Deng Shichang raised his hand and returned the salute, and went straight to the corpses. He raised his hand to uncover the white cloth covering the corpse www.biquge.info glanced at it, and then gently re-covered it.

These brethren ...... It's all for them...... Killed! Zhang Zongchuan looked at the corpses and couldn't help but shed tears.

Deng Shichang turned his head to look at the opposite side of the camp, where the green battalion soldiers were constantly stretching their heads and looking around.

"Commander Zhang, please come with me to the ship and see Lord Ding." Deng Shichang said coldly.

After listening to Deng Shichang's words, Zhang Zongchuan knew that the real test was coming, although he was a little panicked in his heart, he still maintained his composure on the surface, nodded at the moment, and left with Deng Shichang.

"My lord, you can't go!" A tall sailor soldier strode forward bravely, stopped in front of Zhang Zongchuan, and glared angrily at Deng Shichang.

Deng Shichang looked at him calmly and snorted: "Who are you?" ”

"My name is Wei Tonghammer! It's the water warrior in the camp! "The person who came came hugged Deng Shichang with a fist, which was regarded as a salute, and he did not kneel." Lord Deng! We respect you as a hero who fought away from the Japanese invaders, which is why we let you in! You want to catch my family and leave, no way! ”

He pointed to the officers and soldiers of the Green Battalion opposite, and roared angrily: "We just want Ding Futai to give us these broken wooden boats again to make up for the money owed to us!" What's wrong? When they came, they shot and killed so many of our brothers, why didn't we beat them? Why do you want to arrest us! ”

Listening to Wei Tonghammer's words, the officers and men of the sailor battalion shouted loudly again.

"Why do you arrest us!"

"Who dares to arrest us!"

Seeing more and more Shui Yong stepping forward, it seemed to indicate a new conflict, and Zhang Zongchuan hurriedly stopped everyone.

Li Chenglin held a clairvoyant mirror and saw this scene in the camera, and couldn't help but show a gloating smile on his face.

"Gotcha! Hurry up and bring back the bodies of the dead brothers, and let's evacuate! Li Chenglin ordered.

After listening to Li Chenglin's order, several officers of the Green Battalion under his command couldn't help but look at each other.

"My lord, let's just withdraw like this, Lord Futai, I can't explain it......" One of the generals expressed his worries.

"Humph! The Beiyang sailors have arrived, and Ding Futai is there, are you still worried about not explaining? Li Chenglin looked at the muzzle of the black hole that had already protruded from the gun door on the cruiser "Princess Heshuo" moored on the shore, and sneered, "This trip is muddy, let them come here!" Let's get out of the way! ”

Several officers of the Green Battalion immediately came to their senses, and hurriedly arranged for their subordinates to take the opportunity to carry the corpses, and then retreated.

At this time, Deng Shichang did not notice the movements of the green battalion soldiers, but looked at the sailor battalion soldiers led by Wei Tonghammer in front of him.

"Master Zhang really loves soldiers like a son, and he is deeply supported by his subordinates." Deng Shichang ignored Wei Tonghammer and the others, turned his eyes to Zhang Zongchuan, and said coldly.

Zhang Zongchuan's heart sank, of course he understood what Deng Shichang meant,

"Everyone, don't be impatient, I'll take Deng Guan to the ship and explain it to Commander Ding." Zhang Zongchuan said kind words to his subordinates.

Hearing Zhang Zongchuan say this, Wei Tonghammer and the others were silent.

"Since you are worried about Lord Zhang's safety, you might as well go to the ship with Lord Zhang and go to see Lord Ding." Deng Shichang looked at Wei Tonghammer and a few others, sneered, and said.

"Go, go! What's the big deal? Wei Tonghammer was enraged by Deng Shichang's sneer and said loudly.

"We'll go too!" Probably encouraged by Wei Tonghammer, several other sailor battalion soldiers also shouted.

"That's it." Deng Shichang just glanced at them, turned around and walked towards the gate of the sailor camp, Zhang Zongchuan hurriedly followed, Wei Tonghammer and others were about to step forward, but they were stopped by the Beiyang sailors.

The Beiyang sailors dispensed with their long knives and daggers, and Wei Tonghammer and the others saw their movements, their faces were full of contempt, but they did not resist, but let them take their weapons.

