The clear night sky was full of stars, the breeze blowing from the sea carried a little salty smell, and the damaged part of the garrison camp of Weihaiwei had been cleaned up, and everything seemed to be back to the calm days before. Except for a few who needed to be on duty to keep vigil, the rest of the soldiers basically slept.

The broken granary seemed to have not had time to be repaired, the four walls had collapsed on two sides, and a small fire burned in the empty granary, a low table made of a small wooden plank, on which was a plate of roast lamb, a plate of peanuts, and a pot of tea. Yes, yes, it's not wrong that a pot of tea is not wine, and alcohol is not allowed in the army, and this precept is well observed by Li Ba.

Tang Ming and Li Ba sat face to face in this granary, looking at the empty granary, Li Ba's eyes showed a wolf-like fierce gaze, but after inspecting it, he was indifferent. Just yesterday morning, this granary had just been filled with the grain grown this season, but last night it was looted by dozens of pirates.

Thinking that the brothers would have no military rations in the following days, Li Ba was heartbroken. If he went to Dengzhou Mansion to get military rations, needless to say, he would definitely not have a bag, but he didn't dare to open up to the superintendent. When he was desperate, he saw the relationship between Tang Ming and the Supervisor, which rekindled his hope.

"Brother Tang, brother, I Li Ba is a rough man in the army, I like to speak straight, now I will officially accompany you with tea instead of wine, I hope my brother will not worry about me as a rough person, you are a learned scholar, like the old saying that you can hold a boat in your stomach, I hope you will forgive me!" After Li Ba turned over his sadness, he brought the topic to business.

Although Tang Ming deliberately did not know anything like Li Ba, he didn't take the noon incident to heart. But now looking at Li Ba like this, he must have something to ask for himself. Although he has just been praised by the superintendent, he is still a small clerk, and he doesn't dare to take care of it lightly.

"Brother Li is too polite, and the little brother didn't take the noon incident to heart, so I will mention this matter again!" Tang Ming took the teacup and drank it all in one gulp, waved his hand and said.

"Hahaha, refreshing!" Li Ba also picked up the teacup and drank it all.

Li Ba wiped his mouth and continued: "Don't hide it from Brother Tang, my granary was just filled with harvested grain yesterday, but now it has become like this, the damn widow actually set fire to the granary after grabbing the grain." I have no food to use, without food, the soldiers can't continue, and now I'm a guilty person, I really don't dare to ask the overseer for food, so I dare to ask my brother to ask for food in front of the superintendent, no matter whether it is successful or not, the old brother will remember the brother's love. ”

"It turned out to be for food!" Tang Ming secretly said in his heart, this matter is not a big problem for him, and it is not impossible to help, but Tang Ming actually has a better way to use, it depends on whether Li Ba dares to do it.

Smiling slightly, Tang Ming didn't sell it, and said bluntly: "Actually, my brother doesn't have to ask the superintendent for food, and besides, the chance of success is not great, the superintendent is on top of his anger at this time, and this method is not the safest." The younger brother has a way to solve the eldest brother's urgent need, and it depends on whether the eldest brother has the ability to do it. ”

"Brother said it straight, it's okay, brother, I'm desperate now, what else don't I dare to do!" Li Ba's honest face was happy, and he grabbed Tang Ming's shoulders with both hands and shook it fiercely.

Tang Ming's thin skin and tender flesh can withstand the shaking of Li Ba like a bison, and Tang Ming, who was almost shaken and vomited blood, used his strength to eat milk before he broke free, and hurriedly retreated a few steps to make sure that Li Ba did not pounce again, then he covered his chest with his hand and said: "The younger brother followed his master to the sea and encountered an accident, and he was stranded on an uninhabited island, and there are many bison and wild horses on the island, if you can find a way to catch it, and then transport it back to sell it or exchange it with people for food, it is not up to you to arrange." ”

"That's right!"

Li Ba frowned and thought hard when he heard this, and only after a moment did he hesitate and said: "I don't know that the island that my brother said will take a few days to sail, I only have a few old sea ships here that the superintendent has replaced, if the trip is too far, I am afraid that the ship will not be able to arrive." ”

"And I don't have anyone under me who really knows how to sail, which is also a big problem!" Li Ba thumped his chest in distress.

Tang Ming breathed a sigh of relief lightly, and said slowly: "The island is not very far from here, the round-trip journey is about twenty days, as for those who know how to sail, I do have a candidate, but I will not be able to determine if I can let him help after I report to the superintendent." ”

Li Ba scratched his head and said with a sincere smile: "Since this is the case, Brother Lao has helped arrange this matter, and the elder brother has thanked him in advance." ”

"Wait for the good news, wait for the good news!" Tang Ming politely returned the salute.

"Brother is tired, my brother won't disturb your rest, I'll send you back!" Li Ba saw that the matter had come to this point, and he couldn't come in a hurry, so he had to wait for Tang Ming's news.

Before leaving, Tang Mingshun walked away the plate of roast mutton on the low table that had not been eaten, Xiaobai followed him ashore to eat the vegetarian food here, it is estimated that his stomach must be hungry now, this plate of meat is just good to take it for supper.

