The big military parade is not only to commemorate the victory in the war against the Houjin, but also to show strength, in layman's terms, it is to show muscles.

Among the citizens who watched the parade, comrades from the diplomatic hall have been accompanying several guests from western Liaoning. After the parade, His Excellency the Governor held a luncheon at the Guanhai Restaurant to receive the distinguished guests from the sea.

I didn't attend the luncheon. After the parade, I officially entered the wonderful holiday life. Until the 2nd of next month, I don't have to worry about war or anything anymore.

The matter of the mission has been handed back to the comrades of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. At noon that day, I also went to the Guanhai Restaurant. There, comrades from the country were waiting for me.

The meeting place was in the conference room on the third floor of the Guanhai Restaurant, and the guests were Engineer Xu Ying of the First Light Weapons Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense, Engineer Su Yuanmin of the Gunpowder Research Institute, and several comrades from the Military Science and Technology Research Institute. In addition, a director of the Liaison Office of the Ministry of National Defense in the Governor-General of China has also been dispatched. I was accompanied by Comrade Zhao, the secretary of His Majesty's Crown.

Several engineers and officials from the Ministry of National Defense came from Chang'an for the invention patents on cotton wool and ammonium nitrate that I had on hand. Thanks to Wuhua, this patent was registered with the Chang'an Patent Office a few months ago.

Because of the stakes, it is impossible for this patent to be bought and sold in accordance with the market economy, at least I will never be able to sell the patent abroad or refuse to sell it to the Ministry of Defense. The purpose of Secretary Zhao's attendance was to convey the instructions of Elder Zhu.

There is no need to elaborate on what was being discussed. After a little more than an hour, we finished talking about buying and selling patents. The Ministry of Defence paid a one-time payment of 1 million Australian dollars to purchase patents for cotton wool and ammonium nitrate, and the fee will be transferred to my account within three working days. From the moment I signed the contract, I could no longer disclose the relevant process to third parties, and everything that the military did with my patents had nothing to do with me.

To be honest, selling these two patents for one million is really a bit of a loss. In the years before the invention of yellow explosives, artillery equipped with ammonium nitrate explosives had smashed almost all defenses, and the proud bastion system of Middle Eastern and European armies was as fragile as a biscuit in the face of ammonium nitrate. And in artillery technology, cannons that fired solid shells were quickly phased out, and howitzers lightningly replaced centuries-old cannons. At the same time, metal fixed ammunition using fire wool as a recharge gradually appeared on the stage of history, and new rifles with an effective range of more than 500 meters made all nomads able to sing and dance.

Well, who made me just a lieutenant colonel. If such a big mountain is pressed down by the Ministry of National Defense, it is still necessary to give full play to the spirit of dedicating everything to the motherland. I was slightly pleased that the comrades of the Ministry of Defense offered to earn me the title of baron in recognition of my great contribution to the exploration of science.

So I'll soon be Your Excellency the Baron.

It was past 2 p.m. when I went out. The comrades from the Ministry of National Defense left first, and Secretary Zhao sat with me in the conference room for a while, expressing His Majesty's concern for me.

In the hallway on the third floor of the hotel, I met Wu Sangui for the first time. At that time, he was still a young man who had just reached the age of 17, and he was born with a handsome face and a slender figure.

When it was, I walked from south to north, he went from north to south, and we met in the hallway.

I looked at him face to face as I took a step east and west at the same time.

"Hmm," I groaned, and said, "You're left, I'm right." ”

The other party promised, "Okay." Then we took a step together and found that the two of us were still blocking each other's path.

Just as he was embarrassed, the laughter of the patriarch came from the stairwell. He leaned out, looked at us and stared at us, and said with a smile: "Come on, General Zu, let me introduce you, this is Junior High School Colonel Li Ru, a rising star in our Southern Liaoning Army." ”

I hurriedly turned around, and there was a big man standing next to the patriarch, who was about forty years old. He gently reached out to hold my hand, patted the back of my hand, and said with a smile: "Lieutenant Colonel Li, young Junjie, is really as good as the patriarch said. ”

Zhu Mingxia smiled on the side and said to me: "This is the forward general of Liaodong of the Ming Kingdom, the general of the forward army, General Zu Dashouzu." The one in front of you is General Zu's nephew, Wu Sangui. ”

When the patriarch said the word "Wu Sangui", he accentuated his voice as if he were nothing.

I shook hands with Wu Sangui again, and the other man's face was full of enthusiasm and shyness characteristic of young people—and then we got acquainted, and I learned that he regarded me and Huang Stone as idols at that time.

Zu Dashou and Wu Sangui came to Lushun as envoys of Yuan Chonghuan. Due to the sensitive relationship between us and the Ming court, these two men came secretly to discuss the return of the more than 2,000 Guanning soldiers captured by Jiannu.