Seeing that the Beiyang sailors had seized the weapons of Wei Tonghammer and others, the officers and soldiers of the sailor battalion were all shocked, but they did not directly deal with the Beiyang sailors like the Green Battalion soldiers.

They have already seen that the strength of these Beiyang sailors is no less than that of the shipmaster sailors who defeated the Japanese invaders!

The Beiyang sailors surrounded Wei Tonghammer and them in the middle and escorted them to the beach.

Soon, the Beiyang sailors escorted Zhang Zongchuan and several of his loyal subordinates into the dinghy and sailed towards the "Princess Heshuo".

Not long after, Zhang Zongchuan and others came to the "Princess Pegatron", and when he stood on the deck, he felt dizzy when he looked at the novel scene around him.

For him, boarding a new steam warship is the first time since he came out of his mother's womb.

But he quickly regained his composure and focused on the situation at hand.

He saw Ding Ruchang.

The 39-year-old Ding Ruchang is dressed in a royal blue navy-style official uniform (the military uniform of the Beiyang Navy Division is also a reference to the shipmaster and sailor, with a distinct Lin style), a saber hanging from his waist, an officer's hat, and sitting on a Taishi chair in the middle of the deck, while beside him, several naval officers stand.

Although he is also the commander of the water division, at this moment, somehow, he has a feeling of being ashamed of himself.

"Commander Zhang, are you guilty?" Ding Ruchang said in a deep voice.

Without waiting for Zhang Zongchuan to answer, Wei Tonghammer took a step forward and said loudly: "My family Master Zhang is not guilty!" The brothers did it! We are forced to be helpless! What is the sin? Our grievances have nowhere to be redressed, and we can't wait for death when we see other people's knives cut over, right? ”

Hearing Wei Tonghammer's answer, Ding Ruchang and Deng Shichang were surprised.

For this thorn in the head, Deng Shichang thought that he was just a tenacious man, but he didn't expect that this person was thick and fine, and he was not confused, and in the face of Ding Ruchang's questioning, he actually explained the reason for the mutiny clearly in one sentence.

"Oh?" Ding Ruchang didn't think he was angry at Wei Tonghammer's remarks, but raised his eyebrows and asked calmly, "Then tell me, what grievances do you have to wait?" ”

"We are making trouble this time, not for anything else, just for this boat, and there is still arrears!" When Wei Tonghammer saw Ding Ruchang asking, he was not polite, and pointed to the wreckage of the ship that was still smoking on the shore in the distance and said loudly.

"That's right! We just don't want this boat! Another soldier who was honored as a sailor also stepped forward and said, "This fishing boat is originally a fishing boat, how can it be used as a combat boat?" The last time we were on patrol, we ran into pirates, and when we were defeated, the ship burned four of them to the pirates! Dozens of brothers died! The pirates didn't kill a few, they all ran away! ”

"Yes! Lord Ding! You are accustomed to steamers, majestic and majestic, and when you get to the sea, the pirates see the wind and flee, and we go out to sea on this boat, and the pirates bully us! It's hard for us to even protect our own lives, let alone protect the land and the people! Another Shui Yong, who was promoted to the rank of sailor, said.

"To go to sea to fight with this broken wooden ship is to send you to death! The imperial court has issued an edict, saying that it will change the steamer for us, but Ding Futai will give us these broken wooden boats! We are all old and young, but we don't want to die in vain! Wei Tonghammer looked directly at Ding Ruchang, punched his chest, and said loudly, "Lord Ding, we are also men who stand up to the sky!" Since entering this water division, I also want to protect my family and defend the country and make contributions! But it is difficult for a clever daughter-in-law to cook without rice! Such dilapidated wooden boats are waste! We didn't want to take it to death anymore, so we simply burned it clean! Besides, he Ding Futai still owes us half a year's salary! I can't open the pot at home! That's our brothers' money! He owes it and doesn't pay it, and breaks the wooden boat for us, what kind of heart is it? Do you want to wait for us to go to sea in these wooden boats, and let the pirates kill them, so he doesn't have to give the money? ”

Hearing the angry words of the soldiers of the Rongdeng Navy, Ding Ruchang was already in his heart, and he couldn't help but sigh secretly.

He really didn't expect that Ding Baozhen, who has always been known for his honest and fierce official reputation, would be such a scene when he was a master of Shandong under his rule!

At this time, Ding Ruchang's heart was full of sympathy for these lower-level officers and soldiers, and he also secretly admired the foresight of his immediate boss Li Hongzhang.

