"Ha Luha, Lao Xie, come, have this drink!" In the castle in the river, Liu Ang raised a glass wine glass with a red face, and said with a smile. In the cup is a full river song, about two taels or so. The pure white liquor swayed in the glass, exuding an enticing aroma, and the only fly in the ointment was the large amount of bubbles and impurities in the glass, which made the glass look far inferior to the fine wine utensils imported from Venice and Germany.

"It's done!" Xie Hansan raised his head and took a sip of the wine, and the spicy wine poured down his throat into his stomach, making him feel a little hot, "It's still sorghum wine delicious, it's much better than that distilled red wine brandy, we Chinese are really used to this taste." ”

Seeing that the wine in the glasses of the two adults was dry, Liu Cai, who had been standing silently on the side, picked up the dark wine bottle on the table and filled it for the two of them. Liu Cai is seventeen years old this year, and like Mo Dazhong, he is also an orphan among these Far Eastern immigrants, and was adopted by Liu Ang as a righteous son to take with him. As for what to choose the vulgar name of Liu Cai, you have to ask the namer, Liu Ang himself.

It's getting colder outside, and it's getting annoying sleet. In such weather, there is nothing to be done at all, only cats at home. By this time, the militia that had been assembled and trained had been disbanded; Those "Eight Banners" natives have also sent them back to the tribal station to play on their own; Outside, only a handful of slaves were left toiling to mow the grass and feed the sheep.

"Liu Cai, everything outside has been arranged, right?" Liu Ang asked with a big tongue. At 60 degrees in the river, he has already drunk seven or eight taels, and Rao is his usual amount of alcohol is not bad. At the moment, there is also some alcohol.

"Hmm. This year's wool has been sheared. A total of 1,045 bags (10 kg each) are currently stored in warehouse 1; The six hundred freshly peeled hides are still being tanned, and after they are finished, they are ready to be transported back to the mainland when the next ship comes, and those Khoisan slaves are always clumsy, and have wasted a lot of precious soda ash, and I have already punished a few people on my own initiative; The business license of the brewing enterprise approved by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has been delivered, and the local customized brewing equipment has also arrived. Now there is a factory building. The only problem is the lack of skilled hands. The 2,500 newly shipped bottles have been filled with Daqu in Hezhong, and are now sealed and stored in warehouse No. 2, and will be shipped back to the mainland for sale when the next ship comes. The oil mill is still under construction, and Chief Mo will also urge the equipment when he goes back this time, and I have recruited some masters who can extract oil with a group of apprentices to learn first. In addition, there are some slaves who can extract oil in the lower two flags (black and white flags), and I have already pulled them out separately, and the pardon documents for themselves and their families to be promoted to the upper six flags are being placed on your desk, waiting for approval...... "Liu Cai said a lot of things in one breath, and a lot of data was reported without even thinking about it, obviously this period of time was hard work. I've been working hard and doing practical things.

"Lao Liu, your assistant is good." Xie Hansan was sandwiching antelope meat in the small hot pot in front of him. He said. The temperature outside is close to freezing, and there is still a strong wind and sleet, so it is very pleasant to sit in a warm room with a fireplace, set up a small hot pot, and drink a little wine.

"Hehe, the kid is very smart." Liu Ang also praised his righteous son, and said: "Compared with Lao Mo's righteous son Mo Dazhong, it is not far behind." Liu Cai, you have to study hard in the past two years and recognize more words. When the time comes, I will send you to the Dayuhe Cadre School for further study, broaden your horizons, and mix up your background by the way, otherwise you will never be able to raise your level, and you will be able to mingle in a rural place like Hezhongbao, which is boring. ”

Listening to Liu Ang's words, Liu Cai nodded vigorously, with a resolute look.

Sun Shengjun walked over with a large pot of meat slices, and after placing them between Liu Ang and Xie Hansan, he turned around and went back to cut the meat again.

Xie Hansan picked up a piece of antelope meat as thin as a cicada's wings, and said in a somewhat exclaimed tone: "Sun Shengjun, I originally heard that you killed sheep in Shaanxi, but I didn't expect that this meat cutting knife skill is also very good." Tsk, thin as cicada wings, it's really real kung fu. ”

Sun Shengjun smiled humbly, not at all like he usually was: "The humble duty is to kill sheep in the mutton restaurant opened by the people in the village, so naturally you have to learn the kung fu of cutting meat with both hands. Since the two chiefs like it, they don't go anywhere from their humble positions, and they keep cutting meat for the two chiefs. It's just that the antelope meat is a little thicker, and the taste is not as delicious as the goat meat in Shaanxi; There are also crocodile meat, leopard meat, and elephant meat sent from the north, which are not as good as the pork raised by our own river fort, so it is just fresh. ”

"Isn't it just a fresh meal?" Xie Hansan put down his chopsticks and took a sip of wine. There were a lot of precious chili peppers transported from the mainland in the butter hot pot, and he was slightly sweating on his forehead at the moment when he ate them. Seeing this, the orderly immediately handed over a white cotton towel, Xie Hansan took it and wiped the sweat from his forehead, then picked up a piece of pancake made of ostrich eggs and noodles on the plate, rolled up a locally produced green onion, and chewed it in a big bite.

