July 15, light snow.

The National Cemetery on the north bank of the Big Fish River is about to welcome its first occupant, where Denis Helwig, a Swiss immigrant who died in the July 13 Incident, will be buried.

The crowd attending the funeral stands at the entrance to the cemetery. Since yesterday's notice, many resting crossers and immigrants also rushed over. Ma Qianzu and a group of members of the Executive Committee stood at the front, who had been waiting for a while, a thin layer of snow on their clothes.

Soon, the coffin carried by Peng Zhicheng, member of the Army, Wang Qinian, member of the Navy, and other eight people appeared in everyone's eyes. At the front were two soldiers of the garrison with arquebuses on their backs, then Helwig's wife and daughter.

Helwig's wife and daughter, dressed in brand-new coats, walked in front of the coffin with a sad face. Behind them, Peng Zhicheng, Wang Qinian, and others in blue military uniforms, and behind the coffin, eight soldiers of the armed garrison marched slowly in two columns. Due to the lack of musical instruments, the funeral took place in silence. The whimpering of the deceased's family members and the heavy footsteps of the guard of honor mingled with a touching force.

Pastor Francis next to the tomb glanced a little embarrassed at his "assistant", the freshly baked assistant pastor Ye Yongxing, who smiled in return and handed him a handwritten funeral message by Gao Mo.

Pastor Francis could not forget the first meeting he had with this young assistant of his own. The young man who professed to be a Christian and his first words were "forbid all unreported missionary activity," which caused Pastor Francis to nearly break down. However, he soon discovered that the young man was not joking, and that Ye Yongxing, who had close contacts with the officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was in charge of all religious affairs in the territory, and the Reverend Francis had become a complete ornament.

Nowadays, only some celebrations or festivals can use him as a proper pastor.

The funeral procession entered the cemetery, and Peng Zhicheng and eight others carefully put the coffin into the grave that had already been dug up, and then dispersed.

Ye Yongxing gestured to Pastor Francis with his eyes. The pastor took a deep breath, reluctantly stepped forward, unfolded the message in his hand, and read it out to the families of the deceased and the crowd of spectators.

"Gracious Lord, you have never been far from every child, now please be attentive to those who are far from us. Denis Helwig from Basel died in a just war against the cruel and wicked Charrua, and Mr. Helwig was a good man who followed your teachings all his life and never transgressed anything. He fought for you, died for you, forgive him for his sins, and sent angels on his way, to be with him, to be his protection, so that his trust in you will never change. Give him wisdom and wisdom, and the ability to resist temptation, and to do all the work he does. that he may delight in doing his will, and that distance may not affect our fellowship; that we may watch one another, be faithful to the end, fulfill our respective responsibilities and duties, and glorify our heavenly Father together. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. ”

The Swiss Protestants who watched the ceremony prayed collectively, and the crowd experienced a solemn and sad atmosphere, and the scene was silent for a while.

When the prayer was over, Ye Yongxing pulled Pastor Francis aside. Ma Qianzu dusted off the snow on his clothes, took out a piece of paper from his arms, walked to the tomb and read it. This is a traditional Chinese funeral message that focuses on the life story and the meaning of Denis Hellwig's life. It took less than ten minutes to finish the whole story.

After Ma Ganzu finished his speech, the eight soldiers of the garrison collectively fired their guns to mourn, and then the family members said goodbye to each other. After the family said goodbye, the soldiers of the garrison began to fill in the graves, erect tombstones, and the funeral ended.

Before everyone dispersed, the Civil Councillor Xiao Mingli announced on the spot that five people were given the title of Freeman, namely the deceased Dennis Helwig, his wife and daughter, the wounded Christopher Grote, and his sister. Receiving the title of Freeman means that they are no longer indentured servants of the East Coast Company, but employees of the East Coast Company who have signed a formal labor contract, and enjoy the same standard of living as ordinary people every month, and their future is very different.

The more than 20 Swiss immigrants present looked at Helwig and Grote's families with complicated expressions after figuring out what Xiao Mingli had announced. They are all poor people who can't survive in Europe, and they came to America to make a living. It's hard to work here, but it's satisfying to be able to eat steaming noodles and rice every day, and occasionally some fish soup. But now that the families of the two have risen to the top, they will not only receive a certain amount of silver coins every month, but also taste delicious canned beef and jam, and perhaps wine; Thinking of this, the hearts of these immigrants are on fire: maybe I also have a chance to live a decent life? Just hard work or loyalty?

