Chapter 139: Passing Old Age

These pirates kneeling on the ground spoke with extremely difficult accents, and they didn't understand the first few words at all, but this "Daming Water Master, Zheng Daguanren" still understood, Li Meng was stunned at first, and then he was shocked, is this an officer and soldier? Before he could speak, the pirate team began to curse:

"How can the name of a big official be nonsense, what a disaster!"

This accent is the voice of Lu Nan and Nan Zhili to the north, but this side is scolding, and those few people with difficult accents still can't stop kowtowing and begging, and crying:

"Don't kill us, we will spend money to ransom us."

Speaking of this, Li Meng felt a little familiar, and tried to ask:

"You're Cantonese?"

"These barbarians are from Fujian."

Li Meng smiled and nodded, the words "Zheng Daguanren", "Fujian" and "pirates" were finally linked, and it was also mentioned in the newspaper in October, saying that Zheng Zhilong, a guerrilla in Fujian's coastal defense, would join forces with Guangdong soldiers to attack the big pirate Liu Laoxiang, Liu Laoxiang set himself on fire and threw himself into the sea, and the coastal pirates of the Ming Dynasty were purged.

This is one of the only few historical celebrities that Li Meng knows, if you want to say why, that is, in modern times, all historical and political events involving Taiwan must always be written about, and Zheng Chenggong's family has been erected as the ancestors of cross-strait reunification.

The subordinates of the coastal defense guerrillas are really the Daming Naval Division, but just like the Li Mengjiao Prefecture garrison who received Yanding, the subordinates of the Zheng guerrilla also have a lot of merchant ships.

Li Meng smiled and nodded, it was rare to have an acquaintance, I thought it was very interesting, and the people who begged for mercy thought that begging for mercy had an effect, and they said desperately:

"This time, I don't know Mount Tai, and I collided with your tiger power, as long as we are let go back, my big officials must send gold and silver mountains."

Everyone knew that this person was fooling the clouds and mountains and fog covers, but Li Meng asked with a smile:

"Didn't your six ships come from Fujian?"

“…… It's ...... in Haizhou."

Sure enough, they came over from the base camp of the two Huai salt merchants, and the six big ships were powerless to intercept them on their own side, and they should have known the news over there, in that case, let's exchange these prisoners for some silver taels, didn't they say that there was a ransom? There are still many people in the family waiting for their New Year.

Ignoring the captives who were crying and begging for help, Li Meng walked up to Chen Liu and Wang Hai and said:

"These people are locked up with the rattling captives, and they are watching each other, and they are told to renovate the salt pans and salt works here and there, so that they don't starve to death."

After a few more commands, Li Mengzi left with his personal guards, Chen Liu and Wang Hai discussed for a while, and sent a cavalryman to shout:

"If you have relatives or friends from the same township, report them quickly, and then we will be assigned a place to live with you."

The rest of these captives saw Li Meng leaving, and when they left, they were so pretentious, knowing that their lives were saved, and when they heard the soldier shouting, they didn't suspect anything, and they just reported it, no matter what they did these years, they paid attention to the same clan and fellow villagers, even if they were thieves, and they really had a pair of brothers, and the rest of the uncles, nephews, and cousins also had a lot.

"Pull out one of each pair of relatives and pick the ones that are closest to you."

Chen Liuzi said coldly, the soldiers of the Jiaozhou battalion immediately took action, and pulled out several pairs of pirates who had reported their relatives, and everyone looked at each other, not knowing what was happening, Wang Hai said loudly:

"From today until the first day of the second month, you go to the steward to pay you a ransom, there is no news on the first day of the second month, the relatives were killed first, and on the fifteenth day of February, all the remaining people will be beheaded, go!"

It was a hostage left, and it was a real threat, and when they reacted, these pirates immediately panicked, and there was actually a person who could ride a horse, anyway, he was not afraid that they would run away, and he gave a horse directly, roughly explaining the road, and saw these people galloping towards the south.

Li Meng's salt pans and salt farms have always asked others to work, and they have always paid a clear price, and they will never delay a penny of wages, but the cost is relatively high.

The excavation of the salt pans and salt fields is not a small project, and the manual labor required is not satisfied only by those who work in the salt pans, and if the hired labor is hired to dig and level, this really requires a lot of money and grain, and the 50,000 taels of silver have just been proposed, and the turnover of Li Meng's system is very tight, and if the labor fee is not taken out, the production of the second year will be delayed, and if it is taken out, other uses will be tight.

