Yingtianfu, next to a desolate sandbar on the Yangtze River.

"Fifteen degrees in front, 1200 zhang away, fire!"

With a crisp command, the 20 port guns on the four thousand-material warships roared at the same time, and the target ship 1,200 zhang away was suddenly shrouded in a sea of fire.

"Hit! Hit! ”

The gunners cheered in unison, and everyone hugged each other to celebrate another successful training.

Hao Tong, the sailor guard, held a small red flag, and his face was as tense as a piece of pig iron. He didn't join the gunners cheering, but those who knew him well could still catch a smile of relief in his eyes.

"What a mess! Forgot all the rules? Hongyi is not just a gunboat, with your screaming, the Hongyi people's cannons have already hit. Have you all forgotten what Mr. Deng said? We must have the ability of a lone wolf, and one ship must dare to fight with ten ships of Hongyi, and we must win. Hurry up and clean the chamber and get ready to shoot again! Hao Tong commanded the gunners loudly.

"Order!" The gunners agreed in unison, and the gunboat was again busy.

A few hundred feet away from the gunboat fleet, a building ship was quietly drifting, and on the top floor of the building ship, a group of people were holding binoculars to observe the training scene.

"Well played! Unexpectedly, in just a few months, our sailors and gunners have completely mastered the essentials of firing guns, and they can hit the target ship with a single salvo, which is a very proud achievement. Su Hao smiled and said to Deng Zilong beside him.

Deng Zilong smiled slightly, and said: "Hao Tong, this little cub is anxious, and he forces his gunners to train every day, just waiting for the time to go to Nanyang to make a contribution, and make a comparison with Deng Kuibi in the future?" Instead, these officers and soldiers who followed you have all mixed up, making me very shameless in front of my officers and soldiers. ”

Su Hao said embarrassedly: "Uh...... Mr. Deng, this is really something that cannot be helped, fortunately the opportunity has come now, as long as everyone works hard, the future is immeasurable. ”

"yes, everybody knows that, so don't you see these little cubs training like they're playing with their lives? Mother sells forks, these people didn't pay so much attention to training when they were in Yunnan. Deng Zilong cursed with swear words in his mouth, but there was a smile on his face.

"Two commanders, with this level of training, when will our sailors be able to go to Luzon?" Zhuang Migao, the loyal and brave Marquis who was invited to observe the training, interjected timidly on the side. In his opinion, the current level of the sailor is high enough, but the two chief soldiers always say that it is not enough, if this continues, when will they be able to go to Nanyang to pan for gold.

Su Hao said: "Marquis Zhuang is not in a hurry, as the saying goes, sweat more in peacetime, and bleed less in wartime, let's train more now, and when we meet the Franc Navy in the future, we will have more chances of winning." The gold mine in Luzon cannot be mined in a day or two, and besides, Su has learned about it, and the largest gold mine there has not yet been discovered, so he will wait for Su to go before he will unveil it. ”

Zhuang Migao said with a smile: "It's not that Zhuang is in a hurry to go to Luzon, it's just that ...... I heard that during this training, a shell was several taels of silver, and the barrel of this gun was scrapped after hundreds of shots. We haven't gone out yet, the silver has already gone out more than 100,000 taels, even if Zhuang is not in a hurry, those merchants can't stand it. ”

The expenses for the construction of sea ships and the purchase of weapons were collected in the name of the Nanyang Merchant from officials and merchants in the capital and Jiangnan. Because Zhuang Migao was a marquis of Qing Xian, he was entrusted by the ministers of the court and the central government to come to Jiangnan to accompany Su Hao to raise money. Merchants dare to take out their money, largely because of Zhuang Migao's old face as a guarantee. Seeing the silver of Bai Huahua thrown in the water like this, Zhuang Migao was really painful.

Su Hao knew that Zhuang Migao was just acting coyly, and the purpose was just to save some investment when training. For this request, Su Hao will never accept, he knows that the Ming army is still very inexperienced in the use of new firearms, and the experience of naval warfare is close to zero, if you do not increase training, even if you have larger ships and more powerful guns, you may not be able to compete with the European navy that is used to naval warfare.