Li Hongzhang had already expected such a thing to happen, so he would send a notification ship from Tianjin and give him a strategy for dealing with it!

"Commander Zhang, what a few of them said, but the truth?" Ding Ruchang faced Zhang Zongchuan, whose face was a little red, and asked in a deep voice.

"Lord Ding, this is indeed the case." Zhang Zongchuan sighed, and habitually said, "Incompetent ...... under the mark" may be that he realized that he was wrong, and quickly shrunk the words behind.

In terms of official rank, he is also the commander of the Dengzhou Naval Division, and he is at the same level as Ding Ruchang, the commander of the Beiyang Naval Division, but he is on a new steam warship like the "Princess Heshuo", facing the neat and majestic officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Naval Division and the majestic Ding Ruchang, he is still unconsciously a head shorter in his heart, so he has the sentence just now.

As the saying goes, a soldier is the power of a general, and a soldier is the courage of a soldier. The reason why he, Zhang Zongchuan, faced Ding Ruchang and felt a head shorter, was not because these old sailors were too bad compared to the Beiyang sailors!

"Commander Zhang, a few of them picked you up about this, right?" Ding Ruchang followed Li Hongzhang's prior explanation, straightened his face, and said in a deep voice.

"It's none of their business, it's my opinion, but I didn't expect the brothers to be too angry to do such things." Zhang Zongchuan was shocked when he heard Ding Ruchang's unkind words, and hurriedly defended Wei Tonghammer and others.

"Someone! Take a few of them down for me! Ding Ruchang ignored Zhang Zongchuan, but pointed at Wei Tonghammer and the others, and shouted loudly.

"Who dares to come up!" Wei Tonghammer was furious, and suddenly raised his fist the size of a sand bowl, and roared loudly.

Deng Shichang sneered, waved his hand, and the two Beiyang sailors slammed into front of Wei Tonghammer.

Wei Tonghammer let out a loud shout and swung his fist at one of the sailors, but the sailor was extremely nimble, and he dodged Wei Tonghammer's blow with his head sideways, and his hands were already stretched out like lightning, climbing on his arms, and twisting his arms at once.

Wei Tonghammer was startled and was about to shake him off, but another sailor also grabbed his other arm and kicked him in the crook of the leg.

Wei Tonghammer only felt a sharp pain in his legs, and he was unsteady on his feet, and his huge body fell heavily on the deck at once.

Before he could react, a rope had already tied him up.

Seeing Wei Tonghammer being tied, the rest of the Dengzhou sailors were shocked, and two of them were better with Wei Tonghammer, and subconsciously wanted to come to the rescue, but they were also captured by two Beiyang sailors.

After a while, all the Dengzhou sailors on the deck were captured and overturned.

Seeing his subordinates being captured, Zhang Zongchuan was at a loss for a while, and cold sweat trickled down.

"Lord Ding! Spare them! It started because of me! It's none of their business! I'll be the only one to blame! Zhang Zongchuan was so anxious that he knelt on the ground and pleaded with Ding Ruchang.

"Commander Zhang, as well as these brothers of the Dengzhou Sailor, it's not that Ding is not emotional, but it is really the law of heaven and the country, and Ding is not allowed to talk about his personal feelings." Ding Ruchang stepped forward and helped Zhang Zongchuan up.

"Commander Zhang, you are kind-hearted, sympathetic, and refuse to accept the boat, which is true, but you are not strict in control, and even burned the sailor's boat, this crime is difficult to tolerate, do you understand?" Ding Ruchang stared at Zhang Zongchuan and said loudly.

"The lower official is guilty!" Zhang Zongchuan was in a hurry, and said the word "Xiaguan" again.

"Someone! Dengzhou sailors bravely gathered a crowd to mutiny, and each of the first people who did this was whipped twenty! Ding Ruchang shouted loudly.

"The surname is Ding! You dog! ......" Before Wei Tonghammer finished speaking, his mouth was stuffed with a white cloth towel, and then two Beiyang sailors stepped forward to drag Wei Tonghammer up and tied him firmly to the mast.

"Execution!" Deng Shichang glanced at Zhang Zongchuan, who was pale, and turned his head to his subordinates and ordered.

A member of the ship's military band beat the drum, and with the sound of drums, a Beiyang sailor walked towards the Wei copper hammer with a long whip with nine whip tips.

