"If they are not of my race, their hearts will be different! Brother Bai understands the righteousness and is willing to accept the imperial court's recruitment and join the sailors to fight against the alien barbarism, and the official is very pleased. For the details of Zhao'an, the official will then order the Yamen of Yousi to come up with a specific proposal, and then discuss it with Brother Bai.

Brother Bai rest assured, the imperial court's intention to recruit peace is very sincere, I will report to the imperial court, and first come up with a plan for your arrangements, treatment, official ranks, station, military salaries and other matters after recruiting peace, it will not make you empty-handed, and there is no clear explanation for the tens of thousands of people under your hands."

Bai Xiaocao raised her eyebrows, and hurriedly got up and said: "Thank you, my lord, Bai Xiaocao is willing to lead the department to be loyal to the court and serve your lordship from now on."

"Well, you live first, now the Westerners are looking at the delay, it is estimated that you don't have the heart to live here permanently, the official will set up a banquet for you to wash the dust in the evening, and then talk about it in detail, and then you will rush back to the island, restrain your subordinates, and don't conflict with the Westerners for the time being."

Bai Xiaocao said with some surprise: "My lord, the Westerners have just occupied Manchuka, and the local people are unstable, so they should take advantage of this opportunity to deal with them.

Yang Ling smiled calmly and said: "Brother Bai doesn't have to worry, the country has been established for a long time, these Westerners have just arrived, and they completely suppressed the local natives with artillery and muskets, how can they subdue the hearts of the people so quickly?" As for the follow-up ships, they were thousands of miles away, and even if this Western pirate fleet was actually the regular army of the other country, it was impossible to send a huge fleet to the East.

As far as I know, the country is not very large, with a population of no more than two million, and there are often maritime disputes with the surrounding nations, which must be used by the fleet to defend the country, and with the difficulty of making long voyages to the sea and the difficulty of supply, a large fleet will not come."

Yang Ling thought of Adney's mention of the pirate ship anchored in Luzon, obviously not the same group as Manchu Thorn, but they are both Westerners, if they join forces, then their combat strength is enough to fight with the fleet of the Daming Sailor and Bai Xiaocao, but he didn't want to tell Bai Xiaocao this news, so as not to cause him to panic even more, Yang Ling said: "The six warships of the Japanese are from my Daming Sailor, this matter must have been known to Brother Bai for a long time, and now it seems that the artillery of the Westerners is indeed peculiar, but Brother Bai does not need to be afraid, you accept the imperial court's recruitment, It is the army of the imperial court, if the Westerners take the initiative to attack, you can quickly send someone to report to the official, and the official will join forces with you to fight it.

No matter how sharp the Western artillery is, our ships and artillery are at least ten times as sharp as him, and with their numerical superiority, it should be enough to annihilate them all. However, knowing that the other side can win all battles, this official does not want to fight an uncertain battle, and now that the rebellion of the Japanese is imminent, and we will devote all the strength of the sailors to destroy this Western pirate, our losses are too great.

On the one hand, I will concentrate on annihilating the Japanese first, and on the other hand, I will send people to infiltrate and understand the Western pirates, grasp their weaknesses, and win the war at the lowest cost, so as to minimize the losses of the fleet of the sailors and your white ship master."

Bai Xiaocao sighed: "Before today, the grass people only knew that the adults had Shura means, but now they know that the adults have the heart of a bodhisattva, and it is the blessing of the grass people to be able to cast under the adult's door." Xiaomin obeys the orders of the adults, waits for the good news of the adults, and only gives an order from the adults, and the Xiaomin will do my best to fight with the Western pirates! ”

Don't look at Bai Xiaocao's generosity, in fact, he also had to do it as a last resort. On the one hand, he was of Han Chinese descent, and at that time, the sense of national superiority of the Han people was much higher than that of the Eastern and Western countries, and he and his group of arrogant and untamed pirates were required to obey the ghost-like Western red-haired ghosts, and even these pirates would rather die.

On the other hand, now that Wang Meiren in the East China Sea has openly opened up and accepted the imperial court's recruitment, the sea dog and the snow cat in the north have been pinching his lifeline to the north, Bai Xiaocao's life is all in Nanyang, and now he is blocked by Westerners, no wonder even if the Westerners don't fight his idea, his way of life has been cut off, and it is strange if he doesn't do his best to hug Yang Ling's thighs.

