, Chen Wang planned to establish a powerful Chinese-foreign mixed fleet in Haizhou as an important part of curbing Zheng Zhilong's influence overseas.

When the time comes to attack the southern country, they will make Zheng Zhilong afraid to act rashly and try to seize as many benefits as possible from Zheng Zhilong. When the time is ripe, they will eliminate Zheng's influence in one fell swoop and gain control of foreign countries.

The wind on the river blew up suddenly, blowing up thousands of flags.

The rustling sound lingered above the dock of Xiangyang City, bringing Chen Wang's scattered thoughts back to reality.

Chen Wang calmed himself down and looked forward, where he saw two familiar figures.

One of them is the figure of Ma Yuanshan.

Ma Yuanshan was standing on the deck when getting off the ship, with a smile on his face. When he saw his gaze, he clasped his hands together and bowed.

Behind Ma Yuanshan, there was another familiar figure, wearing a wedding dress with many parts of her body adorned with silver ornaments. Although her face was covered by a red veil, Chen Wang knew it.

That figure was Ma Yuying.

After Ma Yuanshan finished his ceremony, he helped Ma Yuying, who was wearing her wedding dress, slowly walk off the ship without much delay.

On the dock, a sedan chair with eight bearers had been prepared.

Ma Yuying walked briskly, and although she was wearing a wedding dress, she was still as capable as ever.

When getting on the bridal sedan, Ma Yuying turned her head and glanced at Chen Wang.

A smile also appeared on Chen Wang's face.

After seven years of traveling and seven years of military service, he was always worried about the future and had hardly any truly happy moments.

His heart was tense and he dared not relax for a moment.

He is living in a precarious situation and is walking on thin ice. He doesn't have much time to care about love affairs.

He was glad that he met Ma Yuying.

Although at the beginning, he had the idea of ​​a political marriage.

But afterwards, Chen Wang was truly certain of what he was thinking.

He no longer had any hesitation about this marriage.

"boom!"

On the dock, nine consecutive salutes were fired, shaking the inside and outside.

"Get up the sedan!"

Accompanied by the ceremonial officer's loud singing, drums and music suddenly sounded.

Amid the loud shouts of the bearers, the luxurious sedan was lifted steadily.

Chen Wang turned around, stepped on the stirrup, exerted a little force, and jumped onto the horse's back.

"Get up the sedan!"

Amid the loud swan sounds, surrounded by a group of armored cavalry.

The bridal sedan slowly moved forward under the shoulders of the bearers...