The sea breeze gently stirs up waves and crashes on the hull of the ship under sail, splashing countless droplets. Tang Ming held the side of the boat with both hands and looked into the distance, and Xiao Bai lay beside him lazily basking in the warm sun. Five days of continuous progress has almost arrived in Weihaiwei, as long as you stop in Dengzhou to replenish the supplies, you can go directly to Tianjin Port!

"Bang, bang!" There was a sound of footsteps from far and near, Xiaobai glanced up and ignored it, and continued to bask in the sun quietly.

The person who came was Wang Datie, who was praised by Zheng He last time and rewarded him with ten taels of gold, and after being promoted to one level to take charge of the logistics of the whole army, he was already convinced by Tang Ming. Under the deliberate approach, the relationship between the brothers is growing rapidly, and it is almost time to insert incense and swear to worship the son.

"Oh, I said Tang Ming! You hid here early in the morning so that I could find it. Wang Datie had a smile on his face, shouting from afar.

The corners of Tang Ming's mouth hooked up a hint of arc, and he turned around with a light smile: "The eldest brother is running all over the boat to find the younger brother so early, I don't know what is going on?" ”

Wang Datie walked in front of Tang Ming in a few steps, and couldn't help but pull him back: "I just received a message from the superintendent, ordering you to prepare first, and follow him to Weihaiwei to inspect it!" ”

"Weihaiwei?"

Tang Ming was confused, wasn't the itinerary set to dock in Dengzhou? How did you change to Weihaiwei? Seeing that Wang Datie seemed to be very happy, Tang Ming couldn't help asking, "Brother Wang, why is this?" Isn't it until the port of Dengzhou that the ship will dock? ”

Wang Datie's footsteps did not stop, and when he heard this, he laughed and said: "Brother, I didn't say you, the day when you will be promoted to an official and make a fortune is not far away." I just saw the envoy from Weihaiwei hurriedly board the overseer's treasure ship, and soon I received an order from you to accompany the overseer to inspect it. I guess someone from Weihaiwei has arrived, and I just received the Inspector's fleet here, so I apologized and asked the Inspector to come over. But the overseer asked you to go with him, and there must be something good waiting for you. ”

While talking, the two had come to Tang Ming's room, Wang Datie urged him to change his official uniform quickly, although he was full of questions, but under Wang Datie's urging, Tang Ming had to change his clothes and tidy up his appearance first.

The two guards of the overseer came to the door and asked Tang Ming to go to meet the superintendent immediately, and Tang Ming, who was in the clouds, had to follow. The entire fleet had stopped moving forward, and Zheng He's treasure ship turned around and sailed out of the center of the fleet, heading towards Weihaiwei.

Tang Ming was directly taken to the bow of the ship by two guards, Zheng He held the railing on the side of the ship, and even had a sword on his waist, looking at the direction of Weihaiwei with an expressionless face. There was a little pale eunuch standing beside him, and his slightly trembling legs should have been frightened.

The guard stopped a few steps away and then clasped his fists in his hands and reported loudly: "Inspector Qi, Tang Ming brings it!" ”

"Subordinate Clerk Tang Ming see the Inspector." Tang Ming felt that the atmosphere seemed to be a little depressed, and it was obvious that there was nothing good waiting for him as Wang Datie had guessed.

Only then did Zheng He turn around and face Tang Ming, waved his hand back to the frightened little eunuch, and then said to Tang Ming gently: "Come and talk!" ”

When Tang Ming walked forward slowly and staggered past the little eunuch, the little eunuch looked at him curiously, not knowing why the superintendent was kind to this child.

Zheng He slowly took a sip of tea, sighed suddenly, and said: "The Japanese have been harassing in the coastal area of our Ming Dynasty for a long time, and we have always taken strict precautions, but the method of preventing thieves for a thousand days has had little effect. Sending a large army to encircle and suppress and can not catch them all, the cunning Japanese robbers are broken into pieces in the vast sea, divided into countless sporadic squads of large and small sizes, and hide as soon as they see our army coming, and the army comes out again to plague my Ming land, which is really a headache. ”

Tang Ming was slightly stunned when he heard this, and he didn't know why Zheng He suddenly mentioned this matter to himself, the Japanese robbers burned, killed and looted in the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty, which was already known to everyone in later generations. However, as a person in the future, if he did not come to the scene in person, he would only scold him a few times at most, and if he wanted to say how much hatred he had, he didn't have it.

Zheng He picked up the teacup again and took a sip of tea, his eyes inadvertently glanced at Tang Ming, and seeing that he was unmoved, he spoke again: "Just like this time, Weihaiwei was attacked by the Japanese last night, and half of the entire town guard post was turned into ruins, and the soldiers suffered heavy casualties, such a regrettable fact is distressing!" ”

Drinking the tea in the toast, Zheng He's hand shook it hard, and the teacup suddenly shattered into several pieces and fell to the ground, two sharp rays shot out from his eyes, and the two little eunuchs waiting beside him were so frightened that they almost knelt on the ground.

Tang Ming was also surprised, as the so-called companion of the king is like accompanying the tiger, in this era of respect for the emperor, human life is as cheap as grass. It seems that Zheng He, as the supreme ruler of the navy, has hated the attack of the Japanese invaders. It's just that until now, Tang Ming still didn't understand why Zheng He wanted to say this to himself, and for a while, he was embarrassed.

Fortunately, Zheng He didn't let Tang Ming think too much, and then said: "Although my fleet has developed to a considerable scale since its establishment, there is a shortage of talents. Tang Ming! ”

"The subordinates are here!" Tang Ming immediately sang a promise.

