Just after five o'clock in the afternoon of the third day, the lookout post on the main mast of the "Cypress" loudly announced: "There is a big island about 12 kilometers in front of the northwest, and it is preliminarily judged to be Lingshan Island!" ”

The officers and men on the ship cheered, and the captain Chen Xuan immediately gave the order to adjust the course and sail to the northwest without Zhu Daolin's orders.

Before the sun went down, the two warships successfully berthed at the dock of the Saishi in front of Fushan.

The burly 42-year-old deputy Qianhu Lu Xiangrong rushed over when he heard the news, carefully looked at the two uniquely shaped brigs and the red, black and white dragon flag on the top of the mast, and carefully checked the official document sent by the captain Chen Xuan of the Jiangnan Naval Division.

The boat was not stable, and Lu Xiangrong immediately stood in front of the pedal in the middle position, respectfully greeting the long-famous Zhu Daolin and the sons and buddies of Jinling Xungui.

After a short meeting, Zhu Daolin politely declined the invitation to go to the guard post to rest, and after obtaining Lu Xiangrong's consent, he ordered the officers and soldiers on the ship to remove the tents and cooking utensils and camp on the spot.

Zhu Daolin, Xu Wenjue and others arranged for Zhang Deyi and other buddies who only had half a life left, and politely chatted with Lu Xiangrong and others who came up to talk.

In less than half an hour, thirty large green military tents were neatly erected in the open space on the west side of the pier.

Four groups of heavily armed sentinels stood at the four corners of the camp and began to stand on guard, and in the leeward of the grove on the side, six large improvised stoves were burning, and more than a dozen officers and soldiers were busy around the six marching pots on the stoves, and soon the tempting aroma of ham stewed sea fish was heard.

Everything was busy but not chaotic and orderly, which made Lu Xiangrong and other six officers and hundreds of officers and soldiers of the Ming Guard Station in front of Fushan admire, and the neat military uniforms and sophisticated weapons on the officers and men of the Navy Division made the masters extremely envious.

Late at night, Lu Xiangrong, who returned to the Acropolis, hiccuped. took off the toothpick on his mouth, and sighed loudly: "I have heard that General Zhu, who was born as a monk, is rich and invincible, but today I saw that it was unexpected, and what I ate on the march was Jinhua ham and the best smoked dried red fish, and even the little man was wearing a double-layer copper nail leather armor, and he was throwing a treasure knife around his waist with a wide belt. Straight lady thief, people are more popular than dead people! ”

"Second brother, I think this General Zhu is still very good at talking, let's just send a few baskets of vegetables, he gave us 5 Jinhua hams in return, very kind, Wei Guogong and Longping Marquis Those noble sons are also very polite, I don't see anyone looking down on us above the top."

The stocky hundred-household officials truthfully expressed their feelings.

Lu Xiangrong nodded: "General Zhu is a standard military general at first glance, with an extraordinary majesty. It's very good for our temper, but I heard that he and the Donglin Party are fighting inextricably, and this time he went to Beijing to report on his work, and it is estimated that he will not get any benefits, and I am a little worried about him! ”

The short Baihu on the other side squeezed forward: "The junior brother saw the four fourth-grade eunuchs who got off the boat last, and a few little fathers-in-law, it can't be the eunuchs from the capital, right?" ”

Everyone suddenly came to their senses, but no one could figure out whether it was a eunuch or not. I wanted to see if the two new warships were flying the banner of the envoy, but it was too late to see clearly. After all this, I decided to go back early tomorrow morning.

Lu Xiangrong, who had a lot of ideas, specially advised that 5 pigs and 5 sheep should be slaughtered before dawn and sent over.

A few of his subordinates felt that the ceremony was too heavy and asked if it was halved? Seeing Lu Xiangrong's resolute look, no one objected.

Lu Xiangrong gritted his teeth and gave out a generous gift, and it really got a bigger return.

The next day at noon. Zhu Daolin warmly invited Lu Xiangrong and his six officers to have lunch together, although the military law is strict and you can't drink alcohol, but after lunch, Zhu Daolin gave an extremely generous gift, which made Lu Xiangrong and others very grateful: 100 taels of silver Xie Yi, 10 gold and iron knives and 500 catties of white sugar!

At 2 p.m. on the fifth day, the two warships, which had rested for half a day, continued to set sail. After two nights and one day of sailing, we arrived at Liugong Island under the jurisdiction of Weihaiwei at 3 p.m. on the eighth day.

To the astonishment of Zhu Daolin and his entourage, Liugong Island, which had been an outpost of coastal defense since the founding of the People's Republic of China, was unexpectedly desolate and dilapidated at this time.

The 1,250 officers and soldiers on Liugong Island were supposed to be stationed in the military register, but there was not even a single figure, only a few rotten small sampans lying on the collapsed wooden dock.

Zhu Daolin's two warships anchored, and the officers and men boarded Liugong Island to set up camp, and no one from the Weihai Acropolis, which was only 5 kilometers across the sea, came to inspect it.

Zhu Daolin, Xu Wenjue and others clearly saw through the telescope a few officers and soldiers pointing at the head of the Weihai Acropolis, and there were 3 paddle fast boats and 8 Wupeng fishing boats moored on the pier in front of the siege, but they never sent a boat over, this abnormal situation made Zhu Daolin puzzled.

In the end, Zhao Huaizhong, a eunuch with rich experience, said his speculation: "It would be good if the entire Weihaiwei could have 500 soldiers now." ”

"There used to be such a rumor that the best officers and soldiers of the guards along the coast of Shandong were in the hands of the Dengzhou, Laizhou and Jimo families, and the captains of these major families traveled back and forth between the ports of Shandong and Japan for many years, among which the sea trade fleet of the Jisumida family also sailed to Luzon, plus the whole Shandong has been in turmoil for several years, the situation is erosive, and all military and civil power has been concentrated in the hands of the governor of Denglai."

"It's a pity that the successive governors of Denglai, including Sun Yuanhua, who is now besieged in Dengzhou City by Kong Youde's rebels, are all people with low eyes and low skills, who dare to move the deep-rooted local heroes? Thank God if the local heroes don't rebel, who still has the ability to manage Weihaiwei in the corner? ”

Xu Wenjue and other noble sons were not happy in their hearts, and Zhu Daolin was even more worried, thinking that the Manchu army had no sailors, otherwise the entire Jiaodong Peninsula would probably become a pasture for the Manchu Tartars.

Chang Yanjun, who came from Jinyiwei, said helplessly: "In the past few days, I have been sailing all the way, and I don't know if I can't see clearly at night, and I see more than a dozen seaside villages and towns and shipbuilding workshops during the day, except for Lingshanwei and Fushan Qiansu, most places can't see coastal defense officers and soldiers, which shows that the coastal guards in Shandong have long been ruined. ”

"Lingshanwei and Fushan Qiansu are not much better, the narrow wooden dock, the sparse officers and soldiers are all ragged and weak, I used to think that our Jiangnan Navy Guard is already decadent enough, but now in comparison, Shandong is far worse than our Jiangnan."

Zhang Dezhong, who had already relieved himself, could only sigh.

Everyone sighed, and Xu Wenjue asked Zhu Daolin if he had sent a few people over to say hello?

Zhu Daolin shook his head: "There is no need to go, since they pretend not to see, it is not interesting to send people there, immediately set up a guard post, and the rest of the people will wait to bury the pot to cook, eat well and rest, overhaul the warship tomorrow morning and take stock of the supplies, and continue to set off at noon tomorrow." (To be continued.) )