The long voyage is over!

When the fleet sailed into Keelung Port, the whole port was boiling, in the past period of time, the news that the Qing prisoners would attack Keelung came out more than once, although each time it was confirmed to be a rumor, but the people's hearts were always inevitably a little panicked.

And now, with the arrival of this fleet, people are no longer worried.

"Forty-eight! Forty-eight! ”

On the shore, people excitedly counted the ships entering the harbor, and while they were surprised by the size of the fleet, their faces were a little more complicated, and most of the soldiers seemed very excited, because of the arrival of reinforcements, and the merchants were probably relieved, also because of the reinforcements.

But there were some people whose faces became a little ugly, because the arrival of the fleet made them realize that the chances of freedom were getting slimmer and slimmer.

"How good is this, how good is this......"

Standing on the dock, looking at the ship that sailed into the bay, Sun Tianzong, who was doing the work, had a dead ash on his face, as a businessman, he was captured in Suqian, and then he, like other green battalion soldiers, was treated as a traitor and began to serve hard labor, even if he proposed more than once that he was willing to use silver to atone for his sins and redeem himself, and the answer he got was naturally negative again and again.

However, the silver was still of some use, at least after he had spent nearly a thousand taels of silver, he did not need to go to the basin to reclaim the wasteland like the others, because there was a lot of miasma, and there would always be people who contracted a vicious disease and died in the swamp. After taking out a lot of silver, through bribery, he became a coolie on the dock, although the same hardship, but compared to the wasteland, it is much safer, after all, the current Keelung City, is no longer as wild as at the beginning, now, after nearly half a year of efforts by tens of thousands of people, this Keelung City has become a small port city by the sea, and with the increasing population and the prosperity of commerce, and increasingly prosperous.

However, for Sun Tianzong and others, the prosperity of this city is not a good thing - it means that they will be even busier, and they will not have the slightest time to spare, after all, there are now a large number of materials transported here to the mainland every day, to the Qinghe, timber, sulfur, lead ingots and other materials. And these materials all need the coolies of the dock, and they are loaded onto the ship little by little, so Sun Tianzong naturally has a kind of unspeakable suffering.

That's why he longs to leave this place and regain his freedom. Of course, he would not imagine escaping to a merchant ship and leaving, after all, if he left from there, he would definitely be dead, after all, those ships were back to Qinghe, not to mention anything else, even if they escaped to the ship and fled back to the mainland, it is estimated that as soon as they go ashore, they will be taken down, and the reason is simpler - the tattoo on the face is a humiliation that cannot be shaken off for a lifetime.

Since it is impossible to escape, there are other options to gain freedom, one is to gain freedom through meritorious service, which requires the cost of life, and the latter requires a long process, or hard work.

Only when people lose will they know what is precious.

It is precisely because of the loss of freedom that Sun Tianzong knows the preciousness of freedom. will yearn for freedom, after all, freedom means that he no longer needs to be called by people like cows and horses like now, and he seems to work hard all day long.

Is there any other way to be free?

If the "official army" calls, they can be free!

This is the simplest and most effective way to do it. After all, compared with other options, the "liberation" brought by the "official army" is the safest and fastest option.

When others were panicked by the news from the official army, Sun Tianzong, like many people, was immersed in a kind of joy, every time he heard the news, he would be excited for a few days in a row, and even the hard work that used to be so hard was no longer so hard. After all, at that time, he was promising.

But hope is dashed again and again.

Again and again, the news was finally confirmed to be false news, and after a few months, like everyone else, Sun Tianzong was also desperate, believing that all this was just fake news.

But now, when he saw the huge fleet in front of him, a hope that he had never felt before surged in his heart, unlike in the past, this was the real hope - because he saw it, saw this fleet, and why he came to this fleet, obviously to reinforce those "bandits" in Keelung

"The officers and soldiers are coming......

Sun Tianzong himself didn't notice that when he said this, his tone was a little excited, but in addition to being excited, looking at the warships, his face looked ugly.

Can the officers and soldiers beat these pirates?

God bless, but we must bless the officers and soldiers to be victorious!

He thought so in his heart, but another thought did not stop churning in his heart. We must send this news to the officials and soldiers, and we must not let these pirates catch the officials and soldiers off guard......

But how can we get the news out? He really didn't know what to do, after all, this place was far away from the mainland. If you want to send the news to the mainland, you have to have a ship, but he is just an exile, how can he get a ship?

While he was pondering somewhere, there were also people in a merchant in the harbor watching the ships that came into the harbor. As a businessman, he naturally pays attention to the news of merchant ships entering the port, but now, what Xu Yuanfan sees is warships, dozens of warships, and he just wants to fill the bay.

Looking at the warships, Xu Yuanfan's expression was a little solemn, and his eyebrows revealed more worry.

"How good is that? How good is that? ”

On the surface, Xu Yuanfan is a businessman. But in fact, in addition to doing business, he would also collect some intelligence in Keelung, and then send that information to the mainland, to Fuzhou, and to the government.

The reason why he is like this is not that he is willing to be a traitor. As a businessman, what Xu Yuanfan values has always been interests. For him, there is nothing wrong with being mercenary.

A while ago, he just sent out a piece of information, which was the intelligence of the Loyal and Righteous Army's naval division warships in Keelung Harbor. But he didn't expect that there would be such a huge naval division and so many warships rushing here.

And now, if the expectations are not bad, maybe the sailors of the official government will probably start to do this against Keelung, and for the government, they may not even know that Keelung suddenly has so many warships.

"What now?"