*********************

Dingyuan Fort.

Although it was snowing lightly and the wind was relatively strong, the construction team did not have the slightest intention of stopping work. The number of ships that came to the wharf today was twice as large as before, and in addition to a large number of building materials, the Executive Committee also delivered a large number of daily necessities to Yuanbao: flour, rice, soybeans, canned food and even valuable vegetables.

As the climate gets colder and colder, the executive committee is worried that the Dayu River will freeze, so it has been rushing to transport supplies for the past two days. The construction team is also working overtime, and the trench outside Dingyuan Fort has been basically dug up, and the two-meter-deep and three-meter-wide trench has introduced the water of Dayu Lake, forming a moat, giving everyone a great sense of security.

Construction in the fort continued, with dormitories, factories, wells and rainwater harvesting ponds completed before the Charuya attack. Today, the construction team is targeting rainwater sedimentation tanks, filtration tanks, and material depots, and the canteens, bathhouses, and toilets that are currently in use will be rebuilt into brick and concrete structures. In addition, there is the construction of fort walls and watchtowers, and the wooden walls and watchtowers are to be replaced with bricks, which is a big project, and it is estimated that the construction team will not be idle all winter.

Lin Youde leaned against the pillar by the dock a little depressedly, looking at the fishing team ships in the distance that were about to call it a day.

The joint investigation team sent by the "Central Committee" has been investigating him for two whole days, and the people from the War Department and the Ministry of the Interior are still relatively easy to talk and have a kind attitude; In comparison, Wang De of the Ministry of Justice is a little different, this guy was a partner of Bai Siwen when he opened a law firm, and he wore a pair of pants. has a dead face all day long, and he also visited everywhere to investigate Lin Youde's words and deeds and every move that night, fortunately, he didn't make any big mistakes that night, and the brothers were also very helpful, so he didn't catch any tricks in this section.

However, the construction team and the fish factory workers are in some trouble, and they have no influence, so they don't know what to say about themselves. On the night of July 13, I was indeed a little panicked, and it was the first time I had encountered this kind of thing, and I had no plan in advance, and I had no command experience, so it was understandable that I was panicked for a while. But the flaws are not hidden, didn't he stabilize the situation later? This is more convincing than anything else.

Moreover, the first thing to be chaotic that night was this gang of bastards, scurrying around, shouting and screaming, and they were all beheaded in ancient times. All of them feel that they are very awesome, unorganized and undisciplined, some people want to go east, some people want to go west, like headless flies. Afterwards, there were rumors about what would happen if he was in command that night.

Phew! It's all a bunch of stuff. Lin Youde took a sip hard. Let Lao Tzu get through this hurdle, and if you don't practice hard in the future, you Lao Tzu will not be surnamed Lin. Don't be too arrogant about that bird Wang De, didn't you just sarcastically sarcastically say a few words about you when you were in the logging team, this hates us, and your heart is small. Isn't Lao Tzu just not waiting to see your lawyer, grandma is a bear, and now he will kill Lao Tzu when he has the opportunity. Wait, it's not over! It's best not to run into my hands in the future.

Lin Youde blew the cold wind for a while, and the depression dissipated a lot. It just so happened that the fishing team's boat also finished work and docked, and today the harvest was very much, everyone talked and laughed, and returned to the fort together.

At this time, the food was being opened in the castle, Xiao Bailang was drinking a bowl of green vegetable and soybean soup, and when he saw that Lin Youde was back, he patted the seat next to him and said, "Xiaolin, come here, sit here." ”

Lin Youde took a bowl of green vegetable noodles and sat down as he said.

"What are you doing with a stinky face? Who is it for? Xiao Bailang snorted and took another big sip of soup: "Don't think nonsense, your little counts as a ball." Leaders are not fools and can distinguish right from wrong. Your performance this time is actually not bad, in the face of the enemy's night attack, you not only held the fortress, but also minimized the casualties. Overall, it was ok. ”

After drinking the rest of the vegetable soup in a few breaths, Xiao Bailang muttered a few more words: "The next work must be meticulous, and the rules and regulations, emergency plans, and training schedules must be carried out." Don't be as confused as before, work must not only pay attention to ways and methods, but also not be afraid of offending people, let it go, you can toss my territory casually. ”

Lin Youde was stunned, didn't speak, lowered his head and continued to eat noodles.