Yang Ling knew it, and said with a smile: "With the words of the white ship owner, this official is relieved." The owner of the white boat accepts the imperial court's recruitment, you and I fight against foreign aggression together with the enemy, as long as we make great contributions, at that time, we can add officials to the knighthood, and seal the wife and the shadow of the son, not only the people of Fujian are praised as a good man, with an orthodox background, from now on future generations can also be upright, and the glory and wealth can be enjoyed! ”

Bai Xiaocao was thrilled when he heard this, nothing else could tempt him, but it was a great temptation for the people to let future generations get out of the pirate career, enjoy the glory and wealth with dignity, pass on the Bai family incense, and worship the Bai family ancestral hall. Bai Xiaocao's heart was hot, and he hurriedly thanked him again, and then Yang Ling's personal soldiers took him to find a place to rest for a while.

As soon as he left, Yang Ling hurriedly sent people to summon General He, Governor Liu and others, as well as his staff, to discuss matters with them. He Zongbing and Liu Zhifu were bargaining in the temporary office hall of the prefect over the value of the Yiren girl, and the two had just negotiated a little and agreed to sell it for two thousand six hundred taels of silver.

The two of them each took what they needed, one increased a large amount of military salary, and the other got a charming beauty. He Zongbing smiled, Liu Zhifu was itching, he was about to hand over the silver to lead the people's efforts, and when he heard that the governor was in a hurry, the two of them hurriedly rushed over the matter.

After listening to Yang Ling's introduction, the smiles on the faces of the two suddenly disappeared. Liu Xun said: "This is really the front door to reject the tiger, the back door to enter the wolf, the lower officials have also heard the news that Manchurian is occupied by Western pirate ships, but there is only one palace guard in Manchurian Jia, there is no regular army at all, it is really easy to be destroyed by someone, so I didn't expect this pirate to be so powerful."

Yang Ling nodded and said, "Exactly." So no matter what Bai Xiaocao's purpose was to ask to see the official, this first official wrote it down for him. If it weren't for him to understand the true strength of the Westerners, and to regain Manchurian in the future, he would have used troops carelessly, and our army's sailors would have been."

Speaking of this, Yang Ling couldn't help but shudder when he imagined the tragic situation of dozens of warships of the newly reorganized Fujian Navy Division being wiped out and thousands of soldiers sinking into the sea, as well as a series of political problems and passive situations caused by the fiasco.

His staff headquarters collected talents from all walks of life in the army, among which there was an old man who was an ordnance officer of the Nanjing Ordnance Bureau, Yang Ling asked him: "Old Zheng, the Westerners are good at firearms, their cannons are more than three times faster than ours, and the rate of fire is not as fast as theirs.

The officer is curious, why is the rate of fire of the Westerners' artillery so fast? What's the secret in that? According to Zheng Lao, can our artillery increase the rate of fire again? ”

Zheng Laobai's eyebrows tightened, and he hesitated: "If that Bai Xiaocao didn't speak, the old man really couldn't understand it." The old man has studied firearms all his life, and as long as he touches it with his eyes closed, he can find out the specifications and functions of various artillery, but he really can't think of any universal method that can be three times faster than the rate of fire of our artillery. ”

"My lord, the advantage of firearms lies in the ability to hit far away, and to destroy and break solid, which is beyond the reach of bows, crossbows, knives and arrows. However, firearms have always had many shortcomings, such as being affected by the weather, inconvenient transportation, slow rate of fire, and difficult maintenance. Therefore, it can only be used in conjunction with bows and crossbows.

In the case of heavy artillery, no matter how it is improved, its basic process is always irreducible, first of all, it is necessary to fill the gunpowder bag and fixings, and then use the push rod to push the gunpowder bag and fixations to the bottom of the barrel, and then put in the shells, after everything is ready, pierce the gunpowder bags with a lead, and then aim and ignite, and immediately after the guns are fired, the sparks at the bottom of the barrel must be extinguished, wiped dry with a dry cloth, and then the charge must be reloaded.

