When the sky was slightly bright, Wang Zhaohuan, the chief manager of Yingzhou, and a group of colleagues rushed to the wharf, and a team of dock workers used wheelbarrows to transport hundreds of large clay pots of moon flowers and holly trees, which were neatly placed in the designated positions as required, and dozens of policemen lowered the red banners embroidered with the words to celebrate the opening ceremony of the Tamsui Port from the height of the buildings.

Hundreds of twelve-pointed stars, sun and moon flags made of dark blue silk were inserted everywhere, and more than 30 large and small fishing boats moored at the fishing boat wharf on the north side also erected the twelve-pointed star sun and moon flags at the highest point.

Thousands of construction craftsmen who were given two days off came to help, and soon a strong festive atmosphere was created.

In front of the high gate of the seamen's club, several agile policemen were tying red silk to the stone lion with a pedestal as high as three meters, Wang Zhaohuan and others stood ten meters away and watched, talking while watching, and laughing from time to time, but Fan Sanmin looked up at the national flag fluttering on the top of the heavy eaves gatehouse for a long time, and the look on his face was quite complicated.

"Sanmin hasn't seen enough?"

Wang Zhaohuan, who was full of interest, came to Fan Sanmin's side.

Fan Sanmin pulled Wang Zhaohuan a few steps away, pointed to the Ming flag at the top of the gatehouse, and asked in a low voice:

"The twelve-pointed star on this flag is not the same as my Ming flag! The original red twelve-pointed star is slightly longer in the four corners of the south, south, west, and north, and the other eight are slightly shorter, and the sun and moon in the middle of the twelve-pointed star are arranged on the left and right, and the white crescent moon on the right surrounds the golden sun on the left......"

"But now the twelve-pointed star on this banner, each corner is the same length, the sun and moon in the middle are mixed, only an arc is used to separate the crescent moon on the right, and the twelve-pointed star and the sun and moon are all golden, completely different from my Daming banner, it won't cause trouble to change it so much?"

Wang Zhaohuan sighed in a low voice: "As early as half a year ago, I asked the general about this. The explanation given by the general was that this flag was an alternative military flag and would not necessarily be used, so I didn't care......"

Later, the red and black and green dragon battle flags of the Jiangnan New Army came out, and the sailors also used them. It wasn't until not long ago that the sailors were changed to the navy, the military uniforms were changed to short uniforms in the form of the Buddha mechanism, and the battle flags were also changed to red and blue and white dragon flags, and suddenly this twelve-pointed Venus flag with a blue background was inserted on the roof of the ship. ”

"At the end of the banquet for the Portuguese last night, a dozen officers and men of the garrison sent five hundred of these flags, and after I saw it, I quietly asked the general again what was the matter? The general said that this is the flag that represents my Ming Yingzhou! ”

I asked again why didn't you hang the Ming Dynasty's blue background red star sun and moon flag? The general hesitated for a moment and explained that the current saint did not issue an edict to Yingzhou and the navy, which was equivalent to not recognizing the status of Yingzhou and the navy, so he could only use this blue background gold star flag modeled after the flag of the Ming Empire. ”

Fan Sanmin pondered for a moment. He looked left and right, and asked in a low voice, "Isn't this the same as separating oneself?" ”

Wang Zhaohuan smiled and said, "You only know now?" From Hushan Manor to Longtan New District, from Baoshan Port to Tamsui Port, what did the general do that was not self-reliance? ”

"Since the establishment of the Jiangnan New Army, it has not obtained any approval documents from the imperial court and the Ministry of War, nor has it received a penny of military salary, has it not also become a famous and mighty army of my Ming Dynasty?"

"Compared with the tens of thousands of private soldiers of the Zheng family in Fujian, and the Qianguo Gong who has been entrenched in Yunnan for two hundred years, the general's approach is nothing at all. What's more, the general is a second-rank general from the current saint, although the new army and navy under his command are not yet famous. But it also received the emperor's approval and ordered the expansion of the edict, with these, what does it matter if it is self-reliant? ”

"When troubled times come, as long as you can keep the peace of one party, it is immeasurable merit."

Fan Sanmin nodded frequently, and looked at the blue background gold star flag fluttering high on the top of the gatehouse again. Suddenly, it felt much more pleasing to the eye.

……

……

The military dock on the north bank of the Tamsui River is also busy.

Two 500-ton military transport ships converted from the Galen have berthed, while two other military transport ships of the same class are berthed outside the quay.

On the deck, nearly 100 naval officers and sailors unveiled the movable cover at the front and middle of the transport ship, revealing a black hole in the cargo lifting and lowering passage.

The gate of the heavily guarded courtyard above the pier has been opened. More than 500 officers and men of the garrison and more than 30 board cars entered the courtyard and, under the command of Feng Shengtai, the chief commercial officer, and a group of stewards, went to the first and second warehouses respectively, and carried boxes of mirrors, various handicrafts, porcelain, silk, and other goods in the warehouses to the board trucks, and transported them to the wharf and loaded them into two berthed cargo ships.

In the headquarters northwest of the dock, the generals gathered.

The eight admirals wore all black navy uniforms with red edges, collar badges and navy armbands that distinguished military ranks, and large black caps with shiny military emblems.

Yang Dading and other six army generals and colonels are still wearing the red military uniforms of the Ming army, wearing leather helmets inlaid with copper nails, covered with black leather armor, and wearing palm-wide armed belts around their waists, and the Tang knives of the unified system are hung on the belts.

Only Zhu Daolin was wearing a crimson Ming military attache uniform, a black gauze hat, a white jade belt around his waist, and a lion complement symbolizing the second-grade military attache on his chest, but he was stepping on a pair of black combat boots under his feet.

Zhu Daolin patiently explained to everyone the reason why the six large cargo ships on the visit became four medium-sized cargo ships.

"At the strong request of Mr. Saïd and Mr. Hassan, and with the consent of Mr. Feng Shengtai and the four commercial executives, I have sold him 20,000 pieces of silk and 15,000 pieces of porcelain, together with two 800-ton converted transport ships, for 380,000 taels of gold......"

"The two 800-ton converted cargo ships will be loaded with silk, porcelain, polished vanity mirrors and some handicrafts, and when they arrive in the Persian Gulf, they will go straight to Mecca with Mr. Saïd's two tea ships, and after unloading the cargo, they will immediately return to Tamsui Port with cotton, flannel, frankincense, blankets, etc."

"Subsequently, the four cargo ships will be used for the joint trading fleet of the two sides, aiming to travel to Mecca and Egypt again in early September this year, with the aim of starting the first voyage after the cooperation between the two sides."

"In order to make up for the losses of the navy, I decided to put the five new armed merchant ships that have yet to be inspected into the East China Sea Fleet, but we still need to drive the ships back to Shangyuan Port first, so that our designers and craftsmen can do a test and maintenance so that they can be finalized and mass-produced."

Bargas and the others immediately smiled brightly.

The fewer cargo ships visiting Europe, the lighter their escort missions.

Simeno smiled, he was sad to lose five transports in two months, and now he could finally rest easy, and with five new, armed merchant ships with better performance and firepower, the strength of the navy could only grow. (To be continued.) )