These captives are really gifts to the door, the soldiers of the Jiaozhou battalion always have to take military salaries for daily operation, and it doesn't cost much to watch these captives work as coolies outside of training, so whether it is the horse thieves in Dengzhou or the pirates over there, they are all under the threat of spears and broadswords, and they work miserably during the New Year.

Li Meng only returned to his manor in Fengmeng Town on the afternoon of the first day of the Lunar New Year, and today's New Year will not be as lively as last year, Ma Gang and Zhao Neng are guarding everywhere and can't come back, and there is a bastard thing about pirate invasion, so he simply took his family to his side for the New Year.

As for Ma Yuxing, it was because the old man was unwilling to move, so he was just left alone. Chen Liu and Wang Hai led their men to garrison the seashore, one was to guard against pirates, and the other was to suppress and supervise the captive slaves.

Speaking of which, Wang Hai and Chen Liu were also a little depressed, according to Li Meng's words, let them make a great contribution and then transfer back to their original positions, who would have thought that several battles were too smooth, just like chopping melons and vegetables, it turned out that after a group of people pushed over, the battle was almost over.

There were not even a single casualty, but such a big victory was not necessarily a great achievement, at least not very convincing. As a result, now Zhao Neng and Ma Gang are already more than 1,000 people each, and they are not far from the position of President Qian, but they are in a hurry.

Since returning to Jiaozhou, Li Meng has fought several battles with bandits and pirates from all walks of life, all of which are overwhelming victories, and his heart is also refreshing, and Miss Yan has given an unprecedented reply, which is also a good year for Li Meng, and he is also happy this year.

Coming to the Spring Festival of this era, even if it is with those people under his command to celebrate the New Year, those people are always with a little respect, although there are many people, but there is a little less festive atmosphere, to be honest, it does not mean much, although Li Meng is young, but also to consider the thoughts of the people below, after eating enough, he will leave the table under the pretext of making the people below make trouble.

This year was a little different, although there was almost only one person sitting at the same table with him, but it was more lively than when there were more people than before.

There is no other reason, because Zhu Yunyao is here, this must be the first year that a girl has lived in the people, and she is not even at ease eating dumplings on the table, it is rare for a girl to have such a big playfulness, the charcoal stove and fire wall in the house are hot, and the whole house is a little too warm.

The door of the house facing the courtyard is so open, there is no need to have personal guards in the courtyard of this inner house, it seems a lot more private, and the families of those servants and women will go to the New Year after sending the prepared meals, and there are many dishes on the table in addition to the necessary dumplings.

These dishes must not be as delicious as the delicacies of the palace, but the freshness of this material must be better, and Zhu Yunyao eats it very fragrant, but he can't sit still, there are some firecrackers on the side of the house, and there is an incense burner lit with incense, but the incense sticks are not used for worship, they are used to light firecrackers.

Zhu Yunyao didn't eat a few bites, picked up a firecracker, lit it and threw it outside, then covered her ears and ran back to the dining table, staring outside, after the explosion sounded, the girl repeated it again.

She stood up and sat down non-stop, Li Meng's side of the meal is also restless, but the girl is so lively, but there is a very festive atmosphere, according to his requirements, there is a small charcoal stove on this table, the charcoal stove is bone broth, some fresh fish and shrimp are washed to remove the scales shell and internal organs, cut into slices and put on the plate, naturally there is also a good mutton, this is also better than nothing to eat hot pot.

When Zhu Yunyao sat at the table again, Li Meng opened his mouth and smiled:

"You came to Shandong to be crazy like this, you really don't want to go home at all, look at yourself, your face is a little frostbite."

The skin on the girl's face and hands has become a little rough after running outside during this period of time, but it is not as delicate as after the first meeting, Zhu Yunyao looked indifferent, and said with a smile:

"It's much more interesting here than Kaifeng, every year when it comes to the New Year, the palace is stuffy, and there are all kinds of rules and etiquette, and it's more tiring than usual?"

Li Meng smiled, picked up a piece of mutton and threw it in the pot, the casserole on the charcoal stove was already boiling, it was cooked when it was scalded, and it was put into a soy sauce dish and dipped in it, Li Meng found that he didn't know what to say next. The relationship between him and the girl is like that of relatives and brother and sister, although they have not been together for a long time, they seem to be familiar with each other, Li Meng's side is mostly military and economic affairs, and the girl's side is shopping around all day long, and there are not many common topics.