After the end of the troubled four years of Tongzhi, North Manchurian ushered in a tense five years of Tongzhi. This year, North Manchurian has achieved more results, and the infrastructure is basically in place, and after crazy construction, the North Sea Fleet, the first self-made fleet in North Manchuria, has also begun sea trials. But this was the most tense year since the founding of North Manchuria, whether it was Chinese, the Russians, or other powers, everyone knew that Goxinga had completed preparations for war, and the war between North Manchuria and Russia was about to break out.

It can be said that both sides of the Heilongjiang River are full of rumors, and the main forces of the two countries are frequently mobilized, and there is a possibility that they will misfire at any time. The three provinces of Dongjiang, Sanjiang and Heilongjiang have issued martial law several times, and even the militia near the border has begun to stock up on ammunition and be ready to fight with the regular army at any time. However, in Dalian in the south, everything is still peaceful, the customs street is still prosperous and lively, and people are still living a depraved life in the eyes of the people in the Guannei.

The development of the South Seas was too smooth, and Sezana also expanded his territory in New Guinea, so the last regiment in the hands of the Taal was also transferred to the South Seas. However, Tal did not go to the staff headquarters to complain again, because with the permission of Goxinga, Tal recruited a full five wings of Japanese mercenaries, and Tal who had become a division commander was no longer short of people. It's a bit funny, Goxinga hated the Japanese to death, but Tal handed over the entire economic zone and the defense of the railway in Mukden to the Japanese mercenaries.

Goxinga was all kinds of awkward in his heart, and sent a large number of people from the miscellaneous department to watch the Japanese corps, but Tal did not have the same worry as Gokyo, although the owner of the izakaya he liked was gone, but Tal still liked the obedient Japanese. The 1st Japanese Wing was stationed in Dalian, the 2nd Wing was stationed along the coast, the 3rd and 5th Wings were stationed along the Mukden Railway, and the 4th Wing was stationed at Yingkou. Tal thought the dwarfs were very nice, they were hard-working, they rarely complained, and even if they were allowed to live and eat in the turret for months, they were just as obedient. And these guys are very dedicated, very careful, but they can do everything they are sent to do in an orderly manner. Fighting pirates, clearing bandits, and blocking the Qing army from crossing the border, they can all be done with very ordinary equipment. Moreover, they are very kind to the people of North Manchuria, and even have some flattering meaning, and the people have a good impression of them. First of all, Tal did not understand why Goxinga did not like the Japanese, and secondly, he was not afraid of the Japanese rebellion, and the key departments of each wing were all in the hands of the officers of North Manchuria, and the Japanese had no chance to fight back.

Wulin's only soldier in the second wing, he was recruited from the Japanese mainland only a few months ago, and although he was a little shorter, he was very handsome. The only time he was a mercenary in Wulin was very short, but his family history is very long, his ancestors had the status of a samurai in the Minamoto Yoritomo era, and participated in almost all the major wars in Japan later. Wulin was always proud of this, but life was still poor, and his ancestors also participated in the famous Battle of Sekigahara, but unfortunately his family belonged to the defeated side. During the Edo period of more than 200 years, their family has always been a ronin, and it can be regarded as a long-standing history among ronin. If there was no big recruitment of Asano Munehide in Japan, Wulin would not be starved to death, and he might also give up his identity as a samurai in order to eat mixed rice.

Wulin's life in the new barracks is not good, because he is young and comes late, so almost everyone's juniors, in the new barracks, there is no shortage of veterans' big mouths. However, Wulin's only life was good, when he was divided into teams, he drew a lottery, and his acting squadron leader was a Manchurian.

The Japanese pay attention to the hierarchy of dignity and humility, and pay special attention to majesty, but people do not want to be bullied, so many soldiers want their commanders to be Manchurians. The Manchurian commanders could only speak Chinese, and there were certain barriers to communication, but the Manchurian commanders were generally kinder and more tolerant of the soldiers, and would not whip people with their mouths at every turn like the Japanese commanders. In addition to the key departments, only a small part of the Japanese wing will have Manchurian commanders. Most of these rare officers are newcomers who have just graduated from the Marine Operations Section of the Naval Non-commissioned Officer Academy, and before their own units are expanded and formed, they will use Japanese mercenaries to train their hands. It is precisely because these people have just come out of school that there are almost no bureaucratic habits and treat people very gently, so the Japanese soldiers will pray every time they are assigned a commander, hoping that they will meet such a talkative commander.