Xu Yuanfan secretly thought to himself that just ten days ago, the ship he could use to deliver the letter had sailed out of Keelung. If you want to wait for that ship to come, you will have to wait for at least half a month. In the past half a month, if the official army calls, it will be found that the sailors here are different from what he said, and there are not only a dozen ships. In case it is investigated, let alone a benefit at that time, whether this life can be saved is a matter of opinion.

"No, we must think of some way, and we must not let the officers and soldiers fall into their trap."

Xu Yuanfan muttered in his heart, when those eyes stared at the bay, all they revealed were worry.

Everyone has their own ideas, after all, there are so many people in the world, there are always all kinds of ideas.

After the ship docked in port, Zheng Xiaru, who was on the ship, looked at the small city in the middle of a green area, and there was always some surprise in his eyes, at least it seemed that it was completely different from the desolation he imagined - there were many houses on the coast, dozens of various merchant ships were moored in the bay, and on the shore, you could also see the shipyard and the ships under construction.

"Brother Shijie, it seems that this Keelung is not as desolate as imagined!"

Zhao Pingyue looked at Keelung, looking at this small city, his face was finally much better, although this place is not necessarily as prosperous as Jiangnan, but it is not as desolate as he imagined, and it looks like a small city.

Finally relieved, he even deliberately turned his head and said to Zheng Xiaru.

"Brother Shijie, if you can, you and I might as well stay here, look at this small city, although it is newly built, but it also has a bit of appearance, I think it is better than going to any other place!"

As far as Taiwan is concerned, it is indeed better than other places, after all, Keelung is located by the sea, although it is located on the edge of dense forests, but thanks to the sea breeze and the recent logging of trees, the infection rate here is much smaller than that of the inland.

Of course, this also has a lot to do with the investment in the construction of Keelung, after all, for the Loyal Army, Keelung is based on the foundation of Taiwan, although it is not located in the north-south sea route must pass through the waterway, but as a natural port, as well as the rich resources near the seaport, are indispensable to the Loyal Army.

"This kind of thing, when the time comes, the Governor's Mansion will naturally have an arrangement!"

When mentioning the so-called "governor", Zheng Xiaru's heart couldn't help but be a little nervous, and he secretly wondered in his heart what kind of temper that governor was, whether he had received instructions from Jing Liu, and whether he would seriously treat him as a criminal official.

Even Zheng Xiaru himself didn't realize that this anxiety may have a lot to do with his identity change, after all, he is now a "criminal official". is a "criminal official" who was exiled to Taiwan, in terms of identity, his identity is at most slightly higher than those traitors!

With some trepidation, after going ashore to register, Zheng Xiaru did not wait there like everyone else. Rather, he was unexpectedly led by the soldiers into a different place, not the Governor's Palace, but a building near the docks, where he met a young officer.

"Mr. Zheng!"

The young officer in the red military uniform looked at Zheng Xia and said apologetically.

"The Governor himself wants to receive you personally, but you know that the current situation is much worse than before, so the Governor is meeting with the captains of the fleet to discuss the defense of Keelung, so the lower officials welcome you on behalf of the Governor."

The tone of the young officer was flattering, but it seemed a little rigid, which was very similar to the officers Zheng Xiaru came into contact with, they had a strong smell of marching, but now it was they who dominated everything here, after all, this place is now in charge of the army, which is completely different from the mainland, and even he himself is likely to be the first civilian official here, and the reason why he will become the first civilian official here. It was also because of his special status that he could accept direct delegation from the governor.

"Your Excellency the Governor is busy with all kinds of plans, and he still remembers that he is here, which is really terrifying, and how dare he bother His Excellency the Governor to greet him personally."

Zheng Xiaru naturally did not show the slightest dissatisfaction, when he was on the ship, he had already learned from the captain that the fleet went south this time to reinforce Taiwan and prevent the Qing captives from attacking Keelung. After all, next, Keelung will become an important place for the families of exiled traitors.

"That's right, Mr. Zheng, although you are a "criminal official", but this place is completely different from the mainland, and the employment is completely different from the mainland, and the governor has agreed to grant you an amnesty, after all, you are a subordinate official of the government office, and you are familiar with local government affairs, and now all affairs in Taiwan are hastily created, and you need officials like you who are proficient in local affairs......

When the young officer said these words one by one, although he had been mentally prepared, Zheng Xiaru was still in a trance, everything was as simple as that? A few hours ago, he was just a prisoner of crime exiled overseas, but now he is back as an official. In other words, he is no longer an "exile", but their manager.

“…… Therefore, at this stage, compared to Keelung, the reclamation of the Taipei Basin is the most important, in the next year, there will not only be tens of thousands of traitor families from the mainland, but also a large number of immigrants, so, Mr. Zheng, the governor hopes that you can be a town in Taipei, personally supervise the construction of Taipei, and as the first magistrate of Taipei, manage the ...... of Taipei."

Taipei Zhixian!

Although it is just a seven-grade official, for Yu Zheng Xiaru, it means a change of identity, and it also means that his new life will start from Taiwan, and all of this is a strategic arrangement, because in the future, Taipei will usher in another group of people, and he must prepare for the arrival of those people in Taipei.

"Please tell Your Excellency the Governor, the Lower Commander will never let him down!"

Zheng Xiaru did not swear that he would live up to the trust, after all, he had already sworn it, and he knew that the real decision-maker was not the governor he had never met, but the strategy who was far away in Qinghe, everything was planned by the strategy, and even he suspected that the so-called trial was just a means of strategy, and he needed a reason to arrange his henchmen to Taiwan. and play a special role in the future.

When leaving the public house by the port, Zheng Xiaru suddenly asked when he walked to the door.

"Well, sir, isn't it because of the ...... that the situation is tense right now? Did they call? ”