The gunners who have not been seriously trained are naturally slow, but judging from the interval between the fires described by the adults, they are two to three times faster than the most skilled gunners. ”

"No!" Yang Ling was silent for a while and said: "Bai Xiaocao is used to seeing the wind and the rudder, even if he wants to accept Zhao'an, he will deliberately slack off in order to reap more benefits." He owned more than 40 warships, and the rest of the more than 50 merchant ships also had combat functions, and if he had not been frightened by the Westerners, he would never have taken the initiative to join the imperial court. ”

Everyone in the hall discussed and expressed their opinions, and Yang Ling was bored with a single opinion on the Westerners' artillery, and he paced in the hall anxiously, suddenly remembering the slave girl that the sea dog gave to him.

Judging from the girl's elegant temperament and fine skin and tender flesh, she was not a slave girl who did rough work at all. There are a few calluses on her palms, which are formed by the friction of often holding a sword and a gun, and she is a Francophone, and she has been adrift on the sea for so long, if there is any mystery about the firearms of Westerners, it is impossible for her not to know."

Yang Ling had a glimmer of hope in his heart, stopped and said: "No need to discuss it anymore, let's go back and get busy, at present, our main focus is still on suppressing the widows." I will send a secret agent to pretend to be a merchant to investigate the situation first, and then make a decision after getting further information, so let's disperse! ”

All the officials and staff members got up one after another to say goodbye and leave, only to see the old master Zheng, an armament expert, frowning and muttering as he walked: "How is it possible?" How is this possible? The process of loading gunpowder and shells is not reduced, and it will never be so fast, and the rate of fire is so fast, it is easy to dumb fire and blow up the chamber, and the barrel does not need to be maintained? ”

He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he almost crashed into the pillar next to the door, and stood there awake before he muttered and walked on. Yang Ling stood in the hall, and suddenly saw Governor Liu pulling on General He's sleeve, and said as he walked: "Lao He, Lao He, will you let me take people away tonight?" ”

"you, the sperm is in the brain, isn't it? You are all concubines in five rooms, old pervert", Mr. He did not return to the tunnel.

"That's not what I said, who is not rare to be a delicate little beauty? The adults have promised me, you kid don't want to take advantage of me, right? Oh, my ugly words are ahead, you dare to cuckold me, I'm in a hurry with you! Shall I not be able to pay the money immediately? ”

"Surname De, think I'm like you? Think less about women and more about business, and if you delay business, your head will have to hang on the head of the city."

"This is not blowing, I have done my business cleanly and neatly, and none of the things that have been explained by the adults will be backlogged until tomorrow."

The two of them talked in unison, pulling and pulling out. Yang Ling shook his head and smiled bitterly, and suddenly raised his voice and shouted: "Big stick mallet!" ”

Liu Dabang mallet now replaced Wu Hanchao and was appointed as the commander of his pro-army, and when he heard this, he immediately stepped into the door with an arrow step, and responded in a loud voice: "Mark it down!" What does the marshal command? ”

Yang Ling said: "Go, you immediately take someone to Suzhou, escort Miss Adney to Fuzhou for me, you must go to the starry night, send me someone safely, just say that the official is in a hurry." Hmm".

When he said this, a charming and charming face suddenly appeared in his mind, remembering that the woman was so tired that her face was haggard and her bright eyes lost their brilliance in order to deal with official business for herself.

He slowed down his tone and said: "Please come together in the second gear, this official will move the Governor's Mansion to Fuzhou until the end of the war against the Japanese!" ”

The Fujian War Situation gradually reversed its decline due to the fact that the officers and men of the seven guards took the initiative to avoid the battle everywhere. The 40,000 army watched more than 1,000 heads fall to the ground at the same time, marching all the way, their feet were covered with blood, that kind of terrifying picture and cold murderous aura, so that they understood for the first time in their hearts what is national law and what military discipline is.

When they arrived at the front line, although they did not dare to take the initiative to provoke a large number of Japanese pirates, all the officers and soldiers and generals at least from the beginning thought of going to war, instead of asking around where the Japanese were and quickly fleeing to avoid the battle.