The only commander of Wulin is also such a young man who has just left school, his name is Shanyu, a noble child with a prominent family background. In addition to supervising the training of the soldiers, Shanyu also invites everyone to fight tooth sacrifices, but he rarely mentions his family background. However, gossip is a common hobby of human beings, and no matter how serious the Japanese are, they are not exempt from vulgarity. According to legend, Shanyu's background is extremely strong, although his father and brother are not famous, but his grandfather is very powerful, even the highest military governor of the economic zone, Thal, is his grandfather's former subordinate, and it is many levels worse. Many people are talking about Shanyu's grandfather in private, but no one knows who Shanyu's grandfather is, and the only evidence of rumors is that someone has seen many high-ranking military officers perform Manchurian old rituals on Shanyu. However, Shanyu never ostentatious, he was also very respectful to the Japanese captain and co-captain, and conscientiously performed his duties as a squadron leader. Because the moment Shanyu put on the military uniform, his grandfather repeatedly told him that once his family background was exposed, he would not want to mix in the army, who would dare to command Xiande's grandson as an ordinary middle-level officer!

Today is a good day, the second squadron of the 1st Brigade of the only second wing in Wulin is responsible for patrolling the waters near the incense burner reef, and their mission is to prevent small groups of pirates from sneaking down near the incense burner reef. This is considered to be the most leisurely beauty in the wing, the sea area of Xianglu Reef is not far behind the side of Dalian Port, and those pirates who have almost been defeated will only do things in this area when they are tired of life. The so-called patrol is nothing more than riding in a comfortable steam patrol boat and watching the scenery from the sea. Moreover, it is very close to the bustling port of Dalian, and if the boss is a rich Manchurian governor, after the mission is over, everyone will be invited to have a big meal near the port of Dalian. Even if the boss is a poor Japanese governor, it is good to take everyone around the vicinity of Dalian Port and visit the bustling street market!

"Cheer up! Let's go back in a while, let's go eat beef hot pot! "Three small boats of less than 100 tons have been dangling on the sea for a day, and they can already enjoy the sunset on the sea, and the soldiers are inevitably a little tired. Instead of sobbing to solve the problem like a Japanese officer, Shanyu stood at the bow of the ship and began to cheer up the soldiers with a bounty.

"元気出してね!しばらく帰って,私たちは牛しゃぶしゃぶを食べに行こう!" Wulin is the only one who learns Chinese the fastest, so he became Shanyu's personal translator and was called a promising person by his peers. After Shanyu made his promise, Wu Lin hurriedly repeated it again in Japanese, while taking the lead in raising his hands to express his excitement.

Having received the promise of beef hot pot, the soldiers all cheered. The Japanese have not eaten red meat for nearly a thousand years because of their beliefs and lack of products, but when they arrived in Manchuria, some things had to be changed. There will be meat every three days in the new barracks, and the commander will look at it with a wooden stick that beats people, and who dares not to eat it. I can't stop eating this time, meat is a good thing, and fools know that meat is better than vegetable leaves. Moreover, the beef hot pot promised by Shanyu is improved by Japanese restaurants to cater to the Chinese, with a strong Japanese flavor, and they are even more loved by Japanese soldiers.

Because these patrol boats were originally designed as landing craft, the bow bottom was relatively flat and the seaworthiness was not particularly good. Shanyu stayed on such a ship for a day, and he also felt a little seasick, and Wu Lin only helped him to sit in the wheelhouse to rest. Today's patrol mission has ended, and the night work is not in their hands, so Shanyu gave the order to turn the rudder and sail back. But as soon as the helmsman turned the rudder, the observation post on the mast noticed an anomaly, and a merchant ship of considerable tonnage could be faintly seen in the reef area on the shore.

"It's all reefs, how can there be a merchant ship?" Shanyu returned to the bow of the ship, holding the binoculars he had just been issued with a closer look, and he also found the somewhat vague merchant ship.

"Squadron Leader, the work of the merchant ship's trek, the stranding there!" Wulin was the only one who almost became Shanyu's adjutant, so he helped Shanyu analyze it.

"Go over and see, they may need a tugboat!" Shanyu saw clearly that it was a wooden merchant ship of no small tonnage, and it really looked like a shoal stranded in the reef area.

Three patrol boats approached the shore, and Shanyu finally saw that it was a British merchant ship, anchored on the outskirts of the reef area, and was unloading cargo from a small boat to the shore. There were about a hundred or so people on the shore carrying goods under the command of a few chieftain-looking figures, and three or five small boats were running on both sides of the shore, and the only strange thing was that it was almost dark, but they had almost no torches and other lighting things.

