On September 5, 1639, the exploration fleet of the Navy, the East Coast Republic of China, returned to the port of Suez in the Ottoman Empire after making a large circle in the Arabian Sea. After a brief handover with the Ottomans, two ships of the East Coast Exploration Fleet, carrying a large amount of cargo and a dozen officers of the Ottoman Egyptian fleet, sailed through the island of Mozambique towards the river fort.

……

Let's rewind the clock a few months ago.

The May 1639 Fort d'Rivers was filled with a cheerful and peaceful atmosphere—if you ignore the grim-faced slaves working in the fields. Thanks to the hydraulic irrigation facilities built vigorously during the winter slack season, and the climate of the planting season is relatively smooth, about 800 tons of sorghum and 200 tons of wheat have been harvested from the 7,000 acres of farmland that have been cultivated in the past two years, which can be described as a bumper harvest.

At the same time, the output of agricultural and sideline products is also increasing rapidly. The number of sheep has expanded to more than 5,000 and the number of cattle has exceeded 1,500 through self-raising and continuous raiding. The number of cattle and sheep is so huge, and the amount of fresh cow and sheep milk produced every day is huge, and the small Hezhong Fort cannot absorb such a huge production capacity. To this end, the Hezhong town government has set up a new dairy factory to make cheese, milk powder and other dairy products from cow and goat milk that cannot be digested every day, and export them back to China.

In addition to these dairy products, the duck sheds and fish ponds that dot the banks of the Berg River are also a great asset. The quarking ducks provide more than 500 eggs a day for the River Castle, as well as a large amount of eiderdown and other useful supplies; In the fish pond under the duck shed, when the pond is cleared in winter, I am afraid that it can add more than 50,000 catties of fat fish to the warehouse.

"What do you mean by foundation? It's called foundation! "Five pine villages (named after the five pine trees standing side by side at the entrance of the village) in the east of the castle in the river) outside the village. Mo Ming, who was riding a tall horse, was foaming at the mouth and gesturing towards Liu Ang. "See. This is the foundation of these forts, towering walls, neat fields, herds of cattle and sheep, and high morale! The Executive Committee and the Council have been asking us to put down roots in South Africa and run this part of the Berg River Basin. Now Lao Tzu can say that the Fort in the River has gained a firm foothold in South Africa, and the lower reaches of the Berg River are already like iron barrels. As long as the Fort in the River is still in place, the Berg River will not change color! ”

Listening to Mo Ming's somewhat impassioned declaration, Liu Ang, Xiao Baitu, Xie Hansan and others who were riding behind immediately cheered. Everyone will smile and recall the hard work years in the past few years. After a while, he ridiculed the British who were struggling in the south, and in the midst of talking and laughing, Wukesong Village had arrived.

At the entrance of the village, Sun Shengjun, the militia director of Wukesong Village, was standing there, respectfully greeting the arrival of several senior officials.

"Yo, Sun Shengjun, why are you, the groom, standing at the entrance of the village?" Mo Ming turned over and dismounted, casually threw the horsewhip to his righteous son Mo Dazhong behind him, and then asked with a smile.

"Chief Mo, Lord Liu, and Commander Xie, their humble positions are entrusted by the brothers. I would like to greet you, Governors. Thanks to the love of the chief, the brothers have lived a fairy-like life in the past two years. I still wonder if it's living in a dream. In order to earn food in Shaanxi, what kind of things have you never seen in Shaanxi? I used to think I was sorry, who knew that the life of people in the troubled world was as cheap as a dog, let you be a hero, if you are unlucky, you will not escape death. After going through these things, I know the preciousness of this peaceful and prosperous world. After coming to the Fort in the River, what I have seen and thought in the past two years has made me feel that you are good officials who think about everyone, and this country on the east coast is also truly the country of all of us. Think about two years ago down like a lost dog, but now it is rich in food and clothing, the old have something to support, and the weak have something to rely on, this is the peaceful and prosperous world that we can't ask for. Today, I and my brothers are able to marry a daughter-in-law, and we owe it to your great love and the government. I, Sun Shengjun, are not very good at speaking, I am here today to make a statement, in the future, you will let me go east, I will never dare to go west, everything is based on your lordship! After speaking, Sun Shengjun put his legs together and gave a military salute.