They lacked training, and although their individual combat strength and courage were inferior to those of the Japanese Invaders, they had an advantage in armament and numbers, and thus formed a momentum of resistance with the Japanese Invaders. At first, when they encountered a small group of Japanese robbers, the officers and men of the guard station dared to fight with all their might, but they did not understand the temper of the governor, and because of the disparity in strength between the enemy and us in victory, they felt that they had nothing to brag about, so they only dared to narrate the process in the war report they presented, and did not dare to show the slightest tone of asking for merit and reward.

However, the governor's palace does not care whether you are a thousand men fighting forty or not, and every time you report a victory, you will immediately describe it vividly, and then copy it to all the guards, praise the officers and soldiers of the generals and colonels who have made meritorious contributions, and strictly order the local government to gather the gentry and celebrities to go to pay their respects.

The two troops were stationed not far away, and the people praised them for their victories, and the local government beat gongs and drums to bring pigs and sheep to condole, and the soldiers raised their eyebrows one by one. When I arrived at the mouth of the meal, the smell of stewed meat in a big pot wafted from the wind from the station, which soldier didn't see it? Which officer with troops can feel at ease when he sees it?

At first, the officers and men of the various ministries and guards began to gather enough strength to send scouts to search for a small group of lone widows, and as soon as they got the news, they rushed out of the nest and swarmed like water dogs.

In front of the fathers and villagers, these soldiers never felt that they were as important as they are now, they were the backbone of the people, the saviors of the people, and that kind of worship and welcome made them gradually realize the responsibility and glory of a soldier.

With the extermination of a small group of Japanese pirates, the Japanese people also noticed the changes in the Ming army, and did not dare to send a small group of Japanese pirates to harass around, and there were at least hundreds of people each time.

But by this time it was too late, a group of people who were originally timid as mice, they were at first afraid to fight a wolf, and then they were brave enough to fight a few wolves, when the wolves knew that they were afraid, and began to form a group, these timid soldiers had become bold hunters, and began to take the initiative to provoke with great interest, and regarded the wolf as an opportunity to send military merits and rewards to themselves.

At this time, the Japanese in Shandong and Jiangsu had been almost wiped out, and the Japanese who tried to escape back to the sea were tightly blocked by the Ming army's naval division and the Yueben naval division, and the joint operation blocked the only way to return to Yueben, and the Japanese who escaped by sea almost did not miss the net.

At the same time, the sailors who were strapped for military expenses tasted the benefits of the slave trade, and now that the imperial court had allowed the open sale of prisoners of war, they began to take advantage of the island's proximity to the Chinese coast to search island by island, eliminate a small number of pirates responsible for the island's defense, and bring a large number of women and children back to the land for auction.

Nowadays, it is said that there are frequent wars and chaos in the country, and the pirates who live in China to plunder are engaged in high-risk murder and make a lot of money, so most of the wives and concubines they hired and bought, and the women they snatched from Korea, Ryukyu, Yizhou and other places are also quite attractive, and the women of these countries and places are obedient and more humble and submissive to men than the women of the Ming Dynasty, so they are very popular with the local gentry.

What Yang Ling didn't expect was that this kind of profiteering business attracted the attention of the Jurchens, in addition to hunting, digging mountain ginseng, grazing seasons were busy, some greedy and risk-takers began to form a rudimentary fleet to sneak attack the coast of Korea and Yueben, kidnap women and then sell them to the Ming Dynasty, they did not have a unified banner, and the people gathered were also poor people who could not live in Korea and Yueben, so the above two countries could not figure out their way for a while.

Yang Ling really didn't expect this kind of side effect, but although the imperial court explicitly forbade it: non-prisoners of war were not allowed to buy and sell privately. However, private trading is still thriving, and this kind of black market trading with both supply and demand is simply not banned.

These transactions are all secret transactions, the people who buy the wealthy compound do not understand the language, and they usually can't show their heads, plus a considerable number of the captives feel that the current life is very different from before, and most of the Han customers are not cruel and abusive, so they are not willing to go back at all, even if they find out many people, they cooperate with the owner to deny that they were taken captive.

Yang Ling was busy with the war in Fujian, deploying, appointing generals, selecting soldiers, rewarding letters, and also contacting and recruiting the four major pirates of the East Sea and preparing strength to deal with the pirates of the Manchurian and Western Oceans.