After a sleepless night and slept until dawn, Tang Ming was woken up by the two guards, saying that the overseer asked him to go to the big tent to meet him, but the two guards didn't say anything, just notified him and turned back.

After getting up and washing up, Tang Minglao felt itchy on his body, and then he remembered that he seemed to have not really taken a bath for more than ten days, and there was a great shortage of water on the sea, and wanting to take a bath was tantamount to a fantasy, and it seemed that he had to find a place to take a good bath.

Temporarily holding back the urge to take a bath, Tang Ming tidied up his clothes and called Xiao Bai, who was still sleeping lazily, and walked towards the big tent. The distance of more than twenty meters was a moment, and after receiving permission, he strode into the account.

I saw Zheng He sitting on the main seat in high spirits, drinking morning tea leisurely, Tang Ming's legs bent and wanted to bow down, but Zheng He stood up and said: "No need, there are no outsiders here who don't need to do this kind of vulgar etiquette, follow me to the neighborhood, by the way, check the environment here, Weihaiwei is an important stronghold of my navy, there is no room for the slightest mistake, if you feel that there is anything wrong after checking, you write a plan to me." ”

After Zheng He finished speaking, he got up and walked out with a group of guards, Tang Ming followed him but had mixed feelings in his heart, Zheng He wanted to follow him to inspect, this was obviously to consider himself, it was nothing more than that he was not confident enough in his performance yesterday. It may also be to test whether you really have a dabbling in military knowledge.

Naturally, there is no need to look at the barracks, when I came yesterday, I had already seen seventy-seven eighty-eight, and now I mainly look at the defense line of Weihaiwei. came out to inspect the defense line, but Li Ba, the landlord, did not appear, but Zheng He didn't care about this illogical thing at all.

Weihaiwei's defense line was mainly a one-kilometer-long shoal, this large area was too flat and no fortifications were built, but simply surrounded by a circle of wooden railings, and at a distance of about twenty paces there was a simple thatched sentry post, which could accommodate a soldier to stand guard here.

However, the high-lying and steep coastline is only sparsely defended by a few dozen people, and it is not fixed, but dozens of soldiers are divided into four teams to patrol in turn. Seeing this, Tang Ming already understood why the Japanese dared to come and attack Weihaiwei.

After some inspection, Tang Ming's current situation in Weihaiwei is already low, in short, the word 'rotten' is very bad. This kind of defense is like a child's house, not to mention the Japanese who have been doing illegal things at sea all the year round, even if they want to sneak attack, they can also touch into the guard without knowing it.

At noon, Tang Ming was left by Zheng He to eat together, during the meal, Tang Ming pointed out the places where he found that Weihaiwei's defense was insufficient, and was approved by Zheng He, and said with a smile after a compliment: "You kid does have ink in his stomach, and the miscellaneous family decided to let you stay and tidy up Weihaiwei, can you agree?" ”

Tang Ming originally had the intention to stay and help Li Ba, of course he didn't delay it when he heard the words, and he agreed to come down quickly, but now that he is right, of course he will not be polite, and took the opportunity to say: "Governor, the lower official wants to ask you for a good sailor Wang Datie, I hope you can be gracious!" ”

"What's going on?" Zheng He asked in a daze.

There was no way, Tang Ming had to repeat what he had said to Li Ba again after finishing the book. Zheng He laughed out loud when he heard this: "If you can really do this, the miscellaneous family promises you to ask for merit and knighthood, and as for Wang Datie, you don't need it." The miscellaneous family gave you my treasure ship to use, and now you are the responsibility of the Weihai Wei Overseer, this is the personal token of the miscellaneous family, if anyone dares to disobey your orders, you can take out the thing to control the power of life and death! ”

The thing Zheng He gave was a piece of mutton fat white jade, the size of the child's palm was oval, and a big Zheng character was engraved in the middle, this jade was crystal clear and extraordinary.

Tang Ming carefully took it and played with it in his hand, although he didn't understand jade, but Tang Ming was sure that if this piece of jade was to be sold in the future generations, it should never be less than 10 million. Tang Ming's little heart suddenly jumped up, and the first thought in his heart was to take it for himself, but looking back, it was better to forget it, it was really not cost-effective to bury his good future for a piece of jade.

The treasure ship was left to Tang Ming, and Zheng He could no longer continue to take the ship, but fortunately, Weihaiwei was not far from Dengzhou Mansion, and it would take less than a day to reach it if he rode over.

When Zheng He left Weihaiwei, in order to allow Tang Ming to gain a firm foothold here, he specially notified the whole army to promote Tang Ming to the overseer of Weihaiwei. When sending Zheng He off, Li Ba, who had disappeared for most of the day, finally appeared, this kid appeared in disheveled clothes, covered with dust from head to toe, and his spirit was not very good, but the smile on his face was from the heart.

Zheng He glared at him, didn't say anything, and took more than 20 of his subordinates to get on the horse and leave in the dust. As soon as Li Ba saw the superintendent leaving, he came to Tang Ming's side in two steps, and the big palm like a fan pressed the landlord's shoulder, and laughed: "Brother! Thanks to you, I went to see the old ships last night, and although some of them can be used to transport things, it is still no problem, and we are hopeful that we will go to sea! ”