"This governor decided to accept you as a righteous son, and after returning to Beijing this time, I will send you to the Tai Academy, although your pancakes are ordinary, but the dry food for my Ming soldiers marching is still quite effective. I have reported this matter to the emperor, I believe that the reward will come soon, if you can make achievements in the attack on Weihaiwei, I will guarantee you to be knighted. With sharp eyes and an unquestionable tone, Zheng He didn't give Tang Ming room to choose at all.

What else could Tang Ming do, he had to kneel down obediently and thank him. As he spoke, the treasure ship had stopped unconsciously, because Weihaiwei did not have a port, only a small wharf, Zheng He's treasure ship could not dock, so he had to change to a small boat.

As soon as I went ashore, I saw that the small wharf had become devastated, and there was a small puff of smoke rising from the place where the guard was stationed in the distance, a black-faced man with a big knife on his waist, and four sergeants were waiting at the wharf behind him, and when he saw Zheng He coming ashore, he knelt on the ground with a thud, and shouted loudly: "Li Ba, the captain of the Weihaiwei garrison, knocked on the superintendent, Weihaiwei was attacked by the Japanese last night, and his subordinates failed to hold it, so that our army suffered heavy casualties, and the grain and grass were looted, and his subordinates deserved death for incompetence!" ”

Tang Ming saw that many places on the bodies of the four kneeling people in front of him were splashed with dried blood, and their armor was also damaged, so it could be seen that there must have been a bloody battle last night. Xiao Bai also seemed to smell the smell of blood from the four of them, and a fierce light erupted in the wolf's eyes, circling around Tang Ming's side uneasily.

Tang Ming touched Xiaobai's wolf head a few times to calm him down, and then he heard Zheng He's voice say: "Li Ba, you really deserve to die, if it weren't for the lack of talents under this Governor, I would have kept you until now." Where are the two captured widows, this superintendent will personally interrogate! ”

"Thank you for the grace of not killing!" Li Ba got up and led the way in front, with no smile on his face that had escaped, and his face was still as dark as ever. The three sergeants behind him had expressions on their faces.

A moment later, the group had already arrived at the barracks of Weisu, which was located at the exit of the Bohai Sea and was also an important stronghold for the maritime defense of Dengzhou Prefecture, with a garrison of as many as 300 troops. It is a pity that the defensive line is too long and the forces are too scattered, which is easy to give the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of.

A low stone wall enclosed the barracks in the middle, and more than a dozen of the sergeants' tents were burned, and as soon as you stepped through the camp gates, you could smell the smell of blood mixed with the smell of burning, wafting in the wind throughout the camp. Dozens of sergeants were cleaning up the battlefield, and more than 20 corpses in black night coats were haphazardly stacked on chicken buses.

Dozens of disabled Ming soldiers were arranged in a clean tent, and two military doctor-like Lang Zhong were bandaging the wounded sergeant, and snorting in pain came from time to time.

Zheng He glanced at it casually when he passed by, then frowned, his face showed displeasure, and asked in a condensed voice: "Weihaiwei 300 soldiers and military doctors are equipped with 10 people, and the soldiers are injured, why are there only two military doctors treating them?" ”

"Supervisor Qiqi, Weihaiwei is indeed equipped with 10 military doctors, but Li Xing's father-in-law only sent two, and the remaining eight are just used to fill the number, so there is nothing to be done about it!" Li Ba's face was gloomy, Li Xing was Zheng He's sworn enemy, none of the things that involved him could be put in place, and he couldn't find a place to ask for an explanation, such a dumb loss could only be swallowed in his stomach every time.

"Okay, you Li Xing, it seems that you are really here with a miscellaneous family! Then don't blame the miscellaneous family for being ruthless. Zheng He was so angry that his teeth itched.

"Inspector Qiqi, there is another matter that my subordinates don't know whether to talk about or not." After a little hesitation, Li Ba still gave up.

"Speak!" Zheng He had already come to the outside of the big tent, walked straight to sit on the main seat, and said with an unkind face.

Hearing this, Li Ba suddenly knelt on the ground with a thud, his face showed no anger, and he said bitterly: "Since the last general was ordered by the superintendent to guard Weihaiwei here, there has never been such a thing as today, and it is the fault of Dengzhou Mansion that it will be successfully attacked by dozens of Japanese robbers, and it is not caused by the fact that the defenders of our guard are not heroic in killing the enemy." ”

"What do you mean by that?" Zheng He's pupils shrank slightly, as if he had guessed something. Li Ba used to be his pro-army, and he was raised with one hand, although he didn't have a smart head, but he was also a first-class fierce general, let him guard Weihaiwei, and it stands to reason that he would never be successfully attacked by dozens of Japanese robbers. There must be something else going on here?

Tang Ming hung up high, standing beside Zheng He with his eyes slightly closed, just now all the way, he had already found that there was no place to train soldiers and horses in this guard, the strange thing was that there seemed to be less than ten horses in the entire guardhouse, the whole barracks looked more like a farm, and the sergeants all seemed to be malnourished, with dishes on their faces. If such a soldier can win a battle, then there is a real ghost.

Compared with the soldiers on Zheng He's fleet, the defenders of Weihaiwei are like peasants with weapons in their hands, they are more than brave but have no murderous atmosphere in the barracks, and the usual training must have been abandoned for a long time. Tang Ming was very curious about what Li Ba was suffering!