Hailing County is built near the sea, because it has the largest seaport and wharf in the whole of Fuzhou and is prosperous, with no less than the population and city size of Huai'an, the capital of Fuzhou, the only difference is that Huai'an gathers the high-ranking officials and nobles and gentry of the whole Fuzhou, and here, there are more maritime merchants and civilians, as well as sailors, fishermen, and salt workers who rely on the sea to eat.

The people walking on the street are far from the leisurely and calm of the Huai'an people, but walk in a hurry, and most of their faces are rough and eroded by the sea breeze, or coarse linen clothes, or bare-chested wearing only a pair of calf shorts, revealing a muscular and sturdy figure.

Far from being as neat and planned as Huai'an, the streets stretch haphazardly, with makeshift wooden houses abounding, and haphazardly placed stalls crowding the streets to only half of the streets, barely allowing a horse-drawn carriage to pass, shouting with local accents, steaming snacks, chickens and dogs barking, and people shouting and neighing.

Li Qing and his entourage arrived in Hailing accompanied by Xiang Feng, Li Qing insisted on meeting the deputy general Deng, the reason was to ensure the safety of his own people, for this purpose, he took another 5,000 taels of silver, and after paying the money, he couldn't help but sigh at the ability to collect money from the fat man.

When they arrived at the naval division's station, they were told that Vice Admiral Deng had inspected the military ship, so the group rode their horses again and went straight to the naval division's dock. The Sailor Wharf and the commercial wharf are adjacent to each other, only separated by a long causeway, just at noon, when the day is hot, there are not many people on the wharf, most of them are lazy to hide under some simple shacks, drink tea and chat and sleep. Because of the sea breeze, I didn't feel particularly hot, but the fishy smell was heavy and the humidity was also strong, so I felt that my body was moist and uncomfortable.

Li Qing only glanced at it, and then sweated profusely, there were more than 20 boats of all sizes docked on the dock of the sailor, the largest was only 3,000 materials, and at first glance it belonged to the kind of old ships that were old, several of them were sailing out of the dock, it was very likely that they were going out to sea to patrol, and the sails were stacked with patches, colorful, and I don't know what kind of fabric was sewn on. Compared with the big ship on the commercial dock next to it, the smallest is also 3,000 materials, and more are 5,000 materials, the sails are snow-white, and the hull is shiny.

"This is the Fuzhou Water Master?" Li Qing pointed to the tattered and lost boats at the Sailor Wharf, and asked Xiang Feng with a stammering mouth.

Xiang Feng was a little embarrassed, nodded with an unnatural smile: "This, the naval division lacks military funds, and every time it goes to sea, it costs a lot of money, although the marshal raises funds from many sources, it is difficult to improve the status quo, so he can only maintain the status quo." ”

Li Qing laughed, the current price of the ship, a 5,000-material sea ship only needs 10,000 taels of silver, yesterday he said that the money he paid to Xiang Fat was enough for him to buy five big ships, the sailor was the biggest reliance in Fuzhou, but now looking at the appearance, it is no longer the same.

"This, the sailor ship is a little worse, but the officers and soldiers of the sailor division are still very elite." Xiang Feng stiffened his head and said.

It seemed that in order to verify Xiang Feng's words, several low-ranking officers dressed in the costumes of Captain Yunlu of the Sailor walked past them, looking like they were about to go back to the ship, but what made Xiang Feng's eyes green was that these captains were actually holding a woman with flowers and branches in their arms, and they were afraid that they had drunk a lot. What they said made Xiang Feng even more crazy.

"Ah beauty, what are you talking about, you want to see the gun carriage on the sailor, no problem, no problem, I can even let you shoot a cannon, how about it, but you can get it tonight, ah, ahhahaha!"

Li Qing and the others couldn't hold back their laughter, pinned their heads to the side, and didn't look at Feng's purple face.

Ahem, Xiang Feng coughed dryly for a while, and finally relieved this for a while, for fear that Li Qing would see this scene, turn his head and return to Huai'an, and ask the marshal for more than 60,000 taels of silver, "Li Dashuai, this sailor is also a good and bad, there are always scum, and they will definitely be punished heavily when they turn back, but Vice General Deng is different, that is the elite of our entire Fuzhou sailor!" ”

Li Qing pretended not to know and asked: "General Xiang, isn't Vice General Deng the commander of the entire water division, and his subordinates are so nonsense, he doesn't care?" Looking at it like this, I'm afraid he won't be any better there, right? ”

Xiang Feng was embarrassed again, and he couldn't tell Li Qing that the marshal had almost stripped the power in Vice General Deng's hands for the convenience of smuggling, and now the only thing that Vice General Deng could command was a sailor battalion under his direct jurisdiction.

