"What a one-in-a-million bear and tiger man!" Liu Cheng's eyes showed appreciation, at this time there was only Yue Tuo left in the encirclement, there were twenty or thirty corpses lying on the ground, at least half of them died at the hands of Yue Tuo, in the era of cold weapons, he was able to kill so many opponents who were also wearing armor on foot, this was already one warrior in a thousand, not to mention that Yue Tuo's skills should be mostly on horseback and bow and arrow, so it seems that Nurhachi's group of nephews are really amazing. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Seeing that the general showed such appreciation for the enemy, several generals beside Liu Cheng exchanged glances, Hao Shaoqi and Gesang stood up and said in unison: "My lord, please let the last general capture this thief alive!" ”

"No need!" Liu Cheng smiled: "You are all my flesh and blood, this Yue Tuo is just a trapped beast fighting now, why let you risk fighting with it?" Gesang-" Liu Cheng pointed at Yue Tuo's thigh and smiled: "If you shoot an arrow at that guy's thigh, don't hurt his life!" ”

"Yes, sir!" Gesang took off the horn bow at his waist with some disappointment, he knew that Liu Cheng wanted to capture the opponent alive, so he only took a light arrow, aimed at Yue Tuo and shot an arrow, which hit the opponent's inner thigh, Yue Tuo's right leg was weak, and he immediately knelt down. The sergeants on both sides hurriedly rushed up and captured him alive.

"Hold it down, find a doctor to treat his injuries, and tell the Governor that the city has been taken, Kong Youde has been seriously injured and died, and the chief Yuetuo will be captured alive!"

Quanzhou, Anping City.

"Young master, Anping Bridge has arrived!"

A voice woke Wang Dacheng from his sleep, he ran to the side of the ship to look north, only to see a dark shadow on the vast sea, he squinted his eyes, and built a pergola on his forehead with his right hand, covering the stray light reflected from the sea level, and vaguely saw a stone bridge across the sea, connecting the two ends of the bay. Seeing this stone bridge, Wang Dacheng breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and said, "Lower half the sail and lower the oar!" ”

With Wang Dacheng's order, the sailors lowered their sails, then lowered their oars, and rowed vigorously to the sound of the helmsman's horn. The boats were full of old fur seals, and with the rhythm of the waves, the clipper was like an arrow from the string, speeding towards the shore. But half a sound of kung fu, the boat is only more than 100 steps away from the stone bridge, this stone bridge is the famous Anping stone bridge, up to 2 kilometers of stone bridge across the sea, connecting Jinjiang Anhai Town and Quanzhou Shuitou Town, and this Anhai Town is Zheng Chenggong's hometown, he returned to his hometown after his career to buy land and build a house, renamed Anping City, located at the north end of the stone bridge, and there is a port protected by the water city, in fact, Zheng Zhilong Group's trading base and military castle.

At this time, it was past noon, Wang Dacheng could clearly see that the stone bridge was full of people coming and going between Anhai and Shuitou, after Zheng Zhilong was recruited, he swept away the pirates along the coast of Fujian, and the local security was much better. There were many boats moored on the water next to the bridge, and a three-masted gunboat was slowly cruising on the water, and a large flag hanging on the mast in the middle was embroidered with the words "Guerrilla General Zheng". Wang Dacheng wanted to go around and dock by the bridge, but the gunboat came sideways, and an officer on the bow shouted at Wang Dacheng and told him to lean over immediately.

"Young Master, what should I do?"

"Just as he said, lean in!" Wang Dacheng hesitated slightly, waved his hand and motioned for his subordinates to lean over. As a former pirate, he still has an instinctive fear of the Ming official army, but this time, since he wants to report to Zheng Zhilong, sooner or later he will have to pass this level, and he can only grit his teeth and survive.

As soon as the clipper approached the gunboat, the officer on the opposite side jumped up and asked in a rough voice, "Where did you get this boat?" What kind of prohibited goods are carried on it, but there is a flag issued by the Haiphong General's Office? Before the words fell, a few more soldiers jumped down from the gunboat, and without saying anything, they picked up and searched the ship. Wang Dacheng is no stranger to this style, he forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart, and lowered his voice and said: "This adult, the villain is from the big man, and he has something important to meet the guerrilla general (Zheng Zhilong)!" ”

"Huh!" The officer burst out laughing as if he had heard something extremely funny, and he turned back to the soldiers behind him imitating Wang Dacheng's tone and said, "The villain is from the big man, and he has something important to meet the guerrilla general!" You say it's funny or not, how many things do you have to deal with every day, how can any cat and dog see it? This guy didn't know where he came from, but he also wanted to see the general, and he dared to think that this was the Wangye Temple at the entrance of his village, and anyone could go in and worship him! “

