It took me more than a month to trek all the way from my home in the southern temperate zone to Taiwan, where my Army career began.

Before I left Australian soil, I never imagined that I would go through so much along the way.

The only fortunate thing is that now I can go back to my normal military life and no longer have to get involved in those inexplicable political events.

The mail ship I changed to in Manila docked in Taipei, the heart of the island of Taiwan and our first developed city.

Tens of thousands of Ming people from Fujian and other places moved here. Through the industrious hands of the Chinese immigrants, the designer's ideas were finally accurately translated into reality, becoming a factory for the workers to produce, a market for the traders to trade, and a modern port under my feet.

Most of the immigrants who came here were farmers. After nearly 300 years of steady development in the Ming Dynasty, Fujian, which had little arable land, had already reached the point where there were more people and less land, and a large number of peasants who had lost their land and little land had lost their means of production after encountering some natural and man-made disasters. And along with the loss of the fields and the cattle, they also had their status as yeoman farmers and their own personal freedom.

Taiwan's drama troupe once performed a famous play called "The Crows in the Middle of the Night", which is almost a portrayal of the actual life of Fujian tenants at this time. The heavy farm work and the exploitation of the landlords spared no effort made "coming to Taiwan in the hands of the Australian Song people to make a living" a huge attractive option.

Although when they arrived in Taiwan, they had to get up early and work hard to open up roads, build cities, and build a desert island that had been reached during the Three Kingdoms period but was basically a barbaric area until more than a thousand years later, but all this was at least to give them a better living environment. After having their own goals, the hard-working Chinese burst out with the enthusiasm and efficiency of production that made the Australian and Song colonists ashamed.

"Toot!"

With the sound of the whistle, the mail ship with a full load displacement of more than 1,000 tons lowered its anchor and stopped at the civilian port of Taipei City.

The sea breeze from the northern hemisphere blows on your face, and it is very refreshing.

Taiwan, which is still in the alternating stage of agricultural society and industrial society, has no smog, and naturally there will be no port wind with a pungent smell like the local. White seagulls flutter in the bright spring sun, showing off their grace in the eyes of travelers from the other side of the world.

The snow-white waves were swept by the tide and hit the concrete embankment of the pier, splashing water droplets more than a meter high.

Wipe the water from the corners of my mouth, and I carried the suitcase that had followed me across the ocean and followed the passengers down the gangway.

Coming to this island in the southeast of China again, I felt very special at that time.

Looking around, the scene is already very unfamiliar. The makeshift harbor paved with gravel a few years ago has been replaced with concrete and concrete, and waiters in orange vests have replaced the Navy soldiers who have been sent to help as signposts to guide passengers.

In the countless emotions of the sun and the moon changing the sky, my heart is still full of strange feelings.

Across a shallow strait, shops on the island of Taiwan hang with simplified characters (the Ming people call it Songti), while the mainland to the west is full of traditional characters; What is even more different is that the people of the island are talking about profits, and citizens in suits are hurrying through the busy streets. On the other side of the Taiwan Strait, the residents of the mainland still wear Hanfu, and the vast majority of them still live a life of male farmers and female weavers as they have for thousands of years.

The fact that a region with a difference of hundreds of years in the level of civilization is separated by a strait that is only 130 kilometers at its narrowest point, which cannot but be said to have a kind of magical realism.

(Well, sure enough, Chinese orthodoxy is on the mainland.) ）

I lingered in the port building for a while and got the invoice they issued for me. Anyway, I took the boat because of the delay on business, and the ferry ticket can be fully reimbursed, so I simply took the business class all the way, and I didn't have to crowd the Chase bunk with the passengers in the economy class.

In the square at the exit, I found my comrade who had come to greet me.

It was two soldiers in azure navy uniforms. They stood straight beside the carriage, their eyes unsquinting at the crowd as they walked out of the harbor, but seemingly... They don't know me.

I walked slowly towards them, trying to show the demeanor of a major who had returned from a king. But unfortunately, because of their unwavering display of the excellent qualities that a qualified navy should have, and which, as I absolutely believe, these two men did not see me, and I was nakedly ignored when I went back to the side.

"Gentlemen," I coughed lightly as I walked up to them, "are you waiting for me?" ”

The man who was close to me—his epaulettes of rank indicated that it was a sergeant—immediately turned around, looked me up and down quickly, and saluted me with a "snap" on one of his feet: "Report, Sergeant Huang Kang, I have seen Comrade Major. ”

I returned the salute with a nodding and handed the suitcase to the other person, taking out the return certificate issued to me by the ancient elephant from my bosom.

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Looking at myself in the mirror, I adjusted the angle of my hat with both hands, and smoothed out the folds on my chest along the texture of my clothes.