"Old Xie, forget if the weather is bad for the past two days." Liu Ang put down his wine glass and said suddenly, "After two days, when the weather clears, let those 'Eight Banner Disciples' move?" Your fourth company sent some people to supervise the battle, and I don't feel at ease with these indigenous rabbit cubs. When the time comes, if the troops of which flag are ineffective, the commander will be beheaded, and the soldiers will be punished into the next two flags. ”

"I'm afraid it's not appropriate for our army to dispatch." Xie Hansan frowned and said, "Although we are not afraid of the British now, we must also avoid making people feel the truth. In this way, it is better to dispatch the local security army, Sun Shengjun! ”

"Yes!" Sun Shengjun put down the kitchen knife and reflexively stood up straight.

"In two days, when the Eight Banners army is dispatched, you will take 20 cavalry to follow and supervise the battle of these rabbit cubs. Remember, you must not go into battle yourself, in case the war is unfavorable and falls into the hands of the British. As soon as the situation is wrong, you will organize a retreat, and remember, if the situation is particularly urgent, you are allowed to leave the Eight Banners troops and withdraw first. Xie Hansan said repeatedly. This is no joke, the indigenous attack can be used as a cover-up, and there is no way to explain the fall of the East Coasters into the hands of the British. When the time comes, there will be a diplomatic storm.

"Yes!" Sun Shengjun replied concisely and forcefully, and at the same time, a hot current secretly surged in his heart, this is the power to lead the troops!

Just when Liu Ang, Xie Hansan and others were sweating profusely around the hot pot, more than 100 kilometers away in Cape Town, Knight Heywood, the highest commander of the British, was furious. For his servant brought him dinner with only some mashed potatoes, two small strips of cold salted fish, and some cold pea soup left over from noon.

"Everything sucks!" Knight Heywood said angrily, "It's already snowing, but my governor's mansion hasn't been built yet, and Castle of Good Hope hasn't been built yet!" God, it sucks! You idiots, can't you even heat up the soup? Now I declare that, given the stupidity of you damned Irishman, you and your companions will go and build me a castle tomorrow! ”

"We don't have firewood. Sir, it has been raining and snowing outside for the past few days, and the mountain roads are also very slippery, and several of my companions have fallen and injured themselves while chopping wood. Now they are all lying in the corner and unheeded, sir, you can't do this to us! A middle-aged Irish man said in alarm. They knew very well what it meant to renovate the castle, and in order to renovate this sturdy and magnificent fortress of Good Hope, more than a hundred people had died in the past month and a half. Most of them were indigenous, but a small number were British immigrants, not to mention the poor people who fell ill on a large scale and left no one to pay attention to them. They were not fed or clothed, so they could only lie silently in the corner, and if they could not survive, they died in obscurity until the cold corpses were found and thrown into the sea.

They could barely bear the fourteen hours a day for the odd workers, but the castle builders worked sixteen to eighteen hours a day, and they did heavy physical work, and they ate the same as the others. Therefore, repairing the castle can be regarded as a very heavy punishment.

"Go now!" Knight Heywood roared even more angrily, "Guard, come here! Send this stupid Irishman in front of me with his companions to the site of the castle, immediately! Right away! ”

Knight Heywood was furious now, and he was disappointed in everything in front of him: bad weather, stupid farmers, weak natives. As a nobleman, he also lacked food to match his status. He had no red wine of cocoa, only cold pea soup; He doesn't have sweet and juicy beef, only small salted fish that smells off; He had no sweet snacks, only coarse hard bread, and everything looked terrible.

He couldn't even change into dry clothes, his cracked leather boots were soaked through the rain, his feet were soaked white, and the chill from his feet made his feet almost unconscious. So he was in desperate need of vent now, and the Irish cook in front of him had unfortunately struck the muzzle of his gun, and from now on he and his companions could only wail in pain in the rain and snow on the castle site.

Thinking of this, Knight Heywood's heart finally felt a little better. It's just a few stupid Irishmen, and can you still make it? He thought dismissively. (To be continued......)