"You-!" Wang Dacheng forcibly suppressed the anger in his chest, arched his hand to everyone, and said in the local dialect of Nan'an: "This brother, my father is the old guerrilla general, and he was ordered by the general to be on the side of the general, and there is something important for the villain to come overnight to report the news, the general He has seen the villain, and he knows if it is true or false at first sight, so why should you bear this responsibility?" ”

The officer listened to Wang Dacheng's Nan'an dialect, his demeanor was neither arrogant nor humble, and his heart couldn't help but move, he looked Wang Dacheng up and down, and snorted coldly: "You come with me!" ”

Wang Dacheng followed the officer to the gunboat, turned back to his subordinates behind him and said, "You guys park the boat, find a place to eat and rest near the bridge, and I'll come back to you as soon as the matter is over!" ”

The three-masted gunboat entered the water city, and Wang Dacheng went ashore with the officer, passed through the bluestone city wall, and entered the Zheng Mansion under the guidance of a personal entourage. The main structure of the mansion is a mountain-style five-bay room with thirteen frames, three doors, two fire lanes, and five courtyards. On both sides, the wings, pavilions, pavilions and pavilions are opposite each other, and the ring is listed as a barrier. There is "Dunren Pavilion" in the east, there is "Taiyun Building" in the west, the front hall is "Catholic Hall", and the middle hall is "Xiaosi Hall", and the scale is magnificent. Behind the big house, there is a "Zhiyuan Garden", which is protected by the wall, and is sparsely covered with hills and ravines, pavilions, fine houses, ponds, small bridges, winding paths, beautiful trees, and exotic flowers and plants. Wang Dacheng is just the son of a local tyrant, and he can't help but be fascinated in his eyes, as if he has entered the fairy palace. Just when he secretly sighed that he hadn't come in vain and opened his eyes, the person pushed open an ear room and said coldly: "You go in and wait!" ”

"Yes!" Wang Dacheng subconsciously entered the house, and when he saw that the relative was about to leave, he hurriedly grabbed the other party and said, "This little brother, I have something important to do here from Dayuangang, how long will I wait!" ”

"How do I know!" The pro was annoyed, and pulled back his sleeve from Wang Dacheng's hand: "You are honestly waiting here, if you run around and collide with nobles, be careful of your head!" With that, he brushed his sleeves and left.

Wang Dacheng waited in the house for almost two hours, his mouth was dry, his stomach was hungry, he saw the sunset, it was almost time for dinner, but he couldn't say that it was Zheng Zhilong, and he didn't even bring tea, he couldn't bear it anymore and found a bangzi at the door, pushed the door to the corridor and knocked on the bangzi hard, while shouting: "Someone, come quickly!" It's on fire here! ”

Wang Dacheng's move was really effective, and in the blink of an eye, more than a dozen people ran over, led by a burly young man with a thick beard, and shouted: "Where is the fire, where is the fire?" ”

Wang Dacheng threw the bang in his hand to the ground and said with a smile: "There is no fire, I have something important to tell the general, and I want to find someone in charge!" ”

Everyone was furious when they heard this, and a few hot-tempered people were about to step forward to beat people, but the young man raised his arm horizontally and said coldly: "Okay, don't you have something important to tell the general?" You say! ”

Wang Dacheng looked at the young man and asked hesitantly, "Who are you?" What I'm bringing is important news, and I must personally present it to the General! ”

The young man sneered: "The general has something important to go to Fuzhou, and it is I Zheng Cai who is in charge of this Anping City!" ”

When Wang Dacheng heard this, he hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, and said, "The villain greets Leader Zheng!" It turned out that Zheng Cai and Zheng Zhilong were both from Shijing Township, Nan'an County, Quanzhou Prefecture at that time, and Zheng Zhilong was a brother of the same clan, and he was about ten years younger than Zheng Zhilong, so he was not one of the famous "Eighteen Zhilong" worshippers. But with his personal ability and close relationship with Zheng Zhilong, his status in the Zheng Group rose extremely quickly, and by this time he was already Zheng Zhilong's confidant. Although Wang Dacheng has never seen Zheng Cai, he has also heard of it.

"That's it, get up and speak, if you lie to me, you will have your own good looks!"