Seeing the whip in the hand of this sailor, Zhang Zongchuan's eyes widened in surprise.

"The punishment of this 'nine-tailed cat' is the system of the French English sailors, Lord Zhang thinks it is the first time I have seen it, please take a closer look." Deng Shichang smiled slightly and said.

Hearing that this whip was called a "nine-tailed cat", Zhang Zongchuan's eyes flashed with surprise.

The nine-tailed whip held in the hands of the Beiyang Navy is also known as the nine-tailed cat, which is a kind of multi-strand soft whip, which was originally used as a torture tool for heavy corporal punishment in the British Royal Navy and the British Army, and has also been used in law enforcement corporal punishment in the United Kingdom and some other countries.

The reason why it is called "nine-tailed cat" is not only because it has nine whip tips, but because the parallel scars it causes are like those caused by cat's claws, hence the name.

This nine-tailed whip consists of nine knotted cotton cords, about 70 centimeters long, and its design is such that it is used to tear the skin, which causes intense pain. The reason why it generally has nine strands is due to the traditional method of braiding rope. Three yarns are braided into one thin cord, and three threads are braided into one coarse cord. At that time, people untied a thick rope into three thin ropes, and then untied into three thinner ropes, so that it became a nine-tailed whip.

The nine-tailed whip used by the British Royal Navy was only commanded by the captain, so it was also called the "captain's daughter". All formal punishments, decided by the captain or court-martial, are solemnly held on deck. The entire crew was to gather to "watch the punishment". The drama of the whole punishment is also heightened by rituals such as drumming and resting, whipping, and drinking.

The sailor who was executing followed the drum beat and walked towards Wei Tonghammer, and when he reached the execution position, the drum beat stopped, and then the nine-tailed whip was raised high, making a sharp sound in the air, and hit Wei Tonghammer's back fiercely.

With a crisp sound, Wei Tonghammer's back clothes were instantly shattered, blood flowers scattered in all directions, Wei Tonghammer's body let out a violent convulsion, it may be that he couldn't bear such pain at all, Wei Tonghammer screamed, and the cloth towel on his mouth couldn't stop him from screaming.

The power of this whip alone made the faces of the soldiers of the Dengzhou Navy Division who were tied down and kneeling there look like earth.

The whip whip whipped on the back of Wei Tonghammer again and again, and after five whips, Wei Tonghammer could not stand it anymore and fainted, then the whip stopped whipping, and a sailor stepped forward and poured cold water on Wei Tonghammer's head, and after he woke up, the whip man whipped again.

Twenty lashes, Wei Tonghammer's back was already dripping with blood, two sailors stepped forward to loosen his ties, he could no longer stand, and suddenly fell to the ground, one of the sailors took out the cloth towel in his mouth, he let out a gasp like a cow, supported the ground with his hands, and wanted to stand up, but after several attempts, he still did not stand up. He turned his head and looked at Ding Ruchang, his eyes full of resentment.

"This whip is to punish you for gathering a crowd to mutiniate and burning the warship." Ding Ruchang noticed Wei Tonghammer's eyes, knew that he was not convinced, smiled slightly, and said, "But you refused to use the boat, expose the treacherous scheme, and protect the overall situation of the court, but you have merit and should be rewarded." ”

Wei Tonghammer originally planned to scold Ding Ruchang after taking a breath, but after listening to Ding Ruchang's words, he felt something, so he immediately stopped, his eyes widened, looking at Ding Ruchang, waiting for his next step.

"Someone! Reward him with five hundred taels of silver! Two bottles of rum! Ding Ruchang turned his head and ordered, "Take it to him!" Call the doctor again and treat him! ”

Listening to Ding Ruchang's words, Wei Tonghammer couldn't help but have black eyes, his heart was beating violently, and he almost fainted again.

He didn't know what kind of rum Ding Ruchang rewarded him, but he really heard "five hundred taels of silver"!

Five hundred taels! Five hundred taels!

You know, for a poor family like his, five taels of silver is enough for their whole family to live a whole year of prosperity!

Hearing that there was a reward of five hundred taels of silver to be taken, Wei Tonghammer was in ecstasy, and the wound on his back felt less painful.

After a while, a sailor brought a tray in front of him, on which were neatly placed ten large silver ingots of fifty taels and two bottles of red wine.