At this time, Yang Ling was sitting on a chair reading a large stack of military and civil affairs files that had to be personally signed by the provincial political envoy, and two little girls wearing thin clothes and light pants behind him were gently fanning him. At that time, the clothes were really troublesome, Yang Ling was so hot that he couldn't take care of the appearance of the official, he was shirtless, and he had a wet towel on his shoulder.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Handsome! Handsome! Humble and bring back the head of the stall and Miss A! ”

"Oh?" Yang Ling was overjoyed, and hurriedly stacked the following copy and rushed out. Under the winding corridor, I saw Liu Dabang standing there, sweating profusely and shouting happily, Yang Ling was surprised: "What about people? ”

"Huh?" Liu looked left and right with a mallet, smirked twice, flashed to the side, and saw Cheng Qiyun standing there gracefully, with light clothes and green sleeves, like a jade man, and the black-haired Adney stood behind her.

Every time Yang Ling practices martial arts now, his muscles are quite impressive, but he has never suffered since he was a child, and his skin is extremely white. It was the first time for Cheng Qiyun to see Yang Ling's image, she first widened her eyes in surprise, then covered her mouth and smiled, and stepped forward lightly and said, "Qiyun has seen an adult!" ”

Adney was very clever, and she also stepped forward to give a salute, she was often at sea, her skin was tanned, and the pirates had seen more scenes of sailing shirtless, but not as fuss as Cheng Qiyun.

Yang Ling smiled dryly: "This official forgot for a while, and he didn't cough in his official clothes, don't blame, don't blame." Come on, come into the room, I guess you will have to arrive in three or five days, why is it so fast? ”

"Where do you dare to be unhappy? Didn't the adults ask me to send Miss Adeni in the starry night, saying that you are in a hurry? Cheng Qiyun said with a smile, those wonderful eyes glanced at Yang Ling, but there was the joy and joy of reunion, and the eyes were gentle and very sultry.

Adeni understands Chinese, and the meaning of the joke in Cheng Qiyun's language was not understood at first, but she immediately understood it, and her face suddenly showed a little cowardice.

Yang Ling glared at Cheng Qiyun, and saw that she was not afraid of herself at all, so she had to say helplessly: "Come in, I have something to discuss with you."

The three of them entered the room and sat down, Yahuan served the cold sour plum soup, the two daughters worked hard all the way, and they were very happy to have this cool and thirst-quenching ice drink. Yang Ling couldn't figure out Adney's true identity, and there were some things he didn't want her to know.

He first asked Cheng Qiyun about the results of the negotiations with the sea dogs and others in Suzhou, and then said 'carelessly': "The Japanese people took our warship, but unfortunately they couldn't use artillery, and they encountered Western pirates at sea, and as a result, the Japanese were almost completely annihilated, and most of the corpses sank into the sea. By the way, I heard that the Western artillery is different from my Ming Dynasty, Adney, you have been on a pirate ship for three years, can you understand the characteristics of Western artillery? ”

Adney tasted the sweet and sour iced plum soup, and when she heard this, her eyes widened, and she hurriedly shook her head, and said timidly: "I am only sewing clothes and cooking on the ship, and they don't allow me to approach the artillery, I am a woman, and I don't understand those things."

"Oh?" Yang Ling stared at her and said with a smile: "Well, these people don't seem to have any hostility towards my Daming, and they have always stayed in Manjingjia and did not go north. Since you are proficient in Chinese and Franc Ki, I would like to find an opportunity for you to communicate with both sides, and I would like to unite these Westerners to deal with the pirates, and at the same time negotiate future trade matters. ”

When she heard that she was going to meet her own people, Adney's face was very strange, her expression seemed to be happy and worried, and there was an indescribable strange taste, and her jewel-like bright and deep eyes became deeper. "Oh, oh, I am a slave of the adult, and I am willing to serve the adult", she said but turned her head a little weakly, her soft black curly hair covered her eyes, revealing only the three-dimensional outline of the handsome nose bridge on the side face, Yang Ling could clearly see her full and firm breasts rising and falling a little rapidly.