"Master Hou, I can't bear the child to catch the wolf, I can't let the concubine catch the hooligan, now we spend hundreds of thousands of taels in order to earn hundreds of thousands or millions of taels in the future, this reason, I have to trouble the Hou Ye to talk to the merchants again." Su Hao smiled and pushed back Zhuang Migao's words.

Zhuang Migao sighed: "Alas, Zhuang has no choice but to sell this old face again." Mr. Su, you have to remember that you owe Zhuang a favor, and when there is a benefit in the future, take care of Zhuang more. ”

Zhuang Migao and Su Hao chirped crookedly there, and Deng Zilong was disdainful. He is not good at this kind of fame, Su Hao can get money and let him train to fight, he is very satisfied with this division of labor.

At the end of the training, the gunboat slowly turned around and returned to the port on the shore with the ship. Hao Tong got off the gunboat and strode to Deng Zilong, Su Hao and others, saluting and greeting.

"Hao Tong, who was responsible for aiming those cannons just now?" Su Hao asked.

"It's our own observer." Hao Tong said.

"I prove that it is indeed the sailor's own observer. They're out, Amen! Matteo Ricci, whose face was full of red light, appeared beside Hao Tong, and as he spoke, he drew a cross on his chest with his hand.

Su Hao said with a smile: "This is a famous teacher and a high apprentice, Mr. Matteo Ricci, thank you for selflessly teaching artillery observation techniques to our soldiers." ”

"That's what I'm supposed to do." Matteo Ricci said. According to some European naval artillery tutorials collected by Su Hao, plus his own understanding of geometry, he explored a set of observation and aiming skills for naval artillery warfare, and then taught them to the sailors under Deng Zilong.

Su Hao once told Ricci that the purpose of their training of sailors was to fight the rampant pirates at sea, which made Ricci feel that it was a righteous thing. If Ricci knew that Su Hao's real imaginary enemy was the navy of Spain, the Netherlands and other European countries, he really didn't know if he would be so dedicated.

"Hao Tong, you take the brothers back, remember to let each gunner write down the experience of today's training, summarize it in small flags, and all the experience must be formed into a text, understand?" Su Hao gave orders to Hao Tong as if no one was around, and he didn't care that Hao Tong's real boss Deng Zilong was watching from the side.

After several months of contact and running-in, Deng Zilong and Su Hao have become old friends. Deng Zilong is already nearly 70 years old, and he knows that his military career is not long, and the team under his command will have to be handed over sooner or later. Being able to hand it over to a young general with a good character and a promising future like Su Hao is far better than handing it over to those mediocre and incompetent, at least a henchman like Hao Tong who has followed him for many years can get a good future.

Based on such considerations, Deng Zilong did not taboo Su Hao to give orders to the sailors, and even deliberately did not speak many times, leaving the opportunity to command to Su Hao. Su Hao comprehended Deng Zilong's thoughts, so he took it upon himself to pick up the Deng family's water division and the survey camp together.

The soldiers of the Navy Division lined up, and under the leadership of Deng Zilong and Hao Tong, they returned to the camp of the Navy Division. Su Hao sent Zhuang Mi and others away, and returned to his residence with a few personal soldiers. When I saw the gate of the courtyard, I saw the singer walking out of it happily, seeing Su Hao's face, and shouting "General Soldier Su" with a big grin, and then laughing.

The singer has been following Li Zhen since Runing, serving him like a little granddaughter by his side. This time back in Nanjing, Li Zhen personally sent her back to her grandfather, who was a doctor in Nanjing Tai Hospital. The two old men drank and chatted together, and when they were happy, the grandfather of the Lin family ordered Ge Ling to worship Li Zhen as his godfather, and asked her to continue to take care of Li Zhen. In this way, Ge Ling justifiably stayed in the Kanyu camp. Su Haosuo gave her the title of a female medical officer, and she also brought more than a dozen female soldiers in charge of medical treatment.