Soon, a young officer wearing a navy blue spring and autumn uniform from 1626, a blue tie and a leather belt of the same color, and knee-length black leather boots appeared.

The laziness and idleness brought about by the long vacation quickly disappeared, and was replaced by the coldness and strength honed in the long confrontation with Houjin.

"Report!"

"Come in." I said lightly.

Pushing the door open was my adjutant, Lieutenant Fang Hai from the Viceroyalty of Luzon.

"Major, the Governor wants to see you soon." Fang Hai said to me.

I raised my eyebrows, I didn't expect that the governor would be in Taipei now, and the governor would go to Liaodong to supervise the war in the winter of the past few years.

"Okay, you wait a minute, I'll get out right away."

The adjutant saluted and withdrew, leaving me alone in the room.

I slowly picked up the small box on the table. It was a box made of maple wood, and the surface was meticulously carved by craftsmen with my name and a beautiful moire. I touched it too much, and the wood was covered with a smooth pulp.

Gently opening the brass clasp, I took out a pair of epaulettes from it.

Navy Cadet epaulette, gold double straight line on a blue background, with a gold five-star in the center.

The box was also inscribed with an inscription, "Loyal to the Motherland, Loyal to the People".

I slowly put on my epaulettes and turned to walk out the door.

The officer's quarters I was in were located in the windward district of Taipei City, not far from the Governor's Palace, which was located in the center of the city.

Fang Hai led the way in front of me. Since I haven't been to Taipei for too long, this ever-changing city has made it impossible for me to find the north. Except for the central axis of the city, which was set in the early days, I could hardly find a public toilet on the side of the road.

"Do you remember this place, Mr. Major?" Fang Hai's voice with some emotion interrupted my train of thought.

He pointed to a square and said to me with a glint in his eyes: "That is the city square chosen by Taipei City when it first started construction, and a statue of Yan Siqi has been erected on it to commemorate the heroic figure who first developed Taiwan." ”

Following Fang Hai's guidance, I turned my head sideways and looked at the giant stone statue standing in the middle of the square looking down on the city.

I had a relationship with Yan Siqi, a legendary pirate, in the autumn of 25 years when I first came to China (the fifth year of the Ming Dynasty's Apocalypse). At that time, Yan Siqi was still a sturdy middle-aged man, full of energy.

At that time, I was only the captain of a gunboat, but I just glanced at him from a distance and had a little impression of this big man who accompanied Commander Liu Haochuan to inspect the navy. Unexpectedly, he still (according to the course of history) overate in the autumn of that year, contracted typhoid fever, and died young without resisting it.

But fortunately, Ao Song, who has gained a firm foothold in Taiwan, did not bury him in the dust of history, but established the glorious image of this hero with great fanfare.

On the one hand, we want to make an example for recruiting heroes in the future; On the other hand, it is also to attract the hearts of the people of Yan Siqi's old department and prevent Zheng Zhilong's power from being too inflated and difficult to control.

I called Fang Hai and walked with him to the square.

There are many shops around the square, which basically sell snacks and light industrial products. I'm a little sorry that there are no souvenirs for sale here, so I can buy some to take back to Australia. But then I realized that if Taipei could sell souvenirs like places like Chang'an, the economy would be great.

Sending Fang Hai to the store to buy some incense, I walked alone towards the twenty-five-meter-high statue of Yan Siqi.

After seeing the modern buildings in the country, this stone statue that once shocked everyone who saw the Ming people alive and Japanese did not make me feel a fluctuation at all.

After offering incense to the heroic man who witnessed the return of the Song Dynasty to China, a group of students around the statue caught my attention.

I motioned to Fang Hai to find a place to wait for a while, and I walked over with a smile on my face and stood next to the students.

Leading the students was an army sergeant, who hurriedly came over to salute when he saw me. I waved my hand and smiled, "Ignore me, you go on." ”

The sergeant returned to the students with some nervousness, coughed to attract their attention, and began to explain with his back to the statue of Yan Siqi.

This is a very common teaching model in Australia, and the military will send some experienced soldiers to the school to teach or take students out for excursions. On the one hand, this can broaden students' horizons and avoid sitting in an ivory tower and watching the sky. In addition, this kind of education can also imperceptibly instill in children whose worldview has not yet been formed some ideas that the republic wants them to have.

For example, the sergeant in front of me, who is getting better, is introducing Comrade Yan Siqi's magnificent life with affection and affection, especially describing Yan Siqi's contribution to Taiwan as a colonist. All of his words and deeds are to make the junior high school students in front of him have the idea of "the world is so big, I want to conquer it".

If it's really colonization, it starts with dolls.