"Yes!" Wang Dacheng kowtowed again, stood up, stared at the few people behind Zheng Cai, but did not speak. Zheng Cai understood what he meant and motioned for everyone to stand back. Wang Dacheng just told the news that Dayuangang was attacked by the Ming army and that the city of Geransha was besieged. Zheng Cai listened, and his expression became more and more serious. He thought for a moment and asked in a low voice, "You said that there is a Spanish plywood ship in the Ming Army's naval division?" ”

"Not bad!" Wang Dacheng nodded: "The villain can see very clearly, there is the badge of the Spaniards on the big ship, and the shape of Xiyi's ship is completely different from that of the Ming Dynasty, there will be no mistake!" ”

"Hmm!" Zheng Cai nodded, he believed that Wang Dacheng would not be wrong about this, at that time, most of the Ming army used fortune boats, sand boats, etc. as war ships, which were completely different from the ships used by Western colonists.

"Could it be that a group of pirates joined forces with the Spaniards to pretend to be in the name of the Great Ming King?"

"It's possible!" Wang Dacheng thought for a while: "But I don't think it's very likely." ”

"Why do you say that?"

"Leader Zheng, the villain's father has been at sea for more than 20 years, and the villain has seen not a hundred or eighty sea leaders, but he has seen anything like it. But the temperament of the people I saw that day was completely different, and the soldiers were well-armoured and the firearms were even sharper, not to mention the villain, even the father couldn't see the slightest flaw, and I really couldn't think of which leader had such ability! ”

Zheng Cai didn't speak, but he also quite understood what Wang Dacheng meant, it was already the seventh year of Chongzhen at that time, and the other pirate forces on the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty were all pressed by Zheng Zhilong to raise their heads, he really couldn't think of any such strong force on the sea that could dare to besiege the fortress of the Dutch, you must know that although Zheng Zhilong defeated the Dutch in naval battles many times at that time, but it was all in the offshore sea or bay, once it entered the wide ocean, the ships were taller and bigger, The Dutch, with more firepower, were better able to play to their advantage. But the sailors of the Ming provinces were too late to defend themselves, so how could they go to the lonely overseas to attack the Dutch?

Zheng Cai hesitated for a while, and finally decided that he should first send an urgent envoy to Fuzhou to inform Zheng Zhilong of this matter before making a claim. Thinking of this, he said to Wang Dacheng and Yan: "I will immediately report this matter to the general, you will rest here for a few days, and when the general comes back, I will give you an answer!" ”

Capital.

By about the time of Mohai, the streets of the city had been cleared, and the roads looked particularly gloomy. Due to the fact that the border breaking alarm has not yet been lifted, soldiers are stationed at important intersections to check for pedestrians who may pass by. Paper lanterns are hung on both sides of the road, and when the cold wind blows, they sway under the eaves and look even darker. With the help of this poor light, it is possible to see the notices posted on the walls of the gates of the streets. In the long and narrow alley, the listless husband carried a small lantern and a bangzi, his figure was not in the present, and the slow-paced sound of the bangzi was swept by the cold wind, which sounded even more desolate.

Zhou Yanru sat in the sedan chair, his face was not good-looking when he just came out of the palace, his originally fair and plump cheeks looked pale and haggard, there were already a few deep crow's feet at the corners of his eyes, and his eye sockets were also a little dark. He hadn't slept well for several days since he broke the border. This morning, he got up at the fourth watch, and then Chongzhen discussed with several of their ministers about increasing the number of troops and salaries, and he bore the brunt of it as the first assistant. In the face of Chongzhen's questioning, Zhou Yanru felt quite powerless. From Chongzhen's words, he could feel the urgency of the Son of Heaven to "make great efforts", but subjective wishes are one thing, objective reality is another, whether it is to fill the army or increase salaries, in the final analysis, it is to ask for more money and food, that is, to raise taxes. Zhou Yanru knows very well in his heart that today's empire is like a broken ship full of loopholes, it can barely survive in such a perfunctory way, and if it really wants to "make a difference", it will cause even more trouble.

But what bothered Zhou Yanru the most was not these things, but in the conversation with Chongzhen, he felt more and more obviously that the Son of Heaven was bored and distrustful of himself, and his honeymoon period with the young Son of Heaven had long passed, although the other party still kept saying, "Then entrust it to Mr. Zhou", in fact, he was more and more meeting with other cronies and courtiers behind his back, which was not a good sign for a first minister. After all, the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty is not the real prime minister, in the final analysis, he is just the chief secretary of the Son of Heaven, and if he loses the trust of his boss, this secretary will naturally not be able to live for long. (To be continued.) )