When Ge Ling first arrived at the Kanyu camp, she was accompanied by Cheng Yi, and the relationship between the two was very good, so she had always lived in the back house of Su Hao's official office, and Su Hao bowed her head and didn't look up, and there was no barrier between superiors and subordinates. After Su Hao returned to Yanjing, under the repeated encouragement of Han Qian and Lu Xiuer, Su Hao finally accepted Cheng Yi as a concubine, which can be regarded as solving the problem of this old girl's lifelong event. After Cheng Yi married Su Hao, it was inconvenient for Ge Ling to live in the back house of Su Mansion anymore, so there were many fewer opportunities to meet Su Hao.

This time Su Hao went to Jiangnan, but Cheng Yi didn't follow. She went to Zhangde Mansion in Henan Province to visit Su Hao's cheap brother-in-law Cheng Dong, who was on temporary duty there as a magistrate. Because Cheng Yi was not by Su Hao's side, Ge Ling never came to Su Hao's house. Seeing Ge Ling coming out of the courtyard today, Su Hao felt a little strange.

"Geling, why do you have time to come to this official today, could it be that your godfather asked you to send something here?" Su Hao pretended to have a straight face and said in an official tone.

"It's not that I came to see you, it's your third lady who has come back, and I've been waiting for you for a long time, so why don't you go quickly." The singer grinned and ran away.

The third lady mentioned by the singer naturally refers to Cheng Yi. Cheng Yi went to Zhangde Mansion to see Cheng Dong, and said that he would come back to Nanjing later. Cheng Yi is not only Su Hao's concubine, but also the bookkeeper in the survey camp, so she has always been by Su Hao's side. Listening to the meaning of singer, it should be that Cheng Yi is back.

"Cheng Yi, Cheng Yi!" Su Hao shouted Cheng Yi's name all the way and walked into the courtyard.

"Xiaguan Cheng Dong, meet Lord Tongdu."

The figure flashed in front of him, and an official dressed in a seven-grade uniform appeared, he clasped his hands into fists, bowed slightly, and his attitude was very humble, but the expression on his face was extremely complicated, including a little unruly and a little embarrassed.

"Uh-uh...... It's Kunitharu, it's with your sister, right? Hey, you're dark, but you're a little burly......" Su Hao's feeling when he saw Cheng Dong was more embarrassing than Cheng Dong's feeling when he saw him.

Cheng Dong has always been embarrassed by him, but he quietly pushed Cheng Dong's sister, and he always felt a little too deceitful. When Cheng Yi and Su Hao were doing things, Cheng Dong didn't come to attend his only sister's wedding in the name of being unable to leave in Zhangde Mansion, which shows that the knot between him and Su Hao has never been resolved. Now that he suddenly saw Cheng Dong in his own house, Su Hao didn't know what to say to him.

"Coming back?" Cheng Yi greeted her with small steps, she first greeted Su Hao, and then said to Cheng Dong with disgust: "Bangzhi, why is it so raw, it's not ...... Call brother-in-law. ”

The word brother-in-law exited, and Cheng Yi also flew his cheeks. Although she and Su Hao have been married for a long time, after all, it is the first time to show this kind of relationship in front of her mother's family, and Cheng Yi is somewhat shy.

"It doesn't matter, it's anything you want to call it." Su Hao put on the posture of his brother-in-law, what is a brother-in-law, that is, he can't be as knowledgeable as his brother-in-law. People even gave your sister to you, can you still care if people are respectful to you or not? He patted Cheng Dong on the shoulder and said, "Bangzhi, it's good to come, let's go, let's go to the house to talk first." By the way, don't go to the official, this is in your own home, you don't have to be restrained. …… If you don't feel like you're used to calling your brother-in-law, just call me by my name. ”

"Hmm...... Then, Brother Chang, please ......" Cheng Dong is as good as a stream in this regard, and directly chose the most equal title. Cheng Yi listened to it next to her, feeling angry and funny, and couldn't help glaring at her brother viciously.