Chapter Eighty-Four: The Battleship

The thirteenth day of the first month of the first year of Song Qiande (963 AD)

On Qishan Island, everyone was busy, and in the afternoon, Zhao Zizhong was supervising the escort team to conduct queue training. A servant of the Cui family ran over and said breathlessly: "Mr. Zhao, the head of the family is here, and he has brought more than 500 homeless people. ”

Zhao Zizhong was very surprised, he asked Hu Shuiyang and Zhai Xiaoshan to send thirty guards to follow him, and the others continued to lead the team to train, so he led the team to run in the direction of the dock.

Twenty minutes later, he ran to the dock with his guards. He saw three brand-new sea-going ships docked on the pier, and the beach next to the pier was crowded with homeless people, and it was black.

Zhao Zizhong asked the guards to maintain order and walked towards the trestle by himself. When he came to the bottom of a sea boat, he saw Cui Daoshu talking to several people, including Wang Quan, the steward in charge of managing the displaced people.

He walked over to greet Cui Daoshu, and Cui Daoshu returned the salute with a smile, "Brother, you are here so soon, I will introduce you to someone." ”

Cui Daoshu pulled a middle-aged man and said, "Brother, this is Guo Jintao, it turned out to be an officer of the Mingzhou Navy Division, and he has a lot of experience in water warfare, so I took a lot of effort to dig it up." ”

Zhao Zizhong looked at this middle-aged man carefully, he was of medium height, a little thin, his face was black and red, and there were many wrinkles on his face. About forty years old.

Zhao Zizhong smiled and saluted him, "Welcome to Qishan Island, I am Zhao Zizhong, please give me more advice in the future." ”

The middle-aged man was a little frightened, and he hurriedly returned the salute, "Mr. Zhao, I have admired the name for a long time, I have been listening to the people of the Cui family talk about you these days, saying that the mandarin duck formation you trained is very powerful, and twelve people have beaten dozens of bandits to the ground." And there are no casualties yourself, you are a great talent! ”

Zhao Zizhong hurriedly humbled a few words and talked with Guo Jintao. From the conversation, it became known that he had been in the Mingzhou Naval Division for more than 20 years, and had gradually grown from a sailor to a middle-ranking officer, and was forty-six years old this year. Because he was old and tired of life in the military camp, he wanted to quit the Mingzhou Water Division. It happened that Cui Daoshu sent people to Mingzhou to dig up people, and many generals recommended him.

He didn't want to continue living at sea anymore, and wanted to settle down on land, but he couldn't stand the Cui family's stewardship, and promised a high salary, and promised to buy him fifty acres of land on Qishan Island, so he agreed to come here to serve as an instructor in water warfare.

At this time, Zhao Zizhong heard someone calling him on the boat, and he looked up to see that it was An Dalang standing on the side of the boat and waving to him.

Zhao Zi shouted loudly: "Brother, why don't you come down?" ”

"Brother, this ship is a new ship bought by the head of the family, and it will be our warship in the future, you can come up and take a look!"

Cui Daoshu said with a smile: "Brother, these three ships were ordered a few months ago, Mingzhou Shipyard has just handed them over to us, and they will be our warships in the future, if you are interested, go up and have a look!" ”

Zhao Zi nodded emphatically and invited Guo Jintao to go up together. The two boarded the ship along the gangplank, and An Dalang caught up with him and said happily: "Brother, the warship is new!" When I came, I ran very fast, and ordinary merchant ships did not have such speed, and if I fought with others in the future, it would be a big advantage. ”

Guo Jintao also said: "Mr. Zhao, I carefully inspected these three boats, and the workmanship is very good, and the wood used is also of the highest quality. The ship is slender and fast, making it a weapon in naval warfare. None of the ships of the Mingzhou Naval Division could catch up with our warships. ”

Zhao Zizhong was very happy, walked around the deck a few times, looked at it carefully, and asked Guo Jintao for advice if he didn't understand.

After more than half an hour, Zhao Zizhong was still unsatisfied, An Dalang came over and said, "Brother, the head of the family invites you to go down, there is something to discuss." He got out of the boat.

Cui Daoshu stood on the trestle and waited for him, and when he saw the three of them coming down, he said, "Brother, how is the situation in my family?" Are you still used to living there? ”

Zhao Zizhong replied with a smile: "It's all good, your mother goes out for a walk every day, saying that the scenery here is very good, walking around more every day, her physical condition is getting better and better, and she eats half a bowl of rice every meal." ”

"Oh, that's a great thing! It's better than staying in the manor! There were too many rules there, and my mother stayed at home every day and couldn't go out. ”

Zhao Zizhong continued: "Your wife and sister are also very busy, teaching children to read and write during the day and women to read and write at night, and every day is very fulfilling. ”

Cui Daoshu was very happy, "It seems that they are the right choice to come here, in the Cui family manor, everyone is suffocated!" After that, I made my home on the island and never returned to the manor. ”

Zhao Zizhong asked, "Do you have anything important to do this time?" ”

"Brother, the day after tomorrow is the Shangyuan Festival, I will celebrate the festival with you. The other is to send these three warships to you, and more than a hundred sailors. More than 500 homeless people were brought along the way, are there enough houses on the island? ”

"Enough, no problem at all, we've been ready for a long time."