It stands to reason that a soldier should have been sent over to inquire, but Shanyu's subordinates were all Japanese who could not even speak Chinese, so Shanyu could only go out in person. Relying on the fact that the patrol boat was a flat-bottomed boat and was not afraid of scratching the reef, Shanyu ordered the patrol boat to approach the shore. In fact, it is okay to get close to the merchant ship, but the merchant ship is too high, and the patrol boat is too troublesome to go up and down, and there happens to be someone in charge on the shore, so Shanyu is convenient.

"What's wrong with you? Stranded? Need a tugboat? Shanyu waded ashore, and when there was still a little distance, he shouted a few words to the other party.

"Thanks, it's okay, we're fine!" A white man greeted him.

"Why stop here, the boat is fine!" Shanyu got closer and found that a group of people were indeed carrying goods, and there was no suspicion of pirates, so she let down her guard.

"We got lost, we stopped here, and it wasn't very troublesome to unload!" The white man explained in broken Chinese, and he kept standing in front of Shanyu, as if he was deliberately blocking Shanyu's view.

"You guys can really make do, how troublesome!" Shanyu felt that foreigners were too good to deal with.

After a brief look at the fact that there was no abnormality, Shanyu was ready to leave, and the foreigners were not too troublesome to unload their goods in the reef area, which had nothing to do with them as soldiers, as long as they were not pirates. However, after walking a few steps, Shanyu reacted that something was wrong, unloading the goods at the port, in addition to convenience, also had to go through the customs entry procedures, and the customs had to collect customs duties. These foreigners found such a trick to unload the goods, it was not a miscarriage at all, they just wanted to avoid customs and smuggle and avoid taxes.

"You can't unload like that! Without customs registration, you are smuggling, and this goods must be seized! Shanyu turned around and came back, and let his subordinates light up.

Customs and the army are not the same system, and the soldiers generally do not have the kindness to stand up for the customs, but when it comes to smuggling, the soldiers are willing to take care of it, because they can make benefits. Not to mention that the military can receive meritorious service and receive awards for smuggling when it is discovered, but all the goods seized can be handled by the army, and this article is sufficient. Smuggled things are generally good things, whether they are used for their own use or sold, they are a sum of income. Shanyu is not short of money, but meritorious service is what he is very eager for, and he will get some extra money for these Japanese subordinates, and the team will be better in the future.

"Sir, we're not smuggling, we're trapped here, and I'll go to customs tomorrow to pay taxes. You see, I have a tax registration form, and I won't skip taxes. The foreigner took out a tax stamp to prove his innocence.

Shanyu scratched his head a little, the customs does have this kind of regulation, for individual tax-free or urgent goods, they will issue a tax registration form. The tax registration form is filled in with the details of the goods, and with this thing, you can file your own tax return or receive tax subsidies.

"Oh! It's good if you don't skip taxes! "Shanyu is very disappointed, people have credentials, and he has nothing to say.

But this time, Shanyu didn't leave, but stared at the foreigner who had been answering him. This guy was extremely nervous about Shanyu's return and rear, and he was sweating in the sea breeze. Thinking of these people unloading in such a remote place and not using any lighting tools, Shanyu felt that they must be tired.

"Send someone to unpack and inspect and see what they're shipping?" With a wave of his hand, three or five soldiers walked up to the busy workers, trying to open the wooden box to see what it contained.

Hearing that the soldiers were going to open the box for inspection, the foreigner's face became pale, and they were already starting to tremble a little. The soldiers opened the box, and inside was something like a large black pill, and the Japanese soldiers couldn't recognize what it was, so they could only take one back and show it to Shanyu.

"Opium!" Opium poppy is also grown in Northern Manchuria, which is used to produce heroin, and it has been introduced in schools everywhere, so Shanyu naturally recognizes it at a glance.

The Qing Dynasty was still ambiguous about opium, but Northern Manchuria had already reached agreements with other countries, and opium was classified as a first-class contraband, and no country was allowed to sell opium to Northern Manchuria. No one in North Manchuria, except for the government, was allowed to touch opium, and private trafficking in opium was punishable by death.

"Bang!" Shanyu was still surprised, but the foreigner made the first move, he took out * from his arms and shot Shanyu is shot, then turned around and ran into the sea. The porters on the shore also drew their short knives and roared and rushed at the panicked Japanese soldiers, who were in a panic because their beloved squadron leader had fallen in a pool of blood.

"Squadron Leader!" Wu Lin only hugged Shanyu and cried.