In order to save the face that was about to be lost, Xiang Feng quickened his pace, he knew where Vice General Deng Peng and Deng were, and he knew that there was only one place to change Li Dashuai's opinion a little.

Coming to a 5,000-year-old sailor ship, Xiang Feng pointed to the ship and said, "Dashuai, this is Vice Admiral Deng's flagship." "Sitting close to this ship, as I saw before, this ship is also some years old, but it is very well maintained, several sailors are wearing ropes on their bodies, hanging from the outside with brushes vigorously cleaning the attachments on the outside of the ship, on the deck, many sailors are busy, but it is much more lively than some other ships parked in the harbor are empty, an old farmer-like man holding the side of the ship, is cleaning on the outside, shouting, as if they are not cleaned.

"That is Vice General Deng!" Xiang Feng pointed at the old man and said.

Obviously, the old man also saw Li Qing and his party who were gradually approaching, he was stunned for a moment, and then he actually rejoiced, waved his hand and shouted: "General Xiang, you are here, is it that the maintenance fee I asked for from the marshal a few days ago has been settled?" Or is the commander not at ease, thinking that I am cheating and sending you to inspect and inspect? ”

Xiang Feng smiled and said to Li Qing: "Vice General Deng said that the greatest pleasure in Chang is to ask the marshal for money. ”

"I'm afraid that nine out of ten times will fail!" Li Qing quipped.

Xiang Feng blushed, "That's not true." He turned around and shouted to Deng Peng, who was running towards him: "Old Deng, I didn't bring any money, but I brought you a few distinguished guests!" ”

Hearing this, Deng Peng's soaring emotions had fallen at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the speed of his walk plummeted, and his originally smiling face immediately turned into a bitter gourd face, with a bitter and bitter appearance.

"Old Deng, don't put on such a face, do you know who I brought you today?"

Deng Peng approached slowly, and Li Qing was surprised to find that this senior military attache with the rank of deputy general was actually wearing a pair of bare feet, his trouser legs were rolled up to his knees, his two sleeves were also rolled up high, and his face was black and shiny, full of traces of wind and rain.

"Vice General Deng is unkempt, he has always been used to this, don't be surprised!" Xiang Feng explained to Li Qing while blaming Deng Peng and said: "Old Deng, what do you look like, there is also the body of a deputy general, and you even have a pair of bare feet, which will make the guests laugh." ”

Deng Peng said slowly: "General Xiang is not an officer of the naval division, naturally I don't know that this is on the boat, it is much more reliable to be barefoot than to wear official boots, these are the guests you brought to me, strange, General Xiang, what kind of guests did you bring me for no reason?" There was a more vigilant glint in his eyes.

"Dingzhou Li Qing!" Li Qing smiled lightly, arched his hand, and said. Yang Yidao behind him also arched his hand and said: "Dingzhou Yang Yidao!" ”

"What?" Deng Peng was stunned and stared at Li Qing: "What did you say?" ”

Xiang Feng said angrily: "Old Deng, your ears are not good, this is Dingzhou Li Dashuai, who came here to see you." ”

Deng Peng's eyes lit up, "Dingzhou Li Dashuai!" He hurriedly surrendered his hand, "The name is like thunder, and I have admired it for a long time." Oh, I've seen Li Dashuai! He actually bent his knees, ready to make a big salute.

Li Qing took a step forward and grabbed Deng Peng: "Deputy General Deng, you see that you and I are dressed up, and we don't care about what kind of superiority and inferiority, no need, no need!" ”

Deng Peng smiled, stood up straight, and looked at Li Qing, dressed as a noble son, and he looked like an old sailor. "There have been several big battles in Dingzhou, and the barbarian ghosts have cried wolf, which is desirable, although Deng is in Fuzhou, he is also enthusiastic! It's a pity that ......." Speaking of this, I can't help but be excited.

Xiang Feng was afraid that he would say something ugly again, so he hurriedly said: "Old Deng, Li Dashuai can come to you, it is your big face, why don't you invite Li Dashuai to your flagship?" ”

"Exactly!" Deng Peng suddenly realized and said: "Li Dashuai has lived in Dingzhou for a long time, he is a general, and he is really curious about this sailor ship. ”

Li Qing laughed in his heart, these broken ships can arouse his interest, but this deputy general of the sailor division is still a little interesting, just start now.

Behind him, Xiang Feng pulled Deng Peng aside and muttered a few words secretly, Deng Peng's face suddenly became extremely ugly, presumably Xiang Feng had told him about some of the bad deeds of the officers and soldiers of the Navy Division just now.