"You are from a foreign land, it is very difficult for a woman, you don't have to call yourself a slave to this official, and this official does not treat you as a slave, or call yourself Adney."

Listening to Yang Ling's words, Adney suddenly turned her head again, a hesitant look flashed in her eyes, but then her wavering look calmed down and answered shallowly.

Cheng Qiyun sat there comfortably, and chuckled like a big woman: "You can call the governor an adult now, call yourself Adney, and when the adult officially takes you into the room, you have to change your name to master, as for the rules of calling yourself the Yang family, you can still call Adney."

Adney blushed, she glanced at Yang Ling in a panic, lowered her head and gently answered yes.

Yang Ling's face was hot, and he glared at Cheng Qiyun, who was becoming more and more presumptuous in front of him, and ordered: "The weather is very hot, you are not used to it, Qing'er, take Miss Adney to bathe and change clothes, so that you can rest."

The little girl who had just played the fan hurriedly responded, and Adney squatted down to give a salute, and first glanced at Cheng Qiyun before saying to Yang Ling: "My lord, Adney has stepped back." From this action, it can be seen that she seems to be a little afraid of Cheng Qiyun, and more than she is in awe of Yang Ling, the master.

Seeing her leave, Cheng Qiyun put down the cold drink and said with a smile: "My lord, is there any important military intelligence involving Westerners?" What does this Addney have to do with this? ”

Yang Ling nodded solemnly, and explained the news that Bai Xiaocao heard in detail, and then said: "I believe that Bai Xiaocao is telling the truth, the rebellion of the Japanese pirates has been a failure, and it is a matter of time before it is exterminated. So the official is really worried."

Cheng Qiyun knew his purpose at this time, and said after a moment of silence: "My lord thinks that this Adney will know the secret of Western artillery?" ”

Yang Ling asked rhetorically, "Do you think she is not suspicious?" ”

Cheng Qiyun was silent for a long time, suddenly smiled "poof", raised her eyes to look at Yang Ling, her eyes were full of spring, and she chuckled: "According to the humble position, the adult will want her tonight!" ”

"What?" Yang Ling was taken aback, and then said unhappily: "Qiyun, I'm discussing military affairs with you, why are you still joking?" ”

Cheng Qiyun blinked, and said: "It's no joke, if Adney knows the mystery of Western artillery, if the adult wants to know the secret of Adney, only if she becomes your person, she will confess to the adult."

Yang Ling glared at her angrily and said: "You don't understand, Western women don't have the idea of marrying chickens and dogs because of ** and people, and they really want her if they are dead set on this person."

Yang Ling thought of Adney's exotic beauty and mature and plump **, and couldn't help but feel a pang of his heart, and then reined in his heart and said: "At that time, she didn't tell the truth, and I couldn't bear to torture her, did you want the official to send a sailor to fight the Westerners and win the victory at several times the cost of casualties?" ”

Cheng Qiyun shook her head for a long time and said, "Huh! Could it be that the adults don't pity the fragrance and jade now, and are willing to torture her? I don't think so, with the understanding of these lowly people, this Adney's claim to be a folk daughter of the Franco-Rang Kingdom is definitely a lie. But if there is a secret hidden from people, it may not be that it is ill-intentioned, or it may be that there is suffering.

It can be seen from humble duty that this girl is not evil regardless of her heart or as a person, adults think about it, she was sold to Daming alone, and now her identity is undecided, she may be sent back and forth by adults at any time, how can she be sincere to adults?

If the adult gives her a clear identity, a sense of security and reliance, in this foreign land, in her eyes, the adult is the only man she can rely on and rely on, and it is strange if she doesn't give you all her heart, what do you think? ”

Yang Ling looked at her fixedly for a while, and saw that the corners of her mouth were curled, with an expression that seemed to be smiling, and he couldn't help but shake his head and said, "I found that you are becoming more and more evil."

Cheng Qiyun's pretty face hooked up a wicked and charming smile, and said coquettishly: "The soldiers are bleeding in front to protect the country and the people." The adults sweat in the rear, but also for the protection of the country and the people, and for the sake of the country. In order to reduce the casualties of the soldiers, I think you will be reluctant to die heroically, hehe."

(To be continued)