Cui Daoshu nodded, "Let's go to the camp together, call all the brothers, and we'll discuss some things." ”

Zhao Zizhong asked An Dalang to help the guards straighten out the ranks of the homeless people, and asked Guo Jintao to settle the sailors. walked to the camp with Cui Daoshu. At this time, he saw several young women walking down from a boat.

There are six of them, all of them are young and beautiful girls, most of them are about seventeen or eighteen years old. They were all dressed exquisitely, and they were directing the servants to carry their luggage down, and for a moment the dock was filled with the sound of warblers and swallows, which sounded very pleasant.

Zhao Zizhong asked curiously, "Who are these women?" Is it the daughter of the Cui family? ”

Cui Daoshu smiled a little ambiguously, "Brother, these women are the maids I prepared for my brothers, you have to be taken care of!" ”

Zhao Zizhong was surprised, "To our maid?" That's too corrupt, isn't it? At my age, I can be their father! No, no, no. ”

Cui Daoshu said disapprerovingly: "Brother, do you follow the customs!" That's how it is in this era. It is very common for men to have more maids and concubines, and it is not a big deal. ”

Zhao Zizhong asked suspiciously, "Isn't it right?" That Zhe already has a Fang Ju Niang, why did you find another one for him? You're not afraid of a fire in his backyard? ”

"No, brother. I didn't prepare it for the third brother, and the extra one was for Zhai Xiaoshan. He saved my sister the other day, and you gave him money and land. I thought he only needed a mother-in-law, so I found one for him. ”

Zhao Zizhong laughed, "This kid is blessed, these girls are very beautiful, whichever one is given to him, he will make a lot of money!" ”

At this time, the two heard someone shouting in the distance: "Boss, Xiao Qi, I'm here!" ”

The two looked back, and it was Du Dalei running over. He came to the two of them and said breathlessly, "I, I heard...... I heard that there were a few more boats, so I came over to take a look, but I didn't expect it...... Xiao Qi also came. ”

He looked up and saw the six women on the side of the boat, their eyes immediately straightened, and their mouths opened wide. After a while, he asked, "Xiao Qi, who are these beautiful girls?" ”

Cui Daoshu wanted to tease him, so he deliberately said with a straight face: "They are all the daughters of the Cui family, and they came to the island to live temporarily for a while." ”

Du Dalei swallowed his saliva, "They are all beauties!" I don't know if there is a master? ”

"They are all married, and they are the ladies of the Cui family. Don't worry about them. ”

Du Dalei was a little frustrated, sighed and said, "Hey! Good cabbage has been arched by pigs! Why can't it be Lao Tzu's turn! ”

Cui Daoshu and Zhao Zizhong laughed secretly, and Zhao Zizhong pretended to be serious and said, "Don't think nonsense, you come with me, let's go back to the camp for a meeting." ”

Du Dalei reluctantly followed the two of them, and looked back at a few beautiful girls from time to time. Back at the camp, Cui Daoshu went to see his mother. Zhao Zizhong and Du Dalei found Cui Zhaorong and asked him to arrange manpower to prepare to receive the displaced people.

When Cui Zhaorong heard that more than 500 homeless people had come, he was a little excited and ran away like a chicken. At this time, Hu Shuiyang and Zhai Xiaoshan came back with the guards, and the team members lined up in a neat four-column and walked to the open space outside the camp singing.

"The sunset is red and the sun is flying

The escort training camp returned

Return the camp

The red flower on the chest reflects the rainbow

Pleasant singing was flying all over the sky

mi sou la mi sou

la sou mi dou ruai

Pleasant singing was flying all over the sky

One two three four! ”

This is Na Zhe's adaptation of the military song "Return from Target Shooting", which was sung by the guards with great momentum, and the people in the camp came out to watch it.

Du Dalei said: "This song is quite appropriate, it happened to be back from training in the evening, and the little teacher changed it well!" ”

Zhao Zizhong walked over and ordered the guards to rest in place. The guards all sat down, massaging each other's limbs and exchanging training experiences.

Zhao Zizhong said to Hu Shuiyang and Zhai Xiaoshan: "There will be more than 500 displaced people coming to the camp in a while, and you will bring the guards to help An Dalang maintain order. Let's work hard, and when the displaced people are settled, you can eat again. ”

Hu Shuiyang and Zhai Xiaoshan agreed, and Zhao Zizhong continued: "Arrange more people to patrol the camp tonight to prevent camp roaring." If there is a situation to suppress it immediately, you can't be soft-hearted, understand? Let's have a meeting after dinner and get busy. ”

The two went to arrange the night watch, Zhao Zizhong and Du Dalei walked to the middle of the guards and chatted with them.

After about an hour, the camp arrived, and the guards got up to maintain order, and for a while it was very noisy outside the camp, and it took a lot of effort for the guards to make the refugees line up in a phalanx. It was not yet out of the ranks that some disobedient people were beaten and tied to a stake.

Wang Quan walked up to Zhao Zizhong with the roster and said, "Mr. Zhao, this is the list of displaced people, there are a total of five hundred and sixty-eight people, and there are many of them. ”

Zhao Zi revisited his words and said, "Lao Wang, it's hard work. You go and take a break first, and we'll take care of it here. ”