"Rest assured that General Xiang will definitely let Li Dashuai see the tiger warrior of my Fuzhou Naval Division." He said in a low voice, and then said indignantly: "It's really embarrassing for Xiang Dashuai to make the sailor look like this. ”

Hearing Deng Peng say this, Xiang Feng immediately closed his mouth.

Deng Peng's flagship is a duplex building ship, the ship has three layers, climb up along the string ladder, it is the deck, the deck is a little shabby, and some places even crack the opening, but it is also in order, the side of the ship, there are some simple versions of the eight-ox crossbow, Li Qing knows that the eight-ox crossbow needs more people, and the ship obviously does not have these conditions, the power of these crossbows is obviously far less than the eight-ox crossbow used to defend the city, but it is much faster than the speed, generally speaking, put an arrow on the eight-ox crossbow in the city, These can shoot up to three arrows.

Seeing Li Qing paying attention to these crossbow arrows, Deng Peng stepped forward and said: "Li Dashuai, these crossbow arrows have an effective range of about five hundred steps, a ship is arranged with about ten, and it takes about fifty soldiers to work, mainly used to attack the enemy from a distance, and these improved crossbow bows can also launch rockets, but in water warfare, the more powerful is the stone cannon, which is arranged on a three-story platform, and you can see it when you stay in a while." ”

Li Qing nodded, followed Deng Peng to climb upstairs, to the third floor, a high mast was erected, there was a very small platform on it, obviously the lookout platform on the ship, there was a female wall on the side of the ship, there were bows to resist the enemy, and at the same time, there was another stack on the female wall, which was convenient for soldiers to attack the enemy. Deng Peng's stone cannon is located on this third floor, and it looks more like some simple version of a trebuchet.

"Vice Admiral Deng, shouldn't the warship be covered with leather or something like that, in case the enemy attacks? Why didn't I see it? Li Qing asked puzzled.

Deng Peng glanced at Xiang Feng, and stopped talking, Xiang Feng hurriedly said: "The marshal is raising, and I believe that he will soon equip the water division." Li Qing smiled slightly, and didn't bother to expose the other party's lies, Deng Peng walked to the women's wall, looked at the port and said: "Li Dashuai, the naval warships are divided into building ships, Ge ships, these are all large warships, our current one is the building ship, please see, that one is called Xiandeng, it is the first to attack the enemy's warship, and the narrow and long warship is called the warship, which is used to impact the enemy, some small boats over there, are those red ones, we call him the red horse, his speed is extremely fast." When it came to the sailor's boat, Deng Peng gushed endlessly, and his face was colorful.

Xiang Feng was a little impatient, but seeing that Li Qing listened to it with relish, and it was not easy to interrupt, he finally waited for Deng Peng to stop, and immediately said: "Vice General Deng, Li Dashuai is a rare trip, why don't you let Li Dashuai meet your sailor athletes?" ”

Deng Peng suddenly realized, only then did he remember what Xiang Feng had said when he got on the boat, walked to the women's wall, pursed his lips as a whistle, and suddenly blew a long sharp whistle, in the puzzled eyes of Li Qing and others, everyone suddenly felt that the ship was slightly shaken, and then the rumbling footsteps came, and in the blink of an eye, on the deck of the first floor, it was neatly lined up with ten drainage soldiers with bare feet, about five hundred people. Even a few soldiers who were cleaning the attachments outside the ship climbed up in twos and threes, untied the rope from their waists, and ran to the end of the line to stand.

Li Qing couldn't help but applaud, how effective a team is, you can see one or two from the speed of their assembly, the neatness of the queue, it seems that there is no shortage of athletes under this Deng Peng, and he is also very capable of governing the army, but these soldiers are also too badly dressed, most of the military uniforms on their bodies are very old, and basically no one wears armor.

"Vice General Deng, do they all dress like this in peacetime operations?" Li Qing asked.

Deng Peng nodded and said, "The sailor has never encountered a large number of enemies, just some pirates who are not in the climate. ”

Li Qing frowned slightly, in the current naval battle, the blows caused by long-range weapons are limited, and the main thing is to fight close to the side to solve the problem, these soldiers are not wearing armor, the probability of injury and death will be very high, it is much more difficult to train a qualified sailor than to train a land soldier, so unnecessary consumption makes Li Qing feel too pity.

Seeing that the team on Deng Peng's flagship was so fierce, Li Qing was not worth it for Xiang Xianhe, for a little profit, he actually set up a sailor general with such ability, and easily folded his most powerful arm, once something happened in the future, he really died and didn't know how he died.

(To be continued)