As I mentioned to you earlier, when Jinzhou was a sea of corpses and blood, the Guanning Army also sent an army to attack Houjin. It's a pity that the army of more than 8,000 people walked to the Daling River and was attacked by Jiannu's partial division, and was defeated by Jiannu of more than 2,000 people. More than 3,000 people who crossed the river first were annihilated, and the rest lost their weapons and surrendered, and more than 5,000 people on the other side of the river ran away.

The results of Zu Dashou's visit were published in the military newspapers, and our army would order Jiannu to take the captives to the mouth of the Sancha River, and the navy would transport the officers and family members of the captives to Ningyuan and hand them over to Yuan Chonghuan. As for the rest of the ordinary soldiers, we will not return them. In return, Yuan Chonghuan must immediately lift restrictions on China's private capital, lift the ban on shipping, and pay a modest amount of military spending.

Zu Dashou himself took a boat back to Liaoxi in the afternoon to resume his life, but Wu Sangui stayed with a few others. They said they wanted to visit Lushun for a few days, and His Majesty the Patriarch agreed.

I was quite interested in the affairs of Liaoxi, so I invited Wu Sangui to go shopping with me, and he immediately agreed.

It just so happened that I took the delegation to visit the scenic spots in Lushun, and this time I also had experience as a tour guide. In the summer of 1629, Lushun still had the atmosphere of a military city, and as the Liao people gradually settled in the city, the largest city in southern Liaoning was restoring the fireworks of the common people.

I took Wu Sangui to visit the Lushun Military Port and the Liberation Museum, and for dinner I ate seafood at a restaurant near the seaside park.

Yesterday I was paid for four months of wartime pay, from April to July. Originally, my ordinary salary was 4,500 Australian Song Yuan (i.e. 30 taels of silver in the Ming system) a month, and during the war, I was given an additional allowance of 100% of the 9,000 yuan a month. As the bulk of officers' incomes, the war bonuses that we are most looking forward to have not yet been counted. Now I have more than 30,000 yuan in cash on hand, plus I am about to get a huge sum of one million yuan, I Li Ruchu is also a rich man, and I ordered a bunch of seafood for this meal.

So I, Fang Hai, Wu Sangui, several of his family members, and a few comrades from the diplomatic hall sat together on the lawn by the sea, and the waiter served the seafood one by one. On the table are 30 roasted oysters with garlic, 10 lemon oysters, two catties of salt-baked shrimp, a two-pound steamed grouper, one catty of cut sea urchin, and two catties of braised sea cucumber. In order to take care of the taste of people who are not used to eating seafood, there are also two catties of roast beef and a large plate of fried pork with chili.

The waiter carried two large cases of beer, both of which were placed in ice buckets, and when the caps were pried open, a white vapor with a malty aroma would be spewed. Wu Sangui had never eaten this kind of Australian and Song special food, and that meal was really dark. Everyone is a young man, and the guests and hosts are happy as soon as a box of wine goes down, hooking each other's shoulders and carrying each other, each of them blushing and smiling, and they don't know what they are laughing at.

I've never been a drinker, and when I was thirsty, I was poured two bottles. Luckily, the alcohol content of the beer is relatively low, and I can still get used to it. At the dining table, I was blowing the warm sea breeze, looking at the lights of the fishermen's house on the southern sea, and asked Wu Sangui with a smile: "What does Brother Wu think of my Great Song Army?" ”

"Ao Song is really a strong soldier in the world." Wu Sangui grabbed the wine bottle in his left hand and a roasted oyster in his right hand, approached his mouth and sucked the garlic and oyster meat into his mouth, "I, Guan Ning, even if I am the most elite family, do not have the majesty of the Great Song army." ”

He put down the wine bottle, leaned close to me and whispered, "Lieutenant Colonel Li, don't blame me for talking nonsense, we have rumors there that you are Li Chengliang's son." ”

"Why is that?"

Wu Sangui said with a smile: "General Li has nine sons, all of whom are 'Ru', and Lieutenant Colonel Li's name is 'Ruchu', and his age is similar to Li Runan, and he has martial arts in Liaodong, so it is really easy to associate with General Li Chengliang." ”

I smiled and waved my hand: "It's all rumors, my father is a native of Australia and the Song Dynasty, and he is separated from Liaodong by tens of thousands of miles, and I didn't have the opportunity to meet General Li." ”

"Hey, but Yuan Chonghuan's 8,000 people were defeated by 2,000 Jiannu people, what does he think? I heard that Yuan Chonghuan personally said 'five years of Pingliao' in front of the emperor, is this still peaceful? ”

"Ping..." Wu Sangui opened his mouth, barely swallowed the second half of the sentence, poured a sip of wine and continued, "It's difficult." Although I, Guan Ning, am the leading elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, I can't resist the partial division of Shangjiannu. If you march hard and encounter the elite of Jiannu, I'm afraid it won't be another Salhu. ”

"It is a great sin to deceive the king." Fang Hai, who had been eating and drinking in a muffled voice, suddenly spoke.

"How can you deceive the king, no." Wu Sangui touched the wine bottle with Fang Hai with a smile and did not continue.