After Mo Ming raised his hand to return the salute, he walked up to Sun Shengjun, straightened the collar of the yellow tappling cloth military uniform on his body, and said with some emotion: "Sun Shengjun, it really surprised me that you could say such a thing today. Originally, I thought that you had been a thief in Shaanxi, killed officials and soldiers, and robbed the people, and you were a vulgar martial artist who could only destroy and not build. Although you are usually thoughtful and a little clever, I have always felt that you are too angry to be a real soldier. Now that you have such insight, it is not in vain what I usually teach you, good, very good! In the future, you have to read more books, and only when you read more can you understand the truth, I am very optimistic about you! ”

"Chief Mo's cultivation of humble duties has always been remembered. A while ago, I had already registered in the newly opened camp school of the garrison army headquarters, and I was going to learn the skills of marching and fighting after a while. I always feel that the set I learned in the Righteous Army (Zhang Xianzhong's Department) in the past may not be very effective in the future. In the future, it will be a world of muskets and artillery, and this battle really cannot be fought as before. Sun Shengjun said with a grateful face.

"That's right, Sun Shengjun, you have a heart." Xie Hansan also stepped forward, looked at him and said with a smile: "When the local Dingyuan Army Military Academy sent instructors to open the Suiying School, you were the first to come to me to sign up, it seems that you really realized your own shortcomings." Not bad, really good! You have this heart, you are not stupid, and you have a lot of combat experience, so if you study hard, your future will not be bad in the future. ”

"Commander Xie's compliment!" When Sun Shengjun heard it, he thought that the heavyweight official praised him, and he was overjoyed.

"Okay, don't pestle here, let's go in, I guess I'm in a hurry inside." Liu Ang also got off the horse, handed the horse to Liu Cai behind him to lead, and then urged a few people to go inside.

At the end of last month, three transport ships, including the "Abbot", arrived at the dock of the Fort in the River under the escort of the cruiser "Chaoyong", and half of the more than 600 Persian slave girls on board were "floated" according to custom. The more than 300 female slaves who were "floated" were naturally assigned to the remaining unmarried singles in the River Fort. In order to boost the morale of the people in Hezhong Fort and enhance the cohesion of the government, Liu Ang suggested to Mo Ming that he simply hold a group wedding for these singles who were going to get married. After thinking about it for a while, Mo Ming agreed to Liu Ang's suggestion, so there was such a play today.

There is a school ground in Wukesong Village that is used for daily training by the militia, and now it is requisitioned as a venue for group weddings. A circle of barbed wire was pulled around the school grounds, and the brothers of the 4th Company of the South African Garrison stood fully armed outside the barbed wire to escort the wedding.

Barbed wire, rifles and sabers, such strange scenes appear in the wedding scene, and it can be regarded as a great spectacle of the river fort.

At this time, the school field was already crowded, and hundreds of brides and grooms lined up in three rows in order. The bridegrooms all wore brand-new yellow khaki uniforms, large caps on their heads, armed belts around their waists, and high cowhide boots on their feet, which looked imposing; The brides wore sky blue cotton tops and black over-the-knee dresses, as well as white round-toed dancing shoes on their feet, which matched their feminine posture and exotic style, and looked quite eye-catching.

After Mo Ming and the others entered the venue, everyone in the venue couldn't help cheering. Today is their big day, more than a year ago when they first arrived, they were still starving at any time, they can't imagine that there will be such a good day today, so many people are excited and tearful.

Mo Ming waved her hand to everyone with satisfaction, and then awarded wedding anniversary gifts to each couple according to the pre-established procedure. Everyone's gift is the same, which is ten yuan in cash and a house deed.

In addition to the 10 yuan cash, which is the money that the Ministry of Civil Affairs rewards them for intermarrying with other races, the Hezhong town government has also issued a special local regulation, stipulating that each couple who has more than one child will be rewarded with 10 yuan for each additional child.

The house corresponding to the deed is a new brick house built this year, each house has a total of three rooms, divided into bedrooms, guest rooms (and restaurants), and utility rooms (and warehouses), which are specially built by the Hezhong Town Government for new immigrants. This winter, with the completion of the construction of the last brick houses, all the official residents of the Fort River area finally left the days of living in wooden houses and thatched huts.

Although these houses have long been lived in by the big guys, the deed has not been issued. At this moment, the deed was issued in public at the group wedding, which made these groom officials extremely grateful. Although the brides were all sold from faraway Persia, it had been so long since they had come to terms with the facts. In addition, at this moment, I found that the richness of life here was far greater than that of my hometown, and the resistance was not so strong, and I was happy to accept the blessings of the governors at this moment.

In a corner of the wedding scene, Second Lieutenant Lan Guo, the deputy company commander of the fourth company who led the team to maintain order at the scene, spread out a table. I saw him pick up the wine glass and take a few sips, while drawing the wedding scene in front of him on a piece of drawing paper. Before the crossing, he had studied painting for a while, and he was able to portray it with ease, and the expressions of everyone in the picture looked vivid.

As Mo Ming and the others finished sending wedding anniversary gifts to the last couple, Lan Guo grabbed the wine bottle on the table and poured it violently, and then added the last few strokes to the screen. A few golden leaves fall on the paper in the wind, and the beautiful picture is frozen. (To be continued......)